1584 - The New Year's Baby

The first baby of the New Year fore British Columbia turned out to be born at our local hospital!  I needed a little bit of clip art to help celebrate the birth of Baby Dominik. 

1507 - Everything's Bloomin'

For the first time in my recollection, every plant on our property has bloomed all at once.  It's been a dry spring with spikes of heat and humidity, so I suspect the plants have been shocked into producing their flowers.  From right to left: a rhododendron bush, another rhodo, a third rhodo (all different colours), a lilac, some geraniums, and yet another rhodo, although this one is native to the region. 

Generally they bloom from right to left.  This year they are all blossoming, and it's too early for the bees who haven't quite yet started hunting for pollen. 

 

1407 - "Science Bong 600"

   Among many of the things I had wanted to post to JSVB but didn't in time were some entries on the solar eclipse of August 21st, 2017.  Many of my friends went to great lengths to travel to the United States to view the full eclipse.  My wife and I had the day off, but we stayed home and watched the partial eclipse which maybe is less exciting and not much to post about. 

   Not willing to shell out money for proper eclipse glasses, but also unwilling to sear our retinas, we chose to view the eclipse indirectly.  The hole made by a pin through a piece of paper is a sufficient lens to project an image of the sun onto a screen.  This much I recalled from grade school science; I was half my height and a quarter of my current weight the last time there was a significant eclipse of the sun where I lived.  

 

   My wife found the materials we needed to make a pinhole lens viewer.  She took an old packing tube and poked a hole at one end and covered the other with paper.  She carved a viewing port in the side.  I christened it the Science Bong 600.  When you line the Bong up with the sun, you see the solar image image in the viewport. The lunar occlusion changes the apparent shape of the sun projected on the screen as you can see above.

   In retrospect, I should have painted and decorated the Science Bong 600, but all of the weather forecasts for the day called for clouds and rain.  My wife quickly built the Bong prototype when it turned out the forecasts were all wrong and we were blessed with a clear view.  

1395 - "Tri-City Rollers"

This logo I made for another cycling team.  Whatever virtues it has, getting it drawn up in record time was the most admirable.  The client didn't mind that I re-composited The Four Horsemen into The Tri-City Rollers, and even splurged for yellow ink.  Yellow!  I almost asked for plaid....

Here's a link to JSVB Post #1276 from last year that shows The Four Horsemen: please click here.

1392 - "PoCo Whee-zers"

Someone's been reading my pleas to buy more art: I've been busy lately.  Above is a logo I designed for the Port Coquitlam Wheezers, a corporate bicycle racing team.  It took me six tries to get the logo down to something they liked.  We all got stuck on how the Wheezers are supposed to be old and decrepit, but that they wanted their logo to be zooming and fast.  

To make the logo sing, I jettisoned ninety percent of the artwork, some of it good and some of it ungood, and just went with Typodermic's  transcendent Fontdiner Swanky typeface, which I had to modify extensively. 

 

1387 - The 75% Solution

I know for a fact that there are people walking around in the big world out there who look a lot like me.  Doppelgangers.

I've previously been mistaken for a delinquent college drop-out, a hotel manager, and someone who works on a movie set - none of which are me, but none of which are all that far from me, either.  I met the hotel manager; we do strongly resemble one another.  I even have Jeff Shyluk as my cousin, although we don't look much like at all.  His claim to fame is dressing up as the Molson Old Style Pilsner Rabbit for Saskatchewan Roughrider games.  There's no easy way for me to explain how this works if you don't know about CFL football and prairie beer.

So, I'm kind of used to seeing myself out in the wild when it's not me.  Above is a picture I pulled (without permission, but I am using it for personal illustration) from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation  website.  I included the arrow just to make certain which person I think looks like me.  Or at least seventy-five percent like me, not a clone, but in a dark room from a few feet away I bet we'd look enough alike. 

The man in the middle with the hat is Robi Botos, the feature of the photo.  He's a Canadian jazz pianist living in Toronto.  The rest of these people are his friends, and that's all the CBC had to say about them.  

The friend with the arrow has either a guitar strap round his neck or more likely a strap for a large saxomophone.  I used the Internet to find saxomophonists who are likely to play with Robi Botos, and the name and picture for Seamus Blake came up.  Most pictures of Mr. Blake look only maybe 50% like me, so this CBC photo is a bit of a fluke.  Still, recent portraits of the man show some resemblance to me.  Plus, although he lives in New York, he has roots in Vancouver.  It's not outside the realm of possibility that we could run into each other, especially at the posh hotel with that manager.  

 

1386 - Mayorotechnics

If I were mayor, I'd pass legislation that would allow me to shoot off the annual Canada Day fireworks for my City.  Mayor Greg Moore, pictured above, hasn't done that yet.  

 

1369 - Blazing Fast Logo II

This is the second of two super-fast logo designs I created the other day.  It's really crummy, just clip-art and a little bit of play with typefaces.  But, I created it really, really quickly!  If it was for the City of Vancouver, I'd be eight thousand dollars richer by now (on account of that city paying for an official logo that was just a typeface with no other design).

1342 - Snowbird

People are asking, "How much snow did you get in Vancouver?".  This is a photo of the plastic decorative goose in our back yard.  It looks like the ghost of a dodo bird now.  The weatherman says Vancouver to date has received more snow this winter than Edmonton or Calgary.  

1276 - "The Four Horsemen"

I believe that this is a final draft of the design for "The Four Horsemen".  Left to right, Mayors Mike Clay (Port Moody), Richard Stewart (Coquitlam), John McEwen (Anmore) and Greg Moore (Port Coquitlam) are forming an athletic team to support the charities of the I AM SOMEONE Ending Bullying Society and Canadian Sport For Life.  I am giving them this logo, above.  

I've donated to I AM SOMEONE for a few years now, they are a tremendous organization in my opinion.  Canadian Sport For Life I am less familiar with, although the Mayors seem to understand their worth.  They are among many of the new young public servants that put physical fitness as a priority, something that hasn't been seen at the top levels of Canadian politics since... ever?  Nonetheless, it wasn't hard to draw good physiques for these Mayors who are in good enough shape to race running, kayaking, and cycling across the Lower Mainland for charity.  It's more than I can do, although maybe I should follow their example, hmmm? 

1275 - Running For Office

This is a sketch of our four local mayors (I live in a city surrounded by cities) all going out for a run.  

 

1270 - Photoshop Patriots

My wife commissioned me to create a picture with us standing in front of our tree, with a Canadian flag flying proudly from its tallest branch.  The second step of a three-step step-ladder is enough to make me giddy with vertigo, so I decided that I'd accomplish the entire thing in Photoshop.  

Both of us are Photoshopped into the base of the composition, the foliage is Photoshopped, and of course the flag is was raised using a clever assortment of ropes and pulleys until it was hoisted to the top of the tree.  Nope: it was Photoshopped.  I also used Photoshop to adjust and correct the colours and to crop out some extra people and cars.  

 

1248 - Because: Cloverdale

A cowboy in the rain.

1229 - "Hello Kitty Hospital Site Map"

Here is the April Fool's site map to go along with the Hello Kitty Regional Hospital.  It's the map I drew a few days ago, but labeled precisely.  It's also more informative than the real map provided by the renovators.

See the non-labelled map by clicking here, although truthfully it's the same graphic minus text. 

See the artistic concept for Hello Kitty Regional Hospital by clicking here.

1228 - "Hello Kitty Regional Hospital"

April Fool's Day is like Hallowe'en for graphic artists.  It's the one day of the year the designers get to let loose with their most creative work of the year, something that goes playfully just outside the bounds of what the company represents, and still not get paid for the extra effort. 

My commission was to gussy up one of our local hospitals.  The idea is that the hospital is being extensively renovated despite demonstrably poor efforts at fund-raising.  The renovations are needed, as the region is growing and the facilities are being used at maximum capacity.  

So, why not partner with a major sponsor, who would purchase the right to place their logo and colours discretely on the hospital grounds?  

As it happens, the Hello Kitty Hospital is a real thing in Taiwan:

Here are medical workers in Hello Kitty aprons and scrubs attending to newborns in the Hello Baby Nursery.  Pictured below is a specialist in themed surgical attire awaiting her next patient in the Hello Biopsy Operating Room:

1191 - Fire In The Sky

By request, I am removing my Christmas-themed icon for today.  You will see it January 7, 2016.  In its place, I am using a photo I took of the retina-searing Miracle On Rae Street, which is within walking distance from where I live.  It looks like a NASA rocket launch except brighter, and the rocket (really a tree the size of a rocket) is festooned with wreaths, animals, and candy canes.  Rae Street makes Avatar look like a Charlie Chaplin film.  It makes Clark Griswold look like a boy scout holding a kitchen match.  If you need laser eye surgery but cannot afford the cost, swing by Rae Street at Christmas and don't wear sunglasses. 

This image makes a nice tribute to the Christmas season, one that I hope brings all JSVB readers the joy of the celebration and the wonder of the holidays.

1180 - Off To The Masquerade Ball!

I snapped our photo on the way out to the masquerade ball!  By thunder, we're glamorous!

UPDATE:  Well, we're back from the ball.  Hung over, but still glamorous.  It was one hell of a party.  Everyone had a great time.  The food was fantastic, the venue was beautiful, the music was fun, and the service was great.  We could tell that the staff were amazed at the gowns and the masks.  They seemed jealous to the point of wanting to join in the party themselves, usually the sign of a remarkable party. Wearing a mask for a night proved to be pretty wild for the Vancouver crowd, but it was still incredible fun and a unique experience.  

1136 - Master And Hamburger

Today was Pirate Pak Day at our local White Spot Restaurant.  On Pirate Pak Day, you can eat adult burger items served in the childrens' Pirate Pak boat, which is a fold-out cardboard pirate ship featuring cute, cartoony White Spot characters.  Two dollars per Pirate Pak were donated to the Zajac Ranch For Kids, which is a charity-run summer medical camp for children with debilitating conditions.  

Considering that the lineup to get into the restaurant was a couple of hours for the same food that you'd get any other day, but of course wrapped in a personal pirate ship, I think that the event was likely a grand success.

Since my wife and I never lived in British Columbia as children, we never had a Pirate Pak before. Today was our first.  Despite that the restaurant was packed, service was brisk.  We were seated at a roomy table with enough allowance to properly evolve the naval engagement that should occur when two Pirate Paks meet at sea.  

HMS White Spot, my flagship, was granted the weather gage, which allowed me to cross my wife's bows and slaughter her decks with a withering raking fire.  The table edge, however, blocked my tack, and the White Spot was forced to wear away, enduring a serious luff in her sails.  The HMS Triple-O, her flag, brought her helm over smartly and returned brisk fire on the rise: my mainmast was shattered.   We hammered at each other with cannon shot at range, when my wife wisely followed Nelson's dictum and closed for boarding without maneuvers.  Her Triple O's were ready for close combat, my men were shocked by their ferocity.  We struck our colours and surrendered before the ship was sunk, my first loss of Pirate Pak command.  

 

1122 - "1122"

Ever since I made the joke on JSVB about the house on the corner of Tigris and Euphrates (remember that one?  No?  Please click here to go way back to JSVB Post #300.), I've wanted to Flintstonize my own house.  That is, I wanted to draw my house the way it would have looked rendered by Ed Benedict who designed the Flintstones cartoon show for Hanna-Barbera Studios.

Now that the JSVB post counter has reached 1122, I thought it would be the best time to draw my humble home in Flinststones style, since 1122 is also my house number.

My wife and I own a duplex, so I drew in ourselves, our car, our neighbours and their kids and their pets, and their car, too.  My wife suggested that I also draw the lawnmower, since I'm normally to be found pushing it over our grass these days. 

1105 - The Flame-Out

My lovely wife poses with my latest creation, called a "Flame-Out".  It commemorates today's witness to the dumping of the Calgary Flames from the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  To be fair, I did take this picture several days ago, which is why my wife is smiling.  I bet she ain't smiling now, but I sure don't want to go look just yet, at least not without the cocktail.

The Flame-Out is based on the popularity of the new avocado-based beverages: my wife loves avocado!  I followed what a local bartender was doing and made a couple of adaptations to fit what I have in my liquor cabinet:

THE FLAME-OUT RECIPE

1/2 ripe avodado, peeled and pitted

equal amount of cream

1 shot chocolate creme liqueur*

1/2 shot tequila

1/2 shot gin

ice

*Kahlua might work, but it would likely turn the drink brown.  The clear chocolate liqueur is preferred.

Beat the avocado and cream together until thick and frothy using a hand blender.  Pour into a martini shaker.  Add the liqueur, tequila, gin, and ice.  Shake until chilled and well-mixed.  Pour and enjoy immediately!

The flavour is light and creamy.  The tequila and gin both blend and accentuate the green, grassy notes of the avocado without making it taste like you're drinking an avocado.  

Of course, I live in Vancouver, so why not a Canucks cocktail?  Really?  You have to ask that?  I haven't tried this, but I imagine you could shoot it like Jägermeister:

CANUCKS' ABSINTHE FROM THE STANLEY CUP RECIPE

Umm, let's see:

1 shot absinthe

1 shot Alberta Rye ( as in why, Alberta, why?)

choke cherries

bitters

Throw all that in a tumbler and suck it down sometime between the final game of the regular season  and the end of the first round of the playoffs.  Best served with twins who aren't getting any younger and who are never going to be traded.  The sourness should be strong enough to last through basketball, baseball, and football season.