February 4th 2012

I'm taking a break from work this morning to post a couple of things that I've had in mind to write about recently.  I don't often feature many other local artists on my blog, (except for Team Macho I guess, but that's because I'm completely biased).  That's not to say that Toronto doesn't have an incredible selection of super-talented artists, so I'm taking the time to mention a few of my favourites.


For a long while, (since I saw her first solo exhibition in 2005), I've been a big fan of Julie Moon's work.  She's a ceramicist currently working at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, PA.  I've always been especially drawn to porcelain.  There's something very painterly about working in porcelain, but there is another element of richness added when working in 3D.  Part of what appeals most in Julie's work is her glazes; hand-brushed over her pieces.  I've included a couple of images below as examples of some of my favourite work.  These two pieces were housed at the Katzman Kamen Gallery back in November of 2011, and are some of her most recent work.  For more of her work, there is a small collection for view on her page at Narwhal Art Projects, and her website, linked above.

Another local ceramicist and great friend, Naomi Yasui, has recently begun a project with her friend Heather Goodchild that I've been checking in with daily.  They've begun a collection of posts on their site, THE WARDENS TODAY, dedicated "To celebrate the beautiful, interesting, and dynamic people, places, ideas and objects we encounter in our daily lives".  For a short history of their influence and their manifesto, see here.  They're adding to it daily.  It's a beautiful project so far.  They've taken inspired photos of their daily surroundings, the work of friends and locals, and shared them graciously.  A particular favourite post was this, the apartment of artist Lisa DiQuinzio and cinematographer Michael Leblanc.

I'll post more of my favourites shortly; this has turned in to a longer post than I'd intended!

February 1st 2012

I like to consider myself a well-motivated person.


I work from a home-studio, where I get up most days and get straight to work.  I've always sort of prided myself on the fact that I can stay working from home without letting myself get too distracted.


BUT.
Like every other creative who's come before me, I have my days.  Those days that I feel as though I'm stuck in a rut.  That there's some block that's keeping me from either starting new work, or continuing on with a project.


I have work to do right now.  I have a couple of deadlines coming up, and some really fun work to do.  But I just wasn't feeling it today.  This always happens in midwinter.  I usually blame it on the weather, though this winter's been spring-like.  On a usual day I get up, make breakfast, visit with Chris before he takes off for the day, then go sit at my desk.  I sat at my desk for quite a while today.  I checked my email, checked a couple of blogs, caught up on some paperwork, and kept myself thoroughly distracted.  I made a few brush-strokes on a painting I'm working on, (seriously- only a few!).  I knew that this wasn't going to happen for me.  


So I baked a cake.  Geez, doesn't that sound stereotypical?  Don't people in movies often bake a cake to avoid thinking about the inevitable or getting work done?  I can't think of an example, but I'm sure I've seen it.


I dug out a recipe I've been wanting to try.  It's one with apples, brown sugar and cinnamon, and it sounded so satisfying; that comforting kind of recipe that makes the house smell amazing.  The whole while I was thinking about writing this post.  I'm sure everyone struggles with this at some point, but I don't think I've ever mentioned that it happens to me too.


If you need a distraction from your work, I highly recommend this recipe.  I found it on theKitchn.com, and the link to the original recipe by Faith Durand can be found here.

Apple Yogurt Cake with a Cinnamon-Sugar Streak
serves 8 or more

1 1/2 cups whole-milk yogurt, well-stirred
2/3 cup olive oil
1 lemon, juiced (about 1/4 cup)
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
4 small tart apples, such as Granny Smith, about 1 1/2 pounds
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch freshly ground nutmeg
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, divided
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Heat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking pan with baking spray or olive oil.

Whisk together the yogurt, olive oil, lemon juice, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl. Peel and core the apples, and chop into chunks about 1/2-inch across. You should end up with 3 1/2 to 4 cups of apples. Stir the chopped apple into the liquid ingredients.

Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon right into the liquids and stir just until no lumps remain. In a small separate bowl, mix the remaining 2 teaspoons cinnamon with the brown sugar and butter.

Pour half of the batter into the cake pan. Sprinkle the batter with half of the cinnamon-brown sugar mixture, dropping it on the batter in small lumps. Spread the rest of the batter over top, and sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon-brown sugar.

Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, covering with foil at the end if the top is browning. When a tester comes out clean, transfer the cake to a cooling rack and let it cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting. Serve the cake warm or at room temperature.

I'm sure it will go nicely with my coffee when I'm painting at my desk tomorrow.

January 16th 2012

Installation in Progress

I spent a little time a couple of days ago helping out Chris and the other members of Team Macho paint one of their new structures that they've been building at the AGO.  


They're creating four separate workspaces in the public gallery in the lower level of the gallery where people can interact with their structures and even create their own work.  Each space is based on the four pillars of the universe written about by Canadian writer Northrop Frye.  These pillars are the cave, the furnace, the mountaintop and the garden.  They've taken these four elements and applied them to each of the structures in context with their own creative process.  


Here is a write-up from this past Saturday's National Post on their creative process.  They've just finished up an interview with the Globe and Mail this morning, and I'll post a link to that as well when it's been published.  Also, here is a link to their article on the AGO website.  To follow progress on their project, they've been uploading images to their Tumblr and updating on Twitter.


Their space will be available to the public between January and April of this year.

{ The mountaintop }

{ The cave }

{ The garden }

{ The furnace }

January 12th 2012

As promised, I'm posting another couple of paintings that both Chris and I worked on before going on holiday in December.  This project was a lot of fun!

We'd been commissioned by our friends Celine and Jin to do a couple of paintings collaboratively.  They'd mentioned that they'd love portraits done of their two sweet cats; Mea and Mojo.  We wanted to take things a little further and include the two of them as well.  After some brainstorming, this was the idea Chris came up with, and I instantly fell in love with it!  I knew it would be so much fun to paint!  Both Celine and Jin have a lot of character, and so do the cats!  This was going to be easy.


We asked them if we could come over one afternoon to take quick photos of the two of them. They had no idea what we were up to!


So we worked on it these two paintings together, while taking breaks from all of our other work.  We were both super busy at that time, but this was welcome work.


Because things were getting to close to Christmas, and the framing shops were all too busy to take on work to be ready before Christmas, Chris decided to make two beautiful pickled pine frames.  He made the pickling stain himself, and I loved them!  I want to frame all of our work like that now!  (It's nearly white, with a bit of natural grain still showing).  So pretty.


We told them we had something to drop off quickly the evening before we left the city.  We'd wrapped the pieces up so that Jin got the painting of Celine, and Celine got the painting of Jin.  Their expressions were perfect when they opened them!


To see a really sweet blog post from Celine, and to see the pieces hung on their wall in their frames, here is a link.


Thanks for being the most fun subjects, Celine and Jin, Mea and Mojo!

January 4th 2012

First post of 2012!  Happy New Year, everyone.


It's time to do a little post-holiday catching up.  It's taking a little bit of a push, but I'm starting to get back in to work mode.

{ Uneasy Rider, Mike Destefano }

Just before the holidays, things got very busy!  They always do, but this may have been a record year!  I did what started off as one illustration for The New York Times Magazine, and that turned in to six!  It was thrilling.


The issue I was asked to contribute to was the final of the year, and was dedicated to those that have passed away during the past year.  It was titled "The Lives They Lived".  First off, the cover page of this issue was one of the most gorgeous magazine covers I've ever seen.  It was illustrated by Mike Lemanski, and can be found via the link above.


Ira Glass, Julie Snyder and Lisa Pollak of This American Life guest edited a section in this issue titled "These American Lives".  Included in this section was the article for my favorite of the illustrations I was asked to contribute, "Uneasy Rider", (see image above).  The article was heartbreaking, and made me teary the first read through.  I really enjoyed painting this illustration, but it was a tough, emotionally-charged one.

{ A Man Walks Up To A Bar, newspaper clipping }

{ A Day At The Ballpark }

{ Wilfrid Sheed, book covers }

I realized while looking up articles to link to them for this post, there is a video on the New York Times website of Hugo Lindgren, (editor for the magazine), talking to Ira Glass, (who hosts the NPR radio show This American Life).  I watched it only to realize that pinned up in the background of the video behind the two men is the mockup page of the "Uneasy Rider" article!  In the same room as Ira Glass!!  Okay, I'll calm down...  It was also nice to see Sara Cwynar, an art director for the magazine and good friend, featured as well.


Also in December, I did an illustration for Air Canada's inflight magazine, EnRoute.  Here is a link to the article online.


This post has already gotten completely out of hand, so I'll wait for my next post to tell you all about a couple of paintings that Chris and I worked on together recently.  In the meantime, I hope everyone has a wonderful start to 2012.