So! You guys!

I was tied up in TCAF (Toronto Comic Arts Festival) festivities this past weekend, and it was absolutely fantastic. I had a lot of fun, both as an exhibitor and an attendee, and going to the afterparties and meeting neat people. I’ve never really been an ‘afterparty1!1!1′ type of person but I’m really glad I went out.

Anywho, in the picture above you can see one of my lovely interns lying on the TCAF exhibitor map. (Sometimes my interns are more in-the-way than helpful, sadly, but alas.) I’m so happy with the direction the festival is headed – the 2nd floor was filled with a bunch of amazing stuff this year. Back in 2010 when I was in the small press room, we were up on the 2nd floor (and I think that’s pretty much all that was up there). TCAF is transforming into this awesome massive thing that is internationally acknowledged as badass, and I think that’s so great. The people who run it know what they’re doing and do it well. Really honoured to be a part of it!

Oh look! There’s my name! Such an honour to be in a room with all these other talented individuals. Check out their work!

Here was my table setup with the lovely Kat Verwho! It was an awesome table pairing, and Kat was a sweet table buddy. Look at that sweet setup. Yeah!

Table closeup!

I’m not going to bother posting pictures of the event itself – many news outlets have done so already, and much better than I have. It was packed! Comics moshpit!

Also – massive massive massive thank you to everyone who came out to TCAF, and an even bigger thank you to everyone who came out to my little area to give me a high-five and some support. Thank you to all of my lovely pals who ventured out, and to all of the neat new people that I met.

Anyway, here’s some stuff I picked up while I was there – a pretty damn good haul if I do say so myself! Look at all this fantastic stuff! Here’s the list, from left to right and top to bottom, if you want to take a gander at any of this loveliness for yourselves.

• Florid Fauna by Meg Hunt (can’t find this zine online)
• Cramond Island by Irkus M. Zeberio
• Temporama by Clayton Jr
• The Complete Talamaroo by Alabaster
• Little Day by Lisa Vanin (can’t find this zine online)
• Eve’s Diary by Meg Hunt
• Even the Giants by Jesse Jacobs
• Chute et Ascension by Micah Lidberg
• Hellberta by Michael Comeau
• Gilded Lilies by Jillian Tamaki
• Witness My Shame by Shary Boyle
• Gentle Soul by Lisa Vanin

You guuuyyyssssss!

I’ll be in the Small Press Room (curated by the lovely folks at Wowee Zonk) at TCAF (the Toronto Comic Arts Festival) all weekend! Thankfully this year we appear to be on the same floor as everyone else, and won’t be forgotten about (hopefully)! Very much looking forward to it. If you’re in Toronto, do come say hi, will ya? It’s at the Toronto Reference Library at Yonge & Bloor. On Saturday the hours are 9-5, and on Sunday 11-5.

Cya there!

I know I’ve talked about this a bunch, but I have a piece in Light Grey Art Lab‘s Pokemon Battle Royale exhibition! It’s in Minneapolis, MN, USA – so if you’re down there why not go take a gander? The show is up until May 11, and you can check LGAL‘s website for a list of times the work is available for viewing. Go check it out! I also have my Weepinbell print up for sale in their shop – so if you like droopy Pokemon who look a bit out of it, my picture might just suit your fancy. The print is only available through them until May 11!

Somewhere else I visited in NYC was ABC No Rio’s zine library. They had a really interesting space, which was a bit chilly and dingy, but also really down-to-earth and hip to the street (or something), which was neat.

This is what the interior of the library space looked like – super DIY. I was expecting/hoping to see some art zines, but they exclusively had radical 70s-90s 8 1/2 x 11 in black & white photocopied & stapled zines. I found the term ‘zine library’ in their case to be a bit of a misnomer, to be frank… they’re really more of an archive. They do invite people to submit their zines to their collection, but when all they have is one thing, it does feel a bit odd asking if they’d be interested in something more colourful, printed on higher quality paper, and hand-bound. So if you do artsy shit, this probably isn’t the space for you to donate – but it’s definitely somewhere interesting to visit, and I’m glad I went. Happy that that particular type of zine is being archived somewhere… even if I feel it’s a bit stuck in the past re: what zines are and can be.

 
The above picture is from the Barnard College zine library (at Columbia, just south of Harlem in NYC). They had a bit of a wider variety of zines, and less emphasis on the standard 80s radical b&w super low-fi stuff. It seemed like the subject matter mostly revolved around radical issues, too, and there weren’t any ‘art zines’ on display (that I could see, anyway – there might have been some there that I didn’t find). There’s a weirdness about these two spaces in their really slim definition of what a ‘zine’ is – for me, zines have always been more about reclaiming methods of production and creating DIY objects (regardless of their fanciness/artiness/not-artiness). Sure, the content can concern radical politics, but I don’t think it has to. Barnard didn’t find my work suitable for their collection, on those grounds – which is A-OK by me, it’s all good (and be warned, fellow artsy types) – but being more familiar with the Toronto zine scene with its emphasis and acceptance on art zines and DIY comics, I was totally not expecting to get the cold shoulder in NYC at these places. Oh well! It was still fun to visit, and I’m glad I did! (And I couldn’t help but surprisedly ask myself, Is Toronto actually more progressive than NYC in its definition of what a zine is? Or did I just go to the wrong spots?)

The above photo was taken by zinester Kate Wadkins. Thanks Kate! Anyway, this picture was taken at the Feminist Zine Festival in Brooklyn, which I also hit up while I was in NYC. It was definitely more my speed, and I got a ton of awesome stuff! I wasn’t there for very long, but there was a lot of interesting zines, and some cool artsy zines there too. You can see some of the stuff I bought below!

I posted the WIP shots from this a bit ago, but here’s the final. It was finished back in February – I have no clue why I’ve held off on posting it, but this has got to be my favourite illustration that I’ve ever done. Like, ever – for real. I think it’s pretty self explanatory, but since I’m sure people will disagree with me on that I’ll say a little about it. This was inspired by a lot of prejudice and ignorance directed towards contemporary magical practitioners of all stripes, particularly witches, since the word has a lot of medieval-esque baggage that goes along with it. For that reason, witches can often lose their jobs or face discrimination because of their spiritual practice and/or religion(s), like this lady from the TSA. Similarly, genius G. W. Bush said “I don’t think that witchcraft is a religion” – which it kind of isn’t, but it does often (though not always) come with some spiritual/religious belief(s)… anyhow, Bush’s statement (though it’s not surprising it came from him) speaks to a larger attitude that is prevalent in most of North America (around the world it’s both better and worse). Can we all just agree to get along and stop being assholes to each other based on what our religious and/or spiritual beliefs are? Okay cool, thank you.

Speaking of hullaballoo re: witchcraft and public practice, it took one Wiccan (Wicca and witchcraft ain’t the same thing, but anyway) a massive battle with the American military to allow a popular Wiccan symbol (a pentagram – sacred to many other people as well, and to many witches, regardless of their affiliation or lack thereof with Wicca) on military tombstones. So I decided to move away from the typical super old-school image that a lot of people associate with witchcraft (pointy hat, crooked nose, black gown, cauldron) and create an image which would look pretty typical and devoid of any religious/spiritual over/undertones, if the type had been removed. That, to me, is the point of this image, and when you mix that together with a close working relationship with the earth, you have this picture. I hope you like it as much as I do!

Prints are also available:

• 22 x 15 inch giclee (archival) – $40
• 22 x 30 inch giclee (archival) – $65

So! Check it out yall. Super fun cell phone picture above from my booth at the Made By Hand show in the suburbs yesterday. (By suburbs I mean Mississauga, on the outskirts of Toronto – I usually show in the city.) I made a lot of sweet new swag, including tote bags and salves. It was an interesting experience. With each craft/art show I do, I learn so much – and with this one I learned that my target market is really not suburbanites (or, at least, not the suburbanites who were at MBH – no funky young people!). A lot of people were super weirded out by my paintings – I dunno, I don’t find ‘em too weird! But hey, if you think so, that’s cool, and I’ll take it in stride. I’m reminded of one quote from one of my favourite people ever:

“There he goes. One of God’s own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.”

- Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

I’ll take it!

Behold! Some shots from the studio of new products. Below you see some beet chutney (made with local Ontario produce, organically/sustainably grown and harvested), which come with the cutest silkscreened tea towels you ever did see. I also have jarred pears, beets, a bunch of this beet chutney, some pear chutney, and also some Indian spicy sweet chutney curry. Yum! I think these would make really great gifts and/or decorations around the house!

These really freaked out the suburbanites – who knew swearing holds such strong taboos for people? Not me, that’s for sure. It’s crazy – I teach kids about art, design, bookbinding, printmaking, and social justice (not always in the same breath) – and while I don’t swear around the kids, I’m always surprised (well, not really) at how much they swear amongst themselves, even at ages 8 and 10. Our youth are not so innocent! Can we stop freaking out?

Anyway, rants aside – I’m super excited about these bags! They are silkscreened, and speak to my dislike of processed food. You know that person at the grocery store who buys only produce? Yeah, that would be me. Cooking from scratch is so cheap! And so rewarding. Yum yum yum!

As the first photo in this blog post shows – non-swearing versions of this tote bag are also available! Until I get proper pictures of these, they’re available in my shop using these super low-fi phone pictures, for $25 CAD each. They are printed on organic eco-friendly bags, the ink will *not* run and is completely machine washable. Buy veggies in style! Here’s a link list:

• Power Animal Archival Giclee Print, 22×15 in – $40 
• Fuck Processed Food Silkscreened Tote Bag – $25
• Super Adorable (Non-Profane) Fruit & Veggies Silkscreened Tote Bag – $25

This has to be my favourite thing I’ve ever illustrated. For real! Without knowing the concept, what do you feel when you see this image? What does it communicate to you?

I’ll post a bit about my ideas and concept when I post the final piece and detail shots. Turns out I REALLY love drawing foliage and plants. I recently tried to draw a cat and it didn’t work out too well. Who knew that loving cats does not make one competently able to draw them? Something to work on…

But until then, enjoy this badassery. I am seriously so happy with it!

Plants!

A smiling gardener!

My cute intern Ehwaz!

Pictures of the finished piece to be posted very soon!

Sharing some love for grOCAD! This was so much fun, mad props to Laura Headley and Marta Chudolinska for organizing this badassery and being lovely facilitators and hosts. (And for the photos!) Thanks ladies! It was really nice to engage in a fun extracurricular workshop from a student’s perspective for a change, it seems that all I’ve been doing lately is teaching! (Middle schoolers and high schoolers at the AGO, about social justice, of course – what else?) Most of my hanging gardens are hangin’ in my kitchen, and I’m planning on painting some flowers on them. Expect some update pictures in the next week or so!

(In my garden – a few random flowers [white and purple], chamomile, sage, tarragon, thyme, basil, [BASIL!] and a few other things. Excited!)

So happy there’s photographic evidence of this stuff, because I think they’ll make some pretty badass drawings! Honestly, it’s experiences like these that inform almost all of my work in one way or another. LOVE it! On a more serious note, it’s not just the pretty plants that make me tingly and happy. I do dig plants, but I revel in the entire ethos of something like this – I love DIY movements that allow people to reclaim (in some sense, however small) the means of production. There’s something so tasty and activistic about that, and I love love love it. I love that I’m not the only one interested in growing my own plants, my own food, making my own herbal remedies and learning about the earth and what it does! Finding a community like this is the best!

<3!

Here’s some process work for a series of 104 woodcuts I’m working on! I’ve been pretty tight-lipped about it since it’s in the early stages right now, but whatevs! I’ve been carving into maple. The above image mainly consists of an estasol transfer of my pencil drawing, and a few initial carvings. In order to better see the difference between cut and uncut wood I went over it with an orange marker. Check out the finished block below – I can’t wait to print this!

We’ll see how long this lasts, but I’d like to introduce a new feature on the blog – Inspiration Wednesdays. It’ll probably end up being once every two weeks (or whenever I feel like it), but we’ll see how it goes! Anyhow, last month in NYC I hit up the fancy pants Brooklyn Flea. I’d recommend it heartily if you end up draggin’ yourself over to that part of the world! The space was really interesting, because it was a takeover of an old bank – this particular booth which I’m featuring below was near the massive old vault door. So awesome!

Anywho, there was this booth called ‘Hunters and Gatherers‘ that I really really dug – seriously, if I was to have another life as a vintage reseller, this would be my booth, for real. I love the collection of foraged animal parts, vintage wooden and gold/brass pieces, etc. I wish I could have spent an afternoon just staring at all this stuff and drawing it! So lovely!

Really digging the mix of forest and nautical creatures/bones! I wish I could have bought everything – the main reason I didn’t was that my cats seem to have a penchant for chewing on everything/knocking everything over that they could possibly access, haha. Lovely!

Cover for a limited edition book. What is it? You’ll have to wait and see!

I’m sure everyone’s heard of this –  the greatest art show that ever was. It’s the Pokemon Battle Royale Art Show, happening on April 20th in Minnesota at the Light Grey Art Lab. I’m totally living vicariously through whoever is able to go, because as much as I’d love to head down to MN for this opening, I can’t! This was a highly juried exhibition, so I’m very honoured and ecstatic to be involved! Pokemon was an important part of my childhood, and while I’d love to get Pokemon tattoos one day, for now I’ll just settle for offering this humble illustration of Weepinbell. I was so happy to be assigned a grass Pokemon!

This show has received a lot of press – on Kotaku, QJ, and a bunch of other online spots. I seriously can’t wait to see everyone’s stuff! Here’s Machoke and Weedle - I haven’t been able to find many others that have been posted. So stoked! Click here to see a list of all of the amazing artists participating. The gallery has streamlined the cost of prints for this – 8x8in for $40. If you’re interested, let me know on Twitter or via email (SABRINAdraws at GMAIL dot COM).

Oh man! Dear the five people who read this blog: I’m so sorry I’ve been MIA! Lots of crazy stuff has been in the works, and I’ve been making and working on a lot of awesome things I can’t wait to share. For now, though, check out this illustration I did for the Bygone Bureau. Thanks so much to AD Hallie!

The piece was about the isolation and togetherness we all share, watching our own specialized stuff on our laptops, a mere metre or so away from each other. City living! Internet living!

Hey everyone! I’m really happy to announce that the OCADU Zine Fair on Thursday went swimmingly! I got an awesome spot, got to sit next to one of my pals, and sold a lot of my stuff! The most popular items were a screenprint of my cat, a screenprint of an adorable bear, and the My Mundane screenprinted zine. It’s so interesting – every show/fair I do, even though I bring the same items, different things sell each time.

Anyway, I’m slowly adding more and more items to my online shop, Graceful Place. Most recently, as depicted above, is a set of all three power animal sachets! The animals are Bear, Buffalo, and Owl. The full price of each sachet is $30, and I’m selling the set of 3 for $70 (yay $20 savings)! The process to create these was incredibly intense and labour-intensive, but I had a blast the entire time. I made a bunch of blog posts about the process – you can check out one of the first ones in the series by clicking here.

Also, expect some pictures from NYC soon! I checked out the Feminist Zine Fair, the zine library at ABC No Rio, the zine library at Barnard College, and did a bunch of other neat things. I also ate a lot of delicious food… hoping to make those into illustrations sometime soon, and perhaps a zine or two!

OH, also… I almost forgot! Until March 15th, I’m having a sale at Graceful Place! From now until then, enter IDESOFMARCH at checkout for 15% off. The url is http://gracefulplace.com; happy March! Spring is inching closer!

I like documenting the process of my work, just for myself but also because it’s kinda fun to give folks an inside look into how I make my ish. I love love love seeing how other people make things, so why not share my own process?

Behold: my ink dish. Forever messy and never cleaned. Protip: I do this on purpose, because the flecks of dried ink mixed in with different colours can add really nice and unexpected textures to the work, if applied properly!

And dictator number two!

Behold: ink mug. Possibly the nicest mug I have ever been given and I had to be stupid and use it for art. (It holds a lot of water and is sturdy!)

I really love the dusty pink colour of the roses here. Colour mixing is my favourite, and with inks it’s super fun!

Hand-rendered type for both of the illustrations…

And there you have it!

I posted images of the final works last week – you can see them by clicking here. I’ve posted the Kim Jong Il-lustration (har har) up on my shop, you can click here to see it. Kim Jong Il is a bit of a more humourous figure, so I’m assuming more people might be interested in some satire of him than of Gaddafi, but I’m happy to post both of them in whatever size or quantity people want. It’s all good!

Also – I’ll just take a second to plug my bookbinding classes at Site 3 this March! Check it out, I’d love to teach you how to make things!

So I’m pretty happy with this piece. I really love the colours! It’s a bit of a self portrait, in a way, and was made from conception to final within 36 hours. I’m happy with the quick turnaround time, too – I’m slowly learning to work smaller. Most of my work is 2ftx4ft or something equally ridiculous, but the original is more along the lines of 20×35 in or something to that effect. I’m learning! Slowly but surely, lol!

Do you want a print of this image? If so, let me know! I scanned it at 600 dpi so I’ll be able to blow it up. The print I’m exhibiting at the show is around 70x50cm. Do you wanna see it in person? Do you wanna see the entire awesome Menagerie show in person? Well, now’s your chance! It opens tomorrow night (Thursday), in Toronto at the Steam Whistle Brewery, at around 7pm. The lineup of artists is absolutely fantabulous, so I’m very excited to both be involved and to go check out the opening! If you wanna say hi and high-five me, I’ll be there tomorrow night from 9:45pm – 11pm. The address is 255 Bremner Boulevard. Check it out! If you don’t have the chance to stop by tomorrow night, the show’s up until Feb 26th. It’s definitely worth the trip down!

Hi all! I’m incredibly honoured to announce that I’m taking part in this art exhibition! You can see the poster for the details of when and where, but it’s in Toronto – sorry out-of-towners! The lineup is absolutely phenomenal, having that many talented folks come together in one room is going to blow my mind. From the website, here’s the show description:

“Menagerie” is an art show that engages the imaginative exploration of anthropomorphism – the attribution of human qualities to nonhumans. Through visual study, nineteen local up-and-coming artists will explore the idea of anthropomorphism as a form of self-extension. As we “humanize” nonhuman entities, personal relationships are established, and a special – sometimes disturbing – attachment is then applied to the animal or object. This can be seen from our naming of pets, to drawing faces on inanimate objects, to shouting at a car when it has broken down. Through us, the animal/object takes on its own humanity. The result of this visual exploration is a modern bestiary – a collection of creatures, human and nonhuman, situated and interacting in contemporary society.

I couldn’t be more excited! Put this in your calendar! And Google all the artists, they are all fantabulously amazing. Their work will make your brain explode (in a good way)! Hope to see you there!

I finally got around to taking cute pictures of these little guys!

These sachets were such a blast to make, and were really a labour of love for me. I hand-dyed the fabric with yerba mate tea, hand-carved animals into found wood, and then printed away! They’re hand-sewn and stuffed with a fun mix of organic herbs. In folklore, bears are often associated with healing and protection, and the herbs in this sachet speak to those qualities. The bear sachets are lovingly filled with rosemary, fennel, oak moss, and angelica. These have a bit of a sweet smell, and even remind me a bit of honey!

They’re good to keep in your sock drawer or just hold onto for good luck. At the Book Arts Fair in December someone bought one of these with the idea of keeping it in his car as an air freshener! I thought that was an absolutely fantastic idea, as these organic herbs will stay fragrant far longer than cheap artificial scents.

Anyway, if you’re interested in seeing a few more pictures of these babies you can click on over to the Graceful Place online shop!

I’ll be posting pictures of the owl and buffalo sachets shortly!

Also, just wanted to remind everyone in Toronto who is looking for something to do on Saturday the 28th – come and learn how to stab-bind with me! It’s an amazingly easy and durable form of bookbinding, perfect for sketchbooks, journals, and notebooks for the student, writer, and artist. Click here to be whisked away to the fun Eventbrite page for some more information on the workshop!