Here’s hoping that 2012 brings you everything you ever wanted (well, maybe not everything you ever wanted, I wouldn’t want you to get too complacent or anything.)

The Queen West Art Crawl happened this past weekend, and I wanted to thank everyone who came out.  It was a great show, a great crowd, and I’m already looking forward to next year.   It’s always a huge boost to the creative spirit to talk with people face to face about your work, and to see how the general public reacts to the art you are creating.  It’s also a great chance to meet other artists, and catch up with old friends.  Of course, now that the show is over, it has been great catching up on sleep, so really it’s just positive all around.

I have to give my friend Josh a note of thanks for allowing me to use his likeness for this painting.  I usually use strangers as subjects (it’s amazing how often strangers will let me photograph them, and for that I am very grateful) and it felt a bit more challenging to know the subject I was painting, but in a good way.

This one is a little more straight-forward, but I like the how the line work turned out here for the most part.  I have a frame for this one too, but I thought I ‘d show it unframed for a change.

It’s a real shame that I wasn’t old enough in the 70′s to truly benefit from the available fashions of the time.  This is probably what I would have gone with though.  Yep, a real shame.

Here is my second attempt at doing something with these tiny frames, this time with a comically over-sized telephone.  Now who doesn’t love an over-sized telephone? Crazy people, that’s who.

I found these great tiny frames (the opening is about 2.25″ x 2.75″) and have been trying to come up with something to do with them for a while now.  I’ve finally decided that they should be filled with tiny portraits, so this is my first attempt.  The portrait is a combination of watercolour and pen and ink.  I’m fairly happy with the results, but they will likely evolve as I progress, though in what direction I can’t say.

This is my first attempt at making a print using the Gocco printer we received for Christmas.  I was really surprised at how easy the process was, now I just need to get my hands on some more supplies so I can try out some more designs.

2010 was an interesting one, and I for one am looking forward to what 2011 brings!

It’s important to keep busy when you retire, and I’m pretty sure training for a title belt will eat up some hours during my golden years.  I can’t see how this plan could possibly go wrong.