New Studio Space!

In October I moved into a great new apartment, I pretty much won the lottery. It's in my favourite neighbourhood in Montreal, on a quiet street, just a few steps away from the base of the mountain. I'm also only a 10-15 minute walk from all of the places I regularly hang out; Montreal Improv Theatre, the metro station, my sister's apartment, an independent cinema and a cat cafe.

The apartment is also stellar because it's got a huge, sunny room with a balcony that I've made into my studio. When I moved in, the space had been pretty neglected and was in serious need of a scrub. The old plaster walls in particular were in really poor condition.

I spent most of October traveling so I hardly had time to unpack before hitting the road. In mid-November I got help from a super team of friends and we gave the place a much needed paint job. Thanks to Susan, Justin, Eryn, Joni, Monica and Fred who spent many hours filling, sanding, scraping and painting.

Slowly but surely I've been decorating and fine-tuning the space. Friend and photographer, Jess Fildes took the following photos of the studio in early December. It's still a work in progress though, I've got some shelves to hang, more fun cushions to sew and some antiques that I picked up while in Edmonton to incorporate.

Copyright 2014 Jessica Fildes

Copyright 2014 Jessica Fildes

Copyright 2014 Jessica Fildes

Copyright 2014 Jessica Fildes

Copyright 2014 Jessica Fildes

Copyright 2014 Jessica Fildes

The rest of the apartment is coming along too, I've finished decorating my bedroom, and I'm about halfway finished with the living room and kitchen. As fun as it has been to get settled into a new place, I've been using it way too much as an excuse to procrastinate. Now that my space is functional, I'm going to put it to use! Which means, I'll have to put the rest of the decorating on the back burner until I've completed my next few big projects.

Moved and Settled

I'm finally moved and settled! Seven days ago I arrived in Montreal and moved into my sister's place, which seriously reduced the amount of usual moving stress and worry. She already has everything! 

I'm living on a busy street, conveniently very close to a Metro station, which conveniently has a photobooth! YES, I'M LESS THAN A ONE MINUTE WALK FROM A PHOTOBOOTH. This will significantly improve the quality of life.

Here's a photo taken from the balcony, that bump on the horizon is Mont Royal.

My schedule has been quite upside down for two weeks now, so I'm really looking forward to getting back into a routine. It took me a full week to sort, pack and store all my belongings at my parents' house. I thoroughly went through all my possessions, made an inventory list and thoughtfully packed the things that I'm keeping but don't immediately need.

I gave away, threw out and recycled 25 large garbage bags worth of stuff! Who knew I had that much non-essential stuff?

While going through my belongings, I found so many funny, accidental collections. It seems that I've been gathering little things over the years, not knowing how many of them I actually had until taking this big inventory. For example, I apparently really liked wood grain MacTac for collages, as I had about 6 different "wood finishes." I also had a lot of vintage wallpaper samples, here are just the gold coloured ones. I didn't keep these things, but I did keep this accidental collection of vintage Canadian buttons. 

I have seriously slimmed down my life's possessions and feel much lighter and freer. And for the time being, I also feel repelled from amassing too many more things... we'll see how long this lasts for.

In Spirit of the Season

Halloween is one of my very favourite holidays and I was excited to celebrate it in a new city this year. Unfortunately, a nasty cold+flu combo has been dragging me down lately and put a halt to my plans on the actual night of Halloween... meaning I have a costume that has gone unworn. However, being sick didn't kill my love of the season.

A couple weeks ago I went pumpkin picking with some friends (and their vintage film cameras) at a nearby farm. We even had some adventures in a corn maze.

 I have a very tiny bedroom here in Chicago but that's no reason to not make it feel like home. I found some items I really like at a rummage sale and at a nice stationary store so I whipped up this focal wall.

Souvenirs from Newfoundland pt.2

I got back from Newfoundland two days ago, where I had a lovely vacation to the east and west coasts of the island. Along the way I collected some goodies at junk shops, tourists shops and of course, at photobooths. Here are some of my finds.

I really like the illustration style of this massive poster, intended for a child's room. It fits the colour scheme of my room perfectly so I decided to put it up to keep my room cheery, since I've already started to pack up my usual decor in preparation for my move to Chicago.

I bought these handmade mittens at the Newfoundland Crafts Council shop, which I was really impressed by. I love visiting the Crafts Council galleries in different provinces, it makes Canada feel so unified to me. I bought this deadstock stationary items and old house-letters at a few places but mostly at Blue Star Traders in North Sydney, Cape Breton. Blue Star was a small department store that closed in the 70s and recently reopened to liquidate the vintage stock. I spent a lot of time in there, mostly in awe at the polyester trends of yesteryear.  

 

In a specialty tea shop in St. John's I found this silkscreened tea towel with a message and theme that I truly take to heart. I also thought it made for a nice wall hanging while my bedroom is in transition mode. And lastly, I found and used four photobooths in Newfoundland and one in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. I documented the booths for Photobooth.net's Locator feature.

Secret Message Give Away

I made multiples of this “secret message” as a silkscreen test and now I have more than a girl could need. When placed in your window it beams a positive message to you throughout the day, but by night it is merely a discreet floral print.

I’m giving away one to each of the first five people who comment below, be sure to send me your mailing address to my email, meagsfitzgerald [at]shaw.ca.

Positives Attract

About three years ago, on a trip to Vancouver I bought a couple magnets from The Regional Assembly of Text, probably my favourite store ever. I liked them so much that every time I visited Vancouver I made sure to buy a few more. They’re made from vintage papers, rubber stamps and a 1 ½ inch button maker, with a magnet glued to where the pin would be. I eventually bought enough that could spell my first, middle and last name with a few odd letters leftover. I love anagrams and I take an odd pleasure in rearranging these magnets to spell various words.

This fall I found out that the Student Union at NSCAD (the University I’m at) has a 1 ½ inch button maker that students can use for the tiny fee of $0.30 a button! I got so excited at the prospect of making my own lettered magnets that I started to collect alphabet stamps and dead-stock accounting paper, to best mimic my store bought ones. (And no, I don’t want to put The Regional Assembly of Text out of business, it’s just that it might be many years until I visit Vancouver again.)

In the last two months I’ve made about 45 magnets, ensuring I can spell just about any short phrase that comes to mind. I’m going to make more this week of numbers zero to nine and then that’s it, I’m cutting myself off!

For now, it is clear to me that I have gone bananas for magnets and that my collection has far exceeded my little metal white board. But one day I’m sure I’ll be the proud owner of a vintage avocado refrigerator that will undoubtedly double as a playful message board.

Hibernation Activity

I’ve started crocheting a blanket out of the yarn I bought while I was in Edmonton for the winter break. I hope to finish it this semester in all those pockets of “dead time” in waiting rooms or on bus rides. I've never embarked on such a large piece before but I’ve broken it up into tiny triangle sections to make it easy to work on while I’m on the go.

I chose the colours because of their wintery-palette and I think the finished product will fit in with my bedroom.

I’m not using a blanket pattern but instead have taken inspiration from this print I saw on Etsy, it’s by the shop Two Ems. And as far as technique goes, its about as simple as it gets, I'll be single-crocheting the entire thing. Check back in a couple of months for a progress report!

Chemistry, Biology and Life Sciences

In keeping with my Garden State project, I made a sailor inspired shirt last week and attempted to photobooth wearing it. (Yes, I do use the word “photobooth” as a verb.) The first booth I visited is in the Halifax Shopping Centre, it is often out of order and has produced both incredible and horrible photos for me in the last 8 months. Unfortunately it was an off day for the booth and my photos came out overexposed and splotchy.

I re-took my photos yesterday at a different booth (in Scotia Square) and was delighted with how they turned out. Despite being oddly teal, the images are sharp. This makes me wonder about wet chemical photobooths and what makes them vary this drastically. Both of these booths are a model 17 and are serviced by the same person. There’s still a lot I don’t know about photobooth chemistry but I’m intrigued to learn more as I do plan on buying my own within the next decade… as soon as that jar of pennies labelled “photobooth” reaches 500,000 coins.

This week I also put together my first little terrarium. This was a low-risk endeavour because I used an open container and only one plant species. I don’t have much of a green thumb but I do daydream about making a large enclosed terrarium filled with orchards. I obviously still have a thing or two to learn, as my cactus seems to be exasperated in its humid bubble in my humid bedroom in this humid city. Sorry new cactus friend.

Last month I didn’t record an ambidextrous drawing video because I simply didn’t practice enough for there to be improvements from the latest video. This month I’m happy to report that I’ve been practicing and hope the August video will be epic. It will also be my last video for the Writing Right project for a while.

Autumn is going to bring a whole lot of thrilling change! I’ve decided to do a one year Post-Baccalaureate program in Graphic Design at the Nova Scotia College of Art + Design University. It will certainly be a bit of an adjustment to be a student again but I’m really keen to learn and build up my portfolio. Currently I’ve got four illustration/design commissions on the go that I’m trying to finish before I delve into school assignments in just 2 ½ weeks. Wish me luck and stay posted for the many updates to come!

Roses in my Eyes

I have many items on my to-do list right now but I have no complaints because it’s all stuff I love to do! Firstly, I was a little over zealous when fabric shopping for some summery prints. I have very good intentions of making some shirts, skirts, dresses and bags and now all I need is a free weekend to sit at my sewing machine. In the meanwhile I have put some floral prints in cross-stitch hoops and hung them on a wall to brighten up my room.

The time I usually allocate to my personal projects has been in short supply because I just accepted a job at Napkin Works, a trendy design firm in downtown Halifax. I’m working on a handful of various illustration projects right now, some of which I will be able to share on the blog shortly. I still can’t wrap my head around the idea that I get to make drawings for a living.

I’m also working on a talk that I’ll be giving this Tuesday (June 14th) at the Fuller Lecture Series on the theme of “Things I Used to Be”, with a handful of other presenters. Here’s a description of my talk:

A lecture about a truly unfunny person’s accidental rise into the world of comedy, including stories about incredible luck, being in the right place at the right time and what happens when you always say yes.

Click here to link to the facebook invite, if you’re in Halifax please do come!

Design Philosophy

Recently my cousin asked me to help her design her bedroom. I don’t have any training in interior design but I’ve always made my bedrooms shrines to my interests at the time. It definitely started as a teen when I needed a safe haven to escape my large and loud (and loveable) family. When I was 15 I asked my sister to drive me to the paint store so I could secretly paint my room while my parents were camping with my brothers. Since then I’ve helped friends and siblings out with their rooms and tried to make the most out of less than desirable living situations while I was a student. Here are snapshots of four of my bedrooms over time. The last one is my current room, which is a work in progress.

Here’s the list of things I wrote for my cousin and another list of things that have been occupying my mind as of late.

INTERIOR DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
-Your living space is a reflection of your head space
-Space should be clearly divided into the functions it serves; don’t apply your make up in the same spot you do your homework
-To avoid things getting messy and unorganized, make sure everything has a designated place
-The bed should only serve one (or two) functions; don’t eat in bed, don’t work on your laptop in bed, don’t use your bed as a laundry hamper
-Think in clusters and be mindful of composition
-A good palette should have two or three neutrals to ground things but don’t be afraid to have several catching accent colours
-Search for one of a kind items in junk stores, you will love it more if you restored it or it has a story behind it
-Big box stores are fine for finding your furniture but your decorations should be personal to you
-Hang photographs and fill the room with personal touches, like art work from friends
-Have multiple lighting arrangements so you can change the mood when your room is serving a different function
-You don’t need to invest a lot of money in a nice nest but you will need to invest a lot of time

THINGS I WILL HAVE WHEN I’M A REAL ADULT
-A different pair of prescription glasses for every day of the week
-A library in my house, with a sliding ladder
-Either so many children or so many cats
-Someone to do my taxes for me
-Investment property somewhere far away
-Beautiful tattoos on my arms
-A studio/ office in my home that nobody but I (and maybe my cats) are allowed in
-A photobooth

Stay tuned to the blog, my website will be ready this week and I’ll be announcing a Two Hands Two Crowns product giveaway!