Working Out - some stuff

Old School

Market Collective

We will be at Market Collective this weekend Dec 4-6 on Friday from 4:00pm - 9:00pm, Saturday from 10:00am - 6:00pm, and Sunday from 10:00am - 6:00pm

more info:

www.marketcollective.ca/upcoming-events

https://www.facebook.com/events/1729085490647886/

Randm at New Craft Coalition this weekend

We will be at New Craft this weekend! Renata will have books, prints, and drawings. And I will have some of my letter paintings, prints, and Drawin' cards of course.

http://newcraftcoalition.com

Oct 16 - 17 at Festival Hall in Inglewood 1215 10 Ave SE

Eat. Sleep. PAINT.

We are part of a group exhibit opening this Thursday September 10th at Midtowne Gallery. Thanks to our friend Derek Dennett for curating and exhibiting our work alongside these other super illustrators.
I will be showing a series of typographic painting including the ones below.

Renata will be showing some of the recent drawings that she's been sketching on manilla tags. Here's a bittersweet drawing that she's including in the exhibit.

Award winning illustrator Karen Klassen is also in the show. Exhibiting the figurative and pattern based work she is well known for.

And lastly illustrator, artist, and ACAD instructor Maya Gohill is showing an engaging series of new works which feature an intriguing direction for her recent works.

E.S.P.

Eat Sleep PAINT / Art by Illustrators

Opening Thursday Sept 10 from 5-8 pm

show runs until Oct 3

Midtown Gallery 

9250 Macleod Trial SE

located within

ITS WORTH FRAMING

from 5 to 8 pm

Craft Fair photos from Market Collective

About a month ago we participated in our first craft fair, Market Collective's May Spring Show. We were not sure what we were getting into so we kept it simple and used it as a learning experience – which it was! We jumped into the craft world as a research project for an upcoming book I have written and Renata will be illustrating called Crafty Llama.

Experiencing the craft world first hand has inspired characters and ideas that we might not have thought of in the same way.


Market Collective was also an opportunity to
meet new people, and introduce them to some
of the great illustrators working in Alberta.
This time around Byron Eggenschwiler and
Kyle Metcalf were our featured artists.

Below are a few photo highlights, including a
print of 15 apples that Kyle traded for a bag of
real apples and veggies!

Thanks to our artists and Market Collective.

New Shows in May

We are excited to be having two shows next month, beginning this weekend May 1-3 at Market Collective. It will be print based artwork and feature special guests Kyle Metcalf and Byron Eggenschwiler.

After that we are featuring original hand crafted artwork at New Craft Coalition on May 22-23. The show is titled Randm Shape Show and features selected illustrators from Alberta creating hand painted/collaged/drawn art.

Pics From It's A Jungle Out There ?!

Opening Reception Tonight

If your near the downtown core this evening stop by the opening reception for It's A Jungle Out There ?! A collaborative picture book project featuring Aaron Leighton, Byron Eggenschwiler, Jacqueline Hudon- Verrelli, Jacqui Lee, Josh Holinaty, Joy Ang, Karen Klassen, Kim Smith, Kyle Metcalf, Lauren Tamaki, Lincoln Agnew, Maya Gohill, Mike Kerr, Michael Mateyko, Renata Liwska, and Sandy Nichols. At the Epcor Centre for the Performing Arts from 5 - 8 pm. Located just off the +15 crossing over to City Hall.

Jacqui Lee:

Kim Smith:

Jacqueline Hudon-Verrelli:

It's A Jungle Out There ?!

It’s A Jungle Out There ?!
A Collaborative Picture Book Project
November 3-28 at The Ledge Gallery in the Epcor Centre for the Performing Arts
Opening reception Thursday November 13, from 5-9pm


Every single day, in countless homes throughout the world, children’s books are being read to educate and to inspire our children. These books are being read often over and over usually by request- and this is no small thing! Children’s books can easily be overlooked as an art form and rarely examined within a gallery context. As artists, we can sometimes underestimate what a wonderful medium and potential illustrating for children might be. It is among the most “unadulterated” art forms that an artist can express themselves through.

It’s A Jungle Out There?! is a collaborative Picture Book Project featuring award winning and internationally recognized illustrators from Alberta including Lincoln Agnew, Joy Ang, Byron Eggenschwiler, Maya Gohill, Josh Holinaty, Jacqui Lee, Aaron Leighton, Renata Liwska, Mike Kerr, Karen Klassen, Michael Mateyko, Kyle Metcalf, Sandy Nichols, Kim Smith, Lauren Tamaki, and Jacqueline Hudon-Verrelli.

It is a well-kept secret that in Alberta we have some of the finest illustration talent in North America. It’s A Jungle Out There?! is an effort to bring together a selected group of these talented individuals. The concept is a collaborative children’s book project on the theme of Urban Jungle with each artist illustrating their favorite part of the story. The purpose of It’s A Jungle Out There?! is to showcase our amazing local illustrators - and have fun! The general public will also have an opportunity to draw their own interpretations of the story. The project includes an exhibition of the work, a sketching party, and a roundtable discussion with the artists.


For more info visit www.randmcollective.com

It's all Good

We are doing a brief talk about our sketchbooks today so I figured it would be good to re-post a link to the video I made about Renata's sketchbook.



A Quiet Look - How to become a children's book illustrator in one (not so easy) step from mike kerr on Vimeo.

I Surrender!

Apple has always been the centre of my creative universe. Most of my work is now done on the road, at coffee shops, so I have been waiting patiently for years for beloved Apple to supply another magical miracle machine - by delivering  a truly portable creative studio. Its been a long, long wait which this week has finally ended -
but inconceivably Apple is not my saviour!

In my lifetime I have only used a PC a handful of times, mostly to check my email while travelling. About 17 years ago I purchased my first Apple computer - an original PowerMac G3. Since then it's only been macs, including one that was stolen right out of my hands at a coffee shop!

Over the years all of my computer purchases have been justified by the need to make my work better and more efficient. But a strong motivator has been my love, perhaps even lust, for Apple computers. This emotional attachment makes it seem unfathomable that I would ever purchase a PC. But I just did ... and I love it! Is it treachery? Am I a turn coat, a deserter, have I went over to the dark side?

Or has Apple abandoned me, a creative professional, for the mainstream? In the end I don't think the emotions matter, its about getting things done and while my new PC doesn't 'just work', it does work. It's a sweet machine that is stupidly light with plenty of battery life, but more than powerful enough to do my illustrations in photoshop. Like the one above which the machine did effortlessly and with battery to spare.

Does this mean I am over Apple?

Not at all, I can't imagine anything but an iPhone and I have my eye on the new Mac Pro for doing animation and other heavy digital lifting. 

Traitor? Let's just call it a cease fire, or perhaps an alliance. 

For an excellent creative review of the Surface Pro 3 go HERE. 

(I chose the Surface Pro 3 over the Cintiq Companion because of portability and cost. Wacom seems to think everything should be big and expensive.)

Update: A couple of issues with the Surface Pro 3 I should mention: 1) It has a lot of jitter on slow strokes, but is smooth with faster strokes. 2) I like to use it just as a tablet without the keyboard but it’s a compromise because I don’t have any shortcut keys.

I'm Stuck on You Opening Impressions

Thanks to all the participants and/or guests involved in I'm Stuck on You, it was great fun. Lots of great ideas and fun drawing.

I'll be posting some of the sticky note art soon.

I'm Stuck On You, This Friday 8pm

For well over a year Kipling has been creating witty and whimsical artwork on the humble Post-It note. We are pleased to showcase a selection from the more than 356 original repositional note artworks that she has created. Often drawn with the most routine of office supplies such highlighters, felt pens, and of course sticky notes, Kipling commemorates each day with her own unique interpretations. You can see them on her flickr stream here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kipling_west/

Also on opening night drawing materials will be available so you can join in the fun by creating your own Post-it Note art alongside other artists and doodlers - and swap-a-doodle if you like! We've already received some super drawings from artists such as the ones below starting from the top left: Wade Mickley, Carolyn Fisher, Emily Chu, and our own Renata Liwska.

Below illustrator Carolyn Fisher is working on her own sticky note artwork during a Sketch Night at RandM. Notice how she draws the ideas first in her sketchbook and the places the sticky notes on top to use as a guide to paint them - brilliant!

I'M STUCK ON YOU: A Post-it Note a Day by Kipling West RandM Collective / June 13 / doors open at 7pm / things get rolling at 8pm / 343 - 11 Ave SW / above UAS Satellite Gallery

Call for Submissions

We are excited to announce our next show and collaborative project. We will be showing the Post-it Note artwork of Kipling West on Friday June 13th. Kipling has been drawing witty, wonderful and whimsical Post-it notes daily for over a year and we are looking forward to showcasing the original drawings!

And that’s not all, they look like so much fun that we want to draw some, and we are hoping you might too? Inspired by Kipling’s work we are asking for your own stickie note artwork. Draw, doodle, paint, on a re-positional note and submit it to us by June 6 to show and trade (or not) during the opening night.

We hope you are interested, if so please email me and I will give you more information. More news to come as we will have some related events as the show draws near.

The Pattern Show Online

As part of the recent exhibition we featured three successful alumni of ACAD that are making a mark through the use of pattern in their work. I have posted about the first, Lauren Tamaki, on AFTERARTCOLLEGE.COM  - I will be posting about the other two exciting designers, Jenn Kitagawa and Kara Love Eaton on After Art College soon.

I have also posted the b+w graphics created by students, faculty, and alumni for the show on my tumblr blog HERE

The Pattern Show Opening Pics

Thanks to everyone that stopped by and all the artists that participated, it was a lot of fun! I will be posting about all the great illustrations and illustrators soon.