September 2014

midnight stroll in a washing machine on a Rogers commercial

Thursday, September 4th, 2014

Once in a while I rent out my works for special events, stylings and commercials. midnight stroll in a washing machine had a mini second of blurry fame on a Rogers commercial just recently. It’s on 49th second and it comes and goes like a flash.

I love the title of this piece. I think it is one of the most appropriate and funnest titles I have come up with so far. I created this painting for a solo show I did in 2011, I am a fashionista and this is how I wear it! It was one of those works that everything came together instantly and it was actually the last piece for the exhibition. The painting layer had a lot of texture and energy and the spiral movement invited lots of certain type of cut-outs that had a sense of motion embedded in them. It really felt like these collage cut-outs just flocked onto the canvas and took position. It was chaotic and smooth, crazy and effortless. I had a lot of fun working on it. It is certainly a very energetic piece with a lot of commotion just like what happens in a washing machine.

very simple lines

Thursday, June 26th, 2014

Here is another edition of sketchbook shenanigans for you.

There are some collage pieces that become quite intriguing on their own when they are cut out of their context. They become unrecognizable as they are not part of an object they originally reperesnted. Sometime it is hard to combine them in a composition with other cut-outs. I have been tucking them away to do something with them later. The idea came to me a while back to play around with these collage pieces and explore their potential as a stand-alone piece/shape and extend them with very simple lines in simple compositions. It is a great exercise and a contrast to the concept of abundance and richness that underlies my work on canvas. It might give me some ideas for some canvas work but for now as I said, I am just playing.

By the way, if you remember I told you I was very hesitant about sharing my sketches publicly as they are like private thougths and it makes me feel vulnerable. To my sheer surprise, I got wonderful response for sharing them and an amazing supporter purchased one of the sketches. I was by no way thinking or prepared to sell these, firstly for the above reason and secondly I think of them as rough ideas and exercises and not finished works. It was a great encouragement to keep sharing, to push myself out of my comfort zone and not think too much about presenting what I think is the perfect side of my process.

And to end, I just came across this inspiring article on Brain Pickings on intuition and creative process from Pablo Picasso on my twitter feed:

“To know what you’re going to draw, you have to begin drawing.”

Is it finished?

Friday, June 20th, 2014

Here is another update on the status of the “gentle” work-in-progress that I told you about last week. You see I managed to contain myself and stay soft.

Half an hour ago before I started writing this update, I thought I had finished the work and I was going to apply the final coat. The thing with me is that I never know when I have finished a piece. I can go on forever being finicky but there is a moment that I just know I have to stop. One, for the sake of not messing up the entire work (which I have done many times by the way) and second, because I don’t know what else to do. It feels very good when you can step back and confidently say “Done!”. It is rarely like that though. However once I let go and let the piece be, it somehow puts itself together. I know it sounds a bit strange but it’s true. I am facing this dilemma again and I feel that I need to go back into this work. I might. But for now I will keep staring at it on the white wall to see if it asks me anything more. Feel free to let me know what you think.

first of sketchbook shenanigans

Thursday, June 12th, 2014

Just thought to start sharing some images from my sketchbook in a casual new series that I will be calling sketchbook shenanigans.

These are sketches, ideas, thoughts, diversions, distractions, plain fooling-around and the state of my mind in no particular order. It makes me very self-concious to share these with you; more so than my “finished” pieces. For those pieces I try to focus my attention on one direction and create continuity but my brain is more chaotic than that. Oh well! Now you know. For now take a peek and let’s see how I manage my self-conciousness. I can alway retract.

excited again about gallery hopping thanks to ArtLocal

Saturday, June 7th, 2014

I have been hearing about the ArtLocal app from the time they were having a poll to choose a name for it (I have no idea how I ended up on their email list but glad that I did.) When I first downloaded the app I was not sure if it woudl last long on my iphone but today all the good stuff I was waiting for popped on the screen.

The app is designed to help discovering hottest galleries, exhibitions and artists in the city all in one place. It also allows you to follow your favourite galleries and get updates which is somehow similar to a feature on my most favourite site Artsy (where you can follow favourite artists.) You can search based on calendar and distance.

This is just great for planning gallery hopping adventures.

I think I would like to see the information about the show and the artist more visibly with a better design than a small pop-up boxed screen. A short description on the gallery would be useful too. I would also love to have a feature where I can save the shows I want to see, or the openings I want to go to or easily add them to my calendar. It might be there and I haven’t discovered it yet. I am sure their team is constantly improving features.

This is a much needed local app. I am quite excited about using it and highly recommend it to gallery hoppers alike.

Well it is going to be a busy weekend as there are tons of awesome galleries in walking distance as well as Luminato in full swing.

Happy gallery hopping!

Image below from Blonder Online by Jillian Kay Ross happening now at Division Gallery

“gentle” work-in-progress & aqua nails

Friday, June 6th, 2014

It is a sunny cool day at the studio and I have been taking my time musing on aqua, mint, very gentle turquoise, soft neons and pearls. Usually I create depth by using darker underlying tones (here there is still some of it) and work with much richer tones and a high contrast palette. For now I am exploring layering of the soft tones all the way through with less contrast. I am also softening the neons with lots of white and I really like the tints it renders. It still has the shine but much softer.

My mantra these days for the few pieces I have going on is GENTLE! I keep repeating it loud (my studio buddies can attest to that) in an effort to channel my impulse of doing something loud into softness and gentleness. Let’s see how far I can contain myself. I don’t think too long. As you can see the palette has even infected my nails. But no, I am not going to collage the nails into this. I will post the pictures of the completed piece for you as soon as I finish it.

auction #2

Sunday, June 1st, 2014

It’s auction time #2. Artbomb will be auctioning their second chosen piece, urban planning on mercury this coming Monday, June 2nd.

This collage painting has a bit of classic colour pallete with earthy tones but it turned out to look more like a surreal type landscape. Imagine fluid, floating, soft and whimsical urban structures where underground and aboveground seamlessly merge into each other. That’s the type of city I would build in my dreams … maybe it already exist somewhere is outer space.

Get the bidding going!

2.5 meter marathon completed

Tuesday, May 27th, 2014

I finished my 2.5 meter marathon a while back and here are some images for you. The piece is titled the age of innocence. It has an upbeat yet innocent look to it. The fresh neon orange was so prominent and captivating that it didn’t call for many cut-outs. As you can see l am still exploring the possibilities of the neon colour palette and I find it interesting that the energy and light of these colours push me towards using less collage pieces in my new works. I had prepared for a major collage work but I must have only used 5 or 6 pieces. I am very attached to my cut-outs so it is not an easy omission but the neons keep shouting less is more !

One of my studio buddies suggested we took the painting outside in the middle of the white crisp powdery snow right on the train track and photograph it under the sunshine. It would have been a great set up for a photo shoot but by the time I finished the piece the gorgeous pure white of the snow had turned into a greyish slushy mess. So I lost the opportunity even though this winter like this piece had taken its grand time to finish. But given that imagery, I can totally visualize the type of a space where I like to see this work hung. You can see some of my wish list below (I should photoshop it into these picture for a better visualization.) So if anyone has a space with modern minimalistic vibe and high ceilings this is just the right painting!

It’s auction time

Thursday, May 15th, 2014

This Friday one of my pieces, pastel reef under construction, will be auctioned off by Artbomb at a very competitive price. Artbomb is an online art auction site that holds daily auctions for curated works of artists from all across Canada. They also have a New York branch. It is an exciting initiative and I am happy that they have picked two of my pieces. The bidding is open for one day only. So join them now and start bidding!

If you are an artist yourself and interested in participating, check their submission page and submit your work for the auction.

Happy bidding !

If I were collecting

Saturday, February 22nd, 2014

It is happening now – The Artist Project. It is one of my favourite art fairs for independent artists in the city. I participated two years in a row. This year I have been focusing on developing a new body of work as well as this new website so I missed being part of the hype and excitmenet of the fair.

Today I went as a visitor and had the luxury of time to take in the show in its true essence. I was pleasantly surprised how little I knew about the diversity and breath of works that the show presents. I guess once you are exhibiting yourself, there is not much chance to go and see everything. I was inspired and pumped up by all ways of seeing and views. I also experimented with a new way of observing. Instead of looking through an artist eye, I decided to play a wannabe art collector. What would I buy for my private collection from local artists? Turns out quite a lot! I could literally have most of the Untapped Emerging Artists works, Joani Tremblay and Alea Drain were my most favourite. Since I can’t afford to be a real collector (yet), I made this virtual collection on Pinterest for the time being. And below are my top three picks.

1. Comox Series One #19 by Kelly Rogers

I fell madly in love with this piece! The image is great but you really have to see it close-up! The raw canvas is absolutely captivating and the dynamic lines draw you in. More than anything I loved those subtle drips. I usually like detailed work that I can get back to it over and over and this is minimalistic for me but I could look at it for hours.

2. from In a Quiet Light series by Lulu Ladrón de Guevara

No wonder Lulu’s work is the chosen image of the Fair this year. I want to touch this work and have it above my desk on gloomy winter days to lift my spirit up. It is mysterious yet innocent. She has also applied a very smart and innovative technique.

3. The Whale As A Bubble by Alea Drain

Whales, bubbles, ocean, blue, whimsical, detailed, patterns …what’s not to like about this piece!

September 2014

blog