Selected, Recent, & Very Here: Ideas

I designed Sean's artist statement for his upcoming show, "Selected, Recent, & Very Here: Ideas" at the Coup restaurant in Calgary opening on July 7. Go if you're in Calgary!

Also, Sean has started a blog: seanmacalister.blogspot.com

Another update: my favorite dessert these days: whipped cream with a bit of a maple syrup and fresh bc cherries. gawwwwdddd! 

And my favorite thing to do: nothing.

New American Felines

So this show was the bane of my existence on and off this whole week:

It's being put on by the boys at Straw, and the show is drawings of felines. New ones. American ones. It was pretty open-ended for what the drawings should be and all that, and it was exciting and seemed like fun, but when it came time to actually draw something, I was completely stuck.

Andy drew one of the best cats known to man, Maru. Maru rules. And this drawing rules. Has that manga feeling to it which is totally fitting since Maru is the cutest Japanese cat alive.

I drew a cat that night that Andy drew Maru and it was met with some pretty subpar looks. I knew my drawing was pretty whatever too and that I should do something else. I had no idea what to do, but I remember having one kind of silly idea where a bunny has cat ears, and having no other interesting thing to do, I did it.

And jeeze, it's so cute. A BUNNY WITH CAT EARS! I am dying.

I used to have a loped ear bunny, it went through a variety of names, BB (people asked me if I named it after a competitor on Survivor, hrm no, it's a cute name), Lucky, Obi Wan Kenobi (I was in love with him at the time), and then finally just...Bunny. When the bunny was younger it would hump the large beanie baby frog that my brother owned. I don't know why it was so attracted to it, but he would always go to it.

Anyways, go to the show if you're in Calgary, should be cute/nice/fun.

five full seconds.

Phew March.

This month was moving along at a pretty...slow pace and then all of the sudden things have gotten very busy. At times I feel like a chicken running around with my head cut off, but I am grateful for not sleeping in until 12pm and then spending an hour to figure out what to do with my day. I don't do well with that amount of time on my hands.

I've also always felt that I am better in the Spring. I always feel like I make most of mistakes, am at my worst in the fall and winter, and then somehow Spring always works out for me. Maybe that's why it's my favorite season. And also the air smells nice.

One thing that kept me busy this past weekend (for Straw):




Holy crap those circles for the tops killed my hands to do. I made it so hard for myself and there were moments where I just held the little labels in my hand and just wished it would just unstick itself. But I'm not a wizard, so oh well.

At the beginning of this month I watched...hahaha 3 seasons of Lost straight (I had lots of time as explained before). And there was this part where one of the characters, Jack, a spinal surgeon, was telling this other character Kate about this time where he was doing surgery on a patient and he screwed up really bad. He was scared, and he said to himself that he will give himself 5 seconds to let the fear completely envelope him and when those 5 seconds are up, to get back to what he is doing. I have been thinking about that a lot lately. Not just in terms of fear, but in any sort of extreme negative emotion, like boredom, annoyance, being tired. I think it's a good way of putting things behind you, letting everything hit you for a brief amount of time in order to move on. Because people and things need you to get on with things, you need yourself to get on with things.

Anyways.

Hi April, nice to see you.

some of it:

Hmm I was going to wait and make a long epic post after I finished a lot of things that I have on the go, but I am too excited and really want to show you some of it now:

Andy helped me photograph this. Woop thanks Andy. I wanted to photograph it on a nice day, and I had researched it and everything, SATURDAY WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SUNNY! But it was overcast, but whatever, first day of spring, it's a hard day to live up to, so I understand Spring if you just weren't up to being awesome on your first day. You're still my favorite season hands down.

Aw my gawwwd, LITTLE HILLS WITH LITTLE BUNNIES! Okay Andy and I did the photos at Jericho and as many people in Vancouver know, there are many rabbits there, and in so many different colors (grey! white! caramel! dark brown!) and they are so incredibly cute and we watched them for a bit and I can't wait to go see them again. 

And hooray! The book I designed (Centrism) for Jared's collages is done! If you'd like a copy, you can contact Josh at strawbooks@gmail.com.

I am especially happy with the accompanying essay at the end and how it was treated:

Another project that I am working on for Straw. It's a pill bottle that treats...when you are walking down the stairs and you think there is another stair but there isn't. The whole idea stemmed from Jared and Josh when they were thinking of what to submit to a friends' magazine, Palimpsest for their second issue, Medicine. So it was kind of funny, we only needed 50 bottles for the project, but Shoppers Drug Mart (where I bought these from), would only give me...200. So the rest of them will be sold at the book launch for Jared's book which is happening April 2 at Comrad Sound in Calgary, AB. So yeah I am busy trying to get like 1oo of those done with my impatient and clumsy hands (but don't worry! They don't look shitty! I think at least!)

Okay that's it and I hope you are well as well.

bread, pizza, fortune cookies, and volcanoes.

BEHOLD:

My first real loaf of homemade bread. As you can see I am very excited and entertained about how I am documenting this moment in photobooth.

I've always been scared to bake bread, the whole kneading, letting it rise thing was just too daunting, time consuming, and even though it's a basic skill that I think everyone should have (And they probably do possess, but seldom try) it's just way more convenient to buy it. But it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought (as with everything in life) and I'll probably do it again in like a year or something. The recipe I used is from this book, which I go to for a lot of my eating needs.

Also! First ever attempt at making no-knead pizza dough. You may notice my laziness when it comes to making bread like things, if there is an easy way, I will take that way. Again, I was scared to make this pizza dough because I had read that it's not as easy as it sounds and the thought of attempting something and possibly failing and having no dinner totally scared me off. Even though whenever I read about how people are scared to work with certain ingredients, I think, pusssyyy, but then I am a bigger pussy, and one of my New Years resolutions: not be a pussy. So I made this pizza and it worked out well and I am happy I did. Pays to not be a pussy.

The most asian thing I've ever done. When Josh was here he talked about wanting to make fortune cookies and he was kind of kidding and when I said we should do it for real, he said he only thought of it because it was ridiculous and probably impossible to make. I didn't think it was impossible and I wanted to prove that to him. So this is hahha...the result. They look more like teeth cookies, WISDOM TEETH COOKIES! And I like how very homemade it looks, they make me laugh each time I look at them, and I was kind of laughing to myself while I was making them as well...maybe that's why they look all misshapen. Anyways, the recipe is from Martha Stewart, nothing that woman can't teach you.

A serious photo of the teeth cookies.

Up close! ahahahahah. Oh gosh.

There are actual fortunes inside the cookies (set in Akkurat and typewritten lucky numbers on the back!), ones that were submitted to Josh, and if you have a desire to send in some fortunes, send them to him at: thestrawbooks@gmail.com. My favorite ones are, "Even War Won Tons want peace", "CAUTION: May contain traces of paper", "Help! I am being held prisoner in a Chinese bakery", and "luck is its own reward."

I felt like I've made a lot of weird/novel things in the past few days, or have documented in a weird/novel way, so here is something kinda serious that I've made that's been in my head for a long while. I've always been fascinated by the word "Volcanoes", it stemmed from the Feist song, "Past in Present" when she sings a bit about volcanoes, and I just loved that tension and explosion and I remember just putting the word on photos and it just made the image seem so much more heavier, like it was on the brink of something, like when the weather is threatening to rain but you weren't sure if it will.

Could go either way.

Whew.

Won't Ever/Won't Never

Whoosh! The days have gone by seriously fast.

A button from Dallin for Straw.

While in Calgary, Dallin, Josh and I worked on Dallin's Book:

This book will be available for purchase at Calgary's next Market Collective (Dec 6!) if you're in Calgary, GO! Dallin is hand binding these books and yes, that's cool yeah?

And also another book that I've been working on, Jared's collages...is almost done as well.


More of Calgary:

Oh man I didn't expect to be staying up this late. Must be all that bubble tea with Ms.Koo.
And I know I've already said it, but Calgary ain't so bad.
But, uh, Hey there Vancouver! Goodnight!

I present:

I am so very elated and overjoyed about this:

Josh sent me a bunch of his book that I designed and typeset today to sell at the bookstore(s) that I work at and even though he was telling me that there were some little problems with it, I still love it, flaws and all. I think it's because every bit of the design is mine and when something is yours, if anyone were to knock it, yah it might hurt for a second because getting dissed sucks, but who cares, you made this whole entire thing, and no one can really take that away from you. The book of course represents a lot of things to me and that's probably why I am excited about it, it's the start of something between Josh, Sean, and I, it's the culmination of years of something, it's a validation of something, and man it's just so fucking cool.

So! If you would like a copy drop by Brigid's Books (Bayswater and Broadway) or Tanglewood Books (Fir and Broadway) and talk to me!