Happy Birthday to my decision to register a domain name, one siteway.com. She's 12-years-old today. Oh boy. ¶ Pick up the National Post this weekend: Saturday's magazine, Toronto will include four noirish illustrations including the cover.

Labels: Freelancing, NationalPost, SitewayWorld

¶ 12:35 PM

I sent out a fairly formal announcement of my upcoming move to an office in Toronto earlier this morning. It links to a version of my most recent Marlon Brando in the form of a postcard. There's been so much happening in such a quiet way here of late that it's sometimes hard to keep it all straight. Anyway, we're definitely ready now. Sailing is coming to an end, I've got one last weekend in London, and soon we will be on our way. I'm trying to take it all in. On balance, it's been one hell of a year here. ¶ I've got a portrait of The White Stripes in today's National Post. AL2, I believe. I haven't seen it quite yet as the delivery person left my paper for Dundas Street to enjoy.

Labels: Brando, FeaturedIllustration, Londontown, NationalPost, TheOffice

¶ 10:27 AM

From Nick Tosches' Letter from Tokyo in the June 2007 issue of Vanity Fair: As to what all this looked like and how it tasted, well, you can't eat metaphors, and if I ever use words such as "succulent," shoot me, but suffice to say that I remember thinking as I walked into the night: If the Roman emporers can be said to have missed out on anything, it was this. ¶ Watch for an upcoming print ad I have running through the fine people at theIspot in the Illustration Annual issue of Communication Arts. On newsstands July 1, 2007. ¶ I'm currently in the final stages of putting together my proposal for The National Post Portraits. If you know my work and you know a gallery in Toronto I should know about, connect the dots for me. Sincerely yours, me. ¶ Looks like Peter Bogdonavich isn't done. In his first film in six years, he's directing an untitled Tom Petty documentary. Last I read, it might be called Running Down a Dream. I drew, and was unsatisfied with, a portrait of Tom Petty a few weeks ago. I'll try again soon, maybe in time for a film poster? Koff. ¶ Hey yeah yeah / In the dark of the sun / We will stand together/ Yeah we will stand as one / Oh in the dark of the sun.

Labels: Excerpt, Freelancing, Lyric, NationalPost

¶ 3:21 PM

Pauline celebrated what's known in my group of friends as "birthday week" (def: either as a result of a milestone and/or an imperfect placement in the week, a person in a group of friends has a week or near to a week of sanctioned birthday fun.) She had a blast. I had a blast. Myself in Toronto is on-deck, swinging two bats, and keen on the game. ¶ I was pleased with my Mike Myers illustration on the weekend, although I wonder if I could have been kinder. Ah, such is nature of reflection. It was a great layout and, and I liked how the green turned out so nice and May-like. ¶ Speaking of May-like, as I write this I can feel the warm and comforting breeze on the right side of my body and it's having a curing effect. Not that I need a cure. I've been feeling good for a few days now. The anti-Samson, I seem to gain strength from a Number 1 grade haircut as spring comes to Canada. More importantly my body seems to have finally defeated the chest cold that had overstayed its welcome.

Labels: Family, NationalPost, Toronto, Vague

¶ 11:14 PM

Gliding through Southwestern Ontario via rail, I have lucked into a complimentary net connexion which has allowed me to finish my work in the early PM. It clears my head and plate for the later evening. Aldershot! ¶ This thought occurred to me last evening: cinema is largely trauma, realised. I don't think that trauma = drama, but in many cinematic instances, it certainly helps. For example, a revenge story is more compelling when lives are on the line as opposed to mere pride. Gambling stories only work when someone loses their Everything and not just their One Thing. I thought, last night, that books were exempt from this grip but the truth is I haven't read enough to know. Seeing Walk The Line had me wondering if real pill poppers would see themselves on screen or not. I suppose this is just a tiny observation about subtlety in storytelling. In Disturbia, the acceptable film I saw a couple of weeks ago, the hero has our sympathies right at the outset: he loses his good-guy father in an accident that he witnesses. Any further actions this character is involved in reminds us to keep this in mind (poor kid). The film is weak, as a direct result from this choice, not just because their choice was obvious. It was just easier. And easier is usually easy to see. This is why the great debate about Commerce vs. Art in film is largely moot. All popular art is sold but not all popular art is easy. Hell, even unpopular "hard" art sells. The idea that these choices are more conservative is something we all agree on. I think even the executives who clearly water down most Hollywood productions would agree to the label of conservatism via focus groups (i.e. they listen to focus groups). The real question is: does conservatism help or hurt the form? This happens in a lot of mainstream media. Is it really a good idea to put celebrities and headlines over all magazine covers? Maybe. But to me it just looks like one missed opportunity after another. Opportunities to carve our new niches, new interest, and as a direct result, new money. Crying "the reader will be confused" is like saying "I'm unsure of my role here." The details of our lives are like fine needlepoint. Easily lost when looking at the dress, but perhaps the defining characteristic of the dress. This stuff matters. It always has, it always will. Care is like fuel for art. ¶ Earlier this week I worked on a Mike Myers illustration that will be in this Saturday's National Post, Toronto section. Which is nice, because I'll be in Toronto.

Labels: Cinema, NationalPost, SitewayWorld, Train

¶ 12:58 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

OK so I didn't fare that well during the 30 Rock hiatus! It's back this week though, and so I'm already looking forward to Thursday-as-Friday due to most business slowing down on Good Friday. ¶ Tracy Morgan is one of those comedians that I didn't warm to immediately but now can't get enough of. His stand-up comedy is probably not to everyone's taste. Very explicit, not just because it's blue but because it's honest about aspects of anthropology that we don't generally chat about in our everyday lives. If we're lucky, we'll see Morgan develop into something very special. ¶ Check out today's National Post for my spread of illustrations in The Month Ahead, AL1.

Labels: FeaturedIllustration, NationalPost, TV

¶ 12:17 PM

Nothing says Friday like talk of martinis and their creation. Pauline made her first the other night and it didn't turn out all that well. She added too many non-gin ingredients. Classic trap. When I was younger, and browsed every Time magazine in existence, I saw countless booze ads depicting all sorts of cocktail party scenarios. I mistakenly thought that all adults knew how to mix drinks (this is, in part, because my parents held social gatherings and the drinks seemed well made by my not-at-all-big-drinker parents). However, not all adults know how to mix drinks. I know this now. Especially tricky is the martini. The secret lies in seeing how simple a drink it really can be. Think of it as a marginally watered-down frigid gin drink with a pickled garnish (in most case this is two to three olives). ¶ Here's how to make my favourite martini: Throw about seven or eight large ice cubes into a Boston shaker. Pour two ounces of your favourite drinking gin (fancy or not; Beefeater and Gordon's make fine martinis) into same shaker. Go a little further than leer at the dry vermouth, which does actually need to be a part of the action. Remember the dish detergant ads when one drop would remove the grease? That's how much vermouth you need. A drop, or two. Shake closed shaker with much vigor until it gets so cold you can hardly bear to hold on. Pour strained and chilled and marginally watered-down gin into a refrigerated martini glass. Insert two to three olives on a toothpick, and drop into the cloudy dream. Drink, in three to four gulps. ¶ People in my peer group were bombarded with cocktail culture done wrong. Misguided martini bars serving vodka-cranberry in fancy shakers for too much cash. Horrible gun-tap mixed drink stations that leave the mouth and body feeling battered. And I know this world is a complicated one, but for basic bars, here are a few key fundamentals: use lots of ice, use fresh cola or soda, don't chince, and have a wide variety of fresh garnish options available. First ice, then booze, then mix, then garnish. Bonus tip: to take the edge of too-sweet simple mixed drinks like Jack and Coke or rum and Diet, splash a little club soda into the mix. ¶ Have a good weekend, everyone. I don't know about the rest of the world, but in London, Ontario it is spring. Oh, and don't forget to check out Monday's National Post, AL1. I've got a bunch of illustrations in that I did for their calendar of events.

Labels: NationalPost, Recipe

¶ 11:17 AM

I had an illustration in today's National Post (AL2) of Norah Jones. I've been illustrating for the Arts & Life section on a semi-regular basis since last May. I've been posting photographs of my illustrations that have appeared in the Post to my flickr account. You can check it out at thepost.siteway.com. ¶ I've decided to pull the plug on my CafePress store. I could probably articulate the reasons why but I think I'll just let time do the explaining. Right now the only place you can purchase Siteway related stuff is through my online store, Siteway Select. Oh, and my sister brand, Tonicville, has a store over at Prickie you can check out. ¶ We're hope hope going to NYC in late February. Now's the time to send me suggestions on where to eat, drink, and be merry. I've already set up one client meeting and I'm hoping to drop off my portfolio at the Esquire and Rolling Stone offices. ¶ And finally I want to say that the new Siteway site is coming along very well, thank you, and I'll be posting my launch date any day now. Stay tuned, illustration and vague-talk lovers, we've just finished the pre-dinner drinks. With any luck, we've got a full dinner ahead to look forward to. ¶ Cheers for the nod, Jason.

Labels: NationalPost, NYC, SitewaySelect, SitewayWorld, Vague

¶ 8:43 PM

An open-letter to art directors in Hollywood: try not to rely on Photoshop for photographs as they appear in some films. We can mostly tell. Do it like people care, because they do. ¶ I've got a head-to-head illustration in today's Post, Arts & Life section cover: Marty and Clint.

Labels: NationalPost, Open Letter

¶ 9:12 AM

I've got a colour Jack Bauer in Monday's National Post (no ELM, you can't see a "sneak peek"). AL1. It's a little different than what many might be accustomed to. ¶ A huge thanks goes out to everyone that writes to me with kind words and support. I'm lucky to be able to cobble together a living drawing, and I know it. The feedback I get from my fellows is crucial to the mix. And to my fellow freelancers out there (you know who you are), you're doing it right now. ¶ “If you're losing your soul and you know it, then you've still got a soul left to lose”—Charles Bukowski.

Labels: Freelancing, NationalPost, Quotation

¶ 2:47 PM

If Pitchfork reviewed television, they'd surely hate Jericho. It's pretty obvious why. Jericho isn't terribly clever, isn't terribly well-acted, written, or even paced for that matter! But it's for a lot of these reasons that I've taken quite a shine to this popular little serial. Sometimes I like what I call the cultural feeling of a show. It often occurs in overtly commercial products because there's really no creative focus. I imagine the show's creators have had to water down what they've wanted to write about and the team of writers is likely handcuffed to a painful degree. And yet an earnestness survives which I can't get enough of. There are three other reasons I'm enjoying Jericho. First, there's no irony. Second, there's absolutely no self-referentiality (which I adore). And third, and this is the real appeal of the show, there's an implicit surreality that colours every scene. This is because the premise is quite solid (most critics grant this). Jake Green (Skeet Ulrich) comes home to Jericho to makes amends with his father before he starts his new life back in California. As he drives out of town several U.S. cities are destroyed by nuclear bombs forcing Jake to stay put and make eyes with his old flame, save people from desperate situations and basically save the day. This is a mainstream show and that means there are no anti-heroes. But that's what I love about it! You get to create all sorts of small crimes that might be in this character's past that will NEVER make it on air. You get to fill in the human blanks. I find Ulrich unaccountably engaging because he's just so NORMAL. I went to junior high school with guys like him. They weren't jocks but excelled at sports. They weren't mean but they weren't doormats. They weren't in the cool crowd, but they were ultimately cool. They didn't read books but they understood the themes in literature. They were just guys who were easy to get along with because the world was easy for them. Jericho is a very uncool show because it's earnest and not ironic. It has a solid foundation because it doesn't rely on effects or gimmicks or wink-wink-cleverness and puts the show entirely on Jake Green's shoulders. And somehow Skeet Ulrich pulls it off! It could be a much better show if CBS would let the writers do flex their surreal muscles but with commercial success comes length and with length comes experimentation and with experimentation comes surreality. ¶ Today was the single hardest day I've had drawing portraits. It took me all day to finish Ulrich, and I still didn't get the likeness to the point I'd wanted to. But I do think works alone as a portrait so I'm proud to publish it I worked on this week's Siteway feature after dinner and now it's exactly what I wanted. Here's to dinner tonight and relaxzone. ¶ Jay-Z in tomorrow's Post: AL2.

Labels: NationalPost, TV

¶ 6:49 PM

Bit of a whirlwind weekend... disorienting actually. I'm currently working from Casa Aird and have been enjoying the downhome feeling of his new abode. So I just updated with this week's illustration, Mr. George Clooney. Hope you like. ¶ This morning I also completed an illustration of Mr. Alex Trebek for tomorrow's National Post, AL3. ¶ I'd write more (as I have more to write) but I rather feel like a cat nap. If I can steal a signal on the VIA tomorrow, I'll post again. If not, when I get back to Londontown for sure.

Labels: FeaturedIllustration, NationalPost, Train, WeekendUpdate

¶ 3:58 PM

Illustration update: Brandon Flowers in Monday's Post (AL3) and Richard Ford in Tuesday's (AL1). ¶ Last week was exhausting, and though I don't feel like I've recovered, I do feel ready to take on the week. ¶ Lost in La Mancha, moving, and worth seeing. The Barbarian Invasions, also moving, also worth seeing. ¶ And now, sweet, sweet Zzzzzzzzzzz....

Labels: Cinema, NationalPost, WeekendUpdate

¶ 1:20 AM

Been a busy month. I had Barbra Streisand in the National Post AL2 on Tuesday and tomorrow (Thursday) I've got my third Arts & Life cover. It's of Clint Eastwood. They're doing a profile on him as he's got a new film, Flags of Our Fathers, coming out soon. It's my first Post illustration to use some red. ¶ Speaking of Mr. Eastwood, the November 2006 issue of TORO hit newsstands yesterday (the Sports issue) and it has a different illustration I did for them of the Hollywood legend. Counting the private commission I did a couple of years ago, that's three Clint's in my portfolio. I'm also mentioned in the contributor's page which is neat. ¶ Took a quick walk at lunch. I like to get out at least once a day for a stroll. Had some fries and gravy at the local greasy spoon. Been thinking a lot about Matchstick lately. I had a good chat with Pauline last night about him (we found ourselves at the Palasad... again). I have a million ideas and yet I've misplaced the hook somewhere along the way. I'm going to get down to basics by stripping everything down and get the story down. For that I'm going to use the highly effective, low-fi, and totally free, Darkroom. ¶ I wonder how Walter and the Life Drawing crew at the Gladstone are doing tonight...

Labels: Freelancing, Londontown, NationalPost

¶ 2:51 PM

I updated the Seth illustration above by adding some subtle animation. I'd like to do more animation, but so far I haven't found the best way, from a time management perspective, to accomplish this. I think it comes down to illustrating every new Siteway portrait all week every week instead of one day a week, every week. ¶ National Post portrait in the Wednesday, October 11, 2006 issue, of George Strombo, AL2. ¶ This past spring, when I was working part-time with Mouth Media, I designed some in-store graphics and the logo for GoodHealth Pharmacy. Currently their only store is in Ottawa, on Preston Street. ¶ Popphoto.com (digital arm of American Photo and Popular Photography) has a very good piece on portrait photographer Platon. Here are two excerpts that I particularly enjoyed: "Al Hirschfeld, the legendary cartoonist, had his picture taken by Platon a few weeks before he died, at the age of 99. 'If you had one wish?' Platon asked. 'Ah, to be 90 again,' he replied." and "On Christopher Walken, in the understatement of the night: 'Now this guy is weird.' Walken showed up for a shoot at Platon's house an hour early (unprecedented), alone (un-heard-of), and wearing black elastic pants pulled up to his armpits (what do you expect). He walked through the studio, straight into Platon's kitchen and started going through the cabinets. Platon, a little confused, asked him if he was hungry, and could he get him something to eat? 'No,' Walken replied, and kept opening cabinet doors. His advice on life? 'It helps if you drink.' The only way he would let Platon shoot his portrait? 'You're going to say 'Chris' and I'm going to look at you and then I'm going to look away.' 'We did that for two hours,' Platon says."

Labels: FeaturedIllustration, Freelancing, Heroes, NationalPost, Quotation

¶ 3:26 PM

Relax. / I need some information first. / Just the basic facts. / Can you show me where it hurts? / There is no pain, you are receding. / A distant ship's smoke on the horizon. / You are only coming through in waves.. ¶ Martin Scorsese is being profiled by the National Post in tomorrow's (Wednesday's) Arts & Life and I illustrated the cover portrait (AL1). It's of Scorsese these days, and I'm pretty Fn happy with it. ¶ I've got a series of five illustrations in the November 2006 issue of BC Business. I'm also profiled as a contributor in the front of the book.

Labels: Freelancing, Lyric, NationalPost

¶ 4:49 PM

The place is really coming together now. I've enjoyed the process a great deal, even if it is sometimes very difficult to figure out where things should go, you know the deal. I'm looking around the room and I'm liking what I see. I think I'll have a Redbreast before bed. Enjoy the Emily Haines portrait. ¶ I illustrate Michael C. Hall in tomorrow's National Post. AL2. ¶ Here's my piece on display at the Beaver, Uncle Paully wants a Sausage.

Labels: ArtShow, FeaturedIllustration, Londontown, NationalPost

¶ 11:51 PM

The Fourth San Francisco Story ¶ Before I get into the story I should simply state how wonderful a time we had in the Bay Area. Across the board, people treated us with respect and courtesy, with fondness and humanity. ¶ We used Broke-Ass Stuart's Guide to Living Cheaply in San Francisco V.2 extensively. I picked up a copy at the Bound Together Anarchist Collective Bookstore. It was very fun to read and explore the city through Stuart's perspective. I fully recommend it. When we didn't use Broke-Ass Stuart's guide, we relied heavily on a friend's e-mail filled with recommendations. One night we used both resources. ¶ My friend described Range as "quite trendy but the food is great." That's exactly right. Range (842 Valencia Street, 415-282-8283) is in the Mission and our old-world cab driver warned us "not to talk to anyone" and "to be careful." His advice was misguided as the area was not at all dangerous (but nearby intersections might have been). Hint, especially to those of you that haven't spent time in (Western) urban centres: when you are worried about bad areas in cities, if you are to be worried at all, you quite likely need to be very specific. Most of the big cities I've been to can't be judged generally for more than a block without lapsing into error. That corner might be bad but that neighbourhood is entirely sketchy? Really? I doubt it. ¶ I had the Alaskan Halibut and I actually forget what Pauline ordered. We were satiated and ready for more. ¶ After dinner we strolled down toward the Elbo Room. I'm not being ageist, because if I lived in SF I'd totally go there all the time, but this is the perfect bar for your mid-to-late twenties. It's what young-adult bars are all about: beautiful people, stiff drinks, no-attitude bar staff, great music (I'm not even a fan of funk, but it suited the night perfectly), and that dark, dank, bar feel. It's also a highly regarded live music venue which I totally believe from what I could tell. I wanted to keep drinking but my lids started to close and I had to listen to the body. We jumped in a cab and headed back to bed. ¶ Pleased to say that tomorrow, in addition to the TORO piece, I have a National Post portrait of JRR Tolkien on AL2. It's my 15th.

Labels: Freelancing, NationalPost, San Francisco

¶ 3:40 PM

What did you do on your summer vacation? ¶ I went on honeymoon. I went to San Francisco with my new wife and we went on honeymoon. Some highlights, in no particular order. ¶ Ken and Hayes Street Grill / On our first evening Pauline and I discussed how pleasantly surprised we were by our situation. The apartment rocked and the we were situated in an area that seemed very cool. A quick walk confirmed this for us and a few days later it was validated by something I read in a magazine. Hayes Valley is home to quite a few cafes, hair salons, beer & grub spots, and charming shops. We weren't quite ourselves on the first night. We stopped into the Hayes Street Grill not really knowing what to expect. It turned out to be a nice spot, but the sort of place that old ladies with too much time and money like to go. We saddled up to the bar, because the setup was quite irresistible (the dining room was just too much). Pauline and I ordered our usual gin martini-to-start and proceeded to chat with our friendly bartender, Ken. We had a good long chat, and he seemed to enjoy our surreality, if only for a moment. At the time we thought we might return to say hi to Ken, but we simply didn't get a chance. It was almost before the honeymoon, if you read me. ¶ Foreign Cinema / This was the sort of day (and night) that I was craving. Our day was spent getting lost in and around the Golden Gate Park (that's where herself snapped the rose picture) and the whole time I was imagining my evening. I didn't imagine anything in particular, more a feeling. We were picked up by Renalto who was one of many quality cab drivers in the Bay Area. He chatted and chatted and we laughed and prompted. At the end of the fare, I got his number and promised him a call around 11am the next day. We needed a lift to Muir Woods, and he was going to be our driver. We were dropped off in an area called the Mission. Foreign Cinema is the name of a restaurant in San Francisco, and we were early. 4:30pm early. But we were received anyhow, and we quickly made some reservations. 5:30pm. Time for a drink. We asked Jeremy and he recommended Revolution, a bar and cafe around the corner. It turned out to be an excellent suggestion. Pints of beer flowed, and we were getting quite an appetite. All the cool kids were there, puffing their rolled Bali Shags in such a way that makes smoking cigarettes movie-cool (I know, I know...). After two strong Jamesons I enjoyed several oysters and Florida white prawns followed by Kobe beef. Pauline had the exact same to eat, and we fell in love. Unfortunately the pints and wine caught up with us early and we tapped out just before dark. ¶ More in a while. ¶ "And that completes my final report until we reach touchdown. We're now on full automatic, in the hands of the computers. I have tucked my crew in for the long sleep and I'll be joining them soon. In less than an hour, we'll finish our sixth month out of Cape Kennedy. Six months in deep space - by our time, that is. According to Dr. Haslein's theory of time, in a vehicle traveling nearly the speed of light, the Earth has aged nearly 700 years since we left it, while we've aged hardly at all. Maybe so. This much is probably true - the men who sent us on this journey are long since dead and gone. You who are reading me now are a different breed - I hope a better one. I leave the 20th century with no regrets. But one more thing - if anybody's listening, that is. Nothing scientific. It's purely personal. But seen from out here everything seems different. Time bends. Space is boundless. It squashes a man's ego. I feel lonely. That's about it. Tell me, though. Does man, that marvel of the universe, that glorious paradox who sent me to the stars, still make war against his brother? Keep his neighbor's children starving?"—Charlton Heston as George Taylor. ¶ I illustrated a portrait of a tipsy Paris Hilton for National Post. It's in tomorrow's issue. ¶ Signing off, me.

Labels: NationalPost, San Francisco

¶ 6:09 PM

I have my first National Post section cover in tomorrow's (Friday, August 11, 2006) paper. It's of Helena Bonham-Carter and Aaron Eckhart for their new film, Conversations with Other Women. The section is, of course, Arts & Life. ¶ Next week's Siteway illustration will appear Monday evening.

Labels: NationalPost

¶ 11:24 AM

Check out tomorrow's (Thursday, July 6, 2006) National Post for an illustration of the one and only: David Hasslehoff. Arts & Life. ¶ Even though our digital camera is not with us for a time, we didn't let that stop us from documenting our recent excursion to Sudbury, Ontario. And yes, we did see the Big Nickel! ¶ On a related note, I've added a flickr link to the global Siteway navigation.

Labels: Flickr, NationalPost

¶ 3:24 PM

Genghis Kahn, illustrated with spectacles, in today's National Post. Arts & Life section. ¶ This is my 600th blog post to Siteway! ¶ What does your Toronto include? That's what Photojunkie wants to know, and he also wants to take your picture. I'm part of Rannie's latest project, and I thought that some of my readers might be interested as well. Check it out. ¶ We had a great yard sale on the weekend. Got rid of a tonne of excess, and met some interesting folks to boot. It was the small gentleman who read the back of all my VHS films that made me smile the most. And then there was the dude on his bike with "thousands" of video tapes who wanted to know if we had "software, you know what I mean" for sale. And finally, there was a gentle lady who couldn't afford Pauline's 25 cent frames. She seemed genuinely happy when we gave them to her at the end of the day for the low low price of 0 cents.

Labels: NationalPost, SitewayWorld, Toronto, Vague

¶ 11:01 AM

My fifth illustration for the National Post appears in Wednesday's Arts & Life section. It's of Ringo Starr, aka Richard Starkey. ¶ My mobile office will be born any day now.

Labels: NationalPost, SitewayWorld

¶ 4:13 PM

A few bits of news. I've cancelled the Clint Eastwood Siteway Lit raffle but it is still for sale as are all my Siteway Lit boxes excluding Woody Allen. ¶ An illustration I completed last September is in today's National Post, Arts & Life section. It's Dylan as a young man to celebrate his 65th birthday today. ¶ The preview release of Siteway Select is still slated to launch on May 31, 2006 with the live site going up in mid-June. ¶ And last, but not least, I've launched my latest portfolio site over at Folioplanet for Art Directors arrrrrrrrOUND the world to see my work: Folioplanet portfolio. Folioplanet got me connected with a Washington, D.C. client for a portrait of mayor Anthony Williams.

Labels: Freelancing, NationalPost, SitewayLit, SitewaySelect

¶ 8:52 AM

Here I am in my on-site office at 9:42am and my body can't believe it. Last evening Pauline and I had a warm meal at Mitzi's Sister and then afterwards I began to draw Mike Wallace, my fictional character Avery Hutch, and then at the last minute I switched to Raymond Carver. As a result, I didn't have time to upload any of my camping photos, but keep your eyes on my flickr account this week. Legs hurt but my soul is well. And the coffee I'm drinking is warming my inner kore. ¶ Toronto's photoblogger extraordinaire Rannie Turingan has a photo in today's National Post. Cover of Arts & Life, lawn bowling.

Labels: FeaturedIllustration, Flickr, NationalPost, WeekendUpdate

¶ 9:42 AM

You're so cute when you're slurring your speech / But they're closing the bar and they want us to leave. ¶ It was about the time when I really started to get going with writing on Siteway that I introduced myself to writings of Carlos Castaneda. The book in question, Journey to Ixtlan, was in my possesion but I forget how I came to own it. Reading it for the first time resembled re-reading something familiar and yet it was a trip to know it was completely novel. I loved the structure, the dualism, the humour, and especially the broad strokes. It's a writing style that I'm still drawn to but like many things in art, I'm mostly disappointed by. I don't even wish to make comparisons but let me just say that other popular philosophy books have left me underwhelmed, or, at least, have not hit me when I was ready or able for them. So it was with some great anticipation that I awaited a friend's gift to my fiancee for her birthday as it would provide me an opportunity to re-read it (again) since my copy had mysteriously disappeared. It's my Catcher in the Rye. On the subway this morning I was reading the beginning pages and I could feel the empathy within me rise. As I stepped off the train at Yonge station a kind-eyed relaxed brown-skinned gentleman looked up to me and said, "that book is incredible." I told him that I agreed and then he responded, "all his books are incredible." I smiled back at him and exited his world forever. I'm inclined to think that we both thought about the spiritworld for the rest of the morning. ¶ National Post illustration number three in tomorrow's paper: Mordecai Richler.

Labels: Lyric, Musings, NationalPost, Vague

¶ 1:35 PM

Things have been quite busy but I wanted to take a quick moment to point out that I'm still very much enjoying this spring and that my (albeit temporary) new co-workers are a fantastic bunch of people. I've got a new illustration in tomorrow's National Post. It's of Ayn Rand smoking a cigarette. ¶ I also wanted to send a traditionally vague but meaningful sentence to people close to me. All your support has been appreciated of late, especially in the details, and I hope that I've been able to be that kind of friend to you at some point. No, nothing terrible has happened to me, it's just that I've been in an appreciative mood lately. It's 10:47pm and I'm off to sleep in my new room. Good night, and God speed.

Labels: Freelancing, NationalPost, Vague

¶ 10:45 PM

I have an illustration in today's issue of the National Post. Arts & Life section, Out and About page. ¶ May is definitely my favourite month of the year. Aside from some drama worthy only of a bad television drama (think double-feline drama), my month has been going very well. I started writing this blog about six years ago in my tiny flat in Nottingham. Then, it seemed like a good idea but I would be lying if I told you I knew I'd still be writing. And I would have never predicted it would have graduated beyond BBSing and make it a newsworthy phenomenon. ¶ I started a month-long gig at a midtown agency recently and I've been really enjoying it. They've got a good thing going there, and it shows. Soon I'll post some pictures of my workspace there, but for now check out Dan Arne's tattoo of my porttait of Frank Zappa.

Labels: Flickr, Freelancing, NationalPost, Nostalgia

¶ 9:10 AM