I’ve had a lot of projects on the go over the last few months. But as they’re all ongoing, I can’t quite post them yet. However, here are some of the sketches for the very newest project that might actually be done and installed before all the rest. This image is fitting because it looks like it’s just begun to snow in earnest here and the roads are covered with the first of tonight’s forecasted 15cm.
Edit: the final work is here.
Things are a bit quiet here right now because I’ve been working on a picture book. I’ve sequestered myself on an island just outside the city where I am fortunate to share a large studio space. When I need to get away from distractions of my city studio, I come here where everything is very quiet, the nights are very dark and the most lively thing going on outside the studio window is bird drama, caused mainly by a large band of Steller’s Jays and sometimes by the occasional, optimistic attempts at bird life made by the neighbour’s cat.
I have settled into a routine of sleep, eat, work, evening walks to the beach and sometimes some yoga to fix drawing-induced aches and pains – and repeat.
Currently, I’m blogging my picture book process drawings on my children’s book website. I was a little nervous to do it at first – I wasn’t sure I’d have much to put up there – but I’ve had a bout of productivity while working here so the posts have been somewhat regular. I’m also nervous about announcing projects before they’re printed, published and shipped. Things being as they are these days with the economy and the Canadian children’s book business being its good old precarious self, I’m not too willing to tempt fate or count chickens. (I like to reserve what superstition I have for this very purpose.)
I’ve updated the sketchbook part of my website with a few more drawings from a recently canceled project. I’ll probably take them a little further on my own and use them for style and medium experiments.
Yet another work in progress. Moving on from the botanical illustration of last week, this one is marine-themed and includes one of my favourite members of the mollusk class – the octopus. It’s been a cephalopod-heavy fall with the piece that included a Humboldt Squid, completed a few weeks ago.
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Here’s a little sneak peek of some of the bits and pieces that went into a piece of work I delivered yesterday. The final illustration is off to print very soon. It’ll then become a graphic element on a piece of cabinetry and live out its little black and white life in a retail environment. ETA on that and photos of the final piece is end of the month.
UPDATE: I’ve posted photos of the final artwork here.
A couple of months ago I did some work to hang in lululemon athletica’s Bethesda Row store. The piece has been shipped and installed so I’ve put a couple of images of it up in my illustration portfolio. The illustration was a lot of fun to put together. It involved creating reams of ink blots, a lot of scanning and a lot of piecing things together digitally. And finally, I painted over the printed canvas.
The illustration is meant to be a creative, colourful version of their manifesto. It is also in use as hoarding for a store (or stores) under construction. (It’s currently in use at the Soho, NY location.)
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I don’t have photos yet of the piece hung at the current location, but I’ll post them when I do.
Kirsti Wakelin 