Pigeon on the GO

Despite the crazy schedule that always descends around this time of year, I've finally gotten around to starting (and almost-finishing in one sitting, take that, busy-times!) my three-dimensional antler-pigeon. The base of this bird has been sitting around my apartment-and-then-studio since September 2010, so it only took me, oh, a year and two-ish months to get the thing feathered. On the bright side, it's getting done now.

I didn't have my proper camera with me for the progress shots, but you should be used to crappy photobooth images by now, right?

The feathers begin:



Feathery expansion:



Antler-pigeon says HELLO THERE:



I promise a proper update, possibly featuring some photos from my recent trip to New York, soon.

Even More Progress!

Now that school is pretty much over, I'm working on spending as much time as possible working on The Show. I made some major progress on the weekend, getting a new large piece started and continuing the process of giving R.W. Brackley, my main character, a proper face.

The first piece on which I worked is the second in the anatomy series - this one's a great auk, and his main washes are almost done!



And of course, Brackley, now more than just a series of pencil lines!



I'd also like to continue on my sharing of inspiring videos. This one's got music from the Fleet Foxes and is directed by Sean Pecknold and animated by Pecknold and Britta Johnson. The characters are designed by Stacey Rozich, who just happens to be one of my new favourite illustrators!

The Shrine / An Argument from Sean Pecknold on Vimeo.

(I'd recommend viewing it in fullscreen so as to enjoy the incredible visuals)

Bears & whales & squirrels & Brackleys, oh my!

As of this moment, I have exactly TWO projects left to work on for this first semester at OCAD. FANCY. I was up until all hours last night getting my final drawing assignment done. It was to be a 12-frame storyboard, but, being the keenest keener, I convinced my prof to let me create the thing in grpahic-novel mode. It ended up being six pages of painstaking drawing/inking/watercolouring and took me an obscenely long time (sequential art - it's tough, guys!) but I'm pretty happy with the result:



To the left is the envelope/cover I made by hand (at 1 a.m. Somehow the folds and flaps all lined up despite the lateness) and to the right is the establishing shot/first image of the story. When I get it back I think I'll scan everything and post the entire project here - the story I ended up creating is pretty entertaining (maybe someday I'll even continue it).

Between final assignments, I found time to photograph and work on some personal painting. First off, a better shot of my huge curiosity cabinet piece, plus a cephalopodian close-up:




Then, some whale-details. First, the point at which I realized everything looks terrifying without pupils, a.k.a. BELUGA WHALE OF DOOM:



And some more comforting shots of non-possessed cetateans:




I also managed to finally get my main character's face down on paper (she has been eluding me for months), and got her background wash done to boot. It is with great pleasure that I introduce the one, the only R.W. BRACKLEY!!




I'm looking forward to getting some paint on the lady, as then her character will really come out.

So that's that - school is almost done, which means I'll soon be able to devote all of my spare time to getting the rest of my pieces/smaller illustrations done for the show (I'm quite behind, but have hope I'll get it all in order). Onwards!

Late Night Inspiration

I'm currently working on a school project that's being exceptionally difficult and causing me acres of hair-tearing, huge-sigh-inducing frustration. Since pleading with Illustrator to just make the layout WORK already is not helping, I decided that it was time to watch some inspiring things on the Internet (in the hopes that some of the brilliance would rub off on me).

My favourite two selections from this jaunt:

#1: An absolutely stunning music video. I...I don't even know what to say. It's hypnotizing and gorgeous and somehow very sad.

Bubble from Elliot Dear on Vimeo.

#2: I'm sure I've made clear how much I love cephalopods. This video has many (and is darkly wonderful).

OCTOPUS from Mari Kanstad Johnsen on Vimeo.

Own-Art Progress

Guys. GUYS.

I have finally made some time in which to work on my own art (seeing as I have that show coming up in, oh, 2.5 months). This time is found between the hours of 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. Good thing my brain is productive at night.

As per usual, here are some crappy photobooth shots of one finished piece and one in-progress one. On the bright side, I found my camera. Now I just need to find some batteries.

First off, I finished the whales!



I also had the time, post cetacean-painting, to lay in some more colour on this lovely lady:



Her story shall be revealed as soon as she's finished. It's a doozy, I promise you.

I also promise that all of my new pieces will soon be reposted with much better photos and detail shots (as soon as my batteries emerge from the box in which they are hiding).

Pigeons & Pigeons & Whales

Once again, my overdue update shall be concerned mostly with school, seeing as school is my life these days (in a good way still, don't worry).

Some recent work:

The final piece for my colour class - the bird morphed from a falcon into a pigeon and got quite flashy. The teacher seemed to be a fan as I was working on it in class, which is always nice.



Some shoddy photobooth images of my first major drawing assignment. I hope to have some scans of this someday, as I was thrilled with how well the project turned out. It was a storyboard documenting a day in the life of a pigeon (from the pigeon's point of view).






The final frame, which was my favourite. In related news, drawing buildings takes 500 years (or approximately 12 hours for the whole assignment. Ouch).

In non-school work, all I've done lately has been a wash for some whales.





I promise it is not nearly so neon-pea-soup-green in person (though I think one more, browner wash might be necessary).

Now back to class! Onwards & upwards!

Schoolwork Proof

It seems as if every time I go to update this blog I am (a) prevented from posting any new personal-art due to school assignments, and (b) liable to go on and on about the stacks of crazy, amazing assignments I'm being given. After a few false starts, it finally occurred to me I should probably show off some of the aforementioned pieces of schoolwork. As my fifth week of first year starts, I've gotten some results I feel happy posting on this here art-blog, so without further ado, two samples of my school slog!



Above are my four favourite layouts from my second typography project. We were given five words (flight, gravity, expansion, force and radiation) and were to create paste-ups that expressed the meaning of the word through the shape/setting of the type. Yes, the above were all done by hand with each letter cut out individually. Yes, it took me zillions of hours (thankfully I enjoyed about 80% of those hours).



This one's a project that's still in the rough stage, but I'm pretty happy with the results so far (I've never been much good at drawing in Illustrator, so this one's been a challenge...so many wobbly lines!). It's meant to be four stages of a falcon's dive, which will, in part two, be merged together to somehow give the graphic illusion of movement. Or something. I'm still figuring that part out.

Along with the above assignments (and many more), I've found the time to get a bit of work done on the planning stage of the companion book for my February show, done a bit of writing, and finished what might be the biggest piece for said show - please enjoy this crappy photobooth progress shot from my last session working on it (yes, I have misplaced my camera somewhere in my apartment, why do you ask?).



As soon as I find said device, I shall update with a shot of the finished piece, as well as a few other artworks I've managed to get done. I swear, there is progress being made on things besides schoolwork!

Look Inside

Just a quick update before I get back to my heaping piles of homework (school is kicking my butt in the best way possible). Finally got around to scanning in the work I did while I was up at the cottage and thought I'd better toss at least one piece up on this here blog while I had a moment.

The following is the first anatomical animal (of about seven) I've completed:



It's a flightless Galapagos cormorant, carefully dissected and examined by R.W. Brackley after it was given to her by a traveling explorer-friend. She completed a number of similar dissections during her early career as an amateur naturalist, most interested in the contents of each creature's stomach, which sometimes contained extremely unusual objects (in the case of this particular bird, a fully functional pocket watch).

Months Apart

Hey guys, where the hell did the rest of August go? One moment I was happily posting about Seahouses, the next I was wandering around the halls of OCAD feeling like a kid again, all concerned with finding my classes and getting my textbooks and homework and other academic things.

I suppose spending the last ten days of the month up at my cottage, where time becomes seriously abstract and is mostly defined by the presence or absence of daylight (we're electricity-free up there), helped the last of the summer sneakily slink away. Happily, that escape from the city proved quite productive, as I spent the first half working at least five hours a day on painting and writing for my upcoming show.

Here are some (shoddy photobooth) images of three of the finished pieces:








(Cameos by my studio-mate Erin & my ridiculous face.)

Now that I'm back in civilization, my life is all about finding my balance. The intensity of art school, with its piles of homework, still has me a little unsteady, but I'm simultaneously thrilled to be taking classes that cater directly to my artistic and design obsessions (particularly typography. So delicious). I'm only on my second week, but right this moment, I'm pretty sure I belong here.

Oh, as an important side-note, I now have an official date for my next solo show! It'll be opening on February 3rd, 2012 at Freedom Clothing Collective (the same gallery as last time). I'll obviously be adding many more details as the months creep onwards. Keep an eye out (though not literally. I don't want to be responsible for any personal injuries).

Houses of the Sea

Fair blog-readers! Hello!

Not only do I have another preview of a piece for the next show, this post also includes a (draft-style, unedited) excerpt from the writing that will be accompanying the artwork in the companion book for the exhibition. Below is my first finished seahouse and the first paragraph of Brackley's journal entries on the subject of these mysterious marine formations.



"A fortnight ago I was speaking with an ancient sailor who, due to the terrible volume of chatter suffusing the pub in which we sat, misheard my question regarding types of seahorses in the region (I had been told by a colleague that this island was a rich source of unusual creatures, particularly seahorses). The old man did not answer straightaway, but beckoned to me to lean in closer, thus exposing me to his uniquely horrible breath, which smelled of anchovies and ale. When I had bent my ear nearly against his moustache-covered mouth, he whispered that he would take me out that week to show me the proliferation of mysterious seahouses that grace this sliver of the seas."

The entry goes on to describe the fascinating architectural and biological characteristics of the seahouses, but you'll have to pick up the book in February to find out what those are (one thing I can tell you, those houses aren't as sweet and innocent as they appear!).

AntlerBirds & Workspaces

Phew. The full weight of summer is resting its humid elbows directly on my city, making it hard to work on anything (all I want to do is lie in front of my fan and/or curl up inside my refrigerator), so I don't have a ton of work to update with at the moment. Instead, I'll post a trio of strange birds I painted a few months ago AND show off my now-set-up studio workspace!

#1: BIRDS. WITH ANTLERS.


Temminick's Tragopan


Another sort of Tragopan (can't remember the exact kind)


Blood Pheasant

None of these birds have antlers in real life (if only), but every other detail on 'em is straight from nature. I'll never get over how perfectly weird the world is.

#2: WORKSPACE!

I've been installed in my (happily shared) studio for just over two months now, and it's starting to feel like home. Adjusting to working in a new, non-apartment space took a few weeks, but now I'm in love with the spaciousness, the artistic environment (courtesy of my studio-mates) and, for the summer, the fact that it's a cool basement (extra-super-bonus!).

Here are some images of the space and my segment of it:


The view from the other end of the space (where we'll have some lovely hand-printed merch for sale come the fall), looking towards the work area. Yes, that is a beautiful printing press.


The left side of my area - shelves full of supplies, plus my two-headed black swan perched happily in his new windowsill home.


Desk! Having this much tabletop space is INCREDIBLE (at my apartment I had about a quarter of this).


Bulletin board detail - finished pieces, pieces in progress, inspiration, etc.

And that's that! I'm off to visit the afore-described space right now, as there's a painting that needs finishing before this weekend!

Buford's Big Cameo!

My gallery, Freedom Clothing Collective, has put out a lovely summer video lookbook (even fancier than a photo-lookbook!) and my friend Buford B. Bartleby, Strongman Extraordinaire, has a wee cameo - look for him in the background during the last half of the video:

FREEDOM CLOTHING - Summer 2011 from Freedom Clothing Collective on Vimeo.

Buford is also for sale in the FCC online shop! How thrilling!

Leland & Friends

Dear Everyone Who Reads This Here Blog:

I have a show up for the month of July! I just got back from hanging the thing and am exhausted but happy to see a bunch of work up and in frames (one of the most satisfying parts of creating art, methinks).

The show is called "Characters" and contains 19 of my Victorian watercolours - here's one of them:



If anyone wants to visit these Victorian dudes and ladies, just pop on over to Poor John's, which is at 1610 Queen Street West (in Toronto). Hope you'll be able to stop by!

An Ice Mummy Of My Very Own

As promised, I painted me a painting inspired by Mr. John Torrington (see last entry for more on him & his amazing face). I've never created a piece of art that actively creeped me out while I was working on it (being in the studio alone? DID NOT HELP), but I love the way he turned out.

Here are some low-quality photobooth shots of the process (all done in one sitting) - he's not quite done, but is pretty darn close!













Now I want to make art inspired by other mummies - I think the Tollund Man is first on the list.

Petty Officer John Shaw Torrington

While reading my current book (Helen Humphries' Afterimage), I was reminded of a tale that captured my imagination as a child. The story (click for a pretty good summary of the events) of Franklin's third expedition into the Arctic held all the drama and tragedy of the most engrossing novel, plus there were the mummies. I was fascinated by mummies of all kinds, but the faces of the buried sailors from Franklin's crew were particularly intriguing. The cold preserved their bodies to an incredible degree, so much that the mummies still had their eyes nearly intact.

This image of young sailor John Torrington is so haunting, it's no wonder that, after nearly 15 years it has never left my head. As soon as I read the passages in Afterimage that referenced the Franklin expedition, I got the urge to draw him, and I'm quite happy with how the sketch turned out:



I'm considering bringing some tragic, frozen sailors into the cast of my next show, so this most likely isn't the last you'll see of John and his ilk on this blog (in fact, I expect you'll see a watercoloured sketch of this very piece quite soon).

Ah, nostalgia - sometimes you're ever so useful for inspiration!

A Whale of a Tale

According to my beloved Paper Place (and its mysterious cousin, the Japanese Paper Place), this June is all about washi (click for Wikipedia-based learnin'!). I had the pleasure of attending a lovely washi workshop a few months ago at the Japanese Paper Place, and, having learned about promptly promised Freedom Clothing Collective I'd make a piece for their washi-inspired exhibition.

Being a master procrastinator, I left the actual creation of the piece until the last minute, but I'm mercifully happy with the final result. It's in line with my current nautical obsession - here's a shot of the watercolour background, pre-shadowboxing:



And the finished piece (photo taken in the GORGEOUS garden that's attached to the building in which my new studio lives...mega-super bonus, guys)!



The shadowbox is 5" x 7", which means this here ship measures approximately 1" in length...



...while the whale is just a bit bigger at 2.5" or so.



Both of the washi items were hand-sewn with gold embroidery thread, which was stressful (thankfully the paper is impressively strong and resists ripping pretty darn well), but ended up giving an appealing atmosphere to the final setup (I like to think it's slightly reminiscent of the handmade dream-scenes in Science of Sleep, though that may be wishful thinking). Once it was finished, I also realized it reminded me of one of my favourite prints by Canadian printmaker David Blackwood:

I swear the resemblance wasn't purposeful, but the end result, which is kind of a kid's book version of the print, certainly amuses me!

Collected Progress

As spring begins to give way to the first hints of summertime, changes are afoot in my artistic life as well. Last week I moved the majority of my art supplies over to my new studio, which I share with two other creative ladies (there will be more posted about this space in the near future - for now, we're in embryo-mode, getting the place tidied up and planning a myriad of exciting things).

It'll be interesting to see how this new space effects my production methods - it's certainly nice to get out of my wee apartment, away from my cluttered little desk and into a space with considerably more breathing room. I also now have access to a printing press, which means I've started to plan little printmaking projects to add some variety into my watercolour world.

Here's a glimpse of the studio-in-progress:



I'm also happy to say I've officially finished three pieces (of 20+, of course) for my next major show (February 2012) - here's one of the three!

Please say hello to Margaret X. Arthurson, the wife of Arthur A. Arthurson. She is wearing the regalia of the Very Secret Society for New Marine Taxonomy (VSSNMT) (being a little-known secret society dedicated to re-categorizing the sea), and flanked by the symbols for the VSSNMT proper as well as the bird's foot, which indicates affiliation with (or, in her case, leadership of) The Mollymawk Collective, the women-only offshoot of the VSSNMT.