Canzine

Yesterday was a trip down Queen West to the Great Hall to experience the cultural event that is Canzine! There were tons of independent publications to be seen, from postcards to zines to full fledged books (one about an army of cats and pirates stands out in my mind). The event was visually overwhelming, with some fantastic artists showing and selling work.
The new venue, however, wasn't so good. The event has, to the extent of my knowledge, always been held at the Gladstone Hotel a bit further west on Queen Street. That venue has space for workshops and actual MANOEUVRING. MY major complaint about Canzine this year was the lack of space. It was incredibly difficult to get around some of the rooms, and I admit that I did skip looking at some artists' work simply because I didn't want to fight my way into their tiny aisle, and then have to fight my way out again. I feel bad, but it is the unfortunate truth.
On another note, I know it's been a while since my last post. That isn't to say that I haven't been productive. I'm currently working on a couple of different projects, of which the most exciting is Whodunit, the annual mystery art sale fundraiser. I've finished two pieces for that show, out of a hopeful five. However, given the nature of the sale, I feel like I ought to withhold photos of the work until after the sale takes place.
Instead, I have a painting and a couple of drawings that are well on their way to becoming a screen print.



It is my hope that you will be able to recognize the famous gentlemen I've depicted in the drawings. The painting is acrylic on canvas with pen and ink drawing over top.

My, haven't we been productive?

So this week has been fairly productive.
I'd better rephrase that. This week has seen the results of the past few weeks of work get to a point I am reasonably happy with. Basically, it means the "Fatale" prints are finished, I got my lithographs printed last night, and on Monday I finished a two week life study in my sculpture class.

Two new paintings

Hello there all, and happy October! Not only that, but it's a Friday night. What more could you ask for? Anyways, it's been a little while since I've posted up here, so I think it's high time that was remedied.
I have some fun stuff for you today. Some paintings, some print stages, and perhaps even some sculpture. Combined with a little rant. So it should be a good day.
First, paintings! These are two works that I finished within the first week of school. I'm reasonably happy with the results. They're kind of an extension of a painting I did during the summer, meant to show the natural world overcoming the man-made. They were quite fun to do. Started with an Unbleached Titanium base, taped off sections, and blocked out straight colours. Medium is acrylics, ink, and conté.


I've started running the second version of the Fatale prints. Unfortunately, the registration got a little messed up when i drew the ink across the screen for the second colour. I'm hoping I'll be able to fix that as much as possible in the final stages of working on the print. I also did another colour earlier today, but there aren't any photos of that yet.

I also have a touch of sculpture to show this week. This was a three hour study of a live model, done in clay.

And now, for those of you who are still with us, a small rant.
I will try to be brief.
I feel like artists should really respect each other. It can be challenging sometimes what with visual art being such an opinion-based field of study; however, simple differentiation of opinion should not permit an artist to downright bash another artist's work. I don't mean criticizing, as often that can be constructive when done with the proper degree of care and respect. I mean statements such as 'my piece is so much better than yours'. While you're free to enjoy your own work and be proud of what you've done, saying this really yields zero constructive advice for the artist who is the butt of the comment. This applies all the more if it is that artist's first experimentation working with a brand new medium.
Frankly, it will gain you no friends to talk like that to other artists, and help you to lose some instead. Instead, construct. Point out what you don't think is working in the image, what could be touched up, or elements you think are working and could be built on.
So just give your fellow artists the respect that they deserve, and you'll receive the same respect in turn.
Thanks for reading, sorry that this has been such a lengthy post! I hope to have new work going up within the next week.
Have a good one!

First set of prints done!

The preliminary set of prints have been finished! This was an interesting process, and I consider these more as studies than finished pieces. I've already shown the original stencil, and here's what came out of it.


After doing the first set of print, I made another pair of stencils, along with an 8 x 10 frame stencil, and then experimented with a three colour print. I'm not entirely pleased with the colours, but this was more of an experiment in working with the medium. These images are the results of this venture.


So this is some of what I've been up to lately. I've just finished cutting the final stencils for the "Fatale" print series, and have selected a colour palette that I like, so within the next little while, final prints will be appearing. If you're interested in owning one of the prints or experiment prints (they've been numbered as a series), feel free to contact me. Experimental prints I'll sell for $15, and final prints I'll probably run around $25-30.

Stencils!

So we're back in school now. Today was my first exposure to screen printing; I did a few test prints and then did a little set of six prints from a stencil I made. It has a definite Art Nouveau feel, which I enjoy. The drawing itself, posted here, didn't really take too long, but cutting it out took a good chunk of time, and required me to go out partway through to get new sharper blades for my knife to minimize tearing of the newsprint.

The drawing was done without photo references, and actually came out of my little brain; remarkable, I know, because sometimes it really seems like there's nothing up there. The image was drawn at an 8" x 10" size in pencil, drawn over in pen, and then carefully cut out. Some of the hairs changed a bit on the finished stencil, simply due to the fact that it was impossible to cut some of the incredibly fine bits without ripping the newsprint.

As an aside, it turns out newsprint is probably the best paper for stencils. Don't use Cougar. Do yourself a favour.

Living in Toronto!

So I just recently moved back into the big city. That was an event, and was then followed by a lot of cleaning. I've decided that the new place isn't so bad. Anyways, with the move and getting to see my room mates again after the summer, not a whole ton of art has gone on in the last little while. However, I did manage to finish a new painting this morning.

One nearly new painting!

Why yes, it has been a while. And as I prepare to move back into the big city of Toronto, I put off my packing in order to update my blog. Clearly, I am a winner. Anyways, this week has been a bit hectic, and hasn't really involved a lot of artwork. However, a couple of people have requested that I design tattoos for them, so I've been doing some rough work for those. There aren't any real finished pieces to show this week. So instead, I'll post this painting, which I finished a while back.

This was largely an experimental piece, done without any plan or goal in mind. The medium is primarily acrylic on canvas, but also involves a little bit of ink, collage, and crackle paste.
As I said, this was an experimental piece, and it was my first exposure to the wonder that is crackle paste. I wasn't happy with its performance on this canvas, although I believe that may simply be due to the ratio of crackle paste to paint it was mixed with. My second crackle paste experiment yielded much more satisfying results.