I bought these beautiful fabric squares from the workroom on Queen West today. They are patterns by Lotta Jansdotter, an amazing illustrator. I want to try to use them in a painting soon.
I was so inspired by the ways some of the students at the College For Creative Studies in Detroit incorporated fabric into their paintings I really want to try it out!
After my 1st Toronto skyline, I was itching to paint another. This one is on a much smaller scale but I think it worked out ok.
I painted this listening to Tycho. Music definitely makes me work harder and be more creative. Does it do the same for you?
For that same sculpture class, our next project was to fashion a word out of wood. But the catch was, the word had to take the form of its meaning. I chose the word “type” and made keyboard keys and made the p look as if it were being pressed down. I laminated the plywood together and used the orbital sander to make each of the sides smooth, then I used the router to get the rounded edges.
There are a bunch of houses being torn down near the park where I live in order to build a high rise condo. There is something captivating about abandoned houses. I am so fascinated by the decay, to see whether or not there are traces of the previous occupants. I always grieve when old buildings are demolished. Will anyone remember them? Its like they never existed…
I took some pictures below and the paintings shown above are some I did for a close friend of mine who lives in the neighborhood.
In September 2011 I started my first year at OCADU. One of my first classes was Form and Structure – a sculpture class.
One of our projects was to take something small and make a large replica of it using cardboard. I chose my phone, I knew the shape of it so well because I held it so much. I glued layer upon layer of cardboard together and shaped it with exacto and kitchen knives. I used a skin of glue to make the screen shiny, cut out each letter and used foam under the buttons so they would press. Oh and the roller ball worked too. 
Before I went to OCAD for my portfolio interview, I attended a workshop where we got to tour a little of the school, learn some tips about building a great portfolio, and we got to make some art under the direction of an instructor. I tried not to look overly excited as we toured the hallways lined with grisaille portraits and impasto abstracts. All the classroom floors were splattered with colour, remnants from the hundreds of works created on them. Everywhere smelled like earthy oil paint. I was in heaven.
Our instructor’s name was Michele White (little did I know then that she would interview me a few weeks later and be my painting studio instructor in 2nd year). She guided us through the process of making 2 abstract paintings using a technique called optical mixing. We used masking tape and different acrylic mediums along with red, yellow and blue. Layering the colours created a rainbow like-effect. I was hooked
Helloooooo World!
This is my first post from my fancy new blog! (Which my creativity coach sister, Alison generously helped me set up.)
This painting is the first thing I wanted to write about; it was the catalyst for my choice to stop hating that I never had time to paint, and organize my life around my art.
It all started in 2010, when I took my first art class since graduating from high school. I was able to enroll in an acrylic landscape painting class because my late grandfather had so generously left me some money in his will. Taking the class allowed me 3 structured, uninterrupted hours of painting every week; something I never could organize myself to do on my own. I was afraid because I hadn’t painted in over 4 years; my interior design education and subsequent job took over what seemed like every spare minute. But I went out and bought the things on the supply list and carried my 40″x 24″ canvas on the subway to St. Clair and Avenue Road. What I didn’t realize was that this class would take my life in a whole new direction.
The first painting we did together as a class, a landscape of the mountains in Alberta. One of the ladies brought in a photo. It was magical seeing how everyone’s painting looked different even though we were all using the same photo. I was lost in mine for hours, savoring the buttery strokes of the brush on my canvas and feeling the excitement and risk every time I started a different part of the painting. When I looked at my finished sky, I could barely believe I had done it, “That looks damn good,” I thought to myself.
After we finished the first landscape, our teacher wanted us to branch out and try something of our choice. A dear friend of mine from college was pursuing her master’s in Australia at the time and I thought, “What a great opportunity to send her something that reminds her of home.” So in keeping with the theme of the class I lovingly chose a stunning landscape photo of Toronto’s skyline. But I wanted to try something different this time. I didn’t want it to look like the photo, I wanted to be daring, to try something I’d never done before. So I asked my teacher, “How should I start to make it different?” She replied, “Try to get the essence of the image, don’t focus on the details, think about how the image, the city makes you feel.”
So I painted the sky red.
It felt liberating…. exhilarating even! This was not the normal colour for the sky! I kept going trying to remember what I learned about complementary and analogous colours, contrast and mixing. I tried not to worry what I was putting down on the canvas, just smearing paint and scraping and carving with my palette knife. Letting go of everything I thought you were supposed to do.
And this is how it came out.
I knew after I finished this painting something had to change. My life needed to revolve around this.
