Shaun Newman Podcast - #23 - Brandi Hofer

Episode Date: July 3, 2019

Brandi Hofer is quickly becoming a name that is recognized around the world. She is a Lloydmimeter celebrity and today I had the opportunity to sit down a discuss the life of a painter, the hard work that it takes to be successful and the adventures she has experienced.

Welcome to the podcast. First, I want to give a shout-out to Harlan Lessig and the Weekly Bean. They continue to publish my content. Every week they give a little write-up about the guest coming up. So thanks, Harlan Lessick, and the Weekly Bean. You guys can find that in Lloyd Minster, Kinnersley, and Moose Jaw. Next, I want to give a shout-out to Greg Buchanan, who sent me a little message, said, love the Amber interview.

Very good. He was talking about the Amber LaRue interview from last week. is the first pro female truck wagon driver of the CPCA. So if you haven't listened to that one, I suggest you go back a week and check it out. If you're looking to interact, I love hearing from you guys, love giving shoutouts on here. You can find me on social media, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, Sean Newman podcast. Just look it up. And by all means, let me know your thoughts.

If you got any good guest ideas, I'm always up for them. I've had two suggestions that have come in in the last month and a half. half. One was Amber Leroux, who I just did, who she was fantastic. And the other was Murray McDonnell. And he was about three episodes ago. And if you haven't listened to that one, that's another gem. He was a Lashburn rugby program visionary. He's the guy who got it going, and he was an unreal interview as well. So if you got any suggestions, guys, I love hearing those. That's how I find out about really cool people that that's what this is all about. It's finding cool people interviews.

So this week on the podcast is a really cool person. It's Brandy Hofer. Now, for those you've been following along, you've probably heard me say time and time again, this is not completely a sports podcast. I use the 80-10-10 rule. 80% of it is going to be sports. Of that sports, I'm a hockey guy,

so a lot of it is hockey. But the other 10 and 10, well, 10 of it, I graduated with a degree in history. I love hearing about the old days, and then 10 of it's about adventurous people. And Brandy and I graduated high school together in 2004, and back then we both went our separate ways. And every so often, we kind of bump into each other

and see how things are going and what each other has been up to. And I've been fascinated from afar as her career continues to blossom. Like, she is a fantastic painter. And if you haven't seen her work, I highly suggest you go on Instagram and check out Brandyhofer artist or to her website, brandyhofer.ca. Both of those places, you can see her fantastic artwork. She is very talented. And I thought today, you know, with interviewing her, I really wanted to know, dig into the hard work that goes into being a successful painter and get her first hand stories on her adventures because she's been all over the world and painting is taking her there. and so I think those two things right there I'm really intrigued by and I'm really excited to hear her answers.

So without further ado, welcome to Sean Newman podcast. Thank you. I am sitting in Randy Hoper's studio. I thought this might be a little more comfortable than surrounded by all my stuff. I thought I'd venture into where you do your magic. Yeah, probably a bit missing. year. No, yeah, but it's still cool. I love all the, oh, you haven't been in my studio yet.

No, I have not. I had the children out there yesterday hanging photos for all I know there's granola bar on the floor so you might be safer here. I don't know. You should check your socks already. They're probably black. That's okay. It's a sign of creation and a lot of it, paint splashing, et cetera. Yeah, no, that's cool. I like the atmosphere, to be honest. That's one of the cool things about the podcast. It's kind of taken me all over the place to people's, well, last week I was at Lashburn Elementary School with Murray McDonnell and we had a bunch of kids watching us do this and I don't know if they love it or. Yeah, that's neat. It's not a typical thing to do to move around a podcast. No, well normally. People do it like online or over

something or in a specific place all the time. And I, uh, I've been asked to do it like, interview people that are like in Toronto and whatever, right? And I've been like, eh, I really like this. Well, maybe one day you can start traveling to those places. Hopefully. And that will be part of it. Yeah. I really like the interaction of person to person instead of going through technology.

Kind of like gives it a warm feeling sitting across from somebody and talking. I'll interview you, but you have to pay for my flight. Hey, you never know. Maybe someday. Hey, I think so. Right now it seems like a pipe dream. Goals. It could be like a year away or two.

Or five. Or ten. I, if you would ask me some of the things that have happened to me, I probably wouldn't believe to you like 10 years ago. Well, cool. Let's get to some of it because I'm, for people who don't know, we went to school together. We graduated together. We hung out a lot. And then we both went our separate ways.

And now we're both married. But not that far. True. But now we're, well, no, we were, we went our separate ways for college. for a big chunk there, and then now we're back at the same spot, and now we both have little kids and we both got our thirds on the way. How are you feeling, by the way? Super pregnant.

Yeah, I'll try not to keep you up until all hours. I'll let you get your sleep. My laugh is a lot heavier and deeper. But, yeah, no, it's been good. I think it's crazy to have a third child, but here we go. Yeah, and yet somehow I find myself every once in a while. all going, oh, geez. What difference?

Yeah, maybe a fourth, eh? No? I think your wife would disagree strongly, probably. I don't know if she was laughing at me the other night. Really? I probably shouldn't say this on air because now people are going to think I'm having a fourth when I just, I'm like. They're going to hold you to it.

No, you did say. You did say. I don't know. Yeah. I said a lot of stupid things sometimes. No, everyone's like, you need to try for a girl. I'm like, I'm good. I'll just take my, I'll, then I'll have four boys and then, well, I'll, I'll,

be eaten out of house and home later. It's a lot of fun though. Yeah, it is. I actually really like it. We're really active and get a lot of fresh air. And it's definitely fun. Exhausting, but fun. And gross.

All of the same time. Oh, you want gross? They're absolutely disgusting. Well, you know, you grew up with brothers. Yes. So it's, I tell you what? I'm just like, I'm not that surprised anymore. It's Mila right now.

Amela's dipping her, what was it the other day? Like her orange and ketchup. I'm like, how's that? That's not gross. I'm talking about like disgusting, like, you know. What do you mean? That's not gross. An orange and ketchup?

Oh my gosh. I've seen Finn eat like strange, strange things. And just be like, I'm not talking about like, that's like the most innocent, gross thing I've ever heard is dipping in orange and ketchup. Because Finn always digs and touches his shit in his diaper and comes and walks around and is like poop or smears it on the glass railing upstairs. Like I'm talking about it like they are disgusting and they love being naked and it's just going to go downhill from here. I was going to ask you. I was thinking on the way over. What is the one thing you never thought you would do but your child's made you do it?

Oh gosh. they definitely like to kiss on the lips and there's like gross stuff on their face and like when before you're a parent you don't imagine yourself being so disgusting now i like eat their leftovers and yeah i know and it's gotten to a level of if someone saw me or watched my daily activities activities they'd be like what are you doing and just like your first baby you're like i could just eat you i love you so much much, you know? You'll just go to any level. It's different being a parent. I like it. I was telling the story, I think this morning at work. My brain's a little mush, but I never thought I could give my kid candy in the morning. I never wanted to. I think it's ridiculous. But Shea won't go through the night without shitting himself, right? Like it goes in the room, poops himself, and then you wake up and he's got this, and you're just like, man, just like get through the night. So we started bribing them with like these little mini donuts.

Kid has not pooped himself once. Oh, there you go. Mini donuts. A mini donuts. But now I'm giving my child a mini donut at like 7 a.m. Whatever. Honestly, whatever gets you through the day or night, apparently. Yeah, you'll just do it.

I keep gumball treats. I keep tic tic tacks in my purse. Like I have bribes to go places, get in things, get your shoes on, like everything. We always, we had to get through a wedding, Mel's. Mel's cousin's wedding And so She was like two

Or some were right around there And we had like a list of like Five things And Defcon 7 was the soother He hadn't had a suitor in over a year And we got to Defcon 7 in like five minutes And just gave him a suitor And he sat there and didn't move

Didn't move for like an hour I'm like oh there you go All right like you just You got a bag of tricks That's what parents do Yeah you have to think ahead though That's for sure Yes you do

You have a plan If not you're just like I regret it not planning. That killed me. So we'll get back into children. Yeah, sorry. This is our parenting blog tonight. That we're doing?

This is live, loving conversation. I love it. Yeah. The reason I wanted to get you on, the reason I've been fascinated following you since you started this is, everybody knows I'm a sports guy, so they're probably sitting there going, why does he have Brandy Hofer coming on?

It doesn't really align. but I've been saying now for the last little bit that this podcast is never going to just be about one thing. My personal self love hockey, but I love adventure and I love history, right? Like three different spots and you hit adventure and hard work and stuff that aligns with hockey and adventure all at the same time. So I wanted to know, because I can't remember, is when you got your start in like painting. Like was it from a young age or is it something that you kind of grew into or? Definitely right away. I mean, I feel like it was always a big part of my life.

And it definitely was positively encouraged. So my dad was really into music and my mom just was supported whatever we love to do. They were never like, oh, we want you to be a doctor or a lawyer or whatever, right? They never pushed. They just left it open. And so for gifts and things, I would always get like paint sets and paper. And because in every book that wasn't like mine, there was like horses drawn in encyclopedias. And so it was just like I was pretty obsessive from the get-go.

And then they say about 12 or so is the level where peer pressure, either you kind of go into it or you don't, because someone may have said something to you or said you were bad at it or with creativity and stuff like that. So unless it was encouraged, a lot of times it gets dropped along that same age range. So it was definitely, yeah, right from the start. And I didn't know specifically that I wanted to follow it as a career. I was just like, yeah, I guess I'm good at that. I'll, and I want to go to school.

So I first started at RDC in Red Deer College. And then my second year really clicked that when I got to focus on what I wanted to do. Then it clicked for me that I'm like, oh, I think I want to like really continue doing this for, well, probably at like the rest of my life. And specifically painting, not just something art related like illustration or anything. like that. But I spoke the other day in front of a group and one of my ex-teachers were there and I had mentioned that, you know, I didn't realize I wanted to be an artist until the date I just mentioned. And he said, if you would have asked any of your teachers in high school, they would have just said, yeah, you're an artist, you're going to be an artist. He said it was perfectly obvious and clear.

Really? Yeah. Oh, okay. I guess he helped me choose the school I chose. I was curious, Mel and I, I was curious, Mel and I, my wife and I were driving the other day, and the kids were singing in the backseat, and they always sing, and they're awful singers. I mean, they're great singers, but they just, and we were talking about, you know, if singing lessons would help, and if they enjoy it, maybe singing lessons will help, and we

got into the discussion versus natural town. where you're just, you know, I don't know, I just always listen to Adele and think she must have just been a gifted singer from the beginning. She opened her mouth and it came out and it sounded lovely. And then there's like hard work and whether or not repetition on something can make you to the level you're at. And I was curious what your thoughts were. Yeah, I mean, I have a level of natural talent for sure. And I guess it was, now that I look back, I'm like, wow, that's when I started. I'm like, that stuff was really bad.

But kind of halfway through, there was a huge shift of social media exposure and the switch to, like, even when I was in university, like, Facebook wasn't quite a thing. It had just begun. Yeah. So the reach and the, you know, grasping what social media was and what it could do, no one knew. Like, it was brand new. So kind of three to five years into that, then I was exposed to artists from all over the world. And then I was like, whoa, my stuff is mediocre, but I want it to be here.

So I've always worked really hard and I did really amazing things and I traveled at that young age. But then, yeah, that five-year mark or so, I realized my work ethic had to change and I probably had to paint every night to reach a level that I wanted to be at. So instead of, you know, I am social but not overly social. and I can be if I want to, but I really had a routine and I get myself a tea or a snack or whatever it gets, and then I come straight into the studio as soon as I have that extra time. Yeah. And it paid off. It definitely, I've gotten to where I want to be, especially with the figurative and portraiture work.

And I've figured out the tools and I've taken classes and extra training and done research. and on top of that apply to like a zillion things to try to get exposure. So it's art is many different things. And it's about 70% of research computer work and talking to galleries and social media posts and then about 30% painting. Which is crazy. It is. And it's kind of exhausting and overwhelming. and it sometimes can be a letdown, but when I do get to create, it's extra special,

and it has that element of surprise and mood, and it's an extension of myself, as opposed to something I'm manufacturing or creating or trying to repeat something that I like or that people liked. I'm trying to be really honest with my work. Those are really long-witted answer. No, that's good. No, I think that's really good. I was curious, while you're talking about natural versus hard work, I also wondered in there if you talked about you had a little bit in your natural a little bit, right?

You had a little bit of natural scale. I almost wonder if it isn't you're interested in it. Oh, yeah. You completely have to be passionate about it. Well, instead of natural about it, though, if you look back at your, original working, like, oh man, that wasn't very good. Maybe it was just that you're really interested in because when you're interested in it, I listen to you talk about having, and I actually just did Murray Macdonnell and he paints now full time and he said he paints like six hours a day. I assume

you're just like, oh yeah, that makes sense. I'm like six hours a day. That's a lot. Well, he must have some time then. Yes, he's retired. He's a retired school teacher and he is a fascinating listen and he comes out Wednesday so actually by the time this is listed by the time this is posted he'll have been all a couple weeks ago but he is like he has some like well he's really good but he paints full time now and he gets talking about it you get talking about it like every night you go paint and I'm like that's that's hard work like yeah that isn't just like hey I do I show up on Saturday I paint for half an hour oh there's a 10,000 dollars I walk away and I'm done right like you're talking about like every night between painting social media and just making sure you're

visible and searching it out like I mean you got to love it yeah it's oh for sure but it also it's routine and I expect it now and I music is a big part of it like I have to have good music like I can't listen to a podcast and paint like I need I can't serenade you while you're no it's like if I listen to podcasts I'm driving because that's I have like by myself not with my children I have a free moment to listen to something and focus on what someone's saying but when I'm in here I need I need someone's creative creativity or something they've developed or made and and I need to bounce off that and it gets me right in the mood and the headspace and when I'm not at about the same time every night I start hearing

those songs and like what I've been listening to lately and I start singing them and like my body kind of mentally expects to do that it's changing a little right now because I usually paint until about like 11 or midnight or did but I'm pregnant so I'm I'm like I can't do that yeah or I will it's just physically dangerous because I just need rest after playing with two a four-year old and a two-year-old all day plus the 36 boys in our crescent and waddling after them so i i need to rest and i think i mentioned to you before um i really sincerely believe in in if you can't actively rest you can't you can't be your full you can't reach your full potential of i'm saying this totally But if you can't rest, if you can't master resting, you can't master your active life.

That's right. You're awake life. And so that I want to be there fully for my children every day. That's first. And then right now, just because, you know, it's a little blip. So as soon as the baby hits about three months and you get to, in a sleep routine hopefully somewhat, then as soon as they go to bed at the 730 mark, I'll be back into. a routine again but um yeah what what you're talking about is one of the actually is what i

commented on that i out of all the stuff you sent me and all the stuff i've read on your blog and everything i picked out the time is our most precious commodity and should be spent on things that matter most family loving one's passions i think that's fantastic um i was curious on your time management then. What is, so that is the day in the life of a painter is you wake up, you do things with the kids all day and it hits a certain time at night and boom, you're in the studio working away? Pretty much. Is that every day? There's that Monday to Friday. No, I'm not, like I, I love routine, but I'm not anal. Like, obviously, I'm an artist. Like, I allow for a lot of flexibility, which if you didn't with children, you'd kind of go crazy, but they expect routine. They

They enjoy routine because they know what's coming, so they're not surprised. So I provide routine for them. I provide routine for myself and kind of everyone's happy. And that's the goal. If everyone's rested and happy, everything goes smoother. Smoother. Yes. Ish.

Kind of. It's impossible to be smooth with children. But, and it's great because now, since Gus was about, two, I've had them in my studio. So there are days when we get to create together. It was really easy when Finn slept and Gus was younger to just manage one. Like when one's sleeping and one's coming to create, it's really easy to manage. But when there's two in here, it gets like out of hand and people start, it gets, they love to dump

paint water. So it gets like a, it gets sloshy in here and they like slip and slide and spread. and it gets like paint water fight-ish, which is great because what gets created is really cool and I would never make it myself because obviously I'm not going to have my own paint water like lake in the middle of the art studio. I don't even want to know what damage has been done to this room but yeah so it's kind of neat that way. But the whole coming back to the that quote is, you know, my husband and I did suffer some losses unexpectedly of his father and my mother and I was six months pregnant with Gus, my first child when I lost my mom. So

things really changed in my life, like drastically. You know, we were as a family, devastated. She was a huge, well, most people's mother are a rock. Yeah, they take care of you. So what happens when they're gone? There's people take care of you, but not in the same way. So all of a sudden, I'm, you know, I was a grown up, but I'm a grown up and a mother all at once doing this kind of new thing and and I really just realized yeah like I don't want to waste any moments and I want to be present for my my children and and you know as much as I can and teach them to be kind and and enjoy life and and and physical contact and love and yeah so yeah which I get to do. We're very lucky. I get to be here with him every day. I won't say it's easy all

the time, but it's definitely special and I know I'll look back and have fond memories. Oh, just be, be proud of, you know, what we achieved and how good it felt. I was thinking about last night I was like, oh, one day I'm going to hopefully reach old age and I'm going to really miss this time. Yeah. So I remind myself that every time Chey comes off the potty or out of bed, off the bedroom goes, dad, I need to go pee. But he just wants to see me before he goes to bed for like the seventh time. And I'm going, don't get mad because soon enough, he won't do that anymore. And he'll sleep to the night. And then you won't be able to wake him up and pretty soon he'll be high school and whatever else. Not like you really. That's right. And so you got to, you really have to be

conscious of that and put yourself in the right mindset um i was just saying to carly before he left he had offered me a beer and i hadn't had while i told me i'd go five months without drinking well she's pregnant sorry hon i didn't i didn't make it i made 34 days and then i'm back on day like five again i forget what it is well brewman had that accident we ran uh ran the fundraiser forum so that night i after it was all set and done and we we ran a very successful fundraiser forum the three of us went to his deck and sat and had what we thought was going to be a beer but we'd sold we'd auctioned off all the beers so we had two uh palm bays and a warm mike's hard or no smearing off ice smear not off ice yeah totally worth the 34 day yeah so i tell you what the old pink

grapefruit it tasted pretty good yeah but the whole point was to for while mel's pregnant right like she just you're going through it right now she gets tired she gets emotional she gets just like she can't handle too well she can she's a super awesome lady obviously she has to deal with me but um to try and be there more

just physically all the time and mentally so that I can deal with some of the stuff that she just right now her body's tired right yeah your body and your mind like and yeah you're a little bit shorter tempered than you normally are and uh like

uh For example, I, Carly's like, well, it's four after three. Sorry, Carly is my husband, Charles, Claussen. And then about halfway through my pregnancy, he's like, this is definitely our last pregnancy. Because, yeah, I got super mean for sure. Yeah, pregnancy. Super. Precnesty's tough on husband.

I feel like I'm like I've lightened up a bit, but I'm really ill at the beginning. So an exhaust, like really tired. It was a rough one, this one. I like, I couldn't even get off the floor. Like I was just laying there and letting the kids roll on me. I can't move. So, yeah, it's something. But summer's here and it's fun.

Kick them outside and away they go. Yeah. Well, I have to watch them there a little. But from a chair. I was wondering, so you go to college. You go to Red Deer, then you go to Halifax. To university, yeah. Yes.

And then, oh, yes, sorry, university. Yeah. But then you come back to Lloyd and start working. What did you, like, you weren't, were you painting at that time? Yeah, I was. I actually paid off my student loans with my paint sales. Did you really? So I guess my art wasn't that horrible before social media kicked in.

It was good enough to sell. Yeah, I, well, I didn't know how much I had spent in student loans. I'm just not a really particular person. But yeah, I had about 40 grand in student loans and I paid them off and like, I don't know, I think it was a year and a half or something. Not like two years. Well, after I figured out how much I was paying and the interest, I was like, holy smokes.

That took me a year to like click in. Yeah. So, yeah. I was doing it in our old house and I destroyed one of the rooms in there. and had a studio and started my business kind of like a year after I got home. I was waitressing full time though, which is also pretty exhausting.

So I didn't have that same routine. I didn't work every night painting, but I painted because that's what I wanted to do. I just knew I had to supplement my income. When did you decide to go to Montreal and France, France, not Paris? That was 2011. So I actually, went back to Red Deer College and did an artist residency. And for those of you who don't know what that is,

it's where you go for a month or like two months or a year. It depends on where you're going and what the residencies are like. But you have a project that you're set to work on and you go there and you paint for that for that amount of time. So I went back to RDC. They wanted alumni. back and I went and lived there for one month and painted in the college with their program because they want their students to learn from people who are pursuing the arts. And then the project leader for the Montreal project was actually one of the professors at RDC. And I had applied for the same project that he ran in Vancouver, I think a year or two before,

and I was rejected. So he told me about it and said, you should apply again because I was shortlisted. Like I was on, you know, amongst people he was interested in for being a participant. So I, yeah, I applied to the Montreal one and that was for the full month of July 2011. And, yeah, I was accepted after a few, you.

interviews and it was actually a project and it's kind of long-winded to explain but um but you're talking about the Montreal one where while I'm the only thing I know for sure is while I'm looking for you you're looking for me yeah so two people are to set out in a city and they do not know the city anyone in the city so there were some things that you needed to apply right Like I couldn't know anyone there. I couldn't know the city or anything like that. And you don't know anything about the person. Like if they're male or female, how old they are, anything.

And you have to find them in 38 days, I think he gave us in your own unique way. Okay. So I'm fascinated by this. Without using the internet as a resource. So you hop on a plane and fly to Montreal? Yeah. So you show up in Montreal. I was very scared.

I remember being very afraid. Well, I mean, I mean, I would think that's a normal feeling to have. You're being put in a city you don't know, and it's not home on Saskatchewan. You're going to Montreal. I was a young woman. I knew nothing about Montreal. Did you speak French? No.

Oh, yeah, even better, right? Like, okay. I was like, maybe I'll try to learn. No. Turns out people were super nice to a young female. Yeah, but still... I didn't need to learn French. So did they...

I got a bunch of questions spurned on my brain. Like, okay, so you went for 28 days. Did they pay you a stipend then? So you had a little... $30 a day. $30 a day. I had to live off of.

On top of not working for a month and only a home in my midst of. Could you have brought $1,000 with you or you couldn't... Yes, I could... I could have spent like $10,000 if I wanted to. I didn't because at that point in my life, I was... I was, well, I didn't have kids or anything. So I spent like $1,100 extra that month. But I also had income loss, right?

Because I wasn't working for that month. And so you have to account for that. I'm curious. Where did you brain take you? So you land in Montreal. You're walking. You got your one bag, I assume. I assume you didn't go there with much.

No, I went with a little bit of painting supplies. And not really an idea, actually, of how I was going to find the person. But this is just me. I don't really think things through too full on. That makes it kind of boring if you do. But I actually met my brother, and this is where something clicked for me. My brother had recently moved to Edmonton, which for him, sorry, Zach, not a big traveler. Or like, I think he had maybe just gone to Mexico.

Like he wasn't. Okay. I had already traveled. and I had done, like, I was just a little, in that section of life, a little more ambitious. He was, he was happy where he was. So he had recently moved to Edmonton, and he's a musician. So the art scene and music scene was really, like, bumping there for him, and he was, like, kind of ignited and really excited about it.

And he walked me around and took me to these live music places. and there were like quartets playing these beautiful things. And he was just, he's really social and charismatic. And he just knew everyone and was, you know, just kind of, he had a little extra pep. So I was like, you know what? I'm going to face this kind of like my brother. He seems really, seems really into this right now. I'm just going to go for it.

Who cares anyways? Like, what do I have to lose? I'm just going to, you know, go. take the bull by the horns and go full in for this project and whatever so i landed there and the guy who's putting on the project sees you the first day and then can't see you again um until the end because he can't influence what you're doing because he's documenting it right from afar in montreal but documenting what you're doing so are you like texting them every day to let him i had a i chose to blog about what i was doing okay but you just can't use

like the project's name or whatever for the other person to find you online so yeah i went full in i i just toured around montreal went on their transit system i met my friend andrew swimming in a fountain he frightened me at first i was like this that guy is like whoa but he was with a group of um people and they were just he was just you know a little bit love in life then night, I guess, and his bike shorts and hat and swimming in the fountain and gave me his number. And next day he showed up at my apartment with a man-sized orange 70s road bike, the heaviest thing in the world. And 10 minutes later, we were weaving in and out of Montreal rush hour traffic at like

4.30 in the afternoon. And I, like, I, lucky I brought a helmet. I don't know. I've never ridden through track. I live in Lloydminster. I can ride a bike, you know. So from that point on, I did like 40K or more on a bike through Montreal in the traffic. They have lovely bike lanes. And the whole city is this magical place that has this atmosphere and especially in the summer. Like it's just full of life and full of people and walking around and young people. people and it was the best experience. I, and I, I did, I went there full force, like, let every inhibition and let everything down. And I met, I met new people every day. And people

who were so nice and welcomed me into their life and, you know, old, young, every experience was really fulfilling. I met Fiona and she worked. for CBC and got me on CBC and like it's just crazy when you do something alone which everyone is absolutely afraid of like I'll go to the movies alone I don't that doesn't bother me I'm fine with flying solo but it probably has something to do with that experience um it you meet you're just more open to say you go to a restaurant or a bar or live music or something If you go with a group of people or you go with your significant other, you're just going to talk to them all night.

If you're there alone, well, you're probably going to talk to a few people you don't know. You're going to do one of two things. You're going to cry in your room, and then you're going to eventually pull yourself together and try and talk to somebody. Yeah. Or people will talk to you, you know? So, and like I said, full of young people there. So it was just like it was pretty safe.

I don't know what it's like there now, but. At that point, it was really safe, and I never felt, at first I did. First, I was fearful of walking on the streets by myself. But it was great. There was a great nightlife and a charm about the city. And now I, yeah. I heard a great line, maybe in a book. I can't remember where the heck I heard it.

I went to a book club with a group of men. And I forget what the heck the book was. But it talks about being comfortable with the uncomfortable. and what you talk about is exactly that you learn so much when you go into the uncomfortable that's where you learn is when you put yourself in uncomfortable situations if you didn't do those things you would just never ever progress in life like and you're no longer afraid of them and you grow as an individual it's really important that was probably the most uh that was what i took away from that experience yeah it wasn't about finding the other person it was i didn't

find the other person. He didn't find me either. Yeah. So, um, the competitor in me just was like, I would have been trying, I would have been trying dang hard, but that probably isn't why the guy wanted you to do it in the first place. The odds of you finding someone are pretty slim, though, in that size of a city. Uh, I could, like, I, now that you think back, I'm like, I could have done something really boring and, like, stood on the same corner in, like, a costume for the whole time. But that just wasn't me, right? Yeah. So I gave away drawings at every, I basically attended every public event that I could possibly attend, which in July. There's Tamtams, live music, picnic, electronics, fireworks.

There was a fireworks competition, the world fireworks competition on while I was there. So there was a different country every week, synchronized to the radio, which is insane. So we would bike across to the island and sit under the bridges and listen to the radio and see these. It was crazy, like the stuff we did. So it, yeah, it really doesn't bother me. And the other person turned out to be like a 40-some-year-old guy who was a writer and he was introverted. So probably the exact, that's why he chose us. We were pretty opposite.

So he's like, I mapped out where I'm. I walked every day and I put pins on the map and I wore this shirt that I made with the project name on it. So, I mean, he had a different experience than I did and I ate the most amazing food. Like the food there is inexpensive and you can eat at least like. And you biking 40K a day? Yeah. You'd be able to eat whatever the heck you wanted. Yeah.

And like going into these little dives and finding these great falafels. or pat-a-ti-pat-ta-ta has these amazing like you can get normal burgers or tofu burgers and like a big thing of salad and a big thing of fries but like good like not normal food like so good and I pretty much stuck to the budget like the own money I spent was on like things you know I wanted to do or or purchase there and the other guy spent about the same as I did, except he ate grilled cheese every day, but he smoked cigarettes. Don't smoke cigarettes. Don't smoke cigarettes.

They cost your whole budget for the month. Yeah, so there were some huge differences between him and I, but that was, yeah. When Carly, who I was with at that time, which was great, because that's something I didn't have to worry about, a partner who I was secure with, and he was having to have to be. happy that I got to experience something, but he got there and he's like, do you want to like stay here? You seem like having a really good time. I think it was obvious to him that I fit as an artist more in a large city than maybe Lloyd Minster, where we had decided to be to be close to our families after we both finished university. I actually had it marked down on here,

because I always find it interesting. Well, distance is a real tough thing on a relationship. And when you left for Montreal and then France. France, two months later. Yes. Yeah, I was actually accepted. So in 2011, I did the residency in Red Deer, Montreal for another month, or more. I stayed a bit longer because it was fun.

Yeah. People visited. And then I went in September to. Marnays or Sarsan in France for like a month and a half because I decided to also stay longer and see some stuff and meet some people. How was the distance? There's nothing. Nothing?

No. We had actually come into our relationship in 2006 and I was going away two months later to NASCAR University in Halifax. So we started dating that summer. Not knowing that, you know, you're young and whatever, not knowing you're going to meet the person you want to be with. Yeah. We weren't looking. We were neither of us were looking for that at the time.

But it just clicked and we knew right away. And we did two years of long distance. Carly came to Halifax for, I think, four or six months or something and finished his degree. But, yeah, we started long distance. We just really loved each other, I guess. Like, oh, we were so in love. We would talk on the phone for, oh, why am I talking about this? We would talk on the phone for like six hours a night.

It was crazy. But, you know, you are a little bit crazy when you first fall in love. Yes, you are, yeah. Well. Yeah, so, you know, a few months of me, you know, getting accepted to these crazy opportunities. Yeah, it'd be silly not to take them. We, yeah, he didn't even blink. He was supportive.

It was great. That's cool. I bring it up, Mel and I also did distance for two years. And I just, always curious because we live in a world now where, I don't know, you hear as high. Well, you hear as high as like 50% divorce rate. It's just crazy. I don't even get it, right? Like, why even get, why even, like, you should know.

Yeah, you should. have a grasp of that person's personality. Before you get into it. Don't get me wrong. I'm sure somebody out there got blindsided. I'm sure it happens. Oh, for sure. Yeah, I've heard horror stories.

Yeah. But I don't think 50% right? Like that's probably a little bit of blind. And people do change and circumstances in life throw some things at you that are unexpected. True. So you have to account for that. But yeah, I felt like we knew and that was it. and we both fit in each other's families really well.

Yeah, and we're both local to the Westminster. So I think you fall in love with someone who kind of feels like home to you in a way. You didn't move your significant other from Minneapolis to home on Saskatchew? Because I did that. You did that. I did that. She's taking it really well. She's taking it really well, yes.

Oh, God. Yeah. I kind of wanted to just, I was curious about your residency in France. What did you do there? Like, were you painting every day? Yes, I did paint every day. And I don't mean that as a shot. I was just, I'm actually curious what happens in a residency when you go over there.

Like is it? So I had to kind of think outside the box because I had to take all of, because where I lived had nothing. It was on the send. So, but in Marneser Se, which is a small town that has a population of like nothing, and so you're just, you get there on a little train and you're kind of in a beautiful spot, but there's, you have access to nothing, no supplies or anything. So I had to decide to do the whole body of work on paper and bring all, so I brought an extra case of supplies. So I had two bags toting across Europe. That was fun. But I decided I wanted to do a

female-based series and interview everyone I met there. So women from all parts of the globe and interview them on their life stories. And then... How was that? Really interesting. Like, I had one Sarah, and I don't think I could even say. She had two last names because she escaped. Her family had escaped country. Oh, that's cool. I mean, like really interesting stories, but, you know, stuff you don't hear here. No.

That's for sure. So I painted her several times. I don't know. You say that. You say that. But I go back to Murray McDonnell. And he met his wife. who her father, so his father-in-law, him and his family,

fleed Africa from persecution from the government to Toronto, and then he married her and moved out here. There are stories like that. Yeah. I just find, I was saying to him, I find, it's not that common. It's not that common, and it becomes, I think, over time, less and last people sit and talk like this and discover that, right?

There's very little discovery anymore. It's just more like, hey, how's it going? Oh, great. The weather's great. Right. And I heard you did this. Oh, that's cool. Yeah, awesome. Thanks. I'm busy. Moving on. And then the phone paused out and I've got to go, right? Right. You'd rather read about it on a post or a video about it somewhere on Facebook than I actually sit and chat about it. But anyway, sorry. No, that's okay. I spoke recently and people are like, wow, I really didn't know all those things about you.

I'm like, well, how would you? It's the first time I'd heard about Montreal. And as soon as I mentioned to a couple ladies, you were coming on, I'm like, oh, yeah, I heard her talk about it. I'm like, oh, that's cool. Like, that blows my mind. That's like a super cool story. Yeah, it was, and I'm glad I did it when I was, you know, young and, you know, had a little more zip in my, I'm not old. But when I, you know, you're a little, I think I was a little naive too.

So ignorance is bliss and it was. So it was nice in that regard. And I have that experience under my belt. And then in France I painted a lot, but I also drank a lot of delicious wine and ate a lot of ripened, soft ripened cheeses. And I cooked a lot there, surprisingly. There was like five apple trees and a pear tree, and they kept just dropping apples. It was fall, so I don't like to waste. And they actually invited me back to be a chef there, but stay for free.

No kidding. Yeah, because we had a chef who was supposed to cook us our meals, and he did, and he was great. but I also was in there a lot because I just love it and I it was so different from my day to day like life serving which is really high-paced but going somewhere in the middle of nowhere and you know and this was again before the age of the like Facebook was there but Instagram was maybe not and maybe not peaking in so much but the age and our internet was not great. So I had a lot of time, which for the first week was a really big adjustment,

especially to coming off of Montreal where I was like hitting the road every day. The difference was I was on this like cruiser bike in the middle of beautiful fields of sunflowers and like biking to get my bag at. It was a different pace, but it was nice. and, you know, yeah, it was lovely. And I got a really lovely series out of it too. What series was that? Portrait of a woman.

Portrait of a woman? Yeah, that's what I titled it. And that's all the different ladies that you talk to? Yeah. That's a cool idea. Yeah, it was really interesting. And I even interviewed my mother-in-law before I left. I was painting her as well.

And I yeah, she told me things I had no idea. I had no clue until I started asking and my interview questions. Because yeah, how often? Well, I'm actually just by nature not that nosy. Like I don't want to, you know, step on any, like push any buttons. Like I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable. So, yeah, how often do you fall into those conversations with people? And I find people, some, lots of people are humble.

about like their best experiences. They don't, oh, yeah, no, yeah, we, you know, like we won something or we traveled here. We went and did this amazing experience, but they almost glaze over it, and you're like, oh, what did you just say you did? Right? Like, oh, that back in the day we did whatever, right? And it's like, well, that's kind of cool. How would we sit in chat about her for five minutes? And we got a cousin Bob.

Cousin Bob is my dad's cousin, and he lives in Abbotsford. And we just went down there for Dustin's 40th. my brother's birthday. And he has stories that just, like, blow your hair back. Like, he's in, I believe it was Australia, he gets, he's in a bar, goes out for, drink of water out of an old well, pulls up the pail out of the well, gets bit by a snake, goes back in, and he said, did you see it? It's kind of a green one.

And they go, well, if it was this one, you'll be dead by morning. If not, you're fine. And so he said, well, I'm always enjoying my last night. This plant drank, woke up in the morning, his life was swollen, and he carried on. you're like but if you never sit and talk to him or my cousin judy was on in the perfect storm she was on the one boat that survived where she was telling us that story when we're down there and i'm just like how do you not know this well we kind of dad's kind of told us but to see it like listen to it first hand is like and this has probably gotten you even more like at a different level of interest

in people's you're like wow now what can i learn from people this is so neat that's that's that's kind on why I started this. A, I've always been interested in radio. I said that. You have a radio voice. I hear that. Well, thank you. I was listening to a different podcast the other day, and I was like, man, I just,

this guy sucks. Like, nobody's talking about, but his voice sucks. So I always like here. That's a huge comment. Which, too bad for him, but, yeah, people have certain, yeah. Yeah, well, cool. Well, when I started, when I thought of the idea of this, I wrote down 40 names, but your name was on, because I went,

Thank you. If I went around Lloyd and I picked, if I could pick like 40 handpicked people like this person, this person, this person. And I've done a few of them now. I've heard their story but never from them. So I've always heard somebody tell me about these great things they've done. And I'm like, why don't I just go to them and hear their story and record it? And then I have it now I got it. And if people want to listen to it, they can.

Or I can just say I've heard it now and so be it. And the crazy thing is, is like, three weeks ago now, I think it was, I did Cy Campbell. He was the 94-year-old World War II vet. And that stuff was like, I don't know if I'll ever get to sit and talk with a guy about World War II ever again. No, right? Definitely. And like. Who, yeah, who are you going to meet that was a part of world?

Well, exactly, right? And was willing to talk about it. And Ashley has really fond memories of it. And I just kind of blew me away. I'm like, you're happy to go, well, you know, we went through the Depression. and we're all happy to go do something. I'm mad, like, I can't even put myself in that position. You don't even know what that's like that.

No. No. No, I'll have to, that's really interesting. So I always go back to the 80-20 rule of what the podcast is. I'm maybe hoping 75-25, but I love hockey. I love bantering hockey. I'm the typical guy. I love it.

I love it. I love a good story, interesting story. You got an interesting story. This is cool sitting in here and talking. Actually, and I didn't like sharing my story, but I learned quickly that in order for people to connect to my artwork, they need to connect to me first. I listen to your video on your blog, the one I'm assuming from the women's conference,

but that's correct? Yeah, yeah. And it gave me chills, like three different times. It was so hard for me. I don't know it. I don't public speak because, well, I don't. I think in school when they would make me read a poem, I would cry. Like, it's not my thing, which is okay.

Everyone has their strong suit. So I did, but that took months of prep and I was still reading for, I had it memorized, but I was still reading from cue cards because I just cannot go up there. I'm going to give you a little story. I took public speaking in college. I actually took public speaking because I was like, you know what, I'm going to learn how to get over the part of Toastmasters or something. Yes, I was. Yeah. Because I was like, I'm going to get over this phobia because I hated public speaking. And the first question I asked my professor was like, okay, how long did it take you to get over public speaking? She's like, I'm still nervous. Yeah. You never get over it. I'm like, you got to be kidding me. She's like, no, I just did stretches out in the hallway to loosen myself up. She's like, I got this routine to kind of like get myself motivated. I'm like, ah, crap, right? Yeah, it's not many. I don't think it's, everyone gets nervous, but some people are stronger at it. That's right. And you learn. And you learn. And you learn. And you learn. to deal with that emotion, right?

I say that coming on a podcast, Mel was asked before I came over here, she's like, so are you nervous? I'm like, I get nervous for them all, right? Like, it's the closest I've ever got to playing in a big hockey game. And I can't translate that feeling other than it. My stomach kind of like, it's a little bit naughty. It's not a bad naughty. It's just like your head's in this. You're a little nervous.

And then we sit down and all of a sudden. You need to focus for a time. And then the mic gets in front of me and we start talking. And once we start talking, it all goes away and it's like, it's flow. It's good. not the worst thing. It really isn't. And especially that you say, I spoke at the women's conference. When you asked me to do this, I was like, yeah, sure. And I wasn't worried about it. Like, of course, you're nervous when you begin anything. But I wasn't worried. And again,

doing things that scare you. Like, I didn't want to say yes at all. I was about to say no to those women when they asked me. But I thought the women's conference, that that's really important to me. Like that is particularly about what my body of work at this year was about vulnerability and and owning yourself and the Me Too movement and all of that. And I was like, yeah, I definitely probably should go speak in front of 300 women because that's. what I've been talking about for a year. Not to mention that from an outsider looking in, it's like a huge honor for them to come.

That was really nice. I was surprised. I was not expecting that at all. And I'm glad I did it. And they were like, you can talk about whatever you want. I'm like, okay. And I had no idea what I wanted to talk about. And I just started thinking about it.

I'm like, well, I'm just going to be honest about my experiences in life and hopefully people like it. So I just told, you know, what I do in my story and a little, a few of the hardships and the lessons I've learned. So hopefully, I, I did get like a lot of positive feedback from it. It was really good. Yeah. So I think the written version was good.

No, no, it was really good. No, honestly, you say you're nervous. It's just another way. And like, you were very good. It was very good. I put an odd joke in there. Yes, and they were good. Yeah.

Yeah. I personally like the one about you rubbing. Yeah. Rubbing your. Carlin. That's, maybe you should tell that one. Okay, I can. I think I'm really funny.

My husband does not agree. He thinks that he said, you think you're really funny. I'm like, well, I am. Or people will, when, laugh when I told a story. He said they're just being polite. I think he's wrong. And my brother always says, you know,

if you tell a joke or you tell a story, if you laugh, people are probably going to laugh with you. That's right. Just laugh at yourself. He's like, so just go with it. So I usually, yeah, I go full on. And my family's, like my grandpa was notorious for being a storyteller.

Kind of a bullshitter. That's all he did. And then that trauma. down to my aunts and uncles and my mom, of course. They could tell a good story. Like, I won't tell you something. I won't start a story unless I have, like, a punchline at the end because I want you to react. I enjoy, you know, without, you know, thinking too hard, but I'm not going to tell you something without a point.

So I'll tell you. Oh, so you're different than me. I can ramble. I can ramble with the best of all. I can ramble, but mostly I'll have a, I'll have some sort of line. Like, I'm going somewhere with this. There's a reason, right? Yeah, so the summer, which I mentioned before,

that Carly and I started dating, yeah, we were young, and, you know, his parents had this beautiful backyard, and we were having dinner with them, and they were barbecuing, and we're at this little round table. and we had, you know, a nice meal or whatever, and we're sitting there and we're all laughing and having a good time and we finished our meals. And I look to my right down at Carly's feet and I'm like thinking to myself, I'm like, where are his socks?

He has bare feet right now. and I look over at, well, my father-in-law, but not at the time. And he's smiling. And I am like, I have been playing footsies with a socked foot all through dinner. And he just wiggled his big eyebrows up and down. And I just, I was, oh, I just, I, of course, I kind of wear my heart on my sleeve and and can't keep things in. I was like, oh my gosh. Like Dwayne, I, I've been rubbing your foot all night. Like, what is going on? And we just, Michelle and Carly are in shock. Like, what the hell is

happening here? Like, why didn't he say anything? Like, I'm not sure. But yeah, again, to this day, because he passed, so we don't know if he was trying to save me from embarrassment or liked. or both? Like, we'll never know, but probably both. He was a fun guy who everyone loved, so. Well, I didn't know that either, really, at the time. He seemed cool to me, but like, yeah, yeah. I can just imagine you're going back to your best friends, how it's going.

Yeah, that's great. Yeah, that's great. Or my father-in-law at the time, right? this man who this guy I've been dating for like a week no we I mean we're both from Lloyd it's not like he didn't know each other but not that well yeah yeah it's a good one but oh so embarrassed I still like my voice shakes like I was embarrassed I am embarrassed it was not a fun moment very funny now yes but because of course he like as I He's a fun-loving, harmless, great man.

So there's nothing that, yeah. Yeah. Anyway. I was curious, I watched once again. Actually, that's a lie. I believe I came. I saw you once when you're doing your shows with Gus. And Mel and I were talking about it again today.

It was like, that brave thing for a mother to do. Like, great idea. And I'm sure 90% of the time, it was a lot of fun. But there had to have been some days where you're like, that was a little bit tough. During the series, actually, no. They were pretty much all good experiences. While you're actually like building them. Yeah.

Yeah. So my goal was that I wanted to be open and kind of not say no to, you know, just full on creativity. And he was at the perfect age. because... How old was he? Two to three. Yeah. Yeah, because they don't really know imagery or shapes yet.

Like by the end, he was learning like triangle circles and T-Rex and Ghost. And those things started popping up in the paintings. T-Rex and Ghost? Yeah, he'd be like, draw a giant T-Rex. I was like... Where do kids learn that? Okay, I guess there's a T-Rex over this. portrait here.

It's awesome. It's eating the face. And handprints, like tracing hands and just like really early development stuff. And now he's braver than ever and just knows what he's doing in here. But it's

very kind of like if I were to decide to do this with Finn now, it would be the same experience for him, but in a different way because he's a different child. But, yeah, I don't think I ever said no. Like he literally, like, these take me six months to a year,

these large-scale portraits in here. He literally covered over two eyeballs, a nose, and a mouth once. Did you want to scream? I just was like, okay. And it added something to it in the end, but those took me hours, like a long time. I worked pretty quickly, but those are hard things to get right. in a painting. So for me, like, get them right and then him color over it in 40 seconds is something,

it let, it was, it introduced something, a new element of letting go. So, yeah, the only time he cried, he got afraid because I hung, I had a new idea, I hung up balloons full of paint and it scared him when they popped. And shattered paint everywhere? Yeah. I had no idea why he could have been tired or whatever. That's it. So other than that, it was full on dancing music. Yeah. Jam fest in here. Which would have been a lot of fun. Yeah. So then when you're done all those, then you go on a tour with them, correct? Well, not always with paintings. You have to apply to all these places and propose your show and your idea and your body of work. Oh, God, yeah. So you make these things, which it turned out to be a 44 portrait series of all local parents.

So people came in and posed for me and I photographed them. So they volunteered from social media. I had a few that were at local, like two or three, but for the most part, local, which I felt was important. And being with what we were doing and the theme of the whole. the whole thing and so I finish it I frame it I get it ready and I decide that I also because this is about motherhood and playfulness and living in the moment I want it to be an interactive exhibition so for and involved families and children because how many art galleries let in or are like hey bring your kids let's get

moving in the gallery so they were Rylong toys we had like 50 balloons filled up with helium and suckers tied to the bottom so they would float around the room swords hockey sticks like everything

kids loved basically besides letting them well actually at one gallery we let them paint on the wall but yeah it was a we traveled

to three spaces. So it was a traveling exhibition, so interactive, which you would call an installation in the art world, plus the artwork hanging on the walls. So it was quite the experience. And the openings were absolutely insane. I think there was 118 people at the local opening. So with their kids and babies. And it was so much fun. But like, so crazy. It was at another level. Yeah, but very cool. That was, that was, that was, that got a lot of positive response from, from people. It was neat.

And the series was so vibrant and so alive. And that was all thanks to Gus, really, and in our time and the space. So it was special. And I hope he looks back with absolute fondness. I think he will. Yeah. Well, if he can remember. If he can remember it.

But yeah, that was pretty young. Yeah. Something cool to look back on his game. We documented a lot of it. So, yeah. Did you, do you sell all 44 of those in? I don't know. I probably, no, they're still, they're still, because like the large-scale ones,

they're an investment for people. So they can take, I sold one immediately, and they're four. So they take, they can take a year, two years, three, five. Those large-scale ones move a bit slower, but. A lot of the smaller scale. I still have some locally here hung. But, yeah, like, I think they're over half gone. The series before that, Olivia series, was only 12 pieces.

So it sold out, like, during the show. Jordan? Yeah. So those sold out in, like, the month the show hung, basically. So it's different for every body of work. It depends work. goes, the economy. There's a lot of things that fall into place with sales. I got to ask about, is it HGTV? You were saying that's probably the coolest spot your artist's got to this point.

Yeah, I mean, I have stuff all over the world in London and people have collected my work, which is really special. But that one was really neat because they contacted me about a specific space. They like my work and they like this one image that this is where social media comes in on Instagram that I had posted of a female and it was kind of fun 80 style-ish colors or whatever. But that was like a 12 by 17 drawing. But she wanted like a six foot by six-foot painting for this last-minute space they had in their 10,000 square foot home for House of Brian. on HDTV Canada so this is Sarah and Brian Bomber right so they phoned me and they're like we need this painting uh kind of like this one and they sent me some pictures but like a portrait but we

really like this but these are our colors but in two weeks so also that includes shipping I like, well, I work in oils and those take me those ones like I just said, like six months to a year to do. So if you're, and I had done a lot of acrylic work before in large scale and they don't take six months because their oil is tons of layers and it's just different chemistry, but I find it a lot richer. But I said it's going to have to be in acrylic because that dries really quickly. And then I'm have to roll it and chip it to you because we don't have time for framing, et cetera. So we figured it all out. And they kind of, I sent progress shots. They were like, oh, a little less brown, little more white and gold. And I worked with them. And so I do work with designers and

people for their spaces quite a bit, commissioned work, which I actually don't mind doing. A lot of artists don't like doing it because they're like, well, it's not what I wanted to do. But I find it gets you out of your box a little and you have a little fun with it and you see, you know, you get to create something that you worked on with someone else's vision. But of course it was my imagery and my portraiture and what I, similar to my other poses, that's why they chose me as an artist. They liked what I did. so we just came up with a concept together.

The sky was the limit with what I wanted to do with. That's still pretty cool, right? Obviously, mark making, like, they got control. Did you jump up and down when they gave you that phone call? Or was it just like, oh, crap, I got a ton of work to go out. No, it was, I was like, I got to get someone to watch, because I only had Gus. I got to get a babysitter. I got to get someone to watch Gus this week or help me out a bit because I'm going to be at this.

Like, every day. How much did you paint during that? I just painted every day that week. I don't, I actually don't keep track of my hours because I don't get paid for my time. No, but if you were to guesstimate or you like saying like... It's way too depressing. Is it like, was it like 12 hour days? 15 hours days?

No, no, no. Nothing. Four hour days? Nothing that would like, you know, impact eating and stuff like that. I like routine. I like to, no, I still got to be a mom and do my thing. No, it wasn't that bad. I just, I'm really, if I have something to do, I'll get it done.

I'm not a procrastinator. I'll just do it. I'll focus on it. I can be very focused and do it. Like if people have a commission for me, I usually say, you know, it can take anywhere from like two weeks to four months. Depends how many commissions I have and what the size and scale and what people are looking for. But if it's like a, you know, a portrait of someone's significant other or stuff like that and it's on paper, which is a faster working medium, yeah, I can get it done right away. I, you know, then I get to do my own stuff too.

And I feel like when you have more to do, when you're busy, you, I'm in here more. So it's getting me bouncing off ideas and taking it into another project. So I like it. Before we get to my fun little questions at the end that I always do, I thought it might be smart of me to ask, what is your current project and what are you currently up to other than being, what is it now, seven months pregnant? Yeah, I'm seven months pregnant.

I'm trying to slow down, but I keep having things to do. But I physically don't have to do anything else. I just came off of a month of I had to travel to my gallery in Saskatoon, go to my new gallery for an opening in Regina the next week, and then go to another local event. So it was a lot of trucking, literally trucking my art around because I have some of the Gus series, and I have this new mine series based on all the female imagery and stuff,

and I just finished that 20-piece series. So I have to rotate it and get it out there. And especially before I have a baby. And I was accepted into a gallery, the Sky Gallery in Aspen, and the Komodo Gallery in Vancouver. So some new galleries, but they won't be taking my work for six months to a year. What you're saying is you're extremely busy. I'm extremely busy.

And I can't say no. I, yeah, people ask me to do things. I'm like, well, you know, you just, you feel like you're missing out on an opportunity to, you know, to help your work, your, you know, what I've been working on for so long. I don't want to stop, stop it. So, yeah, but I think I'll have a little two month break here. Yeah. Now, after this. This is my last thing that I said yes to.

So it, timeways has really. really worked out. But I actually have started, this is me. I have started a new series along with some self-motivated projects. And I always have commissions on the go.

So, but I want to pace out this new series, which is on Canadian Family and Heritage. Okay. On photos that I found of my family or my husband's family from like the 70s and 80s

so any neat sort of portraiture that I like this is my mother-in-law here from 1977 yeah so I always want to tie in something of myself into these bodies of work

but I don't want to push this series out like I have it's just a little too high-paced and I'm obviously going to be so busy. So I want to take my time and maybe not have the series be so large. But yeah, so it'll probably be a year before the next one's done. But you have to have these bodies of work in order to apply for shows and galleries. But now that I've been accepted into those new places,

like I'll have to have something for them eventually. Eventually. But it's okay. I'm in no rush. There's no pressure, so it's good. If somebody's listening to us and is like, oh, I'd love a portrait done and I'd love something done. Is there a way they can get a hold of you? Yeah. I mean, I'm on Instagram, a Brandy hofer artist, and I mean, it's super easy to find me. I'm on Facebook. Just shoot me a message. And yeah, I have had some really interesting commissions. And like I, like I, said I have a hard time. What's the most interesting commission you've ever had? Interesting.

Well, like recently I had a local cop decide. His wife, I think, Googled. So it was very random. He was so nice. And he must be retiring or something, but they're buying him a gift. So they, he got to choose what he wanted. So he had his old photos from his tour. of him in his like a tanker and with a gun and so I like I was surprised because you know my work is like female based and for like an officer to want you know my style but incorporated to his his and he loved them and he was so nice so that was really neat and I really don't mind I don't mind I don't mind stuff like that and to see his face

when he got them and you know so see people's love for art who you don't expect I get I get really if I thought about it really hard I'm sure I could think of something

weird I thought you were going to say you had to do somebody's poodle or something oh I haven't had to do that yet no you know what there's a lot of especially locally there's actually really good portrait pet portrait artists.

It's not my signature, so people just don't... Don't come to you for it. Come to me. But the biggest project was the mural I did, which is almost 50 feet. That was an undertaking. I heard that it got vandalized like the first or second thing. Yeah, I think it was innocent. I don't think they meant it to be bad, but it was in the end.

Because it was right in the middle of a giant. because every color that is on that mural is a custom color, so we mixed it. Oh, wow. I mixed it. So. FYI, that mural is like kick-ass. Thanks. Yeah.

Like kick-ass. People love taking pictures in front of it, which is very cool. And that was the intent. So, yay. I don't know what I was thinking last summer, though. I was listening to podcasts. Thanks, podcasts. And I was, I saw, I was really following a lot of artists who were doing large-scale

murals. I'm like, why can't I do that? I'm going to get the stuff to do that and see if I can, anyone has a wall to paint. So I actually, the first person I asked was Jill from Red Bicycle, who we know from school. Yeah. And I was like, hey, Jill, super random question. But. And it was the night that.

I decided I wanted to do one. So this is me on a whim, right? Like a hard one. And you don't know. You don't happen to know anyone looking for like a mural for their wall like in Lloyd. And she's like, actually, my chance I do. I, yeah. Small world.

Yeah, she hooked me up right away. And yeah, it was like a month later. But we had to decide on the imagery. go back and forth and decide on concept and what we wanted to mean to the community and and stuff like that. Well, I'll be the first or the millionth person to tell you. Probably the millionth. It's really good.

It's really good. Yeah. Every time I drive by and I'm not saying I'm at no mural connoisseur, but I've seen enough of them, it is like really well done. Thank you. It was a lot harder than I, because I'm a quick worker, but. there were some bumps because it was textured like with there's yeah pattern pattern brick yeah so that takes a longer time than a flat service to paint over and a lot more paint I'll tell you

it sucks it right up and then safety actually unfortunately because I can only paint at night because I'm with my children every day and I'm not going to get a daycare all of a sudden stick them in daycare so I can go paint a mural. That's just not my thing. So, I mean, tons of people get by like that, and that's great. But I just don't. So I only can paint in the evening. And downtown, you just don't want to be alone in the dark.

So what did you do? Downtown in the evening. My dad came and helped me. Really? Yeah. He came every night. and with his friend Barry just hang out

hung out and all those people I was scared of he'd be like hey John so I mean they still were it would have been scary to be alone with said John but my dad's just a local guy

who's been here for you know forever so he knows he's a chef he knows everyone he sees everyone he sees everyone. So it's just like his personality that he would know everyone's name. He's good. He's good like that. But made it a little less scary and manageable and kind of a bonding time with my dad. Gus helped. Gus was there a lot of nights. Is it Gus on the wall? Actually, it's not. It's um, uh, Lipki, Becky Lipke's son. And it's a local photographer red banjo studio, Kristen Hickman.

Oh yeah. It's her imagery. Okay. And that's her son. Gus thinks it's him for sure. Yeah. He tells everyone it is. A lot of people think it's Gus. So you know what? It's honestly happened so much that I just don't bother.

It doesn't really matter because I've heard a lot of moms say their sons just go, that's me, mom. They just think it's them. So it's a common little. We have to pause for 15 seconds. They're down by a point. point in the game five holy crap it's too easy they just won't win it's hard i think it's harder to be up in a series because you lose your fight a little bit well you're not the team fighting for their lives so

crap raptor fans we lose by one that's why you get game six so i got four fun little questions this may take us 30 seconds it may take us 10 minutes i'm not sure I always start out with the guess on the final questions. I've been doing the time machine. I'm really bad at like... That's all right. On the whatever, like quick-witted, you know, short answer. Anyway, go ahead.

I can't even get it out. Are you going to let me get the question out? No, I'm nervous now. Oh, they're fun. I wouldn't have. If you had a time machine and could go to any event, Where would you go? A vent?

Oh, I don't know. Okay. Place? You want to go to a place? Fine. I just figure if it's a time machine, you can go anywhere in time. No, I would just... If it's a place, you're just going to hop on a plane.

That's super easy. I would go back and talk to my mom. Oh, that's a fair one. Yeah, that's... I wish the time machine could bring my mom like... Here. Here. Yes.

Yeah. That would be my real wish. or like in five years or whatever to meet our family. Yeah. Yeah, that's a super easy question. See, I don't know what you're nervous about. Super easy, but very sad. Sad, yes.

That, yeah, that thought is the saddest thought probably when I think about my mom and what an amazing grandmother. She would be, and she really love babies and children. She was a baby whisperer. She bragged about it all the time, too. I mean, she had 13 brothers and sisters. What? Yeah.

13. She was of 13. Yeah. Or I think. One of 13? One of 13. Yeah. And her mom came from 13.

So what are you starting at 3 for? Yeah. We were meant, the women of this family were meant two bear children. No. No. I was good with two. This is a compromise.

Yeah, so she, my grandma even told me I asked her after my first, I was like, Grandma, how did you have 13 children? This is crazy. Like, how did you even do it? well the you know you have the first half and then this the first half takes care of the second half you're like right yeah yeah right so yeah and and it's true like my uncle peter said like my

auntie gwen was like a mom to him so when she got married he was really pissed still 13 like holy moly yeah it's nuts so my mom like you know she raised some babies but really young and and was really good with kids and just like loved babies. She's, she was special. I like babies, but like I don't, I don't think I'm, I won't go up to someone and be like, give me your crying baby, let me soothe it. Yeah. It's not my forte.

So yeah, I would, that, that's so easy. I would, I would want some moments with her to talk. That's a fair enough point. Yeah. If you could go back to your 20 year old self and give your 20 year old self some advice from your 33-year-old self. What would it be? Well, I always think that it'd be like investing in something

that would be smart to get yourself ahead financially. But then I'm like, I don't really even know how to invest money. So it would be like in one ear out the other, what are you talking about? How do I invest in Google? Like, how do you, how do you do that? I don't know. So, and honestly, money, is really not important to me. So, like, I'm just not into things at all.

I really like food, so as long as we can afford. You can buy yourself some gourmet food. Yeah, as long as we're at the level where I can cook nice, meals and we're comfortable, I'm pretty happy with that. Yeah, I don't know. You know, those are things you think about and it's kind of neat, but I probably am going to make those really stupid mistakes anyway. Like, I don't drink now anymore because I find I'm not very nice or like good at it. I get a little goofy. So maybe I would be like hold off a little bit crazy. But I probably, I would not have listened. Like who's going to listen? And you kind of,

I think you got to go that's something you probably need to go through. Right. Yes. Exactly. It is something you have to go through. That's an experience. Go through those painful things to learn. Yeah, that's not for me. Yeah. Clearly it took that amount of whatever to, you know, to, and I'm a better person because of it and it's not for some people some people are fine um i do like the odd um like i like to taste things because they go with good food but there's a limit so it's it's good and as a parent you know there's no there's no room for drinking anymore well i just i part of the reason with uh going back to not drinking for trying to go five months is essentially exactly what you're talking about. You get two kids running around in the morning at 6 a.m.

You try and do that hungover. No, it's impossible. You'll do it once or twice. And then you go, what the heck am I doing this? That's a worst day of my life. Yeah, what are you doing this to yourself for? Right? It's just not worth it.

Absolutely. Ain't worth it. And I actually get really sick. Even worse. Even worse. I get like, I get like flu sick. I won't say. but like I get the flu symptoms.

So it's, you got extreme man cold. Is that what you got? No, like flu, puking flu. I know. You haven't seen the video of the man cold? Oh.

Where he's got the little bell every time. Haven't you seen that? No, but I've experienced man colds. You've experienced man cold? On a regular. If you could paint any celebrity, I'm going to go a celebrity.

Celebrity? Who would it be? I'm not good. That's not good for me. I like it's because I like movies, but I'm not into like celebrity life. Okay, so, okay, so who is one person then? We won't go, we won't go celebrity. If there's one person out there, is there somebody you're just like, I'll give you.

Who I idolize and need to paint? Yeah. Oh, that's really hard. If I could interview, I'll throw it out to you. If I can interview. I already paint whoever I want. I know, but there's got to be somebody out there that you're just like, you know, if that Brad Pied.

Pitt ever walked through the door, I'd gladly paint him. Brad Pitt came to, was the only, I'm like, a celebrity. Brad Pitt was the first person that came to my mind because I'm like, oh, well, a celebrity. He seems nice, I guess. He actually has the closest face that anyone has to, in the art world called the golden face proportions. You kidding me. Yeah, he has the golden face. He is Brad Pitt has the most like, even symmetrical golden face.

I'd hate to hear what they say about my face. Everyone's face is definitely not symmetrical. Their ears are uneven and their eyes are droopy or on ones. People's nostrils are off for sure. But people don't notice that sort of thing because they don't have to. It's hard because, again, I paint whoever I want, but mostly I go off of the pose or the imagery. It's not really the person.

And I'd have to think a long time. me like a month I'd be like aha I would love to paint that person I just figured maybe you had like a I got a bucket list a bucket list of people I'd like to interview and right at the top of that is two names that would be cool is uh is Dwayne and Rock Johnson because I just find a fascinating and Steve Asim and I find those two guys from my walk of way I'd love to interview those two guys they're on my bucket list and if I ever get there I'll be over the move yeah well and they get to see you it obviously if you're interviewing and they get to hear it that's right yeah um still still know still

no i that's interesting i'll phone you back i mean yeah you you call that end okay your final one then if tomorrow you could hit a button and go to anywhere in the world didn't cost you anything you could take anyone you wanted there but you just got to go to one place where would you go well i've gone to a lot of my top places already see i'm not a time waster i've been to the places I want to go. So does that mean you wouldn't go back? There's not one place you've found on this earth. You'd be like, oh, tomorrow I have to go there.

Oh, hmm. I, I, okay, I want to see San Francisco. I want to go there as a city. I want to go back to New York. I want to, want to travel through Spain again,

because when we went to Spain, we were really young. We were, what, 17? We were 17. But I think Spain has a lot more that I need to see as an adult, not a 17-year-old. I was a 17-year-old hopping bars and sneaking out at night. Yeah, we did a lot of... Getting in trouble. That's right.

Yeah, so, yeah, there's a lot of... But nothing crazy. I'm pretty happy here right now at this point in my life staying where I am. So if tomorrow you could go anywhere, you'd go to the Claussen residence. Yeah, I would be with my family. Oh, hi, Jeannie. No, no, you can just take your, no, the wish I don't need that. I don't need that.

I'll stay right here. Well, that's pretty cool. I mean. You know, you can go places later with your family and, yeah. I don't like to fantasize a whole bunch. I like those places, but it's not like, I went to Toronto in October before. before I was pregnant. And I went alone.

I cashed in. I called my nursing, my breastfeeding years. I cashed in all that time and went for four days. And, you know, I got to go for dinner again and I got to see me. People, I went to my favorite artist's opening. He had, because he was coming to Canada, which was rare, so I decided to go. and meet him in person, Andrew Salgado. He's from Regina.

And so he's a Canadian artist, also portraits and figurative work. And he has been absolutely successful, but works very hard. He's really prolific as well. But his portraits that large sell for like $56,000. Oh. Yeah. Like so he's, but he's living in London. So expenses.

I, but he's with Beerslandin in London. So, yeah, I went to his opening, got to meet him in person because we've been communicating online for a few years. I've invested in one of his pieces, and then we traded artwork as well. So it's kind of neat. He was really humble, and if anyone who has reached a level of success and still answers his Instagram messages, well, that's pretty cool. So I went to meet him among some other fans.

of his two traveled a very long way to meet him. And I stayed with my sister-in-law and we did all these fun things and they took us out after the opening with them. But I still kind of had this feeling like, you know, things aren't as fun without your kids or your family or your significant other. They're just not rewarding. Like seeing your children experience something for the first time or doing things with them, that's better.

That's better than this, what we're doing. It was good, but for like four days. It's pretty cool. You've figured out a lot more than what a lot of people. Like a lot of people haven't figured that out. Yeah. Hell, in times I haven't figured that out. At times I'm like, God.

It's sad. No, I mean, I don't have it all figured out. No, I'm not trying to say you do. But I just feel like I don't want to look back and be like, ah, I really should have done that differently or more time. Like this morning. For example, I feel very badly. Like, Gus, he wants to lay with me every morning.

But there's, like, half an hour window there where I can, like, sleep by myself. And he always just wants to lay there, but he's doing nothing. So, like, scratching things, rolling around, like, saying that. If he's anything like, Shay, he's the worst guy to have in the bed. She, like, kicks you and rolls. He's not sleeping. He's awake. I'm like, why do you even want to be here?

You can feel that. I told him to go away. And then I called them back. I said, I'm really sorry. I'm so sorry. Like, you literally just wanted, for some reason, lay with me and do absolutely nothing. But I'm trying to sleep and I can't sleep while you're ticking. Fidgeting around.

Yeah. But being pregnant, I've had a bit of a mean streak. But I did feel bad. And I said, Mommy loves laying with you. I'm just super, super. super freaking tired. I just want 15 to 20 minutes. Yeah.

Anyway, but yeah, I do recognize those things. And I'm happy that I do because I just won't live life, a life of regrets, hopefully. I mean, yeah. That's cool. Well, thank you for coming on with me. I hope you've enjoyed it. Yeah, it was a pleasure. I always like sitting with you and talking anyway.

So this was easy. Cool. Well, that's a wrap. Yeah, cool. Great. Thanks. Did you enjoy it? It was long. Yeah, well, hour and 40 minutes. Hey, guys, thanks for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed Brandy Hofer. I just wanted to say thanks to her again for having me over to her studio.

It was really, really cool to sit and, you know, see where all the magic happens for. And I wish her the best, and I think she has a really bright future ahead of her. So next week on the podcast, I have Dallas Heinz Zane Franklin and Kobe Moran studio. All three of the boys have played multiple years in the WHL. And so we're going to talk about life in the WHL. And off-season training, road trips, they take so many road trips, such long road trips in the WHL. And then finally, what it's like being traded, all three of those guys share unique experience. I've all been traded, so I thought we discussed how that goes down, you know, what it's like moving to a new city, not knowing anyone, that kind of thing, and get their thoughts and perspectives.

So next week, got the three boys in town. So until then.