Another Fast Weekend

Weekends have been going by so. fast. Probably because weekends always go by fast, and summer always goes by fast, so weekends in the summer must go by extra fast. Must be it. On the plus side, I've started work for the show. The top two posted here are going to be part of the twelve five by seven illustrations in the show. I want them all to have a 3-dimensional component to them, and then to be framed in shadowboxes. So, 2 down, 10 to go! The nice thing about working in this size is that they are (well they can be) quick, and they don't take up much space.

My apartment is studio-less. A one bedroom with two people, two cats, and no air conditioning is not the most conducive to clean, organized, stress-free creativity. The nice thing is, we've got an air conditioner being delivered tomorrow and I've staked out a corner of the living room where I've built my nest of workspace. I'll explain that. Never having had a proper studio space, I've had to adapt. I usually lay all of my supplies (watercolours, pens, pencils, papers, fabric, sewing machine, and glue) in a semi-circle on the floor with an empty spot in the centre for me to sit in. Then, I add a big glass of ice water and a mug of coffee and the nest is complete. I have spent hours and hours, sometimes all-nighters, in this set-up. My back is usually sore the next day, but it works for me.

Greetings!

A wonderful friend of mine recently had the idea that I get greeting cards printed of some of my drawings and offer them for sale, both on my Etsy and at my upcoming show. This works perfectly because I have a lot of friends who like my work but are, like me, poor students and can't afford my original works. The cards are beautifully printed and the colours are true to life, so if anyone were to buy them, it would almost be like having the real thing!
I love the way they turned out, and am hoping to get more as soon as possible (well, as soon as I figure out which drawings to use next, and as soon as I see how popular these actually are).

Anyway, I just thought I'd share. I was so excited during the entire process of making these - from choosing which illustrations to use to excitedly speed-walking home from the post office to open up the box.

p.s. - you can buy them here :)

Poster!

The poster is done! I finished it earlier this week and put some finishing touches on it today. Once again, there is still a long list of things on the go (namely all the the work that is supposed to be going into the show), but it's nice being able to cross at least one thing off the list.

That said, it's Pride Week here in Toronto, and the parade is today. With all of that colourful excitement going on outside my door (I live almost literally on the parade route), I need to go outside in the sunshine and enjoy it. Happy Pride! (or just Happy Sunday for non-Torontonians)

Another Weekend Over

It's crazy how fast these things go. It's a combination of the fact that it's summer and that I have a huge to-do list looming over my head. I started working on the design for my show poster, and I hope to have it done in the next day or two, hopefully tomorrow. I haven't started any of the final works for the show yet, but, whatever - that's not all I ever want to talk about.

The last two days have been strange here in Toronto, with the largest streets and intersections looking like barren, post-apocalyptic movie sets. Windows smashed, cars on fire, and no one to be seen. I live a little North of all the anarchy, and so in my safe little bubble of Yonge & Bloor it really seemed like there were no problems at all, except for the sirens rushing down Yonge every now and then. Oh well, it's over now and this blog isn't my political soapbox.

I'll post any new work as it comes, and the link to the website when it's up and running, which like everything else I set out to do, should be any day now.

A Slight Re-Tooling, and I'm a bad person

I'll start with the second part of the title first. I am a bad person. Last post I went on and on about how optimistic I was about my work ethic, hoping upon hope I could convince myself to be more productive. Productivity is the word of the month, and it's one that eludes me. All this to say I have not worked on my show yet. I've been planning, making lists, and conceptualizing. Tonight I'm working with the beautiful Jess Thalmann on my website (aka, she does my website for me while I drool all over her and commit to millions of favours as payment for her hard work). But as for the actual production of work? Well, as of now my exhibition consists of one drawing, beautiful, but not yet framed. I plan on doing six more large scale works - four on paper, framed, and two on wood panel, as well as 12 shadowboxed 5" x 7" tableaus. I do, however, work well under pressure. The work for my last show was done in about 10 days. But that's not the plan for this one. I swear.

As for the second part of the title: a slight re-tooling. I plan to put my finished work - all finished work - on my new website, so having it here too might be a bit redundant. This blog will still be dedicated to displaying two newly produced small scale drawings per week, but they'll likely be rougher, mostly sketches for larger or more finely rendered work that will appear on the website. I'll see how it will all work out, but I am more dedicated than ever to keeping this project alive. That said, this weekend marks the third since I've updated and I owe you six drawings. This weekend...it will happen!

Two of Two, and Productivity

So here, as promised, are the other two drawings for this weekend. There are a bunch of gallery applications I'm trying to finish for this week because I'm trying to get more exposure and more experience on my CV so that MFA applications go a little better next year (aka, I get accepted somewhere). For some reason, I've been procrastinating and I don't even know why. I hate that feeling. I know that I need to do these applications to get into any shows, and I also know that I need to do some hardcore work and planning for the show I have coming up at the end of the summer. I want to finish around 6-8 new, large works and those take time. I want the quality to be good, of course, and I want to get them framed. All this translates into the fact that I need to get to work.
Doing this blog definitely helps. For new ideas I'm constantly looking at different sources, for instance, the one of the lady with the flowery beehive was inspired by this. These sources of inspiration help me think of more concrete ideas for my show. The next step is just doing the work. Easier said than done, but hopefully next week I'll have something started and be on my way toward being more productive. Fingers crossed?

One of One, and Portraits

So here they are, and only a week late. I know, I know - the whole reason I started this blog was so that I would push myself to remain productive. That's why this post is titled one of one - I promise another post within the next 24 hours. Or at least by the end of the weekend. So there.

The second drawing is an attempt at a portrait. I draw a lot of people, but none of them actually exist. The faces (which all look the same, I know) are just made up. Recently, in an attempt to make a sort of fun office job more fun, my friend put a plastic duck in her hair and asked for a portrait. What should have been a 2 minute doodle became a weekend long affair as I tried to make the face resemble hers - which is beautiful, of course. Attempts and crumpled paper piled up as I tried to make the face look like hers. Finally, I came up with the one above and both she and I were happy with the result. Is this something I should attempt more? Portraits that resemble actual people rather then the nondescript faces I normally doodle? At the very least, it's a challenge. I'll see how it goes.

P.S. - her hair is brown and gloriously curly. Not grey. I still need to tweak the colour settings on my new scanner.