During our family walks through Point Pleasant Park, I would often tell the children stories about our favourite spots in the park: the goblin huts locked up tight at the corner of Cambridge Drive and Cable Road; the Troll Cliffs abandoned by those giants who carved them years ago along what is today Bridle Path; and the quiet and magical Frog Pond that was once a stone quarry. For my second "Vault" post I dug out images of three watercolours of the park locations mentioned above. I recall wanting to render the scenes in a unconventional or stylized manner. I wanted the images to be playful an ..read more

One of my favourite pieces of Neil Gaiman's writing is the 1993 Vertigo crossover, The Children's Crusade. I read issues 1 and 2 of The Children's Crusade (the bookends of this collaborative story co-written with Alisa Kwitney and Jamie Delano) when they were first released, along with the individual annuals that form the story arc (Black Orchid Annual #1, Animal Man Annual #1, Swamp Thing Annual #7, Doom Patrol Annual #2, Arcana Annual #1). Although The Children's Crusade had somewhat of an unfinished flavour to it, and the contributing annuals seemed to lie at the peripheries of the plot, I ..read more

For the second year in a row I was happy to submit illustrations to the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers (CANSCAIP) Virtual Art Show. Organized as part of CANSCAIP’s annual PYI: Package Your Imagination conference, the virtual art show is a great opportunity for illustrators to showcase their work. This year I submitted two ink pen sketches, the first (see above) is titled "Two Hikers." The second piece, "Wings" (see below), holds a light undersketch of graphite beneath the ink but for the most part I prefer to sketch in ink without pencil lines as guides. S ..read more

On Saturday, October 24th, the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers (CANSCAIP) hosted an Artist Talk to accompany their Virtual Art Show. Both the Virtual Art Show and Artist Talk (via Zoom) were organized as part of CANSCAIP’s annual PYI: Package Your Imagination conference. To view the Art Show head to https://www.canscaip.org/PYI-Art-Show-2020 Yours truly submitted two pieces to the Art Show and had the privilege of participating in the Artist Talk. It was exciting to hear each artist describe the creative processes behind their illustrations. I submitted two ..read more

On Saturday, October 24th, the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers (CANSCAIP) hosted an Artist Talk to accompany their Virtual Art Show. Both the Virtual Art Show and Artist Talk (via Zoom) were organized as part of CANSCAIP’s annual PYI: Package Your Imagination conference. To view the Art Show head to https://www.canscaip.org/PYI-Art-Show-2020 Yours truly submitted two pieces to the Art Show and had the privilege of participating in the Artist Talk. It was exciting to hear each artist describe the creative processes behind their illustrations. I submitted two ..read more

If you haven't discovered the whimsical work of Emma Fitzgerald I encourage you to visit her On Saturday I had the pleasure of attending a sketching workshop taught by Emma and hosted by the #ink #EmmaFitzgerald, #AtlanticSchoolofTheology #AST #building #sketch, #watercolour ..read more

Recently I've been working on character designs for a graphic novel. One design, contributed by my youngest, was a sketch of a rabbit with antlers and wings. Looking at my son's drawing I immediately thought of the folkloric creature called the Jackalope, a rabbit with the antlers of deer but no bird-like wings. Shortly after I stared some preliminary research into the standard physical appearance of the Jackalope I came across the familiar image of Albrecht Dürer's watercolour painting titled "Young Hare." Except it wasn't exactly Dürer's "Young Hare" because in this particular version of the ..read more

I was leafing through my sketch books and I came across two pieces of work that at the time were each a monotonous struggle to produce but now that I examine the sketches I find them satisfying. In my September 25, 2018 post titled " In my November 17, 2017 post titled " By the way, my Sketch Blog was recently added to a list of #graphite #eyes #Vanderpoel #ink #acorns #sepia #sketch #pencil ..read more

Went to the Cabin Coffee shop for the first time. I've passed it a number of times but never entered. My youngest likes the ducks in the windows and I find the rustic cabin decor cozy so I finally went in and tried sketching the patrons around me. The seats are clustered close together and I found it tricky to sketch my fellow customers a such close range. To my surprise the sketches I'm most pleased with (man and girl both wearing glasses) were of customers in closest proximity to me. #CabinCoffee #coffeshop #cosy #ink #decor #sketch ..read more

E. and I went to The Old Apothecary Bakery and Café, me to sketch and her to write. Below is a sketch of the young writer at work. This is only my second time at the Apothecary Bakery and I plan on visiting more often. The café has great atmosphere and the food is delicious. While we were there a tour group of 6 or 7 retired folk from a docked cruise ship sat, ate, and talked just a few seats away from us. It was fun listening to their conversation and on their way out they stopped by and offered E. and I the remainder of their chocolate croissant. The group had purchased at very long and larg ..read more