Kaleido Festival 2010 | Arts on The Ave

I have two pieces of art for sale at the Kaleido Festival 2010 | Arts on The Ave this year (118th ave and approx 91st street in the Old Cycle Building). Stop by, see the art and then check out some of the performances too. See their website for more details.

These are the paintings up for sale this upcoming weekend:

Sketchbook Project Pages 1 - 3

Three finished pages, in sequence, for the sketchbook project.
(My subject is Jackets, Blankets & Sheets)

Also, please scroll down to see my finished mermaid piece and where it's going to be for sale this fall.

Cordelia & the GDC art show & sale

Meet Cordelia (meaning sea jewel). See the creation of the mermaid here on a previous post.

This piece will be up for sale at the upcoming show and sale for the Society of Graphic Designers called "A Creative Cause". Sale is on October 7 at the Alberta Art Gallery from 6:30 - 11pm (click on the link to purchase tickets to that event). I donated a piece called "Lina Medina" that will also be for sale.

Close-up

Another Close-up

Sketchbook Project

My sketchbook arrived for the sketchbook project this Friday. I was quite surprised that it had arrived at all because with the simple slip of my finger, I typed a "2" where a "3" aught to have been in my address line when at the check-out. Remarkably, the workers at Canada Post figured out where I lived anyway.

I plan to sketch most evenings after my son has fallen asleep and shall scan the pages as I have time to post them. I hope you enjoy the story.

As a side note, the sketchbook is much smaller than I thought it would be. It seems I'm going to have to keep my pencil quite sharp in order to maintain details!

Cute as a cupcake

Four new little acrylic sculpted paintings in the works. Ready for colour!

Carving at the Lake

Enjoyed a five day holiday with my husband, son and many members of my husbands family in Saskatchewan, Canada for a reunion at Jackfish Lake. Spent some time working on a new piece (mermaid themed, something I've done a few times over the years) and brought my new favorite tool - the Dremel!

And... ready for the next step - an acrylic modelling paste for added detail, gesso... and painting!

Colouring Page - Back to School

I've started getting more involved in my community (Sherbrooke of Edmonton, AB). Here's an insert I am working on for our little newsletter for the kids.

Whimsical Wooden Women (#3)

Say hello to Elinore. She loves romance novels, wearing her most outragous outfits while strolling in her backyard garden of exotic flowers, snap peas and kale. Elinore is the third in my wooden whimsical women series.

Congratulations Giveaway winner!

A big thank you to all of the people who entered to win the CSN stores creativity desk easel! A huge congratulations is in order to winner Rachelle Anne Miller (Rachelle also happens to be an illustrator, blogger and mother. Check her work out, it's beautiful). Her son, Issac, will put the desk easel to great use I'm sure (her son is a few months older than Dexter, my son).

Whimsical Wooden Women (#2)

Developing a new technique which looks so good in person (and is ridiculously tactile)... carving, shaping and "enhancing" pieces of wood then painting them. Having a blast.

There's still five days left to enter to win an art easel for your little one. (The prize was generously provided by CSNstores just for one of my readers!)

Amazing Blog Giveaway!

Lately my son has been spending quite a bit of his time scribbling at his toddler friendly art easel with wax crayons and too-short-pencil-stubs (left overs from sketching sprees). Maybe that means he will one day become an artist, like his mother, or maybe that just means he likes spending time in my studio because I'm in there too. Either way, it keeps him busy just long enough for me to catch up on my emails.

One recent email had an intriguing offer for my blog... a giveaway - just for my readers! And the kicker - I got to pick the prize! I wondered, do I give away something useful and beautiful like a Dutch oven (oh the ridiculously elegant meals I could attempt to create in one of those), or maybe something that might inspire other young children to be creative while giving their parents some time to themselves, like the Creativity Desk and Easel? Eureka!

Entering is so easy, you could even attempt to allow your toddler to do it for you. Leave a comment on this blog post before Friday, August 20th at 1pm MST. I'll contact the winner that day and we'll set up how to get this fabulous prize to you, even the shipping is free (*sorry this contest is not open to international readers but if you already made a comment and you "win" when I draw names I'll send you a little prize made by me anyway).

A great big thank you to CSN stores for sponsoring this fantastic giveaway.

Official Giveaway Teaser!

Parents (and grandmas/aunt/uncles/friends) of young children get ready, something very exciting has been donated by CSNstores.com to give away on my blog! Get your fingers ready to start typing out your entry this month - hopefully within the next few days it will all be revealed...

All New Summer Commissions 25% off!

I've been commissioned to do a painting for a wedding present. This is third wedding gift I've created for a wedding this summer. I'm so happy to have been given the opportunity to create one-of-a-kind gift! Thanks for the creative freedom, Michelle.

As a special offer to my blog readers & facebook fans:

Until the end of August, recieve 25% off custom orders of any size of original paintings
(this applies to a commissions that are a series of paintings).
Email me for more information and a free quote by the end of August to recieve this speical promotion.

Garden Tanager

I'm just about finished painting the largest canvas I've ever purchased (just deciding where to put my signature on the 30 x 40" canvas). While this new scale was completely intimidating as a blank canvas, the piece became a place of peace and calm while I was painting it. It was completed for an art show coming this October, My Life in Colour with Roger Garcia, Amanda Woodward and Davey Thompson - it's tied in with a couple old pieces from last years show entitled Growing Up (held at the McMullen Gallery Fall of 2009, the remaining pieces are soon to start their journey with the AGA's travelling art exhibition, TREX, which to my delight has been completely booked!).

Close up on girls face:

Close up on bowl of flowers:

Close up on the western tanager:

Hello, thanks for the email.

I've been meaning to change my email signature for a few months now and finally got around to doing it today while working on two new self promotional postcards for a group printing with Amanda Woodward, Davey Thompson and Roger Garcia. More to come...

Congrats Brant & Liz

Today I gained a sister-in-law. Congratulations Brant & Elizabeth (some of you may remember the invitation I designed for them). My wish is that the both of you experience happiness together for the rest of your lives.

I've been waiting (not so patiently) to reveal my lastest painting, which is their wedding gift. Here's hoping it will also bring them happiness for years to come. The pearls are for the bride and the doves are for the couple - they are devote Catholics that met at church. The flowers are for luck, love and if they kept a little wild, will help to enrich and entice romance.

Hair

Cutting your hair can sometimes change your entire life perspective. At least for a week or so...

I drew this little sketch while at a Brain Tumor Seminar with my mom (who had a brain tumor removed this March). Guess I've been thinking of chopping my hair for a few months now.

Drawing inspiration - from myself?

Today I'm trying desperately to become inspired for an art show coming this fall. I started looking through my photographs and found the following illustrations that I completed back in 2007. They are so free and fun, I can't believe I'm actually drawing inspiration from things that I completed years ago!

Four "Sweet Snowmen"

A series I may add to my licensing repertoire, once finished, if all goes well.

"Sweet Snowmen"

1) Gingerbread man

2) Candy Cane

Candy Collector

Ice cream

Christmas in the summer

It's customary to work on holiday images during the summer in the illustration world. I've often thought about putting on Christmas music while I draw such images (for inspiration) but have decided, instead, to listen to the audio book version of Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows. There is always a mention of Christmas in the Harry Potter series... so close enough, right?

ps: Jim Dale, the narrator for the Harry Potter audio book series, is on my top ten list of people I'd love to meet before I die.