What if There Were 3?

As strange things have been abound in this year's NHL playoffs, and unexpected teams have excelled, I find myself wondering if things could have turned out a little different for the Vancouver Canucks. A first place team that takes an early exit in the first round is always examined under a microscope, but I pose the simple question. What if there were three Sedins? What if little known triplet Gunther was thrown into the mix. Would their brand of finesse hockey and telepathic communication, along with three pairs of icy Norse eyes have formed the ultimate NHL line and been enough to carry the Canucks to the cup? Maybe, just maybe.

I thought I would have some fun and explore what the bench might look like with Sedin triplets, in a simple woodcut sort of style. The basics were drawn out first, coloured in Illustrator and then texturized in Photoshop.

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Workout Sabotage

Here's an editorial illustration for an article about what happens when you team up with your spouse as workout buddies and one of you happens to be more enthusiastic than the other. Sabotage! I've also included the process work as well...showing that from thumbnail to final artwork the idea was pretty clear. Done for a full page, in ink and digital

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Fancy Food

I recently did a little photoshoot for two different restaurants for some advertising images...casual pub style, and upscale fine cuisine. It seems that any type of food can be made into art really, with the help of a skilled chef. These were taken with my trusty 50mm lens and no lighting set-up, as well as very minimal photshopping.

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Earth Day Again

Here's an old sketch for Earth Day. I'm always highly skeptical of branded special days as they tend to turn into more of a marketing opportunity than anything else. But caring about the earth for a day is a good gesture. It just doesn't seem right that keeping the planet in good shape is something people need to be sold on. Maybe the campaign just needs to be a bit slicker though...a little more like, say, an SUV commercial.

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Distance

At the tail end of a busy winter painting season, I managed to finished up a few paintings and drawings including this conceptual one I call Distance. It was something I've had in my head for a long time, inspired by a Calvin and Hobbes strip. In it, Calvin brings a plane to show and tell to emphasize how much distance he will soon be putting between himself and classmates he doesn't like. I thought a traffic jam would be an obvious symbol representative of a place someone might want to escape from. Really, the underlying idea is more important though, that distance is a strong emotional state of mind, whether it's wanting to put distance between something, or wanting to close the distance and get somewhere faster.

A large painting at over four feet tall, Distance was built up in several layers of mostly acrylic. First a full fill of random notations and lists, followed by a monochromatic traffic scene. Then, on top of that, the hand and plane in a linear style, meeting up with the typographic message.

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Spring Vegetable Garden

The appearance of Spring means it's time to think about getting your garden underway. Whether it's filled with inspiring blooms or tasty vegetables, gardens go with spring like snow and Far West jackets in the 90's go with winter...the natural world never stops its cycle.

Gardening brings to mind an old self-portrait I painted of myself as a carrot. Sometimes enough is enough with self-portraits and a differerent take is needed. Carrot Top was done in oil on a large discarded roof shingle of some sort. Roof shingles and expensive paintbrushes surprisingly do not get along so well together.

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Crowds Aplenty

Spring weather is always sure to draw everybody out from their winter hiding places and into the streets for some shopping, dining and fun. Crowds can be both exciting and a drag to work on, depending on how you look at it. On one hand, they are filled with all sorts of unique characters, locations and props, in a randomized pattern which can make for tremendous compositions. On the other hand, crowds can take a while to complete, and can bog an artist down in details, which can really ruin an overall picture. This is a watercolour and ink drawing of a scene on Queen Street in Toronto.

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