Jamie Lawson, Albedo | Opening Friday May 11, 7pm-midnite | Sylvia Nickerson studio, 126 James Street N, 3rd floor

Jamie Lawson is an artist and designer living in Hamilton. Albedo is a collection of paintings from the last few years, encompassing a time of significant personal change. The pieces in this show are united through the theme of transmutation, evoked through references to various personal and universal mythologies, philosophical traditions and a highly individualized narrative.
See some of Jamie's work at jamielawsonart.com

Sylvia Nickerson studio gallery hours: When you see the sandwich board out, come on up! Or otherwise by appointment or by chance. Please e-mail sylvianickerson@gmail.com to book a viewing.

Thanks to Becky Katz, Michael Byers, Dushan Milic, Matt Junkin and Matt McInnes who just closed the Third Floor Stories show.

A strange effect of reusing paper is layering a new idea onto a previous idea. Eventually the lady-figure was cut out and added to a different background.

It's nice to look back and occasionally find something (good) you did that you forgot about. I was poking around in a folder the other day and found this sketch that got killed for a job I did for the Boston Globe. I like the geometry and space of this one:

But this is the sketch that got finished, given that the art director felt it implied more directly that kids get better with vaccines (the thesis of the article).

This was the final, which I finished literally minutes before I had to leave to catch an airplane...one of those times I've done a ton of work in a short period of time for a newspaper deadline thinking, never again!

However, experience has proven that I happily do it again.

The other thing you discover is that sometimes your incomplete work was more interesting than your finished work. Something about this look is nice...which might bring about a fresh idea for the next assignment.

3rd floor stories
Work by Michael Byers, Dushan Milic, Becky Katz, Matt McInnes & Matt Junkin
****Opening Friday April 13, at 7pm, and continuing to May 7****
At Sylvia Nickerson studio, 126 James Street North, Hamilton, Ontario, CANADA

Hey some artists I really admire have some work up right now in the open part of my studio space. Come by and check it out if you're in Hamilton! If my sandwich board is out, I'm open so come on up. Otherwise, e-mail me and we'll figure out when I can be here to open the show for you. We might also have a show "closing", date TBA.

Opening at the studio on the next Art Crawl, Friday March 9 at 7pm and continuing to April 11: Carey Jernigan, Some Things.

Carey writes: "Carey Jernigan lives in Toronto where she's working for a furniture maker and waiting for her sister to have a baby. She became interested in art in Halifax, Nova Scotia, collecting wooden beams and decorative trim from demolished buildings and creating installations in collaboration with other artists. Recent projects have incorporated film and stop motion animation as her work moves from an investigation of the spaces people live in to the people themselves. Some Things brings together small sculpture and video projects created in Halifax, New York, and Toronto, 2009-2012. For a taste of past projects, check out careyjernigan.weebly.com."

Thanks to Dan Haartman who is closing out his Mind Maps show from February.

Some discarded lettering from a recent project draft and a stencil I made a while ago, that is supposed to say "Beasley Neighbourhood Design Day", although it's a bit hard to read.

Just rediscovered this. It is the first panel for a graphic novel about Hamilton I started some time ago.

So lately I've been taking a break from the short deadlines that can be the grind of the freelance illustrator life. My friend the lovely Catherine Manoukian has hired me to produce visual designs for her latest recording, a live performance of Elgar's violin concerto. It's been a pleasure working with her and to do some graphic design, something I have not done for any outside clients in a while (I have worked as a freelance graphic designer in the past, I got my start designing books for Mosaic Press). My skills were not as rusty as I might have thought, given that I still design for my own needs and for friends. Anyway - it's been a great excuse to go totally overboard in the design department....and a refreshing change to have a big multi-platform visual project to contribute to. Catherine will be launching the record in the next couple of months on her web page, as well as through facebook (Catherine Manoukian Violin), twitter (@ManoukianViolin), and a printed poster and CD packaging....so there has been a lot to do, visually. I'll keep you posted.