Mural self promo video.

So I have been working on going big with my drawings for the past few years. I wanted to wrap up all of that work in one video, so I did.

I would love to know what you think. It took me a minute to collect all of the footage and again more minutes to cut it together.

It has been a wild ride and I am honestly grateful for the pause COVID gave me because that pause gave me a re-set that I needed and it gave me the opportunity to realize that I can go big with my work and it gave me a whole new community too.

Service.

I started working in the service industry during the pandemic. I needed to because I had to stay afloat and a friend of mine got me a job at a local hotel restaurant as a host. The job was a few blocks from my house and lasted for a year. I wanted to move on from Hosting to being a server but there was just no room for me there.

(I have learned more about myself and people working in the service industry than I ever have at school or in any kind of relationship I have had. This is not a negative thing by any means, it is very positive because what I learned helped me learn more about myself and how my actions affect others.)

So on I went and got another gig, at the encouragement of my boss. He gave me a glowing reference and I stayed at the next gig for 6 months working as a server/hostess and sometimes bartender until they went to counter service and laid off their entire waitstaff and trimmed their kitchen too. A decision they made to be able to keep the restaurant alive during very trying times after the government subsidy ran out.

From this gig I went back to another hotel, further from home, one with a long history, training manuals and a lot to remember and facilitate as a host. I work there 3-4 days a week and usually work in the studio 1 day a week and carry my camera and shoot on the street the rest of the time. I keep a sketchbook at home for evenings when I keep my continuous line drawing practice going. I buy sketchbooks from the dollar store and pencils and pens there too. Lately, I have been picking up some groceries there too.

Before the pandemic, I was keeping my creative pursuits afloat by working as a photographer’s assistant. I had my name on a couple of large rental houses in town and I would get gigs when photographers came to town and needed a hand. There is a small group of really great assistants here in Vancouver and I was really lucky to work with a lot of them over the few years I did it full-time. It also taught me a lot.

Some people assume a lot about my life but the truth is I have always kept a job that has supported my creative pursuits. A job that has covered all of my monthly bills and enabled me to focus on creating commercial photo work and mural work. The goal is to not need the serving gigs anymore and make my entire income from my photography and mural work. I choose not to assist anymore and focus on my goal of working commercially, the service jobs keep me afloat so I can keep this goal in mind. It’s my focus.

I submit to Vogue every week, stay up late every Sunday evening or set an alarm to submit at 11:01 pm. I do not get paid by Vogue, it is an open submission and I have only been accepted a few times in 2022. I am hoping for more before the year ends. I will keep trying, keep shooting and keep submitting, it is an evolving practice for me and so far I have 12 images published with them and I like that feather in my cap.

I live lean, don’t own a car, and don’t have any real vices except thrift shopping and often I don’t spend on that because the amount of clothing I find makes up for what I would have spent in a thrift shop. Even when I do go and decide to spend money on items I am very discerning about what I decide to purchase and at what price point. I take the bus, and EVO’s around town or ride my bicycle or walk. I take books out of the library and often shop from the day-old produce bin at Kins. The lady knows me there and knows she has been keeping me in smoothies for years. Old fruit blends great and tastes great too.

I took a spot in a shared studio space in January and when the rent went up an extra $100 a couple of months ago I offered to clean it once a month instead of paying the increase and that offer was welcomed. It takes about 3 hours to clean it from stem to stern but I like doing it, it gives me more of a feeling of belonging there. We are a community of artists in the space who all support each other and I really love being a part of it.

I don’t believe in being taken care of, even when I am in a long-term relationship the costs get split, dinners, entertainment, groceries, rent, and travel, split. I don’t believe in someone taking on the bulk of the cost of a partnership because of said partnership. If there is a large skew in earnings then we have figured out what the equal cost is and kept that as a guide until things changed because sometimes they do.

All of this is to say that I work hard to support my creativity and passion and saving money is something I do so that I can travel and take my camera and sketchbook to different parts of the world.

I thought it would be good to share something personal here on the blog. Each week I think about what I am going to say and sometimes the posts write themselves because I have a lot going on and sometimes it’s a grind to keep these balls in the air this week I just wanted to share how that juggling happens.

Snippets. A peek into the last 10 days or so.

Hello.

It has been an exciting time, yet challenging too. Trying to find ways to carry on knowing that there is so much going on in the world has been tough for me. So with that realization, I have been trying to go a bit easier on myself. I have scaled back my hustle and am getting more rest. I am just giving myself some time, to feel myself. I hope you are doing the same.

In the meantime, I wanted to share some photos with you of the past 10 days or so.

I inspired myself with a new way to edit photos with my phone and thought about showing it to you. With that, I wanted to share more photos too.

So here we go.

The first four images are from a broken window I passed by. I grabbed a few photos and later I couldn’t decide which one I wanted to use in my story so I was holding them side by side on my screen and thought, hey, why don’t I grab a screenshot of this. So I took a screenshot that featured a section of each image. And then I kept doing that. I love it, so fun. Try it. You have to put your thumb near the + volume button on your phone and your index finger near the button you use to shut your phone off. Those two pressed at the same time make a screenshot. You need to hold the images on the screen that you want to screenshot, I do this with my thumb. Ta-Da! You have to go back in later and crop, that adds to the creativity because you can choose what section you want to crop too.

Next, there are a couple of drawings from a mural I will be creating. Can you guess who it is for?

Then we have coffee with a friend. The cups and table were so wonderfully read I grabbed a couple of shots with my phone and then later tried my screenshot technique and got a nice blend of each shot. I love the graphics of this coffee cup.

Next, we have some support for Ukraine popping up around my neighbourhood. I saw a man on the bus with a lapel pin made of ribbon featuring the flag’s colours. I was thinking that Putin has a small penis, if his health is failing and this is the only way he can think of to make a mark on the world WTF?! Just STOP.

Next, we have some more mural practice from my living space. I use old backdrop paper to practice drawing.

And then we have a photo with Jagmeet Singh and his new baby girl. He is the leader of the NDP party. I believe in the work he is doing so when I spotted him I asked my friend if she would want a photo with him. She said, of course, so away we went and I asked as soon as I could get his attention. His brother took it for us, I wanted one of just him but he wanted one of us, so we got this. An awkward selfie, my friend and I laughed about it and chatted about it for the next few blocks we walked. What are the odds?!

Next, we have the images I used in my Instagram posts this week, featuring Alex in Doris Land. You can see the whole photo set here

Next, we have a book I just finished that I highly recommend. I read it in a day, so good. Remember Tuesday’s with Mory? Same author, brilliant writer.

Next up we have some snaps of walking around with my camera in my hand, flowers are blooming, some are falling to the ground and others are being documented with paint.

Next, is a scene from me grabbing coffee solo reading one of my favourite books. I just found this book and it has quickly become my favourite. Get a copy, if you are an artist of any kind this book with inspire you, promise. I took one photo featuring my mask, and one without. Restrictions are lifted here now for mask-wearing, I am still wearing mine in public places. It just feels like the right thing to do.

Next, we have a series of images from an exhibition featuring found objects from the beach. Each sculpture took 6 months to make, by hand. Each piece is attached to mesh and the mesh is folded and moulded to create the shape. The exhibition was incredible to see. I kept pointing out objects in awe of the fact that it was found on the beach. If you are in Vancouver, go and see it. It is called Washed Ashore at Metrotown.

Finally, we have the wonderful war protestor interrupting a new broadcast, risking her life to get the word out to the Russian people about the war in Ukraine. They are not being told the truth, such a brave being.

How have your 10 days been? Would love to hear from you too.

I will leave you with this.

If you feel like having some fun and meeting a new neighbour, drop by, say Hi. Grab some chalk and draw.

This is an event created from my third neighbourhood small grant and I would love to see you there.

Van Gogh, a day dream.

Have you been to see the Van Gogh exhibition yet?

It is meant to make you feel like you are in a daydream and if you ask me that is exactly what it felt like.

I stood slack-jawed for a while and it took about an hour before I realized that it was playing again and I was looking at the same work. I slipped into his world and was completely enveloped by the experience.

I have been celebrating a milestone birthday this week and it has been magic. I am feeling like I am living in my own personal day dream. My friends are making this new chapter for me one full of love, gratitude and connection. The one thing that has come out of this crazy time for me is learning the value of connection. Specifically the connections that serve you, and the ones you can serve in return.

So this blog post is celebrating this wonderful new chapter, with wonderful people in my life filling me up with love and nurturing this weird little beings creativity. Thank you, thank you, and once again I love you.

A Neighbourhood Small Grant, a silk screen workshop with Blim and a second vaccine.

It has been an exciting week, it started with a bang! Well kinda, I got an email at 12:02 am Tuesday morning. How was I reading my email at that time you might ask? I work a serving gig a few nights a week and we get home late sometimes. I wind down in a lot of different ways, first stop my email to catch up with anyone who might have reached out.

Thank you for applying to the Neighbourhood Small Grants (NSG) program. 
Every year, a committee of neighbours reviews all of the NSG applications to ensure that projects meet our program goals. The Committee greatly enjoyed the creativity in your application, and loved your project idea! On behalf of the Neighbourhood Granting Committee, I am pleased to inform you that your project was awarded funding!

I can’t wait to share the project with you, right now I am in the process of pulling together the location and the date. As soon as I have a poster to share you will find it here.

And then, the week got even better.

Then I learned how to silk screen with the fabulous people at Blim, so fun. I was able to take a course, buy the supplies and bring my own shirts to screen on and pay for studio time. The set up is perfect and any question I had was answered with ease.

The screen I choose to make is from my latest grouping of drawings, moving away from using my photos and carrying the continuous line into what feels good as I move my pen across the page. I am using the exercise of drawing a self portrait with your eyes closed and inspiration from other illustrators to make these new drawings. I am filling pages in a sketchbook with practice day after day and it is a practice I am really enjoying seeing develop. One I could see going BIG as a community based Mural to. Let’s see what we can do.

The week rounded out with my second shot, my first was AstraZeneca and my second one is Moderna.

How was your week?

What do you call two hat tricks in a row?

What I mean is that I have had my 6th image published in Vogue Italia.

So is that two hat tricks in a row? Or is it just a sixth time?

Doesn’t roll off the tongue like other times but it has me over the moon with excitement.

I worked with Farah from Charles Stuart International, outside at a safe social distance to make some urban feeling images after being inspired by the latest All Saints spring 2021 campaign shot by two of my favourite photographers.

The series is called where the summer is because summer is here in Vancouver and it is fabulous outside right now. I shot a roll of expired Agfa Optima 120mm film with my medium format Bronica Zenzia camera and 80mm lens. I love that camera right down to the vintage luggage strap that hangs it around my neck as I wander around during shoots. It is no Hasselblad (the dream-hello universe, can you hear me? My birthday is July 5) but it certainly does in a pinch. What do you think of the flawed colour photos? I love the flaws, for me, they are the heartbeat of photography.

Back to you guys, how are things?

I am in the cue for my second shot and that has me feeling pretty hopeful. I want to hear from you, are you hopeful too?