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Recent Small Portraits February 16th, 2012

So for the last few months I’ve been working diligently on a children’s book, but in-between drawing little happy faces, I’ve had the opportunity to draw some older and sometimes more distinguished men. Here are some smaller 1/4 page illustrations for magazines.

The last time I worked with Matthew Ball must have been nearly 10 years ago when he was still at Rolling Stone. I was so pleased to get my first job with them painting a portrait of John Malkovich. Soon after that job (hopefully not due to me) he left the U.S. and moved to Scotland where he has worked on the design of numerous magazines. He contacted me for a job illustrating a portrait of Jeremy Tills, the Architect & head of Central St. Martins College of Art and Design, London for BD (Building Design) Magazine. Here’s the final result.

 

Since Till was the head of an art school now but also an architect, the magazine wanted asked me to stylize the architecture of the college more. Rather than having a smaller image in the background of the exterior of the building, as in my first linear, I played around with elements of the interior making a fusion between the lines and angles of the school’s design and the painterly stokes and shapes of a modern paintings.

This other illustration was for the Columbia Journalism Review and focused on the novelist, Carl Hiaasen, and his passion for environmental journalism especially concerning his love of his native Florida.  I wanted the colours and the lines to stay fairly simple since this image was only going to be printed at 3″ x 3″, but still bright and colourful, depicting the beauty of the everglades.

The final piece was a portrait of the Yes Men for the Progressive, art directed by Nick Jehlen. A film was made about Mike and Andy, anti-corporate activist-pranksters, in which they impersonated World Trade Organization spokesmen on TV and at business conferences around the world. The ‘experts’ don’t notice the joke and seem to agree with every terrible idea the two can come up with resulting in a darkly comic satire on global free trade.

On this wondrous day of love I present for your enjoyment creepy vintage Valentine’s Day ephemera found in a local antique shop.

The one below surely is the winner. Who wouldn’t want to be taken for this one’s mate? He seems like he has a way with the fairer sex. That devious smile and firm throat grab are always winners when one is courting.

Below: “To Ralph Cooper from Cifford Mc Creodie”

What are these lovelies escaping from one has to wonder? Did their families disapprove of their torrid romance? Did blondie have to leave her family for a little trip for 9 months or so to come back a changed woman with a new little “sister”. Never trust those daredevil pilot types. You were warned. They are all fun and excitement at first but they will leave you a ruined woman.

Below: “Everett from Grandma and Grandpa” – “I wish I had your permission to sign myself your devoted and true Valentine”  It’s very formal & to be honest, slightly needy for Grandparents, no? Ralph sure guards his affections close to his chest. He is a hard boy to win over.

Also, I’m wondering is these are two different girls? Obviously this chap has a thing for the dark haired beauties which I fully understand, we are quite the prize, but always with the picnic ploy eh? Yes, a park surely is a romantic outing but try and mix it up and make it at least feel unique and sincere for each of your new ladies. A girl wants to feel special. You can do better.

 

Below: “Ian to Ralph” -  Ralph sure was loved. What lucky boy.

Is it just me or is the expression on this clown’s face pure terror? Surely there is an underlying message to this Valentines. Seems like there is something suspicious about this magic sorcerer and the hallucinogenic wheel in the back. Ian, is this some ruse to hypnotize Ralph into loving you? Really Ian, you don’t need to fall into such cheap tactics. I’m sure Ralph loves you for yourself if you’d just trust your feelings and be honest and grow a pair.

Happy Valentine’s Day folks.

DX Salon Talk, Feb 22 February 9th, 2012

I’m so pleased that myself and the talented Marco Cibola have been asked to be part of the DX Salon Nights. Hope some of you Toronto folks can make it out. We’d love to see some friendly faces there. It’s on Wednesday February 22 , 6:30-7:30pm at the Design Exchange, 234 Bay Street, Toronto. More info on this talk and the other DX Salon nights can be found on their blog.

Please let us know if there’s any questions you’d like us to answer.

Sorry to not be as posting so much on my blog lately. Over the last few months I’ve been busy working on a children’s book with Kids Can Press. I just got the proofs today and they look great! It’ll be out this Summer! I’ll post more info on the release day as soon as I know. I’m thrilled to show everyone what I’ve been working on.

Design for this lovely DX poster is by Lisa Zych

 

Growing up overseas, I fondly remember getting hand-written letters from my family back in England. Later when I moved to Canada at 11 years old, I would still get letters from friends in Bahrain. The fact that they didn’t come as often as a Twitter message or an email made them that much more special. There’s something so much more personal about a hand written note rather than an email, similar to looking at an artist’s sketch rather than a finished piece of art. You can see how they hold their hand, what kind of mood they are in from the pressure of the pen on paper, and usually their personality comes though more, maybe partially due to the fact that one can’t backtrack and correct things. I guess composing on a computer is more subtractive and hand written is more additive and therefore more ‘of the moment’.

Letters from my Grandma are written exactly how she speaks. Since she’s from Lancashire, England, her notes are filled with her local dialect Such as t’other day instead of the other day, or aye instead of yes. So, getting these letters always feel like I’m actually having a conversation with her. Also, they were always written in a lovely cursive which sadly I hardly see anymore.

Maybe I also lament the death of handwriting since I never really properly learned how to type. Yes, I’m one of those pitiful folks who type with two fingers (although fairly quickly) and when I glance up from the keyboard my screen is filled with misspelled words. I blame taking drafting in high-school instead of typing class. That year of AutoCad has never really furthered my life ambitions. But who am I kidding, I was just as lazy at writing letters back in the day as I am at emailing today.

Here’s a piece I did on the demise of cursive handwriting in school in Hour Detroit magazine, written by Ilene Wolff and art-directed by the lovely Jen Hamilton & Jessica Decker. You can read the article here: Writing off Cursive, because the widespread use of computers, learning the fine art of handwriting in school is gradually being erased.

Cursive handwriting was evolved from the days when people used to dip pens and ink. It allowed people to cut down on those messy blotches by having a continuous line. Even though dip pens had been long unused in schools, I do actually remember having to do these exercises in pencil when I was a little kid. I even remember practicing how to sign my signature. Jacqueline is awfully long for a little kid. Supposedly now with the decline of kids knowing how to write cursive there’s also a decline in knowing how to have a proper signature too and even the chance the children won’t be able to read cursive.

Here are signatures from Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln, Nostradamus, John Hancock, Marilyn Monroe, Martin Luther King Jr. Leonardo daVinci, Walt Disney, Rembrandt, Renoir, & Miro. (some found here & here)

From the Detroit Hour article:

Computers may wipe out cursive writing, leaving behind yellowed manuscripts that only anthropologists can decode…..The handwriting is on the wall for cursive’s demise, or at least for teaching it in school. Don’t expect educators to cry at the funeral, though. “I want my child to at least be able to read it,” Avery says. “That’s an illiteracy of sorts.”

 

Marijean Levering, Ph.D., a native Detroiter who now is associate professor of theater at Utica College, in Utica, N.Y., reads primary-source documents for her work. For example, she combed through records written in cursive for her book, Detroit on Stage, about Detroit’s Players Club. What if she had never learned cursive in school, she wonders. “I wouldn’t have access to well over half the documents, or I would have to pay somebody else to transcribe them,” she says. “The thought that something written in my language wouldn’t be understandable to me is mind boggling.”
In addition, she says, handwriting offers a glimpse into someone’s personality.

There was a great article on this subject in the New York Times, The Case for Cursive by Katie Zezima

Richard S. Christen, a professor of education at the University of Portland in Oregon, said, practically, cursive can easily be replaced with printed handwriting or word processing. But he worries that students will lose an artistic skill. “These kids are losing time where they create beauty every day,” Professor Christen said. “But it’s hard for me to make a practical argument for it. I’m not one who’s mourning it because of that; I’m mourning the beauty, the aesthetics.”

Here’s some beautiful samples of older letter writing that I find truly inspiring. This piece is from Michael Twyman’s 26 November 2007 presentation on French Notarial Handwriting found on Dan Reynolds Flickr

Below is a 1850 Austrian letter (found here)

Some beautiful and touching letters can be found on the site, Letters of Note. Maybe not as gorgeous as the 1800′s letters, quick notes written on torn-off notebook paper, seem so personal that I almost feel embarrassed to read them. Here is a letter from the late Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker – a veritable musical genius and one of the world’s greatest, most innovative saxophonists. Here’s an apologetic but undeniably poetic handwritten love letter, penned to long-term lover Chan Woods. Parker’s adult life was a turbulent one, his musical brilliance often affected by his addiction to both heroin and alcohol, and he split with Woods in 1954 following the death of their two-year-old daughter. Tragically Parker passed away the next year, aged just thirty-four.

Transcript

To you;

The way I thought was wrong, having not known, it was right. Here is the proof of my feelings, Don’t hate me, love me forever: — — — —

Beautiful is the world, slow is one to take advantage. Wind up the world the other way. And at the start of the turning of the earth, lie my feelings for thou.

To you
Shame on me.
I love you.

 

Another touching note from Letters of Note is a parting note written by Frida Kahlo on the back of a depository envelope – used by Kahlo to hold jewellery during a stay at hospital – prior to a trip to New York. Her husband (for the second time), Diego Rivera, was painting a mural in San Francisco which now resides at City College. He was assisted at the time by fellow artist and mutual friend ‘Emmy Lou’ Packard.

Translation
Diego, my love,

Remember that once you finish the fresco we will be together forever once and for all, without arguments or anything, only to love one another.

Behave yourself and do everything that Emmy Lou tells you.

I adore you more than ever. Your girl, Frida

(Write me)

 

Some truly touching moments can be found in postcards. Since they have such a minimal amount of space you can read between the lines and guess at the more complex feelings that could be there between the sender and the receiver. This can be especially found in postcards from wars such as this one below (found here).

Hope you enjoyed this post. Now to try and find more time to work on my atrocious handwriting!

Happy Holidays Folks!

I had so much fun painting this pin-up back in 2006. I’m still fond of the expression on that polar bear’s face. Maybe next year I’ll do a sassy holiday series. Hmmmm…..