Tag Archives: Illustration Fridays

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Illustration Friday – The Big Breakfast

Well, this week’s theme for Illustration Friday is breakfast, which feels like a gift. After all, I specialize in food and travel art, so it’s right up my alley. The image I chose to use is a fun piece together of different elements of a classic big breakfast pieced together over a sort of marble texture that I painted. I had a lot of fun making this piece and was especially happy with how some of the shadows and coffee stains turned out around the espresso. Scroll down for the recipe:

Just for fun, here’s a recipe for perfectly roasted baby potatoes that works every time.

Crackling Baby Breakfast Potatoes

Ingredients

  • 1 lb / 0.5 K baby potatoes
  • 2 tbsp / 30 ml olive oil (note: if you’re a baller, duck fat will also add an amazing flavour profile to these potatoes.)
  • Sea salt

Instructions

Par boil the potatoes whole in salted water for 7 – 10 minutes, until you can get a fork’s tines into but not through the potatoes. Remove from the water and drain in a colander, sprinkling liberally with salt, so that each potato is thoroughly coated in the colander. Leave to sit for 15 to 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425F / 225C.

The potato skins should turn whitish with the salt coating and all of the moisture should be wicked out of the flesh. Toss the potatoes in olive oil, using a mixing bowl or salad bowl, then lay flat in a cast iron pan or baking sheet. Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes, stirring halfway through to brown both sides.

The skin should be flaking and crunchy by the time they’re done with a golden brown coating.

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Illustration Fridays

Illustration Friday – Farm

This week’s topic for Illustration Friday is farm, and it’s Victoria Day long weekend in Canada, the traditional time of year when people head north from the city and open their cottages and cabins, or drive up to a provincial park for camping and R & R. This topic made me think of home, and Ontario and the farm country north of Toronto, which I have driven through thousands of times on my way to and form the near north. I decided to take an old picture shot from a car window and use it as the basis of a photo illustration. There’s just something about the big blue sky and cumulus clouds, the red pickup truck and red barn, and the grass laying down flat in the foreground that I loved, and felt like a quintessential image of farm country.

Farm country, Ontario

If you’d like to order a print, or get in touch regarding a commission contact me.

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Illustration Fridays

Illustration Friday – Jay-Z on Marcy Ave

This week’s topic for Illustration Friday is transportation, which kind of threw me for a loop. I’ve been thinking about trains a lot for some reasons lately, as transportation and as a motif, so I decided to make a piece that’s a bit of a throwback, weaving together a profile of Jay-z, a young portrait, and his eponymous J and Z train lines in Brooklyn with where he grew up, a superimposed map of the Marcy Projects. Let me know what you think, contact me if you want a print.

Jay-Z, Marcy Ave, Brooklyn

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Illustration Fridays

Illustration Fridays – Imaginary Friend – Trump and Kim

This week’s topic for Illustration Friday is imaginary friend. I hope the image speaks for itself, it was a lot of fun to make. As always click on my contact page if you want to buy a print of any of my illustrations on this website.

Imaginary Friends
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Illustration Fridays

Illustration Friday – Dungeon

I was having a tough time figuring out what to illustrate for this week’s illustration friday, until I watched the new Game of Thrones trailer. Then I knew immediately. Tyrion in the dungeon. It was just a matter of deciding, which of the many scenes of him in a dungeon best suited. I’ve always been a huge fan of Peter Dinklage, he can be hilarious and infuriated, serious and snappy, even when he’s playing himself. The guy is an incredible actor, so I got really excited about heightening and exaggerating his already emotive and expressive face in this scene.

Tyrion in the dungeon
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Illustration Fridays

Illustration Friday – Colossal – Kawhi Leonard, Toronto Raptors

When I read this week’s theme for Illustration Friday, colossal, my mind started racing all over the place. I was thinking Godzilla, Jack and The Bean Stalk, James and The Giant Peach. All these classic, legendary characters and illustration ideas kept popping into my head. Then I started toying around with ideas about the city and the skyline, and it landed to me gift wrapped.

This whole season for my Toronto Raptors has been overshadowed by one question: will Kawhi Leonard stay or will he go in free agency? He is clearly the best player ever to suit up for the Raptors (not counting past his prime Hakeem). Vince had talent; Tracy had skills; Curry could shoot; Oakley was a bully and stalwart defender. He scared people away from the basket. Kawhi can do all of those things. No one knows what will happen this off season, but the man is a giant, a colossus casting his shadow over the city.

I, for one, am stoked for the playoff run because for the first time ever, I know as a Raptors fan that we’re going to have the best player on the court, in any game. period.

Prints of all the illustrations on this website are available for purchase, please use the Contact page form to contact me directly for pricing, sizing and shipping information.

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Illustration Fridays

Illustration Friday – Black and White

This week’s topic for Illustration Friday is black and white, which if you’ve ever seen my artwork before you’ll know is waaaaaaaay outside of my wheelhouse. I love colours. I love playing with colour, painting with colour, mixing colours, blending colours and using lighting effects that make the colours in my illustrations pop and explode off the page. Colours are a mask in my work, they hide the details, or lack thereof, and when they’re used properly make a picture come to life. So, about black and white. I knew that I wanted to explore texture and patterns, and I immediately thought of Picasso and M.C. Escher. What I came up with is an homage to both, Picasso as the subject and Escher as the lender of theme and style.

Prints of all the illustrations on this website are available for purchase, please use the Contact page form to contact me directly for pricing, sizing and shipping information.

Picasso y Toros, an homage to M.C. Escher
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Illustration Fridays

Illustration Friday – Fashion

This week for illustration Fridays, I’m posting a piece that makes me smile. For those of you who know me, I’m a sneaker head, old school hip hop loving, stuck in the 90s thirtysomething. So making an illustration of hightop sneakers just does it for me. Also, on a sad note for the 90s, RIP Luke Perry. You took TV to a different place, a true trendsetter, heartthrob, and game changer. You’ll be missed. You were the James Dean of the 1990s. Peace.

Prints of all the illustrations on this website are available for purchase, please use the Contact page form to contact me directly for pricing, sizing and shipping information.

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Illustration Fridays

Illustration Fridays – Fairy Tale

One of my goals for 2019 is to share more of my artwork, and to try and be more active online, specifically, through sharing the illustrations I make. As a way of encouraging myself, I’m entering an image for illustration friday every week. It seems like a fun idea, and it’s simple, once a week there’s a prompt and you make an illustration. This week’s prompt was to make a fairy tale image, here’s mine.

Prints of all the illustrations on this website are available for purchase, please use the Contact page form to contact me directly for pricing, sizing and shipping information.

Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf
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