Love getting fan mail...

Well you might think by the title of this blog post that I've let the completion and success of the grad show go to my head. Perhaps a better title would have been "Encouraging Words" but that seemed a little sappy, even for a post graduation post. Today I received this email:

Dear Vivian,

I recently just happened to stumble apon your grad show a few days ago.

Your work is Amazing and Truely Inspiring... I loved your (Fine art) book presentation.

I'm sure you'll have no problem getting sales or gallery representation. Keep up the fine art!!

I see you right up there with another successful vancouver artisan Bobbie burgers! your works also reminded me of the great Georgia O'keefe. 

I hope to see more of your work and watch your career Blossom! no pun Intended!! :)

I wish you great creative energy and inspiration.

~B.

I've changed the sender's name. If I told you I'd have to... ummm... no idea. ANYWAYS, moving on I just wanted to express my sincerest thanks for all forms of encouragement and special thanks to all of you who have referred my name to (hopeful) future employers. The future is bright my friends ;)

Panel: close-up

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Grad Show recap

Wow! It's hard to believe that three years of hard work comes down to three hours in one night, and then just like that it's all over. I think all the prep, all the process work, and all the final edits were all worth it in the end. It was a great night. I got great feedback from creatives and non-creatives alike. It was a great opportunity to showcase my work and socialize with a large audience. Thanks to all of the people who came out to show their support. I'm excited to see where the future may take our careers. I can say this about my classmates — they are seriously a talented bunch! I've posted a few pictures of the gala but since I was at my booth all night I didn't get the opportunity to play photographer. Hopefully some more pictures will surface soon and I can add them to my collection.

Grad Show Booth done!

 Today I went over to the Harbour Centre to set up my grad show booth and it went extremely well (except for one deep paper cut)! I recommend that for any sort of mounting of a grid on a booth – save yourself some work and cut yourself some measurement guides out of foam core and then label them. For example I had a few pieces cut that measured 4 inches wide, another for my gutters at .5 inches, and another 5 inches wide to measure my distance to the corner of the booth. A genius idea that saved me the trouble of measuring and calculating (and oddly enough, something my instructor Milo wanted to keep afterwards! I should really start patenting these ideas). It was a beautiful morning. I guess a great day for the Sun Run as well. I will miss living on the North Shore but I'm looking forward to new career opportunities and a new place to live as well! Off to bigger and better things I hope :D 

Feel'n good!

I just got back from a great portfolio review with Claire Khan from repART. I can't say enough about how friendly and helpful Claire was today. It's always a good thing when someone in the industry reminds you of a good childhood friend — that helps with the communication part, and relating to one another in a casual but professional way part. I think being personable is a huge factor in finding work.  I left the review feeling very confident in my portfolio and self assured that I can do this! Who would have known that 7 summers cruising around the world would have prepared me so well for interacting with people? (Something that Claire pointed out - good to know that the last 7 years work–experience hasn't been completely unrelated to my field! lol). So going forward from this, I'm going to look at booking a few venues/cafes for my Through the Looking Glass Oil painting series, and hopefully find some leads on an in-house illustrator position at the IDEA grad show on Monday.

Proof that I'm industry ready!

Process pics are up!

For those of you waiting for some current news, I've posted a few process pictures to hold you over until the storm subsides. Right now I am in the middle of the storm – I suppose you could say. But this sea laden gal sees bright skies and calm oceans in the near future. My grad booth assembly will take place on Sunday and my industry professional review takes place tomorrow. Wish me luck!

9 days to go

Wow. Three years have already flown by! And it all comes down to this! After three years of sleepless and stressful nights, neglected friendships, lonely weekends, missed meals and excessive caffeine consumption, I'm going to showcase all of my hard work (and then all my friends will finally understand why I've been a social hermit!). 
So as avid followers of my blog, you are hereby invited to come out and help my class celebrate! April 18th from 6-9pm at the Harbour Centre, downtown Vancouver. All are welcome! And if you're in some far away land, or in a hermit hole yourself, fear not – I shall post process pics and pictures from the night itself. Stay posted (ha ha - see what I did there? It might be a proven fact that dry humor is a direct result of social isolation)

Bright and Early

Good morning followers. As I sit here at my imac waiting for my dropbox folder to sync up, I thought I would take the opportunity to post a blog. Though forgive me if it's not that captivating... I'm not a morning person :S

First off I'd like to thank the lovely tenants upstairs that decided to skip out on rent a few months ago. It has been sublime since you've left. I've actually managed to sleep and get work done without your incessant techno parties and world of warcraft web chats. And the fact that this has had no impact on the amount of rent I pay – sincerest thanks! And while I'm at it, I'd like to thank all those friends who have stuck by me through 3 years of being a social hermit. It has all led up to this moment... well almost this moment. Certainly not this early Wednesday morning, I'm talking about this.

The countdown is on

I am getting more and more excited to showcase all of my hard work. I am about halfway through laying out my portfolio spreads in InDesign. I hope to finish that up tomorrow and then go to print sometime this week as well. I really want to give you a sneak peak of my progress, but I don't want to ruin the surprise/unveiling. I remember from past IDEA grad shows that it's a little disappointing to come to the show if you've already seen everything online prior to the big event. So you'll have to forgive me for being a little secretive for the next few weeks. :D

However, not to disappoint those looking for a pic: this is kind of interesting. Take a look at my audience. The internet is a beautiful thing – my art is reaching people in Malaysia, Netherlands and Brazil (to name a few countries).