Best Health Magazine

I illustrated a half page and spot illustration for Best Health Magazine a few months back. It was for an article about female hair loss. Which so happens to be something that I've had to deal with myself, and it totally sucked! Lucky for me, my hair did grow back, but it's such a depressing and stressful thing to go through.

So I was thrilled to have been asked to illustrate this article about possible causes, cures and coping strategies for female hair loss. I really enjoyed doing the fairytale Rapunzel theme for this piece. I particularly like how the spot illustration (below) turned out.

Perhaps all that shedding hair might be plucked up and woven though some little birdy nests. And that's some comfort.

Baba Yaga's House

Baba Yaga stories have long been a source of intrigue to me. A big part of this, is because of Baba Yaga's house. A house, deep in the woods, standing on chicken legs!

I also love that Baba Yaga herself sometimes helps the people who come to her, and sometimes tries to hurt them. You never quite know how the story will go ...

For this illustration, I wanted to include lots of spooky details and imagery. Above is a close up of the black cat. I took this photo while the illustration was at an in-between stage when I hadn't pasted the bits down.

And here's the piece in the lovely adirondack frame I picked up! I thought this style fit just right for the mood of the art.

Let's Get Figgy!

I'm really excited that my illustrated Fig & Grape Shake recipe is included in the latest cook book from They Draw And Cook! The book compiles 30 fig recipes created by 30 different artists. You can order a copy online here.

Mindful Magazine: Issue 8

These are a little old now, but here are my mindful/mindless spot illustrations for issue 9 of Mindful Magazine. As always, these were art directed by Meg Yoshida. It's always such a pleasure to work with her on these!

Today's Parent Magazine: Debate Illustration

Alright, so Today's Parent Magazine didn't go for the fuzzy peach idea that I blogged about previously. But an alternate idea I had was of a red panda, ready for her bikini wax, at the spa.  Above is the final (published in the June issue)!

You can read the debate online, here.

Fuzzy Peach, Smooth Peach

So I don't usually bother to post sketches I do for clients that aren't chosen for the final.  But I gotta say that I really liked these and was a tad disappointed they weren't chosen.

These were for a Today's Parent Magazine article about if you would choose to get a bikini wax just before childbirth. The client decided the peaches were a little risqué (and I don't disagree), so we went in a different direction for the illustration ... but c'mon, it's also pretty cute and hilarious ....

Modern Cat Illustration

A little while ago I was contacted by Jennifer Nosek, the Editor and Creative Director of Modern Cat Magazine, to do a full page illustration about cat speech. It had a super fast turn around time, but I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out.

Special thanks to Kathleen Grimes who snapped a photo of it in the magazine! Thank you!

Today's Parent Magazine: Debate Illustration

Here's the latest debate illustration I did for Today's Parent Magazine. It's debating if you, as a parent, would ever leave your child alone in a car (even for just a moment).  You can read it here.

This was art directed by Nicole Chung, who is always so great to work with.

Mindful Magazine: Issue 7

Mindful Magazinehttp://www.mindful.org/ has just released their 7th issue.  Go and check it out.  Above is the scan of the Mindful/Mindless page with the latest spot illustrations I made.  Like always, it was great to work with the art director, Meg Yoshida!

Arts Market Display

Yay! I'm excited to share some photos of my booth display at Arts Market!  There's two locations in Toronto, and I chose to set up in their Leslieville location (1114 Queen Street East).

I've been really wanting to have my framed illustration prints up in the East end of Toronto for awhile now.  I was very pleased to find out about Arts Market.  Arts Market is different than other shops I've worked with.  They don't do consignment, instead they rent out smallish spaces inside the shop to local artists and creators.  If you live in the Toronto area, you should definitely check it out!

This is the first time I've created the display booth for my art prints.  I've never done a craft sale or seasonal market before ... though I've considered it many times.  I was pleased when I managed to scrounge up a second hand card shelf, and I had a great afternoon creating paper flowers from the most beautiful craft book, Paper to Petal.

I think it all came together pretty nicely.  My stuff will be up for a month ... maybe longer ... depending on how sales go!

Today's Parent: Debate Illustration

The February issue of Today's Parent Magazine is out, and I illustrated the debate page!  This one's about getting a tattoo of your child's name.

This was art directed by Nicole Chung.

Mindful Magazine: Issue 6

Here's the latest set of Mindful/Mindless illustrations I did for Mindful Magazine!  As usual, these were art directed by Megumi Yoshida, who's always a pleasure to work with.

Animals of Canada Illustrated Map

Animals of Canada Map

I made a blog post before about the illustrated map of Canada I created for Nature Canada.  Now I wanted to show you how I completed it as a personal art piece.

For the client artwork, I scanned in all the elements separately, so they could be moved around and scaled down as necessary to fit with the text and the layout.  After the job was complete, I took my time illustrating more animals and slowly planning out and pasting down all my little critters and foliage pieces.

Below is a photo I took of my messy studio space while in the throws of it.

At the end, I decided it would be nice (and a little educational) to include labels of the names of the animals.  I wish I could have included even more animals to the final artwork ... but I suppose there's always a limit.

I have prints of the Animals of Canada Map up in my Etsy shop! The print is 11"x14" which is a standard size for easy framing.

Framed Original Artwork

Skier Riding Caribou Home - 10 1/2" x 13"

I have a few framed originals up for sale in my Etsy shop!  You can check them out here.

I take great pleasure in seeking out lovely vintage frames.  I love the scalloped details on these.  I feel like they work so well with the soft, snowy illustrations.

Girl Riding Arctic Fox - 11 3/4" x 8 1/2"

I always frame my original art behind high quality, plexiglas.  So there is no fear of breakage during shipping.

Meeting In The Forest - 10 3/4" x 7 3/4"

Skier Riding Caribou Home : Holiday Cards

The holiday season has arrived!  Time for chocolate rum balls, pine sented candles and Christmas lights.

This year I created an illustrated holiday card.  You can pick it up in Toronto at Scout or Freedom, or if you're out of town, you can buy a set of 8 from my Etsy shop.

Sketches From British Columbia

I went on a 3 week vacation to British Columbia in September.  I'm always blown away by the beauty of the mountains and ocean.  I make sure to spend the most time possible out doors, hiking, kayaking and biking.

I wanted to share a few little sketches I made during my trip.  I like to sketch in pen, as it forces me to slow down, really look carefully, and make marks.

The above cabin, is my dad's tool shed at his Savary Island cottage.  He lived in this tight space while he was building the cottage.

This sketch I made while on an impromptu fishing trip in a boat on Kootenay Lake.  Andrew was very sporting about sitting still while I drew.

This last one is of my dads cute little wood stove in his cabin.  But don't be fooled, it gives some powerful heat on chilly days.

Mindful Magazine: Issue 5

Here's the latest batch of Mindful Magazine illustrations!  It's always fun to work on such a wide variety of subjects on a small scale.

These were art directed by Megumi Yoshida, whom is always so wonderful to work with.

Nature Canada Illustrated Map

Fewf! I'm super happy to show you all this illustrated map of Canada I created with John Lepp of Agents of Good for their client, Nature Canada.  This was a large spread for the Nature Canada 2012-2013 Annual Report.  Take a look at the full report here.  John did such an amazing job on the graphic design, I'm so thrilled with how this all came together.

I particularly enjoyed researching and illustrating the handful of Canadian animals.  After this commission was finished, I filled up the map with yet more animals.  I'll be showing you how the completed original turned out in an up coming blog post!

Today's Parent Magazine: Debate Illustration

The October issue of Today's Parent Magazine is out, and has an illustration I created for their debate page.  This debate was about a "push presents", a gift a father would give the mother after she's given birth to a new baby.  This was art directed by Nicole Chung, who I always enjoy working with.

You can read the debate here.

Garden Harvest

I've been enjoying my little garden harvest this past month.  I have 8 Chadwick's Cherry Tomato plants, a nice little row of Black Tuscan Palm Tree Kale and a pot of Italian Large Leaf Basil.  I buy my seeds from The Cottage Gardener.  They have a most excellent selection of heirloom seeds and I've had great results with them.

I thought this was a good time to show another illustration I made for Interval House.  Like the Typewriter Illustration, it was framed and given as an award to a special donor.