Compassion

We need to be mindful of compassion and kindness in our communities, now, more than ever. As an artist, we are asked to contribute time and talent to community organizations. I've donated work to community theatre and arts organization. In dark times, art can uplift and create a sense of belonging, inclusion, and yes, compassion.

A few pieces for Skeleton Park Press, a community-based newspaper in Kingston, Ontario.

Let Kingston be known for compassion: Leave no community member behind, an article by Ron Shore.

I also illustrated this piece for an article about gentrification and housing prices tearing at the social fabric of neighbourhoods:

Thanks to Vincent Perez for the assignments and art direction. The last in the series is: People, Places and Plants, it deals with mental health, addiction, and the importance of connecting with nature and natural elements.

Isometric Study: Toy Robots

This series is part of a larger project. I decided to use an isometric perspective on these, it gives me freedom to arrange them in any order as well as create patterns in a larger composition. If that doesn't sound clear, I apologize. Stay tuned for updates on this project.

Doing personal work, part of my digital skectchbook, drives the work i do and feeds creativity. When things slow down, these projects keep me sharp and focused. Excited to work with this and see it through to finish.

Robby the Robot, Nomura, 1950s

Sparking Robot, Noguchi, 1950s

Nonstop Robot, Masaduya, 1950s

Giant Robot, Horikawa (1950s)

Smoking Robot, Yonezawa, 1950s

X-70 Tulip Head Robot, Nomura, 1960s

Krome Dome, Yonezawa, 1960s

Spring work

Decades after the Avro Arrow was shelved, records and aircraft destroyed, amateur sleuths and devotees still work to piece together the legacy. Recently, one of scale models test fired into Lake Ontario was retrieved. Other leads have turned up to be dead ends, but the legend continues to grow. . .

Love to work on subjects like this! Thanks to AD Meg Botha at Watershed Magazine.

Vaccines offer a new beginning. The innovation and development of the COVID vaccine offers hope after a long year and a half of restrictions and tragedy.

 
Recent assignment for Barron’s.

I've been working on a personal project. Here's an isometric study of a vintage toy robot:

Modern Robot, Yonezawa (1950’s)

Process

What is consciousness? How much about the human mind remains misunderstood or completely in the dark? If we can accept the need for understanding mental health, then why is treatment often elusive or unavailable? This past year and a half has been unprecedented, and I have seen friends and family struggle under the weight of grief, anxiety, and depression. We’re all on a journey. There are signs of hope, and for me, art is an escape and a constant in my life.

I’ve had some time to think about my work and revisit some ideas that got buried, left behind, or neglected. I need to clear my own head so new creative impulses can emerge.

Initial Sketch:

When I submitted this sketch, I thought the concept was a home run, but the client didn’t like the direction and walked away. It happens, (hey, their call, even if it’s wrong).

Finished and refined line drawing with colours blocked in:

I’ve been working on this project for a while, at my own pace. What a luxury to have the time to make things right. I’ll walk you through the process. To start, all of the elements were edited, inked and refined to establish a finished set of lines, and then the colours were blocked in. You can see some other elements were dropped, like the scaffolding and laser beam.

Refinement of colours/line weight:

Colours will be edited later in the process, so I limited the palette to 4 colours. Everything gets overlayed with a 50% highlight and then it gets spot reduced to let the underlying colour come through. With this piece, I also decided to work with an additional shadow as well.

The initial sketch had a ladder, which I found clunky and unworkable, so I drafted a scissor jack in its place. I’m undecided about whether to include the technicians/mechanics in the final. What do you think?

  Final image:

From the Lab

A roundup of recent experiments. These are personal pieces that I create when I need a bit of a creative kickstart.

Living in Isolation

February is a waiting game

Creative Mindset

Deadlines: before and after