Transitions
oil on canvas
30 x 30"
2007

P.S. - I had a dream that I was a wizard.

Done. Kind of. I still want to do touchups, so feel free to critique away. I'm stuck on title ideas.

There is an odd magical feeling when I create art like this. It takes on a life of its own..how cliche...but really...I start out wanting to convey one thing, and as the work develops, it creates its own content.

It's difficult, juggling art with a full-time arts related job, but I'm learning to do it, and it gives me such a feeling of purpose.

I'm working on a website right now with a friend of mine who does web design (www.lanquibo.com is his site), so we're hoping to get that up and running by the fall. I'm overhwhelmed because I work in so many different styles, so I need something that will cater to them all. Anyone have any favourite websites with nice design that they would like to share?

I'm hoping to post a few links of artists I have been loving lately. Not right now, because I'm at work, but soon.

A small section of something I've been working on. It's far from finished, but at least it's something :)

I bought that teapot at a local antique store that's closing.

I got my camera back..sort of. They gave me a new one in replacement since they don't carry the model I had anymore. Unfortunately, the focus on this one seems to be a bit under par. I'll have to fiddle with settings until the photos come out more clear. EDIT: stole brother's camera..older model Canon Powershot that takes better pictures

Another new painting, again currently untitled
36 x 27" (it's tiny!), oil on canvas

I posted these already but had to delete them because I entered a competition, but seeing that it's now over, I can re-post them.

Urban Stills from my Major Studio exhibition in March



They're all 40" and vary from 30 to 45" wide (I think)
( 5 more )

New painting. Thinking about calling it Vanishing Point or something along those lines. I am terrified of crossing the fine line between a good title and a really cheesy one.

36 x 33" and oil on canvas, as usual. I hate using acrylics.

Working on another one now. It feels good to be productive.

New Photoshop thingy I'm working on.

I have a solo exhibition in November at our local theatre company's lobby so I'm trying to get some new works done for it.

I uploaded a few (and by a few I mean lots) pictures of the First Steps mural...floor-al...whatever you want to call it. I tried to capture all 1600 square feet of it. They're not really in chronological order or anything. I don't have any of the completed mural. I'd like to go back and get some before everything gets trampled on.

The mural was funded by a grant from the AGO given to my city's gallery for a program called Arts Access. Alia (fantastically excellent organizer of Arts Access) went into a school and painted/designed feet with the kids. The entire mural is inspired by and includes some of the feet that the kids drew. This was by far the best project I've ever been able to help work on.

( Overpass Gallery/First Steps )

Things are really busy right now. 2 other artists and I just finished a mural that spanned across the floor of a 1600 square foot bridge. I'll get around to uploading the photos soon so I can show you.

Alia (the artist who arranged the floor mural project) just left town but needed some help with murals in an old folks' home. We're working on the Alzheimer's ward, where the residents can't leave, and we're painting murals on the doors. It's interesting work for sure. Hopefully, provided we're only painting 2 doors, I'll be finished that tomorrow. I'll post some pictures of that soon too.

I'm totally stuck in terms of personal art. The curator of my city's main gallery is supposed to be calling me any day to do a studio visit. I haven't had any time to work on new art, so I'm really worried about that. When I do have some time, I find myself pretty uninspired. The question I pose to you is which artists (digital, painting, drawing or otherwise) do you turn to for inspiration?

I hope everything is going well with everyone and I'll try and post some real art soon.

So I'm working on another version of the poster I mentioned in the last entry. I hated the prior version. The first one I'm posting is the one that I'm fond of and gave to them. The theatre guy said it was too "dark and forboding" so I needed to make the colours bright and cheery. I don't really like bright and cheery in my Photoshop art, but I gave it a whirl. I'm still not sold on the second one (which I put behind a cut because I don't like making huge entries), but I'm hoping it will be more to their taste. What do you guys think?



( less dark and forboding )
I'm going to a meeting this evening about a mural project I've been asked to help out with. I'm not sure what it involves, but I'll post more when I find out.

Wow I haven't been here in a while. I've still been making art though. The last month has been filled with submitting work to shows around town as well as applying for some juried exhibitions. I moved out of the studio, so as of now, I'm painting in my bedroom which is actually rather convenient.

I'm working on some poster designs for a play that's going to happen at a theatre in the city. The one I'm going to post isn't finished. There's something about the head that bothers me extremely. The mask and hat look so pasted on. I also think I need to add some hair so she doesn't resemble a balding man. I need to add more to the background as well, but I figured I would post it for people to critique if they want to. The play called Having Hope at Home and is about a woman who lives in the middle of nowhere on a cow farm in a ramshackle house with her boyfriend and husband. She's pregnant and going into labour. She wants to have the baby with a midwife, but both of her parents are involved in gynecology (pardon my spelling) and want her to have it in a hospital. So the whole thing is about her having her parents over for dinner, being in labour and trying to conceal it from them. It's pretty funny.



Keep in mind it's a work in progress.

Oh yeah, and I'm a slave to the man. I work at a Safeway grocery store for now. Barf.

Well I have another Photoshop creation. As much as I love this class, I would like a bit of time to draw and paint. I'm still anxiously awaiting until June 12-16 to hear back from the painting competition. I don't expect to get in, but it's always a relief knowing whether or not you've made it.

I had to have my drawing/painting prof's cat (that lives in the studio I'm working in) euthanized for her on the weekend, as she was out of town. That was a little uncomfortable to say the least. It made me pretty sad, so I am taking a bit of time off from working there to let the place air out.


( Full image under the cut )

I apologize but I had to remove my babies (aka Urban Stills paintings) from here for the time being. I'm entering a national competition and one of the requirements is that I don't have my work published online at the time of submission. I'll have them up again once I find out whether or not they've been considered. Damn the man (but undamn him if he makes me a semi-finalist for this competition and/or gives me moneeey).

That said, I'm taking a Photoshop class right now and this is my first creation:

Speaking of beadmaking...I think I'll post a couple of my favourite beads I made so far this year. That classifies as art I think. Need to get more MAPP gas and some new glass rods soon.

( Proceed to the beads )

Another foot documented!



This woman used to be a ballerina, I believe for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. She's got arthritis in her foot now, so the lump on her left foot is some sort of calcification. I made a tiny copy of it on Tiziano paper to frame and give to her as thanks for teaching me so much about flameworking (making glass beads..mmm) and also just as a thanks for modelling for me.

I'm taking some work in to get framed for the Retrospective art show I'm a part of at Definitely Superior....it opens May 5th (hint hint) Figured I'd get images of a couple works before they're put under glass...forever...dun dun dun. I will post the wonky toe drawing I have promised a few people as soon as I remove it from the frame and photograph it (I sold it! Better get documenting it soon I guess).

Also...Photobucket is a bastard. Sorry the images are so small, I'm having a ridiculous time resizing them. I need a better image hosting place.

( Old school...kind of? )

Oh yeah...I took new photos of the Urban Stills painting series from the Major Studio exhibition. They worked out really good, then I tried to scan them and the colour went all wonky, so I used the images from the bad photographer and tried to edit them a bit to make them look a little better. They're not bad, but I think I'm just going to keep trying doing it on my own till I perfect it.

( Urban Stills! )

These are the last of the foot drawings. I've got to shoot the other ones sometime soon. I'll post them all for you when I get the images. The blanket one drove me absolutely insane.

( Body Language )