Sarah in the Pool

Her infectious laugh and impish grin, she's stubborn and mischievous.

I recall the frustration trying to get her to pose

"are you ready, sarah?"

With a serious countenance she nods, suitably moored, she looks up and beams ear to ear....

Oil 18" X 24"

neiltoulch.com

Casse Croûte

A hot summer night in a small Laurentian town, out on a date at the local casse croûte and they both hope to get lucky.

But she's having difficulty getting his interest away from scratching numbers on his Loto Quebec tickets, she'd been hoping the local fast food eatery was a prelude to a symphony of interesting things.

He's also hoping for bigger things to come: his ticket to win him a million dollars.

Oil 30" x 24"
neiltoulch.com

The Showroom

In my world of fashion as a retailer for thirty years I was introduced to an incongruous mix of people and styling - from the gaily flamboyant to the degenerate - all caught up in a seemingly venal conspiracy: to sell clothes for sexual attraction.  Everyone in the industry, from the shipper to the ogling boss, was keenly aware and blatantly flaunted their assets: curves, credit rating, make of car they owned, or whatever.  

There were no rules for retail buyers, they relied on instinct when forecasting trends, sometimes gambling with personal idiosyncrasies.   My one shining star in this barnyard of flaunting pulchritude was my wife, chief buyer for our stores.  Looking innocently sexy her unwavering focus held steady on pricing, styles and colors for the clientele we attracted.

Oil 40" x 30"

neiltoulch.com

The Hockey Arena

It could be a village square or main street but our neighborhood-gathering place was the hockey arena. A microcosm of ordered chaos reflecting familial dramas and binding a cross-section of generations in spite of different interests.

An over-nurturing Mom anxiously reaching out a lunch box to her adolescent young man who is wishing that she would get lost, his discretely roving eyes on the girls, and his kid sister, running forward toward fresh prospects and mischief.

In our arena we see them all - infants to grandparents - performing the comedy of life together.

Oil 40" x 30"

neiltoulch.com

How We Came To Be

And then there was the awakening, our age of Aquarius, nature's design to assure continuity of the human species.  It was the dawning of involuntary reaction to female pulchritude; a wondrous mystery inviting confusion of celebration and embarrassment, disclaiming myths and fairy tales of how we came to be.  Strip tease artists held no connection whatsoever to the reproductive motive, they only spelt pleasure; inspirational with images for later use.  We partied celebrating the little devil with a mind of its own totally unconcerned with earth's population explosion.

Oil 30" x 40"

neiltoulch.com

Sweet 16

Sweet 16

Not one kiss

Tried 'em all

Missed!

Oh well...

There was a shy innocence in those years:  girls dancing in a group, boys hamming it up in their corner, everyone hoping to attract the attention of the other.

Music  –  louder the better  –  was the pathway towards dissolving inhibitions.  Romance, as we knew it from the movies, began at a prom always ending with a tender kiss  –  we seem to have missed what was in between. 

My poor mother coming down the basement stairs, aghast at the chaos and Pa, carrying the birthday cake is, as always, oblivious.

Oil  40" x 30"

Mom's Day Off

She probably went to the hairdresser, met a girlfriend for lunch and then window-shopped when she went off on a Saturday afternoon.  Pa was supposed to be home to defend our abode from us kids – the wrecking crew.  He invariably fell asleep on the job bored by his brother trying to keep him awake with family gossip. 

Our challenge was trying to find sufficient money to pay the pizza deliveryman: money falling out of somebody’s pocket sometimes landed up in the crevice behind the couch pillows.  We didn’t touch Pa’s money on the floor.  Wrecking, yes:  stealing, no…  with enough noise maybe he’d wake up and pay for the pizza?

                                                            Mom's Day Off         

Oil 40" X 30"

The Corner Grocery

The fifties!  Not a care in the world for us adolescent kids growing up in middle class Montreal, Quebec, Canada.  Our biggest concern was whether a flipped card would come up right side or not – no risking the loss of a flipped coin in a sidewalk crack – besides, who had a coin to risk?   Note the bedding airing out of windows, and the two girls – no, they’re not twins – they’re wearing compulsory public school uniforms.  We pretended not to notice them:  in those bygone days drinks were suggestively named Orange Crush and Kik. 

The schoolbags set aside on the street have since been reinvented as backpacks; the corner grocery along with Frank were swallowed by a supermarket. The astronauts we kids knew of were Captain Marvel and Flash Gordon zooming out of comic books to miraculously land in fertile imaginations.

Oil 30" x 40"

Angels In Training

Having convinced our mother that socializing with friends after school stimulated serious study, homework became less painful - to us, but not to the walls and furnishings.

The painting on the wall (rendered askew by the head-stander) was hung there not only to cover weathered plaster cracks but also to serve as an example of angels helping each other with book-learning.  Pa’s visible belt on the couch served as a reminder of punishment for disillusionment.

We ignored the signs:  our black cat ominously observing from the other end of the couch, and the brown one – our top mouse-catcher – streaking for cover.  We were on a path of innovative home work:  angels in training for flight wings.

Oil  40" x 30"
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