Long Weekend and the Blahs

It's the long weekend, which means, for most, bad beer and fireworks. The weather outside is beautiful and it's Monday at noon and I'm still in my pajamas. However, I've been having one of those days where everything just feels kind of bland. My two drawings felt laborious and I'm not too happy with them, but good drawings or not - it's nice to be productive.
I've had a healthy breakfast and I'm going out for lunch, so hopefully today picks up.

Short post for today, I suppose. I'm still working out what my show is going to be, and I'm excited to start working on some bigger pieces. I'll update with any developments as they come.

Edit: I wanted to add that I bought a new scanner on Saturday. These two drawings were scanned with it - first, mistakenly, on the "illustration" setting, which did not work at all, and then as colour photos, with success. Next stop, a good printer so I can (hopefully!) start selling prints.

A Month Later

Ok, I'm back. And it's been too long. Between going away for 2 weeks and then moving a week later, and then starting a new job, I've been distracted. But I'm back now, week to week. (I just unpacked and organized all of my art stuff!).
The top drawing - the one with the two girls - is kind of exciting for me, and here's why. Just a few days ago I found out that I've got gallery space for a show. A solo show! The final two weeks of August. And the reason why that drawing is significant is because You Make Me Feel so Misanthropic is (almost definitely) going to be the name of my show. So there's that.
Otherwise, there hasn't been much else going on. I'm living downtown now, after 4 years of being stuck in the no man's land of North Toronto, and it's really, really great.

So that's that till next week. More about the show to come.

Au Revoir!

So, one new drawing for now. I really, really don't want to be a complainer, but I've been pretty busy lately. I'm leaving for 2 weeks the day after tomorrow - to Paris! (and Rome, Florence, Brussels, and Amsterdam!). Less than a week after I get back, I'm moving into a new apartment. And I only just found out that I got the apartment this morning.
Nevertheless, I wanted to do a drawing this week, and hopefully another before I go. The drawing contains art paper printed with a vintage Paris map - fitting, I thought.

So, if I don't post before Saturday, have a good two weeks - and look forward to new drawings upon my return!

New Drawings and a Love Letter to Photography Pt. 2

Today was my last ever photo class. Ever. It was also my last undergrad class. I have an exam the day after tomorrow (and so I have studying to do) but I'm pretty much all done.
There's a reason why both of my drawings this week are in black and white. I do (did?) black and white photography. My drawings are generally not black and white. Since drawing/illustrating is pretty much all I'm going to be doing now, I wanted to give one last little nod to black and white. Well, it's not like I'll never do anything in black and white again ever, but I guess I'm already feeling nostalgic. Maybe it's the 18 or so hours I spent in the darkroom over the long weekend.
So goodbye photography, goodbye chemical smell, goodbye safelight, goodbye enlarger, goodbye rolls of film, and goodbye black and white (for the most part). We had a good five years together, didn't we?

Now about the drawings specifically. The top one actually contains a test strip from one of my most recent photos. The bit in the middle that says "none of your business" is the lower half of a photo I worked on this weekend. The lower drawing is actually sort of taken from a (much larger) drawing I did earlier this year for a class. We had to do a piece on voyeurism, so I did a large drawing called "Wallpaper Design for People Who Like Being Watched". It was like the one above, but it was just the wallpaper, no floor/window and it also had a guy in the pattern - wearing sunglasses.

Once again, I apologize for the lacklustre scans. Along with the end of the school year comes the end of my access to stellar equipment. Once I get a bit of money, I'll buy a better scanner.

That's all, folks.

So, as promised, here's my second drawing for the week. I mentioned earlier that I've been on birds lately. Well, I've also been on birches. I think they're great. This one turned out a lot moodier than I intended. I painted the background with this lovely teal blue colour I have in my Marie's Chinese watercolour set. Then I went in with some black-ish brown, intending to just add a bit of shadow. In all fairness, the colours are much lovelier in person, and this one was scanned with my crappy all-in-one (proper scanner and high quality printer hopefully to come in the next few months).

Now, tomorrow I have to hand all the drawings I've done this semester for my drawing class. Problem is, I've been working small - as you can see - and the drawings I submit for class have to be on full sheets (22" x 30" I think) and I'm in a small drawing state of mind. Second problem is, I haven't really kept up on those drawings too well. After my show in January I felt really burnt out and haven't been up for doing much drawing, so tonight I'm faced with the daunting task of making up for lost time. I've had a cup of coffee and a handful (or two) of chocolate chips and I'm ready to face the big, blank sheet of paper staring up at me from the floor. Here goes.

That Drawing

Here it is- I said I'd add it. Another soon to follow, I swear.

One New Drawing, and a Love Letter to Photography

I have a new drawing this week, but the scanner I use is on campus. I'll scan it and post it later today. I wanted to post now because, frankly, I'm late. After only three posts (excluding this one) I don't feel I've earned the right to be all "sorry I haven't posted in so long, I've been busy blah blah". But I'm sorry I haven't posted. I've been busy. Blah Blah.

I've been busy because the school year is coming to a close. It's scary because I'm graduating. In about a week and a half, I'll be done with undergrad. Any excitement I may feel at the prospect of being able to put letters (BFA!) after my name is overshadowed at the moment by due dates that creep closer by the minute and hang over my head like angry, angry clouds.

A further reason for my business and subsequent neglect to this blog project (bloject?) has been photography. I have one assignment left, and I want to make it a good one. I have studied analog black and white photography for every school year since 2005 (with the exception of 2007 - digital photography, pffft). This is the final year I'll be able to do it and my last assignment is due a week from tomorrow. I'll miss it. Not for the taking pictures, I can still take pictures, but for the process. I'll be hand-processing my last ever roll of film this afternoon and printing thorughout the week. This is my last week of coming home smelling like vinegar and death. Goodbye, darkroom. We had a good run.