Illustration Friday: Save

Click on image to enlarge

This was a bit challenging to photograph. There is a reflector on the Colonel's head, which caught the flash and I also had difficulty with shadows. I put in a detail of the text below.

My personal challenge for this week was to make something from items I've been saving for "projects". I decided instead to pick things up on a walk downtown and try to make something from the objects I found. Below are the items I picked up on a 40 minute walk . There was a lot to choose from because the melting snow was revealing layers of detritus that had accumulated over the winter. The Colonel Sander's story evolved as I was arranging the pieces on the table. I didn't use everything, and the marble and key were things I already had. I like working this way because the materials really take over and suggest the direction of the piece.

Illustration Friday: Homage

Cities and their Monuments

collage and paint on canvas board 7"X9" (click on image to enlarge)

This is an homage to one of my favorite artists, Claes Oldenburg. I like how he has taken mundane objects such as clothespins, trowels and matchbooks and made them monumental. His work has a lot of humour and his sketches of prospective works are beautifully executed.

This is also an homage to big roadside attractions; giant beavers, collossal fish, and the like, that are manufactured to bring in the tourists. I grew up in a northern mining town where the main attraction was "The Big Nickel".

The city is also home to the "Superstack", the world's 2nd tallest industrial smokestack that spreads toxins far and wide over the majestic northern landscape.

Illustration Friday: Pet Peeve

(click on image to enlarge)

When I read this weeks topic, "Pet Peeves", I thought to myself, I don't want to do that. Thinking about pet peeves just gets me all churned up. It's the same reason I try to steer clear of the Editorial Page in the paper. It just gets me wrankled, and then I can't concentrate on anything else for the rest of the day. Then I thought it would be funny (this is me being funny) to have a guy whose pet peeve was other people's pet peeves. There you go.

Illustration Friday: Heavy

Heavy Heart (9"X7" collage and acrylic paint)

click on image to avoid eye-strain

This started out as a one-liner, but as I went through my image library it developed into a bit of a story. I know, it's a bit heavy on the text, but I couldn't help myself.

Illustration Friday: Garden

collage and acrylic paint 5"X7" (click to enlarge)

"Whether it was the advances in pesticide technology, or just his old fashioned green thumb, Farmer Brown was enjoying his best growing season in years."

It was a bit hard to get into the "garden" theme, what with all the snow this past week. While Spring is just around the corner we've been enjoying record snowfalls, so it's hard to imagine those first crocuses popping their heads out of the ground, or even the smell of the earth thawing in the warm sun. I did put my snow shovel down long enough to cobble this piece together.

On the plus side, it was nice to move the clock ahead one hour and enjoy the extra hour of magnificent sunlight. Here's a picture of my boys on the top of "Mount Crumpet" at the end of our driveway.

Illustration Friday: Leap

Late for Work acrylic paint and collage on 6"X8" board

(click to enlarge)

Illustration Friday: Multiples

Traveling salesman, distracted by birds (click to enlarge)

I made this painting/collage on the bottom of a wooden orange crate. The holes in the bottom of the crate presented a unique challenge and it was a while before I decided to make birds peeping out of them. I added the branches at the end to deal with the odd shape of the border and try to tie the whole thing together.

Illustration Friday: Theory

Thinking about Fish 8"X10" acrylic on canvas

Illustration Friday: Choose

On brilliant days Mr. Sadler handled monumental decisions with quickness and ease, but in the cold dark days of winter, even choosing a tie held such enormous weight he was nearly paralyzed.

Illustration Friday: Blanket

Lingering under a blanket of suspicion made sleeping difficult.

5"X7" collage and paint

Illustration Friday: Myths and Legends

(click to view larger image)

Perhaps this is no ordinary monkey

8"X10" canvas, acrylic paint and collage

Illustration Friday: Plain

Some days everyone else seems sooo interesting.

I was tempted to post a cartoon from 2006 from a series of mini-books I did entitled Mr. Bland, but then I'd be breaking both a New Years resolution and a pact to post something new every week. Here is that cartoon in addition to this weeks IF post on the topic: Plain.

Illustration Friday: Stitch

Sew Manly

Coincidentally, I've been doing a lot of sewing lately, taking apart old things and sewing them back together into new things. I'm new to sewing and although I like using power tools, I've never been able to navigate the complexity of threading the sewing machine.

I just finished this piece in an on going theme of "men at work". I made a painted collage on canvas, chopped it up then sewed it to a piece of an old sports jacket. I achieved the "naive" stitching look by neglecting simple clothing repairs for my entire life.

Illustration Friday: One Hundred Percent

The Sum of its Parts

5"X7" collage and paint on canvas

Illustration Friday:Soar

Head in the Clouds Timothy Hunt, 02 Jan 08 This is my first post of the year and my first contribution to Illustration Friday. The topic of the week is Soar. The medium is acrylic paint and collage on cereal box.

Check out http://illustrationfriday.com/staticpage_p.php

Notes from booth 143

The first half of the Originals show at Lansdowne Park is over (if you call 4 out of 10 days half). The show is closed today so new exhibitors can move in to take the place of those who are only there for the first 4 days of the show.

Today is a "day off" which means I will run around like mad trying to do errands and finish dyeing and printing for the final 6 days of the show. One of the things I enjoy about doing shows out of town is when you're done you're done. At home there is always something else to be done.

I managed complete some work today, so will have a few new offerings for the last part of the show.

Thanks to everyone who came by in the first four days. It's great to meet new people and to connect with long-time customers. I saw one woman who bought a Dancer t-shirt from me at the Winnipeg Folk Festival, perhaps 10 years ago. She bought a new shirt for herself and onesies for her newborn twins. Cool!

Originals Christmas Craft Sale

Come by and visit me at the Originals Christmas Craft Show and Sale at Lansdowne Park, Dec.6-16. We got a last minute call from the show organizers asking, if we'd like to return this year and after some careful cogitation and offers of help from angelic friends we decided to participate. The hours are from 11 am to 9 pm, monday to friday and 10 am to 6 pm on saturday and sunday. The show will be closed on Monday Dec. 10. Here's what things looked like before set-up on wednesday. After many cups of complimentary coffee, things came together in time for me to pick the boys up from school. If you can make it to the show, you'll find me in booth 143.

Back at the Market, Aug 31

I'll be back at the Market this Sunday, after my hiatus during the EX. While the Ottawa Farmers' Market was relocated to Sylvia Holden Park, I enjoyed selling at other festivals and Art in the Park events. Before and after I set up, I like to check out this sculpture by Tim DesClouds, The Cows Fly Home on Sunday, situated on a pole outside the "Cattle Castle". The following poem is on the plaque below: The Cows Fly Home on Sunday Wind from the east, is bad for man and beast, Wind from the south, is too hot for them both, Wind from the north, is of very little worth, Wind from the west, is softest and best. Old Farmer's Almanack, 1851

Arts

I made this image as a celebration of the arts. Whenever you try to do something all encompassing, you usually end up leaving things out. It's like making an acceptance speech at the Academy Awards. Simple is better. If you list off everyone you've ever known and then forget to thank your best friend or your mother, look out! Apologies to all the banjo players, tap dancers, organic sculptors, and anyone else who may not be represented in this image. Retired English professor Ed, who wears overalls almost exclusively, calls this design "the hands trying to get out of the pants" because that's all that shows. I have yet to come out with a design exclusively for the wearer of overalls, but this may be a niche market worth exploring.

More from the Archives

Remember all the hub-bub about Y2K? the wacky predictions? the doomsday forecasts? Well, that was 7 years ago already and the most annoying thing about that whole ordeal was the constant barrage of media coverage concerning the big non-event. Talk about your manufactured News! The most life-changing event for us that year was the birth of our first son. Before the big day my dentist said to me, while I was reclining on his chair with a mouth full of tools, "Life as you know it will cease to exist". He did so with his usual dead-pan Adam West-type delivery. This carries a lot of weight coming from a guy wearing a mask and shining a bright light in your eyes while probing you with pointy instruments. For me this was the most potent Y2K prediction and one that rings true to this day. Pictured above is my Y2K shirt. When I tried to up-load this image on my computer my scanner wouldn't work. The computer failed to recognize my camera and scanner. I tried and tried, but it still wouldn't work. Spooky! Turns out I forgot to un-plug a portable device from my USB port. Damn computers!