One Self Portrait A Month: Feeling Silly

August 4, 2014

As usual, I left my monthly self portrait to the last few days of the month, because I kept procrastinating even though it was on my mind. I came close to giving up on this series completely because I wasn’t in the mood. But I pushed through this feeling because I hate giving up on projects with such a clear deadline.

I feel silly shooting self portraits these days, so I decided to do something ridiculous. At least I am wearing a nice dress in the photo (a new birthday dress in fact). This is not at all what I had in mind when I started, though I did intend this paper cut piece as the background. I wanted to make myself small because it seemed to suit my mood.

Opus Presents, By All Means Create

August 1, 2014

Opus Art Supplies just released a beautiful new video campaign this morning, to inspire people to put aside the negative voices and create in every way possible. I make an appearance in the video along with 17 other artists. You’ll probably recognize the paper cut word Create from last year.

Check out this blog post mentioning the full list of artists. The video was shot and edited by the talented, Ryan Mund. (He doesn’t have a website but you can contact him at: me(at)rymu(dot)ca ).

C Is For Cookie: Paper Cut Typography

July 30, 2014

A client contacted me through my Etsy shop last week to enquire about having a custom letter paper cut. We discussed a few different coloured papers, and she went with white. I drew the outline of the letter “C” and freehand cut the design.

The finished piece looks dramatic and striking backed with black paper. I cannot wait to see this framed once this makes its way into the client’s hands.

View more paper cut typography on Flickr.

Hot Talks @ Hot Art Wet City: Miranda Lievers

July 28, 2014

It’s always a thrill for me to introduce another talented, well-spoken, and knowledgeable friend to the audience of the Hot Talks speaker series. This month features a talk by Miranda Lievers, a photographer, entrepreneur, crafter, mom, and a zillion other things.

The Art of Pinterest-Perfect:
A talk on learning by doing, and never assuming that you can’t

In a world where we’re inundated with Pinterest-perfect snapshots of seemingly impeccably executed culinary adventures, craft projects, and even home renovations, it’s enough to assume that everyone else has got this already and that you should probably just stay in bed. Not often perfect (but usually close enough), the “sure why not?” approach can lead to a funny story, a new skill, and the courage to say yes again.

Read the full description here.

The latest Hot Talk happens on August 21st at 7pm. Tickets are by donation and are available for purchase through Eventbrite.

Hot Talks: Miranda Lievers
Hot Art Wet City
Date: August 21st, 2014
Time: Doors 6:30, talk 7pm
Address: 2206 Main Street (at 6th Ave), Vancouver

Work in Progress: Triple the Double Triangles

July 24, 2014

This is the last of the reworked paper cut designs from recent weeks. Now I can finally move on to create new work. Pictured here is how this one looked before I decided it needed a little more something. When I finished this initially it looked boring and incomplete, so I decided to add more triangles.

I added two small triangles offset from one another along each side, cut in the same elaborate style. When I was finished this time it felt complete.

The finished size is 14″ x 17″, and is hand cut from Strathmore drawing paper. The coloured papers underneath really make it pop.

Work in Progress: Concentric Triangles Redo

July 17, 2014

This week I’ve been revisiting some of the recent paper cut work because a few of these have felt unfinished. Yesterday I reworked the concentric triangles paper cut I shared about a month ago, and added one more layer to its design.

The original version is pictured above. I’ve had it hanging in the studio for weeks and I started to feel it was a pretty dull piece despite the elaborate cutting. What it needed was another concentric triangle to complete the composition.

I worked from the top down, and this outer layer is thinner than the others because I didn’t have enough room for a thicker line. The bottom corners of the triangles are angled rather than straight for this reason, but I think it works.

The finished piece is 14″ x 17″, hand cut from a piece of archival Strathmore drawing paper. I can wait to get it framed and let it really shine.

Summer and an Art Roadtrip to Seattle

July 15, 2014

My friend Christina and I decided to go on a day trip to Seattle last Thursday, using the Sketchbook Project Tour as our excuse. It turned out to be a day filled with art and inspiration, and the Sketchbook Project was the least exciting thing we experienced.

There were three shows I really wanted to see while we were in town, all at the usual galleries I like to visit in Seattle. Our first stop was to see the latest work by Morgan Brig at Patricia Rovzar Gallery. I really admire her new figurative pieces, but there was a series of her ships there as well.

Visit the Patricia Rovzar Gallery website to view more work in the show.

We visited Greg Kucera Gallery on 2nd Avenue and saw mind blowing kinetic sculpture by John Buck, and textile work by Marie Watt.

Watch this video of John Buck’s kinetic sculpture, Cat’s Cradle, in motion.

A beautiful textile piece by Marie Watt made from old blankets.

Our last gallery stop for the day was Roq la Rue to see more amazing kinetic sculpture, this time by Casey Curran. Visit his website to see these pieces in motion. Each has a crank for the viewer to gently move the handmade mechanics of the sculpture, and make wings flap and flowers bloom. They are difficult to photograph and way more compelling in person.

It was a terrific crazy-busy day of art, and I’m so glad we decided to do this. I love road trips, but there’s something pretty special about going on a trip to see art with a fellow artist. The best part is that we both came back inspired to get back into our own studios.

Work in Progress: Cut Paper Double Triangles

July 10, 2014

Progress on my upcoming show this fall has been going extremely well. Yesterday I lay out all of the pieces I’ve created so far to take a look at how they will hang together, and I was surprised to realized I’ve completed so many.

I finished this double triangle piece late last week. Looking at it yesterday I decided it needs a little more “something” to the overall composition because it feels unfinished to me and a bit boring. I played around with different papers behind the design as I was working on this.

The finished piece is made with Strathmore Drawing paper, and is 14″ x 17″ in size.

Language As Sculpture

July 8, 2014

On Saturday I popped by Equinox Gallery on a whim to see their latest shows. At the time I didn’t realize it was the last day of shows by Marie Khouri and Dempsey Bob, so I’m very glad I managed such terrific timing because the work was too good to miss.

I didn’t take photos of the work by Dempsey Bob, but it was stunning hand carved work. Each piece was highly detailed and glowed with the life of the wood it was carved from.

Marie Khouri’s work was an interactive installation of flowing white forms for the viewer to touch and sit upon. The work is based on the Farsi language and spells out words in large scale. I walked around the room to study the arrangement from every angle because it felt like a piece of work that should be seen while moving around rather than standing still.

I feel this has been a good year for strong art shows in Vancouver so far. It makes me happy to see arts and culture do a bit of thriving.

Cleverness in Colour

July 4, 2014

I dropped into Back Gallery Project last week to check out Ben Skinner‘s show, Colouring Outside And Reading Between. It is art that is both playful, and very clever. The artist plays with words used within the work, and does interesting things with very simple materials.

These are a series of sculptures using words repeated twice in the English language. It’s pretty funny to realize how many there are. My favourite is Beep Beep.