Shining Bright

I created this colourful firefly image as part of the print and identity collateral for Kingston Arts Council's Fiftieth Anniversary celebrations. The Kingston Arts Council was founded as artists and performers united in saving the historic Grand Theatre from demolition. 

The anniversary celebrations are ongoing and the images will be used throughout the year. There was an opening gala at the Greand Theatre last month. It's great to be involved with a thriving, passionate and involved community, drawing from the visual arts, music and theatre. I worked with president Greg Tilson and designer Lucas Huang in creating the following variations.  Here are some of the images that will be used in the campaign.

And the dragonfly, to complete the suite

 A shot from the lobby with the signage

Connectivity

A recent piece for the New Jersey Institute of Technology's magazine. I worked with designer Claude Skelton on this cover assignment. Data management can be tricky - the objective is to unify information from various disciplines (environment, bioscience and technology) smoothly and efficiently.

I received a call from Manny Velez at the Wall Street Journal for a feature called 'Anatomy of a Song'. After throwing around a few concepts we agreed using my mechanical collage would be a good way to convey the idea.

 

Romney, Obama, the Economy and You

Election season is in full swing, a see-saw and 'bump' battle, ultimately resting on a few undecided voters in several key states. The dominant, opening agenda in the first Presidential debate was the Economy. Romney showed some spark after being on the ropes for the past month or two. Obama didn't counter with an effective argument, looking tired and listless. Advantage Romney. Return to the see-saw status.

In the weeks and months (and years) leading up to the big vote, I have been working with art director Minh Uong on a series of illustrations for the Economic View column of the weekend New York Times. I took a look back at them and most of the topics hold relevance today, affecting the policies in play and the decisions that will have to be made by the winning candidate.

There have been some rather weighty topics in the mix. Sometimes this can present an obvious visual solution, other times it takes a more nuanced approach, with a lot of back-and-forth, discussions over the phone and numerous tries to find the right balance. Minh is always great to work with.

I worked on this piece, for an article by Robert J. Schiller, 'Framing' Prevents Needed Stimulus. Laying off public employess in large numbers undercuts economic growth. Losing hundreds of thousands of public-sector employees to budget cuts has impacted the pace of the recovery.

Romney's 47%. OK, not really, but there is a huge discontented rabble out there and a lot of suffering. You can read the article 'Reviving Real Estate Requires Collective Action' by Robert J. Schiller here.

Romney presents the case that cutting taxes increases government revenue. This myth gets serious scrutiny in an article by Christina D. Romer. 'That Wishful Thinking About Tax Rates'.

Private equity has been squeezing profits from various corporations. What are the repercussions? Marc J. Leder is the head of Sun Capital, the company that Mitt Romney founded. He is also the campaign manager of Mitt Romney's presidential run. If elected, who will get the squeeze?

 

From Obama's side of the debate. Emerging from an financial crisis can be complicated and take a long time. For the article 'A Financial Crisis Needn't be a Noose' by Christina D. Romer.

And finally, medicare. Both parties may have more in common than their stances suggest.

Be sure to get out and vote!

The Rise of the Electric Car

Imagine the day when the promise of the electric car is fulfilled. Wouldn't it be great to move beyond our petroleum-soaked economic model and finally emerge into the future?

I received the call for this assignment from Tracy Cox at Sierra Magazine. I wanted to portray a sense of transformation and metamorphosis in the illustration. Creating the rust-covered heap of fossil-fuel detritus was interesting and a bit of a guilty pleasure. So much rich material to mine. The electric vehicle needed to be equally captivating and rich, in a technology and design. I used a Luna Moth as a model for the emerging vehicle, one of my all-time favourite insects. Yes, I do have favourite insects, I was a Lepidoterist in my youth.

For electric vehicle technology to succeed, there are a lot of hurdles to overcome. Coal still remains a leading producer of electricity, and if that remains there will still be a lot of pollution and co2 released as a result. This is one of those cases where the future looks brighter, and there are alternatives that can be used to create that reality. Ending our dependence on fossil fuels won't be easy, but it may be possible.

Here is a detail of the fossil fuel collage

Detail of wings and car

A handful of sketches

Funny Because It's True

Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die.

- Mel Brooks

Is life a tragedy, or a comedy? Which defines your life most truthfully? We all deal with tragic elements in our lives but at what point would you call your life a tragedy? If you can laugh at life's set backs, then you've got a good recipe for a comedy. Most of us would agree.

I had the pleasure of illustrating this debate for an article by Terry Teachout for the Wall Street Journal. Comedy tips the balance. Tragedy throws a hissyfit. Fun stuff!

 Got a call from art director and all-around great guy David Bamundo. Thanks, Dave!

Another juicy assignment crossed my desk last month, a series of spots for Alberta Venture magazine, the Seven Deadly Sins of business. We all walk the line, balancing our impulses of anger, pride, lust, gluttony and the rest, sometimes on a day-to-day basis (if you freelance, you will definitely relate). Getting the right mix is the key to success. I threw just about everything into the series. Thanks to Kim Larson for sending this my way!

 

Sometimes I get so caught up in working and playing that I forget all of the things I have worked on lately. Nice to have some quiet time, now that the kids are back in school, to sit down and put everything back together. It was an incredible summer, but I also had some really fantastic assignments. More to come.