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Gordo's planning to cut arts funding by about 90% over the next two years. Please visit the Alliance for the Arts page for ideas on how you can help stop this nonsense. It's easy to attach your information to a well-written form email to your MLA voicing your concern. Just click the "make your voice heard" link on the right of the page.

Tick tock, another clock!


I meant to post a pic of this last weekend, when I finished it, but the weekend flew by and I spent this week recovering from the most challenging two days of teaching I have ever had. It's a humbling experience to be bested by a bunch of 6-year olds, lemme tell ya! Anywho, here's the latest clock, and there's another one on the way.

Went to life drawing again this week. Of all the drawings, I am happiest with this one. I've been checking this great blog called Today's Inspiration and recently the author posted some information about an illustrator named Walter Wyles.



His use of colour is amazing! Such unexpected combinations - lavender and sunflower yellow, pink and red and blue, purple and orange! So, on a much smaller and less-accomplished scale, I wanted to get in on these good times. Sooo, the life drawing sketch is done with lavender, sky blue, fluorescent yellow, and pepto pink pencil crayons. Wheee!

Tick tock!



Made a couple more clocks, one's a diorama-rama and the other's painted onto a wooden cradle frame. The diorama's 10x10" and the wooden one's 6x6". I'm planning to keep 'em coming. I've also got some exciting plans in the works for the spring, so I'm gonna be a busy lil bee!

What a great night we had at Forsya! It's a fun little show. I fell in love with these amazing mini-dioramas built inside actual eggshells and decorated with beads. They are hard to describe, but awesome to see! Unfortunately, the artist doesn't seem to have a website, but Josh and I will soon have an egg in our "collection" so visitors can see the real deal. As I had hoped, I also had the chance to meet Ryan Heshka. He's a real-deal illustrator with an impressive, international list of clients. Turns out he's also a really nice guy. We chatted about his work, and he got some of his early covers with the Georgia Straight. It would be so fun to see my work on the cover of the Straight! Mental note - must approach the Straight.

Sure, you've already got something to do for Halloween... but what are you going to do when the little trick-or-treaters have come and gone, but the party won't start 'til later? Why not join me and many more local artists and illustrators at Forsya Boutique and Gallery for the opening of "Creep", a group show of spooky, quirky works?! Participants include Ryan Heshka and Liane Varnam.

(If you visited the Interurban show in which I took part a while back, you will recognize the two lil' buddies I've got in this show)

I am officially a teacher-on-call, but I am not getting called much. Rather than spending my days trying to figure out how to pay rent, I have been spending my days in the studio finishing this commission. It's for my old friend Tara and I'm really hoping she likes it. It's titled Linden, and it's 24 x 36". I tried to avoid overworking the piece and to make the most of the texture of the canvas, though I'm not sure that shows up much in the photos.

Josh bought us tickets to Thao Nguyen at the Biltmore tonight, and I'm excited to hear more of her music since I've based my enjoyment of her music on the one song we have. Yay for a little adventure!

This blogger turned 30 a few days ago and got spoiled by lots o' loved ones. In particular, my darling Joshy got me a lovely present. I've mentioned James Jean before, since I feel moved and profoundly jealous whenever I see his work, and Josh got me Jean's Kindling collection of prints. Click the link to his site for a tour of the set, under the "Bound" heading.

All the images are beautiful, and this is one of my favourites...


This guy kills me... born the same year as me and he's already accomplished more than I dream of. Can't tell if that means I should dream bigger or give up!

Looking for feedback on this one, so embrace the freedom of the interweb and leave a comment!

At an ECUAD show about a year ago, I purchased a handmade diorama clock. Unfortunately, I didn't write down who made it, gave it as a gift, and now can't acknowledge his/her great idea. Whoever you are - great idea!

Anywho... I often thought it would be fun to try and make one too. Now that I have all the paperwork, but none of the actual work, of teaching, the time seemed right to give the clock a try. I have also been really interested in local birds lately, so I started with tonnes of chickadees (which are all over the yard, all the time, going "bzee bzee bzee"):


I picked up the clock parts, had a frame left over from the two dioramas I made for the Interurban Gallery show way back when, and started measuring, planning, and overthinking. After much fussing and fun, here's the finished clock:



And the clock in it's natural habitat with a couple drawings by Harley Smart:


So what do you think? It ended up being quite fun to make and I'd like to make some more. There's so much potential with dioramas! Is this something you could see people buying if I made a bunch?
Leave a comment and let me know what you think...

It's three weeks 'til something is a habit, right?

Second week of attending life drawing at Blim, and I enjoyed this week more than the last. The model was more relaxed and chose some very interesting poses, in part because he didn't seem worried about whether he looked good or not, just whether the poses would be interesting to draw. I also felt more relaxed and comfortable experimenting with approaches. The drawings are not a wild departure, but I decided to involve some coloured chalk pastels. I usually steer away from messy media, so it was fun to get dirty (insert double entendre here). The host plays great music for drawing as well. Take a look at the sketches, some are stronger than others, and (as always) click if you'd like to see a bigger version.




Did you notice the classy touch of having my shadow visible on the sketch. Very professional, no?

I finally dragged my big ol' pad of newsprint and my lazy bee-hind to Blim for drop-in life drawing. It's been a very long time since I drew a naked stranger for a couple hours. I forgot how intense and exhausting it is! We did 10 1-minute poses, 10 2-minute poses, 4 5-minute poses, 2 10-minutes, and 1 20-minute. The fast poses at the beginning feel like an exercise warm-up, with hand and arm swinging over the paper as fast as they can, to capture the basic gesture before the time runs out. I find it a very challenging and freeing exercise, since I tend to make such small, controlled drawings. I'm hoping to make a habit of attending.

I'm learning to knit and I'm hooked (hardy har har). The garter stitch is sorted and I'm refining my purling ability. I knit a couple wee baby hats a while ago, and now that autumn is officially here, I have knit my first neck cowl. My busy hands will be helping to pare down my Christmas list. Oh how I do enjoy handmade and inexpensive gift-giving!

I've finally finished a commission for which Robyn has been patiently waiting. She commissioned a buttercup like this one last year and decided it looked lonely on her wall, so it needed a buddy. Here's the buddy! It's also called Buttercup, since it's now part of a diptych. Here's how they look together (except the colours look all wacky because one pic was taken inside last year and the other outside yesterday. I swear they are actually the same colours)...

I've had a pixie haircut for a couple years and dreaded the thought of growing it out. Well, I'm giving it a go. The reason I dread growing it out is the same every time. Because right now I look unfortunately similar to this guy:

About a year ago, I received an email from a local artist I had never met. She predicated the email with her concern that I would see her as some wingnut. The email explained that she had stumbled on my website and been moved by my flower series paintings, to the point that she imagined a children's book and line of merchandise. While I can understand her trepidation about sending such an email, I was touched that someone had gone out on a limb to encourage me. Without knowing me, she mentioned children's books (a significant personal goal) and Maurice Sendak (one of my favourite artists). I replied with thanks and hoped that her vision would someday be fulfilled.

Last week, as I was reading through my old emails as part of the daunting and long-overdue process of getting my life and home back together, I re-read her email. Only minutes later, I received her invite to attend the opening of her latest show. At the opening, I introduced myself and Liane was warm and supportive. I look forward to seeing her again soon! It's always refreshing to be around practising artists that are making, instead of talking about, art.

Her work is very interesting and she examines some complex ideas around Canada, First Nations symbols, being a white woman, and the Red Riding Hood story. Her name is Liane Varnam. Her exhibition is on in North Vancouver at the Seymour Art Gallery now until October 4th. The work looks surprisingly painterly online and in person, but is done with ink and pastel on paper.

I've been working through a book called The Artist's Way, by Julia Cameron. It was a gift from a talented friend of Josh's. The idea is that it will rekindle my creativity after a year of smothering it with school. Part of the program is to do something each week to fill the well of creativity. So, recently I went to the VAG to see the current exhibit of Andreas Gursky's work.


Wow. It's only on until the 20th, but I recommend checking it out. I was really struck by the idea that any part of the world (people, roads, trees, islands, rocks, factories) forms a sort of pattern. We amuse ourselves, but, from a distance, people out for a day at the beach don't look much different than rocks on the beach. Gursky's distant random compositions are very thought provoking. The element of pattern interests me in particular, which I especially noticed looking at some of the photos I took during the August road/camping trip Joshy and I took to Big Sur.





Lots of well-filling to be had! Yippee for hol-ee-days and gal-ur-ees!

When looking at artwork, I spend a fair amount of wondering how the work was made. The Vancouver Art Gallery currently has a show of Dutch Masters, and the photo realistic still lives featured blow my mind. Take, for example, the still lives by Jan Davidszoon de Heem.


I study paintings like this as closely as possible, but simply cannot figure out how they are possible. Whether this type of photorealism has a place in modern painting is another topic. But these paintings are so accurate!

I found a fascinating book at the library by David Hockney, called Secret Knowledge (for an article regarding this book, click here). In his book, Hockney explores some very persuasive evidence that many of the Old Masters, including some of the Dutch, may have used camera lucida or camera obscura to plot the key areas, tones and/or shapes of the objects or people to be painted. I agree with Hockney that, if these artists did use these tools, the artwork produced is in no way diminished. A human hand still needed to draw, compose, collage, and mix and apply paint. The artists seem more human to me and I can comprehend how such work was possible. Although I do not have the skill to reproduce their work, even with a mirror or lens, I don't feel so paralysed by their talent.

I am officially a certified teacher! Won't be teaching my own class of students for quite some time. I'll be a teacher-on-call, and that's quite alright with me. Now I can get back to making some artwork, finishing off some commissions, and cultivating some recently planted creative seeds.

Spent a couple weeks driving down the coast to Big Sur, CA with Joshy. Lots of beautiful things to get me thinkin'. Here are some of my sketches from the trip...







The blog is back!

Yes, it's been another long stretch between postings! I've finished my long practicum and had a wonderful time. My mentor teacher was supportive, adept and caring. My students were the best teachers of all. Now I'm back at UBC, dragging my feet through my very last semester of courses. Before my courses got too hectic, I finally managed to finish a commission I've been chipping away at for a while. It's a triptych, each canvas is 8x8", and it's called Dogwood.


Josh and I are planning a road trip in August, once school's done, and I'm looking forward to letting some new creative seeds germinate.

My oh my... a whole school semester since the last post. Buzz buzz, I'm a busy bee. I start practicum on Monday, and I can hardly wait to spend my work day with Gr. 2 kids again.

One of the most rewarding things of this past semester has been working on an A/r/tography project. A/r/tography is arts-based, qualitative research. A = artist/r = researcher/t = teacher. I am learning that a teacher is all of these things. I drew on my experience with a particular student I taught at an English-immersion preschool in Taiwan. Her story and her drawing were my inspiration. This is her drawing...


How wonderful is that?!
I decided to illustrate and make a book to tell her story, but it's not a conventional binding. The planning process was very complex...


Here's a Quicktime slideshow of the book (as always, the images are protected by my copyright; the music is credited to The Album Leaf). The research and teaching components of this project are ongoing, and I'd love to hear what you think.

Apparently y'all are rockin the positive thoughts! I posted the last post, watched some inspirational art:21 and marched myself into the studio. Now the painting is finished! Here's hoping the commissioner likes it. Wow, "commissioner" makes it sound like I am a renegade NYC cop. That's right: Serpico, artist and illustrator. Anywho... here's the painting. 9 x 9" watercolour called New Growth, featuring three grandchildren.

Well, this is the last weekend of holidays for me before the 7 month-long push until the end of my B.Ed. I am looking forward to seeing my Grade 2 class and program classmates again, but always feel like holidays give me a little taste of the way I should be living every day. I finally have some ideas and inspiration for new projects, some new materials I'd like to try and the time to read about other artists, illustrators and people generally more talented than me. I am hoping to finish up a little commission this weekend, but am at the most frustrating point in the project. There is almost always a point where things seem to be going terribly wrong and I should just start over. This is usually the point where I don't want to keep working, thereby prolonging the "magic" of frustration. The piece I'm working on is a watercolour. Every time I work with watercolour I am reminded of how strange it is that, as mediums go, it is traditionally ranked pretty low on the totem pole of high art while being one of the least forgiving painting mediums available. Think positive thoughts for me people!

We spent an early Christmas with my family in Kelowna. A white Christmas is not unusual, but an average temperature of -20 degrees Celsius is uncommon. The snow was so fluffy and delicate. Then home to Vancouver and the blizzard continues! Snow rarely sticks in Vancouver, but our car is buried and snow has piled up under the windows of our basement suite. The snow here is heavy and sticky. The radio has been full of warnings, transportation issues and airport horror stories. Luckily I don't have to be anywhere today, so it's time to start reading the books and watching the dvds we received!

First, some photos I took in Kelowna...








This reminds me of a moonscape. Trippy, man...


And some pictures from this morning in Vancouver...

After a very busy semester and a wonderful but exhausting practicum week, I am free until January. Ahhh, the holidays are upon me. Hallelujah! 9 hours of sleep a night and a belly full of cookies...and some sketching, planning and gifting. A couple sketches below where I am enjoying brush and ink. My ridiculous cat posed for the bottom blurry sketches and is now doing laps around the living room. He doesn't seem able to see the pouring rain through the windows and is desperate for me to take him outside, so he can puff up all his fur and walk backwards into the house.

School continues, busy as ever, but some of my projects have been arts-based. We created visual journals for Art Education class and were given complete freedom, so I thought I'd post some of the pages from my journal for y'all to peruse.

It's been a very long time indeed since I posted. School has been busier than I expected, though I am also enjoying it more than I thought I would. I have slowly been working away on a commissioned painting in the midst of group projects, papers, and presentations. My friend and former coworker has been very patient, so I hope she feels this painting was worth the wait! It's called Poppies and the 2 canvases measure 16 x 16" each.



One of my courses is an Art Education course, so I have been doing some small sketches and bits as part of a visual journal. When I come up for air, I will post some pics.

It's been a long time comin', this post, but I have news. A couple unusual pieces of mine will be included in a group show at the Interurban Gallery (map) in Vancouver. The flyer is above and the opening is Friday, October 24 from 8 - 10pm. Hope to see you there!

I am a full-time student in an elementary teacher B.Ed until next August. I will continue making artwork and posting as much as possible during my studies, but posting will be probably be less frequent. Doesn't mean you can't pop by once in a while!

This latest piece in the flower series will be included in a silent art auction as part of the Passions benefit for the Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation. It's called Tumble and measures 12 x 16". As always, comments warm the chattering void of cyberspace!

Starting work on another painting, this time for a charity auction. Sleeping in like this is the last leg of a holiday, 'cause it is. Looking forward to rousing evening tournament of Cranium. Good times.

A group show opening in early October at Interurban Gallery in Vancouver will hopefully include these two little pieces. They are each 9 x 9" dioramas made using watercolour, ink, pencil & collage elements. It was a lot of fun to work on something different. The photos are definitely not the best, so come check out the show (details to follow in the fall) or check back here for better photos once the show goes up.

I just finished another commissioned piece in the flower series. This lil purple one is Honeysuckle and measures 12 x 12".