THE ILLUSIONIST....

Hey Guys...
I recently went to see the animated feature "The Illusionist".
Although the story was a bit bleak sad french, it was still really lovely to look at.
I think this movie's colour palette is just super, and I really enjoyed watching it.
I like the layering of visual things in each scene, and I think this could really influence my work.

If you have seen 'The Triplets of Belleville' you MUST see this one too.

You can check out the American website:
http://www.sonyclassics.com/theillusionist/
OR check out the French site (which is more interactive):
http://www.lillusionniste-lefilm.com/#/extraits
Anyways, I like the look, and I am attaching a bunch of stills from the movie, check them out:

It is all about the colours here. I mean, C'MON!!!!!

This was a funny scene - as a muralist, I really enjoyed it!

See...the layering of 'stuff' the boxes, paper notes, pealing walls.....LOVE IT!

FANTASTIQUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This guy was amusing. See the movie and you will see why!

I LOVE THE BUNNY and his cheap magenta suit! (oh and the green colour background is nice too!)

Well?
What do you think? See why it could really influence my artwork?
Have YOU seen the movie?
Go.
Go right now.
And enjoy - but remember it is a bit depressing french! ;-)

NOTHING STARTLING

WHEW.
That's all I can say.
The BAD news: I have spent a record 3 weeks on this painting.
The GOOD news: I LOVE IT!
Again, W-H-E-W!
So, if you are familiar with my work, which I know at least 5 of you guys are........you will know that this painting is a little something different for me.
I started this painting with the idea of layering visual 'things'.......or painted "trompe l'oeil"...
(that's french for look at how smart I am fool the eye)
So, with that as a starting point I started designing this painting.
For the original design check out my blog posting here.
So....without further delay......here is the FINAL painting:

I will debuting it at The Artist Project in March. I hope you come out to see it before it sells!!
What say you?
Love it???
WORTH EVERY HOUR???
Comment - go ahead.....I dare you! ;-)

REPAINT......ACK

Hey all.....
So this painting I have been working on F-O-R-E-V-E-R....
It is very cool, but today I made the decision to repaint....check it out....

As you can see from the white area, there was some graphics here that I did not like.....

I will post the final painting ver very ver soon.........
I PROMISE!
I just need to stop Twttering my day away!!!
Check back!

SHOW ME YOUR TWEETS

Dirty. I know.
Here's the thing y'all....I just joined the Borg   the collective  the cult Twitter.

Why? You ask yourself?
Simply to keep up with the times (or in this case CATCH up with the times)!
But also to help in my quest for total art world domination!!!
So, now for daily and sometimes hourly (lord help me) updates of things that I love and things that I am doing please follow me at The Twitter
(Yes, I now it is just Twitter - but I find putting a little 'the' in front of anything makes it seem more professional!! ;-)

Check out my tweets HERE!!

VALUE VILLAGE FINDS....

Hey-o.....
I wanted to open with something more 'Carson-y' today.
So, yesterday....on the coldest day ever.......EVER........
How cold was it?
It was so cold I chipped a tooth on my pancakes.
(It was -29 with the windchill, which is pretty darned chilly!)
But, I was out having brunch none-the-less at Prohibition........which by the way, was less than stellar, although I did have a very nice mimosa.
Anyways.....afterwards we went to the Value Village at Queen and Logan.
It seemed to be stinky-man-palooza!
Not homeless men....just smelly dudes.
And these gentlemen were busy trying on clothes......it was rather unfortunate.
And it did not help me digest my brunch....there......I said it!
Ok, so even as I dodged the smelly guys, I was still able to find some interesting things.
Here is what I found picture-worthy:

Yes, I bought more blocks. They were $2.99. C'mon.....that is a deal!!

Unfortunate name.

A hat that Christina or Cindy could wear, that would get them invited to brunch.

This was a nice old music book. I didn't buy it, but it was good and discoloured.

I REAAALLLLY like how this paper bled....

And that is it!
Not much of a haul, I realize.
BUT....in the next couple of days I will be posting images of my newest work.....
WHICH IS SUUUUUPER!!
Just you wait for it!
; - )

PAPA CAN YOU HEAR ME?

Hello alleged loyal blog readers.....or no one.....
For the longest time I have been feeling a little "What's the point?" with this blog.
Now, I am not trying to be a Negative Nancy, but this is what my google stat's say:

ok....let me translate this for you.
From Nov 17-Jan 24th (that is two months for those of you who are as terrible at math as I am)
I had 6 visits. That works out to about .75 visits a week.....or 0.09677 visits a day to my blog.
DISCOURAGING? You bet!!!
But here is the thing......I found out this week that allegedly, there are at least 3 people that read and comment weekly! So this would be like......uh........24 visits......or something like that!?
I think?!?
Now, I am not calling anyone a filthy-ten-cent-liar.....but........according to my analytics....
Not so much! (ACK!)
However the information that there is a small but loyal network of alleged readers has given me a glimmer of hope. Perhaps I am not just talking to myself. Maybe there is a chance that there are readers out there??
Are you out there readers?? (Christina? David??)
To quote Yentl (yes - that is perhaps the gayest thing I have ever said on this blog!)
"Papa can you hear me......"
I am holding out hope that there ARE people out there reading.
I was getting to the point that I was gonna star sharing outrageous stories (aka lies) and deeply personal stories about my friends and husband. It was gonna get ugly....
But now that I know that there are a couple of people reading.....I will perhaps reconsider!
I also keep hearing that the commenting is not working......I encourage you to try again.....
In the meantime, I will continue to blog, and hope that this will soon begin to payoff....in legions of loyal readers!!! (Or maybe just 5 loyal readers??? ;-)

TORONTO THE COLD.....

I was out the other day and took a few pictures of my city.
Yes.....MINE........ok, I share it with 2.5 million others, but still.
So as I have mentioned 2.5 MILLION times, I go out once a month or so and take photos around the city.
I use these photos as reference for paintings (mostly for my Urban Series).
As you can tell by the smoke in the air, it is GD freezing here.....
So here are some pics:

Look at that cold sky with the smoke.....

I like the crane in this too!!

Wire-poloosa....

I like the orange smoke on this one.

COLD COLD CITY!!!!!!!!
I think I might stay in until it warms up!
Be sure to look for paintings based on these reference shots soon.......ish...

BARGAIN SHOPPING: PART 2

HELLO!!!!!!
So, every Sunday husband, me, and a friend of ours, have a standing brunch date.
I look forward to it each week!
It is part of my ongoing mission to find the best pancakes in Toronto.
I have found some DELECTABLE treats on the way......
The warm scone platter at The Drake is a brunch necessity....
Oh, and the Oatmeal pancake at Mitzi's Sister....is a revelation!
ANYWAYS, so after weekly brunch we often do a little bargain hunting.
So this week we went to the Value Village at Bloor & Lansdowne.
Anyone who is a frequent Value Villager knows that this location is the primo location.
Here are some of the great finds from yesterday.....it was a windfall of riches!!!!

I know this is showing my age, but remember these filmstrip projectors from school??
Cannibalizing this will be super fun!

Not sure why I needed this........but.....it might be good for something!??

I am hoping this game will be helpful for me in my aspirations for business greatness!!

Barrel of monkeys.....do I need to say anything else??

Poor little Lorissa's childhood was on sale for 99 cents. 

The placard on this said "old best blue bard cock".
A MUST!!

Well?

What do you think?

Did I score soem great stuff for my new works?

I would love your comments........CINDY THAT MEANS YOU TOO.........;-)

TAG.....YOU'RE IT!

Funny how things happen as you are thinking about them!
Call it 'the Secret' or the power of attraction....or whatever, but I had a great example of it today.
No, I did not win the lottery......but still.
I am working up a new piece (see this post) and as part of the background I am layering stuff in....
yesterday I worked up a drawing of an old post card back.....and then last night I started working up a
drawing of travel luggage tag. It was great fun.....here is what inspired me:

And then I came upon this artist who has interesting work:

Day 256: Vintage Airline Tags 
by Lisa Congdon

On January 1, 2010, I began a project that would span exactly one year, until December 31, 2010. For every day, I photographed or drew (and occasionally painted) one collection.

Since I was a young girl, I have been obsessed with collecting and with arranging, organizing and displaying my collections. A Collection A Day is my attempt to document my current collections, both the real and the imagined. The only rule: I must post a photograph or drawing of a whole or part of a collection each day for 365 days.

 Learn more—read Jen's introduction to this edition.

And so the tag I finally designed, that worked with my whole outer space theme looked like this:

F-U-N! Don't you think? The number 134340 is what scientists are referring to as the planet formally known as Pluto. Clever Trevor!

But the point of all this....I braved the nasty canadian winter today and left my studio to do errands and BAM! I stumbled upon an old suitcase in someone's garbage..........on it were some old travel tags!

I KID YOU NOT!

And then came across these new tags in a dollar store:

I LOVE IT when the Universe sends me a sign......

Now to put my energy into winning the lottery.....I will be set for life!!!!

I love it when a plan comes together!

NEW DRAWING AGAIN.....

Well, it has been a painfully slow start to the new year.
I was hoping to have begun painting by now, but I have been busy with Ellen drawing and such.
I don't make it a practice to show y'all my renderings, BUT since I have not painted anything yet, and I need to post SOMETHING, I would give you another snapshot of what I am beginning.
Here is the drawing:

So it has similar elements to my other pin up girl painting.
It is mixed media. The lady will be painted on masonite and applied to the background
The poster of 'startling stories' will be painted right on the background canvas with pained 'Trompe-l'œil'
(aka fool the eye) tape holding it on - it will look all weathered and folded....
I am trying a new font too - to look like old dyno-label maker.....
The computer module that she is sitting on is gonna be 3-d with applied bits and bobs.
I think I will put more flat graphic looking stuff on the background too.
I just had to have a skeleton of a drawing so I could start. It has taken 3 days to draw/computer render this drawing. Each element had to be drawn and then coloured and then imported to photoshop.
Truthfully, I am tired of it. Which means it is time to put paint to canvas.
So it is still a work in progress, and I will post pictures as I go along.
Look back soon for more!!

TOP 10 INFLUENCES/INSPIRATIONS OF 2010

Oh Blogspot.....how you infuriate me sometimes. I got down to #5 and then you &^(*ed up....and I lost all my entry. So, I am restarting this blog entry.....a little irritated! ACK!


ANYWAYS.........so here are some influences and inspirations I found in 2010. Some are people and blogs, others are just assorted found stuff. Enjoy my list!


ONE:  Erik Tan. I cannot say enough about his stuff. LOVE IT. Retro and cool. He has a great eye and 
           good back story...check out his blog. I love this one especially! 

TWO:  The Internet Pinball Database. Super helpful when I was researching for my Arcade Series.

            You can find photos of every pinball machine ever made here! 

            Like this one that is kinda dirty! ;-)

THREE:  Well Medicated. Andrew Lindstrom is a fellow cannuck and a freelance web designer based 

                in Vancouver. He has lots of great retro stuff that is a constant well of inspiration. Like this: 

FOUR:   I am a bit Disney obsessed. Especially vintage Disney design. I love it. These 3 websites are 
               awesome for great pictures and articles. Check them out!
               Designing Disney - all you need to know about the Disney design!
               Imagineering Disney - great vintage pictures and stories.
               Yesterland - The discontinued Disney theme park attractions 
               This is from one of these blogs:

FIVE:   R & R. That's not rough and ready. Nor is it rice and rosemary. GEEZ!  I meant rest and 

             relaxation! I cannot stress enough how great it is to get away! I was fortunately able to take a 

             few little trips last year.....BEAUTIFUL Buffalo, CLASSY Cleveland, MAGNIFICENT 

             Michigan, NICE New Brunswick and WONDERFUL Winnipeg. I took this photo in the 'Peg:

SIX:   Garage Sale-ing (not to be confused with garage sailing) and antiquing. I went to a bunch this 

          year, and there is ALWAYS inspiration to be found. I love old stuff......and more than that, I just 

          love the thrill of the B-A-R-G-A-I-N! 

          

SEVEN:   The Hi-Fructose Blog keeps me up to date on other great artists! It is updated daily with 

                 always new and interesting works. Like (the first one below) by Hilary White (Philidelphia) 

                 and the 2nd one is from Femke Hiemstra:

EIGHT:   Husband. (You're welcome......if you are reading this!!)

NINE: New freebie vintage scans of pin-up girls. These only started to influence my work in the last 

            month of last year, but I think they will shape a lot of work in this upcoming year!

TEN: Vodka. Ok. I am running out of ideas for this blog......but I assure you, my dear old voddy has 

          inspired a lot of my work!And if not, it has lubricated the creative machine! 

Ok......so what did you think about this list? Worthy of a top ten?

I love it when you comment for me!