In Canadian Art magazine (winter 2006) there is an article on Evan Lee and his scanner pictures. He sets up still-lifes and uses his scanner as a means to photograph his still-lifes. The effects are somewhat reminiscent of 17th Century Dutch still-life paintings, with beautiful shadows. He uses dollar store trickets, like tacky silk flowers and plastic bugs. And since I happen to have a scanner, tacky dollar store flowers and bugs, I decided to give this technique a whirl and this is the picture I ended up with.

I just returned home from an impromptu visit to Vancouver, and here are my two days in snapshots...





Below are some pictures I took at the Vancouver Aquarium...

I bought a couple magazines for the plane ride home, and when I was looking through Metropolitan Home magazine, I came across some pictures of Todd Oldham's weekend home. The home is amazing! Two artists whose works grace his walls are Charley Harper and Megan Whitmarsh. Harper's prints are mostly of wildlife and I really love his bird prints. Whitmarsh's small drawings are so unusual and playful!

We took a weekend trip to Vancouver! Here are some shots I took at the aquarium ...

Lennie is watching the storm outside...

It is so cold outside today, we are having a blizzard, so I am staying inside and making art. Here is a little illustration I did this afternoon, it is winter inspired!

Happy New Year!

So here are a few things that I fell in love with over the last year...

I found a bunch of old postcards in an antique store, and this one is my favorite, it's a promotional postcard for the 'House of the Future' and shows an interior shot of the futuristic home. This demo-house was constructed by M.I.T.in the 50's and was meant to simulate life in 1987!
Plastics were used wherever possible, because it was to be the material of the future.



"Alan Hess describes his visit in the Aug/Sept 1986 issue of Fine Homebuilding, noting that the refrigerator created three types of cold for frozen, normal, and irradiated food storage. The ultrasonic dishwasher served as a desk when its lid was down flat. Highlights of the children's room included their own TV and portable record player. Throughout the house, walls curved smoothly from ceiling to floor, and all fabrics and drapes were easy-to-clean synthetic materials. Continuing the theme, the actors who demonstrated family life in the house wore only synthetic clothes in the latest fashions.

Built-in furniture and bathroom appliances hugged the walls or curled amoeba-like around edges. Leapfrogging the avocado and harvest gold color scheme popular in the 1970s, the preferred colors for laminates and plastic finishes were turquoise, salmon, and ivory."

I also fell in love with art on anything and everything, like art tees and these Poketo artist wallets.



I bought this wallet made by artist Keri Smith and then went to the Poketo website to discover an artist collective behind the making of these art wallets. Their aim is to make 'art for everyday', and their products are fun and worth taking a look at! I like the idea of artists working together as a collective...it kind of reminds me of the Bauhaus, which aimed to teach the arts and crafts together and to shrink the gap between art and industry.

Speaking of collectives, another one of my favorites of this last year are music collectives, like Stars and Broken Social Scene.

I was flipping through a magazine two months ago and found a charm bracelet I loved! Jodi Bloom the designer of the bracelet makes fantastic jewelry and her company so charmed was enough inspiration for me to make my own bracelets. I have been trying to mix a lot of new and old materials in making my bracelets to give them a bit of an eclectic look. I haven't made too many bracelets, but this one is my favorite so far...



Finally, my last favorites of the year are crafts and collages.

I love that there is a melding between craft and art by many artists. For instance, there seems to be a lot embroidery in craft and art making, like in the art of Andrea Vander Kooij.

My favorite place to look at pretty and nostalgic crafts is posie. Alicia Paulson makes amazing crafts using paper, fabric and ribbons. I swear everything she touches instantly turns sweet and pretty, like a cupcake!



I have been using a lot of collage techniques in my own art, but I like that artists are using it in so many ways with their art and design, including one of my favorite artists Dawbis who uses collage in her tiny illustrations, tags and cards. Here is her artwork...