Bird House

This is a birdhouse I would like to build, Soon I will have a proper workshop in my basement and I will be able to start smaller projects like this. Hazzaaahhh!

Going on vacation with the family and I am very excited. See you all in a week until then. Internet silence.

The Mad Rabbit

I did this sketch on the ferry from Victoria to Vancouver last year. When I was visiting the University of Victoria there was this infestation of cute bunnies, and man they were everywhere. This is my take on a enraged one "with terrible , sharp, nasty, pointy teeth!"

Gonzo Painting Colour Rough

Here is the colour rough I knocked out for the painting that I did of Gonzo for the Winnipeg Art Club Inspired by Song night. I painted it using a Nintendo DS using a program called Colors. I love doing this because I do not need to cart a paint set and paper when I'm on the bus in the morning and when it is -36 C and it's going to take you an hour to get to work it's nice to have handy. I got the Idea from two artists. Christian Pearce and Greg Broadmore, exceptionally talented artists from New Zealand they did 99 paintings each using the DS and then put on and art show called the 99 DS Challenge. Very sweet, some people may have seen it as a novelty but I see two guys who are obviously video games fans who found something they could turn into a practical artist tool. I use it for colour and quick compositions all the time.

So thanks compadres, keep on keep'n on.

I have a bunch more of these to post, some alright, some good and some not so good. None the less, they shall be posted.

Kayak the 2nd

This is the latest issue of Kayak. It deals with Parks Canada and the various places around Canada you can go to experience History, be it National Historic Sites or National Parks. It was a very heavy deadline with a brand new editor. It was stressful and a lot of hard work but it was also a lot of fun. Nancy Payne the new editor was a pleasure to work with. and the quality of the work from the illustrators is great. I've made the effort in this issue to pump up the colour as I have been criticized for being a bit drab and earth tone based in my work. I will endeavor to be even brighter next issue.

The Cover of this Issue was Done by Mathieu Beaulieu a new comer to Kayak he hails from Quebec and I really like his style. He has very expressive work and fabulous use of colour. He is the first of my attempts to synthesize the cover art with interior art. Previous Kayaks including my first issue have had great covers that do not give any payoff in the interior of the magazine. Meaning if you buy the magazine for the cover image. When you open it up you will not find the story or the characters that were advertised there. I don't know about you but I find that very frustrating as a reader. So we have started implementing that as of this Issue.

Some of the other artists you will find in this issue are: Alex Diochon who is taking over comic book duties from former Gabe and Allie artist David Namisato. Alex's Style lends itself very well to Kayak and I look forward to collaborating with him on future projects. Remie Geoffroi is a Kayak powerhouse who has don many covers and interior Illustrations for Kayak over the years. He has done a great illustrated layout for the Martello Tower article in this issue. Winnipeger Justin Currie is back for our feature story about the Northwest Mounted Police. Dena Seiferling Did the Illustrated map in her beautiful traditional style. I will point out that I forgot to give her credit on the image and I will make sure that this is noted in the following issue sorry Dena. Finally Anthony Brennan does his thing with our History Mystery on the Fur Trade.

This is a super fun issue and I am proud that we turned it around in the time that we did. If you are interested in subscribing to Kayak CLICK HERE. If you are curious please go to McNally Robinson or any magazine vendor it should be on the rack. Also your local library should carry it, if they don't you can ask them to order it. This issue has been mailed to subscribers and will be available on the newsstand in April.

Until next time, keep fit and have fun.

Gonzo the Great

I am participating in an art show on Friday. I have done a painting inspired by a song.

"I'm going to go back there some day" from the Muppet Movie sung by Gonzo.

The sketch turned out nice and I am very happy with the painting. It is drying and I am giving it to the Art Group guys tonight. I had the painting ready to go for months and then I got ill and busy with the latest issue of Kayak. I've had to execute it little faster than I am comfortable with, but it has been a valuable experience none the less.

If you would like to see what the final painting looks like Please stop by the Edge Gallery this Friday at 8:00 pm. You will see many talented winnipeg artists work.

Archery Armguard

I found some old rawhide in my basement on Monday and I decided to make a primitive armguard out of it. I think it is quite a unique design as I had to be creative with the shape and amount of material I had to work with. All the straps and ties are cut strips of spare rawhide and the button is from a old piece of broom handle or some kind of handle. I rubbed olive oil into the leather and that gave it a beautiful brown colour as opposed to the vegetable tan it originally was. It was great fun to make and took no time at all. All I need now is a bow to shoot.

Paintings and drawing to come.

I'm still alive

Well I'd like you all to know that I do still exist.

At work on top of being Kayak editor I also take care of things for the Canada's HIstory website and marketing and ads for Canada's History magazine. We just hired a lovely lady named Nancy Payne as the new Kayak editor on a short deadline for the magazine. Life has been uber nutz and I also started experiencing major back and neck pain, coupled with serious headaches. Due to this my artistic process slowed down to "work only" and even that was impacted. I am better now and getting back into things. I do have some work that I need to post but It will be in a while as I need to get back to producing Kayak, This issue is going to be a good one with many talented artists work for you to see.

On a side note I have developed an obsession with archery and I am going to build my own bow this summer.

Also because I would not shut up about bows and arrows, my wife bought me a plastic bow with suction cup arrows, which I then, within a day of owning it, shot her in the eye with. It's funny now because she still has her eye, but I can not stress enough that you should not shoot suction cup arrows at people, just ones with lots of foam on them.

Thanks for checking up on my people.