2021
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Apr 2, 2021, 11:13 PM subject 49 – 388 – 0204
Dear Justin,
Sorry I haven’t written lately, been busy. You know how it is. Took on a job for Caro’s sister, fixing up her old apartment and prepping her new one – not big jobs, but blah and time-consuming, but money, right? I did manage to cut power to two rooms, changing outlets – an electrician, a real pro, coming Tuesday. Also will be building planters for François, I have been building frames at Vox, painting at the studio, and had projectors dropped off and picked up at Vox for a shootout, results being that MJ prefers the Christie – the better of the 3 projectors, also the most expensive, but hey, it’s a Christie. It’s also “necessary”? Important for artists to have access to full 4K projection, right?
Jess is drawing your face right now, part of a twitch thing she is following. She is drawing you as the true monster you are, or must be, to fight so hard for the status quo, even as Covid gives you all the opportunity to make the big changes needed.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Apr 5, 2021, 11:07 PM subject 50 – 348 – 0504
Dear Justin,
What a busy long weekend! It has been somewhat intense with the kids, too. I am wondering if it is a mix of hormones and the change of season, the arrival of spring? Both kids have had their own freakouts twice in the past four nights, for different reasons, but it has been more difficult than usual. The reasons for the freakouts seem innocuous, but then again what seems like no big deal can be a huge deal for a kid. Also, the freakouts have been at night when they have been tired. The days have been great and full and active; today we were outside almost the whole day. Back to school tomorrow, so back to lunches and making cookies now. Jess has her operation tomorrow to remove some pre-cancerous cells from her cervix. I will take her there and back in the afternoon, after hopefully fixing up Marilou’s place in the morning. Wish us luck!
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Apr 7, 2021, 11:29 PM subject 51 – 299 – 0704
Dear Justin,
Had a full day of meetings at Vox this morning, first with Sorel Cohen on site to set up a second test of one of her sculptures suspended from the ceiling, and then in the afternoon with the team from Momenta via video.
Everything went well with Jess and her procedure yesterday. I managed to fix somehow the electrical snafu at Marilou’s in the morning, but she texted me today to say she had an electrician pass by anyway, and he redid all my bad work. I never said I was a pro – my nickname at DHC was “the Butcher” when it came to electrical work. I’ll go back tomorrow morning to clean the gutters and replace some caulking and silicone – really shitty jobs, and I wish I hadn’t agreed to take it, but she is pregnant and both she and Caro reached out to me, and so I felt guilty to say no, even though I should have, because I should be working in the studio. I picked up wood this morning for François’ garden pots; something else I probably should have said no to. It’s good to earn some extra money, but I need to focus on my paintings.
Listened to Sandy and Nora yesterday, damn they are great. —
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Apr 10, 2021, 11:39 PM subject 52 – 428 – 1004
Dear Justin,
What a warm day today. Jessica cleaned up the two patches of land out front, and I scraped paint off the window above the inside front door, and installed an exterior deadbolt lock so it can be locked while the exterior front door is open. Spring cleaning and organizing is upon us. Last night we each had pot gummies and watched Adventure Time. I get so stupid and inarticulate when high, as you know. Probably because I do it so infrequently. I did get into the studio for the bulk of Friday, still working on the stormy sky of the latest rooftop, still not happy with it. I have to make more frames, a slightly different depth this time, also need to build the planters for François, and get some pricing for some C&C cuts for Anne’s corner shelves, which is maybe a go-ahead. I think I should cancel the rest of Marilou’s work, her new place is too far away and I am losing time, or not using my time wisely.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Apr 12, 2021, 9:31 PM subject 53 – 358 – 1204
Dear Justin,
Ended up spending the whole day at Vox, doing Vox work in the morning: emails, follow-ups on the big projector purchase, meeting with Valérie about the new eco-responsable purchasing and operating procedures to put into place. Worked on François’ planter boxes, then had a session with Yaël. Mostly discussed the kids again, how to better respond to their crisis, have a more fluid, pleasant bedtime, and how I need to (again) set and keep better boundaries for myself. In my life of kids, Jessica, Vox work, contract work, studio work, where do I find time to fit myself in? What, exactly, do I want to be doing? At the moment, I want to finish a short Netflix series on the Gardner Museum art heist of 1990.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Apr 13, 2021, 10:16 PM subject 54 – 300 – 1304
Dear Justin,
Spent the day at home, working on the apartment. Switched the orientation of the back back door, it took a lot of chiselling and finessing to get it to hang and close properly. Built some shelves for the back foyer, mostly for my tools. Cleaned up the front vestibule area, preparing for painting the walls, trim and doors. They really need it. I added fresh stick-on laminate flooring tiles overtop the battered and worn stick-on laminate flooring tiles. Jessica has not been feeling great the past couple days, and thinks she may have an infection from the procedure last week. She’s awaiting a call back from her doctor, who said they would provide a prescription tomorrow. We watched Trainspotting earlier tonight and are about to watch Chicago. We are going through movies we’ve put on our “to see” list.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Apr 16, 2021, 7:29 AM subject 55 – 313 – 1404
Dear Justin,
Was all over the place today. Biked to Vox, finished the second planter for François. Grabbed a Flex, brought the 2 planters and my bike up to François and installed them. Tried in vain to fix a hinge on one of the cupboard doors I installed for him a few months ago. Cycled up the mountain to the lookout to make a birthday video for Krishna’s friend Julia, who I only met 12 years ago when I visited them in Zurich and threw up after a full night of red wine all over her white carpet. I’m a class act. Then back to Vox, then home, then I biked up to my Ex’s to drop off rain gear for the kids, it is supposed to rain the next few days and they are not back with me until Friday. I miss those little gremlins!
Watched a great little documentary called Coded Bias, about the inherent biases of algorithms and subsequently everything they are used for, like facial recognition technologies and corporate uses for advertising.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Apr 16, 2021, 8:06 AM subject 56 – 390 – 1604
Dear Justin,
Sorry my last message I forgot to send until this morning. I am up early to ostensibly work on my taxes. I was at Vox yesterday morning working on floorplans and just as I was about to leave was called to the basement to help deal with a flood. The storm drains had backed up and water was pouring into the basement. We ended up shovelling and pushing with brooms the water into the elevator shaft, which actually worked, since after an hour the water stopped pouring in so we were able to get rid of almost all of it. I don’t think it did any major damage, all the organizations that have storage there keep everything up off the floor. The basement floods fairly regularly, at least 2-3 times per year. I finally left and went to the studio to meet Sarah and Gloria to give her an art lesson for her 4th birthday. I think I solved the problem with the sky on the painting I’m working on, having seen an example of that weather moment earlier this week and snapped some photos as reference. Jess and I watched Parasite last night, what an intense, wonderful and sad piece of filmmaking. Deserving of awards.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Apr 18, 2021, 9:15 PM subject 57 – 336 – 1804
Dear Justin,
Had a really good weekend with the kids, even though the weather was chilly. Yesterday Rose attended an outdoor birthday party for a classmate while Sol, Jessica and I picked up some gardening supplies at Canadian Tire. Jessica and I were fooling around last night, something we haven<t done much of lately, post cervical procedure, but we woke Sol up, so I tucked him back into bed and explained tactfully what we were up to. He thought he heard Jess yell “I’m gonna puke”. This morning he asked why I wanted to have babies with Jessica and I had to explain again what a vasectomy is. Today after the usual morning video games we all spent the rest of the day outside working on the yard and garden. Rose helped me build a base for the cistern and Sol helped Jess with weeding and fertilizing some of the garden beds. Made spaghetti and tomato sauce for supper, kids are off to bed, making lunches and listening to Bob Ross on Twitch while I make lunches and clean the kitchen. Going to try to finish building all the frames this week.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Apr 20, 2021, 11:05 AM subject 58 – 287 – 2004
Dear Justin,
Went to Vox yesterday and made all the rip cuts to make the rest of my frames. Picked kids up after school, we had biked there and back, despite the chilly weather. It was warmer in the afternoon, Sol is really into working in the garden and planting and weeding with Jessica. Rose helped me take some trash to the Éco centre, which she was really impressed by. Heading down to Vox now that that rain has let up. I drove the kids to school but we were late because I lost a booking of a Flex and we had to walk a few more blocks to find another one.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Apr 22, 2021, 10:31 PM subject 59 – 307 – 2204
Dear Justin,
Did you do anything special to recognize Earth Day? I was at work most of the day, Vox stuff – continuing the projector purchasing details, etc. etc. Assembled a couple more frames and took one to the studio to test on the thicker 16×20 paintings, I have a couple framing options with them. Picked the kids up after school and we played an old-school Clue board game that we picked up from Renaissance the other day. The kids and I have been talking about 2001: A Space Odyssey lately, watching trailers and clips and they seem quite fascinated with it, so I am going to try watching it in bits and pieces with them. It is far too esoteric and slow-moving to digest all at once. Also, they have a Pédago tomorrow and I may take them to the MACM and then the studio for a Bartleby visit and maybe an art lesson for Gloria too. I get paid today for the last couple months of piecemeal work at Vox, should I claim it on my EI? At the end of the year it always works out if I don’t, and I prefer to get the full amount from EI. I will stress less about money that way. Tried to register for a vaccine online but the various clic-santé Quebec websites are a dogs breakfast to navigate through. Also, Jess received some amazing news about a literary prize she is short-listed for but I have to keep it under wraps for now, so no more details at the moment.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Apr 26, 2021, 8:35 AM subject 60 – 256 – 2604
Dear Justin,
Had a fun little weekend painting the front entranceway from yellow to pink. Found some really good wood planks in an alley nearby while Jessica and I were taking a walk and came back for them with the bike buggy. They will make perfect walls for the first raised vegetable bed we’ll put in the back yard. Last night we watched Joker and this morning I woke up early to finish Interstellar. Now my morning is clear to finish my taxes and then head to Vox to cut and glue a couple more frames. I’m really going to do my taxes this morning. Really.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Apr 28, 2021, 9:19 PM subject 61 – 294 – 2804
Dear Justin,
Remember how when I say I’m going to do my taxes something always comes up and I postpone for weeks or months? Not happening this time, I tallied everything up and gathered my receipts and forms and sent it off to David. He’ll get back to me in 3-4 weeks, and by then hopefully I will have figured out some of my outstanding relevé 24, the child care tax forms, which were still all in my Ex’s name last year, I fear. Anyway, I’ve been at Vox far too much for my liking this week, things keep piling up there. I am getting some work done on my frames but there seems to be no end to the potential tasks at the gallery. Maybe I should just ask them to start working 2 regular days per week? It is complicated with EI, as you must know they complicate everything. Unnecessary! Today I did start to make tentative plans to get the works to NB. I sent an application in to the province to drive them, which is my preference, but most likely they will be picked up by one of the Tuck drivers with Day and Ross. I am lazy and don’t want to build a crate! Although it is good practice, and I am already researching more environmentally friendly foam for packing up Juan’s show in June.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
DEAR PM 