A Place to Call Home

Today, we are celebrating my 100^th blog post. Who knew back in February of 2024 that less than 2 years later I would still be at it and hitting the 100-mark. It has been a blast creating these works – a real opportunity to look deeply at many things and an opportunity to share the inner workings of my mind with my readers. I am not sure how many folks read my blog, but I do know of a few that are always vocal in their support. That support has always been most welcome and has always inspired me to keep writing. Thanks so much! 💖

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In addition to the celebration, I will present some of my recent artwork and discuss what lies within.

The first two pieces below are related to my love of the prairies, my place to call home. I knew just how much I loved the prairies the year Denise, Emma, and I had our two-week driving vacation to British Columbia and back. When we were coming home and we hit the bright shining prairies, my heart exploded with joy and I said to Denise, “we are home!” The feelings that came with that statement spoke volumes – the unobstructed horizon, the brilliant colors, the sunshine – all indicative of this glorious place.

The Divine Prairie – Created by Don Cheke

The Divine Prairie started like most of my art, without a destination in mind. After I had laid down the vertical lines, I began to see fields of wheat and other types of grasses. With that in mind, I added the green horizontal strokes, enhancing the look – the green laid down like swaths. To add to the prairie-fields look, I added the rising sun. The title “The Divine Prairie” came to mind and helps to express my feeling about Saskatchewan.

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Prairie Fire – Created by Don Cheke

Prairie Fire began as an experiment with color gradient, or more so, color variations from light gold to red. After laying down the colors and blending the meeting edges I began experimenting with blend modes which really made the colors pop. Having come up with the previous prairie themed piece, I decided to look for a photograph in my personal archive that might blend in well. I found an image I had taken at the beach in Hawaii when Denise and I visited there one year. The image was taken at the edge of the beach low to the grass. I thought the grass looked prairie-like. The title of this piece was sparked by the color – fiery red and gold. Imagine – feel – a hot July afternoon out on the prairies – so warm, so comforting.

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Have you ever heard the term shrinkflation? I hadn’t until this week.

Shrinkflation – Created by Don Cheke

Have you noticed how every so often the product you purchased previously now arrives smaller or cheaper in quality, and more costly than it was before. I was reminded of this twice in the last two weeks. The first was when I clicked “purchase again” on Amazon for some new dishcloths. They arrived and right away I noticed that the thread count was at least half of what it was previously, and as noted, the price had been increased. I chalked it up to what I have come to expect from manufacturers and merchandisers and felt screwed once again. Such is life, move on…. Next, I ordered some new underwear and a new shirt from Mr. Big and Tall. The underwear, although the same brand I always order, was a bit different in looks, so I couldn’t chalk up the lighter feel to what I had seen in the dishcloths. The shirt, however, was the same brand, and the thread count was noticeably lighter. Prices? – more than they were before. When I was showing the difference to Denise, she acknowledged the difference and said that was shrinkflation for you. I was surprised to hear that term but quickly adopted it, as it makes so much sense.

I first noticed shrinkflation, without knowing the term, many years ago when I saw how food producers were putting less in packages without making the packages smaller. The prices, as we have all seen, never go down because of this change, only up – always up – every week – up – up – up. My first, in your face experience, was when I noticed a box of six granola bars drop to five, and then the five bars shrinking by a half or three-quarter inches after that. Prices, as always – up. Since then, I see it in pretty much everything I buy – and nobody is apologizing for it or screaming from their balconies. Why is that? Powerlessness – apathy – pointlessness? Who can say.

I feel this whole practice is “evil,” for lack of a better term. I created the cartoon above to help process my latest rage at the modern phenomenon called shrinkflation. In the cartoon we see Little Loaf wearing his new low-thread-count see-through purple shirt, while holding the earlier one for comparison. What can Loaf say or do but commiserate with his son. Again, while discussing this with Denise, she made me laugh by mentioning The Emperor’s New Clothes – how we would all find ourselves in that place if the thread-lessening trend continued. Gosh, that girl comes up with the darndest things that make me smile and laugh 😊 – and makes my heart glow in appreciation for the wonders that make her who she is. What a gal!

As I write about this, I think to myself how Kahlil Gibran must be rolling in his grave or would be if he knew what was happening. Although he had many wonderful things to say in his writing, he was very clear in others how he felt about proper market practices and those calling the shots with regards to profit and whatnot. He’d be screaming for sure, at least textually.

As a people, I just don’t know what we can do on a personal level about this crazy market system, except be grateful that we can still get what we need – for better or worse. I can almost feel a new Loaf cartoon coming on about bartering chickens and the like.

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Speaking about chickens.

Chuck Wagon-Races – Created by Copilot_20251127_185545

In an Australian TV series Denise and I have been watching, they call chickens, “chucks.” At one point she and I were chuckling about the term and I suggested that if we combined Australian rodeo with Canadian rodeo, we could have chucks pulling wagons – as in Chuckwagon Races – or as I called it above, Chuck Wagon-Races. A play on words, as I guess you have worked out by now. With this in mind, I asked CoPilot to create an image of chickens pulling wagons as in chuckwagon races. It came up with the lovely image above. In my opinion, this is another great use of AI. It can visualize what we ask for, when we would have trouble coming up with it ourselves, just for the sake of a quick laugh. When I showed it to Denise, she loved it and gave me the thumbs up.

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Well, I guess that wraps up this blog post. I hope that you enjoyed the read and that your December has been brilliant so far.

Donald B. Cheke – Saskatoon, SK