52

2011-12-05T19:31:00.001-05:00

Here are two of nine large versions of the city work I've done. 22 x 30 inches, I'll post some more when I get around to take photos. These prints will be on display through the month of December and into the new year at restaurant Aux Vivres - 4631 boulevard St-Laurent in Montreal. The work will be up as of Thursday December 8th.
I'm also selling prints at the Holiday edition of Puces Pop again - this coming weekend - at St-Enfant Jesus Church (5035 St-Dominique, Montreal). Hope to see you all there ...

2011-11-29T17:12:00.001-05:00

My poster for the Super-Presse Club - it opens this Thursday! Click here for a great interview/article with letterpress master printer Kiva from the Casa del Popolo - the location of the pop-up shoppe - on the excellent Drink and Draw Montreal blog. We've been busy setting up this week - here's a photo of some of us putting up the frames:

2011-11-25T09:34:00.001-05:00

The latest print, a 8-colour print of a house on Marconi Street in Montreal. 22 x 30 inches, 56 x 76 cm.

2011-11-24T07:55:00.006-05:00

Above is a print by Jacinthe Loranger celebrating a super exciting double announcement. I have become a founding member of the Super-Presse Club, a collective of one might say super-printmakers here in Montreal; and our first activity is to open a pop-up shop for the month of December, where all our great prints and other printed goods will be on display and purchasable as gifts or other wares.

Since I haven't had any coffee yet and can barely type I'm just going to cut and paste our manifesto/press release below:

LE SUPER-PRESSE CLUB - LA POP-UP SHOPPE DES IMPRIMEURS

December 2011

We print. We lay ink down on paper, on cloth, on wood, on anything. We make many. Print is for all. In the streets, on the metro, in school, at work, in your home.

LE SUPER-PRESSE CLUB is a fourteen member strong meeting of the minds of the cream of the crop of Montreal’s prolific printmaking community! A printmaker’s collective. Our membership includes rock poster innovators Seripop; local Sérigraphie hero Simon Bossé; internationally renowned comic book author Julie Doucet; radical ink slinger and only Canadian member of the Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative Jesse Purcell; Montreal rock legend and paper-warrior Dominique Pétrin; illustrator-artist mastermind Breeree; black line guru, member of En Masse and muralist Tyler Rauman; surrealist mind-fuck maker Jacinthe Loranger; the technical wizardry of Daygristle screens; the paper ministries of Kirsten McCrea and JP King; the iron beasts and wooden letters of Popolo Press; and the optical illusions of Nomryn. There is art here in multitudinous awesomeness!

LA POP-UP SHOPPE DES IMPRIMEURS

Printmaker’s Pop-Up Shop @ the Casa del Popolo…

Just in time for the holiday season….

For the month of December we will offer our wares for sale in the welcoming arms of the Casa del Popolo Venue. Posters, art-prints, books, limited editions, one of a kind collages, accessories, cards, gifts, and all things printed will be available! Opening hours are 12:00 pm until 5:00 pm on Thursday through Sunday for the first three weeks of December and 12:00 pm until 5:00 pm on Tuesday through Friday in the week before Christmas. You are also invited to a blowout hands on printmaking extravaganza opening party on Saturday, December 3 from 2:00 PM until 5:00 PM with live printmaking, wet ink, artists in house and much imbibing. Come on by and get your print on!

2011-11-22T07:53:00.003-05:00

A next new print. Six colours, 22x30 inches. A building on the next street over from the studio. I'm in the studio now, working on the backlog of prints to be done. More to come!

2011-11-21T09:38:00.003-05:00

A recent print of an alley in Toronto. Toronto has a few things going for it I must say, alleys are one of these things. 22x30 inches, four colours (with a more serene grey variant).

2011-10-12T07:44:00.002-04:00

Thanks again to everyone who came out and visited my table, both in Montreal and London, the last few weeks. Great to be back home but we had a lot of fun in England this time! Hopefully now that all the travelling is over I'll be producing (and posting) more work, there's a backlog of projects I need to accomplish.

The above poster is one of a few I had printed before I left for Europe.

2011-09-22T11:48:00.002-04:00

London, a large version of the city prints series. This one is 22 x 18 inches, three colours. Very convenient to have this one finished just before the London Renegade Fair.

2011-09-15T20:59:00.004-04:00

This is ridiculous! Almost two months since my last post. Summer was nice to me, but not to my blog. I'll say this: I will take that situation any day of the week.

Been working on a lot of new prints in preparation for two fairs I'll be attending: Montreal's famous Puces Pop on the weekend of September 24-25 - at the St-Michel Church (corner St-Viateur and St-Urbain); and then across the pond at London's Renegade Fair October 8-9 at the Old Truman Brewery. More details in the links above.

Once I extricate myself from all the ink and emulsion I'll post some photos of the newer work.

2011-08-02T07:42:00.003-04:00

Valparaiso, a newer city print. I had done this a couple of weeks back before I left for two weeks at a cottage with no power and no running water. Getting back on the computer has been a little tough after being out in the country for that long!

2011-06-14T12:45:00.003-04:00

The last three posters I did for the Suoni per il Popolo festival. The Omar Souleyman show was last night, and was incredible, very crazy Syrian pop/dance music show, I don't know how to describe it. I had just returned from the Renegade fair in New York City earlier yesterday and even though I was tired I knew I couldn't miss it. I had seen him the previous night in Brooklyn! It had been a long time since I'd done that - watch the same show in two different cities on consecutive nights. It was worth it.
Many thanks to all the New Yorkers who came out to Renegade and stopped by. Saturday was misty and rainy, pretty stressful for trying to sell prints on paper outdoors, but Sunday was great. Glad to be back home safe and sound.

2011-06-06T09:58:00.002-04:00

The latest in the series of city prints. "Bogota". 4 colours on this one.

It's ridiculous to make an announcement about my participation in an art fair AFTER the fair ended, but I'm ridiculous like that. I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend at Puces Pop last Saturday and Sunday. Thanks to the indomitable Gordon Allen for keeping me company and all the people who bought stuff, or just hung out and chatted. Spring fashions are crazy this year.

Next weekend, I'm in Brooklyn for the Renegade Craft fair. I've never done this in New York - I've been looking forward to biking through the streets of Brooklyn for a while. A bicycle ride in a different part of the world is one of my favorite things.

2011-05-30T00:34:00.002-04:00

Three recent posters for the Suoni per il Popolo festival in June here in Montreal.

2011-05-10T20:26:00.003-04:00

A recent poster I did for an upcoming show at this summer's Dawson City Music Festival in the Yukon. I could use some of that midnight sun right about now, spring in Montreal has been ridiculous and grey. Three colours, 12x18 inches.

2011-04-09T08:05:00.003-04:00

A new city print - Brooklyn. 11x15 inches, 3 colours on a tan bristol cover stock.

These city prints are usually made up of a quick idea or thought about a particular city, I sketch something out quickly and get to work printing it. With this print I wanted to have a more detailed approximation (?) of Brooklyn - its street layout and overall shape. I spent a few days in Google Earth and Street View, "walking around" some of the streets of the city, to get an idea of some of the buildings in the parts of town I hadn't visited (basically everything south and east of Prospect Park). Next time I get back there I'm just going to take a day and bike around everywhere. Street View is a pretty interesting way of visiting a city but it can't be the only source for my personal memories of these neighbourhoods.

2011-03-16T19:56:00.003-04:00

A print of a solitary house north of our place, on my way to the old studio, in an industrial area right by the tracks. I've been passing by this place for years and admiring its simple beauty and I'm hopeful I've done this house some justice. This print has been a long time in development and is my most technically accomplished print, in some ways. It's a 7 colour print, 22x25" and an edition of 12.

2011-03-02T13:17:00.002-05:00

A recent three-colour poster I did for The Besnard Lakes' tour through China and Australia.

2011-02-28T14:12:00.005-05:00

I submitted a few pages from my sketchbook to the wonderful Sketchbook 2010 project, part of the fantastic Montreal Drink and Draw. The website is showcasing lots of great work by, and resources for, illustrators in Montreal and elsewhere and is run by the talented Aimee van Drimmelen. I'm happy to have some of her work up on the walls at home! Click here to see the article.

2011-02-22T16:53:00.001-05:00

Two recent monoprints.

2011-02-10T08:10:00.003-05:00

Two eastern European city prints on black paper: Split and Prague, both are editions of 40 and 11 x 14".

2011-02-08T12:16:00.003-05:00

A monoprint of mine is up on the walls at Monastiraki, along with other famouser artists who've all been a part of the Distroboto project - affordable art sold out of refurbished cigarette machines. The show goes all month of February. More info here.

2011-01-24T17:07:00.002-05:00

Finally, I'm happy enough with photos I've taken of my work done up in the Yukon. This is the first of the two large pieces, "Seven Months and Six Weeks", 76 x 240 inches, comprised of 18 pieces of 26 x 40" paper tiled together. The full piece is the last of the images here and the four images before it are details. Even with the larger image and detailed shots, a lot of the little bits of detail and cloudy layers get lost in the photos. But I think it will be as good as I get, until I manage to get a professional to do this for me.

2011-01-22T17:35:00.004-05:00

These prints are entitled "La Mauricie I & II". They are 26 x 40 inches. They are unique prints - I constructed them by printing a number of identical images many times to create the landscape. As these printed layers were added to one another, the composition began to emerge ... and then the layers of people came in. A closeup still doesn't allow for a detailed view of these images. It's been a nightmare trying to figure out the best way to document these things. But I feel I'm getting closer to it.
These prints are similar to the ones I did up in the Yukon last year on my residency. Can't believe it's already been a year since I was up North. And I'm still trying to document the work I did a year ago!

2011-01-11T13:02:00.003-05:00

This new print is of the Van Horne viaduct near my house. 4 colours, 22" x 28".
I have no new year's goals that are any different than my regular goals. My studio goals continue to be

1. Become a better printer

2. Become a safer printer.

My artistic goals are separate from these two, and a little less defined, and I do need to put some work in on clarifying them. I may elaborate later but for now just look at this print.

2011-01-04T14:05:00.006-05:00

Here is the first print I've completed since coming back to the studio after the holidays. It's been a long time coming - my tribute to the king of pop. This is the landscape from the video for "Billie Jean" and is titled as such. I remember waiting in line the winter of 1982, at 6 in the morning, outside of Kelly's in Regina, waiting for the store to open so I could buy the album Thriller. I remember the LP cost $4.99. My love for M.J. comes from those times, the Thriller times, not the wierd nose and balcony stunts times. And, M.J. died at the same time my baby was born, so I'd been wanting to finish this print for a while - it's 7 colours and 22 " x 25".

Oh, and the Renegade Fair in SF went great. Over 270 vendors, in a great old hall in the middle of the downtown. I met a bunch of nice people and creative types and had a great time hanging out in Oakland as well as the City. I'm going to have to do it again sometime. Thanks to all who came out and bought prints and chatted me up.

2010-12-13T21:52:00.002-05:00

Off to San Francisco (above is a larger version of the SF print) and then on holidays and away from computers (hooray) so this will be my last post of the year. Happy Holidays!

2010-12-01T20:02:00.002-05:00

A recent print of a landscape done by building up a background with many layers of blues and browns, and filling in with the main colours and lines. The overall texture in the details and depth of the colour on the print is what I was looking for but you'll have to take my word for it as, once again, the photo doesn't do it justice. I did 10 similar, but not identical prints, of this image and they're all around 20 x 26 inches.

2010-11-30T16:25:00.004-05:00

Two prints - Helsinki and Tokyo. These are re-prints of two of my oldest city illustrations but I've decided to reprint them in different colorways. I'm busy getting ready for the Renegade fair in San Francisco and am at the studio a lot now. I've been trying to get a schedule like this for a while. It really helps being at the studio every day. So far so good.

2010-11-19T16:39:00.003-05:00

San Francisco the latest city print. Three colours and the transparent white as fog. I'm participating in the Renegade Craft fair in San Francisco this December and thought what better time to get to work on the SF print I've had in mind for a while: the view of the hills and the Golden Gate bridge and out over the bay.

The Renegade Fair is December 18 and 19 at 620 7th Street in San Francisco.

2010-11-10T12:42:00.004-05:00

This is the first image I've printed at the new studio - 13 x 18 inches, 2 colours on a thick black cover stock. These and some other new prints will be sharing a table, with me, at this year's Expozine, this weekend Nov. 13 and 14, 5035 St-Dominique in Montreal (Église Saint-Enfant Jésus). Noon until 6PM. Click here for more info.

2010-11-09T11:41:00.003-05:00

The view inside, and from, the new studio. I live right near the water tower in the middle of the photo, it's a 5 minute bike ride away. I drop my boy off at daycare in the morning and bang, I'm at the studio. AMAZING.

I've moved in - finally - and my stuff now occupies a little corner near the windows. My Poco proof press lies waiting there for me in the second photo. The space is lighter and larger than the old cave I was in. Slight adjustments to my process will have to be made but already I'm feeling better and more comfortable in this space. The folks I'm with now are amazing and inspiring. I've known Jason and Alice for a while and we've always talked about getting together and sharing space. Now it's happened. This is going to be a very good thing.

2010-10-19T12:37:00.005-04:00

I'm moving out of my studio. I'm depressed.

I've been in the same studio space for 3 or 4 or 5 years now. My friends Jace and Dave and I took over a 10,000 sq.ft space on the third floor of a building near the Jean-Talon Market. It was previously home to the Gildan t-shirt company, before they moved their dubious business practices to Nicaragua. For Jace and Dave, the space allowed them to build their recording studio from the walls up, stud by drywall panel by electrical outlet. Breakglass Studios flourished, and is now a successful studio where the who's who of the Montreal music scene hang out and play Nintendo (and record some albums). I had my cosy 400 square foot space inside of it all - it was my sanctuary, I could go away and work alone, away from the computer screen and desk. There was the odd nightmarish time where a rock band would be doing the 84th take of a vocal track, just not getting it right, but mostly we kept different schedules and often I'd have a pretty amazing soundtrack as a backdrop to my work.

But that's all about to change. Thursday next, I'm moving down the road and in with two other printers, Jason and Alice from Serigraphie 514, amazing people and great artists. I think they deserve and will get their own post, likely when I move into the new space. It's a good thing, it's going to be great. I just feel sad about leaving this old space.

Today I carted out a bunch of trash and brought a ton of things back home. There's less space for me at the new studio, but that's a good thing, it means I'll be less prone to picking up that great vintage aluminum newspaper rack I'll use to display my prints (never used, rusting in a corner) or that amazing plexiglass store sign I'll turn into a lightbox (never happened). Part of my sadness involves going through so much crap, things I picked up with a real desire to turn into art, print on, or work with. To me now, as I chuck most of them in the bin, or drop them off at the charity shop across the street, they've become symbols of abandoned plans and dreams and wasted time.

So, today I'm depressed, but if I look into the not-too-distant future, I get excited. It's time for a change, a fresh start, and the pros outweigh the cons at least 5 to 1. And, if I think about it a little more, I remember how many amazing projects I worked on in this space and how it made me the artist I am today.

2010-10-15T10:44:00.003-04:00

Another quick announcement: I'll have one of my illustrations (the Ookpik) in this year's Pindemonium - a group show of works on small buttons. Last year I think about 40 local artists were featured and I'm sure as many will be on display this time. Maison Kasini, 372 Ste-Catherine ouest #406, the vernissage is October 16 at 2PM.

2010-10-04T12:09:00.003-04:00

Several new monoprints, of various sizes. I brought these to sell at Puces Pop last weekend. It went really well. Thanks to everyone for coming out. It was an affirming weekend - I felt like I'm doing good work that seems to be appreciated. I feel very fortunate to be able to do the things I love to do. Lots of great folks and good conversations.

2010-10-01T09:02:00.006-04:00

A new print in the city series - two colours (brown and light beige) on a burgundy card stock. I'm taking a few new prints and monoprints to sell at the Puces Pop craft fair this weekend. The fair is the 2nd and 3rd of October from 11 am to 6 pm at St-Michaels Church (corner of St-Urbain and St-Viateur). Click here for more info. See you there!

2010-09-13T13:13:00.005-04:00

So the fine folks at the Polaris Music Prize contacted me again this year to contribute a poster for this year's prize nominations. Instead of offering the 10 nominees a plaque or ribbon or something, 10 artists create a screenprinted poster commemorating one of the albums nominated. I think it's a great idea especially since I get paid handsomely to print this poster for the Besnard Lakes' latest album. I think they will win this year. But I'm not a judge.

The ten posters will also be part of a touring group exhibition. First stop is Canteen Gallery in Ottawa; the prints will be up from the 17th to 26th of September. Here is some more information.

2010-09-01T17:39:00.005-04:00

Here's yet another in the city series. Hanoi, three colours. The yellow is transparent and I overprinted on the green to create a lighter colour on the water.

It's the first time I have used Speedball transparent base in my projects. In the past I have used Floetrol to make my inks transparent. It's fine for larger prints, and because it's so runny and mixes strangely with my mashup of inks and paint, it creates interesting patterns and textures in my work, but the transparent base is like butter, so smooth and so consistent - and seems to afford a larger range of transparency. I'll keep working with Floetrol on occasion, but am pretty sold on this new stuff.

Happy September. Where does the time go.

2010-08-23T14:05:00.004-04:00

It's been difficult to spend a long time at the studio, or to concentrate on larger print projects. I'm still trying to take decent photos of my larger pieces. I feel I need to document my works well before I can move forward with some of my larger ideas for projects. In the meantime, these small prints are a good project to keep me printing. The city prints I'm working on are great, because they allow me to produce something in an afternoon at the studio. This latest one is Amsterdam - three colours, an edition of 40.

2010-08-10T14:30:00.006-04:00

We went to a wedding in Detroit a few weeks back. I had never been, apart from driving through about 15 years ago on an ill-fated road trip to Mexico (we got as far as Laguna Beach in a 1975 Dodge Van). I remember very little of the view from the freeway. This time we stayed in the downtown area for a couple of days and had an amazing time. There's only so much exploring you can do with a baby in tow but we saw some great art (the Diego Rivera mural at the Art Institute, and the Heidelberg Project which really deserves another post unto itself) and wonderful architecture. It's just incredible how this city's core - made up of art deco skyscrapers, turn of the century mansions and factories - looks like it's been forgotten. You can see the sky through abandoned skyscrapers and neglected apartment buildings. As a visual experience it's incredibly striking and awesome.

And all the people I met in passing, on the street, in stores, were incredibly friendly. Detroiters (Detroiticians?) seem proud of their city and open to talking to strangers. It's a strange atmosphere in the downtown area. Streets are deserted, buildings abandoned and nature is taking over entire neighbourhoods, but there seems to be some sort of spirit of hope, of potential, or excitement about the place and its residents. Many people I've spoken to talk about this idea of living in an urban environment where the original system just didn't work, and having now the potential to reclaim their local spaces and start fresh, from the ground up.

Had we stayed another night we would have been able to take part in a chicken race: one of the urban community farms had painted lines in a street and brought their chickens to race. Outdoors, music, barbecue, beer, people, and wierd animals. That's basically my ideal summer event.

Anyways, I felt inspired to do a quick print of the city and throw it in with the rest of the series. I'm sure I'll be bringing more of Detroit into my future prints.

2010-08-06T13:47:00.005-04:00

The Man Drawing Salon's most potent time was a little before the beginning of this blog, but I guess you can't keep a good thing down for long. If butt-ugly faces, made of bubbles and human organs, illustrated in pencil by myself, Joe Ollmann and Billy Mavreas, is a good thing, that is.

Man Drawing Salon will be part of a group exhibition curated by Billy at Galerie La Petite Mort in Ottawa, for the month of August.

2010-08-04T09:56:00.001-04:00

Halifax, part of the city print series. 11 x 15", 3 colours.

2010-07-28T13:26:00.002-04:00

"For Gramps." This one was part of the exhibition in March 2010 at the ODD gallery in Dawson City, YT.

R.I.P. Gramps.

2010-07-12T21:35:00.002-04:00

The heatwave hounded me through all of last week - I got very little done. I should really have spent more time at the studio as it's wonderfully air conditioned! But the brain does funny things in a heatwave, such as losing common sense and not working properly. Anyways I got up today and finished this print of the Mount Royal Cemetery. It's 4 colours - all shades of grey - and is 18 x 22 inches. I like the texture that came out from these screens, lots of little details.

2010-07-05T08:30:00.006-04:00

Just a quick note to say that several of my recent monoprints have been featured in the latest issue of Branch Magazine - a quarterly Canadian online art/literary magazine. Click here to see it!

2010-06-30T21:08:00.003-04:00

I am in love with the Dawson City Music Festival even though I have never been. How much better can you get, partying for three days in the land of the midnight sun and listening to a bunch of great music? Anyway they asked me to do a poster for the festival this year and I was pretty chuffed. Here it is.

2010-06-28T10:05:00.003-04:00

Four of my prints will be on exhibiton at Galerie Rye, as part of a group show centred around drawing, pretty exciting! Lots of great artists are involved. The vernissage is Saturday the 10th of July, at 1331 Ste-Catherine East (near Panet) and the show runs until the 25th of July.

2010-06-15T11:04:00.004-04:00

The last few prints from the series of Montreal scenes. See previous posts. Victoria Bridge, the Bucky Dome, Beaver Lake.
Some small things to finish up at the studio (including a monster clean) and then a bit of time off from printing. Sanding and staining the deck time ... been putting that job off for a few months.

2010-06-14T19:32:00.003-04:00

The Suoni posters are all finished! Nice to see some of them up on the streets.

2010-06-13T23:28:00.004-04:00

The scene at the studio this weekend as I'm finishing up the posters for Suoni per il Popolo. I love my little 5 inch black and white TV - it is bringing me World Cup joy.

2010-06-03T08:28:00.003-04:00

More prints from the same series as the previous post. Downtown Montreal, with the light from the Place Ville Marie building; Silo 5 in Old Montreal; and the Big O. All of these prints are around 10 x 12 inches.

2010-06-02T12:32:00.004-04:00

The Turcot Yards
The Angel (George-Étienne Cartier Statue), parc Mont-Royal
A path near the tracks
Van Horne Viaduct
Metro Berri-UQAM (with stained glass mural by Pierres Gaboriau & Osterrath)

These are some of the prints I've been working on - and using for the Suoni per il Popolo festival. A previous post had me talking about how inspired I've been lately, by the streets and spaces of Montreal, and I've been doing a lot of drawing of these spaces. I am working on about a dozen posters for the Suoni festival and am printing a few extra copies of these scenes just as art prints. Below are two of the posters - the above images with text:
More to come!

2010-05-30T22:49:00.003-04:00

Just a quick note to say I'll be selling new prints and old ones at the spring version of Puces Pop, Saturday-Sunday 5-6 June at the Ukrainian Federation in Montreal, 10:30 - 6PM both days. 5213 Hutchison, corner Fairmount. Come one come all!

2010-05-15T10:07:00.003-04:00

This old concert poster is one of 10 I have up on exhibition at the Nuits Sonores music festival in Lyon, France. Each year, this festival showcases one francophone city's music and art, and Montreal was chosen this year. It's a group exhibition of concert posters designed by myself and fellow Montrealers Seripop, Nick Kuypfer, and Nomryn.

2010-05-11T15:11:00.003-04:00

This is a print of Montreal I've finished, part of this series of cities I'm working on. Every so often, one gets finished. I'm loving Montreal right now and am drawing much more than I've been in a while, it's a great city in which to draw.

2010-05-04T11:23:00.005-04:00

These days I am less and less in the studio and when I'm there I'm not printing but this is something I finished, it's 22 x 30 inches. My baby is now 10 months old and he is ... it's kind of indescribable. It's a maelstrom of life over here.

2010-04-13T09:49:00.003-04:00

A small piece I finished earlier this week that gave me an idea for a series. We'll see where that goes ... Screenprint and india ink. 11 x 15 inches.

I'm not spending very much time at the studio since I've returned from the Yukon. All the little details of life - including raising a small baby and trying to make some money - are preventing me from balancing my schedule. But everything is fine, because it's spring in Montreal and because my little boy is a good time all the time. Even at 4 A.M. Last night.

One thing I am planning on doing, and by writing it here I've just made it real, is a thorough environmental audit of my studio and my work. I've been conscious of just how much water I use while screenprinting and there must be a way to cut down on this. At the same time I want to examine my entire practice (paper use and re-use, energy consumption, etc.) to see how much room there is for improvement. I'm sure little things can make the difference and will be documenting my process on these pages. More to come.

2010-03-24T14:00:00.011-04:00

An unordered and incomplete list of the little things I gained a further appreciation of, or came to love, or became or remain inspired by, or will never look at in the same way again, as a result of my 6 weeks spent in Dawson City*

* other than the obvious (residency work, exhibitions, northern lights, crunchy snow, small towns, fresh air, that sort of thing)

1. Home Hardware Packing Tape (6-pack). I have finally found a tape that will mask the designs on my screens without ripping the emulsion off when I wash them out, probably because the adhesive quality on this tape is so shoddy. I would say I use packing tape more than any other material in my current practice. This is without a doubt one of my most important recent finds. Too bad there are no Home Hardware stores in Montreal.

2. Olfa knives. The real deal. I'll go for cheap imitations any time but not anymore with this one. These knives even have a thingy on the bottom that will open paint cans, unscrew things, and mash rope into grooves (if that's important to you - it is to me).

3. A box of cookies as Valentine's Day present. Thanks Mom.

4. Broccoli.

5. Euchre.

6. A height and angle adjustable drafting table. I must get one for my studio space.

7. Sticks and Skates. For $2 you get a good stick and skates - in your size - and you go shoot the puck at the net in the Dawson City arena. I realize if you have your own stick, skates and rink, you can do this for free, but there are no outdoor rinks in Dawson. I know. Anyways, it seemed like a steal of a deal for me and I still feel that way.

8. Working in a space other than the one you are familiar with. The adjustments I needed to make to my practice - major and minor - by setting up a studio in an unfamiliar space made me a better artist and printer.

9. Dry cold (as opposed to wet cold). A reminder of the difference is life-changing.

10. Bacon, in a brick, as opposed to sliced. I bought a slab of bacon at Stacy's Butcher Block in Whitehorse before heading up to Dawson and kept it in the freezer. You cut off a chunk when it's frozen, into cubes, and add to a stew, chili, curry, right at the beginning ... it's the real deal, just like the Olfa knife. Since I'm on the meat thing here, I'll add to this list my love of caribou, bison, and elk, all of which I enjoyed in various ways up North.

11. Organizing and leading workshops. I've turned the corner on workshops. No longer are they stressful. They are a genuine way for me to share what I've learned. I also gain a fair amount of insight on how I work.

12. Cross-country skiing.

13. Permafrost.

14. "More Love" by Kim Carnes.

15. Boiler rooms.

16. Proper lighting.

Thus ends the last post dedicated to documenting my Dawson experience. I'm still wading through the photos from the show and hope to get those up soon.

2010-03-22T10:33:00.005-04:00

"For Gramps." 22x30, screenprint. One of the works on display at the ODD Gallery.

I'm back in Montreal now and am trying to get some perspective on the last six weeks spent in Dawson City. But I've mostly just been hanging out with my little baby and getting to know him again. I'm happy to be back, absolutely, but miss being up North in ways I don't really understand. I miss things like the smell of wood stove smoke, the crisp winter air, the sound of ravens hanging around the landfill. I've jumped back into work today and hopefully will be able to figure out some time to process my residency and exhibition. My next task is to collect and make sense of the numerous photos I took of the pieces in the gallery.

2010-03-12T19:29:00.003-05:00

Last night was the opening. The show was a great success! 45 people showed up and I knew each and every one of them. More photos to come. For now, I'm just going to enjoy my last night in Dawson.

2010-03-10T12:22:00.004-05:00

Took some time off from the final touches to the show by getting a tour of the old Dawson Daily News, an old letterpress print shop; the news was published (weekly perhaps?) until it closed shop in 1954. I took about fifty photos of this huge old building and the beautiful presses and guillotine above, as well as the back room, which contains all the old wood and lead type and smaller items (tabletop and book presses, machines for melting and making lead type, composing tables, you name it). Pretty amazing and also a little sad considering all this equipment (except perhaps the main gargantuan press - not shown - which used to print the newspaper) are probably well workable.

Apparently it just takes somebody with a decent proposal to put to Parks Canada to get the shop up and running again ...

2010-03-09T02:09:00.003-05:00

This is a test print and contains most of the elements I've used to print the other large piece (see earlier post). Still not sure how I'm going to photograph the whole print once it's up. Everything goes up tomorrow! Pretty excited.

2010-03-08T23:03:00.003-05:00

Today I drove up the Dempster Highway with a couple of friends. Strange to drive to no particular destination; just get in the car, drive for a while, and come back the way you came. I don't know, it seemed odd to me. Unless of course the road is the destination, and that road is the Dempster Highway.

It's a gravel road that drives 750 odd kilometres into the North, to Inuvik (and to Tuktoyaktuk in the winter months). But only about an hour north of Dawson the land changes, from pine forest to mountains and shrubs, and the beginnings of the tundra. I'd been told that the Dempster was something not to be missed; it was described by one person as the reason they moved up here in the first place.

It's hard to capture anything this vast and magnificent by camera (see previous 20 entries), but it was a definite highlight. Once you get past the tree line you lose all sense of scale. Everything is so enormous, the space goes on forever; and something that looks close can be miles away. The valleys and mountains in the photos above were too immense to comprehend. I fell asleep on the road back.

2010-03-07T23:11:00.004-05:00

Such a friend.

2010-03-06T21:04:00.003-05:00

I've always been a big fan of maps and the visual display of information, so I had to share this wonderful map that greets you when you arrive at Dawson City's Quigly Landfill and freestore. Wonderful hand lettering. Each of the different areas in the landfill (tires, white metals) has its own painted sign with further instructions. (The Burn Barrel is very post-apocalyptic.)

2010-03-05T16:45:00.003-05:00

I had done a community screenprinting workshop a couple of days back, but this time the students from the School of Visual Art came over for a studio visit - we chatted about my practice and my studio setup and I got each of them to cut out a stencil and did a print of their images. All in all a great break from my own work and also very informative - I found out there is indeed a karaoke night in Dawson on Saturdays! Hmmmmmmmm.

This weekend is my last full weekend in town, and I'm torn between getting as much work done as possible and enjoying the town life. The good thing is that I don't feel stressed and am actually looking forward to my public talk on Thursday, and my final piece isn't finished, but it will be in plenty of time (barring a catastrophe).

Of course it would help if I didn't spend time writing blog posts.

2010-03-04T16:02:00.004-05:00

Some in-progress detail photos of the last print I am working on ... this one will measure about 20 feet by 6.5 feet. The paper is a warm grey. The photos capture roughly 8x12 inches of the overall. So yeah, there's a lot more than just this.

I'm on my last few days here! Trying to work a lot but also get out and about, it's sunny and warm out in Dawson.

2010-02-28T01:23:00.003-05:00

Another ridiculous point-and-shoot/iPhoto masterpiece, this time of the full moon. It doesn't do it much justice, but let me tell you that's one amazing moon looking out over Dawson City right now. I'm going for a walk.

2010-02-28T00:59:00.004-05:00

Colin's songwriting residency ended yesterday and his last night in town was spent performing an intimate and wonderful concert at the Oddfellows Hall. This is a terrible photo. There were nice tables, candles and hecklers, and little bite-size quiches at the bar. We sent him off with a round or two at Bombay Peggy's and then we closed the Pit. Colin was quite honestly the perfect roommate - this coming from a guy who never again wanted to live with somebody other than his lady and small child. Here's hoping we'll cross paths again, and next time I'll bake a Maybe Smith action figure out of cornbread with a dollop of poutine for his head.

Of course Colin's departure has made me aware of my own imminent deadline. Less than two weeks before the show opens. There's time, but a lot less time than there was... a couple of minutes ago.

2010-02-25T13:56:00.004-05:00

It's hard to take a photo of a piece that is 24 feet long by 6 and a half feet tall - instead here is one of 21 panels that make up the image (each panel is 26 x 40 inches). Once it's all put together, it will be the biggest piece I'll be putting up in the gallery (in just 2 weeks!)

I'd sketched out a general idea and laid it out on a grid and used it for reference while I built up the print :

but it's a different thing when you are working on a large piece of paper, a lot of space needs to be filled. I laid the whole piece out last night for the first time - I have been printing each of these panels individually and so hadn't actually been able to visualize the whole thing. Fine tuning aside, the piece is finished. I'm generally happy with it. It really is a different type of project than one that I'm used to and it challenged me in different ways - but has gone pretty smoothly so far.

I am planning on making another large piece for the show but am going to approach it in a different way, maybe a little less structured, and see what happens. Kind of risky I suppose, given it needs to get done (and look good) in less than 2 weeks ...

2010-02-21T20:24:00.004-05:00

Another view south down the Yukon River. I skiied along the snowmobile tracks around town just before sunset. It's been an abnormally warm winter here and global warming has come up in several conversations at the tavern, but I have to say this is the perfect winter weather - dry, sunny, no wind, and around -10 in the day. Easy to bundle up but the air is so fresh and crisp. Still would like to experience a couple of -40 days, but it doesn't look likely at this stage.

Right now I'm working on the largest piece I have in mind for the show. I'm printing on smaller pieces and will eventually tile them up in the gallery space. Things are beginning to shape up for the show - all the promotional pieces have been created, dates finalized, etc.

My residency is obviously being shaped by the fact I'm working towards a show. It's been a constant in how I'm looking at my time. It's been good to have a deadline. I know that if I hadn't needed to produce work for a show during this residency, my work could have been quite different, perhaps more experimental, who knows? So most of my work now is building on what I know and investigating my process, refining my techniques and practicing them in relation to the demands of the space and materials at hand. Lots of time printing! I'm so thankful to have this time.

2010-02-19T01:02:00.002-05:00

My studio space as of 5 minutes ago. I like these big work lamps a lot. (And the wood panelling of course.)

2010-02-17T19:20:00.003-05:00

Today I wrapped up a two-day illustration/2D workshop with 8 or so local high school students. I know, right? I'm sure they couldn't find anybody else.

But it was a real highlight so far - for me having been able to get up and speak to high school students and in a way that got a couple of points across - and for the fact that the kids were super great and got into it, despite not knowing me from a hole in the wall.

The project they are working on part of International Polar Year, where youth from northern communities learn about and create projects in film, radio, 2D, etc. and place their finished products into a time capsule that will be opened by students their age in 25 years. The International Council for Science organizes the Polar Year every 25 years. The students' work will be exhibited in Yellowknife in April.

Anyways, it made my life richer, and I was happy it seemed to work out.

Now, back to work. I'm finishing a piece for the show tonight. After that I won't be able to look at it again. Why does this always happen?

2010-02-17T13:45:00.003-05:00

Went to a house concert last night! It's a concert held in somebody's home, an intimate setting where a few people (40 last night) watch a performer do two acoustic sets and hang out. Everybody brings snacks and drink, and pay a fee - 100% of which goes to the performer in question. Last night Luther Wright (also known for recording a bluegrass country version of Pink Floyd's The Wall, with his band the Wrongs) played with a banjo and bass back-up. I'd never been to something like this and I had a really great time. Way better than standing at a venue for 3 hours and having your ears blown out by the rock music, but that's my 37-year old body and mind talking now. Luther even - I guess with some help from some other folks - tricked me into dancing for a bit. What a nightmare I am! But good fun was had by all.

I love this place.

2010-02-14T23:33:00.007-05:00

These crazy dogs took me in a sled up the Alaska Highway this afternoon! I went up with Colin and Jonathan - the dog sled master - on a beautiful day and got to see a nice panorama over Dawson City. These animals are the noisiest I've ever heard, howling and baying until Jonathan gets them in the harnesses, but when the sled anchor goes up, it's immediately silent, all you hear is the sound of the dogs' paws on the snow, the crunch of the sleigh and the wind in your ears. And Jonathan offering encouragement and shouting instructions every now and then. It was a great time.

This was the view of Dawson City when we stopped and turned around.

I'm doing some art as well - it's just so far not been as exciting as this afternoon's adventure.

And Happy Valentine's day to those I love! You know who you are!

2010-02-14T11:51:00.003-05:00

When I arrived in Dawson I built three frames - two at 18" x 24" and another at 24" x 36". The big one is pictured above in my "washout booth". I think I've ruled out using it again for the duration of the residency.

Most of my printing is getting done on two smaller frames - 9" x 12" - I've borrowed from KIAC.

2010-02-12T23:37:00.004-05:00

Today I visited the studio of John Steins, Dawson printmaker. He does relief carving and printing - woodblocks and linocuts mostly - his studio space is a little less than 200 square feet. He's got a beautiful, surprisingly compact Praga press - the bed allows for 24 inch prints. He built the table underneath it - the casters are a great idea. Pretty amazing space - and well put together with plenty of shelves and drawers - it puts my setup to shame in terms of organization. I'm sure it's also quite handy having a computer near the print setup as well.

It's good to see how other people print and work. The big thing I've learned up here is how different it can be to print away from the setup I'm used to. I've got a fully functioning studio here but the way I go about things is different. The major difference is that it's incredibly dry here and everything dries much quicker, including the ink. It's definitely influenced how I'm printing. I can't let the screens sit for long otherwise they'll gum up, but there's also some interesting effects I'm able to play with while things are drying. I'm getting more texture and happy accidents as a result.

2010-02-11T21:40:00.003-05:00

A super strange phenomenon I've never been privy to before. The flash is acting on tiny ice crystals in the air or something ... they are invisible and only the flash catches them.

It's wierd, the ice crystals seem to be forming into the shape of a screaming face and raised arms. Can anyone explain this to me? Anyone?

The above was taken from the alley behind the KIAC residence.

2010-02-11T03:06:00.005-05:00

Yesterday I scampered up the powerline right of way and wandered through the paths and snowmobile tracks in the woods above Dawson City. It was a beautiful afternoon with a bright blue sky. The above is St.Mary's cemetery, one of several nestled up there. I needed a break as I've been working pretty steadily - I have abandoned drawing for now and am now printing. I've set up a ramshackle print studio at the residence and the results - after a couple of false starts and head checks - are relatively pleasing. At least I'm creating stencils without problems.

I am blown away by the facilities at the School of Visual Arts. The library is a small room but contains an unbelievable amount of mind-blowing books - mostly contemporary art. It's not just because the library is located in a remote place; this is the only library in Canada that houses some of the books on its shelves. Inspiring stuff - and this for a student body of maximum 20 per year. Great place to do a foundation year in visual arts.

It was a good day for many reasons: I also figured out how to mix my inks to get a good brown. I know, I've been printing for 5 years ... it was just today that I've actually figured out how to do it properly and consistently.

2010-02-09T12:12:00.003-05:00

I've been working pretty steadily for the last two days. I'm just getting back into drawing and ink work. Right now I've just been just drawing what I see but later today will start drawing from my imagination. I want to be able to put this collection of images together in some sort of landscape. I'm working as automatically as I can right now - just doing what comes over me. I'm trying to explore concepts of narrative and story telling ... but in a way that has me relinquish control over what is coming out.

At any rate, the residency is going well so far. I'm fighting being aware of the deadline of the exhibition. I think I'd be trying even more techniques and ideas if I didn't need to produce enough pieces to fill a gallery space in four weeks. (And three days but who's counting.) But I'm finding that a good chunk of my day is spent planning and thinking about the show, and the little details that go along with it. Which is fine.

Each new day I notice the sun coming up a little earlier. We are gaining somewhere around 8 minutes of sunlight each day. It changes quickly up here.

2010-02-06T22:31:00.005-05:00

Today I got out on the skis Jonny lent me and went for a 2-hour jaunt downstream towards Moosehide. It was a warm(ish) day and I survived. I've been here almost a week now and the time is flying by, but I feel settled and have done a little work. Not perhaps as much as I had wanted, but I don't yet feel too stressed out. I did have a 5-hour stretch a couple of days ago where I sat and drew, just let myself go and draw, and it's done me good.

Dawson is a great place. It's quiet here, the people are good and honest and interesting and interested, and the scale of the city is perfect for what I'm thinking, how I'm approaching my work. I'm five minutes away from everything. It's like living in a neighbourhood in the city, running into the same people on the street and at the bar ...

And it seems like there's going to be enough extra-curricular activities to keep me occupied and stimulated. The ODD Gallery did a showing of Picture of Light a couple of nights ago - a documentary that is ostensibly about capturing the northern lights but is much more than just that, an amazing film. Heading out and walking through the cold to see a film with about 20 other people and then walking back home - it's a pace that suits me right now.

My plan for tomorrow is to spend a good 8 hours and just sketch, collect my thoughts and get them on paper. Sounds amazing; I've not had this much time to sit and work creatively ... ever.

2010-02-03T20:06:00.007-05:00

I've arrived in Dawson City. Above is the Macaulay residence, my home for the next 5-6 weeks. The little truck parked out front is my friend Jonny's and they both got me to Dawson from Whitehorse. I flew into Whitehorse and discovered that Air Canada had lost my bags. The only down spot of what has so far been a wonderful little time. I've since got one of the two bags back but the missing one contains my toothbrush and I'm simply too stubborn/ridiculous to go out and buy another. It better get here soon.

The building is warm, stocked with kitchen wares (a coffee grinder!) and will be a great place to spend my time. I'm sharing the residency with Colin Skrapek - songwriter in residence through February, a jocular and interesting human being from Saskatoon. We are already united in a desire to ride a dogsled sometime this month, come hell or high water. Those dogs move pretty damn fast!

I've walked around town and am getting my bearings. It's not hard to situate yourself when the dark hills rise up around you wherever you look. It's a pretty breathtaking place in the winter - there's a vibrant energy around here even though it's very quiet. Lance and the folks at KIAC have made me welcome and there's a lot going on about town. I understand February is the month the town starts to wake up, the days start getting longer and there are more events and activities. I am looking forward.

Most of my materials were in the bag I picked up, so I've been able to settle a little. I've not done much drawing yet but it will come. I bought lumber and supplies in Whitehorse and Jonny helped me build three solid and tight screen printing frames. I'm not planning on printing right away but I'm close to being able to do so.

It's cold, finally seasonally cold here, and it's such an amazing dry cold. I miss my little baby terribly but am incredibly happy not to be spending February in Montreal. The whiteness, the crisp dry snow underfoot and the stinging cold on my exposed parts is a welcome relief to Montreal's grey slodge and dampness.

Of course it's only day two. I look forward to comparing this sweet jovial blog entry to the ones created after my descent into cabin fever madness. What will my mind be doing in 5 weeks? I suppose that's why I'm here: to go deeper and find out. It's all a little crazy and daunting, I must say.

2010-01-29T09:50:00.004-05:00

A pretty clean studio ... it's about the longest I've gone without doing some sort of printing since moving in to this space three or four years ago. I've cleaned up, packed up all I need for my residency, and am leaving for Dawson City in two days. All I can do now is just hang out as much with my baby boy and hope I don't miss him too much when I'm up there. I'm not a big fan of Skype but have a feeling I'll become dependent on it pretty quickly ...

I have plenty of ideas and thoughts for how I'll be approaching my work and process while up there, but I'm leaving it all open. Who knows how things will work out when I'm actually able to dedicate so much time to my own stuff?

It's fitting that today is the coldest, most blustery day of the winter in Montreal, -30 with the wind chill, which is likely to be the norm (if I'm lucky) up north. I'll be updating this blog on the occasions my fingers will have been able to thaw out.

2010-01-21T23:43:00.006-05:00

The last print work I needed to get done before flying up to the Yukon next week : 250 posters, all different combinations of colours, split fountains, and marbled inks, for my friends The Besnard Lakes as they get ready to go on a world tour. The first screenprint I ever did (after picking an old frame, with mesh still intact and useable, out of the garbage), was a poster for the band. The rest is history ...

I shipped a huge box up to Dawson City this week, it contains all my paper I'll be printing on for the exhibition. I'm bringing everything else with me on the plane - pens, pencils, brushes, squeegees, ink, maybe even EMULSION?? ... I'm even going to try to stick a pressure washer in my luggage. Take that, Air Canada!

I've compiled a fairly exhaustive list of items I'll be purchasing once I arrive - I plan on building my own frames and exposure unit while I'm up there.

Most days I'm more excited to be in Dawson than nervous about having to actually produce enough work to show after only 5 weeks up there. It's going to be great fun, I think.

2010-01-15T09:36:00.004-05:00

I just made the largest paper purchase in my life and am pretty damn excited about it. Proof of my geekery is above.

Montreal is home to Technolith, perhaps the best place for paper in North America. I write this without having the slightest knowledge of the options that exist elsewhere, but am pretty convinced Technolith is the best. It's a crazy warehouse building in Old Montreal run by a group of friendly dudes who ship paper around the world, but let jokers like myself walk through and pick through small batches of reclaimed paper - coloured, card stock, kraft paper ... you never know what you're going to get when you show up. Truly a unique experience.

Anyways ... I'm thrilled about all the paper but am swooning over what's in the box on the bottom - a 13 point cover stock in black feltweave. Perfect for printing.

This paper purchase has inched me closer in preparation for my residency ... 2 weeks away until I leave. I am absolutely not prepared.

2010-01-08T14:37:00.007-05:00

Happy January. Sorry for the radio silence. Part of the reason for no posts here is that I've hit the ground running after a hectic but enjoyable holiday season and am juggling various projects.

I began this blog in January 2009 with a specific goal: to print and post one piece a week for the year. But now that the year is over, and my goal more or less accomplished, I've been examining just what I want to do with 52 screenprints.

I have different priorities this year. I have an upcoming residency and exhibition (the conceptual stuff). I've got bills to pay (the daily grind). I have a small baby (the fun times). I've also met a lot of inspiring people that do similar or different work to mine; and many projects, individual and collaborative, are bubbling away. On the practical side of things, I'm looking to improve the way I work, and have been analysing each of the steps in my printing process to see how I can streamline my work, become that slight bit more efficient - or creative or experimental. In short, there are lots of different subjects I'm into posting about.

I think I'm going to use this site in a different way than simply updating on recent work; I'm just not quite sure how. Maybe I'll be posting here a little less until I figure it out.

... or in the meantime, here's some recent work ...

The above print is a study, it's 38 by 50 inches. There are several hundred passes of circles large and small on the paper, it's become thick and textured like wallpaper or thin cardboard. It's the print that has taken me the longest to finish, perhaps 5 different sessions of 2 or 3 hours. That process (where it takes longer than an afternoon session to complete a print) has been fun, rewarding in different ways, and I'll continue to work in this way when I can. It's a process that obviously needs time. I'll have that time in February... stay tuned!

2009-12-29T07:12:00.003-05:00

A triptych of 11 x 17 inch prints - the full dimensions are 34 by 17 inches. I'm not really sure there was much conscious intent to create three similar pieces that work well together - all the prints I do in this vein come together over a long period of time - I can only trust in my unconscious process. But seeing these pieces sit together made sense.

I'm trying to formulate a more coherent theory or conceptual framework for why I do what I do - what inspires me to do this work, etc. Understanding my thought process is mostly a pain in the ass, to be honest. Part of what I really like about my work - or at least the way I approach my whole process - is that there's room for automatic work, unconscious work in the way the compositions and pieces fit together. I use consistent imagery, generally, and each of these pieces (monoprints mostly) evolve gradually into something until I look at the piece and know it's finished.

I think maybe the larger question I should be asking is why I use the images I use and working from there.

2009-12-21T15:03:00.004-05:00

The latest monoprint. 12 x 16 inches.

It's almost the end of December. I feel that I've accomplished the goal I had set in the new year, work wise. (Everything else-wise is another story.) Next year, however, things will be a little different. In February I head to the Klondike Institute of Arts and Culture in Dawson City in the Yukon for a one-month drawing and printing residency, followed by an exhibition. I've known about this for the better part of the last year, and am excited by the fact I'll be able to devote a considerable amount of time to creative work, without distractions, without other work ... but I'll be away from my (at that time) 7-month old baby, and I won't be working ... so I'm a little stressed out as well.

I haven't been able to get as much prep work done for the residency and exhibition as I thought I would. Hopefully, this January will give me some time to prepare. I'm not sure where the work on my monoprints and smaller run pieces will go come the new year - and what this blog will end up looking like ... but I suppose that a certain clarity will come from my new year's reflections (and certainly not from my current brain-state, which has been rendered slow and syrupy from all the Christmas shortbreads and fizzy drinks.)

2009-12-17T09:34:00.006-05:00

I have prints up along with those of other artists in the following Montreal locations over the holiday period and into January :

Monastiraki - 5478 St. Laurent (at St-Viateur)

Frame & Canvas - 220 Bernard ouest (at Esplanade)

Une grenouille dans la théière - 5940 St-Hubert (at Bellechasse)

That's all for now!

2009-12-16T09:31:00.005-05:00

A fairly festive (or perhaps apocalyptic) monoprint from the stacks. Holiday season has definitely started over at our place. Four litres of home-made eggnog to go through before New Year's!

I am still in the studio a lot, but experimenting with technique and process rather than working on specific series of prints. I've got a hectic/different/interesting few months coming up print-wise ...

2009-11-28T16:04:00.003-05:00

This new print is 11 x 13 inches. It's three colours and entitled "Flooding". I am selling these and other prints at Puces Pop's December sale on Saturday the 5th and Sunday the 6th at Église St-Michel in Montreal (105 St-Viateur West). Hope to see you there!

2009-11-19T09:23:00.002-05:00

A monoprint today. This one is 15" x 20". I'd been working on this one for a while.

2009-11-15T22:40:00.005-05:00

Just got back from selling prints at Expozine, where I had a wonderful time as usual, although I never got out once to look around at what seemed (from my vantage point) to be an astoundingly amazing collection of really creative work in the alternative press world. Next year, maybe (although I say that every year, now, I'm a broken record).

This is the last city print I did for Expozine and likely the last to come for a while. "Chicago" is three colours and 11x14 inches.

2009-11-13T10:51:00.003-05:00

Several recent monoprints. I will take these to Expozine this weekend.

2009-11-12T07:07:00.001-05:00

Udaipur - perhaps the final print in the city series. It's a four colour print with a split fountain in the sky that turned out pretty well. 11 x 14 inches.

2009-11-11T18:38:00.004-05:00

Two new prints, untitled, I printed for a two month show in the gallery space of Frame & Canvas on Bernard St. in Montreal. Gilles and Angela are amazing, great friendly people, and are doing a great job in the frame shop. More info on the show later - it will likely run through January 2010. These come in at 11 x 15 inches.

2010? I can't believe the decade is almost over. Yikes.

2009-11-08T19:58:00.003-05:00

Next up is "Brasilia", a pretty psychedelic print in the city series. 11 x 11 inches, 4 colours.

This print turned out terribly. Sometimes I just don't know what I'm doing. My colour mixing and registration have been abysmal recently.

2009-11-05T08:40:00.003-05:00

"Minsk". Yet another city print. I'm selling prints and odds and ends at Expozine this year and trying to get a few new ones finished.

2009-11-02T22:43:00.004-05:00

"Los Angeles", another city print. Three colours, close to 15 x 11 inches. Notable perhaps because this was the first time I mixed color according to combinations in a handy Pantone colour swatch book. I couldn't really figure out what colour I wanted the sky to be. What is that colour? Pink? Brown? Purple? Anyways, the darker part of the sky contains 10 parts red, 4 parts blue, and 4 parts black. It came close enough to the colour I was aiming for.

2009-10-28T09:31:00.002-04:00

This is a new print in a series of prints of cities I have never been to. "Lhasa", 11x15", four colours. I have made and am printing a few of these cities in the next couple of weeks. It's a series I go back to every now and then. I think it's the first one I've done this year.

2009-10-19T18:57:00.003-04:00

The most recent monoprint. It is around 16x20 inches, four colours.

I have a "in progress" pile of prints I keep printing on top of, layers upon layers, some more than others. I print more randomly on some than on others. This one is an example of a monoprint with less detail and texture, not as many colours as most. I had kept it on the pile for a while, but looking at it again, I think it's done.

It's hard to keep white space on a print when I work in this way. I like how this one turned out.