Deep Sigh of Relief

On February 3rd, 2012, A Collected Collection opened at Freedom Clothing Collective (939 Bloor St West - show's up until March 26th! You haven't missed it!). Lit by the blinking lights of paper jellyfish and filled with wonderful friends and family, the gallery was a perfect home for the discoveries of my beloved R.W. Brackley. Before all the festivities of opening night, though, there was hard work to be done.




My studio-mate Pam and I framed all the pieces in a single day. Thankfully it went smoothly, and Pam's incredible mat-cutting skills made my pieces look incredible. The next morning everything had to be packed up for the drive up to the gallery...



...and once there, Marsya and I hung it all up on the walls, arranging the pieces mostly in line with the narrative of Brackley's story.





Though the work was all up on the walls, my slog had not yet ended. I was in the studio until almost 1 a.m. getting the most important element of the window display done (sidenote: being able to have a solo art show AND design a window display? AMAZING). That element? THESE GUYS:

LED Jellyfish, hooray! from Jessica Bartram on Vimeo.

LED. JELLYFISH.

Made from washi tissue paper and a load of hot glue, these babies were brought to life by devilishly simple LED + battery contraptions made by Anibal (the same guy who got the bears dancing at my last show). They flickered and phosphoresced all night, being super photogenic the whole time:





Alongside the jellies, I also got to dress the window-mannequin. She got some gorgeous clothing from FCC's racks and a spur-of-the-moment tissue paper feather sash, all the better to go exploring with?




Phew. At this point all the setup is complete, I've gone home and had a much-needed shower, picked out my prettiest dress and it's time for the party to start!

A shot taken before the folks arrived:



The pigeon in his element:




The proof of Brackley's book (now available for pre-order!):



And then,



Lovely supporters!



People looking at my art!



Friends! Family! A very happy Jess!

I continue to be flabbergasted and ever so thankful for all the support and enthusiasm surrounding my art. I love creating this stuff, and being able to share it with people, tell my characters' stories and hang it up in a perfectly wonderful gallery continues to be simultaneously incredible and totally surreal.

To finish off this giant post, a shot from the end of the night, after the window had fogged over, turning the jellyfish into creepy ghost-creatures.

Quick Creature-Filled Post

I'm in the final stretch of preparation for my show and, amongst the mad rush to finish both framing and my window display props AND that pesky pile of homework (note: I love said homework, it's just the timing of all this that's a bit crazy) I figured I should pop a quick post up to (a) give everyone a non-photobooth sneak peek of some of the 3D beasts I've created for the exhibit, and (b) throw in a convenient reminder of that whole THIS SHOW OPENS IN TWO-ish DAYS HOLY CRAP. Please, if you can, come to the opening (see image at bottom of post for more info). If you can't make it, that's OK! The show's up at Freedom Clothing Collective until March 26th (and up at Graven Feather for the month of February).

Anyways, presented without captions (who has time for captions these days?), some process shots from my beast production line:





















Onwards to Friday!

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.

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!

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).

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!