Fresh Work: Marcia Massa

This post is about my mom. Her name is Marcia. When I was little, I didn't understand why some people called her "Mar-sha". Now that I know how to spell, I get it ;) There are a lot of other things I now get about my mom. For instance, at right about the age I am now, she was raising two girls on her own, working a full-time job (teaching - which is more than a full-time job) as a fine arts teacher, simultaneously studying to get her masters and also creating meticulous, beautifully abstract fine art. She has always been driven to create and has always had to carve out that time to make it happen. She was and continues to be a true inspiration.

Fresh Work: Marcia Massa

Over the years she has amassed an incredible collection of work. Now that her girls are grown and she has been able to retire, she has finally had the opportunity to participate in a few exhibitions and is in the process of slowly getting recognized for her work. Unfortunately this is an area I don't have much experience in - but when it became clear that it would be helpful for her to have a portion of her portfolio viewable online, I knew this was something I could help with.

Fresh Work: Marcia Massa

This was a really fun project because not only was I able to give a tiny bit back to my mom for everything she's done for me, but Christian took the majority of the photos so it was a real family endeavour. Feel free to take a look if you'd like your art fix for the day :) marciamassa.com. I'm so proud of you, Mum. I love you.

Fresh Work: Marcia Massa

Happiness Is...

Happiness Is... Lily-of-the-Valley

The cheery magic of one of my favourite flowers. Also, one of my favourite scents. Also, one of my favourite times of the year. Please, please last as long as you can. Yum. Have a wonderful weekend!

Fresh Work: The NFB's 75th anniversary

When I was very little, I remember my mum bringing home a borrowed projector and a bunch of NFB animation reels for us to watch together, projected on our living room wall. When I was older and studying Illustration & Design, our class had the privilege of being taught a few classes by the talented Ishu Patel. He even took us on a tour of the NFB's offices and we were able to see some animation projects in progress - it was so motivating. I remember being so excited to visit a space where such inspiring work had been dreamed up.

I have friends who work at the NFB, my talented husband has worked on a few of their productions and we live in Hudson, the town that the inimitable Norman McLaren called home. Whether you remember The Hockey Sweater or The Big Snit (a personal favourite), every Canadian has a special connection to the NFB. So when they asked me to illustrate a timeline to help celebrate their 75th anniversary, I couldn't have been more thrilled!

The best part about working on this timeline was becoming totally absorbed by the NFB website - watching movies and discovering even more about the people and work that are such a special part of our heritage. To see the entire timeline and to find out more, please check out their blog post - and if you haven't already, I invite you to spend some time exploring the NFB site - it's a whole lot of fun. Happy anniversary, NFB!!

Calendar Girl

Here at Girlfriday, we like to give back. As 2013 winds down, I'm proud to have donated work and time this year to the very deserving and amazing Ten Oaks Project in Ottawa, as well as the tirelessly hard-working St. Mary's Hospital Foundation in Montreal. This year, Panda asked if she could get in on the fund-raising fun - so we hatched up a little calendar project to give back to Panda's favourite cause, because they are also the reason she is alive today. Now you can get your monthly dose of Panda even when the internet is out!

Panda Calendar 2014

I'm pretty excited to finally have a first offering in my Etsy shop, and extra-pleased that any profit these calendars make will be going straight to the Frontier Animal Society. We're hoping to make this an annual fund-raising tradition!

I'd like to give a big thanks to Mylène and Warren at Pazazz, who were very patient with me and did such a beautiful job on the printing. The 2014 My Dog Panda calendar is in a handy 5 x 7" postcard format, printed on satin finish FSC-certified card stock - I love how it turned out. A special thanks also to my darling Christian, who helped take the pictures.

Panda Calendar 2014

Click here if you'd like to purchase a 2014 My Dog Panda calendar for yourself or for the animal-lover in your life, and give back to an amazing, no-kill animal shelter to boot. It'll give you the warm fuzzies, Panda style.

We love our calendar girl!

Happiness Is...

Fall daydreaming

Fall daydreaming. Best performed on a carpet of crunchy leaves, listening to the squirrels and taking deep breaths while the sun shines down and warms your fur face. Have a lovely weekend, everybody!