Sweet message from a collector

While updating my blog post, I received a nice FB message from a collector that visits me every Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo. She sent me some pics of the prints she bought framed up and this nice message, which she has given me permission to share with you
below.

"Hello Brian, I wanted to share with you how amazing your art has made my home! We met at the comic expo and I told you about the one matching my curtains! Ha. And the rainbow deity looks effin amazing with the new frame! 
Everyone who comes to my home loves your stuff:) thanks for being amazing!"

~ Chelsie Grenier-McNabb

This was the first piece she got off of me two years ago, all framed up nicely.The previous(above) two prints are sold out and I won't be making any more. 

Above  "Songs yet to be sung", I still have a one or two of more prints available in a very limited run of this piece, if you are interested contact me.  This is the piece that the original was purchased out of Motion Gallery by a collector who writes for "Heartland".  Look how awesome it looks framed!

I am so stoked that Chelsie went out of her way to contact me and spread the joy of art. I really appreciate it! It certainly has brought more sunshine to my day, it is nice to know ones passion and hard work are appreciated at times. = :D

Steal of a deal.....

I got a quick text from my good friend Ola that there was a damaged canvas available at Inglewood Art Supply and If I wanted she would put it aside for me......

Well to make the story short I said "Hell Yeah!".  It just so happens, I just got asked to be in a show at the Gorilla House in a week plus and I came up with an idea for the given theme. Come back to see what happens next.

I was having a lunch meeting close to the store and swung by right away. The canvas is 24" X 36" the perfect size for my piece.  It was marked down from $40, and by the time it got to the till total cost was $5! What a steal of a deal, thanks Inglewood Art Supply!!!!

I had to take off all the canvas with my trusty pliers while I listened to my favorite radio show on CJSW, the double bounce.  I stretched a nice new piece of 15 ounce canvas as taut as a drum.

Then gave it two coats of gesso and left it to dry overnight.

MEANWHILE...........

I donated some money to a good cause. Imagine being a visual artist and losing your sight. Give the gift of sight like I did here.....

http://www.indiegogo.com/TrespassersEye

and pick up a cool perk like a Cthulhu mug!!

---

busy bunny

making waves for MAR DE FUNDO.

This past week-end, I did some live painting at Inshala. I had a nice set up and experimented with my newest acquisitions, Chromadepth 3D glasses and an airbrush system.  The fun is over, all of a sudden things are coming to a head. Clients who haven't approached me in a month all of a sudden need work done. When it rain it pours. There will be plenty of work and catch up to do this week-end. Here is a project I completed before dinner today.

I had a day to make a 12 frame animation project titled MAR DE FUNDO out of Venezuela.
My good friend KT asked and it's headed up by Richard Reeves. So I said "I'm in for sure!"
The theme is water sea navigation tools. I figured whales are good navigators and the loop is meant to be a cycle. SO I designed a cyclical loop made up of 12 different species of Ceteceans at their relative scale to one another.

 I scanned the drawings into Photoshop then used After Effects to compile and align the drawings then output them to the various formats requested. I cant wait to see what they do with the various pieces made by all the participants.

Chaos reigns supreme!!!

"Sometimes you've got to make a mess to clean a mess!"
I remember this saying my mom used to say during my childhood.

It couldn't be more true. This nice weather must have me fooled into thinking its spring.  I'm working on my accounts and taxes and getting everything in order. "Out with the old and in with the new". I am also revamping my studio space.  Its hard work but it feels good. I helped a friend move this week-end, and in doing so I got my huge red bean bag chair back that I lent her. This was the impetus to create some more room. Also I have a feeling I'll be having more visitors in the near future...

The before.
So this is the view toward the door, you can see the bean bag charm hiding to the left.  There is a stack of new lumber (i.e. stretcher bars) that KT gave me for helping her move since she isn't planning on painting any time soon.

The Before (2)
I want to create a space at the back  to hang a large piece where the light is better. I plan on setting up a time lapse photography station to capture the process of creating my work over time. I ended up having to move everything in my study to make this happen. The reason the back was kept clear was that I let photographers use this half of the studio now and again. Now the room is reversed so they can use the other end for their set ups.

During
I painstakingly moved all the furniture and it really opened up the space. Plus having my painting table at the far end makes it closer to working on the projects. I had to move the shoddy animation table and it fell apart on my again, but nay where I hadn't added brackets for stability. I took every book off the shelf, moved the shelf, and put the books back on it. If you can believe it the three pieces lined up perfectly. You can see just behind the painting of the girl on the tiger there is a silver electrical conduit rising up. The shelf butt up against the outlet with not a mm to spare =  a perfect fit, a little tight but it holds everything together!

Not only do I have this stack of Ikea frames to deal with, I found 10 more in a free pile outside my studio. They need backings and glass but they could also be used for panel paintings, and they have a cool chrome finish = score!

I am trying to set up the half of the room close to the entrance as an inviting and cosy area for guests, to first enter that is relaxing. BIG PLUS: also for DJ Cosmic LurkN to have his own area where I'll put out my nice persian rug and have a little place for amenities and treats for peeps who sep by while he is spinning tracks. The work table I'm going to try and keep clear so I have a large working space, maybe I'll put a shelf up above it in the future to store more materials. I have a long and busy few days ahead of me but hopefully I can get more work done. Borrow a ladder and get stuff hung high on the walls, I have more vertical space than these photos show that news to be put to good use. Frames off the floor. When its done, I'll get cracking on some new paintings. I cant' wait!