Many Mouths, One Voice

Many Mouths, One Voice (watercolour & india ink on paper, 2011)

Truth To Self (watercolour & india ink on paper, 2011)

Two in a day?!? Damn straight. Here are a couple more pages from the beginning of my sketchbook. The one at the top, 'Many Mouths, One Voice' is a commentary on corporate control of the media, and I'll leave it at that. The second image, which is the second barbershop scene from my sketchbook, is called 'Truth to Self', and isn't quite done in the photo - I recently inked his face and the hand with the clippers, which I think added some much needed contrast within the subjects. Both photos have had the colours slightly rebalanced digitally because the scanner seemed to have trouble picking up the contrast and full range of colour - the 'Truth to Self' image still isn't quite popping the way it does in real life, so I think I need to iron out a few more kinks in my digitizing process before I post any more from this sketchbook. On to the next one!

Train Harder

Train Harder (watercolour & india ink on paper, 2011)

(original sketch)

Ayo homies! Here's another page out of my recently completed watercolour sketchbook - the first page in fact. A couple of posts ago I mentioned how I was placing bits of advice and inspiration for myself throughout the work, and here the message is to train harder. The sketchbook was mostly meant to tone up my watercolour, pen-and-nib, and hand-rendered typography skills, but ended up being a great place to study composition as well. I'm fairly happy with the overall composition and execution of this particular piece but by the end of the sketchbook (I ended up doing 21 paintings and 3 unpainted drawings in 2 weeks) I was more confident with contrast and colour choices, although overall this was still one of my favourites. Check back for more soon, and tell me what you think of the new style!

Swim Good

Swim Good (8x10 watercolour & india ink)

Yo! How's things? Im back briefly with a little painting I did this morning, inspired by my 10,000th time listening to Frank Ocean's song Swim Good. I'm headed to the new Ihuman headquarters tonight to fancy up one of their walls, so I'll be back on the quick to post that... Word!

Happy October

Happy (belated) Octoberfest! Here's a happy Oktoberfest Octopus - feel free to use him for a happy Oktoberfest card next year! 4 beers at a time?!? No big deal.

Watercolour Sketchbook

Yo! Here are a few pages from a watercolour sketchbook I've been working on to practice the medium as well as to hone my hand-rendered typography skills. These pages are near the end, and throughout the book I've been placing bits of advice and inspiration to keep me going - for example the sketch at the top is a loose (and out of proportion) sketch of Gary Busey with one of his quotes from his guest appearances on Entourage - "Art is only research, it is not the final form." Classic. The second one is a bit reminding me not to be too hard on myself, and the third is just a sketch for a forthcoming piece - the barbershop has been a great place for advice in my community and I'm sure in many others. I've been busy, so many more to come!

Peace Be With You!

(pen and nib on paper)

Original Pencil Sketch

Greetings! In the words of the buddha 'Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.' This sloth buddha is here to bring peace, tranquility, love, and to party at a chill pace with Natalie McNeely today on her bday. Natalie and John are friends of mine who happen to patrons as well, and probably own almost enough of my art to hold a solo show in BC! Thanks for all the support over the years, and peace be with you homies!

Victory is Certain

Victory Is Certain (aerosol on wood, 2011)

(detail)

What's good?! I'm back really quick with a positive message - if you want it go get it. I was in my hometown of Calgary over the weekend kickin it with my brother, who's also on his grind doing what he loves, hence the message. Shout out to my lil' sis who's killin' it doin' her damn thing too! Let's get it fam!!!

The Gas Pump

(Make sure to click on the photo above to check out the full size!

All Photos: the lovely & talented Diana Duzbaeyeva)

(I cut a stencil for the Gas Pump logo, but it took me forever to paint the Wiserhood crest with a couple tiny brushes! I used a metallic powder finish to make the bling serious)

Yo! I just got the photos back from the Gas Pump mural I did earlier this summer. This wall was one of the longest I've painted so far - 36 feet across - and included a lot of small detail, including hand painted logos, which took a ton of time. The mural was commissioned by The Gas Pump, a bar/nightclub up here in Edmonton that wanted to update its image as new owners were taking over and the whole place was being given a makeover. My good friend Diana Duzbaeyeva and I were hired to create a new logo (which you can see at the top of the second photo), menu, business cards, flyers, and a mural along with photography. We co-designed all of the print media, which ended up coming out really well, and I took care of the mural while Di took photos. The bright colours blasting out of the DJ booth (which is actually straight in real life, but the lens of the camera skewed it for the photo, which is actually a composite of 3 photos since the mural is so long) and out from behind the bar represent the life of the party, provided in this case by music and great drinks. Everyone was thankfully ecstatic over the end results, which made all those hours before the bar opened in the mornings spent with my face 8 inches from that wall totally worth it. If you're in the area (it's on 101st ave and 114th st) stop by, have a drink, and check it out!

Hand Painted Dresser

Ayo, turn it up!

(before)

Whattup! Check out a couple photos of a project I just finished - remember Domino's mural from a few posts back? He had some cowboy-themed furniture in his room (above) that wasn't making the cut. No worries. I hand painted his drawers with speakers, sliders, and volume and effects knobs so that it would go along with the other fly stuff in his room. NBD. Awesomest bedroom ever. 'Nuff said.

Kaleido Festival 2011

What it do? Today I have the photos from the Kaleido festival on 118th ave which was put on partially by the Nina Haggerty, which is an art gallery and community center here in Edmonton. I was part of a collaborative event - 4 artists including myself created 4 ink paintings in the 'Exquisite Corpse' method. Basically, each artist painted 1 horizontal slice of one board every hour, without being able to see what the artist before them painted other than about an inch, and at the end we had 4 paintings that each of us had done 1/4 of. It was fun, and the results (3/4 of which are above) ended up being pretty interesting! I am somehow missing photos of one of the pieces, but if I can wrangle some I'll update this post, because it ended up being a funny painting. I was painting pretty slowly and kept chatting with people who were wondering what was going on, so I didn't get as much filled in on the sections as I would have wanted, and I know at least one of the other artists felt the same way, but the time limit also kept you from thinking about what you were going to paint too much, which we found led to some cool improvisations...

(detail shot)

(detail shot)

(detail shot)

So the Kaleido festival this year went super well, there was actually some really dope live music, tons of street stages everywhere with people swinging things wildly or preforming weird hoop dances, lots of local artisans with food and carvings and soap for sale, and a lot of artwork displayed or created live, including a pretty intense decorate-a-lightpole contest that I was in to much awe of to take pictures. Also there were these dudes (above) who walked around on the side of the building and took notes on everything. Pretty suspicious, actually.