Spring Sale and movie watching, works-in-progress photos

Happy Family everyone in Alberta! Spending a relaxing day at home on the computer. :P

Watched a very interesting Japanese movie last night, called "Departures". Its about a man whose dream it was to play in an orchestra finds himself out of work. He returns home to look for a job, to come across an ad for a job as an "encoffiner", which isn't a highly respected job by his fellow citizens, much less wife. Basically he prepares bodies for funerals.

As the movie progresses, he gains an appreciation for assisting people on their departure from life. It was a really lovely movie and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys watching foreign films.

In celebration of spring I decided to have a sale on Etsy. Until March 31 everything will be 15% off, using the coupon code SpringSale.

2021 update: Just added some images. They don't really have anything to do with the above story, but I wanted to share a sketch and some work-in-progress photos I took that I made of a bus stop on an early spring day. The people waiting for the bus were mostly students, but nicely line up. It was raining, and the road was shiny and reflective of the light sources from the street lamps and I could see the reflections of the people on the road.

What really struck me about the image was the pigeons that were perched on the overhead wires. With the people huddling in the cold and wet, it was a eerily beautiful but stark image of city life.

The last image is still a work-in-progress photo. I looked through my archives but couldn't find a photo of the final image with the pigeons added in.
 

Friday afternoon - clumsiness and damaging paintings - how to fix a painting

Spending a quiet day at home. Haven't been up to too much art-wise, but I ended up in a BNR on Etsy today: http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d473a58e1416d91ce37690b/open-open-open-bnr-round-2-no-minimum-1#4d558da368de8eef1dc8a783

Was a little frustrated that I poked a hole in one of my paintings while adding picture wire a couple of days ago. Can't believe I was so clumsy. Hopefully I can either fix it, or use the remaining painting in some sort of collage or something.

Update 2021: I'm not sure what a BNR is anymore so please don't ask. 😅 I think it might have been some sort of promotional group activity where we post items and then check it out. The whole idea was to generate sales.

As for the painting with the damage, I managed to repair it decently, and it's currently hanging in a community centre in northern Edmonton. I'll probably forget it there if we move.

It was another learning experience to fix it. I patched it with a small piece of scrap canvas, glued it in place I think with just white glue, and then matched the paint on the other side to hide the hole and make it look natural.

You can kind of see the little raised area in the wing. I was pleased with the final colour matching.

Been a while... And Cat Art!

Been a while since I've last blogged. What have I been up to? Not much, been working, and enjoying the drive out to Wetaskiwin every day, even in spite of the winter road conditions & loads of snow that seems to fall every week. I am glad to see the sun slowly coming back.

So lately I've been delving into watercolour pencil crayons. After some experiments last summer that didn't really work out, I think I've finally figured out how to use these and get some nice results.

Not really aboriginal artwork, but they're cute. I added two kitties to my Etsy page, the grateful kitty is here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/66345763/grateful-kitty-original

And my pink kitty is here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/67075943/pink-cat-purple-bow-original

I plan to list more, & am thinking of turning them into small cards.

Update 2021: I still have these paintings. If you are interested, they are available. They also led to a few commissions of people's pet cats, so if you'd like to have me create a piece for you, send me a note.

July - branching out - Unicorn Painting

Ah, the rainy skies have cleared for a little while. Went for a refreshing bike ride this morning, and rode around the neighbourhood, particularly the Blackmud Creek & ravine area in Edmonton. The wild roses are still blooming, which was nice to see.

Haven't been doing much painting recently, although I did finish one piece that was inspired by some stained glass, of a palamino coloured unicorn.   http://www.etsy.com/listing/51559981/palamino-unicorn-8x10-inch-acrylic

It's a simple painting, but it was still a fun one to paint. I have an urge to paint more horses, so I may do that tomorrow morning.

Paintings as Magnets

So I recently took a couple of small paintings I had just made and attached magnets on the back. I think they look pretty neat. Both are listed on Etsy.

I wasn't too happy with the photos, as the weather lately hasn't been cooperative for taking good photos using natural light, so I made do with some fluorescent light in the kitchen.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/49707143/sunset-memories-magnet-15x2-inch

http://www.etsy.com/listing/49706268/eagle-magnet-15x3inch-native-canadian

Lately I've been enjoying the roses in the backyard. They're starting to bloom, as are the irises in the front yard. The pea plants are starting to grow well, too.

Update 2021: Both magnets have sold, but I still make small paintings as magnets. You can always send me a note and ask me to paint something for you, or I might have something in my collection.

Grande Prairie

So I have been working for the past few days in Grande Prairie, Alberta.

A couple of evenings ago I was able to check out the Muskoseepi Creek area. The name Muskoseepi translates to "Bear Creek" in Cree. While I didn't see any bears, I saw a good variety of birds, including Mallards, Canada Geese, Red-winged Blackbirds, Herring Gulls, and other species of ducks and gulls. I also watched some people canoeing along the creek.

Yesterday I visited the Grande Prairie museum and Heritage Village, visible on the left. They have a collection of original and reconstructed historical buildings from the past century. I especially enjoyed the Mad Trapper's cabin and the taxi post. A tabby cat named Chester adopted me and served as my guide through the village, walking me from building to building. (I think he was the local tom cat.)

This evening I took a short walk around Crystal Lake, which was full of ducks and geese honking and more blackbirds singing.

I haven't had a chance to do much painting, but last night I painted a samurai kabuki actor using my Chinese ink set. It's based off a historical painting. It was actually a lot of fun to do! I like how the tree turned out in the background, too. I ended up layering the tree leaves somewhat by accident.

Art Cards!

So recently I decided to give making gift cards a try. This is what I produced. I think it looks pretty cool, but the colors look a little washed out compared to the original painting. The real one is available on Etsy at http://www.etsy.com/listing/45903780/thunderbird-eagle-card-5x7-envelope and the card is blank inside and comes with its own envelope.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated!

2021 update: I am still making cards. I have better quality ones now and they sell quite decently at art shows, which I manage to get to art shows.

I don't use Etsy anymore as I end up spending more on just listing my items and don't really make any money. So the cards are available on eBay. You can find them here:

Bears and Eagles Native art blank greeting cards set of 4 w/ envelopes 5"x6.5" | eBay

Sun Native art blank greeting cards set of 4 w/ envelopes 5"x6.5" | eBay

Goose and Raven Native art blank greeting cards set of 2 w/ envelopes 4"x5.5" | eBay

They're available in sets of 4 or 2. If you want to have a different assortment you can always send me a note and ask to have a different arrangement.