August 29th 2011

We went to the CNE for the first time this year! I can't believe it's taken me this long to experience it. It was a lot more fun than I'd expected! There was tons of terrible, (amazing), food there, (including burgers made with Krispy Kreme donuts for buns and tacos in a bag), one of my favorite rides; the swing ride, (above), and on our way out of the park, a man being blown out of a cannon. What a great day!

August 27th 2011

I have a couple of exciting projects to post about today!

I recently did some illustrations for Nikole Herriott of Herriott Grace. She wanted to post a recipe on her blog, Forty Sixth at Grace, and asked that I paint some instructional illustrations, as well as the ingredients needed for the recipe, (cloud shaped ice cream sandwiches!). It was so much fun! You can find her blog post here, with a downloadable PDF of the recipe.

Also, over the past month I've done a few illustrations for The New York Times Magazine!

They were for the "Lives" op-ed column, on the back page of the magazine. The first story I was asked to illustrate was for an article titled "The Secret Life of a Rock Dad". It was written by Clay Tarver, previously of a 90's band called "Chavez", and his struggles with becoming a "rock dad".

The second was for this week's issue, and was titled "The Letting Go", written by Siddhartha Mukherjee, and is a beautifully written essay on the differences between the death rituals of India and North America. Below is pictured the illustration I did for it, of a ganga, or Indian funeral boat.

August 9th 2011

Success.

Now, that looks better. And so clean! I'm sure it won't last long. It is a studio after all. But I'm so glad I set aside the time to fix this room up.

I just finished a (very exciting!!) new job yesterday, and I can't wait to share it. I think I'll be able to by Thursday or Friday. Yay!

August 8th 2011

In dire need of some cleaning and organizing, I took some time out this weekend to fix up our studio room a little bit. Okay, a lot. This is what it looked like when Anabela came by for a studio visit last summer:

And some progress after a weekend of painting and purging:

We needed it to be a little brighter, so Chris and I found a nice bright white to paint the walls. We're putting in some new shelves and getting rid of a lot of unneeded things. It's still in a state of upheaval, and looks a little depressing really, but hopefully by tomorrow I'll have a proper work area again. (The work I have to do today may have to be done at our kitchen table instead).

I'll post a couple of photos when it's finally put back together again! It'll probably be the best looking it has ever and will ever be.

August 2nd 2011

Happy August, everyone. To all of my Canadian friends, I hope you had a nice holiday weekend!


I spent mine up north with family at my parent's house. Aside from being eaten by bugs, it was a beautiful weekend, and I'm back and ready to get back to work again.


It was a nice break after the last couple of busy months I've had. I'd taken a little bit of time off from blogging and posting photos to work hard on a children's book project for the same publisher as the last; Bourgeon. The work was sent off in time for me to take the weekend off and relax a little. It's scheduled for release in November! I can't wait. Above is a little preview of one of the paintings from the book. I used Dre as reference; can you tell? Anyway, I'll be sure and post all of the work on my website when the book's been released.

I'm sure everyone's seen this at some point online by now, but if not, check out the inaugural issue of Kinfolk Magazine. It's absolutely beautiful! I wasn't quick enough to get a copy, (they sold out immediately!), but will definitely be quicker next time! Luckily, you can browse the full issue online, here. Congratulations to Nikole Herriott and Tara O'Brady for their article "In Good Company: A weekday get-together for two", and Celine Kim for her beautiful photo of a cottage in Prince Edward Island on the farewell page of the magazine, as well as to all of the other talented contributors!