Old Man Winter (Extended Remix)

I haven't posted for over a month, but lots has been going on... things are in the works at the moment and I am biding my time for warmth and sunshine to return so I can get all energized and do lots of stuff all at once.

One sure sign that winter's days are numbered is the traditional Nuit Blanche festival, the night where thousands upon thousands of young antsy Montrealers find themselves jammed together inside the Belgo building. My personal favorite event is Monastiraki's awesome collage party; Billy and Emilie are co-owners and they are super-duper people. They have a new baby but they were willing to stay up 'til midnight so everyone could collage their brains out. Here is my creation:

The one thing I have been enjoying about the winter in a purely visual sense are the frost-flowers on my windows. I find them so pretty that I feel compelled to record them for potential visual references in my work.

 Some of them look like tiny sea creatures.

A couple of weeks ago I did a presentation at my school for the first edition of CABARETEXTILE, a sort-of Pecha Kucha night loosely based on anything textile-related. I showed some pictures of weird macramé jugs, ugly crocheted capes, matching sweater sets and also a photo of a banana cream pie that went over really well. Here's a picture of me from that event looking kinda crazy.

Credit goes to Adam Cantor for digging this one up.

Fun In Weird Hotels With Giant Fish

My friend Adam and I went on a photo-hunting adventure last weekend. Here are a few shots, but you can view the whole series over here on his blog, Montreal Street Life.

Click on the link above, the pictures will BLOW YOU AWAY.

I've also been doing some pencil drawings of algae, jellyfish and other cool organic shape-shifting thingies. I gave some of them names that sort of seemed to fit their personality.

This Week's Inspirationals

Here are some images from library books that I've borrowed and been delighted by:

I was quite happy to find that my school library had Worlds in a Small Room, a series of beautiful photographs by Irving Penn, taken in his portable travelling studio. His photographs always amaze me. You can see more images from the book here.

"Photographing a cake can be art" —Irving Penn.^[12

It's mid-July and I'm wearing a wool sweater

Finally! A selective visual journey through my past 6 weeks here in Newfoundland.

The Anglican Cemetery on Forest Road (next to the penitentiary).

Camping at Middle Cove Beach.

Gathering capelin at Outer Cove beach earlier this month.

Poppies in the front yard.

Egyptian Walking Onions at the Rabbittown Garden (I have been eating a lot of these lately and they are great).

A sneak peak at the Rabbittown garden shed mural, part 1.

More to come soon - I'll be leaving tomorrow on a road trip north to Fogo Island and Notre-Dame Bay.

Little Archie's Cove

There are no straight roads here in St. John's:  they all curve around, go up crazy steep hills, switch names a few times over and then take you back to where you started somehow. It makes for a different biking experience, especially being one of the few bikes on the road. It's a good thing that most people are so courteous.

Some doodles made at a Starbucks and an airport, respectively.

I had a lovely conversation with Professor Hiscock last week about a great many things. He also took some candid pictures of me and the Encyclopedia of Newfoundland using his half-frame camera:

Here I am in the same chair back in October of 2011.

I've been experimenting a bit with my newly acquired knitting machine - here are some amazing covers of the stack of machine-knitting magazines that came with it:

         
          (I find this wig on a chair somewhat baffling but I love the stripes.)

Soon to come: I just finished drawing a new 'Bored Waitress' zine for an event this Thursday.

Thanks to Eastern Edge for letting me use their scanner, their office and staff. I'll be taking part in their Art Marathon this August.