Urban Sketcher

Documenting urban life in Vancouver and beyond.

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The limited edition book with my etchings is done!

Posted on Aug 10, 2014 in Vancouver | 1 comment

From May to December 2013, about one day a week, I worked with New Leaf Editions on a limited edition, handprinted poetry book. I made 9 copper etchings and also designed the book which contains 18 poems about Vancouver by the poet Christopher Levenson. The abstract cover etching was done by Andrea, assistant printmaker.

19 of the 30 books pre-sold for $200 each, in large part via a successful crowdfunding campaign on indiegogo.com. The remaining 11 are being sold at $300 each. We are having a book launch open to the public at the Vancouver Public Library in the Alice MacKay Room on Sunday, September 21 at 3 pm.

This post from December 5, 2013 describes the project in detail and also features a video with Chris reading one of his poems.
The etchings can be seen in this post from January 11, 2014.
I showed the book layout on January 10, 2014.
And I described the etching process in this January 9, 2014 post.

The printmaking team at New Leaf Editions
Shown above is the amazing printmaking team at New Leaf Editions on Granville Island. From left to right: Peter Braune, Master Printmaker, with his assistant printmakers Diana and Andrea, who are also artists. I had no idea how much knowledge and work goes into a project like this. I learned a few things, I hope. And it was wonderful to spend one day a week working in the exciting environment of a traditional, high-quality printmaking studio. I got to meet a few well-known Canadian artists who pop by to also work with Peter, and whom I had admired for years. I inhaled it deeply.

The handprinted book of poetry with my etchings is completed!
And here I finally get to hold a copy of the book!

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“By all means create” — video

Posted on Aug 8, 2014 in Vancouver | 2 comments

Earlier this year, I was asked to participate in a video by Opus Art Supplies here in Vancouver. A number of artists were asked to illustrate a word each to make up a quote by Vincent Van Gogh — watch the video to learn what the quote is. I was thrilled to be assigned the word “draw”!

Thanks Opus, and a nice job was done on the video by Ryan Mund. He filmed me back in March, when it was chilly and rainy. I did an outdoor drawing near the Vancouver Convention Centre, squeezing in the filming before I headed off to Northern England. You can see me drawing away from 0:34-0:36.

Drawings from my spring visit to Northern England and Scotland to come soon.

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Goodbye to a cat

Posted on Aug 7, 2014 in Vancouver | 0 comments

We had to put our cat Raisin to sleep today. About two years ago, I did a series of drawings of her with the “Paper” app on my iPad. She was an odd, sweet, tiny tortoiseshell cat that we adopted as a 1 year old from a shelter when we lived in Pennsylvania. She had a healthy, happy life and made it to almost 18 years old. Rest in peace, little Raisin.

Our cat Raisin drawn with the "Paper" app 7

Our cat Raisin drawn with the "Paper" app 1

Our cat Raisin drawn with the "Paper" app 2

Our cat Raisin drawn with the "Paper" app 3

Our cat Raisin drawn with the "Paper" app 4

Our cat Raisin drawn with the "Paper" app 5

Our cat Raisin drawn with the "Paper" app 6

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