The marjoram is always a bee favourite in the garden, but this year it seems to have attracted a larger than usual number of yellow-faced bumblebees (Bombus vosnesenskii). The plant is teaming with them.
Most of the honeybees head off at the end of the day, and I always thought bumblebees did the same, but last evening I noticed they were settling down to sleep on the flowers, so I took a few photos of them just as the sun was going down. Continue reading
Finished sketches, based on photos I took of pigeons in Stanley Park.
They’re all painted without drawing first, in an attempt to loosen up and accept and embrace the mistakes.
These were fun and I think another pigeon reference shoot is in order.
I’m trying to break out of this rut with some simple pigeon paintings. They are such pleasing shapes to draw, and have such beautiful colours and varied patterns.
As much as I like the idea of painting crows, I actually prefer pigeons. They manage to twist into so many more interesting shapes.
INPRNT.com has a shipping sale on right now – 10$ worldwide until Wed, April 30th, which is a heck of a deal, to Canada anyway. So I’ve put up another small print in my gallery.
There is a free worldwide shipping promo on unframed works, plus a $5 off sale on my prints at Society6, available through this link, until midnight Dec 8th.
My (brave) friend Rachael is doing a Creative Mornings talk tomorrow, on the theme ‘Make’, which I think is particularly suited to her. She’s good at talking about creativity and her work, so I know she’s got nothing to worry about. Also, she’s already conducted an interview with a man wearing a giraffe head, so how scary or distracting could the Creative Mornings audience be after that?
It’s always wonderful to see talented people receive recognition for their work, which is the case with the 2013 Mayor’s Arts Award for craft and design, awarded this year to jeweller Dominique Bréchault.
I’ve admired Dominique’s work since I first saw her piece, Homing Device, at the Museum of Vancouver’s Art of Craft exhibition in 2010. And since then I’ve enjoyed her writings on her blog, Metal + Mettle, which explores art inspiration, her process, and thoughts on the process of art making in general, as well as lovely images from her sketchbook).
There is a free worldwide shipping offer on my prints on Society6 until Nov.17th 2013, through this link.
And, totally unrelated to prints, did you know there is a pig sanctuary in Mission, B.C. for unwanted ‘mini’ potbelly pigs.
I remember when there was the potbelly pig craze. And they were being touted as wonderful (small) house pets. And then people realised they weren’t so small, and actually required a lot of work, and unwanted pigs started showing up in shelters.
One day, when I was a kid growing up in a rural part of the Fraser Valley, an escapee potbelly pig wandered up our street and onto our driveway. Continue reading
I’ve just finished a fun little project illustrating some promo materials for the talented team who have put together this year’s Interesting Vancouver. The primary use is for the website, so that informed the format. They are intended as visual texture behind the content and were inspired by soundbites from past Interesting Vancouver talks.
There are so many other great topics, with so many evocative stories I wish I had time to illustrate too, like: suits/armour/codpieces, iguanas, incarceration, terrified dancing dads, chocolate science, perfume science, beer, a transgender journey, foraging in the wilds of Vancouver, BC’s absurd liquor laws, and sex work in Vancouver, to name a few.
All the past talks are available through IV’s Vimeo page (where you might catch a glimpse of an actual tattooed bum).
This year’s Interesting Vancouver edition, taking place at the Museum of Vancouver, is sold out! As is the pre-talk dinner. If you’re interested in taking in next year’s Interesting Vancouver talks, subscribe to updates through their blog, twitter, or facebook page.
Sandwiched in among all the exhibit design work my partner and I have on the go right now, I am working on something a bit fun and interesting.
More details on that to come shortly, but in the meantime here’s a piece that started out fun, but then started to become annoying when it didn’t work out as I wanted.
Society6 is currently offering worldwide free shipping until October 13, 2013 – midnight Pacific Time (click the link for the free shipping offer). (*excluding Framed Art Prints, Stretched Canvases and Throw Pillows with insert.)
I’ve got a couple of crow image available there as art prints:
![Common Crow [1]](https://i0.wp.com/farm9.staticflickr.com/8528/8562522897_66d5ee5acd_n.jpg)
I took a detour through the PNE livestock barns on my way home from a friend’s birthday celebration at the track, and couldn’t resist stopping to draw some animals (and tickling some pig snouts) before heading home. Most of the animals (not the bison) in these sketches are 4-H projects, at their final fair.
Now all I want to do is go back and draw animals all day.
Kirsti Wakelin 