Bee Talkers

I did this piece before I left Nova Scotia. I had intended it as an experiment in using different digital media on the same image. It started life as a pencil drawing in my sketch book and I scanned it into Photoshop and played with it there. Then I transferred it to the free version of Artrage and spent several hours working on it there and then I accidentally erased it. Luckily I saved this version. It's stationary robots that communicate by swallowing bees and then expelling them.

About Town

I got a warm comic book welcome in Little Italy, downtown Toronto yesterday. I went out for lunch with Michael Cho, Ramon Perez, Andy Belanger, Scott Hepburn, Brian McLachlan, Steve Manale and Chris Stone and had a blast. Afterwards I got to see their studio around the corner and met up with Willow Dawson. Boy, that studio is amazing, what a great idea. A quiet place to work and people to encourage you. Afterwards I checked out two amazing shops; Magic Pony and The Beguiling.Thanks so much everone for making me feel so welcome.

Magic Pony Excursion

Here are some new toys I bought yesterday at one of my favorite stores in the world Magic Pony. The first one is Scuttler The Butler from the Mechtorians line of toys, designed by Dr. A. In the middle is my favorite and now one of my favorite toys ever: Peleda by Nathan Jurevicius. It's a wind up owl and just beautiful. There are lots of photos of the line here. And the last one is a toy from the Pure Trance manga line designed bu Junko Mizuno and put out by Kid Robot.

Librairie Premiere Issue

I don't know how I missed this cool little place the last time I was in Quebec City. And what a setting for this cool place. This shop has a great collection of comics: mostly from comics rich history and the more alternative current titles.

Many thanks to Andrew Belding for letting me use this beautiful image. You can see more of Andrew's work on his Flickr page.

Thanks so much

Like Ariel Only More Like Rachel

My niece Rachel and I tested out my new Windsor & Newton travel watercolour set today with a picture of a mermaid. Rachel is a very talented 5 year old. She did the dress and tail and chose most of the colours.

At The St. Laurence Market

Julie's Dad took me to the St. Laurence Market this morning. So much stuff there, it really blows away the markets in Nova Scotia. I bought a book about Sumi-e painting and a BLT. Afterwards we toured around town and I bought copies of the new Giant Robot and Juxtapose. Finally we went to a Running Room clearance center where I bought a watch/stopwatch/heart rate monitor thing that I am currently trying to figure out. I thought the city looked wonderful in the rain, like a painting.

Car Panda

Here's another on the road piece. This one was done primarily using the Brushes app. but I also used a bit of an app. called Jackson Pollack, which is pretty self explanatory.Both are on the iPod Touch. I've been experimenting a bit with the more graphic possibilities inherent in digital media here.I'm still playing with this image and will probably continue to post its evolution.

Today is a cleaning and settling day. We're just cleaning out the car right now and sorting our boxes.We actually didn't bring a lot.The bulk of what we shipped was my art books.

Gelaskin By Alberto Cerriteno

In my ongoing effort to0 fill my life with cool illustration and design I ordered this awesome Gelaskinskin for my iPod. This piece called The Enamored Owl and is by artist Alberto Cerriteno.

Our New Pad

Car Sketch

Here's a Brushes sketch I did in the car. For this one I imported a pencil sketch into the app and played with it in the program.Unlike my pencil or ink sketches I find digital work has an open endedness, I can keep returning to and changing a digital sketch but a pencil sketch feels very finished to me at a point.

Today we leave Montreal and push through to our destination Toronto.

We had a great time at Gary and Stephanie's house last night. We had a great dinner with th and they're world traveling friends including a very expensive bottle of Bourgogne and chocolate mousse made with liquid nitrogen, I'll post more on that meal later.

Ubiquitous

The Irving gas station is a ubiquitous image across Eastern Canada. They have huge gas stations/restauraunts along the Trans Canada Highway.Luckily they have free wireless.

Halifax To Quebec

Here's a short pictorial essay of our Trip to Toronto so far. Initially I had the pictures in order but I think I inspire randomness in all machines and they came out in anything but chronological order.

So far the trip has been amazing. It's Julie,Henry, our dog Benny and myself squeezed into a Ford Focus driving from Halifax Nova Scotia to our new home in Toronto Ontario.

The top picture is the most recent. It's at the restaurant Au Parmesan ( As recommended by my cousin Stephanie~Thanks Stephanie!) and it's an incredible, fun place. The picture is of Henry being serenaded by a wandering accordion player. Really fun.

The next picture is just a typical view of Old Quebec. An amazing, vibrant part of the city.

Third down is a juggler in Quebec.

Next is Henry and some guy we had hold him. (kidding, that's me)

Then we have a Buddhist statuefor some reason.

Then it's Henry enjoying the trip. This might have been in New Brunswick.

The next picture is a carved duck going hunting as found in the wilds of New Brunswick.

The last three are last nights camping trip. It was a typical camping excursion meaning it rained a lot. It poured as we were breaking camp. The first picture is the fire I made and am proud of all out of proportion. then It's the risotto we made from a box which I found really funny. And lastly it's Henry's charming morning sneer.

Tomorrow after a morning run across the Plains Of Abraham and a stroll through the city we push on to Montreal where we'll be staying with my cousins Gary and Stephanie.

Uploaded - 7\22\09

swimming at camp Woolastook just past Fredricton in New Brunswick.Posted from an Irving gas station outside Edmunston.Camping was a blast.iPod drawing.on route to Quebec City.

Touch Noodles.

Here are two more sketches using the Brushes App on my iPod Touch. I'm starting to feel more comfortable with this tool. I draw cartoons anyway so the small size of the image is no big deal to me. the top picture is my cat Esther and is done from life. The bottom is a robot and was not done from life.

Heading Out.....

And we're off. We pull out of Halifax this morning for a seven day trip to Toronto. The iPod is loaded with music and podcasts, we are stocked with snacks and water and the tent is firmly wedged into the back and Benny the dog is staring out the window~fogging it up.. I'll try and post often from the road. I can still be reached by email and Twitter and we have a cell with us. Just write if you want the number. Talk to you all soon.

Some Crude Drawings On A Computer

Here are some doodles I did on my iPod with the Brushes application this weekend while at a cottage on the shore. I had an amazing weekend. A last goodbye to the East Coast before heading off to Upper Canada tomorrow.The day started off foggy and cold but the sun had burned away the fog by eleven and I was out reading on the beach soon after.Really enjoying Brushes, still trying to get the hang of it but it's really fun and I find I'm sketching more then ever.

Reading an amazing book on twentieth century music right now: The Rest Is Noise by Alex Ross. A phenemoenal book that explains and helps make accessible the music of the last century. I'm listening to the music that goes along with it as well.Right now it's Mahler and Strauss.

A Little Process

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If anyone's interested here's a bit of process. The above are some intitial sketches for a piece and below is the orginal drawing on the left and after I'd put it through Photoshop on the right.

iPhone Art Pool

I wanted to share some amazing art with you from the iPhone Art Pool on Flickr. I was told about this group by Xpectro, an architect/designer I talk to on Twitter. This collection of art runs the gamut in skill levels and the kind of ideas being expressed, this actually makes it a lot of fun. I've selected three pieces I really loved from the photo pool ( it was a hard choice! Lots of great artwork! ). All the work was done with the Brushes application for iPhone and iPod Touch.

The top one is by Thierry Schiel from Luxembourg. Thierry works primarily as an animator. Learn more about him here.

The final piece is by Matthew Watkins, here is Matthew's website.

And the middle piece is by Mike Miller From Boulder Colorado. See more of Mike's here.

Pansy Adams And The Rural Route Detective Agency

This started off as a pretty simple little graphite drawing and I pulled at it and warped it in Photoshop. It's interesting to see what can be done by mixing the simplest, oldest mediums with something very new. This is probably the most satisfying working method I've come across.

Angela Carlsen, Great Show

I went to a great photo show by photographer (and friend) Angela Carlsen the other day and like every time I spend any time looking at her work I came away inspired and very impressed. Her work is a bit like mine but totally different. Familiar and kind of alien. Forgotten places or places you'd find squatters or kids drinking. She finds the just right angle and creates the perfect compositions where you might have thought there was noe. Wonderful work.

Gun, With Occasional Music

I just finished compelling and strange science fiction novel Gun, With Occasional Music and I'd like to recommend it. It's an amazing book both extremely well written and full of intriguing concepts. It manages to be both hilarious and frightening at the same time. This is what Publisher's Weekly had to say:

Chandleresque, hard-boiled detective narrative finds a quirky new milieu in this SF/mystery/farce of murder and mass mind control set in a near-future Oakland, Calif. Conrad Metcalf is a private dick, but in his era that profession is even more ignominious than in the past. Due to some extreme governmental measures aimed at maintaining public docility, asking questions is taboo, leaving memory as Metcalf's sole resource. Government-distributed "Make," a cocaine-like blend of synthetic, mind-altering drugs, is now de rigeur . So is the magnetic card each citizen carries to keep track of his or her karma points. These points are awarded or docked by "the Office" for good or bad behavior and if the balance hits zero, a cryogenic prison term may ensue. Most of the menial work is done by genetically engineered English-speaking, bipedal "evolved" animals--sheep, apes, rabbits and kangaroos--and one of the latter is gunning for Metcalf. In this confusing age, the murder of Dr. Maynard Stanhunt, Metcalf's former client, leads the detective to a convoluted conspiracy, unimaginable in our own time. Lethem's invocation of Chandler often wears a bit thin--the prose here is a good deal clumsier than the real thing, and this sort of imitation has already been done too often. Still this colorful first novel is a fast and lively read, full of humorous visions and outlandish predicaments.

There's a really good review here.

And this cover is amazing.

David Hockney's iPhone Art.

I discovered this after I had purchased my iPhone when artist Susan Adsett told me about it on Twitter. I've never known a lot about Hockney's work but this stuff really caught my eye, partly because it's using a tool I really like but also because the work is so beautiful and has a great feel to it. You can even print one off and have an original. Very interesting interview with Mr.Hockney on the subject can be found here.

iPod Brushes Sketch

Here's my first doodle with my new iPod Touch using the Brushes application. This application was one of the main reasons I bought this device. I loved the cover produced with it for the New Yorker . I did this sketch before I realized you could zoom in and work on detail so this is a bit ham-fisted and clumsy but boy, is this ever fun. It's so great that people are producing things like this to encourage people to be creative and to get them excited about making pictures. I love the mobility of this. when I'm out jogging I see all sorts of things like deer and snakes that I'd love to sketch but a sketch book is too clunky. The iPod attaches to my arm and is very easy to access.Looking forward to having lots of fun with this.

Threadless Tees!

I've recently become enamoured with the T-Shirt company Threadless thanks to all the helpful T-shirt finding suggestions I got from my Facebook and Twitter friends. Thanks! these are amazing artist designed shirts. I can't stop buying them. I have four so far....