Spring has Sprung

It's actually beginning to feel a lot like spring. Growing up, it was always a delight to hear my dad recite Spring is Sprung. I'll have to remind him.

Spring is sprung,
The grass is riz,
The boid is on the wing—
My woid, how absoid!
I thought the wing was on the boid.

I came across this wonderful tribute to Spring cover design by the lovely Maira Kalman for the New Yorker.

copyright Maira Kalman for March 26, 2012 New Yorker cover

Life Drawing

I'm excited to share some drawings developed from quick gestural sketches done at Basic Inquiry during a three hour life drawing session. 

Original sketches were done with charcoal on newsprint. The beauty of newsprint is that it's cheap and not too precious freeing you from the fear of making mistakes. I've started looking through the 18 pages of figures and picked ones to play some more with. Using tracing paper I'm reworking and refining the figure studies with ink and brush.

Stretch Times 2

Stretch Times 3

Together 1

Together 2

Lounging

Illustrator Quentin Blake on how he draws

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-20684202

Magic Crayon Fun

Inspired by the magic pencil and watercolour crayon drawings of Quentin Blake shown below. He is one of my favourite artists and children's book illustrators.

A Leap for Joy by Quentin Blake

The Story by Quentin Blake

Big Healthy Girls by Quentin Blake

Big Healthy Girls by Quentin Blake

Here are some of my magic crayon and watercolour experiments:

Cartwheel fun ingredients: magic crayons, watercolour, human spirit and play.

More cartwheel fun... A little watercolour for a friend with neon crayons (a new favourite).

Work in progress pirate blowing giant elephant bubbles inspired by such a pirate at the Moss Street Market in Victoria, BC.

Fiction Project

Neat! One of my spreads from The Fiction Project 2010 is featured on their tmblr site.

Here's a link to the full book in their digital library. http://www.sketchbookproject.com/library/5045

There is still time to enter the Fiction Project 2013. Sign up by September 30, 2013.

Beach Impressions

Riding around the seawall on the weekend, I took in the glorious sunshine, tremendous winds, crashing surf, rocky shoreline, and sandy beach. Sitting on a drift log, I did these quick sketches with charcoal. I'm learning the loose and free feel that charcoal encourages.

Woodcut Reduction Printmaking

Over four Mondays in January I had the great honour of learning the art of woodcut reduction printmaking from Richard Tetrault at Malaspina Printmakers. We were encouraged to experiment and play. It was great fun. I worked on the underwater scene below. One block (pine plank) was used to create this 4 colour print. Scroll down to see the final print.

1st stage of cutting away pine plank - first colour
cut away areas will be white from the paper

2nd stage of cutting away for second colour

2nd stage 2 colour reduction print

3rd stage cutting away for third colour

3rd stage 3 colour reduction print
plus small hand printed blue colour block overaly

4th stage cutting for 4th colour

4th stage 4 colour reduction print - varied edition

4th stage 4 colour reduction print - varied edition

4th stage 4 colour reduction print - varied edition