morning-mark-making

this is door jam #5 (i think).

edel rodriguez's drawger page was open on my laptop and there was a photo of a large wall mural that looked like this. there was no mention of where the original was or who did it... but the arch form and the primary colours resonated with me.


and here is one of my recent art-experiment-fails that i kind of resurrected as something else.

originally i was trying to draw in my usual (tight, thin-lined) fashion on a different ground (some thick, textured fabriano paper) and it wasn't working out for me. i think i was going for too much detail. anyway, after the fail i just went for vague shapes with chalk pastel... which worked out a bit better and salvaged the experiment.

less talk, more draw

just looked back at my older posts and noticed i tend to jabber on. i'm going to attmept to say less about the images/sketches i post... but i can't guarantee that i will always be able to stay shut-up.

the experiments continue though i've not been very good at getting away from simple pencil drawing.

yesterday i said "goodbye" to my old-yellow-bike. gave it to a cousin who just moved to town...

i had that bike since i was 18 and was a little bit into mountain biking. it wasn't getting much use lately because there are two of us in the house and only one bike - so we tend to walk everywhere. we live in a very walkable city currently. soon though, we are moving to a more spread out city and we plan to buy TWO bikes when we get there. more road-style, less chunky-mountainy-style. soooooo i'm pretty excited about that up-coming consumer-adventure (will probably be drawing a lot of "dream-bikes") and it made it not-so-sad to say goodbye to the old yellow avenger. it's going to a good home where it will get more use.

any suggestions on good-value, city-commuter, not-too-fancy bicycles are welcome. holla' at me.

facebook

a quick sketch of a face off the internet.

i just found out that the life-drawing studio i signed up for has been cancelled due to low interest - so i'm bummed because i was really looking forward to getting out of my hobit-hole and meeting and drawing with other people.

i feel like i'm stumbling around as an image-maker right now. no clear direction where to go but wanting to go somewhere...

ch-ch-ch-changes

well... i wasn't really happy with the painting and even though it was a learning exercise/gift, i still wanted to get to a happier place with it. so i went back in and made some changes.i do like it more now though i still can't say i love it...

i went over to Salvation Army and found a frame to refurbish. not only is it more economical (only $3 for the frame instead of $20+), i think it has more character than the cheap one i would have otherwise bought at the art store.

i forgot to take a picture but originally the frame was greenish and the mat was dark green. i turned the mat over to show the white side and cut it a little bit bigger using the mat-cutter i have. i painted the frame black and switched the hanging-mechanism from horizontal to vertical and voila! better than new! plus, i have this funny picture of a baby fox now - it came in the frame. it needs a speech bubble but i'm not witty enough to come up with something hilarious.

and here is the final thing, ready to be gifted.

nest not empty

a little painting for some parents who's youngest (of 6) just left for university. they are feeling a little weirded-out by the "empty nest" but now they have a heart for each child instead of an egg to mind. they are all dolled up because they can go on to go on lots of dates again.

this is my first attempt with watercolours (since childhood). it was harder than i thougt it would be and of course things got muddy and heavy-handed... but i'll keep trying. eventually i'll land on something that works for me.

circle the wagons

this day is all about circular things.

door jam #3: 31 circles. one for every year of my life. done without tunes.

(side note: i have this "bracelet" - which is acutally a wrist-sized "O-ring" from a tractor. i started wearing it while working on my brother-in-law's farm one summer. that was 13 years ago and i have worn it everyday (24/7) since then - except for during my wedding ceremony (i guess i was trying to look pretty or something). anyway, it seems to be stretching out lately and falls off from time to time. it's probably only a matter of time until it breaks or i lose it... i'm not too sad to see the streak end. it's just one of those "huh" things that are kind of interesting... but maybe this "jam" is a bit of an homage... "the great black circle")

(another sidenote: door jam #2 exists but, although this blog is partly about getting over the fear of sucking boldly and publicly, the truth is - i'm afraid. #2 started fun but got frustrating and ultimately ended up too embarrassingly bad to post.)

here is a different shot of the t-shirt cowl i made yesterday, with a more appropriate shirt/collar pairing. i like it now.

oh nine!

happy 09.09.09 to you! here's a celebratory doodle.

(trying out my new Pitt Pens and white acrylic ink.)

and here is a recycled t-shirt necklace that i made right quick this morning.

i have seen this idea circulating around the internet and since i was about to get rid of this shirt i thought, "wok da heck!"

it's cute but realistically i don't think i'd wear something like this very often. it's a bit too fiddly and impractical and you'ld always be explaining it to people.

door jam #1

i tend to draw on a very small scale - partly due to not having much room for large-scale endeavors/storage...

today i rediscovered some large paper (leftover blueprints actually) i'd stashed behind a door and simultaneously realized i could tape said paper on to said door and do some big, messy, throw-away drawing.

so this the result of my 3-song-mark-making-door-jam-session.

the flowery shape was not planned, i just drew for the length of 3 songs.

it reminded me a lot of warm-up drawing exercises we did at school.

moving my whole arm and body was fun.

i'll try to do more of this.

freezer paper shirt

i've done some silk-screening before but this is my first attempt at a freezer-paper-stencil-shirt. i only needed to make one print so it was the perfect method. it was fun and easy and i would do it again. i won't post a "tutorial" here because they are abundent on the webs but i will offer these process shots.

the shirt is a gift for a friend named Don who is just about to defend his Master's thesis - and who earned the moniker "MastaDon" while posing with the mastodon statue at Mastodon Ridge.

original drawing and stencil prep:

ironing on the stencil:

inked in pink:

OK glitter-letters, time for your close-up:
the final product, modeled by A:

packaged with an optional "G Unit":

signed, sealed, and ready for delivery:
aftermath of the bi-products hanging on the door:
the happy recipient (note the curly hair):

extracurricular activities

a few illustrations done for friends recently...

straight-forward projects that didn't use much brainpower in the "conceptualizing" phase...

* * * * *

for a contest about re-conceptualizing "Farmer's Markets".

a friend put together an entry that centers around the idea of having neighbourhood produce parties - like a Tupperware party i guess...

i had to do this one pretty fast - no time for redrawing parts i didn't like or fancy colouring...

there is a lot about this drawing that i would have done differently but the friend liked it so that's good!

this one was a wedding present for Andrea & Marcus (obviously).

they put the details of their wedding online and just sent out these postcards invitations.

it isn't very often that i have to make my drawings look like actual, real-life people. i enjoyed the challenge and think there is a likeness!