It has become something of a tradition of mine to write a state-of-the-Siteway address at the beginning of May. I began writing on Siteway in early May 2000 which makes this blog roughly seven years old. From the banal to the ridiculous, self-promotion to self-analysis, I've tried not to think about the categories of my writing too much (I've recently adopted the use of tags which are an attempt to coalesce themes). I see no reason to abandon this form of expression, and I look forward to more. And don't worry, I haven't forgotten about Avery Hutch. ¶ Having said that, the rest of my sites are not exactly as established as Siteway. While Siteway is situated in the real world, as the company that I actually run as a freelance illustrator, the other three sites exist primarily in an imaginary world (being actual web sites, however, brings them a little closer to this world). Tonicville is the fictional city I'm developing, Phelts is the company that finally got it right, and Coastalmatic is the name of the cinema in Tonicville that lifted Tom Phelts' company from small-time to big-time. Hence Phelts' interest in film. However, it's not as simple as all that. I'm working hard developing three additional visual languages for each site that work independently and as a family. The goal is a showing of illustrations, drawings, posters, artifacts, and even some sculpture from the Tonicville world in Spring 2008. Between now and then, however, I'll still be showing portraits from the Siteway canon. ¶ One way to think about my over-arching objective is to think of Siteway as the solid real-world foundation to a wonderful playland of ideas, stories, film, and art. Tom Phelts, Matchstick, and the rest of my characters and props will populate a world inspired by the ideas within Iris Murdoch's Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals. You'll see the world first, at the Spring 2008 show. Until then, there will be glimpses on the other sites. I've abandoned the weekly Coastalmatic animations not because I didn't think they were going in a good direction but because I don't have the capacity to commit to another weekly art object. And I don't want to sacrifice quality. ¶ Here's to May, here's to our upcoming sailing course, a summer of adventure, and always an eye on the prize.

Labels: Clear, Coastalmatic, Phelts, Siteway, Tonicville

¶ 12:55 PM

Cherry blossom girl... ¶ Okay so we're in week two of Coastalmatic's short life. You can check the latest animation here and last week's here. ¶ A Siteway featured illustration of Quentin Tarantino was in the National Post last week. You can see a photograph of it here. ¶ Quietly reflecting on our extenda-weekend in Toronto reveals warm emotions and while writing this way can get uncomfortable, I will say that I had some rare quiet moments with many of those close to me and I'm extremely grateful for them. ¶ If you win some, and you lose some, then count me in. ¶ Just quickly in closing: I know I'm taking on another lofty who-cares-right-now experiment with Coastalmatic, and I know it's all a little vague. Especially the part about how all the sites are related. But there's a lot I've invested in these areas of my life and I'm serious about their full and complete development. Vagueness must scent character, and not dolls, after all.

Labels: Clear, Coastalmatic, Gratitude, NationalPost, SitewayWorld, Vague

¶ 12:43 AM