A Much Needed Update!

I know I have apologized for this in the past, so I’ll skip the “I’m sorry for neglecting my blog and my website and my Facebook” rant… however, I hope that this massive update post will show why I’ve been so busy that my online presence has taken the back burner lately! This post is quite lengthy (sorry!) but for anyone interested it will catch you up on all the news on my art and my business.

The biggest news to most of my readers and followers will be that I have moved…again. My 2009 move to Calgary, AB only lasted a year, and I ended up back in Regina, SK briefly. As much as I have said that Saskatchewan isn’t home to me, it seems to keep pulling me back. And so, rather than fighting it, I’m finally relaxing and going with it, and even learning to like it! I’ve always loved Saskatoon; it’s a great location for the art community, and so I made the move from Regina to Saskatoon. It has been the best decision I’ve made in a long time. I found an absolutely perfect rental property, which has been a huge validation of the benefits of posting a want-ad on Kijiji. (Anyone curious about that story can message me…) My new house is in a great neighborhood close to all amenities, has ample parking, a fenced and landscaped yard with huge garden and separate fenced dog run for Duke, hardwood floors, new appliances, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and quite possibly the best landlord in the entire city. I feel like I am “home” and it has been a very long time since I have truly felt that way about anywhere I’ve lived.

One of the greatest things about my new home is the space I have for a home studio. I have converted one of the extra bedrooms into my studio space, which consists of office, workspace, and storage for all of my work-related supplies. Having a proper work-space is crucial for making a successful go of a home-based business.

With the new studio comes space to expand my business, and having moved away from Regina and hence away from my local source for quality prints, I have made the decision to begin printing for myself. This means the investment in a top-of-the-line professional printer, and taking the time to learn the process behind making quality prints, which I am thoroughly enjoying. In the very near future, I will be offering a variety of graphic services to fellow artists – and so, if you are interested in this opportunity, I encourage you to get in touch. I will also be offering incentives and referral programs for new clients. My website will soon advertise this aspect of my business, and I will post a link as soon as it’s completed.

Another addition to my home studio is a “framing station”, where I am now framing my own work. Rather than investing in a mat-cutter, and then needing the obvious space and training (not to mention time) to do that, I have found a fantastic website - the MatShop.ca - that offers quality mats cut-to-spec, as well as all the framing supplies I need to frame my own work at home. The mats, backing materials, and frame pieces arrive custom-cut, complete with hardware, I buy the glass locally, and I then assemble everything in my studio. It has led to a great savings compared to retail framing, and means that I can keep and provide stock of framed prints for sale, which is fantastic. I now offer every one of my prints either framed or un-framed, and all options will soon be available on my website.

A new commissioned colored pencil artwork will be starting soon! This piece, working title “Intensity”, has been commissioned by a long-time collector of my limited edition prints. This will be his first original artwork of mine, and it’s a project we are both very excited about. Although I call myself a “wildlife artist” who specializes in “big cats”, I may have to start saying I specialize in “cougars on rocks with snow” as this will be the third piece featuring the cougar from both ”Focus” and ”Regard”. This is another Grambo reference photo, and will be created the same size (15” x 21”) as the previous two pieces. It will be the first piece started in my new home studio.

I have always been a little different than most artists… I have never pursued a gallery showing, nor have I ever sought out retail space for my work. It may seem counterproductive to becoming a successful artist, but I have my reasons. The main one being that I’ve never felt that a gallery is worth the staggering commission that most charge, along with the fact that my slight tendency to be a control freak would mean giving up control over my work. Additionally, most galleries and retail spaces only hang original art, which is a problem for an artist like me who only produces a few per year, most of which are commissioned, and therefore not available for sale. I have instead settled for marketing my own work through my website and occasional trade shows, and previously have participated in local art guilds. Recently, however, I was offered an absolutely amazing opportunity...

While purchasing my new car at Subaru of Saskatoon, they asked what I did for work, leading to my blatantly obvious and somewhat shameless showing off of my artwork on my website. When the owner of the dealership walked into the office and saw my website, he immediately and without hesitation asked if I’d like to display and sell my work in his dealership. “Fill the walls with your work!” Mac said. His offer shocked me to say the least, but I told him I would definitely take him up on it. It took me a couple months to get everything arranged (throughout the move and setting up in a new location of course), including the framing of limited edition prints for the walls, and the creation of a contract for our arrangement. After hanging everything in the showroom, during which I was very warmly received by the entire staff, I offered to set-up in an unused cubicle to do a public demo of my work, and the owner of the dealership loved the idea. So, next weekend, (Friday, March 18th and Saturday, March 19th, 2011) I will be set up in the Subaru of Saskatoon showroom to work on some art and enjoy talking to the public about my work (and subsequently about how much I absolutely love my Subaru WRX!) This is an exciting new direction for my work, and I am so very grateful to Mac at Subaru for the wonderful opportunity. If you’re in or around Saskatoon, I encourage you to stop by and check it out. I hope to be there more often in the future as well. And if you’re looking to buy a car – well I can’t rave enough about how much I love my Subaru. I truly believe that I will never drive anything but a Subaru ever again.

On top of the showing of my work at Subaru, I have agreed (somewhat last minute) to participate in the Collector’s Show here in Saskatoon. Their show consists of guns, antiques, and wildlife art – quite the combination of attractions, and the largest show of its kind in the Prairie Provinces! I will have my booth set up at this well-attended show from Friday March 11th to Sunday March 13th, 2011. For hours and information, visit the Collector’s Show website. This show will be the first time I will be transporting my trade show booth with my new car, which will be an experiment for sure, as my car is small and my display is quite large! At least for a local show, if I have to make multiple trips to set up, it won’t be a problem. I will be doing my best to fit everything in one trip though, as I also intend to do this same thing when I travel to Onoway, Alberta in April!

Speaking of which – the third annual Night of Artists Onoway is just around the corner! The show will be held on April 9th, 2011, and more information can be found at the Night of Artists website (click on the Onoway Show). I’m excited to see everyone again, and visit family, all while participating in a fun day (and night) of art and entertainment.

And so, that’s what I’ve been up to and what I will be up to for the foreseeable future! For those of you who read this far, I appreciate your patience and thanks for bearing with me. I hope to be more diligent with my blog and website from now on, and I look forward to keeping in better touch with my fans and collectors.

"Regard" - WIP 2

I know it has been a LONG time since I have posted, but I am going to try to make a better effort to keep in touch with my few blog-readers and fans. And so, here are a couple WIP shots of "Regard". Although it's taking much longer than originally planned, it is still going really well, and it is coming together nicely. I'm excited to have it finished, and see it framed next to "Focus". They will make quite the pair.

"Regard" - WIP 1

Tonight was my first night working on "Regard", and I am starting with the background. Surprisingly, I am finding that settling into the motions of the blurry-tree-background is quite natural, even though it's been months and months (maybe a year even...) since I last worked on this part of the background on "Focus". I'm using the same colors as I did in "Focus" as well, hoping to have the pieces turn out as a nice matching pair. I can already tell that it won't be a problem at all. There are quite a few differences between this picture and "Focus", but I am looking forward to the new challenges. I know it's not much to look at right now, but here are the initial stages:

This image shows... well... nothing really! You can see the frisket which I've applied to the section of the picture that has the snow, rocks, and cougar. This is due to the error of NOT doing this for "Focus" - resulting in the area being smudged quite excessively, which made it next to impossible to create white snow. This time I'm prepared, and using my air-brushing frisket I think I managed to cover everything important. When I'm done the background this plastic will peel off and let me work on nice clean paper.

I've zoomed in for the in-progress photos, as I figured it was pointless to view it as a tiny little inch on your screen. This is the top left corner of the image, above the ridge of snow and rocks. This stage is first layers of color, pre-burnishing.

This is one tiny section completed! Burnished and detailed, although the detail part of it is somewhat lacking, seeing as it's a blurry background. I'll post more soon, I assure you. I'd like to work on this piece almost exclusively for as long as I can.

"Regard" - The Beginning

Well, it's officially the start of the next "big" project. I realize I haven't finished the zebra muzzle yet, but my goal is to work on each piece alternating - so as to not get burnt out working too hard on either of them. It would be nice if I could continue producing miniatures while I work on "Regard" as well. This, for those of you who didn't already know, is the companion piece to "Focus", commissioned by the same owners who already have "Focus" hanging in their home. The overall size will be 15" x 21", the same size as "Focus". Ideally, they will be the same tones as well, permitting them to be framed identically and displayed as a pair. Here is the reference photo I will be working from, courtesy of Grambo Photography. Their photography is amazing, and without them I would certainly not be at the same point in my career.


This photo is incredibly inspiring, and I'm excited to be finished. Yup - you heard it correctly, I'm excited to be FINISHED. But that's months away... I officially started, tonight, by prepping the hot-press paper I use, getting the poster frame ready to protect it during the progress, taping off edges, and all of that. It's tedious, but the anticipation is like adrenaline. So here I sit, across the room from a giant sheet of blank, white paper... just staring back at me. It's daunting. Almost crippling, really, and I know those first pencil strokes are going to feel like minor heart palpitations. Yet at the same time, it will feel great to "get the show on the road" so-to-speak. It's been a long time in the making, and will likely be a long journey to the finish line, but I'm glad to have you few dedicated readers along for the ride!

Focus - FINISHED!

Focus is finished! The last touch of the picture was to add the snowflakes, both in the air (in focus and out of focus) and resting on the cat. I had a lot of fun with the snowflakes, and managed to quickly perfect the technique, even though this is my first time trying it out! The snowflakes that are out of focus give the picture a very photographic quality, as it's not something you would often see in a painting. I love how this picture turned out.
Below is a close-up of the finished cougar's face:

Focus WIP - Part 8

This picture shows the completed cougar. Below is a close-up of the whiskers, which were particularly challenging, as it was tough to keep them thin enough to look real. Of course, cougars do have large white whiskers, and this cat in particular had quite the impressive set of whiskers on him!

Focus WIP - Part 7

This image shows more progress on the fur of the cougar, including the intermediate stage of layering some base colors prior to burnishing. I enjoyed working on the muscle definition, as it really gave life to the cat. Less and less paper showing now!

Focus WIP - Part 6

I know it has been months since I have posted regarding Focus, but the picture is now finished! What follows is the next step from the last post, and the next posts will be done in the same fashion.

This image shows the progress as I started working on the body of the cat. I found the hair details on a cat this small (in relation to the overall picture I mean, not small in real life) was a challenge. I am used to working on a larger scale with my pencils. The challenge was to make the cat detailed, yet still looking like real hair that was soft and touchable. It required a lot of frequent sharpening of the pencils, to keep a tiny point to do little hairs with!

Focus WIP - Part 5

This is the latest work on "Focus" the colored pencil cougar scene. I'm going with close-crops to show these updates, as the past pictures were really to small to see much of anything. This one shows the face, which I am currently working on:The one thing I have to say about this piece - I rarely work on an animal that is so small in a scene (the eyes are maybe 5-6mm across, whereas I am used to working with eyes almost life-sized) and so this is a whole new challenge. I have to make it look crisp and detailed, yet each pencil stroke is way wider than the width of a hair in the photo... it is really making me work to achieve the level of realism I expect in my work. However, I'm always up for a challenge, and as I progress, I'm sure it will get easier for me. I am having fun with it though - this is not one of those challenges that I grudgingly accept, it's the kind that I leap into whole-heartedly!

Focus WIP - Part 4

The foreground is complete! The picture shows the piece with all of the background and foreground finished, and all that is left is the cougar itself (and the multitude of snowflakes falling in the sky). The varying degrees of camera focus in the foreground was a bit of a challenge - it is supposed to look like some of the grass and rocks are out of focus, and some are crisp and clear. I think it will look a little better (it will all come together) once the in-focus cougar is added... it will add some much needed reference points for all of the depth in this picture. I'm excited to get started on the cougar, and should be able to finish the picture in the month of May!

Focus WIP - Part 3

This is the latest step in "Focus", the colored pencil cougar that I am currently working on. Dimensions are 15" x 21.5". This photo shows the piece with the entire background done, leaving the foreground and the cougar left to finish. I find it much easier to do a background first, as the cougar will have hairs that extend over top of the background, which can easily be done by layering with the pencils. The struggle with this piece is maintaining the varying levels of camera focus in the piece, from distantly blurred (in the sky/trees) to close, but still fuzzy (the rocks/snow just behind the cougar), and next will be the foreground (more snow and rocks), which is mostly in great focus, but also blurs as it approaches the bottom of the image (closest to the photographer). I also find that the blurred backgrounds tend to look disjointed or off somehow when not put into context by a focussed foreground - meaning that I usually am unhappy with how my background looks until I finally put a foreground in. It makes it all come together and it is then easier for our eyes to place the blurred background where it is supposed to be - in the background! I must admit that I am excited to be able to work on the cougar soon - the animal of the scene is always the most enjoyable part to work on, which is part of why I leave it for last. I will post again soon with a look at the foreground in progress.

The cougar has a name! "FOCUS"

After much thought and consideration, and a lot of head-scratching, the owners of the Cougar WIP (see previous posts) have thought up the perfect title! This piece will now be referred to as "Focus". When looking at the work-in-progress today, it simply "came out"... and it seemed to fit perfectly. The cat has a very focussed look in his eye, and the picture itself is a study in differing depths of field. I won't be renaming the previous "Cougar WIP" posts, but in the future, look for "Focus WIP" for the remainder of the work.

Cougar WIP - Part 2

The background is now complete! Today the owners of this commission piece get to see the progress on the piece for the first time. I hope they are happy with it! I am glad to be done the blurred background - this is definitely one of the most difficult effects to achieve with colored pencils. I am looking forward to getting to work on the foreground and the cougar, although I'm not sure which I'll do next... I tend to rush into finishing the animals in the scene, then get easily bored with doing backgrounds/foregrounds. I'm trying to make a habit of completing as much of the scene as possible before I work on the subject. So, I will likely move on to the snowbanks in behind the cougar next. This point in the picture shows approximately 60 hours of work.

Cougar WIP - Part 1

This is the first real entry to my blog. To start things off, I am posting the current status of a colored pencil work-in-progress (WIP). This piece is a commissioned work, 15" x 21.5" in size. The overall scene is a cougar cresting a snowy trail, with some trees out of focus behind him, and some rocks and snow in the foreground. He is intensely staring off into the distance.

This image shows the different stages for creating the "blurred photo" effect in colored pencils with a burnishing technique. The branch beside the cougars face shows both intermediate steps. For starters, multiple colors are laid down in layers of light shading/scribbling, including dark navy, peacock green, cool grey 90%, black, sepia etc. (basically any color visible at the pixel depth of the image when viewed on a computer screen - this is shown in the part of the branch that looks scratchy - not smooth). Then, using a color from the sky (pale blue, cool grey 10%, 20% or 30%) I press VERY hard in tiny scribbling circles to push the previous layers around until they smudge together (a.k.a. burnishing - which can be seen closest to the cougar's face, or on the separate tree on the left of the image). This can be done over and over in multiple layers, resulting in a very smooth and shiny finish, with NO paper or ghosting showing through at all. The result is almost photographic in it's feel.