Post Forty

Hello all,

This post is supposed to be for the month of June. I realize my usual monthly post is late, but I've been super busy lately! Summer was a bit slow at first, but now I've been bus pretty much everyday, with a break here and there.

I've had no luck getting a job so far, so I decided to take initiative and do my own thing- designing and illustrating my own pins, and some other illustrated products. It makes me feel awesome, really!

I think I've been having a hard time finding a job because of two main reasons: a)Most places are looking to hire people for full-time work, and are not very appreciative of students who are looking for a summer job, and a summer job only. Most employers fail to realize that being in university is extremely demanding; it's like having a 40 hour work week. I am aware that some students do work while in university, but chances are, they're balancing a part time workload at school and then a job on the side (I'm going to school full-time). b)In order to get a job, you need experience, right? Well how are you supposed to get any experience if nobody is willing to hire you? Employers are either just lazy about training, or can't afford to do so.

Selling art is one of the hardest things to do, EVER. Near the end of June, I had the chance to have a table in front of a café in the city called Coffee and all that Jazz, where I sold some of my illustrated pins. The owner of the café was nice enough to give me the opportunity, and soon I’ll also have the chance to sell some of my work inside the café as well!

My mom came with me for company, and we were outside the café from around 1 p.m. -8 p.m. During that time span, I sold 6 pins. It sounds pathetic, I know- but I had several people walk by- 1/2 of them just completely ignored me, 1/4 of them showed some interest, but didn’t buy anything because they didn’t have change, and the rest of them bought a pin. There weren’t a lot of people in the area either- while the café was on a main street, the area wasn’t as populated as I thought it would be.

When I first set up my table, I was feeling really stupid for having agreed to do this in the first place. The few people that walked by would just completely ignore me. I think people in the city are a bit snobbish sometimes, especially when it comes to art- I don’t think very many people here are into it much.

But as the day went along, I started to get some people coming along and showing interest. It was well worth it in the end- I made some connections with people. For those who did like art, I think it’s really cool how easily people can connect over it. I was getting comments like ‘these are beautiful’, ‘good initiative’, ‘best of luck with your work’, and even some people who were suggesting I look into selling at other places to get more exposure. I really appreciated all the feedback, it just made me even more determined to continue pursuing my dream of becoming an illustrator.

The pins I managed to sell were as follows:

My first customer was a little boy, maybe around 4-5? with his mommy. I found it absolutely hilarious how when he was choosing a pin, the first one he gravitated towards was the corpse paint one, then he liked the skull. His mom said ‘he’s usually not so dark’ haha…she tried to get him to gravitate towards the pins I made with instruments on them, but in the end, he chose my Sunn O))) inspired pin. It made my day that my first customer was a little boy. :D Who knew he would gravitate towards the darker pins, haha.

A woman who was a collage artist from the States, ended up buying the skull pin, which you’ve already seen in the first picture. She was really cool to talk to, especially because she said she had been to art school too. She said she loved Canada too, which was nice to hear.

A young lady about my age ended up buying the toasters pin. I was inspired to create this design because of this video. Yeah, I’m weird, I know haha.

2 girls swung by my table and browsed my stuff, then said they’d be back in a bit. They did come back, and they ended up choosing my Russian architecture pin.

A woman bought the Kitty sees all pin. This was actually one of my least favourite designs, but she liked it, so I’m glad.

My final customer for the day was a young man about my age, who ended up getting my Dziga Vertov inspired-pin that says ‘Eye see you’. The pin is based on the Russian film Man With A Movie Camera, where the main image is an eye overlaid on a lens to personify the camera as ‘seeing all.’

My good friend Cherylann ended up buying a guitar pin for her father when I came home.

All in all, it was a good day! I’m pleased my plans for selling art are starting to take off, even if it is slowly. But hey, you have to start somewhere, right?

I'm also currently selling some pins in 3 stores, and have 3 more stores that I'll be selling them in as well, which are as follows: The Rage, Good Catch, and Rawlicious (which even asked me to make a design for them!) On top of that, I may have the chance to display them in a handmade crafts show at the Hotshot gallery, and I may have a table at the Parkdale Vintage and Handmade goods market in August! I'm really excited about this! :D

I'm also think of making some cards, hand-painted t-shirts, bags, and mugs, some illustrations on canvas, and some other items as well.

I've been working like crazy to promote my etsy shop, but it's not that easy. I don't know how others do it! I've made accounts on sites like cargo collective, myspace, RedBubble, webs, and a dawanda shop dedicated to my art. It's slow right now, but maybe I'll have more luck soon!

I've also made some banners, which you can see on the sidebar of my blog. If you reposted one somewhere, it would be greatly appreciated!

Recently, I've designed some pins dedicated to the oil spill (which is now over, but we will be feeling the effects of it for a while, no doubt about that), animal cruelty, and vegetarianism. These are issues that are very important to me, and I am to get word out about these issues, while raising money for organizations dedicated to these causes.

Pins are $2 a piece, plus $1.50 shipping. Just like the previous pins I have made, they are made on illustration board/thick card, with a metal pin backing. They are coated with a matte medium gel to protect them from water, and are about 3 cm x 3 cm square. 25% of the profits from each sale will go to the following organizations:
a)The 25% from each sale of an oil spill pin will go towards Greenpeace
b)The 25% from each sale of an animal cruelty pin will go towards the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA)
c)The 25% from each sale of a vegetarian pin will go towards the Toronto Vegetarian Association

You may see the pins below, click on the links below the images to purchase a pin! The point is to raise as much money as possible for these organizations, so please share this blog entry with others!

Oil spill pins for Greenpeace

Evil oil pin [buy pin]	Stop it pin [buy pin]
The Earth is not garbage pin [buy pin]	The Ocean pin [buy pin]
Media liars pin [buy pin]	Stop treating the Earth like trash pin [buy pin]
Spongebob died a hero pin [buy pin]	Cleaning the oil spill pin [buy pin]
Super paper towels to clean the oil spill pin [buy pin]	Oil kills the earth and ocean pin [buy pin]
Magic can't save the Earth pin [buy pin]	Mother Nature and the universe pin [buy pin]
Mother nature pin [buy pin]	Mother Earth pin [buy pin]

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Animal cruelty pin for the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA)

Am I pretty yet pin

[buy pin]

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Vegetarian Pins for the Toronto Vegetarian Association

Grow your own food pin [buy pin]	Vegheads pin [buy pin]
Don't eat us pin [buy pin]

I also checked out some art at the Luminato festival, which was really cool. I got to see a film installation called Solar Breath (Northern Caryatids) by artists Michael Snow (who made the sculptures of the Canadian Geese in The Eaton's Center) and Mani Mazinani’s. Snow's part of the installation involved a looped video of a window and curtains blowing, while Mazinani's part of the installation involved a projection of coloured abstract images, which were then projected onto a wall of mist that changed colours with the changing images- basically, the mist acted as a film screen! To see photos from Luminato, visit my tumblr.

Canadian designer Mark Fast made a piece for the festival as well, called The Ascension of Beauty. It was kind of hard to see the piece- it was supposed to be open to the public, but me and my mom were told we could not go look at the piece up close.

I got to see the outdoor installation by the art collective called Friends With You. Queen's Park was turned into a colourful installation called 'Dream Come True', with bright and colourful inflated characters and balloons- some of the things were interactive, like a character being tuned into a jumping castle. Friends With you also installed some inflatable characters in some business buildings, which I thought was adorable to see. Cute things in a corporate world! Seeing the installations outdoors and indoors made me really happy, it just reminded me of being a child, when you see the world with fresh eyes each day, when all you want to do is play, and you don't worry about much of anything because you're unaware of the evils of society. To see more photos, visit my tumblr

I'm glad Queen's Park was a happy place for a few days, because that changed in the following weeks with the G20. I can't even express how angry the whole thing made me- the police didn't do a thing when the Black Bloc were vandalizing parts of Toronto, yet they arrested a mass of innocent people? Most people were just protesting peacefully about the outrageous costs of the G20, or trying to promote a worthwhile cause, like those who were protesting various humanitarian causes. Furthermore, there were several reports of people being harassed by police. We spent billions of dollars on this, and what did we get out of it? Absolutely nothing. People in the city are still furious with the police; I think Toronto's citizens just want to know why the police acted the way they did, and for the person in charge of everything to step down and admit the tactics they used were a violation of human rights. Walking downtown is kind of eerie now...even though everything looks 'normal' again, it's really not. I don't think Toronto's ever going to forget the G20To see more about the G20, please visit this blog (look at the entries for June), as well as The Toronto Star website.

I also finished painting my bedroom door! I am really pleased with the end result. I started the project in May, and finished it in mid July, so it took a while, but was well worth it! It began with an initial pencil sketch, which was then filled in with india ink. The illustration was inspired by my love for architecture, nature, and surrealism. I'm thinking after this, I would love to take on some more large scale projects! To read more about the project and see more detailed photos, visit my deviant art.

With that said, I'm open for commissions! Please check my sidebar for my email :)


I went to four shows this month, the first being This Will Destroy You on June 5th, Sons of Otis on June 12th, Pestilence on June 15th, and Isis on June 23rd.

This Will Destroy You played at The Rivoli, which was a venue inside a restaurant. It's probably one of the nicest venues I've been to, even though it was very small. The lighting in the venue certainly set the tone for the show- all that was used were strings of Christmas lights. Slow Six played first, and it was absolutely beautiful. Entirely instrumental, with some violin- they kind of reminded me of St Fire to Flames. Light Pollution played afterwards, and they were just horrible. The lead singer's voice was annoying, and I couldn't get into the music; I found myself anticipating the end of their set. When This Will Destroy You began playing, it was around 12 midnight. The whole room was dark, and they had some projections on the back wall of shadowy images of what appeared to be branches. I can't even describe how good they were- I zoned out, as I usually do when I go to post-rock shows. I didn't get to see their whole set because I had to leave early, but I loved what I heard. Post-rock shows are so much different from metal shows because there's a certain atmosphere created, and you're more likely to really pay attention to the music. I didn't take many photos because it was too dark, but you may see the photos that I did manage to get at my tumblr.

Sons of Otis was playing at the Hard Luck Bar with two other bands- one was called Keef, but I forgot the name of the other one....but they were local bands, I'm pretty sure of it. I've already seen Sons of Otis before, but they put on another great show. I love that they're from Toronto, which is awesome. Again, I didn't get many photos...but to see more photos from the show, visit my tumblr.

Pestilence played at The Mod Club, which is the last place I would expect a metal show to be at. They played with Necrodios and Wetwork. Vital Remains was initially supposed to be playing as well, but they couldn't make it across the border. Necrodios took the stage first, and they played a pretty decent set. Wetwork was absolutely horrible, but kudos to the lead singer for being a female in a metal band. Pestilence's set was way too short, but they played really well. I was glad to be right up front for their set. All in all, the show was very short, and it wasn't one of the best I've been to, as a whole. I mean, sure Pestilence and Necrodios were good, but Wetwork just brought the whole show down. Still, I'm glad I went to the show! To see more photos from the show, visit my flickr.

Isis' final show was in Montréal at Club Soda, which was very fitting, seeing as how their very first show was in Montréal as well- so it's like they were completing their cycle as a band. They lasted a long time- for 13 years! I think that's a good long run, they created an amazing body of work in my opinion. Cave In was opening for Isis, but I missed their set because I arrived late in the city. But that's ok, because chances are Cave In will have another show and besides, I was really there for Isis anyways! Isis' set was about 2 hours long, and what a set it was! It was really full of emotion, Isis was playing like there was no tomorrow- and well, I guess that was the case for them, since they are no longer together. I'm pretty sure Aaron Turner was breaking down a bit when he was thanking everyone who helped the band over the years. People were moshing (which I expected to see), but the band didn't really seem to care that people were moshing this time; at previous shows, they've looked like they wanted to stop people from moshing. I expected Isis to play a mostly Wavering Radiant set, but I was so wrong. They played a well rounded set, with songs from a full range of their albums. For their encore, they played In Fiction, and The Beginning and the End, which I was really happy about. To see the set list of what they played, visit this site. Aaron Turner even leaped into the audience and crowdsurfed at the end of the show! I ended up meeting someone else who made the trip down from Toronto to see the final show, and some people from last fm who lived in Montréal, which was really cool as well. I didn't buy any merchandise because I already own an Isis shirt, but I heard some guy bought one of every single item at the merchandise table! The show was absolutely amazing, I'm so glad I went, and I'm feeling very fortunate to have had the chance to see Isis play live three times. Who knows, maybe they'll have a reunion show in the future! They're such an inspirational band to me, they're part of the reason I'm considering starting a sludge/doom/drone project in the future. To see more photos from the final show, visit my flickr.

I took two clips of videos from their encore, which you may watch below:





Food
I haven't been focusing on experimenting or cooking much lately, I guess it's because I'm really into my art lately. But with that said, Whisk Kid's blog has certainly inspired me to go and bake some more yummy treats! The croissants look delicious...heck, just about everything on that blog does! She's quite the photographer too, check out the photo on the side for her Strawberry Pistachio Rolls! I think it's really cool that the author of the blog, Kaitlin, is only 19 and she's already got a following behind her work. I mean she was on the Martha Stewart Show, where she showed how she makes her layered rainbow cake...which I would also love to try making! :D

Film
This month, I checked out some films at the Ryerson Doc Now Festival, which was dedicated to the final projects by graduates of the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) Documentary Media program at Ryerson University. The graduates created documentaries, ranging in topic from the political to the personal.
These are the films I watched below:

Remembering Inninimowin by Jules Arita Koostachin.
This film was about the filmmaker's tribute to her deceased grandmother, but also about the filmmaker's journey to learn the language of her Native American Heritage, which was Cree. The filmmaker never learned how to speak Cree in her childhood, because her mother never taught her the language. Cree is a language that has been dying out, and the film focused on the Native American community's struggle to keep the language. This film shows that we must work to keep the world diverse, we much teach the next generation languages and traditions, or we risk becoming a purely English society.

Mea Culpa by Blanca Marcela López
This was a film that I could really relate to, because it focused on what the filmmaker referred to as 'recovering Catholics'- that is, people who had been scarred by the practices of the Roman Catholic Church, and had decided to give up the religion. People were interviewed about why they made the decision to break from the church. Reasons for breaking from the church included: the religion's emphasis on guilt, the emphasis on the fact that it seems like you can never make a mistake, the feel of being brainwashed, being isolated and alienated, etc. It was a short film (only about 20 minutes), but it certainly got a point across, and reemphasized my reasons for giving up Roman Catholicism.

Gay Rights: Politics, Activism and Canada’s Gay Conservatives by William Craddock
This film was about how some people in the gay community have decided to support the Conservative party of the government. People were interviewed, and stated the reasons they supported the party. Most people in the gay community do not support the conservative party, precisely because Stephen Harper has made it clear that he does not support gay rights.

So You’re Going Crazy... by Hilary Dean
This film was about the filmmaker's struggle with depression, delusions, and basically dealing with mental disorders. The film emphasizes how dealing with mental disorders s not a joke like most people think, it is not something that can be 'cured' with some self-help book; it is something that has to do with the chemical imbalances in your brain, and can consume a person's life. The filmmaker interviewed other people struggling with mental disorders, who talked about how they live with their disorders, how it was for them in the past, how they have grown as a person, etc. Some people had gone so far off the edge that they nearly killed themselves, but they had come back from that experience a stronger person. The filmmaker uses animations to illustrate and emphasize various points, which I found worked really well.

Eternity Rolls by Sue Johnson
This film could be called a comedy, as it was about an Anglican priest who would preach at church events dressed as Elvis. The film focused on how the priest was one of many Elvis impersonators, but he really stood out to people. Because of him, some people said they ended up going to church more often.

No books for this month, but I promise there will be some next month!

Music

Lately I've been listening to a lot of sludge/doom/drone music.....and it's really beginning to inspire me to start my own project where I play that kind of music. I think I'll have to invest in a better amp and buy some distortion pedals though. I'm not sure yet if I just want this to be a solo project, or if I'll see if anyone else is interested in starting a project. It'll more likely be a solo project though. I've never written any kind of music, but I'm willing to give it a shot!

So anyways, lately I've been listening to some bands from Woodsmoke Records:

Münn



Some of the heaviest and slowest music I've heard, but it's fantastic. The music just drones on and on, but I think it's worth the listen. It just builds up in intensity as the songs go along. It's a shame they only have one album; they're no longer recording music. To hear some of their music, listen here.

Ancestortooth



Again, some more heavy, sludgy music. The tone is crazy, I don't know how the musicians achieved the tone.

Körkarlen



This band's music is a contrast from Münn and Ancestortooth, but the band belongs to the same music label. Körkarlen is a band that was formed in memory of a band member in Münn named Joris Brinkerhoff who passed away. Körkarlen's only album is so haunting, I personally found it really emotionally draining to listen to. It's really beautiful music, but it's very eerie to listen to in a way. People who enjoy ambient/experimental music will like Körkarlen. To hear one of the songs off the album, listen here.

Thou



This band doesn't below to the Woodsmoke label, but they still fit with the sludge/doom/drone music theme going on here. The split with Leech is well worth a listen, as are their other albums. To start off with, I would recommend listening to the album Tyrant. To hear a song off of this album, listen here.

Artist of the Month
l_a_i_r on flickr.



Maybe not a well known artist, but who cares about how popular an artist is? I love their photography nonetheless. Lately I've been looking at more and more photographers' work, and this photographer's work has amazed me. The black and white photos have incredible use of shadows, with the objects of the cameras disappearing in the dark. I think the photos of the hands have a very surreal feel; they appear to be floating in mid air.

Well, that's all for this month's entry. Chances are next month's entry will be delayed too, but not as much as this entry. الى اللقاء(goodbye in Arabic).