April 24, 2012

Productive Beginnings



This week has started our very productive. On Monday I managed to finish two compositions of Rome, I was only planning on doing one piece of Rome but while I was working on it I had so many great images that didn’t fit in my first composition that I started a second one on the side. So now I’m working on the prep for two pieces at the same time. 


Having had such a productive Monday really gave me a boost, I can’t wait to get this prep work finished so I can get started on painting ‘Sin City’! I’m, already half way there, I’ve finished cutting out al the pieces for the large Rome piece, now I just have to wait until my drip layer is dry so I can assemble the piece on my 24x48 panel. 


I’m actually typing this blog entry in my new studio. We’ve set up my old iMac here so I don’t have to drag my panels up 2 flights of stairs to assemble them. I can now check my digital compositions for the placements of all the elements right here in my studio, it’s truly awesome! I still create them in the office upstairs but all the messy stuff, including the cutting, now happens here. 


On Thursday evening we will start a new series of Acrylic Transfer classes at Viva Vida Art Gallery. This will be a series of six 2 ½ hour classes in which we will go from properly prepping a wood panel all the way to a finished acrylic photo collage, it’s going to be loads of fun! You can still join us by signing up at Viva Vida Art Gallery: (514) 694-1110


If you’re curious about my techniques and work process you can check out this video. It’s the artist talk a gave for the Art & Architecture show at Fleurbain on April 14th. You should also check out the talks of the other artists in the show, it was truly an amazing group and I’m very honoured to have been a part of this wonderful show. 

April 17, 2012

Street lights and trash cans

I just came back from my first Borough photography session of the year, I had forgotten how much fun it is to go out and discover a whole new part of the city this way. Cote-St-Luc was on the agenda for today, a borough that I hadn’t really been to before. The weather was beautiful, if a bit windy, which made it a perfect day for photographing. I did most of it by car although I did walk around a bit as well. Cote-St-Luc is mostly a residential area with a lot of high rises at it’s centre. I keep being amazed by the distinctly different atmospheres that each borough has to offer. 


The distinct street lights and trash cans were something that really jumped out to me for this borough. The boroughs in this part of the city are fairly small and close together so while driving around Cote-St-Luc I ventured into a different borough a couple of times and it would immediately be obvious that I had left Cote-St-luc just by looking at the street lights. The street signs is another very distinctive thing for each borough, they all have different shapes, sizes and colours.


When I was finished with my photo session I drove through Montreal Ouest, one of the boroughs that I haven’t visited yet and I immediately got excited for my next photography trip! This is probably one of the smallest boroughs on the island of Montreal bit it has big character. I can’t wait to go out there and explore! 





April 10, 2012

Let's talk Art at Fleurbain

Although I’m not yet back at the productivity level I was at before the move, I’ve at least managed to finish the composition for the next piece in the ‘Journey’ series and I’ve been able to do some more direct transfer stuff. I’ll need some more practice but I do like the technique. On the side I’m working on two private pieces to put up in our new house. 


I’ve got a whole bunch of pieces from the ‘Boroughs Project’ in several stages but since I want to use them as examples in the first class of the next image transfer course I’m teaching at Viva Vida Art Gallery later this month, I’ll have to wait a bit before I can finish them. Instead I think I’ll start my piece on Rome as an in between project, it will be a large piece but I can at least start the composition. 


Next week I want to start going out to photograph again, I still have about half of the boroughs on the island to go so that should keep me busy right into the summer. It also means I’ll have some new borough adventures to blog about :)


On Saturday there’s another round of artist talks at Fleurbain as part of the Art & Architecture show. The talks start at 3pm and I’ll be one of the three artists talking, each artist will talk for about 15 minutes, questions and discussions are encouraged after each talk. It’s open to the public so if you feel like talking art this Saturday please come and join us! Fleurbain is located at 460 St Catherine Street West, Unit 917, Montreal, QC.

April 04, 2012

Price increase

Because of the amount of sales in 2011 there will be a 10% price increase on all artworks up to 7676 square cm (=1190 square inch) in size. Prices for artworks larger then 7676 square cm (=1190 square inch) will stay the same. To ensure equal gallery and online prices some prices have been adjusted to include framing. 


We would have wanted to do this at the start of 2012, which would have made more sense, but with the move, the presentations and group shows we didn’t have time to fully implement the price change until now.