Not for eating

CRV_4029

Squid and Octopus are two of the only beings I still don’t eat after I gave up being completely vegan six years ago. I feel like their intelligence is way too high for me to insult by chowing down on their remains. I know, I know who decides what counts as intelligence and what doesn’t. Well, I’m not here to open a debate on the eating of any beings, it’s just a personal preference.

I’ve been slowly getting sick over the course of the week and trying not to let it get in the way of anything I have to do. But, today I very nearly gave up on my (almost daily) afternoon sketching when none of my ideas were coming together. After a tea break and remembering the phrase “draw from the heart” I sat down and just went with the first thing that popped into my head. Now, normally the first things to pop into my head are either sex (harr harr), birds, robots, naked females, bones, spacey things or yes, tentacles. My mind can be fairly predictable, you see, and I’m sure I’m not alone in that. Of course, I’m not quite as simple as I make myself out to be, but when our body is busy doing other things (like fighting dreaded ‘germs’) our brain can only do so much in the creative thinking department. Still, I try to bring a new character to every repetitive thought that claws its way from the depths of my mind…

And here’s the little character dragged from the abyss of this afternoon. Next of course I have to ink him and I’m always terrified when it comes to that stage that I’ll royally screw it up. You might see a few things I need to fix, and you’d be right… such as the tentacle on the left comes too close to his head and the one on the right comes out from his underneath at an odd angle. I’ll get to it right now…

PS Feel free to critique away in the comments if you ever have anything!

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News for Friday 13th

Induced Epidemics is the show that I’ll be a part of in December at the Museum of Death in Hollywood, CA. I’m very honoured to be in the show with what looks to be an incredible line up of 13 artists. If you’re in or around LA come down to the opening night on December 5th at 8pm. I’m doing my utmost to be there too!

Some more news from this incredibly blustery (in Vancouver at least) Friday 13th: there are new prints available in the shop. This time around I bring you two from my Windup Bird series and as requested by many the beloved depressed robot. Both Windup Bird prints are numbered Limited Editions of 50. Pre-order pricing is available until the end of November. As before the prints available for Pre-Order are on their way from the printers. Due to the high demand of the season they’re going to take a wee bit longer. I should have them in my hands to send your way the second week of December at the latest.

Ready to Go

Here are just a few from the Blue is What I do run all bagged up and ready to be sent to their new homes. Take a look through some of the details for the new prints, I really wish I could capture the amazing texture of the paper!

Windup Bird 01Windup Bird 01Windup Bird 01Windup Bird 02Windup Bird 02It was a Coffee MachineIt was a Coffee Machine

Don’t worry I haven’t forgotten that I promised you news of the greetings cards that will be available. I’ll have them this weekend and they’ll be available right away so you’ll have them in time for all the winter festivities you might have planned!

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Absence makes the heart grow fonder?

I’m not sure that applies to blog updates, but lets pretend shall we? Haha.

Those of you who follow my Twitter updates will probably know some of the reasons I’ve been so busy in the past month, but if not here’s a quick run down of goings on:

- First were the health problems that continue, but I’ve done my best not let those get in my way of productivity.

- Then we have what I refer to as my “day job” which is actually freelance retouching and the past month saw a wee uptake in that area which was nice. It’s died down a bit now, which left room for me to finish other important projects.

- Namely a painting that I’ll talk about in just a moment and a holiday design.

Phew! Now, if you want to find out more about the art that has been keeping me incredibly occupied (and with a sore back) read on! Also, to entice you further I have some pretty little wallpapers for you to download…

Almost Midnight

When Samantha over at Haute Macabre asked me to be a part of their art show at the Museum of Death (LA) I was excited to have a reason to embark on something big. A good 120+ hours of work later and here we have Almost Midnight; a combination of my love of the ornate, the creepy, birds and a little twist of tentacles rendered as cables. There were a lot of details to go into this piece and sometimes it was a challenge but I’m so happy to be exploring this part of my world again after so long. I drew everything freehand, right from the raven skeleton down to the damask pattern you see in the background. I enjoyed so much of this project it’s really difficult to just talk about one section, but I will say that I’ll be designing all of my own damask backgrounds from now on.

I think I may have a few details left to add before I’m completely done probably because I’m never completely happy and find it so difficult to just be “done” with a piece. That and I’m clearly a glutton for punishment. The final piece to be hung in the show will be 24×24″ with unique hand embellishments. I believe the opening night will be the first weekend of December although exact details are yet to be announced and it’ll run for the whole of the month. My piece will be available for sale along with countless other artists that are far more impressive than me!

For those of you unable to attend the show I will of course bring you a photo of the final framed piece and I’ll be doing a numbered limited edition run of prints that’ll be available here as soon as they get back from my printers. Here are some juicy details for you to ogle, before we get onto the next little bit of news:

Yesterday I created Eira who is a little bit future-elfish. She often finds herself with her little friends finding inappropriate places to spend their time.

Eira Winter

I’m excited to tell you that I’ll have a limited run of 20 sets of 4 greetings cards available this week! Just in time to help you celebrate whichever is your favourite winter holiday! I’ll bring you ordering details in the next couple of days. If greetings cards aren’t your thing but you would prefer an archival quality print for your wall/collection I will have a limited edition of just 20 8×8″ prints too. Here’s the holiday card design in case you were already curious:

Eira holiday card

To get you into a festive mood I have some wallpapers for you to download for the first time ever!

- 1680×1050 (Also good for 1920×1200, 1440×900, 1280×800)
- 1280×1024
- 1024×768
- iphone/ipod touch

Hopefully I’ve made up for my prolonged absence just a wee bit ^.^

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At many requests…

… I bring you the SHOP. To celebrate the launch, the first print is available as pre-order for just $10. It’ll be ready to ship at the start of November and it’s a lovely Giclée on 100% cotton rag. If these things don’t get you drooling, maybe this photo will entice you:

Blue is What I do 8x10 Giclée

I’ll even bring this friendly looking button to you, so you won’t have to leave the page!


$10 + $5 Shipping Ready to ship after Halloween

Soon I’ll have news on new prints for November, and there’ll be both prints of photos and illustrations.

So, if you have any requests, now is the time to leave them below:

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