I may get in trouble for this, but I'm super excited about this project that I'm working on with the very talented Michael J Mitchell.  Hopefully he'll be tickled that I'm excited enough to post a tiny little piece that doesn't give anything away...

This is a piece I did a couple of years ago for a television show called Great Canadian Books. I didn't think to post anything from it until now. Of course all I can see are things I should have done better, but it was a fun project to work on and I was grateful for the experience!  This was done in gouache on watercolour paper.

I realized that if my sister's sending traffic this way, maybe I should post something newer than Christmas cards.  Oops...isn't my face red.

This is a book plate I did for my bestie's birthday last year.  His birthday is coming up again...so I guess I should start figuring out what I'm making him this year!

 New this year I have 3 new designs.  Each of these are sets of 6 cards and are $8 a set, 2 sets for $15, 3 sets for $20 and 4 sets for $24.  You can mix and match.  See the below post for sets from available previous years.


Petit Andrée (A set of 6 cards with one unique design)

Santa and his Reindeer (A set of 6 cards with one unique design)

Hanukkah in the Forest (A set of 6 cards with one unique design)

Email me at samm_001@yahoo.ca if you're interested!

Hey everyone!  I've been asked about Christmas cards this year.  I'll be selling them to friends and family again this year.  I have old sets that I will sell again this year and a few new cards for this year.  I will also have a Hanukkah design available this year.  Here are the old sets available this year (I will create a new post with the new cards shortly).  Each of these are sets of 12 cards and are $15 a set or 2 sets for $24. You can mix and match.


Christmas with Flamingos (A set of 12 cards with 6 unique designs)

The 12 Days of Christmas (A set of 12 cards with 12 unique designs)

Rocco and Mee-you at Christmas (A set of 12 cards with 6 unique designs)

 New cards coming soon!

Harpies

Russian Captain - From a 1970's edition of National Geographic

HRH at The Mousetrap, London, Jan 2011

Daniel Crummey

Carole Custard

Colin Custard

You can check out my long rant below about how these came about and see some of the other pieces that I did this weekend...

First and last date

Peace, love, dope!

A rattle for baby Eli

Who invited the pachyderm?

A missed sighting

Jessica HATES parrots

This is one of my favourite photos from "The McKenzie" box.

The McKenzies

I was given an old box of photos a few years ago.  It's an old slide projector case with a clasp and leather handle.  When you open it the musty smell permeates the room almost to the point of being sickening.  I sat on it (not literally) until yesterday.

It's a treasure chest of inspiration but I was torn because of how it came to me.  It was left discarded along with a whole bunch of junk in a barn on some property that was donated to a national not-for-profit.  I asked if the family was sure they didn't want it and was told that the family wanted nothing that was left on the property and the n-f-p had a big job of getting rid of it all. 

I was still hesitant to do anything with it apart from sift through the photos and wonder about the people.  There's a story in my family about an extended member who sold off his mother's house and everything in it including an entire trunk full of family photos and momentos.  We lost an entire trunk full of family history because of pure carelessness.  What if these people didn't know the case of photos was left behind?  I thought about ways of using the photos without actually using the original but the result was that I didn't do a single thing with them and they stayed dormant in their enclosure for about 5 years.

This week I went down into my storage locker to kill some time by rearranging the space.  As I shuffled things around I came across the black worn case and decided to pull it out and sift through it again while I'm off work.  Yesterday I opened it and started pulling out the photos one by one and I realized that the family wouldn't have left them behind if they wanted them.  There was a barn full of all kinds of things from their past and they wanted nothing that was inside.  Whether or not they went through the barn before donating, they just decided that nothing in there was of value.  So why wouldn't a family want to have this box of photos?

I came up empty handed.  They appear genuinely happy.  The father seems to be a photography buff and worked to create some interesting holiday photo-collages.  There are boxes of slides and envelopes of negatives.  There are family portraits taken in the living room with mother, father, children, cat and dog.  I started studying the details thinking that there is something that I'm missing.  Something I'm not seeing...something that I can't quite figure out.

Suddenly, I noticed that they all seem to be missing something.  That's when I picked up the white out and sharpie next to me.  Because if I'm going to do something as mischievous as mark up someone else's family photos, the least I can do is make it ridiculously obvious graffiti.  I'm thinking Banksy obvious.  I've since progressed to some acrylic paint and a fabulous black brush pen, but I'm still trying to have as much fun. 
Having said all this, if you happen to recognize the family I've dubbed "The McKenzies" please let me know if they want their family heirlooms back.

Tickle Sue's neck!

Gramma McKenzie and the birds

Checking in on baby Eli

Bear scare!

Jessica meets Socks the cat

The Decemberists - The Infanta.  This has been in my head all day since listening to it this morning.  It's about 1/15th of what I want the final image to be, but I was so anxious to get this picture out of my head that I  wrapped it up there.  I'll work on it some more later.  More practice with the tablet...

Here she comes in her palanquin
on the back of an elephant
on a bed made of linen and sequins and silk
all astride on her father's line
with the king and his concubines
and her nurse with her pitchers of liquors and milk
and we'll all come praise the infanta
and we'll all come praise the infanta

Among five score pachyderm
each canopied and passengered
sit the duke and the duchess' luscious young girls
within sight of the baroness
seething spite for this lithe largesse
by her side sits the baron
her barrenness barbs her
and we'll all come praise the infanta
and we'll all come praise the infanta

A phalanx on camelback
thirty ranks on a forward tack
followed close, their shiny bright standards a-waving
while behind in their coach-and-fours
ride the wives of the king of Moors
And the veiled young virgin, the prince's betrothed
and we'll all come praise the infanta
and we'll all come praise the infanta

And as she sits upon her place
her innocence laid on her face
from all atop the parapets blow a multitude of coronets
melodies rhapsodical and fair
and all our hearts afire
the sky ablaze with cannon fire
we all raise our voices to the air
to the air...

And above all this folderol
on a bed made of chaparral
she is laid, a coronal placed on her brow
and the babe, all in slumber dreams
of a place filled with quiet streams
and the lake where her cradle was pulled from the water
and we'll all come praise the infanta
and we'll all come praise the infanta