Come with Jenny and I and the 2 dogs for a wonderful relaxing visit to one of the marvels of engineering by Colonel By in the 1830's.

  I promise to get this spot down on videotape before the snow flies!!

  Join us on a camera adventure to the action at the old Locks!!

           http://crowquiller.multiply.com/photos/album/132/The_LOCKS_at_The_NARROWS

We took the dogs for a short drive to our neighbourhood Rideau River and it's Rideau Canal and "Locks" for the ships to travel down from Kingston to Ottawa with ease! The Canal was built by Colonel By,.. back in the 1830's and the "Locks" that drop the ships down each new level are still operated by hand without any mechanical assistance!! The employees of the National Capital Commission crank the old wheels that pull the chains that open the "Locks" to allow the water to either raise the ships inside the "Locks" or lower them, depending on their intended direction on the Canal. In the photos you may also see the fascinating action of the Swing Bridges that are 'cranked' open to allow ships that are too tall in the water to pass under! The mechanism still flows with ease because of the mechanical genius that Colonel By and his engineers applied to this fantastic water course!! A trip up this Canal is a lesson in how far man will go to get from one point to another by water!! The... Read the rest of this post

It didn't RAIN!! The crowds of visitors came and we finally had a great day for sales!!
Jim Morrison dropped by and Terry Schaub  brought me his latest carving in Soapstone that was utterly fantastic!!  I wish we could get together like we used to in his great badk yard!!
Go have a boo at what went on,...you'll be surprised !!
               http://crowquiller.multiply.com/photos/album/128/Artisans_Village_Brockville_6th_Sept.20_2009

It was a terrific Fair that everyone enjoyed and the entertainmant with Tommy CASH brought back many memories of his brother Johnny and some wet eyes in the Grandstand crowd gave evidence of their feelings for the "Man In Black" and his legacy in Country Music! Tommy sang many songs in the hour and a half he performed, and I went to shake his hand backstage before we went home at 8:30pm. Have a boo at the pictures I took when Jenny and I went for a Ferris Wheel ride!! It was a Fair that proved to me that Perth has a great history and a wonderful spirit to share with our visitors and I'm proud to be a Perthian at

Final Day dor the Season brought us quite a crowd of tourists! They came in boats, cars, trucks and motorcycles, to enjoy what was a wonderful day for weather!! Jeannine and I set-up just a bt after 10am and Peggy showed up with some mail for me from China!! It was some beautifull art and I'll share it with you later!! Many came to look and ask about the Pen and Ink Prints, but few were sold. I did more business in Caricatures than my serious art. We had to leave early (3:30pm) to make it back to Perth for the Fair's Grandstand Show starring Tommy Cash.(Johnny Cash's brother) More on that evening later also!!

Went for a hike in the WILDLIFE PRESERVE just a few blocks down my road from the Studio with Jenny and the two dogs,...her Scotty, a Griffon dog, and my little blind Babes!!
 It was great!! I saw many items on the hike, and I've posted an Album here:
http://crowquiller.multiply.com/photos/album/124/_Perth_WILDLIFE_PRESERVE

  Go see the pictures and let me know what you feel about these Preserves!  The sign at the front of the plave demanded we place a $5 note in some envelope somewhere, and I just lit up my pipe and drove away! We hadn't seen the big notice until we were ready to leave!!
   Our taxes pay for these places and their upkeep and they expect us to give them a $5 tip?  Amazing eh?  What a way to run a free democratic country!! I wonder what CUBA has in this department? ha ha!!
What do you know,...it didn't RAIN!!!  ha ha!!~~~~~~~~~~~Jack
          

Here is the sad evidence of a rained-out day on Blockhouse Island, Brockville Ontario. Only one lady from the Phillippines wished to have her Caricature sketched, (and in the rain, I forgot to take her picture with her finished art!!) and though I brought a new tarp to fend off the wind-driven rain, the day proved to be a total failure for art sales! I caught some nice photos of Jenny with some of the large "Lakers" going by on the St.Lawrence River, when the rain let-up for a few moments, some of her on the Island with the "Fair Jean" ship owned by Thomas Fuller, the F86 Sabre jet mounted on the Island, and we met Jim Morrison and enjoyed 3 hours of Nachos at "Buds On The Bay", and that is what saved the day!! You can see a "sundog" formation in one photo over Jenny's shoulder when she stood on the Patio after the rain stopped for a few minutes! The waitress took our pictures, let me smoke my pipe, and poured coffee for 3 HOURS!! Unbelievable!! Let's hope that next Sunday,(The LAS... Read the rest of this post

Just a few blocks down the road from my new Studio is a Nature Trail operated by the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority, and quite a walk !! It finished by a large wooden Loo-Out Platform that has some great views of the River and a couple of tributaries near the platform. Every few hundred yards along the winding Trail you find imformation boards with interesting postings of the insects, birds and flowers in the area. It is really quite a good hike when you do it all with the dogs! Jenny and I had 'Babes' (Shiatzu) and 'Scotty' (Griffon) with us to enjoy the sights and smells!! I would recommend it to anyone who loves nature and a good long

Just a few blocks down the road from my new Studio is a Nature Trail operated by the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority, and quite a walk !! It finished by a large wooden Loo-Out Platform that has some great views of the River and a couple of tributaries near the platform. Every few hundred yards along the winding Trail you find imformation boards with interesting postings of the insects, birds and flowers in the area. It is really quite a good hike when you do it all with the dogs! Jenny and I had 'Babes' (Shiatzu) and 'Scotty' (Griffon) with us to enjoy the sights and smells!! I would recommend it to anyone who loves nature and a good long

Just bought it and I wish to customize it into my Caricature/Camping Van!! Don't forget fishing

 The weekly ARTISAN'S VILLAGE was drenched at around 2pm and it continued to pour for a good solid 20 minutes, enough to create large pockets of 10 to 15 gallons of water on the tops of the large 10"x10" tents. Only those tents that were not properly set-up allowed the water to collect, because of their slack nature across the top supports.
Jennie and I had our photographer neighbour take our picture together before the downpour, and sales we had were next to nil for the day, but we enjoyed it all just the same!

Quite a few things got wet, so the unloading at home wasn't straight into the house,...but items having to be dried we placed separately from the few that weren't!!Only 2 more weekends to go for the VILLAGE, then we close down for the year and possibly open with far more interested members for 2010 !!

Celebrating 125 years as a pioneer lumbering community,the folks of McDonald's Corners put their first Festival on the map and really outdone themselves!! . John Cullen and his Jennie created Caricatures of the folks who went to see this marvelous exhibition of a small community enjoying and displaying their colourful and TASTY

Saturday morning Jennie and I went up the Lanark Road from Perth Ontario, (where our Studio is now), and joined the folks in the Lanark Highlands celebrate 125 years of lumbering and living in McDonald's Corner, where the attached photos were taken. (More photos in the Photo Album with the same title!)     It was a surprise to see the effort this community put out for their first celebration, as many displays were hewn out of raw lumber, just as it was done back that many years ago!
The Blacksmith was there, along with the many crafts people and, of course, the old time fiddle was heard all over the site, as there were more than one set of musicians, playing mostly Scottish ditties and older folk songs across the area. The old schoolhouse was used as a movie theatre, with many wonderful stories on film to share with the history buffs, and a nice kitchen with surprises in food!
From Pizza to home-made bread cooked in an old-fashioned outdoor oven, and coffee that would...

Can you find where I hid Peggy's name?

More art to search for the mystery name on my Website:
                     www.cullenstudios.com
Can you find where I hid Peggy's name?

  I came across this composite in my `Memories`album and it surprised me that I had forgotten about the new logo I had designed for the Ottawa Habitat for Humanity people. It entailed the Ottawa Peace Tower from Parliament Hill, and everyone enjoyed it.
  The scene behind me was the Ottawa Exhibition and I then volunteered to sell Hamburgers and Hot Dogs out of a Loblaws stainless steel trailer to raise money for the H for H that year. I went around the whole Exhibition, marking down the prices of Hot Dogs, and made certain that we offered the cheapest on the Fairgrounds!! ha ha!
   The paintings were all worked from 8`x10`photos I got from the Public Archives of Canada at about $7 each!  The first was a picture of the corner of Metcalfe and Sparks Street at around 1870, with the large coaches acting as Taxis!! The next was the open-sided street cars used in Ottawa in 1910 and what Sparks Street looked like whn the Ottawa Citizen newspaper was located t... Read the rest of this post

  Ever since I noticed that the great Caicaturist Hirchfield was hiding the name `NINA`in all of his drawings of actors,movie stars, etc., I began the same game also!!  All of my pen and inks have a hidden name in them, and just recently I came across a card I had designed for a Magician in Ottawa, who wanted the card to place on table tops in the Hotel Launges where he plied his skills with the customers! I saw the name `LIL`in the bottom of his beard, and even though this man was quite adept at his trade of magic tricks, he never once noticed how well I sneeked the name of the gal I was going out with back then,...into his beard!!  Goes to show you that some old pen and ink men can get pretty sly when they want to,  eh.!!


                        Look again at my art the next time you see one,...you may discover what I have been getting away with since the 1970`s !! ha ha!!  - &nbs... Read the rest of this post

Here is a chap that you see with his monster camera at every Event possible!! I must get a copy of Dale's calendar, so that I can ply my Cartooning at all the nice people Events in our region,...for if it isn't on Dale's Calendar,....well, it just isn't an EVENT!! ha!

Having just moved to a beautiful bungalow in the country near Perth Ontario, I haven't got my big desktop computer Online as yet, and I'm using a borrowed laptop that doesn't have all the bells and whistles and photos of the places that I have been to this past month or so,...but I will get them all up here,...you can be certain of that!! ha!

I met Dale Elliot at the Smiths Falls Railway Museum a couple of years ago, when he promised to give me a copy of my singing at their Opening Day. He did get me a nice Video copy of my singing and I appreciated his sharing his work with me! He has a load of experience at TV Stations across Canada and now operates BROCK News for Online reporting!

Go have a boo at this man's wonderful...

It was a grand day, a bit breezy, blowing my Pen & Inks all over the big lawn,...but the sunshine and the happy faces made it one to remember!!  If you got your Caricature done, then your photo is here with the sketch I did of you!!  I wanted to welcome to Canada again,...and especially to my Brockville here,..all the great and wonderful people I met today as they dropped by from so many far away places!!  I am happy to know my art will be on their walls, and they will be new fans of mine here, on Multiply.com  !!        Come see us again, or drop us a line!! It's so good to hear from you and see your nice happy eyes again!! ~~~~~~John 'crowquiller' 

This was last Saturday, Aug.1st.

Here are some photos of my working out on the street. capturing a Cityscape of Courthouse Square in Brockville Ontario.I plan to place myself in the picture, right where I sat with my little easel, to complete it!