wow. the first portobello west of the year came and went so quickly!

it was a flurry of getting ready. setting up my display space and general hubbub on saturday morning. amidst all the mayhem was yet another truly wacky vancouver weather day. hail. snow. sun and wind. all over the city throughout the day. it made for a slower first day than i liked, but my bud deb was there to keep me company in the afternoon.

sunday was much better both on the artshow traffic and weather sides of things. gorgeous, stunningly beautiful day… the kind only vancouver gets after a weird day of weather. the mountains were magical with fluffy clouds tucked in the hills and valleys… freshly caked in new snow. as i said, gorgeous!

the foot traffic at portobello was way better too. the show is usually only on sunday, so i think that threw alot of the regular portobello shoppers off a bit. sunday was all good though. lots of shoppers and lots of new contacts were made! a successful first show of the year in my opinion. here are a few quick shots of the display area. i’m still working on it… but the bits and pieces are good i think.

so i’m back at the usual… packing and shipping orders that are patiently waiting for my attention. finishing off the last few things for INSPIRED. it’s t’s birthday on wednesday, so there will be a quick dinner out and a more intimate, leisurely morton’s steak house meal on friday night. two final home games for the canucks this week… tomorrow and saturday, so this week is shaping up to be a busy busy one! let’s hope my intestinal pain from thursday and friday doesn’t reappear [don’t ask! let’s just say a trip to the hospital was narrowly avoided - no time for an appendix problem at the moment!]

alright people… in the words of kal, i’m gearing up for a big GO! this week. catch you soon =)

just a quick note that the image transfer tutorial has been moved to it’s own page before it goes into the archive abyss.

for access to the video, please see the ‘pages of interest!’ section on the right, or click here. thanks…

new video will be posted soon. anything in particular you guys are looking for, let me know and i’ll see what i can do ;^)

since my original post will eventually disappear into the archive abyss, i’ve decided to add a page just for it! enjoy…

thanks for watching. comments and feedback are appreciated!

check this and 5 other new artworks out over at my etsy shop.

ghettogerb01, originally uploaded by studiowerx.

new artworks are being finished this week for my first portobello west show of the year. yep… this coming weekend portobello west kicks off the season with a special two day opener [gulp!] and new spring themed artworks are filtering out of my studio daily.

here is a sneak peek at what you can expect to find at my portobello west booth…

these new works are still in the ‘testing’ phase and i only have a few to start… but if they sell well and the feedback is good, i’ll be doing more!

at the art+fashion market i’ll also have a limited set of my new book iconography. 10 signed, limited edition copies are available on a first come, first serve basis at the show. be sure to drop by on saturday to pick one up =)

for complete details about dates, times, and location of portobello west please visit their website. see you soon!!

had to whip by my office this afternoon to pick-up some work that needed finishing for tomorrow. so naturally i grabbed my gwennie gwen gwen and took the loooooong way home… a drive along the river.

it is a truly spectacular day today. not quite warm. not completely cool. brilliant cerulean blue skies… ahhh, i love spring! so i’m driving along, waiting and watching for a great nature photo-op, and damn if nature wasn’t in the mood to cooperate!

you see, it’s eagle breeding season in the northwest and we get a huge number of bald eagles in and around vancouver for weeks on end. a couple of days ago, t and i were out for a walk along the river and counted no less than 13 eagles circling overhead near the river bank. clearly there was something going on, but we had no clue… we were completely mesmerized by this ever growing group of eagles circling above our heads, some as low and 100ft above us!

in fact, brackendale bc is famous for it’s eagle tours [you can see hundreds of eagles feeding and nesting along the river!! so cool!]…

anyways, i’m driving along the south fraser river heading home and lo and behold, a huge, very beautiful, very photogenic bald eagle appears in a tree just off the road. so i stopped. here’s what this magnificent creature looked like in the afternoon sun…

gotta say… i love my new 250mm IS telephoto lens. so amazing the distance and clarity you can get with this beauty!

anyways, as i snapped away at the raptor i must have stepped on a dried up, crunchy leaf because i made some loud noise. this noise must have startled my subject a bit, because a second later he was looking at me like a very large dinner!

needless to say, i think i overstayed my welcome LOL! i left quietly a moment later, all the while marvelling at the beauty of this majestic bird.

hope you have all had a great easter long weekend!

well… ok. i’m a little biased here, but come on people… isn’t she beautiful??

she was perched in that space on the back of the couch that only a kitty can lounge in… you know, where the cushions hit the back of the couch. yeah, that’s the spot… and in the afternoon sunlight, how could i not take her pic?

the image above was one of her few quiet moments, because what we usually get throughout the weekend is the lulu giving the neighbourhood cats, chickadees and in particular two nasty crows ‘what-for’ from her window sill perch. all day long. it’s a hilarious, steady stream of chirps, warbles and muted growls. i wish i understood what she was saying. i get the feeling that there may be a few swear words in there… particularly when she’s yelling at the crows and especially when they are perched on our neighbours roof, mocking her because she can’t get them through the window! it’s really funny… but i guess you have to be here to truly appreciate the harridan-like verbal beating she metes out from her perch on the window. and i guess you have to be a pet-cat person too lol!

in the meantime… from the pic below you get the drift…

so i’m sitting on my arse, watching ellen on easter sunday afternoon and i catch a story about this amazing singer from the phillipines - arnel pineda.

the guy has been doing his rock and roll thing for about 20 years [born in 1967]. pineda has been in a number of bands both in his home country and in hong kong for years…  enter youtube and a collection of videos of his band the zoo.

this guy and his band do the best covers of journey ever! pineda channels steve perry with undeniable skill and his vocal talents are monstrous. so… a few months go by with the videos on youtube and get this, journey [yes! the band themselves] contact him about auditioning for the lead singer position in the band after seeing the videos. ohmigod! can you imagine??

so… now the incredibly talented guy from the philippines is the new lead singer for journey. he’s already done his first show with them at a huge music festival in chile on feb 21, 2008. from the video feed i watched today, he did an amazing job and has received tons of praise from fans and critics alike.

all goes to show that youtube isn’t just a waste of time. the internet is a hugely valuable asset to our collective search for the new and exciting and that yes… dreams do come true!

so with much admiration and enthuasiasm… i give you arnel pineda

chile concert on february 21, 2008

since my post went up i’ve had a few questions. since these are question that may be universally helpful, i’ll answer them here.

• How does this work for polymer clay??
  not sure. i would think that if you left it [the transparency] on the polymer long so that it had time to bond to its non-porous surface that it would work. give it a try and let us know!
• are you working with pigment or dye based inkjet printouts?
  i’m working with pigment based epson durabrite inks on an epson C88 printer. have used other printers in the past, but the durabrite inks have consistently given me the best results.
• Where can I buy the Apollo transperencies in Canada?
  you can purchase apollo transparencies through office depot canada. it’s not listed on their website, but i have been able to consistently purchase these transparencies through my local richmond, bc store. you could also google apollo inkjet transparencies and you’ll get a listing of online store that carry it, mail ordering it is the cheapest way to get it.

additional questions will be answered as the arrive =)

the original video post has been moved to it’s own page. please click here to be magically transported to image transfer with matte medium heaven =)

enjoy!