Last Painting for Show!

Horrah! Three cheers... I've started my last painting for the Growing Up Show (a painting featuring my father). It's been very tricky trying to run my business with a newborn. Sometimes I have to work around my infant's schedule and needs - this includes things like painting with a sleeping Dexter in his Lovey Duds sling this afternoon for an hour and a half. Gosh is he getting heavy!

I have 19 days until everything is due to be hung. There are labels to edit, CV & bio to write/rewrite, almost all paintings need to be varnished and have wires attached to the back... oh and artwork to price out. I'm getting exhausted because I also rewrote the project for my illustration class and I think it's going to be very interesting (I'll post what it is once the students get their project).

Storytime with Mom

Second last painting to complete for the growing up show! Only 33 days until the show opens... and 34 days until I start part time teaching at Grant MacEwan College again. I'm reworking my assignment sheets for the "kids" (although sometimes they are older than me). Trying to give them the most exciting project. Something to really get into and enjoy. Did any of you have an extraordinary project when you went to college (if you are a fellow illustrator reading this blog)?

cooking up sketches

Lots of things to do in the studio these days. I'm cooking up better plans for my students this November (yup, I've decided to go back to work once a week on thursdays during November). The dragon sketch is for an acrylics wash techniques sample.

Growing up show is about one month away (yikes!) and I still have two paintings to do. The top sketch is my very oldest memory. I'll let you know more about it when I don't have a fussy baby on my lap... ;)

Becoming Mother - Growing Up Show (FINISHED)

Becoming Mother Finished, originally uploaded by crystal driedger.

The birth of my first child was the most life changing event I've ever gone through in my life. Labour is hard work, and if you let it, it's so beautiful it could make you cry just to think back upon it. When my water broke late at night this May, I took a deep breath and allowed the process to overtake me. 16 hours passed swiftly and before I knew it my exhausted body was completely naked for all the world to see and my son was being placed in my arms. He was covered in all manner of things that would normally make me pale, but all I wanted to do was kiss him, stare at him and hold him. He became, in that moment, the very perfect definition of love.

Growing Up Show is coming soon...

The pressure is building! There's labels to write, paintings to finish (and some to start) and a slideshow to build. Here's some of what I'm working on or finished and have not yet shown you!

Becoming Mother Painting in the works (Dexter in his chair behind me):

Becoming Mother

Here's a sneak peak at what I'm working on right now. It's a small painting that captures my husband and I moments after the birth of our son. It's a part of the Growing Up show this November. I feel that there have not been many things in my life that have cemented the feeling of being "all grown up" than having a baby. Labor was a beautiful, life changing event that still completely empowers and rejuvenates me when I stop to recall it.

A wee little card

I'm braving a road trip with our little bundle this weekend to attend a wedding in Saskatchewan, (that's in west-central Canada for you international visitors). It's going to be a 5 hour drive and that's something I have not yet attempted with my baby (who actually does not fall asleep easily during car rides)... wish me luck!

Here's the card I've made for the newly wed couple. Hope they like it.

See you at the Alter (Growing Up Show)

Shortly before walking down the aisle I was able to read a love note that my husband had scribbled together that morning. It hit me in a sweet, romantic way, how the little details would fall into place and there was nothing to worry about. My husband is da' bomb! hee hee

(Painting for the Growing up Show this November at the McMullen Gallery)

Comfort Reading (Growing Up Show)

When I was growing up I lived on a farm. In true rural teenage fashion, I got involved in 4-H and the halter breaking of young cattle (steers and heifers). This painting symbolizes how attached and comfortable I felt with the animals I was training. I may have done this on the rare occasion that I took my steers outside of their pen (where sitting on the grass may have been less frightening as there were less droppings present).

Damask Lady

I painted the "Damask Lady" for my sister-in-law and her new husband for their wedding which took place on Saturday. She adores damask patterns, which I've adapted to fit my own style of painting and drawing! (Click to see more detail)

Here is a photo of the beautiful bride (I caught her in a quiet moment of reflection in the receiving line):

Peru Book!

Shown here are a couple of illustrations for a book I completed early this year for the Royal Alberta Museum. They commissioned me to create these illustrations for a package that local schools can rent, called an "Edukit"and included a giant floor puzzle map and book about Peru.

Dexter is 2 months old!

It's hard to believe that I've been a mom for 2 months now! I borrowed fellow illustrator mom Rachelle Anne Miller's idea and photographed Dexter each week of his life... it's been amazing to see him grow so quickly in photo's (I'll admit that I'm sorry now that I didn't bother changing up Rachelle's design more than the font choice - it seemed too difficult to make more of an effort than I put in when he was one week old - Shame on me!! I guess I never expected to have the time to blog about the photo's I was taking). Dexter is 9 weeks old now and every moment I grow more confident as a mom and we learn new things about each other every day.

I'm also working on a secret project at the moment but in a few weeks I'll be able to reveal it... keep checking in for updates!

For those interested, here's a look back at my pregnancy with Dexter (I had him almost two weeks early).

Fed with Love (Growing Up Show 10)

Horrah! So it turns out I can be a mother and an artist at the same time. At the expense of some very valuable naps and with the help of my amazing husband, I squeezed in the time to finish a painting for my upcoming "Growing Up" show this fall. I've been wondering how amazing illustrators such as Rachelle Anne Miller, Gina Perry & Heather Castles, manage to take care of a baby while also keeping up with illustrating. While I'm still a far cry away from taking on any client work, I am starting to see such things in my future which absolutely thrills me.

Fed with Love (Growing Up Show 10)

I can hardly believe it's been 5 weeks since my son was born! What a whirlwind my life has become. I feel so filled with love that I hope it brims over into all aspects of my life, including my art and my career. I've done so much growing up lately that I feel like a completely different person - complete with a new outlook and new priorities. It's only appropriate that I begin this new life with a painting for the Growing Up Show on the subject of feeding my son. What an opportunity to be selfless, enjoy a quiet moment and pour my love into my child.

Chickadee magazine illustration

If you pick up this month's issue of chickadee you'll see my illustrations featured in the puzzles & fun section. This is the version I sent before the typography was set. Here are some progress sketches as well:

sketches before client revisions:

sketches after client revisions:

Our first art show as mom & son

Dexter & I made it to the Grant MacEwan Faculty Art Show last week. Still trying to find the time and energy to pick up painting where I left off for the Growing Up Show. I'll update with new art as soon as I can!

Design Faculty Show for Grant MacEwan College

I have one painting featured in the show "True Stories" alongside other talented Design Faculty instructors at Grant MacEwan College, at MTrac Lofts and Interscape Interior Design. The show is open to the public June 9–15, 2009 at 11625–105 Ave., 12 noon to 5 p.m. If you're interested in seeing more work and you're in Edmonton, Alberta please feel free to drop by otherwise view more work here. For those of you who don't know, I'm a part-time instructor at the college in the fall session under illustration techniques.

You may remember the following piece which is featured in the show:

I'm a MOM!

On May 24th, 2009 I gave birth to my lovely son, Dexter Nolen Driedger. Birth was a profoundly spiritual and empowering experience and being a mother has taken me by surprise. I'm grateful for this experience and can hardly wait to paint and draw my memories of labour and early motherhood for my growing up show come this fall. Of course, I should probably try to catch a few zzz's before I crack open the sketch book. This parenting business is really lots of hard work! Thanks for checking in!

Taking Kitty Home (Growing Up Show 7)

Finished another painting for this fall's Growing Up Show. This one depicts me taking my new kitten home from my parents farm. He later went on to cry the entire trip home.

Belly Shots

I received samples in my email of my maternity photo shoot with friend Angelica Borsellino today. For four years Angelica & I worked together as illustrators before going separate directions and starting our freelance careers. I hope that by posting these photos of my belly her business will continue to grow and bloom!

© borsellino photography 2009