Quadruple Update

Cason (48x36in, aerosol on canvas, 2012)

Rock the Rails founder Jason aka Cason recently took an opportunity to move on to something bigger, and some of the other staff in Leduc wanted to give him a token of their appreciation, so they commissioned a painting from me. I gave them a deal on it because I worked with Jason last year at RTR and it ended up being a really good time, so I wanted to help out. There are some top-secret inside jokes and references hidden in this one, but my lips are sealed!

Untitled (detail) (12x18in, aerosol and acrylic on canvas, 2012)

My lil' sister Sara loves teacup pigs, and since it was recently her birthday, I had to hook a sister up. Unfortunately these things cost like a couple grand, so with the help of The Googles, I found a reference photo and painted one instead, then took a bus down to Calgary to surprise deliver it at a sushi house! Happy bday sis, much love! Thanks to Nana and Opa for covertly smuggling me in from the bus station...

Ashley's Mailbox (aerosol and acrylic on mailbox, 2012)

This mailbox was my first foray into the art of pinstriping. I really wish I'd gotten a better photo, because the angle and focus in this shot don't do the piece justice. I have a newfound respect for all those old-school pinstripe artists who do these pieces effortlessly with fast-dry single shot enamel and no underdrawings or wax pencil grids. I have a lot to learn if I want to step to that level — this thing took a lot of hours out of me, from watching youtube instructional videos to drawing and redrawing my sketch on the box to painstakingly painting and repainting the weighted lines in multiple layers because the white wasn't popping enough. One of the challenges of pinstriping is the fact that with no background, there's no way to cover up any mistakes, so everything pretty much has to be first try. Add the element of suggested symmetry, and things get hella tricky hella fast.  I suffered a major setback near the end of the piece when the final layer of matte varnish frosted over on the lid, forcing me to repaint half of the top black and redo the lettering — luckily I'm friends with letters so they went easy on me, and my new liner brush came through in a pinch. There's a lot of little things I pick at whenever I look at this one, but overall I learned a lot and the client loved it, so I'm checking the win column. 

Photo credit: DJ Dice

 Photo credit: DJ Dice

I painted local musican and emcee Maigan's car a couple weeks ago at the Ihuman Block Party. She was super open to whatever I wanted to do, which was pretty much the best news possible, so I just did my damn thing and dropped the Tribe Called Quest album title cause that's what she's 'bout! Shoutout to Ihuman for throwing down a dope block party, DJ Dice for the photos and crazy cuts, DJ Creeasian for the party rocking beats, and all the performers for a hella good show. There are just over 2 weeks left in the Broken Arrow Contest, and I'm still getting some great responses — drop me a line yourself when you get a minute! One love!