Canadian Made, Toronto Star, Canadian Girl Project

 

Hey there folks, very busy over in Any How Town writing Book Two of the unpublished series, but I'm back over here to ask a favour, the Toronto Star wants you to send a photo of your favorite Canadian made thing in your home, if that thing happens to be a painting by A.Shay Hahn I'd be thrilled if you sent them a photo, here's the link.

 

http://www.thestar.com/photos/canadaday.html#mid=&offset=&page=&s=

 

Also I am taking commissions for "Canadian Girl" paintings now, 12 x12 unframed $140.00, get in contact with me if you'd like to order your own one of a kind flag painting, if you see them anywhere else on the internet, congratulations you've found me, I'm the artist who painted them.

Okay, stay cool Canada,

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Vancouver 2013, Giant Slugs and Money

Just got back from five great days in Vancouver, since painting wise I'm all about Aelbert Cuyp these days I was thrilled to see the Dutch exhibit at the VAG, they had a great Van Bloeman, a lovely Wouverman and a really sweet Ruysdael all framed in those great big black moulding frames that make skies and flowers really pop. I spent about an hour and ten minutes there, only two exhibits were open which is a bit of a rip off, and the contemporary gallery was closed for installation and wouldn't reopen until after we'd left. When you go to the VAG be prepared to be followed by security, they have a huge staff with nothing to do, I preferred the staff at the National Gallery in Cuba who just slept and left you alone, the staff at the VAG have nothing to do or maybe less than nothing, when you feel like you are being watched it really distracts from the pleasure of standing in front of a beautiful painting.

Here are some other impressions of the trip, really liked the numbers of crows that I saw in Vancouver, that was the real difference in location, the area we stayed in was very much the shopping district so it didn't feel that different than being in downtown Toronto, except for the crows.

 For eats and fine comestibles I recommend "Forage" where I got to indulge in some great Bison Marrow, "Chill Winston" which had delicious Kangaroo Carpaccio and steak and "the Flying Pig" which is a great place to hang out, didn't make it to "Wildebeest" which won Best New Restaurant 2013, maybe next time, I also made sure to eat a few JapaDogs which is an acquired taste.

We enjoyed drinking "Hatfield's Fuse" a nice white by Blasted Church, the Driftwood "Fat Tug" IPA is a great beer and we brought back a bottle of Oak Bay, Pinot Noir that we brought at the Granville Market.

Made trips to both "Golden Age Collectables" and "Rx Comics" where I picked up Hickman's new series, "East to West, 1-3" and "Wild Blue Yonder, #1" both great reads.

I got to hear our Hotel Bar duo play a terrible version of "Girl From Ipanema" so scratch that off the bucket list.

Really enjoyed the 4.5 km walk we did through Stanley Park, particularly loved the huge tree stumps some had new trees growing on them like parasites, the giant slugs were also a huge plus and the Rose Garden where I got to try out the new camera I bought, my old one got damaged on the flight, but I hated it anyways.

Next time we're out that way I want to go North and get off the beaten path.

A good trip, now it's time to get back to work

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 



A.Shay Hahn, Cameron House Murals Finished!

Here they are folks and they look good! The murals are finished and waiting for you at the Cameron House to head down, hear some music and have a look. Be sure to check out the Out Door stage, buy some merch and support local music.

Here's a link to the facebook event https://www.facebook.com/events/394480184000962/ and another to the Cameron House records site http://www.cameronhouserecords.com/ I'll be taking the day to collect myself and get organized for working at home again.

Have a look around the blog, check out the paintings, there's lots to see here.

many thanks to Cosmo and McQ for the chance to paint on the walls.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 



A.Shay Hahn, the Royal Ant Mother, Cameron House Mural

We hit it hard today at the Cameron and got a really great block in of "the Ant Mother" and lots of highlights and finishes on the West Wall. Tomorrow it's my last day there and I'll whack my way through touching up the East Wall. During the day I was kept company by the great crew of "A Case of the Mondays" and got to hear them rehearse their "slow jam" night and got to listen to Ginuwine's "Pony", TLC's "Red Light Special" and all kinds of great jams. A very talented crew of musician's be sure to check them out.

time to rest and watch Top Chef Canada.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com



Cameron House Records T's and Junos

Working down in the studio today, it's way too nice out to be stuck in the basement cleaning but things have really started to pile up down there, and then those piles fell over onto each other and then they made little baby piles. It's pretty chaotic.

So before I head back down into the dark I thought I'd post a picture, that I meant to get up on the blog ages ago of the Strumbellas at the Junos. If you've never seem/heard them you have to check them out and one of the fellas, apologies for forgetting your name man, is proudly wearing a "Cameron House Records" T shirt, which you can buy at the Cameron or online.

I'll be back at the Cameron House tomorrow and Tuesday finishing the walls, check back here for photos or head on down to see what I've done.

cheers,

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com



A.Shay Hahn, Cameron House Murals, Day One and Two

Here's what twelve hours or two days looks like. I don't think there's anyone in the city who can move as fast as I can along a wall, yes I'm bragging, but yes it's true. There are no heads blocked in on the first day, that's ladder work and best done all it once, if you want to waste time, go up and down a ladder 1000 times in a day. I don't waste time, we don't have time to waste, so you do all the low work one day and all the high work the next day.

So there is still a figure going in the center of the west wall (bottom two photos) and more detailing for the East Wall but we're in a really good place right now for finishing them on Tues. or Wed.

The murals will be up at the Cameron until at least September so you have lots of time to come by and check them out.

As a test for myself I also walked to the Cameron House on both days that I worked on the mural, so that was17km+ and then twelve hours of work, today I am covered in myoflex and writing this from bed.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com



Mariachi Skeleton #4 for the Cameron House

Had to just let the bottom of this one go, getting the hand position on the trumpet and detail in the "Sugar Skull" makeup was far more important. I love the trumpet the last minute of "When A Man Loves A Woman" kills me every time I hear it. I also want each one to be a different colour, I think doing them all in the black/red/white colour scheme would be really dull so this fella is rocking some cool sky blue colours also trying to get the boots to be cool enough to remind folks of buddy Tony Benattar's Liberty boots.

Alright, back to it.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com



Mariachi Skeleton #3 for The Cameron House

Here's the third of five giant skeletal mariachi that will be adorning the walls of the Cameron House from now until around September. This and the next drawing won't be as realized as the first two they're just sketches for me to reference while I block in the pieces directly onto the walls. I think it would be great if one of them became a Tshirt for Cameron House Records and for that I'll do a really tight B&W piece.

I'm starting tomorrow so be sure to head by the Cameron House to watch the mural evolve.

And head on over to Any How Town to see the "noir" models that I am building and staging, you're going to be impressed - or worried, one of the two.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com