A pleasant surprise

While on our wine trail through Prince Edward County I had a hankering for a snack. That's when amid private residences we spotted what looked like a shop. It was not just a shop. It was cheese shop!! What goes better with wine then cheese, more specifically Fifth Town Artisan Cheese! It was amazing. We sampled almost every cheese in the shop and walked away our favourites (the washed-rind Cape Vessey and fresh cheese County Maple Bagel Chevre), along with some lavender honey goat ice cream. Yes it's as wonderful as it sounds.
If you do happen to be out visiting the wineries in PEC I highly recommend Norman Hardie's Winery. He is a master wine maker and his Chardonnay Cuvee L 2008 blew my mind!

Lazy Sunday

Today I just felt like finding moments in the apartment. The flowers that I had bought on Friday are in full bloom, the painting my grandmother gave to me years ago was calling to me, and my sisters mother-in-law's present of monogrammed coasters were reflecting the light just right. Also, my buttons from WORN magazine arrived weeks ago and were patiently waiting for me to document them. All things looked good dressed in a soft coat of Sunday light.

Fresh Ink: "By the Pound" Call to Artists

Sleeping Giant Gallery is putting together a new and very different kind of art show. See below email excerpt from Josh, one of the creative folks over at Sleeping Giant.

"Sleeping Giant Gallery will be hosting a 2 week exhibit in the month
of November featuring over 200 artists from across Ontario.
The idea behind this exhibit is to create a different outlook on the
way art purchasing is portrayed and actually sell art "By the Pound".
We will be transforming the entire gallery into a "meat market" with
counters, meat scales and a butcher station.
...Art will be sold "by the pound" and placed on a meat scale with a set price per
pound. Prices will vary based on weight per pound, but as it stands right now we are looking at somewhere around $250/pound."

I'm doing 3 pieces for this show and I'm very excited to see the work that is produced for this art "meat market". You can see 1 of my pieces below which is 8x10 inches on wood.

Fresh Pixels: TCA Icons

TCA, Toronto Craft Alert, asked me to create 3 icons for them to keep readers connected while they take a 6 month hiatus. Check out the screen shots below.

Back It

My first employer, Hyperakt, a Brooklyn based kick-ass design studio is always up to something. There latest project is to raise funds to print their informative and graphically pleasing World Cup poster. Check it out

Six by Eight: Call for Submissions

The Paper Place is doing a Call for Submissions. All you have to do is pick up the provided 6x8 Japanese Kozo paper, create your artwork and return it to the store by June 25th. Then they will hang it in a group show and should you want to sell it they take 0% commission! It's a great opportunity for emerging artists to get some exposure and best in show wins a $100 gift certificate to The Paper Place.
I just finished my piece called "Raindrops." Update SOLD: to a couple from Denmark!

We're All Connected

Indeed we are. This illustration reminded me of the trippy movie, I Heart Huckabees.

Current Obsession: Mango Salsa

I use Epicurious for almost all of my recipes. My current obsession is this Mango Salsa Recipe. I usually add avocado and have never tried it with red pepper, but I'm sure it's great. The recipe got rave reviews from my monthly Women's Wine Group and I even got my candy addicted father-in-law to eat a hefty serving. It's quick, easy, and so so healthy. Plus avocados and mangoes are so ripe and reasonable right now. Yum!

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.