Julie Morstad Book Launch

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Book Launch

You are invited to join us for the launch of this fantastic new book by Sara O'Leary, illustrated by Julie Morstad!

Monday November 7, 2011 • 7pm

Christianne's Lyceum of Literature and Art

3696 West 8th Avenue on the corner of Alma Street

Proclamation!

Yes!!!

The colours of Marcel Dzama

Last week I asked my students in one of the classes I teach to make their own drawing tool, or to create their own colours. In other words, create something that will give you a line, or a colour not just everyone can buy by walking into an art supply store. The lines you use in your work, the patterns you make and the colours you choose can become part of the thing that will eventually become our 'style' as visual artists. I remember while still in school myself loving the work of Marcel Dzama and seeing all of his shows with the Royal Artlodge Collective here in Vancouver at the beautiful and now gone Atelier Gallery. I remember writing a paper on his work and being thrilled when I found out he added Root Beer to his colour to create the consistent braun/green tones in his work. I wondered how the galleries representing him felt about this since it would definitely affect the longevity of his work, and which made me like him even more.

So here is some of his work. Notice the importance colour plays here in the overall style of work.

Here are some blog posts regarding a newer show of his at the David Zwirner Gallery in N.Y.

Fall is in full swing

Here is something that I found online by my favorite Marc Boutavant. Reminded me of when I was walking in the park earlier on. Fall is happening again. Tick Tock, tick tock....

Mary Blair 100th Birthday!

Yay! Google gave Mary Blair props today by including her in the Google icon with links. Cool! It's crazy that this woman was born 100 years ago already. Time flies! I had kind of forgotten all about her and I'm glad that I was kindly reminded of her work by the Googlers. Thanks! :)

Check out her work, cuz it's awesome!

Magic of Mary Blair site

Japanese exhibition on her work

Magic Jelly Blog entry on her

3x3 Illustrator income Survey

For any of you who are seriously interested of pursuing being an illustrator... I recommend checking out this really well designed and actually fun to read survey done by 3x3 Magazine. I just downloaded mine for only 5$ and it's definitely worth it! You can also buy a hard copy of it for more money, but why waste paper and spend more, if this is really all you need? Recommended!

Studio visits on Drawger

Image from Rob Dunlavey's studio tour on Drawger.

Here are some really great posts on various illustrators studios on Drawger. My favorite are Rob Dunlavey, Chris Buzelli, and Paul Rogers. But really they're all great. It's always inspiring to see the places where ideas are had and amazing work is created. Each space is so unique and yet they are all so similar. Having a place you feel comfortable and inspired in is a big part of doing good work I think. Mind you it does not always have to just one place, or even a physical place, for some it is more a state of mind, or a number of places around town where they like to go and sketch and work. Libraries, Coffee shops, parks, friends places, ... but for a lot of us, it will be a rented studio or a designated place in our homes. Figure out what works for you and go with it!

Noah's Ark on the 'Children's Illustration' Blog!

This is one of the first blogs on illustration I ever looked at. While I don't have nearly as much time these days to check out other blogs anymore, I just had a peep back here and I really loved this entry on the theme of Noah's Ark. It's always so great to see what different artists come up with for the same story, thus making it a different experience each time. Check it out here! On the Children's Illustration blog run by Julie Fortenberry. Great post Julie Thanks! And also... thanks for following this blog! :) I should really start to promote it a bit more.

I just never seem to have the time....ahhhh!

Here is a picture of a cake (!) of the ark. Preeety cool. Found it here.