Here is a piece that I have been working on now for quite a while. (Too damn long if you ask me!)

First some background.

We were having our bathroom renovated a few years back and we had hired a father son team to do the job. They were great, enthusiastic about doing it and even made some valuable suggestions. One day I came home from school as they were just finishing up for the day and we got talking. They commented on some of the art that was "lying around", which was mine, and how much they liked it.

We talked some more and at some point the son, who was about my age, asked me about doing something for him. A hockey piece. He was a big fan of the Wayne Gretzky era Edmonton Oilers and wanted a piece of art based on them.

I had had the idea of a custom portfolio case, I wanted to turn a classic radio cabinet into my portfolio case. I couldn't do it on my own and didn't know who to contact.

I suggested the idea of exchanging services; He make me my portfolio case and I make him a piece of art. He was more then happy to accept.

This is the drawing that I used to show him what I wanted to do. He had given me a list of who he wanted in the drawing and I managed to "fit" them in. I suppose you could debate about who was included/ not included. I mean Glenn Anderson was a pretty strong part of those teams. Andy Moog, Esa Tikkanen etc. (Talk amongst yourselves)

And this is what I have done on it so far.

I really like the way that it is going so far, but it is terribly time consuming. No short cuts here..ya' gotta put the time in to get it looking right.

It is a very different head space when you are doing this type of work then doing work on the computer. It can be mentally tiring.

I think that I am making excuses as to why I haven't finished it yet.

Derek, honest, I am going to finish it at some point.

Here is a drawing of my wife actually sitting still. It doesn't happen too often but this was a sleepy summer afternoon and she had a date with Harry Potter.

Illustration Friday,

It is a fairly straight forward interpretation of the theme but I thought that it was a fun drawing. And once again I am all over the map with my media; one week digital, one week traditional.

I am also a recreational runner. I have run 4 Half Marathons and one full marathon (3:25) so I am familiar with all that sort of thing.

But there is a man who lives just west of Toronto, Ed Whitlock is his name, and he was the first person over 70 years of age to run a sub 3 hour marathon. And for those non runners out there, that is FAST!

Illustration Friday, Match

It may be August but it's never far from hockey season! And what could be better then watching the Leafs and the Habs go at it!

Illustration Friday,

Playing in the big outdoors on a camping trip.

Sneak preview!

Here is a screen shot preview of the piece that I am working on for Von Glitschka’s texture book project. (And, yes, I am using an old version of Illlustrator in the Mac “Classic” world.) My assigned texture is in the background of the game board.

It is almost finished and I have put a ton of time into it, much longer then I thought that I would to finish. It tool me ages to decide on a concept.

I am quite happy with the way that it is going so far. There are some uneven parts to it, weak places that I would like to re-do if I had time, but my technique has, I think, improved steadily as I have worked on it.

Final is due on Thursday.

Just to dispel the notion that I have forgotten how to post anything here I am offerring up this piece to share with you.

This is a piece that I did for a medical magazine, called the Medical Post, for a feature story they did on the English author/ playwright W. Somerset Maugham. (Isn't really pretentious when people use an initial at the start of their name?)