2011.12.02
So, here is one of the portraits I’ll be showing at the One of a Kind show next week.
I really love this girl. Problem is, her portrait’s title eludes me. I’ve got nothing.
Any ideas dear friends?
Over this weekend, suggest one or two titles for this dear portrait in the comments section of this post. For ideas on how I usually title my pieces, check out the portraits section on my portfolio site.
On Monday at 3pm pacific, I’ll choose the most fitting title and the writer of that title will receive two free tickets to the One of a Kind show! (value $24)
2011.11.11
She came into existence late last evening. The background of this painting is still in progress, but she is perfect to me. Come visit my studio next weekend to see the finished portrait!
2011.11.07
Another peek at paintings in progress: Portraits I’ll be showing during the Eastside Culture Crawl.
2011.11.04
I look forward to Friday every week. Not because it’s my last day of work (I kinda like my job and find myself hanging out at the studio on weekends anyway). Why then? Well, let me tell you.
It’s because Fridays are when Sarajean comes over to my studio and together we paint, draw, chat, drink coffee/tea and eat butter tarts.
Sarajean and I went to college together. An amazing artist, she draws the cutest/creepiest large-headed characters you’ve ever seen – the kind you want to hug and also hide from, at the same time. She is an unapologetic gamer, and, in fact, in the process of developing a new video game. I’ve seen some of the artwork for it, and it looks pretty rad.
2011.10.29
I’m feeling pretty uncreative this halloween. With two upcoming big events and several client projects on the go, the thought of creating an amazing and original costume just makes me feel tired. So I’m boycotting halloween. Well, the costumes and the parties anyway. My friend Mildred and I did, however, carve pumpkins.
Sometimes it’s nice to turn off that pressure I often put on myself, as an artist, to have to create something all unique and artsy. Sometimes all I want to do is carve a cute, regular old jack-o-lantern.
2011.10.25
Here’s a sneak peek at a couple of the faces I’ve been spending time with lately.
To meet these two, and others, come visit me during the Eastside Culture Crawl and the One of a Kind show! Details coming soon…
2011.10.13
This is a local East Vancouver family. I haven’t properly met them (the portrait was commissioned to be a surprise gift from their friends), but I heard beautiful stories of them that impressed on me their strong sense of home, and their creative spirit.
This painting reflects what I really love about this city, and I see a lot of it in this neighborhood. The vegetable gardens, the chicken coops, the home-roasted coffee beans, the art projects, the potlucks, the knitting/sewing/felting of garments, the home-made soaps… I could go on.
It’s creative people nurturing their home, family, community.
2011.10.05
This awesome party was imagined and drawn by a young artist named Ava, and yours truly.
I love collaborative drawing.
2011.09.29
I was in Pennsylvania last week, and spent one rainy muggy afternoon at the Brandywine River Museum just outside of Philadelphia. The museum houses some incredible paintings and illustrations by the likes of Howard Pyle, N.C Wyeth, Harvey Dunn, etc.
One exhibition showed all 16 original illustrations that N.C. Wyeth painted for R.L Stevenson’s Treasure Island. You guys, these originals are huge 3′ x 4′ish oil paintings, each one a masterpiece. Can you believe he completed them all in under four months, with apparently very few preliminary drawings?
I fell in love with this one, illustrated for the endpapers of the book. I could have gazed at it for hours.
Of course I bought the book.
For more educational accounts of Wyeth and his work, check out this biography, and this personal memoir by his son Andrew.
2011.09.06
not only is it a beautiful bright hot day, but I was greeted by this happy drawing at my doorstep today:
summer is here for a while longer you guys, and I sure don’t mind.
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