Hanging Sardi's Style at the Press Club on Tuesday

Alright I will be hanging the show on the first of April at around 6pm, it should go up pretty fast and I am really looking forward to the results. As much as love the drawings of the Homeless G-Men characters I am going to love the "Sardi's Style" look of the show and hope to get at least one cool photo of myself sitting in front of the work. 

 There will be a small reception from 7-9pm at the Press Club (850 Dundas West) followed by music by one of my favourite singer songwriters Ron Leary and his Sextet -that's right a Sextet!

All drawings are $25.00 each and the proceeds go towards printing the Homeless G-Men comic in May 0f 2015.

cheers all,

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 

Announcements or Waiting to Announce Announcements

I'm trying to figure out how many hours of the day that I'm working on drawings, it seems to be getting up to twelve hours a day.

Why so long ?

 Well here's what may happen

 For the next five days I will be drawing for anywhere from 10-12 hours a day. If the plans I am hatching (or attempting to hatch) succeed this is what is going to happen at the end of these five days. I will have about sixty of these drawings (see above) that I like and want to show together, I will also have sixty wooden frames to put them in (not plastic, never plastic, this is a quality operation) I currently have fifteen frames.

 Once I get the go ahead from the boys at the Press Club to hang the show I will head over on the first of April and hang as many of them as I can in the space then price them for the ridiculously low sum of $25.00 each or two for $40.00 (any advance sales for individual pictures will be handled as bid starting at $30.00) and then on Thursday April 3rd have a small opening for them from 7-9 before Ron Leary plays and sell them all off.

The money from this enterprise will be squirrelled away for the printing costs of  the "Homeless G-Men" and "Squirleycorn" comics in May 2015.

I think Hannibal ( as played by George Peppard) would approve, what was his last name?

Gird your loins for further announcements

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 

Smudges and Lines, Squirley Corn and the Homeless G-Men

I've been over at the "Smudges and Lines" blog for the past week and a bit drawing and posting and talking about comic art, so come on over and hang out.

I changed the title of the blog to "Squirley Corn and the Homeless G-Men" which are the two comic projects that I'm working on, I have to see if I can change the address to it as well since there is another artist who has a blog called, "Lines and Smudges" and I don't want folks confusing the two of us, I'll see if I can get this sorted.

So if you like drawings like this dude at the top head on over to the other blog via the sidebar link (top right).

Let's keep this sun shinin' on

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 

One Day Only Super Birthday Sale!

It's my Super Birthday today and to celebrate I'm throwing a One Day Only Super Sale all the work pictured above are available for $120.00 each for the next 24 hrs. only so let me know if there's something you'd like!

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 

Satellite Pacific, completed abstract

Satellite Pacific

30x30 inches, acrylic on canvas

$700.00

Here is the first completed abstract, "Satellite Pacific" I am very happy with this piece. I was surprised when I began working on them how the colours decided themselves, I rarely use any of these tones in my figurative work but when I began blocking in these pieces the multiple hues of blue and yellow just took over my palette, it was not a conscious choice. When I began to work on them I thought I would be creating more landscape based pieces but instead most of them feel like the deal with water and the movement of waves.

It's also interesting to me that each piece really defines itself over time that I don't have that much control over the piece itself until I'm nearly finished that's when I can look at the more objectively and improve certain areas, add other hints of colour etc.

I am always surprised when I work on these paintings and sometimes when I try to force it too  much I end up destroying what was there. I have already destroyed two of the ten pieces which is fine I knew there would be some casualties along the way that's just the way it is when  you are doing something new.

The 30x30 pieces are very reasonably priced at $700.00 a piece I didn't want to go too much higher for this first batch.

It's a glorious day out there, enjoy it

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 



Five Completed Abstracts

All Abstracts are 30x30inches, acrylic on canvas

I'm going to come back and talk about the process of deciding that each of these five pieces are complete. I finished these five but also in the process overworked and kind of destroyed two other pieces but that's fine it was necessary to wreck a couple to show me what roads I shouldn't be going down.

 

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com



Large Abstracts, Everybody Loves Large Abstracts

Still enjoying myself way too much working on these pieces, that isn't 100% true there are two pieces down in the studio that are making me a little nuts. I think I'll take a break from them tomorrow and work on some other stuff, between comic plotting (see Smudges and Lines) Book writing and model building (see Any How Town) there is lots to do.

If any place in Toronto, bar or restaurant comes to mind where you think I should hang these pieces send me a line and let me know, I'm at a bit of a loss as to locations that could handle larger work or that are currently popular with the foodies

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 

 

Another Great Day In the Studio

Incredibly productive day in the studio today, really enjoyed working on both of these 30x30's and I can really see the direction they've both taken. Hope you like them when all the work is finished I will be posting prices for advance sales before they are hung

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 



Satellite Pacific, 30x30 abstract

Satellite Pacific

30x30 inches acrylic on canvas

Here is the first of the completed abstracts, I think, I may still add some colour highlights to this, some green and red bits, but then I may paint them out.

Dear Lord, how do you know when these things are finished!

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

New Abstracts - First Pass

Started working on four more 30x30 inch abstracts, I'll have more to say about them as they develop.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 



Large Abstract Pieces WIP

The past couple of days have been great (except for the first picture, that poor bastard took a beating this morning) for getting a better sense of direction with these pieces. Paintings Two, Three, Five and Six are really coming together, the first is way behind the others but I haven't worked on it as often as the others and Number Four has a lot of great stuff going on but it's subtle and you can't see much from this photo.

Went to the Artist Project on the weekend down at the Better Living Centre, last time I'm going to do that, I'd seen most of the artists already over the years at the Outdoor Arts Fest and it's fourteen dollars admission to see work that really isn't that great, I do have a list of the four or five artists whose work I think is worth checking out online I'll get that up here when I find it. I don't mean to slag the event but I think that if you have the cash for the $2000.00 entry free you are pretty much guaranteed a booth so you also have to cover those costs in your prices and I didn't see that many red dots when I was there.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Steam Punk RAY GUN! "The Rose"

"The Rose"

Steam Punk RAY GUN!
12x14inches, acrylic on canvas

commission

I think these two make a helluva pair.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Steam Punk RAY GUN! "the Ram"

Here's the first Steam Punk RAY GUN! which I have named "the Ram".

It is terribly bad ass

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Steam Punk RAY GUNS! (WIP)

Steam Punk RAY GUNS!

12x14 inches (I think it's 14")

acrylic on canvas

$140.00 each

Crafting up a couple of very cool Steam Punk ray guns for a commission, really happy with their direction they're taking keep coming back to watch them develop and commission your own if you like.

cheers, have a great weekend!

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 

Go Canada! So very proud!

Canadian Girl

10x12 inches, acrylic on canvas

$160.00 each

Just wanted to take a moment to congratulate all the Canadians over there in Sochi especially the women's hockey team!

Cheers!

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

The Story Of Squirlycorn

It all began about a week ago some friends and I were talking on fb, a friend said that she had something galloping around in her ceiling, I joked that perhaps she had infestation of Shetland ponies after a few more folks chimed in that maybe the culprit was a unicorn. By the end of the conversation it was deduced that it was probably a squirrel but by then I had already drawn the first image. A squirrel dressed as a unicorn, my friend asked to buy the drawing but I decided to keep it, something about the picture just made sense to me.

I started to think that maybe this cute squirrel needed a comic book created for him, I decided to head to Guerilla Printing and figure out how much it would cost to self publish a comic. It turns out the price wasn't as prohibitive as I thought it would be so on the way home on the TTC I started to write the origin story of a hero that I would call, "Squirlycon".

It's been a couple of days and I can't figure out anything else to call this guy except Squirlycorn, my wife kept asking, "Are you sure you can't come up with a better name?" and try as I might I can't so here for the world to see is my creation, Squirlycorn.

To follow the story of his creation you'll have to head over to the Smudges and Lines blog, see links right side of page.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 

A Song About One of My Murals

Here's a post from Corin Raymond by Rob Varmeyer about his show at the Cameron House this Thursday

 

"Hey all my good peoples! Especially my Toronto peoples. I am very stoked to perform my favourite truck tunes at the Cameron House Thursday Feb. 13 in Corin Raymond the Sundowners famous 6-8pm slot. David Baxter will join me on guitar and Jay Swinnerton on piano. Somehow I know it...'s just gonna blow the tires off and leave those little strips of rubber that you see all along the highways of this land. We'll be covering some classic country truckin' music by Red Sovine, Dell Reeves, Dave Dudley and Stompin' Tom among others. I'll also be playing a number of my own very Canadian folk tunes including "Ol' Fort Mac" and "Alludeme" (Spanish for "Help Me") which was inspired by the mural by A. Shay Hahn that graces the very walls of the Cameron front room. Ghost cats, doves with dynamite and Mariachi skeletons. So if you're as enamoured of trucks and songs about them as I am, or just good art and music with only the one degree of separation, tending toward zero, then I will see you there. If you're a trucker and come down to the show, I'll buy you a beer. Until then, keep the rubber side down and the shiny side up. No cover, PWYC."

    So come on down to the Cameron if you like songs about trucks and murals.

cheers,

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 

 

Rainbow Mayor

Untitled

10x12 inches, acrylic on canvas

Came up with this today after yet another gaffe by our Mayor, this one even more stupid and belligerent than the last - which was either slurring his words and speaking gibberish in Vancouver or slurring his words and speaking gibberish at the 3030

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

RAYGUN! for the Nerd Block Offices

Nerd Block RAYGUNS!

12x12 inches, acrylic on canvas

can be commissioned in any colour

$120.00 each

I originally wanted to do a Han Solo styled blaster for the Nerd Block piece but after a couple of tries I didn't like the size of the clip, which is where I wanted to place the very cool NB logo.

Instead I did two version of the gun, the top piece I kept the idea of the sight from Solo's blaster and the bottom one I wanted to give it the full on RAY GUN! treatment.

If you're not sure what Nerd Block is here's a link

https://nerdblock.com/

We'll see which one they like best.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 

RAYGUN! for the Shirt Punch Offices

RAYGUN!

all guns are 12x14 inches, acrylic on canvas

$120.00 each

can be commissioned in the colours of your choice

Had a great time cooking up this RAYGUN! (and the one's in the next post) for the offices of Shirt Punch! a great Canadian business, I've picked up a few shirts from them over the past couple of years, check them out here

https://www.shirtpunch.com/

This was done in the Shirt Punch colours, next up Nerd Block!

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

The Woman Who Loved to Read Series #5

The Woman Who Loved to Read #5

10x12 inches, acrylic on canvas

SOLD ($160.00)

The run away favourite in my November show at the Cameron House was this series of women sitting on stacks of red books. I believe that I did four in total and three of them sold before the show was even hung. I am going to do a few more this month, it is possible to commission a custom version as well, adjust the hair colour, colour of books, outfit etc. for $200.00

stay tuned for more posts!

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 

 

Large Abstracts 1-6, WIP

I've started working on two more large abstracts, a 30x30 and another 30x40. I apologize for the photos I need more light coming over my left shoulder to get better pics. I am really enjoying the discovery and process of working on these pieces, I wasn't in a rut with my figurative work and I'm not abandoning it at all, this is just a necessary change. I need to push in a different direction, work some other colours, I also love abstract work, we have a beautiful small Janna Watson in our living room and also a great Robert Chandler piece that I traded with him a bunch of years ago.

It takes a  lot to impress me when I see other figurative work by artists but when I'm in a gallery I spend the most time looking at abstract work, trying to figure out the thought process, technique, how they knew when to stop, why they didn't put a dog in it etc. so this is a great chance for me to answer those questions for myself.

I'm also going to start using some high viscosity acrylics instead of thicker out of the tub acrylic, I think I'll be able to get some better gestural work using a thinner paint (minus all of the drips that come from thinning down tub paint).

I think I'll take tomorrow to work exclusively on the two newest pieces and see how they develop.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 

Large Abstract #4, WIP

I like where this one is headed as well, I may start another 30x40 tomorrow. Let me know what you think so far.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com