Artist in Residence @ Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park

This year I am enjoying the much needed isolation after 5 months of intensive and challenging projects. This is a time to reflect and simplify while make work between scattered bike rides and hikes.

A  powerful thunderstorm rages above the artist cabin, a perfect time for me to update my blog.
Here is whats up on once blank walls so far. Some pieces from last year for inspirations, and a bunch of stuff to finish and blank stuff waiting to be made into something new along the floor.

While hiking I collected a beautiful little bird skull.The reason I have a heavy bandage is that I chopped off the tip of my finger while using my new axe while super tired. Blood spurted everywhere but It is healing nicely after a week. I focused in meditation that it would grow back like an amphibian. The force is strong in me, though I may be in the nubbin club with my two best friends. The core grounds keeper here also has the same marking, Maybe its a man's right of passage. lol.

This year I decided to time lapse the progression of my paintings as I create them. I posted them to my you tube channel and have them linked below. They are short so have a quick gander.

The first painting is in the style of Russian/Greek Orthodox Christian iconography. It is done with acrylic on panel. I intended on using real gold building but did not have enough, instead I used my next favourite gold product made by Golden Acrylics. It has fantastic reflection and glint, the nearest I have found to the real thing, though considerably less expensive and fare easier to apply.

I was inspired after painting the icon to paint a larger version of a gesturing hand to represent learning. I am also excited, not only to be time lapsing my work but also with my inventory and organization that I have been able to update while working in the Artist Cabin. Exciting! Stay tuned………Definitely more to come!

Cleanse the Palette

I just got a call from a good friend of mine to tell me that today is the day that one must cleans and purify ones tools. I just so happen to be on my way to the studio and will now do such a thing before beginning a new work for the upcoming horror show.  Poster below:

I am planning on making a Tibetan inspired calendar with a strong Haida influence on the under painting/line work. Who knows what will come of it. Fingers crossed that it works out, we will see;)

The all seeing hand. It can perceive and do!

Also: I am beginning work on a commission for a children's book cover. I quickly sketched out this fall tree before having the author show me what sorts of things she had in mind.  She definitely wants  to go way darker, I think I can handle that.

The Hand is not as quick as the eye

So my next task was to draw my hand.

Before I began I did a quick 5 min blind contour drawing as a warm up. I used my kitchen timer to make sure I didn't go over. I love Blind contour drawings. They are always fun and interesting. I was completely turned the other way when I drew this and I knocked the sketchbook from my hand hence the big space between the two main areas of line. I really like the quality of line and it looks to me like a potential starting off place for building up the layers into a fantasy landscape.

My Hand 

I decided to "rock it out" with a "Hail Satan" with my left hand as my right did all the dirty work.  This was drawn with a 0.5 mechanical HB pencil.

I am really happy with what an hour produced. I felt like the shadow seems more graphic and the work sits fairly flat.  The dark outline may also be adding to this and lack of depth due to few really deep darks in the shadow areas. I want to create more mass and dimension in future drawings.