This year I was selected to participate in the Brightening Barriers installation in Downtown Barrie! My design was chosen to decorate the patio of Bohemia on Dunlop Street. I’m so happy with the outcome I think it really brightens up the strip! All the other artworks on the other patios are amazing as well!
I built window frames out of wood, and painted quaint little scenes inside. Most of the frames are inspired by window shapes along the downtown strip, so you can imagine these sweet moments are happening all around you!
Really thankful for this opportunity. And to my dudes Peter, Cam, and Wendell for all the help with making this project come to life!
I miss being able to run across the street in thirty seconds to buy fresh flowers and the best Indian takeout in the area. Though now I am able to sit under a willow tree in a quiet backyard and that’s nice. Give and take.
Happy birthday to my aunt today 🙂 spring babies are the best babies.
I painted a bunch of the same log for a batch of New Years cards (I never get them done in time for the holidays) that I mailed to some friends and family. When you put all the paintings together they make this burning log! I love to do little painted frame animations like this.
I’m working on this new project that’s the kind of thing I feel I maybe dreamt up myself? It’s perfect.
The Barrie BIA will be installing a series of murals on a Dunlop Street wall in the downtown strip. The project was inspired by FAB Trays, collectible vintage serving trays that used to be produced in Barrie. To read a little bit about the project and the trays, check out this article!
I don’t often go through my process for this sort of thing so I thought that might be fun.
Above is the wall where the murals will be installed, next to it is a picture of one of these FAB Trays. The trays were made by sandwiching a piece of printed fabric between two layers of resin. The edges were fluted like a pie. They were produced in the 1970s and most carry bold floral patterns. I wanted to include a lot of these aspects into my design.
I picked up my 47″ aluminum circle and brought it home (in a wee taxi cab). I wanted to get a large sketch of my design made to understand the scale so I crafted myself a large paper circle to work on. I rolled my canvas into my studio and drew some basic shapes.
The sketch got refined further and I played with some colour ideas in photoshop, paint chips I’ll soon need to select. The palette is based on some bold 70’s hues inspired by the trays. I wanted to include the wavy edge of the trays in my design, so I bordered it with three bands of colour that are meant to represent the three layers of resin-fabric-resin that they are made of. I paint flowers a lot in my work because I love to look into their symbolism, so I knew I was going to cover this mural in flowers. I decided to use wildflowers that are native to the Barrie and Simcoe County area and drew up a little diagram to identify each type.
The surface of the circle has to be sanded lightly so that paint will better adhere. I will then put down a layer of primer before I begin painting. Wish me luck! I’m very excited to start painting and even more excited to see this installed. There are 16 different artists working on this project so I can’t wait to see how everything will look together.
Please excuse the poor lighting in my photos, I live in a basement and I’m obsessed with dim lamps.
I’ve moved to a new city! It was really tough to leave Toronto after 11 years and the process of settling in to a new home is long. I miss so many things but I’m really enjoying my new Muskoka surroundings. I’m starting to get back to life. Thank you for your patience during this time 😌
Veering away from painting now and then – made this little embroidered portrait of my friend’s beautiful calico for her birthday. Hazel has the most gorgeous colouring!!!!
Marne Grahlman Illustration 