Happy New Year 2020!

"I can see clearly now"... Happy 2020!

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A Colourized Wasaga Beach Seventy or Eighty Years Ago

Remember crayons? Well this is my colouring book...

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Port Bruce 1930's - Another Post Card Colourized

These old black and whites (brown and yellows?) come up nicely with some colour don't you think?

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My "Artsy" Steam Punk Pic for Today

The Steam Punk Dirigible is hovering in the Antwerp Railway station in Belgium in this surreal composition. I love to mix old Victorian and vibrant new colours and concepts then meld them into unlikely situations. I signed it 2020 so you are really getting a preview. Ha ha!

Enjoy! Check out my other Steampunk stuff CLICK HERE.
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Merry Christmas Carroll's 2019

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Let It Snow!

The snow is all gone in London. Wendy was afraid her lights wouldn't look too good so I had some snow trucked in for the Christmasy look. Hope our friends appreciate all the work I did.

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All I Want For Christmas Is My New Dental Implant #2

 Due to the total and complete success of my first implant nearly 6 years ago, I without hesitation, opted for another...

I can't wait to be able to chew steak on my left side again. January 8, 2020 is the the day I get the screw put in after having had my lower left molar removed due to infection back on April 15 of this year. My bout with pneumonia in October caused me to postpone the first step (the screw) of the implant procedure to January.

CLICK HERE to see more on the blog about implants.
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Cruisers Get Money Back and More

Looks like we are out the whole amount for cancelling our trip. Double whammy: cancellation insurance may not cover us due to pre-existing condition. Oh well. At least we are not down there needing eye surgery!

ABOVE: Empty ship Nieuw Amsterdam leaves Port Everglades at 4:38 on Monday Dec. 16 on its way to Bahamas and the dry-dock for repairs to the propulsion system.

Here's the latest news article Jeri Clausing in "Travel Weekly" on line magazine.

Holland America has canceled this week’s Caribbean cruise on the Nieuw Amsterdam and says it’s unclear when the ship will resume sailing.

In a statement, the company said technical issues with one of two Azipod propulsion systems forced it to cancel the cruise that was scheduled to leave Fort Lauderdale on Saturday.

All passengers will receive a full refund of cruise fare and taxes paid, hotel package costs, prepaid shore excursions and amenities, and any additional travel fees resulting from rebooking air tickets. They will also receive a future credit for the full amount of the cruise fare paid.

The company said it will notify guests and travel advisors by Tuesday if the issues will have any impact on the cruise scheduled to depart Dec. 21.

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Our Cruise Was Just Ended BY THE CRUISE LINE!

In a previous posting you will know that Wendy and I were not able to go on our December cruise and had to 'bail out'.

Well Holland America cancelled the cruise we were supposed to be on in its 8th day of 14 days for a full refund. Our friends were evicted from the Nieuw Amsterdam and have to vacate the ship by tomorrow (Monday) morning. HAL will send the ship to Bahamas for repair of the propulsion Azipod. Meanwhile our friends (from Africa, UK and Canada) will have to find something to do for a week. They decided to rent a van and the 6 of them are going to Disney-world for a few days. How sad for those who came so far.

It's strange how these things happen and a coincidence that we had to cancel before the trip due to Wendy's eye surgery. That was one cruise I don't mind having missed except I really do miss being with our good friends.

Fate works in mysterious ways.
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The 'Just Pretend' Cruise Ship Buffet...

Almost as good as the Lido Restaurant on the ship! Okay, we can pretend. Ha ha!

Today, Wendy and I went over to the fabulous Mandarin Restaurant for lunch. The happy greeters made our day by asking if we were over 65, thus qualifying us for the 20% 'Seniors Discount'.
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Today's Artoon

It was inspired by my monthly (or so) visit with Doug, Mike and Jay at Joe Kool's on Richmond Street today.

Happy days!

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Gee, Your Hair Smells Terrific!

Do You Remember?  Joe, The Hair Smelling Expert Does!

 Here's the original.

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More and More 'Artoons'.

ABOVE: I couldn't find the right Santa face with a look of surprise or concern, so I inserted my own mug. Ho ho ho!

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Another Christmas 'Artsy'!

This is a good example of one of my 'composite' works. The final artoon, like all of them, is made up of a few components blended into one. I thought you might be interested in seeing the make-up pieces of the completed composition above.

Stock textures and backgrounds can be integrated in with Photoshop.

 Above is a picture of a Santa costume from China. Costume pictures are a good source of components for my 'artoons'. The arms of course were manipulated as required.

Royalty-free images like the urinals are a good source of props

Another one I like is this 'Grunge' texture from a royalty free site. It can be used as an overlay to do as the title says... add grunge and an antique look when combined with a yellowish wash.

Here's another one. The old urinals are a picture I took in the basement men's washroom of the Western Fair Market. I re-coloured the paint in Christmas colours and added the St Nick from the previous composition above.

Hope you enjoy!

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A Classic Christmas. My Artoon for today.

Christmas in Canada Cannabis?

Original pic from internet

I love doing these artoons!

If you know me well, you'll know, I never cared to try cannabis but it always intrigued me. Back in the sixties I saw friends in art college get so enthralled with weed that they became 'spaced out' and 'dropped out'. The 'drug culture' and 'flower power' combined with the 'peace movement' and in my opinion, the rapid deterioration of music with the advent of 'psychedelic' in the late sixties and early seventies, all 'came together' to completely 'turn me off'. Not to mention it was until last year, illegal in Canada!

I never started with it and that's probably a good thing for me because, lord knows, I never needed any more vices. Ha ha!  Now that it's legal, who knows...
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