Cataloguing

Whew. Where the hell did August go? Suddenly autumn is creeping in (something about which I have no complaints - I'm done with summer's humid heat), the nights are chilly and I spotted a few early-bird leaves donning their fiery coats when I was up north last weekend.

Though I'm eager for it to be fall, the onset of a new season has kicked me into panic mode regarding the show. I forced myself to sit down last night with a giant piece of paper and a calendar and wrote out a giant to-do list, complete with (shudder) DEADLINES. Due to the fact I'm planning a catalogue to go with the show (featuring the full stories of all the characters, the history of Farther's Freaks, etc.), I have to be finished all my pieces by the end of September, as they all need to be scanned for the book.

Cue unadulterated PANIC. Agh.

Thankfully, the internet is a bastion of inspiring images, regularly spurring my brain into new flights of fancy, especially when it comes to the catalogue.

This lovely blog entry both reminds me of the long 'animals in silly clothing' tradition of which I am a part and makes me want to create some ridiculous endpapers for the book, kind of like this:



Besides the fantastic endpapers, the creature-characters are, in general, completely mad and hilarious. Proof:










I completely agree with the original poster that those creepy cats up there are some of the weirdest clothed animals I've ever seen. They will probably haunt my dreams.

She's got a few more page captures over at the original post, plus a link to the whole book in the Gutenberg archive (tasty). Check 'em out!

Dang. Now I'm all fidgety and wishing I was at home so I could keep working on the catalogue. Oh well. Coffee break over, back to my real job!

Chicken, Chicken, Swan

I've started working on the 3D curiosities that will accompany the watercolours for the show, starting with The Really Big One - a two-headed, "taxidermied" black swan (life-size - I actually looked up the average size of Cygnus atratus - 110-142cm long, for the curious - before starting to build).

To begin with, I had to wrangle some chicken wire, which is always a painful process. My arms and legs are still host to a myriad of little scratches doled out by the vicious stuff.



Oh look - six feet of aggressive, injury-causing swan-skeleton!



After much bending and wire-cutting and being stabbed, I ended up with a roughly swan-shaped conglomeration of wire:



I attempted to do the whole 'two swan necks making a heart' cliché. Ended up with a pathetic, wonky shape. Tragic.



After the creation of the base, it was time to add some substance to the bird. Since I'm not a fan of the mess (and drying time) inherent in the whole papier maché process, I opted for the easy way out - newspaper and LOTS of masking tape. After an evening of paper-ripping and tape-application, I ended up with a cream-coloured swan mummy. Spooky.



As much as I enjoy the ghostly visage of masking-tape swan, more steps lie in the future for this curiosity, as it will wind up covered in paper feathers, in the style of Sir Percival IV (a dapper raven-fellow I made a few months ago).




And yes, I do look forward to hours of cutting out feathers and battling the perils of the dreaded Hot Glue Gun. It's all worth it, I swear.

Poster'd

So I started working on the poster I blabbed about in this post - I was surprised to find that the huge expanse of paper hardly frightened me at all, and the layout of the thing progressed quite smoothly.

Here's the initial pencil sketch:



And a close-up of the mysterious Josiah Carp, an extremely fishy fellow:



Since I neglected to photograph the ink alone, we now skip to a couple of terrible phone-camera shots of the first layer of paint:





I'm pretty darn thrilled with this so far - it's crazy sometimes thinking about how far I've come since last summer, when an 8" x 10" piece scared the crap out of me.

Workplaces

One of the very best things about working in watercolour is the portability of my 'studio'. Thanks to my handy little box o' paints, small paintbrushes and light paper blocks, I can pack up my whole operation and plunk it down just about anywhere - as long as I can get at some water (and maybe a scrap of paper towel for blotting), I can keep working even when travel is on the cards.

This weekend, being a holiday, saw me escaping the sticky city and trundling up to my cottage for a few days. I packed up the necessary materials, wrapped a bunch of half-finished pieces carefully in plastic (one must take a boat to get to the cottage and traveling over water with wholly soluble pieces of art is exceptionally nerve-wracking if they're not protected in some way) and, after arriving, taking a refreshing swim to wash off the hours of car travel, and chatting with the parents, I set up my workspace. On the dining room table, where I had to move it nearly every meal.



On the much brighter side, this was my view from the table (the weekend was rather grey, but the lake is gorgeous no matter what the weather):



And sometimes I worked by the light of a kerosene lamp (the creature in question there is Mr. Alonzo Purcell, who first appeared in this blog a while back):



Of course I eventually had to reluctantly pack all my things back into their bag for the long trip back to the city. On the way back, I stopped off at my parents' house (for their washing machines are much more free than the laundromat down the street), and, while waiting for loads of laundry to finish, I worked on another piece. This time I ensconced myself on the couch in front of the TV, proving I don't even need a full table on which to work (knees do the trick in a pinch).



Wherever will I be found painting next? Only time will tell.

Poster Inspiration

I apparently can't stop adding to my to-do list. First it was a whole passel of new 3D projects (freaky little plush things in jars!), then the idea of painting a few 4" x 6" 'cabinet cards' to go with some of the characters, and now it's a hand-drawn, watercoloured poster for the whole show, to go in the front window display.

See, when I was at Wolfitt's art shop on Queen West on my lunch break yesterday afternoon, the (super high-quality, usually WAY out of my price range) Aquarelle watercolour paper blocks were 40% off, meaning I was able to purchase a 36 x 51cm block and NOT cry over the bill.

The size of this thing completely intimidates me - as I was walking away from the store, I realized that its long side is just over HALF A METRE in length. Then I eyed it suspiciously and asked it if it was going to be nice to me when I start attempting to fill its vast expanse of white space. I found its lack of reply kind of ominous, but I'll overcome my issues and tackle the thing nevertheless.

Now I'm trawling Google Images looking for some inspiration for the Farther's Freaks Official (massive, ginormous, elephantine) Show Poster. Found some good stuff, like this one:



And these:





I look forward to getting a chance to get some sketches on paper - my summer's been so busy it's hard to find large expanses of time in which I can properly immerse myself in art-stuff. Eek. On the bright side, I'm one of those people who works best under pressure. Hope that doesn't just apply to essays and work projects!

Come Meet Esther Blackwood!

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!



The lovely Ms. Blackwood (pictured above) will be taking part in an absolutely lovely group show, opening this coming Friday (July 23rd).

Here's another link with more event information (and a map to the shop).

I hope people can come out - I'm unable to attend the opening, so I want everyone to go and enjoy the party on my behalf!

The show will stay up until August 10th, so you've got a few weeks during which to drop in and say hi to a certain lady-owl.

Colours Galore!

This has been a colourful weekend - not only did I manage to make it to an absolutely lovely craft fair and a rollerderby match, I also found time to do some painting and purchase fabric with which to make a carnivalesque dress for my show's opening in a few months.



There's a peek at the fabric I have so far - mustard yellow for the main dress, a little gold tulle for the sassy underskirt. I'm aslo planning to have some red piping involved - the dress is either going to be insanely fantastic or just insane. Hopefully the former.

As for the painting, it's been a bit slow (I keep getting distracted by the ridiculousness that is True Blood), but my latest piece makes use of a myriad of exciting colours, as evidenced by my watercolour set:



And the piece on which I'm working? Well it involves auklets and bunting. Here's a snippet of the scene:



Please note her jaunty cap - she made it herself, y'know!

Rejuvenation

HELLO INTERNET.

Yes, I realize it's been approximately eleventy-hundred-million years since I last updated this blog. I have a few good excuses (started a new job, been working on my next solo show, building proper website, etc.), but nothing to really explain over eight months of invisibility.

As mentioned up there, my art does now have a proper home on the web - Jessica Bartram Illustration finally exists, so you can check out most of my new work there (and the majority of the older work that's in this blog's archives). The new site leaves this blog, as hinted in the title up there, in the position of sidekick, a place for announcing exciting news, updating folks on the latest show's progress and just posting a miscellany of sketches (and perhaps some links to other people's art as well).

Speaking of the latest show, a.k.a. Farther's Fascinating Freaks. Here's a teaser of the progress so far:



It's mighty satisfying to see everything laid out on the floor like that. Makes it more real. I still have a ways to go - here's a snapshot of my Official Character List, all colour coded with highlighters and stuff:



On that note, I'm excited to announce that I've found a wonderful gallery-home for Farther's Freaks: The Show/Electric Boogaloo. More details to come in a week or so, once I've found out the exact date!

Please keep checking back every so often - I'm going to try to keep this blog updated a few times a week with the aforementioned news and tidbits and the like.

The rest of the Notable Victorians show!

Now that the rich have taken their place in the blog lineup, it's time for the poor side of the show to have their moment in the (gritty, smog-obscured) sun.


Owen, a Highland cow & butcher



Sally, a rhinoceros & prostitute



Archie, a pigeon & chimney sweep



Philip, a pelican & fishmonger



Poppy, a hyena & prostitute



Clarissa, a gazelle & flower-seller



Wilbur, a capybara & prizewinning piemaker



Charlie, a black swan & charlatan

Backlog + backlog + BACKLOG

It seems as if I've been horribly lax in posting, well, anything. Therefore it is time for a PICTURE DUMP (part one of two or three).

I'll start with a digital overview of my show, Notable Victorians. Here are most of the rich Victorians who took part (two have already been posted in previous entries):


Lady Upton, a giraffe

Lydia Colston, a great horned owl

Ernestine Blackworthy, a sloth

Calvin Kneebone, an okapi

Horatio Grigg, a peacock

Marcus Shinnick, a ringtail lemur

Eudora Drummond, a tapir

Randolph Toohey, a turkey vulture