May 31st 2012

©1918

©1885

While researching images of vintage seed packets for a project I'm working on, I found some pretty incredible reference.  (A first-prize-winning tomato being pulled by a cricket and piloted by a Karner Blue butterfly?!)- I love that image.  I was also surprised by the number of designs anthropomorphizing vegetables.  I'm always drawn to the idea of anthropomorphic things, but it's not every day you see peas and carrots with faces.  I notice that I number of my favourites are from Toronto, as well.  I think I've found some pretty lovely reference to go on!

May 28th 2012

I've always been an admirer of scientific illustrations.  When I was young, I had a number of field guides for flowers, birds and animals, and would pour over them; especially when I found something outside that I didn't recognize.  (I still do this when visiting my parents up north).


Last autumn I was asked to illustrate three full pages of botanical, ornithological and zoological species found in the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn.  It was a chance to do a little image research and create some of my own scientific illustrations.


Checking through one of my favourite blogs, Bibliodyssey, this morning, I found some gorgeous colour plates created by painter Comingio Merculiano in 1885 for a monograph (n.23) titled, I Cefalopodi di Napoli.  You can find more illustrations and little information on the collection here.

May 17th 2012

I was recently approached to do a print edition with The Working Proof, a printing studio which pairs the print of an artist to the charity of their choosing.  They have a long list of charity organizations that they contribute to with the proceeds raised in the sales of their prints.

I chose to use my 'Three Cats in a Heap' painting, and decided to contribute proceeds to 826 National, an non-profit organization that helps to nurture the creative writing skills in school age children.

The print is now online, and available here.  You can also find the interview I did with them on their blog, here.

May 16th 2012

Before leaving on our trip last week, I'd been asked to do a few portraits for The New York Times Magazine Money Issue, which was out on newsstands on May 6th.

This particular article, 'Obama’s Not-So-Hot Date With Wall Street', features the top six donors to Obama's campaign who helped host a fundraising 'executives dinner' on March 1st of this year in Manhattan.

Deven Parekh

Jane Hartley

Kevin P. Ryan 

Orin S. Kramer

Robert Wolf

Sally Sussman

May 15th 2012

I wanted to post the last batch of photos that I took with the 35mm camera while we were away.  I'm so in love with this camera!  (And I'm really happy that the film didn't get damaged by security equipment at the airport.  I just found this out, and I'd already checked my baggage with my film in it!  Phew!  Richelle tells me that only film with an iso of 1600+ could be affected, so I was in the clear.  Thank you Richelle!).

I can't wait to take photos while we're in Iceland.  It looks like such a picturesque country, and we won't be rushing all over the place like we were in San Francisco.

Alright, now it's back to the painting for me!

May 10th 2012

I'm very excited to get the film from the Leica back this afternoon!  I'll scan them and post them early next week.

Okay, this one's going to be a long one!  This is the last, colourful batch of photos from my phone.

 More brightly coloured homes and steep hills.

In the Mission District, the sidewalk grates around the trees were Día de los Muertos themed.  The neighbourhood was especially festive with Cinco de Mayo just days away!

One of the best meals I've probably ever had; at Gracias Madre.  If you're ever in that neighbourhood on a nice, warm day, I recommend sitting in their front patio and trying some of their homemade horchata.  It was pretty perfect.

Pretty markets in the Mission District.

The Golden Gate Bridge was really incredible.  We got up really early in the morning, (because we'd heard that the wind would pick up a lot later in the day), and went out to the bridge to walk across.  We spotted dolphins, (which is pretty magical for a girl from Canada!), and watched a giant tanker ship coming in to port under the bridge.  I'll have lots more photos from the other camera.  Poor Chris had to stop every ten feet for me to take another photo, (sorry Chris!).

Spotted: Banksy.

I love this sign, designed for the 49-Mile Scenic Drive by Rex May.

One thing I wished I could bring back with us; all of the beautiful succulent plants!  They were everywhere!

Possibly the best pizza I've ever eaten; from Pizzeria Delfina.

Rhubarb ice cream from Bi-Rite Creamery.

The view from one of the trolley cars headed down to the Fisherman's Wharf.

The last night we were there, we went to Fort Mason for their gathering of food trucks at Off The Grid SF.  My favourite was a steamed bao with crispy miso cured tofu with garlic-tofu mayo and baby choy sum from Chairman Bao.  So.  Delicious.

One last look from our hotel window.  Seriously, look at that hill!  This one nearly gave me a heart attack when we first drove up to our hotel from the airport.

Our brief stopover in Vancouver.  It was such a beautiful day that we drove over to the path on Beach Ave for a walk and watched the ships coming in to the harbour.


So that's all for now.  I'll post more photos early next week.