Plant Face

I'm so happy that summer is here and I can fill my patio and sun room with plants. I did this drawing from one of my plants that is struggling, hence the sad little face. I'm giving it plenty of TLC and hoping it will become a big healthy plant one day.

Rainy Day Doodle

My husband has been away for 2 weeks and is coming home tomorrow. I've been lonely without him, but very productive. Him being away reminds me of when we had a long distance relationship. So this Rainy Doodle is for him.

Face-Lift

4th Street Food Co-Op put out an open call for a Logo Re-design. Since I didn't have that much on my plate 2 Fridays ago I decided I would spend a few hours on the project and see I came up with. I usually don't do contests or anything like this, but it did really tug at my heart strings because they are just down the street from my old apartment in New York. I used to buy my kale from them.

Here are the 2 logos that they are currently using: 1 is located on their website and the other on mailers. The Co-Op feels the hand in the first logo is too creepy and the tree in the 2nd logo looks like there is trash in it. Also the 2nd logo is not readable at a small size, like on a business card for example:




Here is a reference image that is currently on their site of their welcome board. I thought the hand painted quality of the fruits and layout of the type was really charming.


This logo I created to mimic their welcome board above.













These are the other logo ideas I sent them that included elements I associated with the Co-Op; fresh fruits and veggies, team work, and diversity. I also wanted the logo to be strong graphically, communicate quickly, and be readable at any size.

The Big 3-0 at Vineland

I celebrated my 30th birthday with a lovely lunch at Vineland Estates. We sat on their outdoor patio under a large tree and were treated like kings. The service was incredible, as was the atmosphere and food. Here's a glimpse of my celebratory lunch.

Abstracts of a Loading Dock

Cottage Blues

How far out of the box should we go?

outside the box from joseph Pelling on Vimeo.

I just saw this video on Pikaland and had to share. I laughed out loud at work while watching it because it reminded me so much of art school. The animation style is adorable as are these two pompous characters. It begs the personal question, what do you do with the box? Enjoy.

Parkdale Shopping Bag Submission

Oh La La UPDATE: Just received this email from the organizer of the Call for Entries:

"Below are listed the top 10 finalists in the competition. They are not listed in any particular order.

Havvy Ord – “Parkdale is People”
Erin Candela – “Parkdale Beauty”
John Fernandes – “The World On Your Corner”
Brad Emsley – (Untitled)
Crystal Bretschger – “People of Parkdale”
Ginnie Chin – “Parkdale”
Andrea Stajan-Ferkul – “Everyting Old Is New Again II”
Tricia Johnson – “A Look”
Millie Knaff – “Parkdale Beauty”
Alec Dempster – “Growing Together”

We will announce the Grand Prize Winner at the Parkdale Shopping Bag Design Unveiling – Wine & Cheese Reception to take place on Weds., June 16th at Gallery 1313 (1313 Queen St. West – just west of Cowan Ave., beside Green P parking lot) from 7:00pm to 9:00pm.

The top 10 designs will be exhibited at Gallery 1313 for 2 weeks after the opening reception."

Original Post: I just submitted a 1-colour illustration (see below) to the Parkdale Shopping Bag Call for Entries.

The chosen design will be printed on 5,000 re-usable shopping bags manufactured by Hey Jute and will be given out for FREE by PVBIA volunteers at local events including Nuit Blanche 2010 and Queen West Art Crawl 2010. On top of all this great publicity the winner is awarded 500 bucks! Pretty Sweet.

Inspiration: On my morning listen to Q on CBC radio, I learned of a new graphic novel based on the notorious Toronto bike thief, Igor Kenk. Sounds like an interesting read into the life and times of Kenk leading up to his arrest in 2008 for the theft of 3000 bikes. Check out KENK for more info.

Something "WORN"

Just finished these Button Illustrations for WORN Fashion Journal.

Assignment: Make a 1 inch button illustration of something "worn". I was supposed to make 1 illustration, but came up with 4 and like them as a series. I left it up to them to choose which they prefer. I think I'm leaning most towards my reddy pink loafers. Which in real life are black and white and my most comfortable shoes to walk to work in.

Fresh Pixels: Website Design

Now live: Niagara Falls Motor Lodge

I worked on new logo and website design sketches a few months ago and the lovely and talented, Teresa over at Attention Design out in Vancouver has just finished the coding.

I'm very pleased with the end result as I hear the client is as well.

Inspiration: Ru Kuwahata, my former classmate at Parsons, and bottomless pit of creativity

Fresh Ink: April Alteration

Happy Belated Earth Day. I hope everyone did their part. I did mine by walking to & from work and brought my travel mug to get morning coffee sans paper cup from my favourite environmentally conscious diner,Sadie's.

I just finished an illustration for the online magazine, The Lemon Life. The article is entitled April Alteration and it's all about changing your attitude about the month of April.

Inspiration: Clarina Bezzola. I worked with her 2 summers ago at her Brooklyn studio. She has a powerful imagination and carries out her ideas with big impact visuals.

Momentous March 8th

Happy Belated Birthdays to my late great mother, little niecey Madeline, and 100th celebration of International Women's Day.

Today's Inspiration: One of the artists who I always wanted to share with my mom, Andy Goldsworthy

Below are some drawings I did today 2 ways. Which style do you like better?

Wet Ink: Side St Magazine

Yay! I just got 2 copies of the magazine in the mail. They look awesome. I doodled "Gloves Off" while on hold with a customer service agent at my bank. I guess something good can come out of telephonic frustration.

Inspiration: One of my first favorites Gaston Lachaise

Wet Ink: STICKERYOU

Yay! STICKERYOU is live!
Now you can go to the site and make your own custom vinyl stickers.
The site allows you to upload your own artwork or take advantage of the 1000's of images of our artbank.


Here are a few of the brands & themes we currently offer.


If your a little tight on time or creativity, you quickly grab a pre-made page.


This is a view of our sticker maker. You can drag, drop and arrange the elements on your artboard. If you're looking for some more advanced features, you can also create your own text and mask shapes.


This is the page view. Notice the dotted line around the sticker, that is the custom diecut. Nice!

Wet Ink: Mergers & Acquisitions Now Available on ITunes

The album, Mergers & Acquisitions by Scott Lanaway is now available to purchase on ITunes. I illustrated the the cover of the album and am so pleased that Scott took a creative leap to put his faith into a cluster of antelope heads. The imagery matches his airy, mystical, layered album perfectly. My favourite track title is "Oprah, God Wants You To Have a Jet". The official album release is March 23rd and I can't wait to get my hands on a printed copy.

In the name of art & music making, my inspiration of the day is: david bowie