objectified

After checking out the website and watching some of the clips, I am dying to see Objectified now:

OBJECTIFIED, by filmmaker Gary Hustwit, is the second installment in his trilogy on design (his first was Helvetica). OBJECTIFIED encourages us to stop and notice our surroundings and to think critically about creativity and consumption. Who makes all these objects, and why do they look and feel the way they do? How can good design make these things—and by extension our lives—better?

And for a little fun, find out what object you are. This is similar to, but better than, those lame Facebook quizzes. I am a VW Beetle. Interestingly, a blue toy Beetle (because I've loved them since I was a wee tot) and a Bond Street Underground sign (it was the tube station nearest where I worked years ago) are the only decorative design products I have in my studio.

PS Thanks again, Donn.

the easy life

I want to be just like Hugh MacLeod when I grow up.

Instead I'm like me. These days being like me means injuring your fingers three times in one week, the last being the worst. I slammed my finger into my minivan's sliding door last night and followed that up with the doctor actually burning a hole in my fingernail to relieve blood/pressure. X-ray results not back yet. Like the cartoon above implies, it's not a very good way to get out of doing work.

But being like me also means that I have the pleasure of Jesse's goofy company for a week. Some of you may remember that Jesse is the Lab puppy we raised for service dog training. He's living at the PADS kennel right now, going through advanced training, but suffering from kennel stress and needed a break. That's code for "the other dogs needed a break". A total clown, he learns fast but has trouble chilling, and has the habit of getting in everyone's faces, making him a bit of a geek in doggy social circles. Coco thinks he's great fun, though, because she can play him like a fiddle. His trainer tells me he'll never make a wheelchair assistance dog, but his enthusiasm and physical power mean he's being guided towards being a wheelchair-pulling (if they can keep his prey drive under control ... who-o-oah!) or drug-sniffing dog.

That's all the typing I can manage for now with my gimpy hand. No artwork this week!

a beautiful day in the neighbourhood

OK, it's actually cold and starting to rain again with another storm on the way -- but my back is better and I had a good workday! Just before heading out this morning I got a call from Mila, the gallery manager at the Federation Gallery on Granville Island. I entered one of my mini drawings in the annual Small Painting Salon (it's a holiday tradition for me now) and won first prize! (AKA The Ellen Poole Award -- Ellen Poole is the FCA's archivist.) It had been awhile since I'd gotten off my butt to show anything there so it was a pretty nice surprise. Check out the rest of the show (67 pieces) and the other award winners (second, third and two or three Awards of Excellence) here. This is the piece that won.

To add to my good day I headed down to Arts Off Main, a very well-run artist's co-op, gallery and framing shop in Vancouver, just east of Main Street at 216 East 28th Ave. They have accepted me as a consignee and I dropped off the above six small pieces. Take a look at their website and if you're in Vancouver drop into the gallery between Wednesdays and Sundays.

the evolution of blogging

Bloggers new and old, but especially old, read this about how blogging has changed in the past half dozen years, and why. I certainly know that Facebook now fills the void that was once filled by what I considered my particular blogging community. As far as my own responsibility as a blogger goes, I can tick almost all the boxes in the article, especially the ones about laziness, burnout and blogrolling; but as a reader I'd still much rather check in on my favourite blogs than read a Facebook update.

I've found that as blogging has changed, mine has become more about my work and, as a result, the fun and the humour have all but disappeared. I do blame Facebook to some extent, but I mostly blame myself for second-guessing. Awareness of an audience can be a real killer of creativity. Just look at children's art. I remember all those girls at school who became my little art clones because they "wanted to draw like Andrea". As for me, I just wanted to be little and self confident and as good at sports as Penny and Fionna. Blogging moves on but I guess my own evolution has stalled, since I'm laid up with an injured back like the fat guy in the marathon who forgot to train, then keels over with a heart attack. Meanwhile, Fionna is still an elite-level 10k runner. Ouch.

scanning vs. photographing artwork

While looking for images that combine steampunk with Bob Ross (a mighty challenge) for my last post I happened across this image of a steampunk guitar. (There are a few out there. Here's another one I like.) Then yesterday I took Coco out for a little Remembrance Day run and had the stupidity to try and keep running after I felt twinges in my lower back. Needless to say, I'm grounded today -- and feeling elderly -- so thought I'd carpe diem and do a drawing of the guitar while it was still fresh in my mind.

It's the best kind of day for photographing artwork outdoors (i.e. high, light cloud cover) so thought I'd also conduct a little experiment (all the while hobbling around all hunched over like a geriatric mad scientist). The drawings I do on black paper are hard to scan as a black support deadens colours, so they need a little reflection to get the full effect, but since a lot of them are tiny (4" x 4") they are too small to photograph. Getting the right focal length is a challenge with the smaller ones anyway as any distortion is highly magnified. My larger drawings, however, don't fit the scanning bed so I do photograph them (I use a Nikon D70), and find that a focal length of about 70mm creates the least amount of edge-to-edge distortion. And the advantage with photography, of course, is that the reflective parts of the surface are shown to full advantage.

The image portion of this drawing is about 9" x 7" -- just small enough to scan but also large enough to try photographing. Since I couldn't do much of anything else today, why not try both and see which works better?

photographed





















scanned

I'll leave it to you to decide which is the better image. What I did learn was this: the current settings on my scanner mean that I get truer colour balance from photographing. At first I thought it might be caused by my Photoshop settings, but since I use Photoshop to crop and improve both my scanned and photographed artwork, I guess not! I found it necessary to crop, add contrast and sharpen the top (photographed) image only slightly. The bottom (scanned) image required extensive colour correction and to get the reflected effect I had to bump up the contrast enormously, which detracted from the crispness/resolution of the image.

I will continue scanning small and photographing large, but this experiment has taught me that I have slightly better results (i.e. it's less work and I get a better quality image for the size) with a photographed image than a scanned image, and if I can get the edge distortion under control then photographing my work is my better option ... until I get that $3000 scanner that is!

steampunk bob ross

This is for Ellen (and Google).














Bob Ross paints Slayer

r.b. pratt, man with right conception of things

A couple of days ago I got a new document from Ralph Pratt, my dad's cousin, who lives in Winnipeg. He is the family go-to guy about our one relative of public achievement (and the man he is named after), my great grandfather, Ralph B. Pratt. Back when I first started blogging I posted some photos of train stations he designed, then later on a church. Ralph keeps me topped up with what he discovers as a government employee in the town where the senior Ralph made his mark. This is the latest thing: Deer Lodge. It started life as a hotel, then during WWI was converted to a military hospital. It remained as such until after WWII and is now, apparently, a geriatric care facility? I know there are Winnipegonians who read this blog. Can you tell me anything about the place and how it looks now? It looks pretty uninspired, architecturally, from the photos, yet well-designed in a conservative, dignified and undemanding way. Quasi-interesting factoids:

War hero Tommy Prince stayed there. And there is another famous trainee from England who dated the hospital's radiologist's daughter. The trainee went on to become the Hollywood actor known as Richard Burton.

(Coincidentally I was flipping through channels and discovered Look Back In Anger on TV earlier today.) Anyway, what I love best about reading these old documents is the affected, formal use of language. I particularly love this testimonial from a sort-of Winnipeg Who's Who from 1913:

Mr. Pratt is a member of the Adanac Club and the Winnipeg Canoe Club and takes an active interest in all kinds of outdoor sports. His easy dignity, his frankness and cordiality of address, with the total absence of anything sinister or anything to conceal, foretoken a man who is ready to meet any obligation of life with the confidence and courage that comes of conscious personal ability, right conception of things, and an habitual regard for what is best in the exercise of human activities.

As a person who also obviously possesses "an habitual regard for what is best in the exercise of human activities" I must be related to the guy. Then there's this of course. And this.

website revamp

It was actually fun redoing my website, even if it took three days. I added the slideshow feature that I've admired on other art websites, tried really hard to edit myself (only partially successfully) and keep it simple and professional looking. I'm thinking it's pretty good for a hack like me who uses online tools, knows very little HTML and hasn't taken a single instruction in web design. But I know I've missed things, have made typos and there is probably a broken link or two, so please visit, look around and click on a few links. How is the width of the pages on your monitor? I would really appreciate any feedback!

balls

I'm ashamed to admit that this blog has become far more about pictures than words. It's my answer to keeping it going when I have too many balls in the air and need to prioritize. I suspect that, once I get back to serious painting, I will become nauseatingly chatty again.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I have been working myself into a knot over painting these glass tree ornaments to donate to a fundraiser. After a frustrating day yesterday I managed to drop and smash the only one that was actually holiday-themed. It sucked, though, and breaking it didn't improve it any, so I did a second dragonfly ornament today (using Christmas colours at least). It's raining out; can you tell?

Next project: my website. It's in seriously overdue need of an overhaul and I have ideas (gasp). I suspect it'll take me about a week to get it where I want it. Meantime, check out the great, protective packaging my 2010 Celtic Tree Calendar came in. Coco liked it, too. The actual calendar is really pretty great, so if I can entice you to do a little Christmas shopping while being inspired by these tree ornaments then please do. :)





And if that gets you thinking about the upcoming holiday season, then check this out, too. I don't advertise my little Cafepress shop so I only make enough money to cash in on the occasional t-shirt, but about once a year I update the products and have always been satisfied with the quality.

That's the end of this "public service announcement". It's earned me enough guilt to keep me going for about six months now. I can't imagine a life where I'd have to actually sell stuff and not starve. (On that note, I should probably re-title this post "No Balls".)

halloween art

Now this is Halloween art. I discovered it over at Neatorama.

tree drawings

And it's a wrap! The final drawing in the set of four is over here. Next, I need to paint two Christmas ornaments to donate to a fundraiser for a children's centre. Then, and only then, can I start playing with my oil paints (yay!). That doesn't stop me from playing with Flickr Toys, though:

sweet and slow

Three down, one to go!

christopher reiger

I love it when I discover an artist whose art and practice ring all my buzzers. I discovered Christopher Reiger's work a few days ago over at Chris Rywalt's blog, NYC Art. (Oh, Angela -- will you take me to New York with you in your carry-on luggage?) The natural themes of his work, presented in a unique, thoughtful, and visually skillful way, are like candy to me. While sifting through his website I became particularly interested in his charitable sales model. Take a close look; I've never seen such an ethical approach to the nuts and bolts of art sales. I won't say any more as Chris Rywalt just did, but check out his
blog for juicy embellishments.

help wanted

I did it! For years now I've been promising myself that I'll invest in oil paints. I loved using them at university, but when I started painting again in 2001 (after a way-too-long-to-mention break) I hemmed and hawed for a bit, then decided on acrylics for ease/economy/ low toxicity. I liked them immediately though I'd never used them before. They suit my graphic/layered style very nicely though, granted, it was a style that developed as I learned to handle this new medium. (Which came first -- the chicken or the egg?) Anyway, for years I said to myself, "When I make X amount or sell this much I will treat myself" ... and never did. I realize now that the whole idea of 'treating myself' was what was holding me back. I was considering this a luxury rather than a business expense (a huge, blind pothole in the road of artists who are second-income earners). After all, there's always a transmission to replace, teeth to straighten, vet bills to pay, etc. So when I realized that the series of paintings I've had germinating in my brain for the past few months would work better in oils rather than acrylics I knew it was time to pony up and make the investment. I waited until I was paid for the Texas commission, though! :)

I'm hoping using oil paint will breathe new life into my work and that my attitude won't sabotage my fun. What attitude you ask? Robert Genn summed up my approach using a very positive spin in a recent letter:

Esoterica: There are two kinds of students--recipe takers and recipe fighters. The former listen to the instructor, try to get it "right," and often succeed in doing so. The latter strike out on their own, pay the price of rugged individualism, and fail often. In art, it's all about failure. In art, the journey outshines the destination. In art, mistakes are golden.

I'm one of those golden forgers of grand mistakes. I'm the person who hates asking for directions (fortunately I love maps), never reads the instructions, and nods off when given an explanation that consists of more than two steps. I love to putter and explore. I get frustrated. I throw a lot of stuff out. So tackling the materials is going to be a bit of a learning curve for me. Here's what I got to get me started:

There are eight colours of Gamblin paint, plus black and white. I was looking for Liquin but they were all out so I got Galkyd as a medium. I don't use medium with acrylic so I'm not sure what to make of it. I bought three brushes that I won't use with my acrylic paint and old-fashioned "The Masters" brush cleaner. Oil painters: am I on the right track? What should I use to rinse my brush between colours? Should I use rags or paper towels? How much medium should I use with my paint? I also discovered this old can of Ecolse Quick-Drying Oil Painting Medium III at the back of a cupboard. Is it any good and, more to the point, will it still be any good? Also, if you know of any on-line info that is short (very short) and sweet, please point me in the right direction.

Before I get to play, though, I have to do two more of the landscape-plus-goodies drawings for Effusion Gallery. Do you think I have enough discipline to keep my fingers off those tubes?

fools rush in

The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too.
~ Samuel Butler, Notebooks, 1912

promised land

solar cycle

2010 olympic medals unveiled

So ... what do you think? The 2010 Winter Olympic medals were unveiled in Vancouver this morning and there's bound to be controversy over their dramatically different design and shape. I would love to hear your opinion, so please leave a comment.

For more, go here or here.

Vancouver's Olympic organizing committee has unveiled the gold, silver and bronze medals for the 2010 Games. The medals were revealed by B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell at a news conference in downtown Vancouver Thursday morning, designs inspired by the ocean waves, drifting snow and mountainous landscape found in British Columbia and throughout Canada. Each medal features aboriginal artwork and no two medals are alike. The medals are circular in shape and, at between 500 to 576 grams, are the heaviest in Olympic and Paralympic history. The medals are based on two large artworks of an orca whale and raven by Canadian designer Corrine Hunt.

happy

My favourite weekend of the year is almost over. There's just something about Thanksgiving weekend. It's all about autumn colours, family, food and hiking. There isn't a single commercial element to it, which may be part of the attraction. American Thanksgiving's proximity to Christmas and the fact that it's already winter here in Canada at the end of November (which means endless gloom and rain on the wet coast) means that I'd rather have it now, at actual harvest time.

Saturday we made the return visit to Lindeman Lake, about two hours' drive up the Fraser Valley. It was cold this year, with a brisk wind, but the colours were the stuff Disney's made of. It's a good hike the five or so kilometres up and to the far end of the lake, but then there's the reward of a beautiful, isolated beach at which to picnic, and the easier hike down. I was like a kid in a candy shop, getting lost with my camera. My co-hikers almost went back to look for me, convinced I'd been eaten by bears as punishment for gawking violations. I know it's like postcard overkill, but check out these photos.

I spent Sunday in our sunny kitchen, making the Thanksgiving feast while watching old Woody Allen flicks, followed by food and frivolity with family. Today was for ODing on pumpkin pie and uploading Saturday's photos to Flickr.

Either someone's been spiking my coffee or I have been exposed to a particularly virulent strain of Pollyanna virus because it's all good (which is bad, because I'm losing my edge). I'm actually ready for the long months ahead now.

yes/no

Because I'm a fan of her writing and her art, check out this offer from Hazel Dooney. More importantly, though, I think artists need to keep tabs on her pioneering efforts at changing the way we market our work.