February 8 - Danforth project

Here's a quick sketch of one of the pieces I'm working on for the Danforth Art Walk in April in Toronto. I'm basing my watercolours on archival photos of the area of the Danforth between Greenwood and Woodbine. This was Danforth Radio. Of course most, if not all, of the photos that I'm digging up are black and white so I'm having to use artistic license with the colours. I also have to work bigger than I normally do to do a better job of the text (so you can identify the place). I'm going to the actual archives tomorrow to get more images.

Wish me luck.

Valentine's

Not exactly feeling in the romantic mood for Valentine's exactly (don't get me wrong, still feel romantic but that's supposed to be all year and not one day). Instead I'm thinking commercially as all businesses do around this time (or actually right after Christmas when the Valentine's stuff goes out onto shelves). Still thinking, and hoping, for some stock material.

I may do some baking because I have some nice cookie cutters and some heart sprinkles, though. But that's next week.

Food (again)

So the food theme continues. I keep thinking that maybe such images would be good for stock sites so we'll see. I have to look into that more this week. I have a whole to-do list in my head for getting back on track and trying to achieve my goals. Another is to set up a website for consultancy or at least work out the details and get some photographs taken and some text developed. Lots to do this week.

January 29-30th - More food

The food theme continues. We have a sliced lemon, a spring onion, a brussel sprout, ginger, a sweet potato, some green beans, some cloves of garlic and a sliced tomato (roma variety). Good enough to eat? Don't know but I feel like my dinner now.

More time for painting tomorrow and another cold day so the perfect excuse. I got all of my weekend chores done on Friday so no excuses or interruptions. Yay!

Food!

Thought I should be doing more practical images in case I might get some freelance work. Ideally I would love to get some magazine work. I actually do have images published but they're of the academic variety. It would be nice to have something more fun. So food could be a start. We got a fabulous subscription for Fine Cooking for Christmas 2008. Due to a slight hiccup, we're just getting them now. Great recipes and they inspired these images.

New York in the pink

Today's effort. Very sketchy, maybe shouldn't have been. Saw this pink shop along either Prince or Spring St. (I've changed the name of the store). And I always forget to erase pencils marks. Sometimes I like the addition of the pencil drawing below but other times I wish I had erased before I scanned the picture. I'm just in too much of a hurry to get scanning and blogging.

Paris - end of the row

Just a quick sketch last night. I had tidied my desk and put my regular paints in their fab new wooden case so I just used my watercolour pencils. I also added some black ink for a change. And voila, as they say. Not entirely happy with it (bit wonky, don't look too closely).

Experimenting with the 30s

Cheering myself up with some painting tonight. But isn't that what I'm supposed to be doing every night?

Anyway, I was thinking about 1920s and 30s poster art and the blocks of shades beside each other. Two of these images are based on stills from the movie Atonement. I loved the costume in that movie especially the green dress. It was more of an emerald green than I've portrayed, though.

July 19th - stuff

I wasn't really in the mood to paint but maybe that's when you should. And it looks like I'll still have time to do just that since I didn't get the job that I was up for. Looking for a plan B. Until then...

Spain!

For a change of country, here's Spain. Barcelona to be exact. I went to Madrid, Bilbao and Barcelona with a friend in 2003. I loved it, especially the architecture in Barcelona, like this window.

January 15th - Verona (again)

Another Italian inspired painting (there may be more). No painting yesterday because we were out roaming around our old neighbourhood with my new lens. After putting it through its paces I was tuckered out and didn't even upload them yet from the camera. I'm going to go out again tomorrow (avoiding a certain phone call) so I'll probably wait until after that. I'm sure I'll be able to fit in a painting or two today. We'll see. Chores and visiting to do first.

London rooftops

Well I did Parisian rooftops so I had to do London, right? This is based on a photo taken from our swanky hotel room (one night only and a fabulous deal). The name of the hotel escapes me but it was the best place I've ever stayed. That was is 2005 and the same trip that I bought my wedding dress. Great trip.