Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays...

Decemberist show at Manta Contemporary

I am participating in a group show at Manta Contemporary that will be running for the course of the month and into the new year.  You can visit www.mantacontemporary.com for more info.  Allow me to introduce, The Daydreamer...

Dave Brubeck

new blocks

It's that time again!  More blocks, the latest art brownie project show opens today.  Originally intended as rabbit ears, it was suggested to me I make them into a stool, so I thought why not!  Here you can see both versions.  It also makes a great hat!  (see below)  I painted this background (digitally) for fun because the photo I took was "messy".  The tablecloth (on which the photo was taken) makes a neat floor/carpet pattern, wouldn't you say?  Although I admit it's not entirely "natural" looking, it was a fun way for me to display the piece.

Yo-Yo Hall

Another editorial cartoon based on current local news...  scrapping bike lanes that already existed (why not just leave them and save the cost?) and imposing a tax on plastic bags, then banning plastic bags altogether, only to reverse the decision entirely!  Wacky!

Thika Toka Iringa Ford

Editorial cartooning...  Just did this up today in response to the local news.  Woke up to the news of the elephants on the radio this morning, and combined that with the news of Ford on Monday.

Remembrance

Sorry, will post later.

Happy Halloween!!

I was playin' around in photoshop and out came these 2 things:  Martian pumpkins invade Earth!  And the other a more earthly pumpkin, with a sort of wonky face.

Set painting for live theatre...

I recently did some background painting for live children's theatre.  It was a fun experience.  There was a path down a "dark forest" and one down a "light forest"- I did the "light forest".  The play also involved a princess who has a portfolio full of her "fashion illustrations"- just a few quick sketches were needed, this is one of the ones I contributed for fun...

Square Feet

I participated in The Square Foot Show, for which the opening was last night; it was packed!!  Got totally soaked in a storm on the way home, ahhhh summer.  This was the piece I showed, painted in acrylic and gouache on wooden panel.  You can check it out at Twist Gallery or check out awolgallery.com for more details.

Blocks and blocks - art brownies 2012

Just last weekend was the opening for the art brownie project 2012, where you are given a wooden block measuring 2 1/2 " x 2 1/2 " x 1 1/2 ".  These are my tiny creations...  (You can check them out at INDEXG Gallery or go to this link for more info: artbrownie.com )

driving in the rain

It was a grey rainy day out today so I suppose I was inspired to do this little number even though I was supposed to be working on something else!  I was looking for some inspiration for another project and started playing around with this based on some other artwork that I found.

Finnesto finito!

I finally put the finishing touches on this painting after leaving it for a while.  Painting is such a push and pull, give and take exercise demanding of all your attention and concentration.  But do you know what's even more difficult?  Trying to get a decent photograph of the darn thing!  It's impossible to capture all of the colours and textures and feeling of the original painting.

SHARKFIST!!

I am participating in a group art show this weekend in which everyone must design a t-shirt for a band that does not exist, based on 80's metal shirts some having fake tour dates on the back and the whole shebang.  Mine's a little more metal/hardcore/punk.  Anyhow, I always like to see the rough work, sometimes I even like the roughs better than the finished product, plus I kinda screwed it up when I inked it so here you can see both!

Beatsville

This was inspired by 60's and 50's artwork, in particular the work of Jim Flora.  I'm not too keen on the moon, but it was just an add-on really anyway.  Scoodily-doo wah wah!!

books and magazines...

Some people read books and some people frame them!  This old storybook is something I framed up recently - floating in a shallow mat walled shadowbox with a floating mat, kind of a double whammy!  ...errr triple whammy? The second shallow shadowbox is an old New Yorker magazine I framed a while back.  I love the cover by Peter De Seve, an AMAZING illustrator and character designer whom I admire a lot, so it was cool to be able to do this.

Another one!  Check out this laser cut gun into the cover of this old book I had to frame.

Valentino

Just a little valentine doodle, scanned and coloured up in the photoshop...

Merry Christmas, happy holidays, happy new year and all that jazzz

custom CUSTOM!

This was a vintage piece from the 1920's.  I mounted it on a mahogany veneered background inside of a vintage round frame within which I built mahogany veneered sidewalls.  This was a tough piece to do as it was obviously round!  So I had to cut the glass by hand of course as well as the backing that I had to build out for depth and strength.  Irregular pieces are always a challenge (and they don't get much more irregular than this!) and I generally enjoy doing them as they break up the monotony of the usual never ending "factory line" every day stuff, although a bit frustrating when you have to deal with time constraints!

custom framing

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am currently working as a custom framer.  I've had the opportunity to frame up some interesting items in this time including a solid silver putter from Tiffany's, some extremely sensitive "smoke paintings", records, shoes, all kinds of sports jerseys, a Ralph Lauren 911 kids sweater, a vintage cutlery set, vintage geometry set, marathon medals, WWII medal, an Order of Canada medal, a set of very old and fragile legal documents on parchment, $400 scarves, an original Emily Carr water colour (worth $65000!), microphones, old medications, the list goes on...  not all of which I have photos for.  I never really thought to take photos until more recently.  Each unique item can present themselves with a different set of "problems", it is my job then to become the problem solver!  Working with these valued objects can be tricky and does require some craftiness, skill and ingenuity.  You do have to become quite creative and inventive at times!  I'll tell ya, making them appear as simple and seamless as possible is not always a simple task.  To float there as naturally as they would sit does require some sort of magic.  And to make sure that they are secure enough to defy the affects of gravity and withstand the inevitable travel and handling to their final resting place up on a wall somewhere.  Indeed I don't believe everyone appreciates the effort that goes into framing every piece, the problem being of course, presenting each item without compromising the integrity of the item!  You cannot damage the item, but you have to secure it somehow!!  Anyhow, here are some examples of my work...

art brownie project

I was part of this group show at IndexG art gallery in November which was a lot of fun.  You can check it out here... http://artbrownie.blogspot.com/  These are 2 of the blocks which I submitted for the show.  The TV sold at the show!