Happy Hallowe'en

This is just great, if you're a fan of Captain America's great nemesis the Red Skull this should please you to no end.

Billy Norman Trio

Here's the poster for the Billy Norman Trio who played at the Cloak and Dagger last night, Billy is probably the best upright bass player I have ever seen, Greg Haddow was brilliant on guitar and their drummer was pretty boss too. If you need a poster for your band, contact me here

Last of the....two ways of working

Woman with City {for Jane Jacobs}

Last of the Snake Killing Girls

each piece is twenty x twenty inches, acrylic on canvas

four hundred dollars

from the series "Silver"

There is all sorts of news to come, I'm just really exhausted.

Great blog Shay, love all the info....

hey no prob....

later.

A.S.H

madcrafshoppe@live.com

Last of the...new works for "Silver"

Last of the Milkmen {Hermes}

Woman with Paper Dolls

SOLD.

Woman with Fans

twenty x twenty four inches

acrylic on canvas

four hundred dollars each

cooking bacon will fill this in later

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Last of the...and small adjustments.

Last of the Airmen

Woman with Birds (formerly Medea, woman with paper dolls}

Woman with Scissors {Ariadne at the Battlefords}SOLD

each piece twenty x twenty inches

acrylic on canvas

four hundred dollars each.

Lots of text to come

madcraftshoppe@live.com

New Skies, no blue skies

Woman with Wooden Airplane (Icarus)

Woman with Water Buckets {Poseidon}

Woman with Paper Dolls {Medea}

Woman with Roses {Demeter}

twenty x twenty four inches,acrylic on canvas

ALL PIECES ARE SOLD.

from the series, "Silver"

notes to come. hang tight, buy something.

A.S. Hahn

If this is your first visit

Here are two other pieces that I am going bat shit crazy trying to conquer for the show "Silver" which will be at the Cameron House for the month of November, the Opening Reception is Sunday, November 9th from 4-7:30 ish pm. The first is titled, "Prometheus - for my Mother" and the second is titled, "This is Not Quite Right Is It?". If you have any comments or advice on the work, they would be appreciated.

As a materials note I do not use Lubriderm in my paintings, I got a new tattoo, so smarten up you circus animals. It's of a Hula Girl, it is very boss, relax Mom.

If this is your first visit and you are looking for, "Ladies of the Flowers" click on the "Fables" label at the side bar, same with "Small Towns", "Canadian Girl" etc.

If you are looking for children's letters, look for a picture of Children's letters on this site and click the link provided. No I'm not being lazy, this will just give you a chance to see some of my other work. The link is at the "Mirvish Pedestrian Sundays" Post.

Welcome to the Shoppe you can email me , A. Shay Hahn here,

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Scattered news of all Kinds

SCATTERED NEWS OF ALL KINDS

Here is my new tea towel, you may think it odd to post it, but I think it's incredible as a piece of art. You have to be able to see it everywhere. If you're feeling out of practice go lie down outside and pick some shapes out of the clouds, before the ground gets too cold, if this fails spit juice on a piece of paper and let it dry.

• Here's a lovely sign posted in a shop not to far from the El Mocambo, GO TORONTO! YEAH! THIS IS MY TOWN!
  
• Last Thursday (Sept.11) we did our bit for charity and donated," Canadian Girl with Blue Jay" to the Royal Bank of Canada's raffle for Juvenille Diabetes Research. In less charitable news "Canadian Girl with Grey Bird" was donated to the Magpie bar on Dundas because I like drinking there, if you like old punk rock Miles, Graham and Lee have the music for you.
• If you need a "Canadian Girl" of any kind, contact me here. Christmas is coming folks.
• I love words, my new favourite word was published in the venerable Toronto Sun, that word is "coinsiderable" which I define as, "A very large amount of change".
• FACEBOOK is worth approx. SIXTEEN BILLION DOLLARS. Yowza.
• 
  If Terrorists truly wanted to strike a blow at Canada, they would introduce Listereosis into the cream supply at Tim Horton's , I can no longer stomach that awful processed cream, but that being said I will live to fight the Terrorists ala Chuck Norris in the classic "Invasion USA", if you get home drunk tonight it will probably be showing on Spike TV. If it was communists who were responsible, I'd say watch "Red Dawn." ( "WOLVERINES!!!! " It was their proud battle cry)

FAVOURITE RECENT QUOTE A FRIEND OF MINE SHOULD READ

"The only thing worse than bad health, is a bad name" from Love in the Time of Cholera

FAVOURITE RECENT MESSAGE LEFT ON MY PHONE

"Hey Picasso, it's DeNiro, are we meeting up tonight or what?" from Tony Nappo

FAVOURITE PASSAGE IN A BOOK

The Grapes of Wrath Chapter 14, page 150, a breathtaking piece of writing, just read that page.

FAVOURITE THING OVERHEARD SAID OUT LOUD TO NO ONE AT ALL

"Susan Sarandon"

I was there, I know the guy, he wasn't talking to anyone, maybe just a fan, who knows. In fact he may not have even been aware he said it out loud. I've been puzzling over this for days.

FAVOURITE WAY TO PAY ATTENTION

"To hear what other people are thinking" I can't recall where I picked this up, but it is very helpful.

I have no idea, if any of that was worth posting, but I haven't been here for a week or so and wanted to let you Shoppers know that more work is coming soon.

All the best,

A.S.Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

It doesn't always come easy you know

First off sorry about those two images being sideways, I thought they weren't, anyways. This is a look at Process for the series,"Silver". This piece is titled "Hermes" or "Woman with Bottles". I scrapped it after these four attempts and need to hire a model to do this properly. So for those who think I just vomit this stuff up without a problem, you can now rest easy knowing it is a struggle. I love the concept, I just have to walk back to square one and start over again, hopefully when that happens I will have a solid pose and photo references to work with, as I believe this is a great image.

Churchill said, "Blessed are the painters, for they will never be lonely." I add, "and they sure get pissed at their work sometimes." That being said, I do enjoy the struggle, the dialogue between me and the image, it's a high.

A.S.Hahn

Mural news

As most of you may know, (or check the "murals" tab in the column to your left),about twelve years ago I was commissioned to create a mural for Theatre Passe Muraille's bar area, this was probably my second or third contracted mural. This one project started a relationship with the Theatre that continues to this day, under Layne Coleman's stewardship and Jonathan Rooke's steady friendship, I became the resident scenic artist,painting almost all of their shows for the next five or six years, and every wall in the building except the ceiling. I was playwright in Residence for a year, that play went on to become the show "St.Christopher" which was produced on the mainstage in association with DVxT theatre and another show of mine, "Lemon Water" was produced by Greg Thomas and his partner Liz Dalgleish at Summerworks on the mainstage.

Almost all of my time was spent there, in the Theatre or the Shop, it was a studio, a refuge, a club house, an office {a place to crash and sometimes a place for...} and so much more, so many of my closest friendships began at Theatre Passe Muraille. Artistic Director Layne Coleman left the position and a new Artistic Director, Andy McKim was hired. Andy is a great man, he accepted me into the Tarragon Playwrights Unit with only three "little" produced shows ( Two Rhubarbs, one Summerworks under my belt), he has nurtured playwrighting talent all over this city and deserves his own theatre.

Last week I was asked to do some signage for the Theatre, (which of course because of my loyalty to the building I did for free, so don't ask how much I charged) that night at the bar upstairs was Greg Thomas's Bachelor party, he and Liz are getting married, it was great to stand up at the bar (which I also painted) with so many friends that I'd met through TPM, looking at the back wall I did understand fully that it is a different place now, the mural has been painted over, I'm not mad at all, not in the least, it was high time for it to go, part of me does wish that I'd been told that it has been covered and another part wishes that they's ask me to do the job. It's a great, great place, you should go there and see a show.

Here are some additions to the mural at the Done Right Inn, people there love the Spy Vs. Spy and I didn't want to cover it completley so I decided to continue the Mad Magazine theme by adding characters by the great Don Martin. I feel there are enough, I couldn't have done any more that day as I was thick in the head with a cold and had to get home to freebase some neo citran.

madcraftshoppe@live.com

cheers Shoppers,

A.S.Hahn

Water towers {a return}

World's Tallest Love Letter {Forever}

You Are My Sun Shine {For the Cameron Family Singers}

acrylic on canvas, twenty x twenty inches

four hundred dollars each.

It's interesting when I render these because you have to put yourself on the ladder, you have to imagine how far the "artist" in the painting can reach.

The first piece is a nice bridge for the work from "Silver" where there are two light sources at work, fire and moonlight. The second image is a very obvious thank you to the Cameron House for the long relationship I've had with them as a Gallery, as a Church, as a Concert Hall,a Theatre, etc. So it just felt right to add this to the "Silver" show.

Current Pleasures : I'm Not There, Gone Baby Gone, hanging with Lee and Miles at the Magpie.

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Other news that moves

I mean Jesus Christ, look at the size of that fish.

{I always feel I should write more, but also the image should speak for itself, whether it's a painting or a picture from the newspaper. Also, I don't like posting links, I enjoy visually the way the newspaper looks with the scan, it remind me of M.Ellis and I working together in University on Media projects, we'd pile chains and all kinds of stuff on the scanner to make our backgrounds, a good memory. Also their is an Arnaud Maggs feeling to it, that I enjoy, his work is amazing, I will own some of it before I'm forty.}

Mission Control

This is when we're happiest Shoppers, just take a moment to drink in the majesty of a guy firing on all cylinders.

madcraftshoppe@live.com

A.S Hahn

Things that moved me this week.

Light Math and thoughts for a Sunday

Woman with Scissors

Woman with Pitchfork (Hades)SOLD.

twenty x twenty inches

acrylic on canvas

four hundred dollars each.

The weekends really aren't weekends at the Shoppe right now friends, the weekends consist of at least eighteen hours of painting and sketching. As I've also been working another job I manage to do about twelve hours of painting during the week, so the light math is thirty hours of painting a week, plus an average thirty five hour work week. The man has some stamina folks.

Q. Why is that ?

A. I wait all year for this, as soon as I have the hard dates for my Cameron House show, I take all the notes, photos and sketches that I"ve been jamming into moleskines and cramming into sketchbooks and I start laying it out. It's all about preparation, some people may think that I paint quickly, it does look that way, but it's the preparation that gets me there. Once I'm ready it's time to get it all out.

Q. But wait, I thought you despised sketching !

A. Oh yes that I do, I can't stand it, if you've see me at any of the local pubs, you'll know that I take the first pint to scrawl a whole bunch of stuff down and then can relax to read the paper and chat.

If you want to research something great and Canadian and spooky (see First Image) look up "The Battlefords" on Google.

I do have more to say about this, but I need to go for my daily constitutional, take care

A.S Hahn

Silver the Series, cont'd

Man With Hammers {Hephaestus} SOLD.

Raised by Plastic Wolves {Romulus}

twenty x twenty inches, acrylic on canvas

four hundred dollars each

from the series "Silver"

We now have our dates for the Fourth Annual show at the Cameron House dear Shoppers, which is tentatively titled, "Silver" or "the Whole of the Moon" not sure which right now, the show goes up on November First and comes down on the Twenty Ninth. I hope to see you at the Opening which takes place Sunday, November 9th from -7 pm. There will be food, hopefully a band, and yes this is a child friendly event. To reserve work in advance, contact me here at the Shoppe.

Here are two more pieces in the series, which find me leaning towards a theme of the representation of Greek/Roman Gods and Myths, this wasn't a deliberate choice, but as I explore the reasons for these images, the creation of the iconography, I find myself looking to represent something that is bigger than I am, but present it on my terms, what better than Gods themselves ?

A.S Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Silver, the series

Lady With an Axe (four)

Untitled (the Haircut)

SOLD

Canadian Girl (DESTROYED)

each piece is acrylic on canvas, twenty x twenty inches

four hundred dollars.each

I suppose it could be said that after "One Thousand Fiances" I've decided to move from the beach into the field, that the "why" of that ground as a time device has been explored, the field is a place where things are about the happen, the beach a locale where people wait.

I am extremely comfortable with the shift to the Twenty x Twenty Inch format for this series and have been making daily trips to snatch up as many as I can for this series.

A. Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Proper Villains, Two Hundred Posts

Proper Villains Triptych

four hundred dollars

Killer Robot, World Domination, Death Ray

acrylic on canvas, twelve x twelve inches

SOLD.

Two hundred posts, writing to come, watching "Eastern Promises"

This came out of nowhere, I think Ijust wanted to have some fun, over on Facebook this began long comments and discussions about World Domination, as I tagged each figure in the piece as friends, which is becoming a popular thing to do as folk over on facebook send requests to be tagged. This series just makes me happy, and others too.

madcraftshoppe@live.com

A.S Hahn

Song Currently Stuck in My Head "Catch" by the Cure, which doesn't bother me at all.

For My Father

For My Father

acrylic on canvas, twelve x twelve inches

one hundred and sixty dollars

(detail)

This came very quickly, it has received a huge response from readers for it's simple power. It's very touching and in need of little explanation.

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Will write later.

Lady With an Axe

Lady with an Axe Tryptych

each piece is twelve x twelve inches

acrylic on canvas

SOLD.
As soon as this work was posted I received a very strong positive response, as opposed to a morbid, Lizzie Borden view of the work, people were more inclined to comment of the empowering aspects of the women, that whatever was coming towards them, they were ready to face it, which did come as a surprise. I am quite happy with these and the expansion of my "vocabulary". I always take a Hemingway approach to a painting, he said, "I write to see what's at the end of my pen.". I believe I do the same with my paintings, I may not quite understand why I'm doing them, but I'll be sure of it later, it's why I'm most comfortable working in series, I"m sure.

A.S Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

A Bad Bad Man

Here's Igor Kenk's boarded up "Bicycle Clinic" on Queen West. My first studio at 198 Walnut Ave was around the corner from Igor's and I would have to walk past him and his "Crack Team" of cycle "Clinicians" (read thieves) standing around smoking . I would haveto walk past them to get to Tern Art Supplies and made sure to give them all the stink eye as I walked past. These guys just gave off a stench. If you click on the photo you can read what Toronto has to say to this "person".