Halloween illustrations

I had a great summer this year, but I’m always excited for my favourite autumn season. Joel and I put on a big Halloween display at our house, and I look forward to it every year when the kids fill the streets by the hundreds for trick-or-treating. Here are some unashamedly Gothic Halloween-themed illustrations:

 

Portrait of Edgar Allan Poe

Chip stands for Chatelaine Magazine

It’s nice when a side-project gets you paying work! Joel Kimmel and I teamed up (as Every Chip Stand) to illustrate chip trucks across Canada for a travel advertorial in Chatelaine Magazine. Super fun assignment!

You can see the online article here (with larger illustrations than the print version).

Our side-project Every Chip Stand is now in its 4th year and we’ve illustrated over 50 chip stands, mostly across Ontario (there are a LOT)! We’re always open to illustrate visually interesting-looking chip stands, so if you know of one we’ve not covered, please let us know. Recently we’ve set up an Etsy print shop to buy prints of our chip stand illustrations. And of course, don’t forget to follow us on Instagram @everychipstand to see all the illustrations (including the ones Joel did for this Chatelaine article).

Serious Smoke Food Truck – Saint-Jean, NB

Mr. Spudd’s Poutinerie, Regina SK

La Poutine, Edmonton AB

Ken’s Island Fries, Charlottetown PEI

Jeannie’s Fries, Chaffeys Lock ON

 

Shameless Buns – Vancouver, BC

 

La Madone des bois

It’s been awhile since I’ve painted on a large scale, so for this piece I opted to go bigger to get all the detail in (16×20″). Inked first then painted in watercolour and gouache.

Lately I’ve been contemplating how humans are so busy being humans, that we forget that we are not the only inhabitants of this place. We forget that we share it with other living beings, and that we should act as their protectors and stewards of their habitat, not as their exploiters. The Great Lockdown has shown that reduced human activity has been a gift to wildlife; locally, from less turtle deaths on the road due to reduce car traffic…to internationally, with orcas being able to communicate properly due to less boat traffic.

Hence this painting, entitled La Madone des bois. It’s inspired by a 15th century Madonna sculpture I saw in Florence last year.