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Saturday, November 5, 2011

Art Central First Thursday

In the process
Thanks to everyone who came to see me at my watercolour demo table at Art Central this Thursday! And Happy Birthday to the Art Central itself! I have never seen it this full of people. 
A special thank you goes to Arts Astray and Rachel Nickerson, who made my demo possible and contributed to the overall energetic atmosphere of the First Thursday. If you have not yet had a chance to visit the Arts Astray gallery, do it soon - it is full of beautiful original pieces by many talented local fine artists.

For those of you who were not able to attend, here are some pictures of the results of the watercolour demonstration.
Sol
Giba Landscape
Pink Flowers
Barrier

 

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Watercolour Demo at Art Central


I am pleased to announce that I was chosen by the Arts Astray team to give a live watercolour demonstration at the Art Central at the First Thursday Event on November 3rd.
You will be able to find me on the upper level from 6pm to 8pm. I will be painting at least two pieces.
Art Central is located at 100, 7th Avenue SW in Calgary; it is home to numerous art galleries and unique shops that together strive to promote new ideas, creativity and enhancing the community's perception of art.
First Thursdays at Art Central are especially fun because they are filled with mini events and deals at almost every shop and gallery. It is a great opportunity to come out, explore the Calgary art scene and meet some new people passionate about arts and crafts.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Sketchbook Project 2012!


Super-excited: I got my Sketchbook Project 2012 Sketchbook today!
This is part of a world-wide project where artists and designers sign up to get one blank sketchbook, work on them for 3 months and send the results back to become part of a traveling exhibition, which later on becomes part of the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Art Library.
 I must say I am a bit intimidated by the first blank page of this sketchbook, but I love this idea and I want to make my sketchbook something very unique. Each artist can pick a theme for the sketchbook online, before ordering it. I played it safe by picking "This is a Sketchbook" as the main theme, just because I am very happy with the fact that I actually have a sketchbook again!
If you are interested in this project, go to The Sketchbook Project Website and register: anyone can be part of it and you have until Oct. 31, 2011 for the registration. I highly recommend it as a fun outlet for some creativity and a way to let the world know about your talent.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

New Shop Feature

Art Shot Glassware will soon be available online!
Here is a chance for those of you who were not able to visit my booth at summer festivals to get a custom-painted vase, a glass set, a candle holder and much more.
Check out the Art Shot gallery for a preview of the merchandise and contact me if you would like to reserve a piece right away!

Monday, September 12, 2011

Upcoming Events

While the Salsa Fest was great, the summer is unfortunately over.
I am now on the lookout for some Christmas festivals in the Calgary area, schedule and locations coming next week!

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Salsa Fest Tomorrow!

The time has finally come! This is my favourite summer festival in Calgary. Follow this link to find out the details. Come over on July 24th between 11am and 5pm, taste some great salsa (or may be do a little salsa dancing?) and drop by the booth with this sign:


Here is a sneak peek at the products I will be selling at the festival:





Art Up Calgary: Photos

industrial designer artistWhat a great show! I thoroughly enjoyed the music, the food, the company and of course THE ART! More of this please!
Here is a link to a quick photo recap of the event. If you weren't able to make it to the opening night, all the work will be on display in the lobby and the Observation Deck of the Calgary Tower until the end of August.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Art Up Calgary

I am pleased to announce that my watercolour landscape paintings have been chosen to take part in a very cool event called Art Up Calgary, opening night taking place at the Calgary Tower, on July 21, 2011.

This is an event that celebrates Calgary's journey of becoming more in-tune with the artistic scene and promoting local artists. It s happening because of the amazing work of the ladies at Arts Astray, for which I am extremely grateful.

My work will be up in the Calgary Tower  for several weeks, so if you want to take a look at it as well as check out a lot of talented artists and the beautiful view, you should definitely pay a visit!  If you can make it to the opening night, follow this free RSVP link to register.

I hope to see you there!

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Fine Tec Watercolours

A couple of weeks ago we went to an art art store and bought one thing we have never used before to learn something new.
Fine Tec 600 watercolour set
Although I an quite familiar with watercolours, this Fine Tec set really intrigued me as I have never seen iridescent sparkly watercolours and had no idea how they would look on paper. So I bought the set and started thinking about the subject of my next painting that could showcase this medium.
Malvina: my inspiration
This is Malvina. She is a character in an old Russian movie for kids, based on Pinocchio. I thought that a portrait of her would be quite suitable for the medium.  I wanted to make her almost doll-like and cute, but with a coldness and sadness about her that leaves the viewer uneasy.

Pencil underlay of the painting
Resulting painting

Closeup: you can see the purple and gold iridescent details in the hair and eyes
Verdict about the Fine Tec iridescent watercolours: very nice although not readily noticeable effect that works best over dark/saturated colours. It was nice to see that the six iridescent colours were indeed quite different from each other when applied on paper.

Next, I would like to try to paint a winter landscape I think that those colours would look great on a subject like that.










More Glassware

Some of the hand painted shot glasses I sold at the Lilac Fest this year. I am going to be working on some wine glass sets soon, those should look pretty interesting too!

Enjoy!



Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Market Collective this Weekend!

Come check out my booth at the 3rd annual Market Collective! Sharing the space with the fabulous Ola Birch from Fay Moose Art, I know the two days will be a lot of fun!

When: June 25th & 26th
Where: 148 - 10 St. NW

Some stuff I'll be featuring:
• Watercolours
• Post cards
• Painted glassware

Check out the Market Collective website for more details and show up to support your local artists!

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Peas and Carrots Shirts Pre Order
















Hi everyone!

I will be printing a limited edition batch of my Peas ans Carrots shirts. They are now available for pre order on my website. Get one for yourself and your hunny or buy them as gifts!
Some details about them:

• Silk screened on high quality white cotton t-shirts
• Guys and girls shirts available
• Pre order deadline: June 30th
• Everything will be printed and delivered around July 31st.

Order guy's shirts   |   Order girl's shirts   |   Visit main shop page


Saturday, May 21, 2011

Lilac Fest Merchandise Sneak Peek

I though you might find it interesting to see what I will be featuring at the Lilac Festival on the 29th of May this year, so here is a sneak preview!
artist calgary

This time I will not have a lot of flat artwork. Instead, I decided to give glass painting a shot, which is very fun and offers a lot of creative possibilities.

All my designs are hand painted and are dish washer safe. I also take requests for custom painting.

There will be lots of glassware for sale, from shot glasses to decorative plates, so come by the booth and check it out for yourself! Look for the Art Shot sign, I hope to see you there!
custom glassware

Yana

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Lilac Fest 2011



Come check out my booth at the Lilac Fest on May 29th! I am proud to be sharing my booth with Ola Birch and her art creations this year and I cannot wait to show you some new art and ideas I have been working on.

Visit the Lilac Fest website for more details on the time and place of the event. I hope to see you there!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Door Handle Sketches

Here are some door handle sketches I did with a white pencil on black paper, just to change things up. I would like to pick three out of therse and make 3D models. Stay tuned for updates!

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Oriental Girl Sketch

recently got Autodesk Sketchbok Pro, which was something I stopped using since university. With all the new features and a great intuitive interface, this program is a pleasure to use. The sketch below is the first one I made with this program. Of course, I still need to get used to the program and get efficient at using all of its features, but so far, it is a great experience and it's tough switching my attention to something else.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Beach Watercolour


Needed to paint today. Dug up some photos of Spanish beaches, got inspired and made this. Enjoy!
By the way, if you really like it, I am putting this panting up in my online store, here is a direct link.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

New Product Idea: FROG-O

Here is my entry to the Henkel Adhesive Packaging Design Contest.


FROG-O is A small, fun glue stick for kids! The frog sits on a water lily, which serves as a cap. The body of the frog contains a small replaceable glue stick that gets slowly pushed out by turning the frog's head.

Description of main benefits:
- This design combines gluing with play, adding another fun character to a kid's crafting adventures.
- Rounded shape of the head with lots of grip for small hands.
- The legs of the frog have a wing nut shape to aid with turning and dispensing glue.
- Large water lily cap has a big lip, which easy to take off. At the same time the lily is a great visual clue as to where the frog's "home" is.
- The size of the glue stick is smaller, so that even if it dries out, not as much product is wasted.
- Glue sticks can be replaced when the glue runs out.
- The glue goes on green to show which area has been glued and then dries to become transparent.

If you like it, please vote for my design here.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

ArtsASTRAY Membership

I am proud to announce that I am now a member of ArtsASTRAY: a Calgary-based company that promotes local artists. Their mission is to focus attention on creating a variety of opportunities to assist with the exhibition and sale of their original art pieces.
Take a look at their website here, there are numerous amazing artists! You can also like ArtsASTRAY on Facebook to spread awareness about new visual arts talent in Calgary.
My work will soon be online on the ArtsASTRAY catalog, and some of it is already up for sale in their downtown shop in Art Central (second floor).

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Love Art Show

Thanks to everyone who came by to check out the Art Spot group show and the amazing artwork on display! There were lots of guests and a big thank you goes to the organizer of the show: Emma.

Below are a couple of images I took from the show, there is more to come from Art Spot, so stay tuned!




Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Group Art Show Calgary - Love

Presenting more of my watercolour and digital work this Saturday, Feb. 12, from 8pm-1am!

This is going to be a fun event, so make sure to drop by, check out some love-themed art pieces by several local artists and make new friends! For more info, visit the Art Spot website here.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Watercolour Blots

My right hand hasn't  been feeling so great these past days, most likely due to the overload of computer/mouse-related projects. I figured I should probably stay away from anything digital for this next entry. Looking around my room, I found a brand new Moleskine (yet another Christmas gift).

I wanted to do a watercolour to break into this new book, so I got my palette, glad to be almost ready to go and realized that I should probably wash it before commencing a new painting. But people often say that a colour palette, which has some leftover colour from previous work is actually better to work with than a sparkling clean one. I like this theory.
My used watercolour palette
I mixed some colours together and randomly spread them over one page of the Moleskine. I then closed it and pressed hard, getting this result.
Watercolour blots on the Moleskine
Now for the most fun part: seeing things within the randomness of colour. In this case, I saw a mysterious girl getting away in a carriage.
Mysterious Lady

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Artists Wanted 2010



I just entered this competition and I would really appreciate your support. Please vote for my portfolio!

You Can do it by clicking here.

About AW 2010:
Artists Wanted is a collaborative project between several New York City artists and creative organizations working to build new lasting opportunities for emerging talent. They have experienced first hand the difficulties in breaking into the professional art world and it is their mission to make this process more welcoming, dynamic and open-ended. Via AW

Friday, January 21, 2011

Design Aerobics by Designboom

Yesterday I signed up for Designboom's Design Aerobics, and I could not be more excited! Over the course of the year, I will participate in several design projects that include:

• Self Promotion
• Packaging
• Sport
• Food
• Tech Gadgets
• Paper

 

Take a look at these links, they are great courses if you want to do some design work at your own pace, meet new people and polish your skills.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Lime Green Ink!

I have hinted to friends and family that if they don't know what to get me for Christmas, to just get art supplies. So this year I got some cool Daler Rowney liquid acrylic in Genesis Green.
It is closer to ink in consistency and since I haven't worked in ink for a long time, I thought it would be a good idea to bust out some colour paper and see what this sparkly green acrylic has to offer.


30 minutes later and with a bit of Photoshop tweaking, here is what I had. The ink did not look as green on paper as it did in the bottle, which was a bit disappointing, but overall, the metallic shining effect was very nice. I think next time I'll try black paper instead of purple.