Sarah in the Air

Pastel 12 x 16

Sarah and the Worm

Pastel 12 X 16

Sophia Loren in "Two Women"

Cesira (Sophia Loren) flees Rome by train

"Two Women" a cinematic tragedy in b&w

directed by Vittorio de Sica

Pastel 12 X 16

My Recent Sketch Book

Pastels +/or Pastel Pencils
12 X 16 suede paper

The Snowsuit

Assured that I'd grow into the oversized new bib snowsuit, sibling snickerings hinted at the naked truth that hockey would be a questionable venture.

Pastel 19" X 26"

Carl & Coby

Any given Sunday, Coby's pickup was rescheduled "Carl Junkers and Ice Cream Patrol".

No illusions of truancy the deuce were up to something.

Oil  24 X 18

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"