The Studio – Then and Now

Everybody loves a makeover, right? I know I do. That’s why I finally got around to doing before/after photos of our studio and house.

When Joel and I first saw the house in late 2012, we immediately saw the potential despite it’s drab appearance. That, and the 1000 sq. ft heated workshop were a definite selling point. But it needed sprucing up. The house and workshop were in great condition so the only changes necessary were mostly cosmetic.

Here are before/after photos of the outside. Wait until you see the inside…another day though (because it’s pretty messy right now) 😉 The moral of this story is: it’s amazing what a coat of paint can do!

The main thing we did here to the studio was finish off the bottom part of the building, which had a layer of yellow foam insulation showing. This is called “parging”, when you add a layer of concrete over the bottom foundation. We also added a coat of black paint to the barn doors, added a couple colourful pencils in front of the doors (to advertise what we do from a distance). We also levelled the yard, re-seeded it with grass and made two flower beds in front of the windows.

The house needed sprucing up. We improved its appearance with a few coats of paint: first we painted the rust-coloured shutters a fire engine red, really making them pop. We also painted the front porch black, which contrasted nicely with the red shutters. This year we finally got around to digging up the entire front garden and replanting it with low-maintenance perennials.

The front porch was untreated wood when we bought the house. We painted it black to contrast nicely with the new fire engine red shutters and added some pretty flower pots.

The studio is behind the house, as you can see. The side porch was untreated wood when we bought the house so we needed to spruce it up to look prettier for when clients walk past it to the studio. Again, pretty simple makeover: a coat of black paint for the porch, fire-engine red shutters and pretty potted plants.

And finally, one of the first things we did when we moved in was to order a lovely sign to put at the front of the house. I love this sign.

From the inspiration file – Wales

I went to the UK when I had just graduated from high school in 2001 and have always wanted to return, so Joel and I decided this year to take a trip back there. We focused mainly on Wales (with a little Devon thrown in) and basically did a roadtrip around it. 

I loved, loved, loved it. 

There was endless inspiration for plein air sketching, and the only things standing in our way from sketching all day were a) time (we packed our itinerary) and b) weather (cold and sunny, a couple days of rain). We saw castles, manor houses, cliffs, moors, countless english gardens, B&Bs, sheep, sheep and more sheep, ponies, seaside villages, rolling hills, mountains, ancient forests, ancient towns, really ancient ruins (Roman ruins), amazing Victorian décor…the list goes on. I drank too much beer and had too many scones and am now vowing to find clotted (or Devonshire) cream in this part of the world so I can have  a “cream tea” at home (look it up). 

These are my sketches (Chantal’s), if you are interested in seeing Joel’s head over to his blog

Thatched cottage and windy road near Chagford, in Dartmoor National Park

Chantal sketching

Ruins of Skenfrith Castle, Wales.

The beautiful village of Beddgelert, in northern Wales.

The view of Beddgelert we were sketching

Seaside village of Porthgain, Wales

Hay-on-Wye, Wales. The “capital of books”. Bartrams is a lovely stationery shop.

Various drawings

 Joel and I like to get out once in a while to do some plein air drawing (translation: drawing outdoors). This summer has been good for that so far because we’re finding lots of things we want to draw in the Westport area. Below are a few of my (Chantal) drawings.

Stewart Park in Perth, ON, one of the most beautiful parks I’ve ever seen with mature willow trees and a creek running through it.

Westport is a hotspot for boats in the summer. This is a funny little “gas station” at the Westport marina.

Joel and I are also fortunate to have been able to join a lifedrawing session here in Westport. After teaching lifedrawing for 5 semesters at Cambrian College in Sudbury, it’s nice to be able to concentrate on doing your own thing rather than teaching others how to do it (although I did enjoy that, Students, don’t worry!). Teaching lifedrawing definitely helped me with my own lifedrawing skills; I guess if you drill it enough in others you listen to your own advice!

Lifedrawing, approx. 2 hrs.

Lifedrawing, 25 minutes.

This last one is the last watercolour painting I’ve done, and it’s mighty ambitious if I do say so myself. The reference for this is a photo of a piece of ice in Iceland (har har) taken by my mother a few years ago. The challenge was making the ice look translucent but also incorporating all the  interesting colours in the ice. I’m not aiming for high realism and like everything I do, it has a graphic element to it. I am quite happy with the result. 

Watercolour & blue ink. 7×10″

New Valentine’s Day cards

We’ve introduced 2 new Valentine’s Day cards to our collection this year. The first, Picture Perfect, was inspired by our own collection of antique cameras and the second, Heart of Gold, was inspired by Joel’s infatuation with the Gold Rush (and we’re Neil Young fans too).

Picture Perfect

Heart of Gold

Country Living magazine

Merry Christmas to us! Our City Skates card was recently chosen as an editor’s pick in the December issue of Country Living magazine.

The editor chose it because “the urban landscape reminds (her) of her neighborhood in Brooklyn“. She’s right! The illustration was done by Joel using reference from our old ‘hood in Williamsburg. 

City Skates was chosen as an editor’s pick in Country Living

New Christmas cards for 2012

We’ve introduced 3 new designs to our Christmas/Holiday collection of cards this year. All are available for purchase in the online shop, or at most of these fine retailers.

Candy Cane Birds

Poinsettia Fox

Christmas Goose

Remember, any of these cards can be personalized with an inside greeting! Take advantage of our special offer and get 10% off personalized cards if you order before midnight, November 11.

Custom invitation design – Claire & Robert

We’re so thrilled to have the chance to be working with more local clients lately. This custom invitation comes courtesy of a lovely couple living in North Bay, Claire and Robert. They came to visit us with the idea of having the chapel where they were going to be wed featured on the invitation. They also loved our Hivernale invitation and so wanted some of the elements of that invitation incorporated into theirs.

Chantal gave three sketches (below) each of which featured a different aspect of the chapel.

Initial sketches for Claire and Rob's invitation

Claire and Robert chose the 3rd sketch, which features an illustration of the chapel and a lovely decorative border, printed in light grey ink with the text in fuschia. The result is a lovely, soft invitation with matching envelope. Thanks for being such fanstastic clients, Claire and Rob!

Printed on Crane Lettra, 300 gsm, pearl white in light grey and fuschia. 6.5×6.5″.

Final letterpress invitation for Claire & Robert

 

 

 

 

Mother’s Day is on the way!

We’ve added 2 new Mother’s Day cards to our shop!

Your mom will surely recognize a few of these classic tv moms

 

Nothing says "Dear Mom" like...well...a deer.

Custom note card – Sandy

We were so pleased when Sandy discussed having custom note cards designed and printed with us. Sandy is a fan of Victorian-style monograms (and ironically, so is Chantal) so we went with a few different sketches and Sandy chose one.

The result is an elegant note card with matching envelope, printed on Crane Lettra, 300 gsm, ecru white in Yellow Ochre.

Initial sketches for Sandy's monogram

Custom wedding invitation – David & Zuimei

This has to be one of our favourite custom invitations to date. Dave contacted us to produce a full suite based on specific types of birds, the chickadee and the western tanager. Put a bird on it? Absolutely! We love drawing birds.

We also had the chance to design a more fully illustrated piece to be used as an insert for the Starbucks mug that would be handed out as a guest favour.

Printed on Crane Lettra, 300 gsm, pearl white in Cobalt Blue and Yellow Ochre.

Vintage stamps courtesy of sendmoremail.blogspot.com