"Lucky Brownies" @ IndexG Gallery, Toronto

Just finished my piece for IndexG Gallery's Art Brownie Project.

The Opening is on Saturday, November 19th.
Drop by if you are in the area!

Unfortunately I will be in Los Angeles that time and will be unable to attend the opening. Please take some pictures if you visit.


"Lucky Brownies"
(Golden Dragon Head)
approx 2.5'' x 2.5'' x 1.5''
Acrylic on Wood Blocks





ART BROWNIE:
A small art piece. A wooden block measuring 2.5 inch square, 1.5 inch in height. Artist works on it as a mini canvas.

The Toronto's Art Brownie Shop:
a) A mini shop at INDEXG with ART BROWNIE (by different artists) available all year round.
b) Title of an exhibition at INDEXG to celebrate the launch of the shop and the ART BROWNIE project - grand opening on November 19 (Sat, 3-6 pm), 2011.


A new format for the seasonal gift-giving
The Toronto's Art Brownie Shop exhibition arrives in November, showcasing an array of works and ideas by Toronto artists, all work on this smart, cool format.

ART BROWNIE is available each from $30 to $100 or above. All unique items. From painting, print-making and photo-based, mixed-media to sculptural. The Toronto's Art Brownie Shop exhibition starts on 19th November, a bit earlier giving you ample time to plan your gifting strategy. Exhibits are on buy-and-go base, but the trays will be refilled with fresh new bites frequently.

Artists in the ART BROWNIE project launch exhibition: Anna-karoliina, Adam Chow, Aaron Leighton, Alena Skarina, Alec Dempster, Andrew Yeung, Antonio Cangem, Anabela de Castro, Brad Leitch, Claire Manning, David Cheung, Erik Jerezano, Feng Wei, Fiona Smyth, Françoise Mallecourt Cockburn, Gary Michael Dault, Gary Smith, Greg Stevenson, Harvey Chan, Han Xu, He Qing, Ilyana Martinez, Irina Schestakowich, Iris Lee, Ilana Jackson, Jamie Lawson, Janice Kun, Jacqui Oakley, Jeff Jackson, Jennifer Phelan, Jose Ortega, Juana Zuniga, Kestin Cornwall, Larry Eisenstein, Lisa Cristinzo, Laurie Zinkand-Selles, Loree Ovens, Lillian Hong, Malgorzata Wolak Dault, Madeleine Hellmers, Mariana Tomasevic, Martha Chan, Milena Roglic, Mo Aziz, Nahum Flores, Nataly Kim, Peter Chan, Shelley Savor, Sally Ayre, Taras Ostapchuk, Tai Kim, Tings Chak, Tomio Nitto, Walker Ballantyne-Hill, Uros Jelic, Will Wong and others.

An Ocean & Pounds project, 2011.

Upcoming: Art Brownie Shop Project at IndexG Gallery, Toronto

Hi Everyone,
Things are busy! Been really excited these days working on a new body of work which will be released in 2012.

I have also been working on some small pieces for a few shows and events.
Here is a work in progress of one that is coming up in Toronto, Canada at IndexG Gallery. I will post the final as well when it is finished.

Oils back in Effect

Been working with some traditional Oils Painting again the last few days between projects. I have a lot of pieces scheduled in the next months. Will be updating on the progression throughout. Here's one for now, before going into the 'color' stage.

The Familiars - "Secrets of the Crown" Released!

Recently the new children's novel that I have been busy with drawing and painting late 2010 to Early 2011, has been released now.

You can purchase a copy of it either in your local Chapters, Indigo, Borders, or Barnes and Noble or Amazon.

On Amazon.com, you can purchase it as a hardcover book or an e-book on kindle.

After illustrating the first book, the adventure continues in book two of 'The Familiars - Secrets of the Crown'. The book will be a continuation of the first book.

When human magic disappears suddenly from Vastia, it falls on the familiars, Aldwyn the telekinetic cat, Skylar the know-it-all blue, jay, and Gilbert the gullible tree frog--to find the Crown of the Snow Leopard, an ancient relic that can reverse the curse. They learn that the only way to do this is by following in the purple paw prints of Aldwyn's father, who'd gone missing while searching for the Crown years earlier. This magical spirit trail extends into the Beyond, where our heroes encounter new enemies and danger, while Aldwyn learns about his mysterious past.

Full of high-flying adventure and heartwarming friendships, SECRETS OF THE CROWN shows how great it is to be familiar with The Familiars!

Here are a selected few illustrations that I worked on - all of them were done traditionally, in total I have completed about 20 illustrations for the book:









Follow @the_familiars on twitter for more future updates on the series.

New Upcoming Group Show - "LEGEND": Key to Reading SubKaru

Opening this Wednesday, I will be part of a group show in Hammond Museum & Japanese Stroll Garden in New York.

Here is the show card:
Back


Front


The show will be available to see from September 14 to November 19, 2011.
Opening Reception: September 17th, 1pm - 3pm

Address:
Hammond Museum & Japanese Stroll Garden
28 Deveau Road, North Salem
NY 10560

Admission to Museum:
Free for members and children under 12
Non-member Adult $5, Seniors $4

Here is a sneak peak of the piece I have displayed there, I will be posting more information on this piece and the story that comes with it later...


Teaser image - "Freedom Swing"

Special thanks to Mana, Noa, Don, and Nasa for having me as part of this show!

New New Things Are Coming

Alright, first off, for those of you who noticed some of the missing images from older blog post...heres the thing.

When I joined google+, for some reason there was an album in my account. I thought it was google plus automatically putting some photos they gathered up in my google+ profile.

So since I didn't want some of those old images to appear in my google+ profile ( I was thinking just like facebook profile), I deleted that album.

Little did I know, it was connected to my Blogger too, which i thought was a bit stupid.. but either way, it is gone now. I tried my best to recover as many images to my blog as possible from my PC.

Looks like I will just have to move on and upload more new images and new blog post and get rid of the old ones eventually.

Thats what happens sometimes...you just have to move forward.

This week, there is a lot to update on, I have a new groups how opening in a museum in New York, a new book out, and a few other work in progress things.

Stay tuned, hope you all had a great summer. Autumn is coming, so enjoy that, too.

P.S. For the blog images sacrifices, here is my google+ profile, lets add each other.

Belong To.

Friday! And this concludes the one week promise of daily postings.
I may be posting a little less frequent now depending on current schedules, but i may start up again with dailies another time or another week.


"belong to."
Mixed Media

Delayed Thursday

Sorry for the delay guys, been busy these past two days with several events. So here are the back posts.

Thursday. A snap shot.

In-O

Wednesday!


"untitled"
8.5'' x 11''
Acrylics and Inks on Paper

Young Sienna

Here is Tuesday. Reflects the weather, gloom.


"Young Sienna"
4.25'' x 5.5''
Inks on paper

Say. Orange-nice.

Here is Monday.


"Say. Orange-nice."
5'' x 7''
Acrylics, Inks, and old paper

Sunday Afterwards

Today is Sunday.


"multi- human"
pencils on paper

Second

Here is one for today.


"untitled"
approx 5'' x 7''
inks & acrylics

Freshly painted

Starting today, i've decided to do at least a one week daily update on my blog.
Most of the things I will be posting are sketchbook drawings or paintings, but I may also be sharing anything from a study, a work in progress, a thumbnail, a paragraph of thoughts & discoveries, collages, or photos of my most current working spaces.

Just wanted to keep the blog fresh and going, there are a lot of daily things that aren't normally posted or seen. However, for a little while now, I am really enjoying the process of working and making art. Sometimes there is something about the rough, the thumbnail or concept paintings that I feel are extremely lively and important. While the finished works are nice to post, I feel that process and research work has a life of its own.

So lets start this off today, here is something from my sketchbook.



"too long"
approx 7'' x 5''
mixed media (inks, graphite, and old paper)

Another, tomorrow.
Have a great weekend everyone.

Artists Help Japan: Toronto 2011

Hi everyone,

Things been busy but recently just had the chance to upload photos/video clips of the event. The video was collaborated with an awesome photographer Keith Acedera.

Thank you again to everyone who came out to the event or helped out in some way and supported, we end up raising a total of $20,000+ for the Canadian Red Cross to donate to Japan's Tsunami and Earthquake Relief fund.

Here is the video:


My share of photos have been uploaded to my flicker, click here to see em.

Once again thank you everyone and special thanks to organizers, helpers, artists, and Revival bar for a successful event!

MAPS & Building from the Ground Up

Today I will be flying out to San Francisco for Wondercon this weekend, while I am excited to see San Fran, its also a bummer that I will be missing two great shows this Friday night.

I just wanted to mention that there are two great shows to check out Friday.

My friend Tessar Lo's solo is opening this Friday titled "MAPS", at Show & Tell Gallery in Toronto.





And also in the second gallery is a very talented artist Andrew Hem, his solo titled "Building from the Ground Up"



Please come out to the show if you are in the Toronto Area! I will have to check it out once I get back from my trip.

Opening Reception:
Friday, April 1st, 2011,
7:00pm - 11pm

Show & Tell Gallery
1161 Dundas St. West
Toronto, ON, M6J 1X3

for more information:
info@showantellgallery.com
+ 647.347.3316

Hopeful

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to do a quick post today to thank everyone who came out last night to support the event. Ashita was a great success and it was an amazing turnout, not to mention the great food donated by Guu Izakaya and great performances.

Throughout the night, I had talked to some people who had actually experienced part of the quake in Japan and was there when it happened. And still, many of them are a bit shaken up about it. Let us be hopeful that things will get better for all these people and families currently affected by this unfortunate event.

I was able to take some photos of the event for those who missed it. I have posted them on my Flickr account. Unfortunately I was busy in the gallery room most of the hours and missed a few of the great performances.

Please also check out this other set of photos from Hirata as well.

Here are the two pieces I contributed for the event.

Hopeful
6'' x 6''
Graphite and Acrylics on tea-stained paper, framed
SOLD


A New Birth
9'' x 11''
Graphite on tea-stained paper
SOLD

Thank you to the new owners of these pieces. All of proceeds went to support the Red Cross Fund to help Japan.

Finally, many thanks to Rafi, Daisuke, and all the organizers and people who came out to the event. Hope we can all do our best to help a country in need.

ASHITA: Artists for Japan

Hi everyone,



I will have a piece at the upcoming event 'ASHITA: Artists for Japan'
My friends Harvey Chan, Tessar Lo, Nimit Malavia, and Keita Morimoto will also have work there. This is going to be a great event. Hope to see you there!

The event is on Tuesday, March 29, 2011.
7pm at the Great Hall in Toronto, Canada
--> Facebook Event page
--> The Japan Foundation

Cover: minimum donation $10 (students $5 with ID)

Our heart and minds are with the Japanese people and now its time for action!
The Toronto arts community felt the shock much like everyone else when images first started to appear on the news and stories through friends started to come in

Many of the artists have traveled to Japan as visiting artists or to study its rich culture and its embrace with nature and nurture. We have made many friends and built bridges through collabora...tions and deep friendship

Curator Rafi Ghanaghounian and Artist Daisuke Takeya are organizing a fundraiser event that will bring the arts community of Toronto together to support our friends in Japan both mentally and financially. All artists and performers will give their time and efforts for this very cause

This night will include musicians, artists, poets from both Canada and Japan. As well galleries have donated books and other items available for purchase

Thank you for your support!

Participating groups, sponsors and partners:
The Great Hall, GUU restaurant, K6cards, Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, Japanese Visitors Association (JAVA), Nihongo Art Contest 2011, Toronto Artists Fund Raising, Orange LLP, Healing Japan, Hardboiledinc for doing our shirts!!

Special Thanks to: Kateryna Topol, Christine Seki

Participating galleries (more coming!):
OBorn Contemporary, Le Gallery, Show and Tell Gallery, Art Metropole, Koyama Press, Narwhal/Magic Pony, OUCHI Gallery NYC, Orbital arts

Participating artists (more coming!):
Howard Podeswa, Laura Horne, Fiona Smyth, Yuriko Kubota, Tomori Nagamoto, Winnie Truong, Nicholas Di Genova, Shigeko Okada, Keiko Tokushima, Ayako Bando, Sonomi, Kobayashi, Bernice Lum, Ron Loranger, Pierre Julien, Richelle Forsey, Jae-hong Ahn, Juno Youn, Miki Shinozaki, Keita Morimoto, Shinobu Akimoto, Yumi Onose, Shinya Kumazawa, Martin de la Rue, Joshua Choi, James Fowler, Martin Ouellette, Patrick DeCoste, Daisuke Takeya, Matt Evans, Martin Reis, Aisha Simpson, Harvey Chan, Peter Chan, Shary Boyle, Akira Yoshikawa, Rie Aikawa, Bud Fujikawa, Laura Adams,Tanya Reed, Dasar, REN, Amy Wong, Risa Kusumoto, Chrisopher Hayes, Takashi Iwasaki, Seth Scriver, Nimit Malavia, Junko Mizuno,Ruthanne Henry, Braden Labonte, Michael Toke

Participating performers:

Your MC's for the evening:
Rafi Ghanaghounian and Nana Akimoto

music:
Clara Venice and Ken Ogawa
Nobu Adilman: Choir!Choir!Choir!
Rambunctious featuring Michael Louis Johnson
Ashely Ingram

performance:
AKA Dance (Keiko Ninomiya, Amy Hampton, Mike Dell)
Natasha Bailey, Nayeon Kim, Adam Herst, Yumi Onose
VPV (Daisuke Takeya, Ayumi Sawada, Tatsu)

tea ceremony:
Tomori Nagamoto and Mika Sato

poetry by:
Ewan Whyte, Bonnie Bowman

DJ
Luis Jacob
Derek Mainella"

Thank you Rafi, Daisuke, and Keita for having me in the show.

Time is a Virtue

Hey everyone,
I am currently working on multiple paintings and drawings for a series of different things, I have been so caught up into drawing and painting lately, but I will have alot of material to update in the coming weeks.

I have been doing a lot of learning and reading about our world, all the living and non-living things that co-exist. The importance of everything that plays a role around us is often overlooked.

To start here are some drawings and ideas to share.





More to come!

Into the new.

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the lack of posts in the past month or so, I have been really jam packed with my current project of "The Familiars - Secrets of the Crown", the second of the book series for Harper Collins. I am finally wrapping this one up and the book will be released later this year.



Anyways, forgive me for being late but I hope everyone is having a great year so far. Coming into late January of 2011, is now really the start of this year for me. Coming off with a lot of bumps on the road in 2010 with some tough moments, I really am looking forward into the new things in my life this year.

Please be patient with me, I should now be starting to update a bit more again.

I just want to thank everyone who has been supportive to me and all the new friends I've met through blogging, traveling, sketch groups, and twitter over the past year.

Here is a sneak peak of one of many many pages of illustrations for the second book. More to come soon!