Lilac Window

Hi everyone. I hope I haven’t lost you all. I have been so busy painting with toddlers, traveling, cleaning my house and many other projects. I really do hope you are all still out there, as I want to introduce you to a wonderful artist from Calgary.

I met Roxanne, again at the November First Thursday. She has a little studio in Art Central’s Artist’s Loop until December 31. Try and catch her before shes gone! As you will see from her website: www.roxygenillustration.com Roxanne has a unique delicate style. She uses mixed media, but I think her works look like pencil drawings more than paintings or digital work. I chose to show you the work above because I love the nostalgic illustration feel. It is titled “Three” It looks vintage, to me, in a way. Roxanne can be reached at: roxy@roxygenillustration.com

I am sorry I missed this announcement before December First Thursday, because she had prints and works for sale. But I am sure if you email her, or visit her studio she’ll gladly help you out. She is also doing freelance illustration work.

I feel so excited to have her on my blog, and all the other incredible artists from our city.

I met Tina at the November First Thursday at Art central. She had some paintings hanging in the studio lobby on the basement floor, as well as some small photo transfers and a little studio. I really enjoy her paintings. Her incredible use of texture, layering and colour, just makes me want to paint. She obviously is in love with the medium.

She did a series of photo transfers of the new Bow building in Calgary, which is such an interesting subject. From my life in architecture I know some of the people who worked on the design, and just some of the layers of impact such a major building has. It will continue to affect the city for as long as it stands, and its construction is so fascinating to everyone. When it was a giant hole Marcel and I watched the construction trucks dig for hours! Now the steel structure is up, we all wonder at the sheer scale of it.  Tina’s tiny prints are a thoughtful comment on such a mega-building!

About her own current exhibitions she sais “The work in the exhibition Aleatoric has two very strong threads running through its creation. Each piece was based in some fashion on the element of chance. Whether is was chancing upon a specific colour in some obscure corner, the discovery of a found object, the accidental formation of poured paint, random visits to photograph a construction site or the challenging transfer of a photograph.”

She has works at this gallery: www.artfirm.ca and her website can be viewed at http://web.mac.com/douglasbw/iWeb/TMartel/TinaMartel.html

what a crazy busy day. But so great.

Card-making all day and my brother’s engagement party this evening. I bought this barrette from a friend at Silver Sister’s Studio, and wore it to the party. I got so many comments on it, I thought I’d let you all know how to get one yourself!

She’s not quite Calgary – but pretty darn close so, I am including her. Shes got a lovely shop on Etsy, of beautiful embroidered items. I’m going to get one of those pea necklaces one of these days…

I think this part of the blog is becoming my favorite. I love getting to know artists and being the one who can introduce you to them. Its also such a great way to serve the local community.

Scott is another artist who had work at the “Happy Harbor” show. He does illustration and comics as well. I met him at Art central when I dropped off the paintings I did, and saw some of his work at his little studio there.

check his blog and website.

I am really excited to share his work with you all, because I know that you will like it. I haven’t had enough time to digest most of it, but I get the sense there’s a lot going on in there. Hes not just drawing pictures and illustrations, but getting across ideas. It seems hes got something to say about politics, artists, comics, people working in the biz, all of it. And his drawing skills seem to be able to keep up. I love his retro influences and how he incorporates them.

On his website he has a sketch showing some designs for female characters. I cant really read the text, but I imagine its for a comic. I love this drawing! I have a affinity for drawings of women, particularly of all shapes and sizes. I like the way hes colored areas, and added text.  They all look slightly aggressive, and who knows – perhaps perverse, but really, if you know my comic drawing you know why I like it!

Scott is working on a comic now, as well as doing illustration work. He recently had a t-shirt exhibition in the space at Art Central. The more I do this part of my blog, the more I realize Calgary is chock-full of amazingly talented artists. Something, maybe not everyone is aware of…yet.

So check out the work, let Scott know what you think. Let me know what you get from it, – I’d love to know what you have to say!

I think this part of the blog is becoming my favorite. I love getting to know artists and being the one who can introduce you to them. Its also such a great way to serve the local community.

Scott is another artist who had work at the “Happy Harbor” show. He does illustration and comics as well. I met him at Art central when I dropped off the paintings I did, and saw some of his work at his little studio there.

check his blog and website.

I am really excited to share his work with you all, because I know that you will like it. I haven’t had enough time to digest most of it, but I get the sense there’s a lot going on in there. Hes not just drawing pictures and illustrations, but getting across ideas. It seems hes got something to say about politics, artists, comics, people working in the biz, all of it. And his drawing skills seem to be able to keep up. I love his retro influences and how he incorporates them.

On his website he has a sketch showing some designs for female characters. I cant really read the text, but I imagine its for a comic. I love this drawing! I have a affinity for drawings of women, particularly of all shapes and sizes. I like the way hes colored areas, and added text.  They all look slightly aggressive, and who knows – perhaps perverse, but really, if you know my comic drawing you know why I like it!

Scott is working on a comic now, as well as doing illustration work. He recently had a t-shirt exhibition in the space at Art Central. The more I do this part of my blog, the more I realize Calgary is chock-full of amazingly talented artists. Something, maybe not everyone is aware of…yet.

So check out the work, let Scott know what you think. Let me know what you get from it, – I’d love to know what you have to say!

(Well, we’ll just ignore the fact that its Wednesday. I took a little break yesterday, for the Holy Day. But now Ive gone and messed up my headings…)

I wanted to share an artist that also participated in the Happy Harbor “Visions of Comics” art show this weekend. Actually its still up if you want to go see it. There was an excellent turn out to the opening, and a wonderful tribute to Gilbert Bouchard. I didn’t know anything about him before, but was moved by the things people said about him, and would have loved to have known him. Hearing those stories was really a highlight for me.

So, that brings us to Nick Johnson. He had one piece in the the show, and is Calgary artist. I met him a few years ago, when I had a little more time to be involved in the Comic drawing scene in Calgary. He is a part of a group called “Vicious Ambitious” who are publishing and creating comics  in Calgary. It was at a comic book store opening that I bought my first comic – “Round One” by these guys hanging out in front of the shop. It was this book that inspired me to start drawing comics, and so I guess Nick was a part of that.

Its been a few years since then, and now Nick is at Art school, working hard. He still has time for side projects such as the Happy Harbor show, and that’s a good sign. He has numerous works in Anthologies, and has completed his own little series called “The Art of Dodging Shadows.” If you have ever set out to draw even a page of comics, you know what a huge feat this is. Especially on your own time, when no one is paying you or there to egg you on.

I have always liked Nick’s clean style, and his compositions. Even in a black and white project he has strong ability to clearly show detail without drawing too much. As his work has progressed he has become more realistic in his figures, and less cartoony, which just makes it look more sophisticated. I love the posters he makes for his Punk Band “Me Three”, which are stylized and sharp, but the images are Bad-Ass, all while still being sort of silly, which seems to fit. You get the sense that art, comics and music for Nick is sort of a tongue-in-cheek frenetic tornado. Ambitious, and vicious are two well chosen words!

My favorite work has to be some web comics he did with writer Andrew Foley. I love the pink color, the graphic quality and the way they looked on the screen. (But I cant seem to find it any more – Nick????)

You can check his blog for his recent work, and the “Archie” piece he did for the Happy Harbor show. Also you can see the Vicious Ambitious website for their publications. And, further, if you are in the mood for some serious screaming, you can see Me Three’s Myspace page.

I am excited to see Nick’s future projects.

Thanks all, enjoy.

Cameron Ansorger is a good friend of mine and I am thrilled to show his work to you all. He is a painter, and has been working on this impressive dinosaur project for as long as I’ve known him. I have always been moved by his work, because of the scale and the way he uses experimental process with such restraint. He does a lot of raw canvas washes and charocal, which is why, when I started doing the raw canvas thing, I called it my “Ansorger” period.

Cameron has always been fascinated with dinosaurs, and they have found their way into his work. His paintings and drawings describe the anatomy of dinosaurs, but also reference where they are currently found – in Drumheller badlands. He leaves parts un painted and unfinished. Its like archeological painting. Theres always a little left to figure out.

Most of Cam’s works are at his studio, but you can see some online at his blog. He also has a website, which shows many of his paintings. I love the colour choice and almost a sweet, delicate quality to these enormous paintings of something so vicious, mysterious, and aggressive as dinosaurs. Please enjoy his work, listen to our podcast on friday where we talk about it, and let us know what you think. In his own words, Cam says:

“I’m always more interested in my next project…I don’t feel that my work – which can be seen in many of the works – are finished; there is always more to learn, grow and adapt to.”