Lillian's limerick

Max Douglas's illustrated story set to music...

Arna's son, illustrator Max Douglas, completed a lovely graphic story a while back. Here is the finished work set to music.
For more, visit Max Douglas.

 

Dino-Fight-At-The-ROM

John took this picture last spring/summer. The Royal Ontario Museum (or ROM as it's known to most Torontonians) is undergoing a bit of a transformation. The reno is called 'The Crystal' but I don't know how crystalline it will be when it's finished, since the skin appears to be white aluminum siding.

This shot shows the old ROM and a skeleton of the new wing in sharp contrast. I wanted the old part to look the way I remember it so gave it a dirt layer. Then I added the dinosaurs fighting in the window as a tribute to the great dinosaur hall. I spent many childhood afternoons standing under the Tyrannosaurus Rex that loomed over the centre of the room, hoping to catch it moving just a little... :)

Time for music...

We spent last night greeting the start of 2007 with friends. There was music and some dancing. This is an unrelated sketch from 2006. Happy New Year all!

May the snow goblin be your friend...

Click here for the Flash version of this little greeting with northern lights... :)

See everyone in 2007!

Variations on a cat theme...

Posted by Arna:

Images from morning warm-ups with our cats...

Flash girl...

Posted by Arna:

Playing with Flash using transparencies:

Unseasonably warm...

Posted by Arna:

The Way of the Dackel...

going squirrelly...

Posted by Arna:

A small mangy squirrel is eating our house. The little rodent comes back day after day and gnaws at the rotten window ledge on our decrepit back sunporch. The thing seems to want in. Winter's coming, so maybe it thinks it can make a nest or maybe it actually wants to hang out with our cats. It's really their sunporch. They spend most sunny days sleeping there.

Today I tried to make the squirrel go away by yelling and banging on the window. It's chewing its way into our house after all! I started to growl like an angry cat. I waved around a cardboard poster tube, trying to look ferocious. The squirrel just sat on the ledge staring back at me while I went nuts. But our cat Kiki lunged and grabbed me by the hair. Guess she had enough of my shenanigans.

If you look closely in the drawing you'll see the chew marks on our windowsill. We really have to stop this critter! Anyone have suggestions for getting rid of a pesky squirrel??

High hopes...

Posted by Arna.

Here's a kid waiting for something special. Maybe a letter from Grandma, or a decoder ring...

An even more screamingly obvious tribute to Mr.Warhol...

More Pop Poppies...

Breaking down the shapes with Photoshop, I like the happy accidents. The way the flowers are suspended on the almost too thin stalks:

Posted by Arna.

Poppy Pop Art...

Because we couldn't resist...

Posted by Arna.

Poppy Power!

We have a big fat poppy plant in our front yard. The flowers came into bloom two days ago, but they don't last long. They are about 7 inches across. These shots are pretty much as they came out of the camera, not touch-ups. The scarlet is so saturated, it almost repels the green at the edges!

Photos:

Top one: afternoon, JvB.

Second, third: 8 am, Arna.

Fourth one: afternoon, JvB.

Bottom one: afternoon, Arna.

Harvey Chan's Skateboards

Posted by Arna:
Hi guys! Here's a peek at some of our friend Harvey Chan's gorgeous painted skateboards. Harvey is a noted Toronto illustrator and he was my first sculpture teacher at the Toronto School Of Art a few years back. Check out Harvey Chan's portfolio site for more terrific examples of his work.

These boards are part of a group show this weekend in Montreal:
Life Styles at Yves Laroche l'Autre Galerie

Enjoy!

"The Sigh"...

...by Johnny van Munch, circa 1979. Prismacolour.

Not quite "The Scream." This drawing is one of a series of self-portraits I made the summer I worked at General Motors, in anticipation of spending a year painting in Florence. The setting is a bridge in Camp Samac, a short walk north of my parents' place in Oshawa. We will post more from the same sketch book over the next few days.

Eric Bruhn...and a girl's crush...

Posted by Arna:

I had a teenage crush on Eric Bruhn. He was an international ballet star and his appearances in Toronto, dancing with the National Ballet of Canada, caused a sensation. As a kid, I took ballet for several years and briefly fancied that I might become a professional dancer. I didn't have the dedication. However, learning ballet helped to sharpen my awareness of body movement, physicality and drama, which can come in handy when working in the animation biz.

Around 1984, I was doing some banking in the St. Lawrence neighbourhood of Toronto next to the National Ballet, and Eric Bruhn came into the bank. By then he was Artistic Director of the National Ballet of Canada, headquartered next door. I stared. He asked me for the time. He was smoking a cigarette. (of course it used to be legal to smoke in public places in Toronto) He stood up close, getting in my airspace. I could see the many fine lines that long-time smokers have. He wore a pale leather trench coat, long, below the knee. Faun colour. An unusual coat. I was surprised that he was smaller than I expected. He had a large head. I was thinking all these things, mentally cross-checking my in-person impression of him with my cherished teenage fantasy image, I guess. The moment passed quickly. I wanted to say how much I admired his dancing. Instead I stood stunned and told him the time.

Eric Bruhn died a few years later. His death was attributed to lung cancer.

Below is a mock poster I made, a year or so after I saw him dance in Toronto, before that meeting in the bank. As you can see in the sketch, he had a rather heroic profile. The photograph I took the likeness from was printed in the Globe and Mail. In the original photo, Mr. Bruhn was gesturing towards another dancer during a practice session at the National Ballet. I'd like to see the photo now, and compare it to this sketch.

I don't know the significance of the odd time posted on the poster. I was probably just trying to fill up the space.

Pen and brush and india ink.

scribble

This top image is an update on the ones below. In the older version, the menacing figure in the doorway seemed a bit cliche. I mentioned to Smook that it might look better if the figure in the doorway was something less predictable for instance, like a small alien child. This new version is actually a mash-up of a photoshop illustration I did of a child figure that was not working in it's original context. I like this new version better. It's interesting to see how the feeling in the woman's face seems to change, depending on what she's reacting to in the doorway.

Hop over to Elliot, who has posted some photos on a related theme.


This is the original pencil sketch:

Here's a version of the original with some mayang textures added:

Posted by Arna.

King Horse

Just to shake it up a bit. This one's a not so recent sketch by Arna. Guache and india ink.