On the Mend

I've taken this past week pretty easy while I've been recovering from reconstructive jaw surgery. There have been some bumps along the way but I'm more or less healing on schedule and trying to stay sane inside the walls of my parents' house in snowy Edmonton. I'm eager to get well soon and get back into a routine, especially when it comes to food. Oh goodness, I miss all firm and crunchy foods.

I've taken lots of photos of myself for documentation sake, but decided that in between the bruising, swelling, black eyes, stitches and weight loss that they're are a bit much to share here. Instead, here's a sleepy illustration I did last night. I'm rarely seen without an ice pack accessory these days.

There have been a few really nice highlights. One of which is Lisa Farlow, one of my oldest bestest friends. She's a new resident to Edmonton and it's such a treat to have her in the city.  She is an expert listener and also very good at watching television beside me.

A couple weeks before the surgery I got a really nice email from my Uncle Paul who suspected that I would be spending many hours in front of the computer in the coming weeks. He and my Aunty Celine generously bought and shipped me a new scanner to make my life a little easier. (My last scanner broke in the Halifax to Chicago move.) The scanner is excellent, I used it for the drawing here.

Another highlight has been a daily surprise courtesy of my Aunty Annette. A few months ago my aunt was passing through a small Saskatchewan town and decided to stop in an antique store. There she found several Queen Elizabeth II commemorative tins (which I collect) and she couldn't help herself from buying all of them. (Yes, she is amazing.) She wrapped the tins individually and handed them off to my parents. I've opened one a day, it's been a lovely treat  to look forward too! I've also received some supportive snail mail, for which I'm always appreciative of and I'm happy to reciprocate if anyone would like a pen pal. 

Yesterday I had the stitches taken out, it was a breeze. I start a rigorous regime of physiotherapy on Monday.  My current goal is to be able to eat some sort of holiday feast.

Shooting the B&W Photobooth Animation

A couple weeks before leaving Chicago I shot a stop motion animation in the Model 11 photobooth at A&A Studios.  Leading up to the big day I shot some of the simpler sequences by myself and saved the more complex sequences (which required me in costume and make-up) for that day. Two wonderful friends, Elizabeth Archer and Rachel Winslow helped me immensely with the slow and time consuming process. This post here shows some of the test shots and gives you an idea of the imagery I was working with.

Here are some tests and out-takes from the big shoot. I'm really happy with how the final images look and I'm excited to work on it. Next I have to sit at my computer for a couple hundred hours to scan, align, crop and put the one thousand or so images in sequence. Fortunately I'll have lots of time post-surgery to do just that.



















 

  

One Year of Mail Art - November

It's been a while since my last post, things have been busy since I realized my time in Chicago had to be cut short. The last few weeks have been amazingly productive, as I've packed and moved and also incredibly fun as I spent my last days in the city with good friends. I have lots of fun projects to share in the coming weeks.

I'm writing this in my sister's kitchen in Montreal. I arrived here after great trips to New York City and Burlington, Vermont where I was interviewing people for my graphic novel, Photobooth A Biography. Nothing could have gone better, and I'm feeling very appreciative towards all the people who made those trips a breeze.

I'm starting on a batch of mail art for December, which means I can share what I sent to my four recipients in November. The theme for the month was "Miniature" and I had lots of fun making itty bitty drawings, folding tiny envelopes and creating tiny photobooth pictures (taken in a real photobooth by adjusting the focus and photographing an existing strip.) I sent the miniature envelopes in regular sized ones so they wouldn't get lost in the mail.