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NEWS ARCHIVE - 2011
SEASONS GREETINGS AT THE BEGINNING OF WINTER
This is a low-res version of my seasonal greeting card for 2011, titled
DENOMATOMUS. I attempt to create non-denominational cards, and
was thinking about the usual use of the prefix "de-" as in deconstruct
or decommission, versus its use in the words denomination or determination
where it presumably has a positive use. Also, a word play on atom,
suggested by the molecular look of the image, and a word play (noticed
later) on noma, a company who makes christmas lights. The image was
created as a pen & ink drawing
with black ink on white paper, hand coloured. The drawing was scanned,
and a negative image created, cropped, tweaked, and printed.
THE DOME ROOF - AN EXPENSIVE CROWN OF THORNS?
A view of the dome with its new "crown of thorns" adorning the top.
I've heard that a recent cost estimate for the project was $770 million,
but so far the city doesn't seem to think it has cost more than a mere
half billion bucks. What's a quarter billion bucks between politicians
and developers? Anyway, there's no worries about piles of money being
left over blowing around in the street when those guys are done. To
be picky, similar questions
could be asked about the half billion overrun on oly-village, and the
half a billion or so overrun on the convention center ... do these
contracts come with clauses that approve driving money away in
semi-trailer loads ... ? How can these projects all be 50 to 100%
over budget? (Interesting pseudo-fact: the budget overruns
on those three projects alone would have sustained the province's lost arts
funding for approximately 1,000 years).
RUSSIAN MISSILE CRUISER ARRIVES ON GOODWILL TOUR
You never know what's going to pull into port these days. On Nov. 8th
we saw the Russian Navy guided missile cruiser VARYAG arrive
on a goodwill visit. A large portion of the deck area is covered
with huge guided missile tubes (apparently 4 or 5 pairs per side -
see below), and a very impressive gun is mounted
on the bow (arrow). The ship's paint colour is fairly dark, which had
us guessing "whose navy" but a google search found the answer.
One of the ship's boats is quite large, noted by arrows to the left. The
helicopter pad is at the stern, although no chopper was in sight.
The ship's crew lined the rail for its arrival, which gave a good
sense of scale to the size of the ship. If they let the crew ashore
look out Granville Street! Tovarich!
MALASPINA PRINTMAKERS 101 PRINTS FUNDRAISER
The Malaspina Printmakers Society fundraiser 101 PRINTS was
held October 28 at the Roundhouse Community Center in Vancouver. The
photo above shows artist Kitty Blandy giving the opening remarks, with
CBC radio's Lisa Christianson center ready to emcee the event, and artist
Jocelyn Barrable Segal on the right ready to start marking down the
numbers that have been selected.
Sim Publishing donated etchings Looking West
and Water Taxi to the event, which were
selected about halfway through the draw. The room was full of people
viewing the wide range of prints, and enjoying excellent hors
d'oeuvres and the live jazz band that was playing.
ALCUIN WAYZGOOSE LINOCUT DEMONSTRATION A SUCCESS
Well, I survived the Alcuin Society's Wayzgoose printing fair. It was
a LOT of work and preparation, and I haven't been so tired at
the end of a day for a long time. However, many people came by
and watched me printing keepsakes (over 50 were printed and given away
free). Over 40 people signed up for my e-newsletter and a chance to
win a print of Otters on Savary Dock. The print was won by a
VPL Librarian, who was very happy to receive it.
The photographs above were taken by Jason Vanderhill, a Director of the
Alcuin Society, and are used with permission and thanks. I actually not
only forgot to take my camera, but also forgot to take any pictures
myself.
From left to right: I am demonstrating the effort required to crank
down on my press to make good prints (my very able assistant for the
day Kim Koch is seen on the right); rolling ink onto the linocut;
pressing a keepsake; and peeling a printed keepsake off the linocut after
pressing it. A hand coloured version of the keepsake is below.
Thanks are due to the Alcuin Society for sponsoring the event, for
inviting me to demonstrate linocut printing, and for their ongoing
support of the letterpress and print community!
LINOCUT DEMONSTRATION UPCOMING OCTOBER 22 AT ALCUIN WAYZGOOSE
(Wayzgoose Printing Fair logo by Alcuin Society, used with thanks)
I have been invited to give a demonstration of linocut printing at
the Alcuin Society's Wayzgoose printing fair. This is a celebration of
letterpress printing and the book arts. It will be held Saturday Oct.
22 at the main branch (downtown) of the Vancouver Public Library,
from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Admission is FREE.
Please see WAYZGOOSE for more information
about the event.
ADDITIONAL DRAWINGS POSTED
Pen & ink, colour pencil drawings
I've posted some more drawings: My Castle
on the left was drawn c1968, Abstract
Forms c1970, and Grid,
Nodes,
Connections were drawn in 2009.
DEVICE TO ROOT OUT EVIL (revisited)
I took a few photographs of this controversial artwork while it
was installed along the seawall in Vancouver. The photo above -
found whilst rummaging around looking for a different photo - gives
a good general view of the sculpture on a stormy day, a starling
perches at the top. It seems amazing that public outcry actually
kept this artwork from being installed anywhere in the United States.
One of the construction cranes working on the shoreline extension
project for the convention centre is seen beyond on the right.
DESCENT FROM MT. WADDINGTON PENCIL DRAWING IN PROGRESS
Following close on the heels of the large drawing Mt.
Waddington & Scimitar Icefall I am working on a new drawing that shows
part of our expedition's descent from Mt. Waddington. In this view, 10,000
foot high Mt. Dickson forms the backdrop for a glacial bowl just above the
head of the Scimitar Icefall. There are 3 ropes of climbers seen in the
drawing, starting at lower right. This scene is composited from a series
of photographs that I took while waiting my turn to rappel down a 400
foot high ice cliff to join the climbers below.
MT. WADDINGTON PENCIL DRAWING NEARING COMPLETION
This is the largest artwork I have attempted for some time. It was
interesting to draw, as it was really a number of separate drawings
done on one sheet. The sky, Mt. Waddington, Mt. Combatant (left), the
icefall, and other elements were each drawn in turn. Refer to
Mt. Waddington & Scimitar Icefall for more
information.
MAKING IT! NOW AVAILABLE!
Chris Tyrell's new book MAKING IT! (ISBN 978-0-9809528-1-0,
CT Productions) is now available for
purchase. I found it on sale at OPUS Art and Framing store, but I'm
sure it will be available elsewhere. In it, Chris interviews a number
of Canadian (mostly B.C.) artists about their business and marketing
practices, highlighting "tips and tricks" that have been successful
(or not) in their careers. I was lucky enough to get an entire 10-page
chapter to myself. Below are scans of the first two pages of "my" chapter.
A black and white version of Eucalyptus was
selected as the illustration. Refer also to www.christyrell.ca for
more information.
OTTERS AT SUNSET
Digital photograph
Down at the harbour at sunset waiting for the "super moon" to
rise, a last ray of sunlight slivers through the west end high
rises to shine on a single engined Otter, tied up for the day
along with the rest of the fleet.
ANOTHER UNIQUE VESSEL IN THE HARBOUR
We spotted this ship from our office last week, and wanted to find
out more. Roger reported that it was named OBERON, so i googled it and
found that it is a one-of-a-kind "super yacht support vessel." It is
50 meters long, with a top speed of 28 knots. The stern crane, with a
lifting capacity of 10 tons, is intended for loading and unloading of
"water toys" and assorted cargo, in support of super yacht operations.
The bow is a patented design called the "Sea Axe."
WEAPON STUDIES
Pen & ink, colour pencil drawings
These are some sketchbook doodles drawn while thinking about
early handmade weapons. The ideas were an outgrowth from a
series of story boards for a movie idea.
WEB SITE UPDATED WITH ARTWORK PRICE LIST AND ADDITIONAL ARTWORK
After much text and image editing and uploading, almost all artwork listed
on this website is now linked to an overall ARTWORK
PRICE LIST, with the exception of Other Work
(in progress). This will make it easier to review and compare the artwork
prices, where the previous format had each price listed individually on
the artwork's web page.
In doing this, I realized that quite a few drawings were not listed on
the website, although a smattering of the images have been used to illustrate
some pages. New webpages for artwork include the following:
... Vancouver harbour in summer, planes and boats and a quad getting
a workout ...
MIKE HORN'S EXPEDITION SHIP PANGAEA SPOTTED AT VANCOUVER DOCK
A bow view of Pangaea at dock, sunset March 19, Vancouver.
I went down to the harbour seawall on Saturday night to see if I
could see the "super moon" rising. Whilst idling about (moons rise
slowly, it seems) I took a few photos of Pangaea moored
in Coal Harbour. The ship is on an extended voyage around the
world, as part of the vision of Mike Horn, a South African adventurer.
Have a look at his entry on Wikipaedia for some of the amazing
trips and adventures that he has done, including journeys to the
North Pole, around the equator without a motor, around the Arctic
Circle on foot, and some climbing in the Himalayas. The ship has
just crossed the Pacific, and does not look anything like
the local gin cruisers. The lettering on the bow has clearly plowed
through thousands of real waves.
A side view of Pangaea at dock, sunset March 19, Vancouver.
SIM PRINT "HIGHER RISES" IN BURNABY ART GALLERY EXHIBITION
The linocut HIGHER RISES is now on show in the
exhibition "Selections from the Permanent Collection:
Linocuts" at the Burnaby Art Gallery until April 3.
Other prints in the show include work by E.J. Hughes, Paul
Goranson, Lionel Lemoine Fitzgerald, and Bob Steele. I was only
able to take a photograph of my own work in the exhibition.
... an interesting rainbow over North Vancouver, seen across first narrows,
beyond the trees of Brockton Point ...
"LUNCH WITH A LEGEND" WITH TREVOR LINDEN AT IL GIARDINO
After lunch photos and Kim's imterview.
An attempt at an artistic low-light portrait.
Farewell photos.
Farewell photos.
Out of the blue, I was offered a ticket to have lunch with
Trevor Linden at Il Giardino. A table for 5 guests had been auctioned
off last year as a fundraiser for the Big Sisters organization.
Trevor and I were joined by three ladies who are affiliated with
Big Sisters, as well as by News1130 airborne traffic newscaster
Kim Seale. Umberto Menghi selected a delicious multi-course
lunch for us to savor, accompanied by fine wine and excellent
service.
MALASPINA PRINTMAKERS SOCIETY 101 PRINTS FUNDRAISER POSTPONED
The Malaspina Printmakers Society fundraising auction 101 Prints
originally to be held Thursday March 24 2011, at the Roundhouse
Community Arts & Recreation Centre has been postponed until the
fall. Two Sim etchings will be available as one lot:
Looking West and
Water Taxi.
SIM PRINT "HIGHER RISES" TO BE IN BURNABY ART GALLERY EXHIBITION
The linocut HIGHER RISES will be shown in
the exhibition "Selections from the Permanent Collection:
Linocuts" at the Burnaby Art Gallery from March 4 to April 3.
Other prints in the show will include work by E.J. Hughes, Paul
Goranson, Lionel Lemoine Fitzgerald, Bob Steele, and others.
The Burnaby Art Gallery has generously donated a number of
their early exhibition catalogues to Sim Publishing, for use in
updating BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS.
SIM ETCHINGS ON EXHIBITION AT LE GAVROCHE RESTAURANT
Etchings LOOKING WEST and WATER TAXI are on
display at Le Gavroche Restaurant, 1616 Alberni Street, Vancouver. The two etchings are seen on
the left in this photograph. This new corner seating arrangement is
made possible by the new millwork housing the wine bottles, design by Hector Uvence.
Although the Vancouver Art Gallery Library nominated BRITISH
COLUMBIA ARTISTS for the 2011 Melva J. Dwyer Award, the person
in charge of the jury now claims that he "forgot" to register the
nomination from the Vancouver Art Gallery. As a result, the project
was not even considered for this year's award. Frankly this is
hard to believe.
"MAKING IT! Case Studies of Successful Canadian Visual Artists"
Chris Tyrell (www.christyrell.ca) has written to say that his new
book on marketing for artists is finished and ready to be sent to
the printers. Chris hopes that the books will be available by
July. A launch party is planned for September. There are
15 chapters that look at various ways for artists to communicate,
market their work, and advance their career. I have a 10-page
chapter in which Chris discusses how he sees me laying the groundwork
now for a successful post-retirement career, using tools like this
website, e-mail newsletters, and the BC Art Salon.
A number of artists were interviewed for the book, including
Richard Tetrault, Kitty Blandy, Ross Penhall, Jude Griebel, Tiko
Kerr, and Marcus Bowcott. From the index pages I've seen it promises
to be a very interesting, useful, and valuable reference work
for artists.
THE SOLSTICE SESSIONS - DIGITAL TWIDDLING ONGOING
The 31 tracks recorded at Saga Recording Studio in December are
still in the works for posting, as experimentation continues
with digital sound editors, formats, file sizes, sound quality.
Samples will be posted here: Solstice.
SIM ARTWORK AT DAILY GRIND CAFE, 1500 W. GEORGIA
A small show of work is on display in the cafe behind the pool
at 1500 West Georgia Street. Seen above, left to right, are
Morning, Egmont (pen & ink drawing), Looking West
and Water Taxi (etchings), and Skookumchuck (hand
tinted linocut print).
BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS NOMINATED FOR 2011 MELVA J. DWYER AWARD
The Vancouver Art Gallery Library has nominated BRITISH COLUMBIA
ARTISTS for the 2011 Melva J. Dwyer Award. This is given
annually to "an outstanding reference work on Canadian art or
architecture."
Please refer to BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS page
for more information about the project.
NEW YEARS GREETINGS FOR 2011
Continue to 2010
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