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.

Kayak Art Director

I have recently taken on the responsibility of being the Art Director for Kayak: Canada's History Magazine for Kids. While completing our awards season campaign my boss came into my office and explained to me that Kayaks Art Director had resigned. Before I could think about it, I confessed to wanting to take over the role. I believe that as an artist and a designer the nature of the work I do outside of my professional position works very well with Kayak which is a fabulous magazine. It was a great experience. I had to work throughout the holidays to get it completed but as I gaze at the latest issue, with that fresh off the press smell, I can't help but think it was worth it.

I got to work with some great illustrators on this issue. Namely Scott Chantler who you have heard me gush about on more than one occasion, I had the chance to interview Scott some months back about some of his other projects you can listen to those here Interview 1, Interview2.

Some of the other illustrators were Thadeus Maximus, Anthony Brennan and Kendyl Lauzon. These illustrators were incredible professional and fast, making working on tight deadline much easier.

Finally I got to hire some local talent a, Mr. Justin Currie, who is an up and coming illustrator from Winnipeg. He did a great job working on the pirate spread in this issue.

If you are interested in engaging your youngsters on canadian history please feel free to get a subscription, you can click here.

This latest issue is full of games and interesting articles concerning Canadian Treasure Hunters, Dinosaur Discoveries, Pirates, Gold Rush Fever and so much more.

Sketchbook Project Complete

I have not finished posting all my sketches here but I feel that I need to post this video of the completed Sketchbook Project 2011. What a great experience It took some time between work and life to draw this stuff mostly on lunches and on the bus ride to and from work. Many happy thoughts have been contained in this book and I hope the people who get to view the original enjoy it very much. This book will not be returned to me, it will go on permanent display with thousands of others at the Brooklyn Art Library, as well as going on tour around the United States. For those of you who can not make the trip please enjoy this video which gives you a glimpse of the entire sketchbook.

I have scanned every page and have the intention of working some of these up into finished artwork, so keep yer eyes peeled.

I also noticed that I have acquired 19 followers. Yes! Thanks for taking the time to do this as it makes my Ego swell with joy. Ego is a 3'5" Belgian man who lives in my basement, though he get's as tall as 3'7" when he swells.

Bunny Painting

Here is the Bunny I was telling you all about. It is based on a series of sketches and I pieced together the bits I liked most from them and sketched this image onto a small piece of hotpress watercolour paper. I then painted it using oils and that is that. I had a lot of fun and intend to do a monkey for my daughter who is in her own right, a monkey. Beth suggested I get going on that since two of our friends now have these kind of paintings and we have none of our own in the house. More stuff coming, the final pages of the sketchbook project which I am proud to say, both my father and myself have completed. We will be mailing them this week. I'm glad I did it, but I am also glad that it is over and I can return to my painting and other art projects. I will be in touch with you all very soon.

Respect.

Sketchbook Project Page36

This picture is based on a guy I saw on the bus the other day. Only the facial Structure mind you, the prospector gear look was based on a gentleman my father and I ran into while skiing on the Assiniboine golf course. Just to clarify we saw the man we did not physically run into him. I mixed the two together and voila, I'm quite happy with how it turned out especially his eyes they have that tired, grizzled look to them. This guy has seen things man...

Sketchbook Project Page35

I did a small oil painting of a rabbit for a friend. I will post it shortly. You all saw my original unsuccessful attempt at a rabbit so I started doing multiple sketches to develop a level of comfort drawing rabbits. I have about 42 sketchbook project pages to post so expect a shift in a couple of weeks to more colourful work I can't claim the work will be less happy as that is just part of my personality.