I am trying to illustrate all of the 'The Gladys Elegies' by Barbara Nickel. Shown below is what I have finished so far for the first letter. I am going to start on the other seven letters and continue to re-work all of them as I go. I will have more work in progress posted in the next few weeks.



Here is another of my illustrations that I was working on last week.

I found yet another artist that I admire... Emily Ryan. Her website is so funny! Shown below is one of her works .

Emily Ryan's Gold Flake Girl

And here are yet more little illustrations I have finished, these are all inspired by Valentine's and Spring... I think I may take a break and actually do some painting...

As promised, here are the latest little illustrations I have been working on. I finished these today, and I am still working on more, so check back soon.

This is one of my favourite drawings I have done in the last year. It is based on The Gladys Elegies by Barbara Nickel. The book opens with a sequence of letters back and forth between two twin sisters. These letters are sonnets based on the fictionalized lives of twins Gladys Muriel and Marion Carol Rungee. I liked how the author wrote about the relationship between twins, as it is an unknown relationship for most people. Nickel uses very feminine and pretty words, but the entire story is quite violent and dark. It is beautiful!

Here is the original sketch of the twins, as I see them from Nickel's work.

Then I added the girls into the forest... The first letter Marion, 1935: To My Twin Sister reads, "The Hudson River, where we used to fish in freckled rushes damp against our skirts; its water like a silk scarf wound a hush around our guarded chatter, laced with hurt. I fashioned our escapes. We slid from naps unnoticed to the woods and narrow path; the junipers whose crusty tears of sap seemed like our own. . . We clasped our hands and cast for rainbow trout. You hauled one in-I raised the stick and hit its judging eye, like Father's, shot with soot. We battered it a hundred times in mud; out petticoats emblazoned with its blood."

I want to illustrate all the letters, I think there are about eight in total. The letters are written back and forth between the twins throughout their lives; from the first one as young girls and eventually into old age.

Here is the latest 'fashionista' painting I am working on. I have nearly completed it, but I thought I would post what I have finished so far. Below there is detail of the background as well. For the background, I used an old sewing pattern and layered paint over top of it.



Here is an old painting I dug up from storage, I painted this about three years ago. It's kind of hard to believe that I have been working on raw wood backgrounds for this long! I thought I'd post it because I used to dislike it, but now this painting is starting to grow on me...


I will be posting some new illustrations I have been meaning to finish for quite some time, so please check back soon, as I will have them posted in the next week or so.

Tonight I picked up the March 2007 issue of Romantic Homes magazine and there were a few things I absolutely loved in it...

There was an article on England-based artist Kate Sutton. She describes herself as an illustrator/maker and finds inspiration in knitting, children's books, vintage fabric, nature, the sea and goats, among other things. She also donates part of the proceeds from several of her projects to breast cancer research. I like her simple line-drawing style and her playful childhood designs.

Pictured below are some examples of her work.


Kate Sutton's "a beautiful scrap paper project"


Kate Sutton design on a product for nookart

The magazine also featured designer/crafter Alicia Paulson's Home in the article "a colourful outlook". She is one of my favorite crafters, and the photographs of her home are eye-candy; everything is sweet and pretty and showcases her nostalgic style. Her home is absolutely colour-saturated, and also reflects the style and creativity found in her crafts. Her home is like a museum for nostalgic, pretty and feminine things, as they are craftily composed into vignettes throughout every available space.

Pictured below are some photographs of her home from the Romantic Homes magazine.



I am constantly working on new bracelets and here is one of my newest creations. It is named 'hearts and saints'. I made this bracelet with springtime in mind. The soon-to-be season has also inspired my most recent painting. It is watercolour inspired and is pictured below, showing the first touches of branches and blossoms that I have painted.

This entry is dedicated to Scandinavian designers I admire...

Finnish designer Akira Minagawa designs fabrics and clothing among other projects under the brand name minä perhonen. "Minä" means "I" and "perhonen" means "butterfly" in Finnish. In her profile she says she choose this name "with a hope of creating many beautiful designs as butterfly wings fluttering lightly in the sky". Her designs are reminiscent of fashion from the thirties with added femininity, and I especially love the hair pieces she designs.

Pictured below is a sample from her 2007 spring/summer collection.



Designers Mari Relander and Anna Katriina have a design company called Perhonen . They have collaborated on a wide variety of projects and competitions. They have exhibited abroad both with Imu design and on their own. Their designs were selected for the annual Sotheby´s contemporary art and design exhibition held in London in 2003. Recently their work was exhibited in Tokyo in an exhibition of new Scandinavian design. The exhibition was curated by designer Harri Koskinen and held at the Issey Miyake Design Studio Gallery (MDSG).

Their Anemone lamp is pictured below.




Designer Tord Boontje was born in the Netherlands, but currently resides in France. He designs for many different projects, but maintains a very unique and distinct style. His philosophy is the marriage between emotion and design. His textile work reminds me of Chinese papercutting.

I especially love his installations, and particularly his Winter Wonderland installation at the Swarvoski Crystal Gallery in Innsbruck.

Boontje says this of his Winter Wonderland installation, "In a demonstration of the emotional quality of crystal, we created a landscape in which the visitors are taken on a fantasy journey. References to fairytales, storytelling, history and adventures invite personal interpretation and dreams."

Shown below is a fraction of the work from Boontje's Winter Wonderland Installation.

I always thought I disliked 'nature' paintings, but now I am finding that this subject is really my most favourite! I am a sucker for any works with birds, branches, and really any reference to nature in it. And this is why Jen Garrido is one of my favourite painters at the moment. I love her use of colour and her process of building layers with paint and then blocking in the shapes using large white negative space. Here are a couple of her paintings.


Jen Garrido's can't see you


Jen Garrido's candy color cradle

Another artist I really admire is Saskatoon-based artist Matthew Feyld. He is so creative and so dedicated to his work. I love seeing his work pop up here and there around Saskatoon, he leaves his mark everywhere it seems! He has amazing style!


Matthew Feyld's bird returning bird

I also have to mention the cutest little shop ever! It is Red Shoes Home Goods. I saw these candles on the website, and they look good enough to eat! I like how the store-owner is so creative herself, she is one crafty lady!

Winter not only restricts fashion, to wearing thick sweaters for months on end, it also inspires it! Like Canada, fashion in Helsinki, Finland is full of boots, coats, and warm hats! I found this crazy website HEL LOOKS, which features tons of photographs of street fashion in Helsinki. It was started as a hobby project, but progressed, and now they have been taking pictures in clubs and on the streets of Helsinki for the past two years. Here is a sample of some of the great wears on HEL LOOKS...



They also feature a little blurb about each person they photograph, usually telling what inspires them in their fashion, so this is a great site for any fashion-enthusiast.

Also visit Jacqui Oakley's website. I absolutely love her illustrations! Her portraits are amazing, and I also love her one illustration of bugs. Her work is so grainy, and colourful, and nice!

Now you can buy art not only because you love it, but for a good cause as well. At pretty:darn:swell, they have a gallery full of artists' prints for sale. When viewing each artwork, you can see which selected charity the proceeds will be going to from that sale. Their mission is to raise money for charitable organizations and to promote emerging artists. Sounds good to me! Here is one print from their gallery. It is laura e. horning's 'the blackbird's migration'.