Canadian Girl (Black Flag)
Deep Sea Diver w/ Accordion, 
Deep Sea Diver w/ Drum
Mariachi! (Acoustic Bass)
Mariachi Drummerand here's another bad boy to see at the Press Club, playing there tonight are the Mark Inside, the Pow Wows and the Bon, definitely a rock show worth attending. I think the name, "the Pow Wows" is probably the best band name I've heard in ages.
A.Shay Hahn
Mariachi (Guitara II)8x10 inches, acrylic on canvas, framedI dunno, eighty maybe one hunnertI'll be adding a few of the 8x10's that I'm showing at the Cameron House in June to my dedicated wall at the Press Club. I may also start to post some of the nautical themed sketches I've been doing, but have to have a secret meeting about why I'm doing them first, more on that Monday or Tuesday if all goes according to plan.
A.Shay Hahn
New Found Land Flag (Canadian Girl Project)
That's the damn trick with these blowing clothes and a centered hat rack, the figure still has to command the picture, it can't appear to be blowing right out of it. So, like my note yesterday I added the dress as a second figure to try to counter the balance, no dice Jimbo, we have to move the whole figure over and make sure it still sits properly on one of the hooks. Looks much better.
The Dancing Man OR The Waving Man
Mariachi! Fiddle Player, Accordion, Guitar
Top Red Devil Jug Band, Guitar and BassI've been going nonstop since hanging the show at Cowbell (which really looks great) and trying to work through getting some commissions finished and working on the April Grid Diaries, so my best friend has been the DVD player, so far I've been through ( I can't say "watched" because I don't really watch them 100%) "Spartacus Blood and Sand" and Arrested Development Season Three. I just started "Damages" and Glenn Close already scares the crap out of me. I'll take a quick break now to maybe hang the two Red Devils at the Press Club and then get back to it. Expect a finished view of the mariachis tonight or tomorrow afternoon.
Also, in a colossal mistake of "measure once, cut once" I mad EIGHT of the 8x10 frames I"m building too small, so will have to custom make EIGHT stretchers too fit inside them, oh joy.
stay cool,
A.Shay Hahn
New Found Land Tartan (Canadian Girl Project)
Today I woke up (incredibly early) and really didn't feel like working on any of the pieces that I currently have on the go, I did some work on the commissions that I'm finishing this week but my heart just wasn't into any of my own personal work. I was in a bit of a foul mood today, and decided instead to let my dark mood express itself so started laying in these pieces on several 10x12 canvases. Not sure what the next step is for them, but it did cheer me up somehow.
maybe I'll make this a regular feature for the rest of the month, but here's what we're finishing on the easel over the next few days.
So one of my top favourites from the "Lady with an Axe" series sold, so I brought over these two Deep Sea Divers (ON SALE!) and here's the pricing again. 
Storm Trooper Disguise, Storm Trooper Beer Goggles
Kiss Me 5/75, Be Mine 6/75
Woman with Two Axes (short hair) $180.00, Fox/ Crow $40.00 each, Man with Hammer $180.00, Woman with Two Axes (blonde hair) $180.00, Fox with Fiddle $180.00, Mariachi with Maracas $80.00, Woman with Two Axes $140.00, Woman with an Axe $140.00, A Cup of Crows $140.00, A Quiet Place$ 140.oo 
Cape Breton Tartan (Canadian Girl Project)
This is cribbed from notes written today where I am trying to introduce myself and my work for a small feature on the great and mighty group site, "beams and struts" I have been asked by Mr.TJ Dawe to do so. I will attempt to do this without lapsing into Third Person or referring to myself as "the Artist" or "Failed Puppeteer turned Painter". There will be many corrections.Andrew "Shay" Hahn
When I look back through all the notes scribbled daily in sketchbooks or conversations I've had about my work, I've settled on the fact that my approach to painting is that of a diarist. My mood dictates what I'm going to do, I know that my sense of humour figures prominently in my work, that I enjoy the absurd, the juxtaposition of objects and working in a series, over time these elements have become where I start when I sit down to draw and hopefully I end up with a few pages of sketches that I can take to the easel to try.
I strongly believe that the only rules for my work are that there are no rules. Every idea is a good idea, no matter how strange (Deep Sea Diver musicians, Cowboys riding chickens, Women who turn into bouquets of flowers etc.) and is worth attempting, as long as the composition and technical work is sound.
I have a very simple structure, I take two things and put them together in a composition, more often than not, they are two things that are possible, presented in a unique way, a woman sleeping in a tree, a woman holding an axe, it is the presentation that makes it mine, anyone can choose to represent these things, that they are practical, mundane, but shown in the medium of painting through my eye, that's my style in a nutshell.
I try to avoid identity, I like to try to reach for the universal, removing the identity of the figure has been a great success to demonstrate this, the viewer can insert themselves into the image this way. If I render a face, a distinct kind of clothing (as opposed to the neutral black, white and brown clothes that I use as a uniform for my figures) it distracts from the simplicity of the image. The simple image, the "impact" picture is what I'm looking for, you have to see it and get what's going on, if it gets muddled along the way it's time to start over. This has been the dominant element of my "style" or "visual language" for the past two or three years, it's what I am known for.
People note that I'm pretty prolific, I post a finished piece or work in progress almost every two days, but this is all I do, it's my only job. I paint nine hours a day, five days a week, so I hope that I would be called, "prolific", otherwise I'm just wasting a hell of a lot of time. It's my favourite thing to do, it always has been, since I was five years old, painting has been my constant, I was lucky to find it early, I'm still chasing it down to this day.
A.S.Hahn
(Hey, TJ anything else ?)
Here's a treat of some sketchbook pages for April hope you enjoy the window into me head, and now the repost
Captain Ahab
Eeyore
Samuel Beckett
The Six Million Dollar Man
Currently on the easel. "Hahn’s creamy paintings of axe-wielding, storm-swept ladies are as Canadian as a hangover cure (but far more appealing)."
Thanks R.M Vaughan for the G&M mention of the show at the Wilson 96. Sometimes it pays to google yourself. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/rm-vaughan/geoffrey-pugens-vigilante-women/article1956675/print/
Here's the first grid of 25 8x10 canvases, there are hopefully going to be 3 grids of 25 for a total of 75 paintings to be completed by May First 2011. Cuba was a nice break and I found the work of a few artists really inspiring but I didn't draw or sketch a single thing while I was there, hell I only took about 23 photos and to come back to NO SALES was a huge drag.
Yes, things were looking dire and on top of it all ( I don't edit my blog in case you notice tenses flying all over) the only freaking paintings that were selling this month were the Skeletal Mariachi, which are fun but aren't really that challenging, I have at least 30 better paintings hanging all over this city that you can invest in , but people's wallets were speaking ($80.00 each, how can you go wrong) and I think also people just think these little 8x10 pieces are groovy.
So why fight it, let's just be groovy for awhile, things just started up again in me, I wrote the words, Six Million Dollar Man in the same sketchbook that I'd been staring blankly at and did six pages of notes and sketches. I'm happiest when I treat my work as a diary, I just paint whatever, whenever, no real planning, if I want to paint the Six Million Dollar Man, I will. So "the April Grid Diaries" are what we're doing, they may be hung as they are completed at the Press Club in April, they may be framed, maybe not, just keep coming back and having a look, I want to do about two of them a day.
Where To Find Me
Mariachi Accordion (well, really it's a concertina, or is it ?)Well, it's a hell of a day outside ain't it ?
A.Shay Hahn
Mariachi! (Good Time Maracas)The show at the Cameron House comes down on the 2nd of April (you can scroll down to see what's there) here's a new skeletal Mariachi that I'll be hanging there today, along with a friend who I will post shortly. I also have work at the Wilson 96 (615 College Str.) until the end of March (scroll down to see a bunch of that stuff also).
If you grabbed a business card of mine, please send me an email, it would be great to see that people are using them.
A.Shay Hahn
Lady with Two Axes (short hair)We're on a bit of a run with the Axe Series, I have a couple more that I'll finish this week and then get back to the long neglected, "Tom Waits Project" expect some more writing about that and an announcement. I also have three more Jug Band Devils on the go that I'll post soon. Paintings are at the Wilson 96 and at the Cameron House until the end of the month.
A.S.Hahn
