In less than a month’s time, I’ll be featuring new work at Canteen in Ottawa! The show is called “The Curious Creatures called Combinimals” and is a project I’ve been doodling on-and-off for the last couple of years. Glad to see that it’s finally seeing the light of day!

The show will be on display all month; I’m one of three artists being featured in the gallery next month. There’ll also be an opening night shindig from 6-9pm (shortdig?) Friday June 5th. Anyone who’s in town, it’d be great if you could attend. Stuff will be on sale, if you’re inclined to buy…

Lastly, if things work out, I’m going to have some prints and/or other goodies done up towards the end of June; maybe time to get that Etsy store up and running?

My good friend James is known as Mr. Craig by the Grade 12 art students at Nicholson Catholic College in Belleville, ON. He does a great job teaching and trying to inspire his students, at least one of whom has gone on to a successful career in the arts!

Last year he asked me to take part in a show benefiting Habitat for Humanity. It seems that when James was buying planks of wood to build a fence, he got them about a foot too long. After cutting them all down to size, he was left with these useless foot-long pieces of lumber. Not one to waste materials, Mr. Craig distributed the wood among his students to be used as canvases in an art exhibit!

I was among a few of the “established” artists asked to take part. This was my first piece done on wood, and I have to say – it was an enjoyable process!

First off, I had my first solo art show at the end of August and it was a big success! I’ve collected the series as scans and put them up on Flickr for public enjoyment. Hopefully I can clean up my HiRez scans and get some prints made in early December… still wondering if there’s going to be enough interest in them!

I took some pictures of the vernissage, however I’m stuck in the dark ages and still have a film camera… and have yet to develop that roll of film – but I’ll post the photos once they’re done.

One Night Stand with Stefan Grambart (link)
August 29, 2008  |  7 – 10pm

La Petite Mort Gallery
306 Cumberland Street | Ottawa, ON | K1N 7H9
Telephone: (613)860.1555
Email: guy@lapetitemortgallery.com

“Anja and her sisters traverse the Ghostwood, pursued by the wolves, Dust, Smoke, and Shadow”

A collection of new fantasy/folk-tale themed paintings that follow a single encounter between the entitled characters. Like the panels of an illustrated story or modern graphic novel, each piece allows the viewer to experience the wordless story as it unfolds, all the while representing the overall theme on its own.

Proudly sponsored by CKCU 93.1 FM

Here’s the deal; being a “One Night Stand”, that means the artwork is only up for a single night – Friday August 29th. After that, they’ll be taken down (though a select few might stay in rotation for a few months). The pieces will be available for sale, in case anyone feels inclined to buy something, and that all gets worked out with Guy (the curator/owner of LPM).

I’d love to see everyone there; where possible – If you’re in town, please drop by!

Here are “He-Man & Teela” and “Les Cycles d’Eternia” respectively. The former was a simple attempt to capture a couple key characters in a different style; nothing really out of the ordinary. The latter piece is a different story; I wanted to take a different approach to the MotU theme, and had just settled on Orko as my subject matter. In researching different styles on the internet, I came across some old French cycling posters.

I really liked the look of those posters, and decided having Orko ride a bike would be fun to paint (considering… he has no legs!). I’ll be running around the gallery with my camera, so you can expect a post-show blogging at some point next week…

I found this image of a painting I did for a Secret Santa exchange a couple of years ago. YayHooray has played host to several secret santas over the past few years (with mixed results). In 2004 I sent this painting to leocap in Buffalo, NY.

This one’s a digital illustration I did for The Canadian Improv Games earlier that year. I’ve done several design jobs for the Games over the years, and still continue to be involved with the organization as a volunteer. This “ImprovBot” illustration was used in a poster campaign I deisgned for the Ottawa Regionals that year.

Lastly, here’s an interesting piece; my first attempt at digital illustration! I had just dug up my old tablet and was fooling around with Photoshop brushes. My aim was to do at least one drawing a day to get used to using my Wacom again (I had bought it about four years prior but never really used it for much).

I’m quite happy with the results considering that I went from sketch to finished canvas in just over a week. Both pieces measure 12×12 gallery style canvases, and were done purely in acrylics.

Leaving, Part 1: Bidding Farewell

Leaving, Part 2: On The Road (Again)

I approached these paintings a bit differently than I normally do; I used really diluted paints (using FlowAid and water), and tried to build everything up in layers.

The sketches were developed as seperate, but once I got the drawing onto the canvas, I realised they matched up and then worked to keep the light sourcing the same and make it so they could work together or apart.

I tried using the same approach I take with digital colouring; namely working in layers and building up the elements. I started with a sketch and then reworked it directly onto the canvas in pencil. I started painting heavily watered-down coats of blue/grey for the sky, slowly adding detail for the clouds and moon.

I blocked in all the elements in black (save for skullboy, who’s white) Then I started outlining stuff in a dark dark grey (I even started using my miniature paints and brushes!). I gradually lightened my paint and added more detail. There’s still a long ways to go, but I’ve got nothing better to do this week…

Besides watching the Lost season finale tonight… and working at Zaphod’s tomorrow night ( I run a spaghetti-western themed dj battle called “High Noon”)… and deejaying there again on Friday…

Okay, I’m screwed.

Next I’ll have to tackle some smaller canvases and see how that goes.