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Ford through the Ages

done
I was commissioned by Steele Ford Lincoln to design a mural for their waiting room in their dealership. They had a wide screen t.v. which is nice for people waiting on their vehicles, but it was surrounded by a huge blank white wall.

After several ideas and propositions we went with a “Ford through the ages” concept, choosing vehicles that really incorporated the zeitgeist of their era and positioning them around a speedometer that functioned instead as an odometer for the company, the images working around the television as a compositional anchor.

It involved a lot of research but I got the vehicles and their positions down pat and went to work. I painted in bold line work progressively filled in with washes of colour, touched off with chrome highlights that reveal shiny details in different viewing angles.

I can also now impress my friends with my car recognition abilities. (as long as it’s a Ford)

Atlantic Business Magazine-July

debt railway
These are the illustrations done for articles in the July issue of Atlantic Business Magazine.

Links for the articles to which they refer are provided in the captions.

Atlantic Business Magazine-September

small business
These are the illustrations done for articles in the September issue of Atlantic Business Magazine.

Links for the articles to which they refer are provided in the captions.

Atlantic Business Magazine- November

uncle sam wants change
These are the illustrations done for articles in the November issue of Atlantic Business Magazine.

Links for the articles to which they refer are provided in the captions.

Creative Nova Scotia 2011

inspiried Nathaniel
Once again I was asked to provide live art for the Creative Nova Scotia Gala Awards Ceremony. This year’s theme was the beginning of any work of art, the creative spark, and an emphasis on youth. The decor was coordinated in black & white with blank canvasses throughout.

After bouncing around a lot of great ideas we decided on working with Nathaniel Dooks, a talented young actor. He read specific stories to the guests he had chosen from Canadian authors in a mini performance; Nat would engage the guests with leading questions and regale them with stories according to their responses. Meanwhile I work on a black & white figure drawing from scratch in a variety of media with Nat’s performance as the subject matter.

The piece was a complete success and the Gala was magnificent, with a scrumptious banquet and inspired performances by artists such as Christina Martin and Three Sheet. A couple of my favourite teachers from my school days won awards, and I had a really great night.

Drawing Inspiration

in situ
I was hired by the marketing guys at Hi-tec Canada for their “What Inspires You?” promotion they were running with TAO Adventure Outfitters in Halifax in conjunction with the Halifax 2011 Canada Games.

The deal was that if anyone came in & provided their email info then five dollars was donated to the Legacy Fund for young Canadian athletes and had an artist draw what inspired them on the spot.

We hired another artist, Jono Doiron, and together we had a great day going through the inspirations and coming up with images. Clearly we took some liberties with our interpretations at times.

How I do Malibu

workin' the bottle
Vision Group in Toronto hired me as part of their “Malibu By U” promotion. They had released a limited edition opaque bottle that came with special markers with which to customize it. Artists across Canada were hired to show up at liquor stores and anyone purchasing the new bottle could have it designed by the artist.

I packed up & went off to PEI for a fantastic weekend and had a great time working the bottles. I was a little frustrated at first by their limitations but as they were solvent based I used the hand sanitizer from the tasting part as a medium to work the marker inks to great success. I even got to help make a couple’s anniversary special!

Johnny Cash Tribute Show

blank canvas
I was invited by Broken Chord Productions to do live painting for a tribute show they were organizing at the Paragon.

Being a huge Cash fan I was quick to agree, and I had been looking for an opportunity to do some live art. I figured all the mall portraits & public window paintings were essentially live art anyway so I would be all right.

Better than all right! What a fantastic event. All the performers were amazing, I met a lot of friends and LOVED painting in this environment. I left to the painting to be put up and left for purchase.

Then tragedy occurred, and the painting was stolen (perhaps mistakenly) from the Paragon. It really sucked. Being a personal piece and my first live work, I thought about putting “lost painting” posters up about town and asked the previous owner Victor Syperek, but he hadn’t seen it. In the end I was too busy with my growing business and ultimately thought it was apt that the painting commemorating Johnny’s life and his parting from it would part from me as well.

Of course if you’ve seen it let me know, I’d love to hear about the further travels of the man in black.

Creative Nova Scotia 2010

ready to begin
Zed events was responsible for putting on the Creative Nova Scotia Gala Awards Ceremony, and besides the backdrop I was painting asked what I may be able to do as entertainment at the reception. The theme was “mosaic”. I had to come up with something that would involve all the guests and could be raffled off for charity. I had already chosen a tree for creative growth in the backdrop, so I drew on my stained glass experience and put together a seemingly abstract set of shapes which with a few tone adjustments became a tree. I provided a limited palette in individual cups and invited guests to fill in as much as they wanted however they wanted. My only creative direction was to suggest not putting same colours together.

Everything was going according to plan until my erstwhile drawing instructor arrived on the scene. Loudly proclaiming “This isn’t creative!” she dramatically smeared red all over the piece. This was immediately before the end of the reception and I now had 10 minutes to pull the piece together and change into my suit for the banquet.

In the end I pulled it together in time and ended up up with a truly creative artwork that the raffle winner loved, and had I had benefited once again from the artistic challenges of my teacher. The learning never stops!

Atlantic Business Magazine: January

occupy north pole
I have been fortunate enough to have had Atlantic Business Magazine as one of my clients for some time now, and I have been providing illustrations for their business columns for the past year.

Here are the illustrations for January, links to the articles they reference are provided in the caption.

Homecoming Pumpkins

homecoming
Dalhousie University’s Homecoming event was managed by Zed Events, one of my consistent clients. They had procured synthetic pumpkins and wondered if it were possible for me to somehow carve them.

It just so happened that I have won pumpkin carving competitions in the past and is something I love that my grandfather and I used to do together, so I jumped on it!

Carving synthetic fiberglass type pumpkins is a completely different affair from the real thing, however. After unsuccessfully attempting all traditional techniques I resorted to my Dremel tool and full facemask, et Voila!

Natural Stone Pentacle Pendants

detail
Being neighbors with Little Mysteries is always a great experience, and I’m often thinking of ways to work with my neighbors.

We agreed to a combination of techniques I’ve borrowed from other mediums for this project. First we selected suitable stones from their inventory on which I carved pentacles. Carving geometric shapes into tiny naturally (but rarely smooth) shaped stones that have a similar hardness to diamond is no easy task! I actually used a diamond bit tool in the end to do the job, that was all that would work on some of the harder stones.

I then made copper jump rings from wire and used adhesive copper foil looping through them around the stones for a bezel and soldered the whole thing with a lead-free solder.

For finishing touches I used patinas to colour the metal in different tones, and added acrylic enamel in corresponding colours to highlight the carving.

They are available exclusively at Little Mysteries. http://www.littlemysteries.com/

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