Caution: Wet Paint

Scratchboard tutorial

2010-04-07T21:56:00.005-04:00

I was recently asked how I make my scratchboards. Making scratchboards is a lot more fun then buying them and allows you to control the size, thickness, texture, colour, everything, to get the ultimate unique ground to work on. Homemade boards will always come out different. The thicker wax allows for shallower or deeper cuts when making lines which in turns effects there contrast. Areas dig right down the white board will look brighter and whiter, while shallow strokes will look more transparent. You can also paint back into areas to make them dark again. Check out my little tutorial to make your own. Click on the thumbnail to see it bigger.

Now Updating Once a Year

2009-08-20T13:56:00.003-04:00

With work and recently moving and everything I've been neglecting parts of the Internet which were not webcomics or The Daily Show/Colbert Report (which I must watch on the Internets as I'm now too old to stay up for them). So Square Foot 2009 has come around and here I am with a new post when the last one is Square Foot 2008, ah well. I've just ordered a new scanner and I'll have far few excuses (the main one being, "my scanner is too old and doesn't work with my mac..) At any rate, due to a poorly timed White Water Rafting vacation I was only able to complete one piece for Square Foot this year. I'm not as happy with it as I would like, but I've promised myself to work harder next year. Rafting was really fun though... Square Foot is on until Sept. 6, go see it! I actually have yet to go myself... This weekend for sure! I have updated my website more recently then my blog though, so check that out too.

2008-08-01T11:40:00.005-04:00

Coming up August 16, 2008, I'll be participating in the AWOL Gallery Square Foot Show. There's going to be something like 700 artists participating. It'll be really incredible and a lot of fun, check it out if you're in the GTA! Here's a sneak peek of the pieces I'm putting in the show.

Overheard/understood Featured on Feathertale

2008-07-15T13:47:00.005-04:00

I had a great time checking the Toronto Small Press Fair in June and I gave my card to the editor of Feathertale, this great magazine full of short fiction, poetry, and art that Erica got me hooked on when she gave me a copy for my birthday last year. They feature the same content between publishings on their website and my Overheard/Understood piece is currently being featured! Check it out and check out Feathertale too. They did a great little bio write up on me too.

And definitely check the Small Press Fair next time it comes around. There's a lot of really unique talent that you can't always find in your local Chapters.

New website, New look

2008-07-15T13:25:00.003-04:00

Well, the new website has been up and running for a while now, so it was about time for the blog to be updated to match. So here it is. Wet Paint's had a fresh makeover! Check out my fully updated portfolio site as well.

The goal of this blog will news updates and process work. It'll be a diary of what I'm up to artistically. Summer's in full swing and speeding by and I've got some exciting stuff coming up.

I had a chance to check out the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition and Graffiti Alley (Queen and Spadina) on the weekend. I saw some really great stuff in both places. Congrats to Hyein and Laura on their awesome booths!

Stephen Colbert Skateboard

2007-09-09T17:26:00.000-04:00

Yes, the title says it all. Allow to present my tribute to the man behind the desk of Truth: the Stephen Colbert Skateboard. Painted in oils on a skateboard deck, this was the other of my major summer projects. If only Stephen could see it. Not the best picture. I'll try to take a better one.

Viv

2007-09-09T17:19:00.000-04:00

It's been a long summer of no posts. Now, back to school, it's time to post my summer creations. This is my second Softbot. Her name is Viv and she's full of energy. Viv is mostly made of felt. She flies around the living room in search of fun and shiny things. She frequently crashes.

Sprout

2007-06-26T10:38:00.000-04:00

This summer I've been working for a clothing company that is just starting up. It's called Sprout and they make baby and children's clothing from bamboo and organic cotton. Bamboo is an amazing fabric! It's so soft, I love it. Here's one of the little graphics I designed for the clothes, which come from California. To see more, including the website I did go to http://www.sproutkidsclothing.com/

Olio

2007-06-08T01:02:00.000-04:00

This was for a final project, it's a start of many. Olio is my first Softbot. The lower image is the tag on him. He's made of several different matterials including felt, jersey, polyester and cotton. I did the tag in illustrator. I have another one in the works that will be done soon.

Spirited Monet

2007-06-08T00:59:00.000-04:00

This was an oil painting done for life drawing. It's a visual collage, and a tribute to a Monet.

Oil on Canvas. 18" x 24"

Kelsey: The Movie

2007-03-11T17:43:00.000-04:00

This was a large format self portrait done in water-mixable oils. It's on a 30" X 48" Maronite board. I wanted to approach this self portrait in a more illustrative way. It's inspired by movie posters like the kind done by Drew Struzan. Rather than imitate his style, however, I opted to make each aspect of myself in a different style. I think I turned out pretty well especially under the short 3 day time frame.

Nigerian E-mail Scams

2007-02-26T16:18:00.000-05:00

These three were done for a narrative project on Nigerian e-mail scams, you can read the scam I picked here. It has an embattled president, blood diamonds and secret identities. The woman in the e-mail asks you hold the money in trust for her until she and her sons (husband apparently gets left for dead) can join you in your country. It was an interesting project and I chose to put a sort of humourist spin on the situation, casting the characters of the story as cold and calculating, rich and hardly in need of help. All three are acrylic on illustration board. They didn't scan very well so I may post better versions later.

Infographics

2007-02-20T18:38:00.000-05:00

These are some infographics I did last semester. Both are done in Adobe Illustrator. The first is simple instructions on how to build a fort. Unlike Ikea, I don't make you use an Allen wrench. The second is a poster for the Flickr website. It's a network diagram of all the pictures of people posing with wax celebrities. The celebrities are divided into categories, some very talented people fall into more than one. TH graphics at the bottom are about popularity and the inappropriate touching of the wax celebrities by the people in the pictures. I once had my picture taken with a wax Patrick Stewart.

Paste

2007-02-16T16:58:00.000-05:00

This was a subscription card project, I chose Paste magazine. Paste comes with a free CD of new and upcoming artists, mostly on the Indie scene. This started out as print making and ended up digital after some things went awry. The large dark area at the top of the front piece is actually a window, which I cut out and attached acetate to so the CD can be seen.

Photoshop Painting

2007-02-16T16:26:00.000-05:00

More photoshop painting today. The first is an album cover for Carley Simon's You're so Vain. The background is scanned in acrylic on masonite, but the rest is Photoshop.

The smaller pieces are spots for some strange facts. The facts are the following, in order of the illustrations they go with:

Minimum # of shopping carts that went missing from LA area stores last year: 6 220 000
Pounds of radioactive produce grown near Chernobyl that were confiscated in Moscow markets last year: 1820
Chances that an unprotected PC will become infected with a virus within 10 mins of being on the Internet: 1:4

Editioral/Interpretive

2007-02-08T15:40:00.000-05:00

The first illustration was done in acrylics and was for an article about how people defined success. The statistics listed below the painting are from the article.

The second is from a fortune cookie, the text below the image was the fortune I received in my cookie. This one's in watercolours.

The third was for an article on women's libido. This one is also done in watercolour and gouache.

Memento Mori

2007-02-08T15:33:00.000-05:00

This is a little photoshop painting I did for my best friend sometime ago and made into bookplates and stickers for her. Her little skinny pig, Mortimer, died recently and I've decided to post this to honour his memory. Rest in piece little guy.

The Wayward Fire

2007-02-05T21:55:00.000-05:00

This was a graphic design project from last semester. We made up a band based on a series of random words that we we given for a few typography assignments. My band is The Wayward Fire, their new CD is called Exposing Crumbs. I used Photoshop to design a CD, gate-fold CD case and tour poster for the band.

Saphronia

2007-02-04T18:15:00.000-05:00

These four illustrations were done for a narrative project: the short story was called Saphronia. They are all done in cut and paste paper with a little bit of watercolour for shading and skies. It was a fun project but the cut and paste method was rather painstaking. Still I was happy with the results. The story is about twisting the expected. The circus ends up being the permanent part of the town while the municipal buildings are packed up and moved on.

Overheard, Understood

2007-02-02T15:21:00.000-05:00

This project was all about eavesdropping. I this conversation between a a guy and a girl while I was at work. The girl was buying a huge pile of textbooks when she told the guy she didn't study. Whether or not he was really trying to pick her up or even if they knew each other, I don't know. But I interpreted the situation as a total rejection. He got shot down. This was a really fun project and I gave a very "high school", naive sort of feel to reflect what i understood to be going on. It's collage and inks. The original is 12" x 20" so the note paper I actually made by hand using a one-hole punch and blue and red ink for the lines.

Defying Gravity Made Easy

2007-02-02T14:49:00.000-05:00

This was a recently completed project for Interpretive Illustration. I wanted to turn my focus towards children's illustration because that is one thing I'd really like to do when I'm done school. I haven't had much of a chance to do this yet. The goal for this piece was cute and colourful. I think I've been successful in both. The penguin makes me smile. I'm still not 100% happy with the text so I plan to adjust it some more. The original is water-mixable oils on illustration board, it scanned in and the text was added in Adobe Illustrator.

Let's Get Digital

2007-02-02T14:46:00.000-05:00

I've been having some serious internet issues lately so this post has been a long time coming. I've written it out so many times and not been able to post it... so long story short: digital work from first year.

1. Chocolate bar drawn from life, done in Illustrator

2. Spongebob juice lid drawn from life, painted in Photoshop

3. Made up dragon combined with photograph, phantom techniques in Photoshop

Little Paintings

2007-01-20T14:16:00.000-05:00

Today, some small paintings done for a life drawing last semester. I was happy with the way the turned out, especially the laundry one. Laundry is done in coloured inks and watercolours on illustration board. The second is in oils on illustration board. The creepy drawing manikin is oils on Masonite.

Experimental Grounds

2007-01-12T17:28:00.000-05:00

Works from last year again today. Some little paintings with different textured grounds. The first one is an owl in acrylics on gesso mixed with flour to thicken it (on a Masonite board). The second one is in memory of my Chinchilla, Loki. It's acrylics on a ground of wood shavings mixed with gesso and glue on a Masonite board. His whiskers are pine needles. The two different pictures show the texture. The last is my Zodiac sign, Capricorn in acrylics on a 3D ground of sculpted Supersculpy. The background it also Supersculpy and the whole thing is glued to a Masonite board.

The Toastosaurus

2007-01-10T18:46:00.000-05:00

This was done for a project last year where we had to paint on a found object ground. I had a toaster that didn't work very well and it always burnt the toast. So, I threw in its last two pieces of bread and then it went extinct. Toastosaurus is a herbivore and has two rows of toasted enriched white bread slices on his back for protection from preditory appliances like the stove.

New Painting!

2007-01-07T15:40:00.000-05:00

I just finished this one last night. It has some neat glazing effects that didn't really show up on the picture but my camera needs to be charged before I can try for a better one. It's oil on newspaper/water cooler instructions (glossy) on Masonite. I'm happy with it and I did some adjustments in Photoshop to make it my new desktop. Special thanks to Steve for helping me work out a compositional problem that was bugging me. These are Luna moths. They are native to North America and rather fascinating. I chose them as subject matter for there interesting colour and shape. This was just a personal project I've been doing over Christmas break.

Oil Paintings

2007-01-06T12:47:00.000-05:00

Today, two oil painting I did at the start of summer last year. The first is was for my mom who wanted Raphael's little angels from his Sistine Madonna for her redecorated bathroom. Rather than just copy them exactly I've added my own twist. I was pretty happy with the results.

The second was for an alumni gallery show for my high school's 50's anniversary. I was invited to participate and I wanted to do something new for it. I based this off another watercolour I'd done earlier for Media class. Unfortunately, this was right at the end of the year and I didn't have as much time as I wanted for it. I was OK with the results but feel I could have been better.

Scratch boards are fun!

2007-01-05T18:08:00.000-05:00

Ah back to school and work is upon us. It's a new year, I'm another year older and still posting some older work. New stuff will be coming with the new semester but I want to finish getting some old stuff posted first. Today: scratch boards. I made all of these myself using melted wax and then dusting on a layer of flour and then covering with ink using a brush. I enjoyed making my own scratch boards and found that thicker wax give me the result I want better than store bought scratch boards do. The coloured one of my shoe is white board with pencil crayon coloured on then acrylic coloured ink on top. The Beluga is reversed: black ground, with black wax and then white gesso on top. The third one, featuring Mulder and Scully is on a textured ground. I did all of these in Media Studies last year and found it to be one of the most enjoyable projects. Unfortunatly, these arn't the best scans. Because of the wax, homemade scratch boards can melt when scanned so they have be lifted above the surface of the scanner. Still you get a pretty good idea of what they look like from these.

Life Drawings & Happy Holidays

2006-12-24T23:50:00.000-05:00

Just some life drawings from last year today. As I've said the other day, I love ink, especially on Mylar or Yupo paper. Thanks Richard for showing me that Yupo paper, it's great! No Yupo paper drawings up today however, I still have to to take pictures. These go as follows:

Reclining figure: (actually from first year I just always liked this one) sanguine conte and ink on newsprint

Seated figure: watercolour and gouache on coloured paper, normally I don't use a lot of watercolours, but I really liked the results of using it opaquely and combining it with gouache.

Domestic Princess: mixed media on mylar (mostly inks/watercolours)

Raincoat: inks and watercolours on mylar

The Cake: ink, conte, acrylic on mylar

Merry Christmas everyone!

Sketches

2006-12-22T16:12:00.000-05:00

Today some small sketches from my sketchbook of friends from 2005-2006. I really like using ink in life drawing and in these sketches I was trying to limit my normally very colourful pallet. I prefer portraiture over drawing large groups and crowds. I find it more interesting to focus on the individual and try to bring out their personality and also on the atmosphere of their surroundings. I like to focus on the effects of lighting to create mood aswell. I also enjoy trying to capture a likeness. To this extent I often ignore what would be considered proper proportions in order to be more true to the subjects and their personaltities.

Still Lifes... Still Lives?

2006-12-21T23:47:00.000-05:00

I'm in Sarnia now for the Christmas break and working with a monitor that hurts my eyes. Hopefully there's a new wide screen monitor under that tree for me... 21" flat panel... drool..., but I digress. Just another quick post of older work today (this will continue until I get it all up, making up for lost time you see.) New work in the year, I promise. For now three still lifes in acrylics on Masonite. All from painting class last year, 2005-2006. The last one's really an interior, but it doesn't move so it can be a still life too.

Getting to know me

2006-12-20T14:25:00.000-05:00

As I work towards getting a website up and running, I was repeated urged by friends to get a blog going. I didn't go for the idea right away. I don't like that word: blog. It doesn't have a very nice ring to it like some words: echelon, kerfuffle and flabbergasted. But eventually I was convinced and here I am. I will gradually be posting newer stuff and I hope having a blog will encourage and motivate me to actually DO things. However, for starters here's some older work, all self-portraits from 2005-2006. I see it as a good first post to get to know me.

The media are as follows:

Oil on masonite (april 2006)
Nupastel on coloured paper (Dec 2005)
Coloured inks/watercolours on watercolour paper (April 2006)