Monteal!

Wow, it's been a veeeeery long time since my last post! I didn't mean to be away so long, but school and then my prolonged internship has meant that I haven't been sketching or painting very much this past year (except for my job of course, but is only "inpainting").

Anyway, a lot has happened to me since January. First, I finished my Master's of Art Conservation program of two years at Queen's University (and just graduated last week!).

Second, I left Kingston, moved to Montreal, and then started my internship at a private paintings' restoration studio. It was pretty tough at first, but I managed to get the hang of working quickly and efficiently. In fact, I did such a good job that I got offered an extension until the end of the year, which is why I'm still here in la Belle Province.

At first, I moved into an apartment in the Plateau with two girls from the West coast. I only knew a few people in Montreal (Marc and Rob, below), and they were kind enough to hang out with me during my "initiation period", which I really appreciated (:

Some of my Toronto pals also came to visit me so all in all the first three months went by quickly (despite the language barrier). I was originally going to England for a month-long internship in August, but since my Montreal contract got extended I had to find a place for August to December, which proved really difficult. In the end, I got a place for just August (near Park la Fontaine), and then a place for September to December after that. Luckily, I became friends with my neighbor, and we've hung out a lot the past few months (below, at Halloween!)

So anyway, since September I've visited Toronto twice, went to England and Scotland for a week, and have been back and forth to Ottawa every two weeks for work on a mosaic site. Hectic! I'm looking forward to returning to Toronto at the end of the year. My pal Emma is now working with me at the studio, so we travelled together to Ottawa yesterday to work on the mural site (photos below of us in Ottawa).

The BIG mission now is to complete Terence's painting in the next couple of weeks. I can't believe this gift will literally be an entire year late! Phew!