Flapper Lady

I did this a little while ago but I just realized that I never put it up here! Dang but it has been hard to find time to draw and paint lately. Part of that is wrestling with exciting and terrifying distractions, a post upon one of which may follow later today!

Hark!

I don't really think this one is "pretty" but I was cleaning off my camera and thought "Hey, why not?".
I think this part is what I really like. Unlike everything else I've painted, this one had no reference picture. One evening I just felt a bit possessed - so I decided to exorcise the feeling by madly dabbing paint.Despite a million things to do indoors and revolving around the Big Projects I have assigned myself, I made a point of getting out for a while to not only get carrots but take a fucking relaxing stroll, dammit.Passing by the back end of the AGO I thought about how this park would be "my park" for the coming warm weather, much the same as Kensington and Trinty-Bellwood parks were "mine" during the glorious five and a half months I took off working last year. Well, glorious but for the poverty and stress over said poverty near the end of that time, let's not coat such recent memories with nostalgia just yet!The market was bustling with the usual weekend traffic and though most everyone still has coats on, a lot are being undone at least partially. It's funny what a short walk I have to take from the edge of Toronto's MoneyTowne (where I now live) back to Bohemiaville, beside which I lived for the lion's share of last year. I like it, though, I think I'd really be a bit bothered if I couldn't easily visit all the little shops and spots I got to know in 2008.After treating myself to a book with a title that seized my heart (the first three chapters, read upon getting home, have me convinced it was a good choice) from a store I've always wished I could support more...I went by Kensington Park. The pigeons were out and, nearby, I found evidence that the street artists had also been up to their business.Yes, that is a birdhouse!

Man, I have to be careful to both meet deadlines and yet also not burn myself out between now and the 12th of next month. It's a sign that I have to watch myself when I find writing an entry like this to be almost as relaxing as the walk that spawned it!

Feelin' a little juvenile today

Manageable Portions

Something that is looking to be my own personal motto for the first few months of this year is "Work smaller, that way things get done". I'm trying to do less projects (sadly, I've had to at least temporarily remove myself from that musical project I mentioned) and then within those projects I'm trying to do shorter things (with some success - i.e. the newest Handful episodes are around 3:30-4:00 long instead of the swollen 5:30-6:45 they were becoming. Now I say SOME because next weekends will be about 6:00...).Well, that goes for painting as well.
For whatever reason, I find it very easy to imitate the artistic style of Phil Hester & Ande Park...
So we get this triple-set of Oliver Queen!

Sets and Framing

Two items!
1) A favorite t-shirt was on it's last legs, but luckily the design was still intact. So with liberal help from my roommate Christina, I cut and stretched part of it to wrap around a length of cardboard from one of those terrible Wal-Mart Art things. The result is pretty damn nice and I hope I can get another five years out of the $20 it cost me in the first place.2) For the first time ever, I filmed an episode of Handful in my home. The lighting wasn't what I'd like, but the sound was decent and the final product is one I'm rather proud of - particularly since it includes footage from In The Field. The set up was pretty ad-hoc, to say the least, and I thought you all might be amused to see it. The tall fella is my pal (and cameraman for that episode) Rob.

ON-LINE

So I finally made use of a couple of photos from this great series.

For the record, "Sound-Dust" is the name of what I will always consider to be one of the most beautiful records ever made.

Wimmin and Werk

We men sure like to draw them! It's part of how we try to own them, own them with OUR MAGIC OWNERSHIP EYES. Neither of these are done, but both were started this weekend and I'm finally returning to the reg'lar workforce this Thursday so I don't know when I'll be finishing them.
Which I guess means my unintentionally extended writing sabbatical is over, having run about three months and three weeks. I am pretty okay with what happened, though I wish I'd done more but isn't that always the way.

Orange

I recently dug up this little number I did during the last Christmas holidays and stuck it in a cheap photo frame. It shouldn't be hard to believe it was inspired by a Vogue photo shoot. In it, the model had the front of her hair dyed a different color in each picture - this generally matched the background and even her clothing. I never really considered coloring in any other parts of this, but it has a sister painting which I started to fill in and my put up here later.It sucks a little, but I won't be able to do my usual weekend drawing/painting relaxation routine as I've got to be 100% ready and rehearsed to film the last episodes of Handful's first season on Sunday. Still, I'm steadily getting better at training myself to do enjoyable, productive things to relax. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with just crapping out in front of the television, video games or Internet distractions - it even sort of has to be to done once in a while - but awhile ago I set myself the goal of gradually shifting the balance of my relaxation activities from that category to the kind that leaves me with something for my efforts and I'm glad I did.

It's tricky, though, as it's not enough to do something productive - you have to make sure you're not getting lost down the path of Yet Another Skill To Try and Perfect. Otherwise the relaxation portion, the having-something-you-can-forget-about-when-you're-not-working-on-it bit, goes right out the window and then what are you doing?

I can't believe that after this Friday's Handful update we'll already be halfway through (Sept 12 will be the last update). If nothing else, this experience is certainly helping me refine my definition of what I want to do for a living.

I also can't help noticing how this blog has been transforming from a record of what I'm seeing to a record of what I make for others to see.

Hrm.

WIPED

So for the first time in a while I did a little sketching, from this photo. It's as if I've been shoving all my time and energy into something, lately.

But thankfully one other project is over it's biggest hump, a short script I've been putting together for a fellow who rather kindly paid me for the first draft. That certainly felt nice.

Somehow I found time for this...

Like a lot of watercolors, it looks best at about two feet away - but that doesn't work so well with the point n' click camera!

Background....check!

I GOT SOME OF THOSE

So yes, it took longer than I expected but the screenprint is finished. For those who'd like to know more about the process, let's work backwards.

If you can't write and are sick of the computer...

...then drink and paint!

Reference picture - A London "Teddy Girl" I clipped out of Nude magazine.Sketchy sketchGettin' thereI'm not sure if I consider this done, but it's done enough for today.