Category Archives: works in progress

What I’ve Been Working On

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To say I’ve had a hard time getting back into the swing of things is a massively embarrassing understatement. I don’t even know how to articulate how I’ve been feeling… overwhelmed & underwhelmed simultaneously, maybe. It might be the switch in the seasons (or a lack-there-of) but it’s like I am just waiting for something to happen. I have plenty of things on the go, but am not feeling as jazzed about completing things as I did as recently as a few weeks ago. There are so many things happening outside of my work and I feel compelled to write about it, I just don’t feel its time yet. On the other hand, there are a number of things I’ve been meaning to share that I haven’t yet found the words. And then of course, there are the things that I feel I should share but don’t in fear of being boring. This is petering dangerously close to being one of those times, but felt I’d been MIA a little too long.

This happens a lot. I will get there eventually, though. May has always been an exciting month for me, so I’m looking forward to that. I’m also turning 27, and I have no idea why but, I kinda like it.

Here’s something I’ve been working on since the end of my last show. Keeping up with the size of things, this one will be just under 5′ x 5′ when its all stretched and done. I am still not close to finishing this just yet, but I feel like I’ve reached a standstill for the time being. Perhaps its time to start something new and give this one a breather.

According to my brother, this looks like “information being directly downloaded into an eyeball”. 

I think I am finally finished

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Orange Latex paint again saves a painting. I think it is about 3′ x 5′ and upon finishing with the orange drips I declared that this one is aptly called “The Hook Upon Which Everyone Hangs” - thanks (again) to Joanna Newsom, and her song’s ability to get me to just go for it. Once I get a proper (non-iphone-image) of this one I’ll have it officially listed and will be looking for a new home for it.

Finally.

In other news, I am shipping some paintings to their new owners this week, so if you have recently paid off a painting from me, you should be finding a large parcel on your doorstep in the next week or so. Here’s hoping Canada Post is more competent this week than last!

What I’ve been working on

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Getting into the studio has been a lot more difficult this summer. I don’t know if it’s because my life outside those walls has been rather agreeable, or if the weather has willed me onto patios for drinks more than I’m happy to admit, but it is what it is. I find the more I paint, the faster I’m able to get rid of the ‘inbetweens’ of successful pieces (or at least, I am able to decipher between good and bad much more easily), so the two I’ve been working on have taken much longer to complete than I am happy with. But, I digress. I understand and embrace the fact these spurts are indeed spurts, and I have to take it for what it is, so I am, and here we are. I am constantly battling ‘creative’ urges in my head, almost more than anything else going on up there, so allotting my time for my respective mediums has always been a challenge for me. I can’t paint and take photos, I can’t take photos and jam, and I can’t even be really good a friend or lover if my mind is in the studio. I am mediocre at best if I want to try my hand at everything at once, and that makes sense to me, it just doesn’t make it any easier to feel any level of satisfaction. Perhaps it’s because I don’t have any shows on the horizon, and dead-lines help me focus, so maybe I just feel like I’m treading water, or maybe I just feel like I need a fucking break.

“To make pictures big is to make them more powerful.” – Robert Mapplethorpe

The above piece is 5′ x 5′, currently stretched across our big studio wall. This is the biggest I’ve ever painted, and while I’m enjoying the freedom, I can’t help but think I’m simply revisiting old trends and even if it appeals to me when I step back, there is a nagging in the back of my mind that keeps urging me to paint outside the lines.

I’ve had a love affair with light green/yellow, this year. [Aside from the above piece] I’ve been trying to be more subtle, to let negative space create its own conversation. That said, here’s another work-in-progress, painted on Aime’s forever ‘cursed’ canvas, she offered to me when she felt she couldn’t do anything with it herself. I like where it’s going, but i’m not sure where it’s going to end up:

(Please forgive the cellphone quality… I find myself forgetting my camera more often these days.)

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Do you have any criticisms or general feedback on these new works?

On a sort of unrelated note, I just put down Just Kids by Patti Smith, and I urge anyone with a ‘creative spirit’ to pick it up. Please. Whether or not you are a fan of Patti Smith, or even if you’ve never heard of her (you are crazy, but anyway). It will do nothing but feed your soul.

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TONIGHT: POP WITH BRAINS at the RIVOLI

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Hey! This is SUPER last minute because i’ve been SUPER busy, but if you’re in Toronto tonight and like music and art, come to the Rivoli. Money ($5) raised at the door is going to CAMH.

I myself will be selling original paintings inside dome rings, various shaped necklace pendants, four-sets of cufflinks, and one lone bracelet (it’s partner was sold last week). All in all I have around 50 pieces to unload. Prices range from $15-$40 and everything is hand made & one-of-a-kind. Most of the hardware is made of brass (lead & nickel free) and is antique-bronze in colour. Some chains are 30 inches while others are 24″. This is all being launched under our new artist collective had. I will have more information about had itself shortly, but to note: our Etsy Store will be updated with listings of our items starting this weekend.

Facebook is currently being a jerk so I can’t access tonight’s Event Page to list the other participants, but maybe if it is working for you you can find out or just assume it’s going to be a fun night of drinks, music, & art. Many thanks to one Vee Bloom for asking me to participate in my third PWB.

IMPORTANT EDIT: I forgot to mention I will also be selling linen prints of my paintings! Oops! As well, it should be noted that Aime is showing her work for the very first time (as well as some handmade found sea-glass rings!)  She also just sold her very first painting for a lot of money… so watch out!

See you there!

A very much needed update

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I had intended on doing this probably a month ago, but I got so busy I kind of forgot I even had a website. Firstly, on the topic of sites, this space is undergoing a bit of a makeover. More on that later, but I am excited. This blog portion of my site will no longer exist and I plan on posting more (written) updates primarily through my Tumblr.

My studio-mate Aime and I started a new on-going project called Ten Minute Paintings, where each time we are at the studio together we kick things off by completing a timed monochromatic painting on an 8″ x 10″ wood panel. We use the same panels each time, so we’ve made it a habit of gesso-ing over our completed pieces once they’ve dried. Since we know the piece will only exist temporarily (at least in its original form), our hope is that our minds will be able to jump into the place we’ve deemed necessary in order to create our best works thereafter. So far it’s been really awesome, and I’m excited to jump into it each time.

As of January, i am being represented by ArtProfile Toronto. Currently I have two pieces hanging at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts: This Is Not A Cityscape and The Quilt I Started At Ten (But Only Got To Five Squares). Unfortunately you can’t simply walk in off the street to see the work at this particular location, but I am hoping other opportunities present themselves as there has been a bit of talk of hanging in surrounding restaurants and galleries as well. (If you’re really keen on checking them out at this location, let me know and I’d be happy to take you). Consigning my artwork is a strange new business I’m still very apprehensive and unsure about, but I’m excited about this opportunity and hoping to show in lots of new places as the year goes on! Many thanks to Rupert for seeing something in my work, and my dad for making sure I was taken care of. Lawyer fathers definitely have their perks!

Lastly, Stirling. This Spring. I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s finally right around the corner and I’m getting really excited/nervous! Mostly, I’m working like crazy to create a whole catalogue of new work for this show. I’m showing 15ish pieces in a variety of sizes, and I am super pumped to show my work in the town down the street from where I grew up! My work will be hanging in the Stirling-Rawdon Art Gallery from May 1 – 31, 2012. Stay tuned for more updates closer to the date!

As always, thank you, thank you, thank you.

EDIT: It seems lots of you find your way here looking for information on ArtProfile. Indeed, it seems there isn’t much information out there on them! I was represented by them for six months, when I decided it wasn’t for me and ended it. It’s evident many artists have success with them, and you may as well but for me it wasn’t a good match. If you’d like any more information please feel free to contact me.

NO FRIENDSHIP: The Book (Third Installment — Adventures in Leather-Binding)

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How it looks now

Front Binding

Side Binding (Forgive the rattiness of this particular model. It's been in my purse for a few days).

Inside with leather placeholder

Backside Binding

So, with Thanks to my mom, dad (and his secretaries), I made a ton of copies on a last minute day-trip to the hometown (Thanks for squeezing me into the Fiat, Kathie! [and Thanks Adam, for squishing underneath my painting for the whole 1.5 hour ride home]). My mom bought me a hole-punch, I got some [ridiculously expensive but] beautiful thin leather, and the folding, punching, and binding began. I’ve done somewhere around 15 of them. But hope to do another 25 before Show-time.

This may or may not be the last installment, as I’d like to leave the artwork (to be added) a surprise.

Once again, these will be available for purchase ($10) along with some of my paintings (+ maybe prints?) at my booth during the DEAD SOULS event on November 13!

yay!

NO FRIENDSHIP: The Book (Second Installment)

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As promised (to all three of my readers), here’s the next installment of my adventures in the NO FRIENDSHIP book production. With great thanks to Aime and Scott (especially for scouring their apartment to find the printer cords) it now exists in real-life, outside of a hard-drive, in all its typo’d, paper-wasted glory.

Here’s what it looks like at this moment. Yes, those pages are doubled. Yes, I entirely messed up the formatting! No, I won’t be going back now. If I use recycled paper does that make it okay?

So, anyone have any ideas for DIY binding? I have some in mind… I want to be cost-effective but also efficient as I’d like to make a whole buncha these. If you have any of your own ideas please let me know!

NO FRIENDSHIP: The Book Edition.

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I am selling books of writings at the DEAD SOULS event in November. Yes. I am. I am quite nervous, but I’m doing it anyway. Who cares.

Each book will be unique. In which ways I’m not entirely sure just yet, but original artwork (in its various forms) will be included. My goal is to have something interesting to look at so if you do find the words in it boring at least there will be something pleasing about it. I posted a bit of a preview on my Tumblr, but here’s an expanded version (as ‘expanded’ as I may be, as it is still on my computer, and exists only there. There will probably be more versions, as I come to have them printed and begin working on them past the initial layout):


What’s that? Why YES, I AM obsessed with myself! Ha! Ha! Ha!…….Sigh.

I am hoping to sell them for very little money. Once I have finished them completely I will be able to figure that out. I just want to cover some costs in making them and give people something small to take away from my contribution to the show (for once).

Thanks everybody! Hope to see some of you at the show. Stay tuned if you are as curious as I am to see how this book comes out.

Works in Progress: S’ Round Two

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When somebody asks me what my method of painting is, how I decide what colours to use, where to put them, when to stop, I almost never have an answer. This is because I usually don’t think about it. At least, if you like a painting of mine (or really if I like a painting of mine), I probably didn’t spend too much time thinking about it. I think, this is largely due to this being exactly what I enjoy out of painting. I like going somewhere. I’ve found that’s all I have to do, really, is let go (which is more difficult than it sounds). And if I do, subconsciously, I will be at my most calm, and, in turn, enjoy what I’ve produced. It’s like I need to dip into my inner child before I could talk, and think, and make decisions, and have opinions, and just be. Then, and only then I find I am where I want need to be. That being said, when I am asked to paint something for somebody, I feel it difficult to take direction. Not that I find it hard to swallow, or that I don’t value their suggestions (after all, they want to hang this on their wall!) I want nothing more than for them to be happy with it. It’s just that… my mind can’t handle a direction when it comes to painting. It can’t work. It can’t seem to figure out where it’s going, or rather, it needs to remain lost. Even if I have that particular person in mind while I paint, I’m stuck. I’m constantly worried I’m going to make a bad stroke, choose the wrong colour (which literally never concerns me otherwise), or go too far. I feel that if I’m restricted to certain colours, just the fact that I can’t use others will cripple my ability, or want.  This is usually when I will find myself in a spot where I will feel I have to force it out, and so I do, and then I spend a bunch of time trying to convince myself that I like it; cringing every time I see it. When I know I’ve done something good, it’s when I don’t even know how I feel about it. I just know its finished. If I don’t want to destroy it, or add to it, then I know I’ll eventually be happy with it. It’s taken me my whole life to realize this, and, chances are this too will change. But I’ve never been sure if I want this to change. I still don’t know if I want to control it. I often think I need to be controlled by it. Or rather, just let it be. I think in many ways, that may be what its supposed to be for me.

That said, however, I’ve recently begun a painting for a family friend that, for once, after coat number one, I’m enjoying.

One thing that’s always remained true for me, is that I tend to give paintings a second breath before I deem them finished. I’ve never been much into gesso; priming and spending hours on a canvas before I start to paint. I just dive in. I waste tons of paint. I love texture, and usually, after I touch them after their first coat, thats when I find what I am looking for. Usually, if I don’t get it in the second try, I won’t get it at all.

I am excited to see how this one is going to turn out. My studio-mate and dear friend Aime (who has honestly turned out to be my muse…more on that at a later date) told me it looks like a Birthday Party. I like that. We had kind of been celebrating at the studio as I painted [this!], as for a short time, it looked like we might be without it…and yet, the stars seem to be aligning, and for now it appears we’ll be around for a little while yet.