My first week in Toronto has been fun, spending some time checking out the city, shops and galleries ...

I checked out a show featuring Saskatchewan artists at the York Quay (Harbourfront) Centre, here is the show's write up ...

COMBINE situates the works of 18 artists from Saskatchewan throughout York Quay Centre. The title joins two iconic references - the image of the prairie farming machine and the assemblages first created by Robert Rauschenberg - to provide a hint as to where the artists are from and what they are up to. Participating artists were selected for their mutual understanding of how the amalgamation of disparate objects and images can create new stories and meanings.

Here are some photographs I took at the show ...

At the harbourfront I was impressed by this wave boardwalk for children to play on ...

Another show I briefly saw was Christina Leslie's photographic series (MISSED) PERCEIVED at the Gladstone Hotel. It showcases multiple portraits and deals with satirical representations, for example the portraits reference the sambo character and representations of othering in media and popular culture. Leslie juxtaposes the sitters actual portrait with their 'caricatures'. Here are some photographs I took at the show ...

Some more fun finds on Queen West + Ossington ...

Inspiration: seeing things a little differently...

How a circle composition may look better than a square composition ... Here are some images I have worked on over the last little while, and inspired by Marco Suarez, I decided to change the frame from square to circle to see how it would alter the composition ... I like it.





Knack Studios make incredible furniture, they refurbish old pieces by dramatically resurfacing furniture and adding unique hardware ... Here are some samples of their work ...

{via Design *Sponge}

Here is another furniture refurbishing project done by sticks and bricks. They sanded an old table down, hammered in 'the summer day' poem by Mary Oliver, rubbed black paint in and gave it a coat of furniture wax ... The finished table is shown below.

{via Design *Sponge}

Tied Up Memories make wonderful and eclectic pieces. She describes her style as romantic, shabby and vintage ... one is shown below.

The style reminds me of these old brooch bouquets by Fantasy Floral Designs. Some of their brooch bouquets ...

{via sweet jessie}

But it's hard to beat real flowers, especially when they are this stunning ...

{via Style Me Pretty}

This cabinet pictured below is called Monster... I love it! Ellen Seegers designed this unique piece together with Jolanda Slegers.


Bloesem Kids is probably the best blog for children's design, everything on here is absolutely fantastically adorable!

This bamboo bird mobile by petit collage is so cute...


Graphic designer and illustrator Tutti Shafir makes beautiful and cute prints...

Over the past two months, my design class has been working with paper and MDF. MDF isn't the best material, but it is cheap and has given me new insights into using wood as medium and using it to understand new concepts in design, such as spatial relations, space, flow, foreground, and transitions.

Here is a spatial exercise that we completed using MDF and wooden cubes.


Wood Pixel takes the kitsch idea of pixel pictures and turned it into an activity of arranging wooden cubes. It reminds me of the spatial projects from my design class. By arranging the six different kinds of wooden cubes on a wooden grid base, you can make patterns or pictures reminiscent of childhood characters, symbols of just fun patterns.


Here are a couple other projects from design studio, one is a self-portrait...


Torafu Architects' use of wood in design is fun. The Boolean Cafe at the University of Tokyo-designed using circular cut-outs of wood which form a seating area and partition pictured below.



I found this image by searching for wood and design. I loved the assembled and layered look of the table.


The photographs of Kenshu Shintsubo are simple, quiet, and stunning. I really enjoy how he showcases and contrasts two photographs side by side to show changing seasons and subtle similarities between nature and humans. Beautiful!!

Here is the latest 'fashionista' painting I am working on. I have nearly completed it, but I thought I would post what I have finished so far. Below there is detail of the background as well. For the background, I used an old sewing pattern and layered paint over top of it.



Here is an old painting I dug up from storage, I painted this about three years ago. It's kind of hard to believe that I have been working on raw wood backgrounds for this long! I thought I'd post it because I used to dislike it, but now this painting is starting to grow on me...


I will be posting some new illustrations I have been meaning to finish for quite some time, so please check back soon, as I will have them posted in the next week or so.