tea time sketch

tea time sketch, originally uploaded by crystal driedger.

I'm going to embark on a new artistic journey soon... I'm going to try my hand at linocuts. And, using only the internet as my teacher, we'll see how good I'll be at this craft. I'm sure the first will probably be full of mistakes but then, isn't that the same as life?

Holly's Castle

This is another illustration I've completed in the efforts of building more samples of children in my portfolio. This was much faster than the "Summer Fun" image I completed early January and was tremendous fun as well. Looks like I'm in for a great month!

Opportunity to Use a variety of styles

If there's one wonderful aspect having a part-time job, it would be the ability to diversify yourself. While it's nice to be able to see people other than your family on a 24 - 7 basis, this is not the biggest benefit I've discovered by working at the Royal Alberta Museum. While my job is primarily graphic design in nature I have been able to complete the odd illustration here and there. To top off this bunch of pure goodness, it's usually different stylistically than I do during my business hours as an illustrator. This really gives me the chance to experiment, which is very needed in this business of illustration.

The bears above were for a board game that the education department uses to educate children about grizzlies and black bears. It's more of a simple, sihouette approach and yet I found it fun (sort of like a puzzle).

A Painting for Maggie

For those of you who don't already know, I have an agent. We've been working together to resolve some issues with the way I draw kids. This is the first painting that I've managed to finish for her and it's taken me months to find the time to finish. You might remember the progress of this painting from a previous post made in October. This just goes to show how busy I've been in the last few months. My goal is to load up my portfolio in the next couple of months with kids doing fun things. As I adore painting, this shouldn't be an undesirable task!

ps: This picture is big enough to be a desktop image so please feel free to use it as your wallpaper. :)

Almost back from Holidays

I had a fantastic time at home this year for Christmas sledding, hiking in snow and catching up with my family. While I'm not back in my studio I'll be back at my part-time job this week painting more mammoths and wishing that the holidays could have been savoured just that little bit more.

Now that all of my Christmas commissions have been opened I can post one more. This one was of someone's two cats... so interesting that I did two cat portraits in one year! The other one, sadly, I gave away in such a rush that I did not make the time photograph it (this is just another thing to add to my personal list of "what was I thinking"?). I invited a friends wife into my studio and completed a series of figure drawing style portraits of her. Perhaps it is best that these portraits will remain personal to this family as I do not need them for my portfolio anyway.

A Christmas Commision

Here's another plywood painting that I completed and it's process (for greater detail click on each picture).


1• Create a confident drawing that will show you how to create your gradients and values (based on a greyscale drawing). Get it approved by your client.

2•For a painting where the texture is important, choose your canvas wisley. I pulled about a round dozen sheets of pokey plywood off the hardware stores shelves before I found just the right "chunk" for this image. Tell the person who cuts out your block of plywood that it's for art and yes, you know canvases are cheap down at the local art store...!

3• Protect Your Painting before it's even started. Give it several good (thick) coatings of Multi Purpose Acylic Polymer so that weird chemicals don't leak into the painting over the years destroying the values you create. THEN! Protect your paint (it doesn't come cheap after all...) by Gessoing your surface. This will give your paint an extra "grip" or "mile" so that you don't have to layer it on really thick. I paint my gesso on in several layers in different directions so that the brush strokes aren't going to create a distracting pattern. Thing to Remember: Your brush strokes on every layer of every painting can help aid your composition!

5• Block in Dark Colours.


6• Think Details and Light. The concept is to have your darker colours in the "Valley" part of the plywood ridges and the light colours on the "peaks". This will really make the texture pop. For details do what you normally do, fill in the valleys and peaks with similar values.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

A great big thank you to everyone (friends, family, clients... and of course fellow bloggers!) for making this year so fabulous! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I'll be taking a needed break from the computer world in general so see you in early 2008!


Here's a sneak peak into the "secret studio"...
I tried my hand at carving (my hand wishes I was a more careful carver but I suspect this will come with time)



and I made some ornaments for my family...

I've been creating paintings for the Royal Alberta Museum's Christmas Card collection (for the next five years you might see my work.)

While there's still many secret goings on in my studio there's one thing I can tell you: I'll be at the Guerilla Boutique this Saturday from 1-8pm at the Artery downtown Edmonton, Alberta. It's on 9535-Jasper Ave.

More of Moe

Here's what I've been up to lately at my part time job at the Royal Alberta Museum (it's often a great way to enhance your job to inject a bit of illustration into your graphic design jobs).

note: The ad with the kids is going to change up a bit in regards to the wording so it's just the kids for you to see right now.

This Friday's Edmonton Journal Ad:


Next Friday's Edmonton Journal Ad:


New Years Ad (in progress):

Many little Secret Things...

I've been itching to tell you about the many secret goings on in my studio... but alas, most must wait until after Christmas (you'll see why once I've posted them). It appears that I've been slacking on the illustration side of my life, however, you'll be pleasantly surprised afterwards by the hoard of crazy images I'm going to post in the new year that I'm hard at work on right now!...

However, I shall give you a few little images to keep you interested (rather than the dull "I'll be here or there peddling my goodies" posts I've been plaguing you with)... I worked the Guerilla Boutique this weekend and as the weather was rather horrid there weren't many shoppers. This left me with loads of time to create wonderful original drawings on my brown shopping bags while I was there (not to mention I traded some goodies for a fantastic necklace!).

Illustration Friday: Little Things

This is from a children's book I worked on this year called Gramma GoGo & the Dustball Fairies... the ladies face in the background is the author, Georgina Prockiw who is an amazing woman. Gramma GoGo is a minaturist who creates dollhouses and dolls and one day discovers two dustball fairies eatting cherry pie in her dollhouse...

I've been tagged

My friend Mike R Baker has tagged me for the “5 things” about myself... and I'm happy to share the information. Thanks for the tag Mike!

1. My first dream career was to become an elasmobranchologist (basically a shark scientist). I have since snorkelled with sharks and plan to one day complete a series of shark paintings for a show.

2. I own a cow and a calf (her name is Emily), one cat and five goldfish.

3. My very first paid illustration was of a worm (who's name was Bailey).

4. I'm left handed.

5. My first oil painting looked like a mud pie (not on purpose). I painted it three years ago and was too frustrated to let it dry. I still have a full set of oil paints that are barely used. If someone really wants them they should stop by my studio and I'll give them to you for free. I'm cursed with inpatience...

I’m tagging michelle mcbride (miss dishy), heather castles, anette heiberg, elisa chavarri and Amanda Woodward! Each of these women are fantastic illustrators so check them out!

The rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

An Ethical Card Company is born!

I forgot to pass on the news that I recently sold a hand-full of card designs to a brand new company called Blue Turtle Greetings(My designs are the first four on the homepage). It's truly a company with every bit of their heart in the right place. The owner is very environmentally conscious and I swear has a heart of solid gold. This is what the owner (Sandy) writes:

"Blue Turtle Greetings is a company committed to sound environmental practices, product quality and the values of peace, love & good fortune. All of our products are printed on Recycled Paper. All papers are processed clorine free and acid free. Paper suppliers commit to responsible forestry practices.Our products are manufactured in countries that abide with fair labor practices. We will not produce our products at a lower cost when it means a cost to Humanity."

I'm so so proud that there are companies are out there willing to take all of these steps in order to better our planet and human conditions around the planet. I know it takes months of hard work researching to find companies that fit the profiles above.

Good Luck Sandy and I hope to work with you for many years.
***image/logo © blue turtle greeings 2007***

Tid Bits

My work is featured in this month's issue of Mosaic Magazine (I believe I have four pieces in it) and when I finally located a bunch of copies I was stunned at the quality. Thanks Connie!

Also I have a few cards for sale at the Paint Spot on 124th Street (Christmas Cards). If you decide to check out this little art store branch (the bigger one is on Whyte Ave) you'll positively drool over the beautiful new moleskins they have (they're coloured!).

happy holidays.

Royal Bison Craft and Arts Fair

The countdown is on for Christmas! I'm growing more and more excited about being a part of the local & handmade business's that exist in our community. It's such a positive place to shop for Christmas presents. Support a local artist and share the skills and talents of your local community with those who would never think to shop in such places. It's a tremendous circle of support and I just can't thank my customers enough.

Here's the scoop:
Royal Bison Craft & Art Fair
DEC 1-2
10am - 5pm
8426 - Gateway Blvd (Cosmopolitan Music Society Building)
FEE: $2 each (little kids get in free)
Locally made: Jewelry, Magazines, Books, Art, Music, Photography, Amps, Soaps, Accessories, Posters and more.

Here's some fabulous people who will be joining me at the fair:
Raymond Biesinger (organizer of event and illustrator/image maker king)
Amanda Woodward (usual occupation is illustrator, however, I believe she's bringing some funky ornaments to the show...)
Michelle McBride (aka Miss Dishy, the creator of those oh so pretty magnet sets, plushies, and more)
and will be sharing a table with
Miss Sarah Jackson (those wee little jam books that are all the rage these days!)
Acorn Studios (those fabulous earrings I've been wearing lately!!... and the owner is so earth friendly it's nutts, in a good way)

Illustration Friday: The Zoo

moose, originally uploaded by crystal driedger.

Here's a little sketch of something quite Canadian (in some sort of iconic way anyway)! Although I've never seen a moose in the zoo I have seen many in the wild, which is really where they belong anyway.

Sketching with a friend

Here's a little doodle I did last night when I met with a friend to sketch. Everyone, in my opinon, needs a sketching buddy!

Thank you!

I just wanted to thank everyone involved in the Stop & Shop Arts and Craft fair. It was a divine pleasure to work alongside such wonderful vendors and was a tremendous sucsess for so many people. Thanks again to everyone who stopped by especially to those who bought some original art from me (my alien and one of my nudes now have a special place in someone's home)! For those of you interested, the next show will be the Royal Bison Arts and Crafts Fair on Dec 1 - 2 (I'll update you on location and times later).

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
-xoxo crystal

See me in person (this weekend)

I'll be at this years Stop & Shop with local illustrator & graphic designer Sarah Jackson and local illustrator, graphic designer & crafter Michelle McBride/aka Miss Dishy. It'd be a great place to get some handmade Christmas presents. Buy handmade, buy local and help out our environment (and keep our city unique by supporting local business!)

STOP & SHOP
TRANS ALTA ARTS BARN (10330 84ave, Edmonton AB, Canada)
$5 at the door
NOVEMBER 16 - 18
Friday 5pm - 9pm
Saturday 11am - 7pm
Sunday 11am - 5pm


NEW THINGS!
• New print available of my "Alien" Painting for only $15
• Selection of Originals (not available during the summmer markets)
• Three new bookmark designs
• Calendars

Robot Angel (In Progress)

This is for a demo I'm going to do in class this Thursday (it's an illustration techniques class, college level). I'm going to be talking about mixed media including Holli Conger's junkadoodles (see her junkadoodles samples here), collage & collage artists, 3D illustrators (such as Red Nose Studio and other artists that use clay, paper maché and models).... i've been looking forward to this lecture for quite some time because it's still new to me and so very very exciting!

Mr. Bateman how do you do?

Tonight I met the legendary wildlife conservationist and fine artist, Robert Bateman. He told my sister and I a story about being in a canoe when a caribou swam right up to it... if you meet me in person I'll give you the rest of the details (it's one worth hearing for sure). Not having enough money to buy a print (sigh) I instead got him to sign my sketchbook. He flipped through it and to my utter amazement says he really likes my cross hatching! Made my day ten million times over. Thanks Mr. Bateman... another childhood dream comes to reality.