House in the Koots

Going through some of my sketches from last summer, I found this sketch I did while I was on a trip to Fruitvale, BC. Fruitvale is small town in interior British Columbia, the general area is called the "Kootenay's" area and it is beautiful out there, lovely mountains, clear blue lakes. Kootenay Lake is definitely on my bucket list of places to visit, and hopefully I'll be able to cross that off my list in a couple of years. For now, I'll be doing a Koots series with background designs and painting, which will be posted up in the near future. Here's the start of that collection.

House in the Koots

Progress

Western California Background Design

Since I'm in this waiting period before I head off to Manchester, UK; I've been taking this time to work on my portfolio. This week I've been focusing on background painting, in hopes of becoming a colour artist in the near future.

Western California Background Design

Day Version 

Night Version 

Progress

Sketchbook Sketch

Transferring it to Vectors 

I find it that when you have a fill on as your creating your lines with the pen tool and opacity on 50%, it helps when it comes to figuring out the layer order.

 

Painting Stage

Here are some progress photos of this background design. 

(Next time I'll document the whole progress and not just a corner of the piece) 

Some Sketches for Upcoming Paintings!

At first I wanted to paint this for Remembrance Day, and I was going to sell it later, but now I'm planning on making this one into a painting for a Christmas present.

This is also going to be a Christmas present. I really wanted to go to Algonquin Park this fall, since I'm back in Toronto for the next couple of months, but it doesn't look like I'll have time, so I just I'll just paint it. It's going to be very fall inspired.

This is going to be a background painting project for my portfolio, hopefully, I'll get it done in time for Halloween!

New Business Cards!

So since I'll be moving to the UK for the next chapter of my life, I've decided it's time for some new business cards! I feel like this design has more personality than my old ones, plus this ties well with my resume and cover letter designs. I have about 2 months until I get them printed, so I'm wide open to your opinions!

I'll be posting up some digital backgrounds paintings and short animation clips that I've been working on soon! I'll also be starting a thing called "Pin-Up Sundays"... Basically I'll be posting a pin up or life drawing every Sunday starting in November. Hopefully, this is get me in the routine of posting stuff daily on my blog and to get my creative juices flowing!

Thanksgiving Cards

Here are some quick thanksgiving sketches I did on Thanksgiving for some relatives.

I think this one really captures the relationship I have with my family!

The Painting that Broke the Dry Spell

For those of you who don't know me, I love to paint traditionally on canvas. And I'll be posting more of my paintings on here. I'm actually considering opening a Esty store to sell some of them some time in the near future.

I feel like this painting was start of my creativity coming back to me, as I had a major artist block for a long while there, also it didn't help that I was working 50+ hours a week at Gener8 at the time. The amount of love I had put into the painting was unlike anything I've done in the past 3 years, and it really helped me open my eyes to a place I can call my home. However, a series of unfortunate events occurred shortly after my contract was over at Gener8. This experience has really been an eye opener for me, it showed me the true meaning of friendship, and for that I am truly happy to be going through this transitional stage in my life.

Here's a few progress photos of the painting I was making for my apartment at the time before the series of unfortunate events occurred.

14 X 16 Canvas with acrylic

I absolutely loved this painting, but I ended up throwing it in the trash. I had painted it for my apartment in Vancouver, BC., but due to the series of events I ended up moving back home to Toronto so it was a hassle to move with it. Plus, I felt like the painting held too many memories within every brush stroke I had made that I just didn't want to remind myself of this time in my life. My life is now once again, a blank canvas and I'm really looking forward for my new beginning.

I'll be painting a lot more now, that I've gotten myself out of the dry spell. I really feel like this change in my life is going to shape me into a better person and artist. On the plus note, I'll be moving to Manchester, UK for about 2 years or so within the next couple of months; and I have no doubt that I'll be bursting with creativity! 

Thanks for all of the support! :) XOXO

Craft Day!

I love doing little craft projects on the weekend in my spare time! 

Here are some progress photos of making a cute vodo doll!

A majority of the supplies were from Michaels and a local dollar store.

First I decided on the shape of my doll. 

Then I sewed it up from the inside 

(in the future I think I'll just sew it up from the outside, so I can save some time)

This is what I ended up with!
(Ended up giving it to someone else to finish the eyes and such)

This is going to be my next doll project in the future!