Wednesday, December 30, 2009

another dollar

hey,

unless something very important and unexpected occurs within the next few hours, this will be the last entry for the mighty year 2009. i guess i am glad to see the year go, for no reason other than the fact that one should always be ready to let go of the past and dive head first into the future.

people tend to make resolutions, promises, pacts with themselves when a year comes to close. i'm no different. its funny how the "noble" ideas and desires i have to improve myself grow in volume when i am riding the bus home on my own, accompanied by the background music and distant voices from my ipod. its funny how the mental list begins with the usual "get in shape" and "eat better", then slowly turns into "be a more understanding brother, be a better friend, speak less/listen more", only to then dip down into "spend less money, make more money, travel, buy this, buy that, achieve fame and fortune". by no means am i suggesting that one shouldn't take the material into account when trying to identify what changes to attempt to make for the sake of the budding new year. we are only "human" after all... which really is another way of saying that we are flawed. we spend so much time thinking about what we want that we forget about what we need. yes i would very much like to do some travelling and buy myself a car and get a six-pack, but what i need is to become more independant, to better prioritze my goals and to be more driven to achieve them. the thing is, some resolutions are better off written in sand then on paper. we are clumsy, fickle creatures that are only capable of self-less thought when we are alone with our own thoughts. the moment a person becomes people everything changes. suddenly goals become focused not on being better for the sake of being a better individual but to be better than the other. i don't know... in time the voices of reasoning and whatnot die down and i'm left thinking about what there is in the fridge to eat.

so what are my resolutions this year?
maybe by making them public i will be that much more determined to see them through? maybe not. haha oh well i'm definitely not the first or last one to do so. ok so... hmmm lets see. in no particular order, without too many details:

- get in shape. being consistent with both cardio and weight training, eating better etc.
- read more books. "smarter" books, readings outside of graphic novels and the usual fare.
- be a better friend. better friend to those i call friends and more of a friend to those i know as acquaintances.
- more art. the more art i make the better art i make. need to be more driven and dedicated in order to succeed at all. also redo website oh snap!
- give in to the 9-5. i need to get a for real job as much as i don't want to. i need the constant money flow, and all that comes with it.
- travel. this means that roadtrip happening. getting my damn passport and visiting family in Cali.

hmmm that about covers it i think. the important ones maybe.... hopefully. either way i can always add more. overall the idea is in with the good and out with the bad. only heaven knows.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

come clean

hi,

today my beloved girlfriend and i will be celebrating 5 magical years together. 5. that is an awful lot... in my opinion it is. we're not doing anything overly fancy, much as i would like to, because well, we don't have the extra cash to go all Gatsby on the occasion.

usually when i stay over at the gf's place i choose to use her dad's man shampoo and a bar of soap. for whatever reason i ended up using her "stuff". for reasons unknown to me women enjoy products that leave them smelling like they were just dragged through a field of flowers, followed by an apple orchard, follow by a bakery. stepping out of the shower earlier today i felt like i had just washed myself with a fruit salad. i honestly felt less clean than when i went in. i just don't care for kiwi strawberry blossom hair. nor do i care for leaving a towel smelling like a fruit roll-up. i enjoy "manly" products. products that are named after natural disasters and BMX moves. the bottled scent of a glacier earthquake explosion is really the only way to go. of course i am referring to my preference in regards to my own aroma. i have nothing against my lovely smelling like a grapefruit dipped in honey and... oats.

today i am wearing my Captain America t-shirt. which caused the girlfriend to frown. until i pointed out that Cap's star has 5 points... to represent the 5 wonderful mickey mouse years we have shared. she then smiled and walked away.

yesterday i picked up these 3 movies. hopefully we will watch one of them. but i doubt it.





Friday, December 25, 2009

merry hairy xmas

hello friends,

first of all i would like to wish you all the best of the best that these holidays have to offer! if good happenings could be measured in rice i would wish you all... a lot of rice! tons even! sacks and sacks of delicious rice, brown, wild and brown!

well, my family and i usually do the whole christmas getup on the 24th, making the 25th a more chillaxing day or relaxing adventures. as such i am in my lair writing this blog-o entry. i've been enjoying the last days of the year very much so. nice gifts i have received! i'll tell you about that some other time...

ok so TODAY was odd... it was like no 25th before. i woke up pretty late, after about 3 "breakfasts" i sat down to some tele. which led to sitting while watching MONSTER TRUCKS (no clue whose idea that was), a show on PRIMATES and others on the DISCOVERY network, paired with some wine drinking and empanada eating. here are pictures illustrating such:





here are 2images composed of some sketchbook scanning! sketchbooks are so fun, im so glad i have finally learned the importance of keeping a "book" opposed to scraps of paper that get lost and wrecked.


as i type this i am watching Mike Mignola's THE AMAZING SCREW-ON HEAD. a definite for any Mignola fan! the art is great and although it is very short it is packed with so much of what makes Mignola stuff super amazing fantastic i love it.


much love to all. more rice and best wishes for the new year and the days remaining in this one! xoxo.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

woodn't you like to know?

ah-choo!

i mean... hi. today's blog entry is based on wood! how random i know. there is so much to say on the subject! but i am somewhat tired and don't really care enough to go too much into details. so here are some facts or somethings....
i enjoy the smell of freshly cut wood, but i am apparently very allergic to it! for that same reason i have never been able to give carpentry a try, outside of the necessary cuts of wood ie. 2x4 studs for renos etc...
since i can remember i do in fact knock on wood for superstitious reasons. which is really odd considering my persistence in insisting that there is no such thing as "luck" when arguing with friends etc... much as i would like to drop the wood-knocking habit i can't seem to, it is heavily hard-wired into my system.

when the duct installing guys came over to the house they had to (obviously) cut holes in the hardwood for he vents, hardwood pieces which we kept to repair some other junk... hardwood pieces that i painted on. it was fun, mostly because they are so small haha if that makes any sense... it remind me of a segment from Mr.Dressup where he would use cups or something and they would have drawings on them that would do.. stuff and live and such.


the other day i was at an arts and crafts store and i picked up these 2 wooden puzzles. one pops out the pieces and then follows the "directions" and then you end up with 3d wooden puzzle things. i bought two so i could share with my brothers (aww). this is the one i ended up doing... after what felt like many many hours i finished with this. which is more or less what its supposed to look like... only i have a few left over pieces... and not everything actually stays where its supposed to. all in all it was fun but no i probably won't be buying any more. these puzzles are for ages 6+, which i found amazing. not because i don't think kids are capable, but because i don't personally know any kids with the patience to follow it through to the end. *shrug*

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

artificial growth

sleighs and slays!

thanks to the insane determination of my father i was able to make the space for the beloved plastic Christmas tree! after a few ticks i managed to lug out the tree bits, attach them and "fluff" the branches to the desired fullness. no decorations just yet but the damn tree is up! haha at this rate the lights will go up on the 20th, the decorations on the 23rd and the whole shabang will probably come down sometime in February.

putting the tree up one can't help but be drawn back into days of yesteryear. i remember being about 10 years old or younger, making a trip downstairs where my younger cousins lived, paper and pencil crayons in hand, brother right behind me. i remember how excited and grown-up i was in instructing and assisting the slightly younger ones in making their Christmas wish lists. shuffling through the pages of the Sears WishBook that had arrived at our doorsteps earlier that week, scribbling down the names of the PowerRangers and Barbies of the year on sheets of paper embellished with prismacoloured trees and hollys. haha oh man its nuts how much fun we would have and how much i enjoyed playing the Teacher or whatever....

sadly this tradition, much like all traditions eventually do, came to an end. not really due to not having enough time etc etc but because i became more materialistic. my "wish lists" began to include prices and store locations, eventually including images and specific instructions/details. the innocence of those days lost in holiday greedyness and ugly consumerism.

hey remember the Dragonzord?! so cool. though i was always more of a RedRanger kinda guy.

anyways... that was then and this is now. currently i am sitting at my desks watching season1 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer! oh man was she hot. what is she doing nowadays? last movie i saw with her also featured Brendan Fraser... called Breathe i think... not overly exciting.
i am also drinking from my massice Mug of Coffee and enjoying some toast with Nutella while working on a watercolour piece for a gift exchange of sorts, i will post it when i'm done.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

you got squared!

bonjour!

it has been an eventful month and a bit. seriously. oh man where to start? i will do a montage o sorts. here we go!
turns out the wicked headaches i've been getting were not due to my sudden infatuation with the magical world of McDonalds but was in fact the result of all the CO i had in my system.


turns out the boiler was broken, and needed to be replaced. KA-CHING!$$$%^%$


the house had old water radiators so the decision was made to upgrade to a furnace/forced air system... which meant lovely invasive renovating! goodbye basement ceiling! KA-CHING!$$$%^%$ KA-CHING!$$$%^%$


while renos at the house were still going on BAM! there goes the car! not a huge deal but its out of commission for a few days which is a horrible inconvenience. (note: this isn't my car, kinda looks like it tho so.. yea.) anyways... KA-CHING!$$$%^%$KA-CHING!$$$%^%$KA-CHING!$$$%^%$


i got these LIMITED EDITION prints made. edition of 7. they will be available at SLEEPINGGIANTGALLERY!! check them out! i doubt they will last too long.


my friend Elia's Mom hosted a squaredance/social event! it was very awesome. the girlfriend and i had mucho fun and wine and goodies. i highly recommend this fantastical dance to anyone and everyone! there should be a movie about squaredancing crews that battle each other! i would definitely see that. apparently squaredancing isn't a competetive sport though. and yes it is a sport!... least in my eyes.


i made a zine! entitled "after the sky fell". sound familiar? its the same name of my blog which you are currently carressing with your beady little eyes! i had a table at a music/art/crafts night hosted by BROKEN ARTS at Isabella's Cafe in Oshawa. i was very pleased with the experience and will definitely be pursuing this zine business further. i still have some of the original few i made! email me if you'd like one. only 500 Canadian pennies!

hmmm so... yea. that and the usual holiday fun adventures, art making, eating, sleeping... that basically sums up my month so far. not all good things but hey i can't complain too much. we're still here and have plenty to be grateful for. something one often forgets in times of crisis. like the saying goes; "everything will work out in the end, if everything is not okay, its not the end."... or something like that.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

el seis de diciembre

today is the 6th of december. today is the day my 8x8 piece goes up in the window of fine & dandy gallery. it is part of their advent show wherein every day of december a new piece goes up much like those advent calendars with the chocolates. equally as delicious! just... in a different way.
you should check it out.

here is a picture of my piece in case the gallery has yet to update their site.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

time machine-o

greetings!

soon to be seasons greetings i suppose, though really i do not know what that means. but anyways... the other day i was at SLEEPINGGIANTGALLERY at the reception for Different Strokes for Different Folks, i was talking with fellow artists Jacob Hughes and Mark Burnham. for obvious reasons the conversation turned to age, to the fact that Jacob was 17, Mark 32 and myself 24. three different generations in the same place at the same time. which got me thinking about what i was up to at 17, because sometimes to get a better idea of what the future holds one has to look into the past.
after taking a trip back in time in my amazing time machine i came to realize that although much has changed much has remained the same. many themes and subjects have stayed with me through the years. the more evident ones are as follow; figures, teeth, angel wings, outlines, white figures, superheroes, muscles, distortion of said figures, and darkness. haha looking at this short list i can't help but feel like i should have many more issues than i do (i got none baby!).

at the moment i don't care enough to dig up pre-highschool images so we wil make do with these:


these two images here are from gr.11. it was the first time having to create a "series" of work. for whatever reason my series was on phobias. above we have fear of public speaking and below we have fear of being alone. its pretty crazy looking back into old sketchbooks. i had "meanings" and "reasons" for every element in the paintings. haha and as much as they suggested i avoid outlining things.... i clearly couldn't help myself.



these two here are from a much longer series that came up from a strange dream and metaphors class i had in... first year at OCAD i believe. so i was... 19? i really liked these and stuck with them for a bit. the first one came before OCAD i think, while i was messing with some paint in trying to be a "rougher" painting... i think thats where the buildings came about. the one above here is actually the first piece i ever had in a showed outside of a classroom. it was for a square foot show. which was really open to anyone but it still made me feel very special. especially when i saw that little red dot on the wall beside it haha. good times.



ok so now we come to the present. which all began with much smaller ink on paper drawings in a 4th year class with Ed Pien. the idea was to challenge ourselves by working like one of the artists he showed us slideshows of. i think i actually went with Ed's approach to some of his works which was to begin with a random stroke of ink on the empty paper and draw from it and with it. my first reactions was to draw from inkblots but to draw superheroes. so i had a batman here, a superman there. Ed saw potential in it and told me to keep trying but to not use copyrighted images that the world recognize as such. which led to small random images which ithen decided would be fractions of stories, as they were based on random titles i pulled from books. eventually i tried out mylar as it would allow me to use layers much like i do in Photoshop. time passed... and here we are. the image above is actually one of the first mylar pieces that i regarded as a success. it remains one of my favorites and is the image on my business cards! the image below is much more recent and is currently in a juried show at StationGallery in Whitby.
the current series is doing pretty awesome for me. people seem to like it. which of course is all i can ask for haha. but as any good artist knows, i can keep doing the same thing for only so long. already its begun to evolve in leaps and bounds, at this point i can only guess where i will go. as much as i hate it... i think the plan is to go BIGGER!

Monday, November 30, 2009

mid-yawn

hi.

i have nothing to say today either. i want to start posting random photos of things like most "bloggers" seem to do. unfortunately i simply hate lugging my camera around. so... who knows.
here are some random drawings of the week. the last 2 images here are kinda meant to be side by side... the words on the banner things... random nonsense... i have to get working on a small zine as well as an 8x8... but... but i don't wanna... haha not just yet at least.

man... i draw a lot of skulls. when did that happen??


Sunday, November 29, 2009

between today and then some...

hellos.

i keep running hundreds of different relatively relevant conversations and thoughts that i think would make for relatively interesting blog entries... but right now none of them seem at all relevant. also i am sleepy. but for whatever reason i have this terrible desire to put SOMETHING up today. and so here are 4 little drawings i did. amazing.






oh and then theres this thing. the image is of one of four drawings i did for a $20/piece gallery thing at a gallery which i believe is currently just called 52. anyways.... i made this little logo kinda thing to use as an avatar for this site i was invited to some months ago: http://www.moodberry.com/en_US
you should check it out.


its amazing how many coffees i can drink and still fall asleep no problem. delicious coffee...
expect relevant and exciting posts sometime this week... or something.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

aftrermaths +

afternoon all,

today i woke up later than usual, which is nice as i feel like i have been tired everyday for the past week. not an unhealthy tired, just an "i really need some coffee" tired. yes there is a difference. the Villain show reception came and went, it was a full house of happy smiling faces and that is always awesome. sadly i left early... what with being tired and all.

the Whodunit gala, and the public sale day came and went, also good times. you can always trust that if i get tickets to any kind of fancy swanky event i will eat and drink as much as i can... isn't that what being an artist is really all about?... the answer is yes.

much thanks and appreciation to all who came out to either event. as much as i hate to say it... christmas is coming up... time to start that shopping!! psst art is makes excellent gifts. books on proper grammar is also very good and more better haha.

here are 2 images summing up my contribution to both shows i have just mentioned. i believe all my whodunit pieces are gone, the villain ones may still remain if anyone is interested ;)



i saw that Inglorious Basterds movie last night. i enjoyed it. thats really all i have for today. peace out!

... man i love how my work looks so... bipolar!

Monday, November 16, 2009

quick and clean

hey folks,

it has been much too long. i am back online and have been terribly busy... which means, or at least suggests that i will be updating the site and blogging this blog much more frequently.

its too early for me right now, also its very cold and i have no heat. long story short; old boiler=carbon monoxide=bad headaches=no heat for a bit. fun times i know. there is much to show and much to tell but for now i will stick to business. here it is. upcoming shows!!

WHODUNIT
online: nov18-21
onsite: nov18 &19 noon-8
public sale: nov21 10am-4pm
gala preview: nov18 6:30. tickets:150

this annual event features around 1400 5 1/2X7 1/2 pieces by emerging and established artists alike! all work sells for $75 and its all very amazing. this year all my good karma paid off and i was selected to take part in the silent auction. which is very fantastic. check it out: silent auction preview. i submitted a total of 4 pieces, meaning there are 3 pieces floating around, hidden among many others for a mere $75! get up early though, the line ups are insane!



THE VILLAIN SHOW
nov20-nov27
sleepinggiantgallery

amazing show paying homage and tribute to vile evil-doers of todays and yesterdays. featuring works by: Laura Harte. Hugo Arias. Andrew McNeil. Abraham Nelson. Gillian Blekkenhorst. Simen Leung. Mikellis .Trevor Henderson. Jeremy Kai. Jennifer Ilett. Vivian Rosas. Jamie Johnson. Micheal Fan. And possibly ... Afo G.

this will be a very solid show of amazing illustrative powers!
check out the facebook event page.



DIFFERENT STROKES FOR DIFFERENT FOLKS
nov27-not sure...

sleepinggiantgallery

a mixed media show featuring some of SG's sweet artists and a few other delicious minds!

---

that is it for shows this month.... i think i am taking part in 2 more events in december.. i will get back to you on that haha.. also i have some images to post (not many as i am keeping mucho secret).
i have been busy working on this and that and work for the upcoming solo show, i am working on a zine of sorts because zines simply rock and even roll... aaaaaaannnddd yea. more soon. hope everyone is doing good.

peace out.

Monday, September 14, 2009

black and white and hurting wrists.

i have been drawing. which in my case is another way of saying that i have been thinking.

and oh how the wheels in my head have been turning! ( a dangerous pastime) i know! now i have gone and derailed my train of thoughts... so i will grow a new one.... i have been sleeping on the floor lately as i have turned my bed into another table to allow for producing more and larger work in regards and preparation for the upcoming (eventual) solo show. the solo show which initially was to showcase my series of ink/mylar pieces may become something else now... i have been thinking much about it and about my work in general and have decided that it would be wrong for me to have my other "side" sitting on the bench while the inks score amazing slam dunks for the team. as such the idea of having a..... dual show of sorts springs to mind. a show featuring me and myself. larger inks exploding with colour and abstract elements alongside smaller, tighter pen drawings of skulls with birds and madnesses.... know what i mean guvernah?

solo show aside... i have been reading more, which is another way of saying that i have been absorbing more. which has led to the reigniting of my desire to be publish in every way possible. i have been writing stories... well... novels... well... really they are chapters.. single chapters from books that i will never write. just a random chunk of something more. no ending or end. just a part of a story arch that will never see the light of day. i wish to publish a book of these. but then... why not add art to this book? poetry too! oh man!!!

i have begun a comic... again. the difference is that this one isn't being overthought. it doesn't have to be because it will be including much of other comic ideas that never left the foodcourt. it will be funny, random, superhero action, ironic, silly, amazing... really everything i want to do just mushed into one long story that currently has no real ending. it should be good. really.

i am losing focus as i type as i am unravelling everything i am mentioning in my thin-skulled head. i will leave you with some drawings. such are the drawings i wish to include in solo show. such is the style of art the amazing fantastic mystical comic will be in... because this is how i draw now. and it makes me happy.




on another note... my lil brother's birthday is coming up. no clue what to get him! what do you get someone that has money you dont... who is terribly impulsive and unpredictable at times... what do you get someone who in your mind deserves the best of everything this world has to offer?.... stupid kid.... i'll just get him a gift certificate haha... or something.