Here’s an image I made for a local musician. I took the opportunity to try something new. This was built with cardboard and paper, then painted. I’m looking forward to creating more images with this technique!
Check out the music of Canadian folk artist Derek Harrison at dirtyfingersmusic.wordpress.com
And his new beer blog! itsnotjustthealcoholtalking.wordpress.com
I most recently collaborated with the wonderful children’s theatre company, Geordie Productions, to illustrate the image for their 2013-2014 season, “Look A Little Deeper”. I constructed the image using a collection of hand-drawn or traced images, cut-out of paper and photographed. I then arranged, layered and coloured the pieces in photoshop.
For the 2013-2014 season, Geordie will be producing two contemporary plays and two new productions of Homer’s epics, “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey”. I will be illustrating a unique image for each show, so stay tuned!
For more information about Geordie Productions and their upcoming season, please visit their website:
If you’ve never made a mask before I highly suggest you give it a try. I have been bitten, I find this particular craft fascinating. The possibilities are endless. Mask making may be my little obsession this summer.
This mask was made with my favorite material, good ol’ paper. It was featured in Elizabeth Rex, produced last summer by Tableau D’Hôte Theater, presented at the Segal Center.
Geordie Productions presented a beautiful adaptation of Robin Hood in December of last year at Centaur Theater. I felt lucky to work on such a great project and beloved classic! I’m currently working on the publicity illustrations for their next season (see post below).
For more info: http://geordie.ca/
Natasha O’Brien, Eric Davis
James Loye, Susan Glover, Matthew Dawson, Tamara Brown
David Babcock-Photography
Ana Cappelutto-Set and Props Design
Cathia Pagotta-Costume Design
Thomas Godfroid-Lighting Design
Samantha Scafidi-Scenic Painter
Dil Hildebrand-Scenic Painter
This is a new skull design (drawn much bigger than usual). It’s about 9″ by 12″ whereas my past sketches have all been about 5″ by 8″. It took me a little while to finalize the elements in this one so it’s nowhere near a finished piece, simply a study. I do plan to use this mask-like design again.
Volcanoes Park is probably the most complexe place I’ve visited. An open wound on the Island of Hawaii’s beautiful south east side. You quickly become aware that you’re standing on an evolving piece of land and in Hawaii’s National Volcanoes Park, you are pretty close to the action. Visitors can actually walk towards (and as close as their curiosity will draw them) to one seriously hot seat. I admit, I was tempted to catch a glimpse of the red hot magma for myself, how often do you get to see something like that? But, we had a voice of reason in our group (a.k.a Mom) and decided to call it a day. Others continued beyond the little red sign that read “at your own risk”. Sadly but not entirely surprising, every once in a while someone would get a little too close and well, no need for metaphors, people are warned…
A very gray place, it was the only other location we visited besides Pearl Harbor that seemed to live inside a quiet bubble (for its own obvious reasons), its environment tingling the senses. Steam from nearby lava hitting the pacific’s water encased the park in a perpetual haze. You could barely see out to the ocean and the light took on a diffused effect. As you drive into the park there are markers every mile or so that indicate what year the active volcano erupted. I remember one small site was from the 70′s. The youngest sites showed the most damage, pathways of charred vegetation protruding from solid black rock. The further back in years we’d go the looser the earth would look and signs of new vegetation were clearly visible.
This site has been in a slow cycle of destruction and repair for years. When looking out over the fields of new earth you can actually track the change of color and texture in the once liquid magma as it transforms from igneous rock into fertile soil.
That’s my brother enjoying the view!
These oldies are from several years back when my immediate family and I spent Christmas in Hawaii. Belated Mele Kalikimaka people! This particular field trip was a father-daughter activity, the rest of the gang weren’t too keen on the idea of driving 14, 000 feet up a mountain with a small group of strangers. I admit it got a little freaky once we broke the cloud line at 10, 000 feet. See, this is when the air pressure shifts slightly and your body starts adjusting to the change. My heart certainly skipped a beat and it wasn’t just because of the view. Looking down at those clouds was an amazing sight!
The point of the trip was to make it up to the observatories, which rest at 14, 000 feet above sea level, to catch the evening’s sunset. Some lucky visitors would see what is called a green flash. A green flash occurs when the atmosphere is perfectly clear and the last ray of sunlight refracts through it just right. The result is a very brief but dazzling flash of green light. I can only imagine it as the atmosphere catching fire for an instant. Hey, maybe next time?
After the sunset we had a few moments to soak in the quiet before we drove back down to 9, 000 feet to (of course) visit the gift shop! Now, I never understood why people bought mugs as a souvenir. It just seems like such a fragile thing to transport home and then you just end up with more mugs than you need. Well, I don’t know what came over me but I was compelled to walk away with one from this special outing. And I am so glad I did. After all these years it is still in one piece and time and time again it reminds me of the star gazing lesson our tour guides gave us on the last leg of the tour. At that height, the stars twinkle yellow, green, red and blue respective to the gas they are made of. I’ve seen some pretty things in my travels but that’s just hard to top.
All of these photos where taken with my analog Miranda. I plan to post more photos from this trip, if you would like to see the rest please subscribe or just click to follow along. Mahalo and goodnight!
It took me the entire two weeks we spent in Hawaii to remember how to say Merry Christmas in the native tongue. “Mele Kalikimaka!” It’s a phrase I will never forget, partly because it was such a pain to learn. I’m digging into photography from past travels. Here is the first of several from my Christmas in Hawaii. It was taken at 9 000 feet above sea level on my way up to the island observatories. More to come. :)
As a fully-fledged Canadian I have to admit that I love winter. And not in the “I can’t help myself” sort of way. I actually HAVE to. It’s kind of like saying I don’t really like salami at my family’s dinner table. Every time, without fail, my mother replies, “What kind of Italian are you?!” There are just some expectations that are easier to live up to than others, even if you have to fake it. So, I LOVE winter.
But seriously, I really do enjoy the cold air, the short days and all that fluffy snow. As a Montrealer, it’s the -40 degree weather I couldn’t care less about. It is in these painfully cold (and numb) moments when I long for warmer weather.
I’ll just have to make due with a toasty apartment courtesy of Hydro-Quebec, a palette of warm colors and the comforting hum of my sewing machine. Cue the hot chocolate (you can’t fight everything that comes with the cold!).
I’ve busied myself experimenting with some fall inspired pin cushions. If they are a success I’ll try them out in my ETSY shop. Once I’ve entertained my denial maybe I’ll try a few winter-themed ones.
