A podcast suggestion and, reluctantly, a Black Friday Week sale on online courses

I’m not quite sure how I found it (useless scrolling on social media, no doubt), but over the weekend I discovered a podcast called Ill-advised by Bill Nighy. I’ve long been a fan of his acting, and the podcast is laugh-out-loud funny. At the end of his first episode, Nighy offers a playlist and a book suggestion, recommendations which I enjoyed. In the “About” notes, he says the podcast is “for people who don’t get out much and can’t handle it when they do.” At the end, he acknowledges that people have busy lives and he wants you to feel free to ignore his podcast.

That’s sort of the way I feel about Black Friday promotions. And so, despite my reluctance to jump on the bandwagon, I’m having a Black Friday Week sale too. Here are the facts and, as Bill Nighy says, feel free to ignore them.

During Black Friday Week, this baker’s dozen of popular courses is priced at 30% OFF each for a full 8 days, with even bigger savings if you buy the entire bundle. My Black Friday sale ends at midnight ET on Sunday, November 30, 2025. To save, use the coupon code CARBONBLACK30 at checkout.

First snow

Winter arrived early this year. And stayed. We had an unexpected early snowfall — wet flakes that accumulated on branches still heavy with leaves. The power was out for a night and a day. Most of us were caught without our winter tires on. It was a little chaotic for a few days, as the start of winter always is.

Usually with an early blizzard like this, the snow would be gone in a day or two but it has stayed. And more snow has fallen. I might be the only person to appreciate this early winter. My wheelbarrows were not quite in the right position for painting but I set up a chair in front of my patio door and sketched them. I tried to convey the weight of that early snow on the surrounding evergreens, and the way the wheelbarrows are a bit hidden in the trees.

A few poppies and a poem for today

I always think of my dad on November 11. He would have been 100 this year, and was a WWII veteran, although he was too young to serve overseas during the war. Instead he was sent to northern Ontario to serve as a guard in a Japanese internment camp in Angler, Ontario. It’s an experience he talked about often with us, and I think of him often when I look at the inlaid wooden jewelry box that one of the internees made for him in appreciation of his compassion and empathy in that terrible situation.

In Flanders Fields
By John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Definitely no parking

We just finished the video recording of a new online course. There’s still lots to get ready before we release it, but after many days in the studio, my reward is to go out to sketch.

We’ve had an incredible autumn here in Montreal. The colours have been spectacular and the leaves have stayed on the trees for what seems like longer than usual, I guess because of the lack of rain. Because of work commitments, I never made it to my former neighbourhood to paint my favourite tree, but this maple in Hudson has a similar shape and a crooked road sign in front of it too. This year, it will have to do.

The light was glorious this morning and the shadows sharp on the tree. I painted on a pad of Arches CP paper, using a limited palette of Cobalt Blue, Quinacridone Rose and Hansa Yellow Medium, plus a bit of warm red for the parking signs.