Ok, ok, its been awhile, but this summer was really bad for super art producing. I won’t get into details but my time was eaten up by summer classes, work, moving to a new apartment (finally in Toronto!), and battling a nasty sickness for practically 4 weeks. I don’t remember ever having such a busy summer without actually doing any illustration or design work for myself. I now have about two weeks before I go back to school, so I’m trying to do one really nice looking illustration zine, and I actually have a few ideas for some paintings (those who know me know that I don’t really like painting so this is mind blowing for me). I’m just a bit worried that I will get distracted by new episodes of Futurama and True Blood. But I’m trying to stay on track. I already registered for Canzine and I have 3 sweet prints that I will be selling. Here are some process photos of one of them:

Sugar Skull Screen Print Process Photos

Sugar Skull Screen Print Process Photos

My screen waiting to get inked.

Yup thats my Sugar Skull print. I just need to finish applying the 3rd colour and its going to be ready to go. I printed them on Stonehenge paper and they look really nice. I have 2 more other prints that will be ready for sale come October, but this is all you get. I did these prints while taking a great course at Open Studio. The instructor was Shannon Gerrard who is just the most awesome person ever. Check out her website for neat stuff! By the way, I’m also going to have some sweet sticker and button designs this year so keep your eyes peeled!

Also, Florence + the Machine did a really nice cover of Roger Palmer’s Addicted to Love. So good.

It was really good for me to go, because as much as I love being in Toronto, I really needed to breakaway for a bit. I did a lot of cool things there, including going to the Freedom Tunnel, which is a train tunnel where some graffiti artists do there thing. It was a great thing to see and even though we didn’t get to go right the end of the tunnel (we heard angry voices coming from the distance and we didn’t want to risk anything) it was still very inspiring to see some of the awesome works on the walls. Here is some of the graffiti adorning the tunnel:

It was really neat, next time I’m in NYC I know that I’m going there again. Maybe I’ll put something on the walls myself and become a part of it.

After I came back I had over 600 images of inspiration from the city that never sleeps and I realized I need to push myself further. So basically, I am trying to commit to actually do things instead of thinking about them or just doing half assed sketches. I’m going to try to update this thing with sketches, drawings, illustrations, inspirations and things that in my life that I find interesting. A couple days ago I realized how lucky I am to have a super cool group of friends that run around with me exploring abandoned places or doing weird things. Its nice. On that note, I’m ending this post with a cool Irish band called Fight like Apes and their song ‘Tie me up in Jackets”:

Now, first thing is first. I’ve been doing some more things for Canzine (which is only a week away, holy crap!) Here are some sneak peek preview photos of what I’m going to have at my table:

H’okay, so first image is a sneak peak at my second zine. It’s really small, 2″ x 2″ folded, and 2″ x 10″ when spread out. It’s double sided, again, just illustration. I will also have large prints of the main illustration for sale ( 4″x17″ so short, but wide).

Second and third are just two of the 6 boxes that I hand painted and will also be selling.

Fourth photo is buttons! Many, many, many buttons, which again, you’ll find at my table! So please come say hi!

Last week I had a small part in a art exhibit called Xpression against Oppression at University of Toronto. I’m not sure how big the exposure is/was, but any exposure is good exposure. My friends Myra, Mimi and Guru were also showing. Here are some shots from the opening:

Apparently none of them know how to look at the camera (From Top: Group, Mimi, Myra, Guru). Before the show we went for delicious Chinese food at a surprisingly clean place in China Town. I will return again.

Finally, because Jeannie asked, these are the business cards I ordered awhile back:

There! It’s 2:26 a.m and I am watching infomercials and I am so ready to buy the Bullet Extreme! I need sleep!

Today I hit a couple of thrift stores with my friend, in search of old children’s books and National Geographic. I find that they are the best for collages, especially nature books. We actually ended up finding a whole series of animal books, with really awesome vintage photos. I can’t wait to do something with them. I also found a really nice old copy of Aesop’s Tales for only 99 cents! I always loved those stories and I’m thinking that for one of my zines I’ll do a little accordion style book based on one of the stories. After we hit Deserres to get some cheap art supplies. They’re having a huge sale for Back to School so I wanted to stock up on spray varnish and little tiny cradle board that were only a $1. Good Day.

I’m geeking out a little bit because I just ordered my first business card. With rounded corners! I hope they’ll come in soon, I’m so excited. For now I got 500, I thought that was a decent amount. I didn’t out my address on them because who knows where I’ll be. I’m also geeking out about the fact that Apple finally came out with a 64GB iTouch. I want it so bad but honestly, I had my iPod for three years now and it works perfectly fine. Its filled to the brim with music, so maybe for now I’ll just have to uncheck some songs. I’m sure by the time my battery dies, the iTouch will be cheaper.

We also hit up the Zine Library. It’s actually quite a shame because there are so many cool zines from all over the world, but the location is less than pleasant. I’m wondering if it would be possible to organize a few people and the give the place a face lift. There were mysterious stains everywhere and the the furniture seemed like an army of cockroaches will explode at any moment from the inside. I think a paint job and maybe some furniture donations would really make the place a lot nicer. Found some great inspirations though, and speaking of, my two friends Myra and Jeannie have started there own tiny zines and they are so unbelievably cute I have to share them with you:

Jeannie only has one so far called Roleplay and Myra is like a zine-machine. We’re all hoping to get a table at this year’s Canzine. I haven’t started on mine yet but my plan is to start this weekend. I’m either going to start with a quarter page or in the mini format. We’ll see.

Today I’m re-branding a logo, so that’s been eating up a lot of my time. I also have a few blank canvases that I bought a million years ago. I don’t know why I buy them, I prefer painting on wood or masonite. I think I like the idea of canvas more than I actually like using it. They’re yelling at me to put something on them though and I feel like I must oblige.

I’m not exactly sure if I will have a theme, or will it be a glorified (grungier?) scrapbook of illustrations, collages, and thoughts. Maybe I’ll interview some of my art school friends? We’ll see.

I asked my two friends what I should call it, and the suggestions included ‘Le Zine’, ‘Martazine’ and ‘Le Martazine’. I decided not to listen to them. I actually did end up figuring out what to call it but I won’t spoil it yet