Fun City, a cheeky ironic and iconic badge designed and submitted by Ron Braunagel of Torque Design. All those who help to make this a fun city are free to wear this with pride!
The Sketch-a-thon and no-staple mini comic workshop last weekend went very smoothly! Thanks for joining us for those events!
But the fun trains doesn’t stop with Cloudscape, oh no.
This weekend, you are all invited to the Vancouver Comics Art Festival at the Roundhouse (181 Roundhouse Mews,
Revisiting the So Many Things mural not long after I photographed it reveals it has been white washed. It’s true it had seen better days; now it appears that the proprietors are shopping the site as a commerical / retail opportunity. While they managed to scrub some of the mossy green from the signage, I think they need to work a little harder than this…
Drawn in 2005.
2005
Have you heard of these things called blogs? Blogging wasn’t new in 2005, but it was still a niche hobby for the technologically minded. I had been maintaining a personal blog, and was a regular blog reader. I saw multiple-author blogs devoted to certain subjects and…
Vancouver Art Gallery patio by Jeckenzibbel on Flickr.
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As a followup to last week’s Hotel Vancouver #2 mural, here’s another long lost mural from the Hotel Vancouver #3.
In 1939 Charles Comfort depicted Captain Vancouver as the guest of honour at a Northwest Coast Native potlatch ceremony for the foyer of the newly constructed Hotel Vancouver.
In the previous mural, a group of completely out of place Plains Indians appear far off in the background on the right hand side. At least here, the Northwest Coast Natives are depicted with greater accuracy, prominently placed in the foreground with artistry.
But it’s hard not to view the depiction of the First Nations in a subservient manner. The three white men stand on podiums like track and field winners, looking rather pompous with their ship’s oar, navigational aids, and British flag. A massive totem pole looms in the background while birds fly idyllically overhead. With a target audience of visiting tourists, the intent of the mural was clearly to welcome and inspire the guests. There is no foreshadowing of the potlatch ban that would come years later.
This image is seen on the cover of the book National Soul: Canadian Mural Painting, 1860s - 1930s by Marylin J. McKay. Ironically, the painting itself is on the other side of the country in the Confederation Centre Art Gallery in Charlottetown, PEI.
HMS Discovery & Chatham Becalmed June 9, 1792, depicted here in Puget Sound in watercolour by Captain Steve Mayo in 2012. This is a little out of our jurisdiction, but we could just as well imagine these ships making their way into Burrard Inlet. He blogs about the painting here:
My painting shows the two vessels around 3:00 as the wind died off in the middle of Rosario Strait with Mt. Baker in the background. The south part of Cypress Island is prominent behind the Discovery. Strawberry Bay, their destination, is just beyond the scene to the left. The Chatham has drifted a little further east and has lost steerageway. Vancouver has hoisted the signal to start towing; the Chatham has already manned her launch and is rigging a towline…
A detail of significance in my painting is the portrayal of the stern decorations on the Discovery. I have followed, as closely as possible, a photograph of a wash painting of HMS Discovery done in 1790-91. The original was painted from life by a professional maritime artist, (possibly) Robert Cleveley, while the ship was moored in the Thames River just prior to her epic voyage.
The contemporary artist, Mark Myers, alerted me to the existence of this photocopy and where it resides in Whitby, England. The wash painting is very accurate so the hull and rigging details match precisely the actual Admiralty plans ofDiscovery in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. Unfortunately, the Admiralty plans do not show any details of the ship’s stern decorations so that wash painting is very revealing. It also bears out the unusual detail from her body plan that we have known for years: the Discovery was built with no tumble-home to the sides of her hull.
Self-Indulgent Comics #42
Another new mini-comic for the upcoming (May 25th/26th) 2nd annual Vancaf Small Press Convention coming up at the Roundhouse (it’s also free to attend). In this issue I enter the hallowed halls of ART! This one was painted in black, white and grey gouache, a nice flat medium but difficult in that it drys a different tone than when applied wet.
Please note that this mini-comic and many others are available from Colin Upton Comics - colinupton@telus.net - both individually and in sets at reasonable prices.
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This is the last week of the ECUAD Grad Show, so check it out! Here’s a detail from a painting by fine arts student Amanda Niekamp, who shows a little bit of west coast Miami in this painting of the Villa Maris, aka the Pink Palace in West Vancouver (Google Maps). She’s also got a fab retro noir poster / painting of the Beacon Theatre you should check out in person! via her blog:
Just a glimpse of what is to come. Putting this aside for a few days. #Miami #westcoast #pink #palace #Vancouver #oil #painting #art #pulp #illustration
I attended the opening of Charles Keillor’s show Lotus Land in Deep Cove on Friday, and I have to add a followup post to implore you - you must go and see this show! The scale, detail, technique, and impact of these drawings all in one show is not to be missed! I wish I could feature the Buntzen Lake Power House drawing here, but it just falls outside the “Illustrated Vancouver” jurisdiction. Perhaps Charles will choose to draw the Dal Grauer substation, or the Electra next? Head to Deep Cove for some kayaking, and then some fine art! The show runs to June 2, 2013.
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