“Shark” – Devin P.L. Edwards
“Shark” is from a digital Native art series that Devin is working on.
Tag Archives: apple of my odd eye
“Hey, We Here’s Good Art” Update
Sarah’s Portfolio
Apple of my Odd Eye was at “Hey, We Here’s Good Art” at Betty’s bar in Toronto last night to support AOMOE artist Sarah Y. Varnam‘s inclusion in the pop-up art show. The show featured an array of artists’ portfolios, sketchbooks, zines, and video installations. We’ve assembled a photo gallery below:
Devin relaxing in Betty’s retro hairdryer chair.
Sarah relaxing after all the prep work.
Devin reading a Pokemon Comic before guests arrive.
Observing a film.
Early in the night.
A fellow artist’s portfolio.
Art on the stairs.
The room starts to fill up.
One of the video installations.
Participants peruse the portfolios (say that 3 times fast).
One of the more deliberately provocative videos of the night.
Reactions to the aforementioned video.
A fellow artist’s portfolio.
A fellow artist’s portfolio.
Sarah with her portfolio.
A fellow artist’s portfolio.
Fellow artists’ portfolios.
Betty’s dumbwaiter.
We also brought The Quilliad, the literary journal that Sarah helps to edit, and Devin’s poetry book, Love and Longing.
The Quilliad & Love and Longing
It was a good night of good art, good food and drink, and good company. We look forward to organising events like it ourselves.
Filed under Apple of my Odd Eye, art, art events
“Roots II”, Sarah Y. Varnam
“Roots II” – Sarah Y. Varnam
Before this piece, there was only going to be one “Roots” painting, but now I’m having too much fun with the aesthetic. There will be at least two more in the series.
-Sarah
Filed under Apple of my Odd Eye, art
“Roots I”, Sarah Y. Varnam
“Roots I” – Sarah Y. Varnam
Finally done! I posted some progress shots back in January–you’ll be seeing the finished version of Devin’s piece from that post soon as well. Making sure that none of the paint for the black background got in the white root lines took way longer than I expected, though I’m glad I persevered. I’m really happy with this one.
-Sarah
Filed under Apple of my Odd Eye, art
Arts News from Apple of my Odd Eye
Ahoy!
Apple of my Odd Eye has a lot of exciting arts news for you:
1. If you’re in Toronto, you should come out to Words in Commotion at Creatures Creating Gallery tonight at 7:00 p.m. (https://www.facebook.com/events/1436459396588811/). We’ll be there supporting our good friend John Nyman (the event’s host) and showing off some of our own work at the merch table. It should be a fun night of experimental poetry for everyone involved, with a merch table full of art and zines and other cool stuff.
2. Apple of my Odd Eye artist Sarah Y. Varnam will be participating in a couple of Toronto art shows this month. The first is next Saturday, February 8, 2014. “Hey, We Here’s Good Art” is a portfolio and sketchbook show being held at Betty’s on King St. There will be something like 21 artists showing off their work, starting at 8:00 p.m. (https://www.facebook.com/events/208697642653183/).
Sarah’s Portfolio
Sarah will also be showing her “Cosmos” series of paintings as part of the “Nice to Meet You” exhibit at Creatures Creating from February 20-27 (http://www.creaturescreating.com/here/?p=605).
“Cosmos IV” – Sarah Y. Varnam
3. Apple of my Odd Eye will soon be selling our wares at the Arts Market store at College and Ossington (http://www.artsmarket.ca/)! We’ll let you know when we’ve been assigned our corner. Here are some photos of the space:
Outside Arts Market
Inside Arts Market
Inside Arts Market
We’re really looking forward to the next few months of creating and showing art and checking out all the other talented artists who are going to be showing their work with us. We hope you can make it out to some of these events.
Happy creating,
Apple of my Odd Eye
Filed under Apple of my Odd Eye, art, art events, Uncategorized
Paintings in Progress
“Roots” by Sarah Y. Varnam
“Roots” detail one
“Roots” detail two
“Untitled” by Devin P.L. Edwards
“Untitled” background
“Untitled” background detail
Filed under Apple of my Odd Eye, art
To Cuba and Back/A New Year of Art
Apple of my Odd Eye’s artists just took a week off from our cold and hectic lives in Toronto for a week of relaxation and inspiration in Cuba. We’ve returned revitalized and ready to tackle the upcoming spring art show season. The next few months will be busy with craft show applications, printing, events page updates, and creating. First, we’d like to show you what Cuba brought us.
Cuba is beautiful. There’s no doubting it. While I haven’t focused on photography for a while (especially since we started Apple of my Odd Eye), Cuba made me remember how it feels to be trigger-happy:
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- The resort (near Holguin, Cuba)
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- The Cuban market
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- Tamara, who cleaned our room, made blanket animals (and, once, blanket people) for us everyday.
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- Hermit crab
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- Sarah contemplating whether to kiss a sea cucumber
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- Devin on the beach
We were astounded by the beauty of the country, but what was even more impressive was the skill of the craftspeople. For six pesos (between six and seven Canadian dollars), you can buy a beautiful cat mask, a pipe, or a wooden axe. For not much more, we saw detailed sculptures of dragons, paintings of the ocean, sensuous portraiture, terrifying skulls, and intricate jewelry. We bought as much as we could fit in our suitcases (some of which is pictured below).
Our treasure trove of Cuban market goods
While in Cuba, I also made myself try my hand at using oil pastels again. The result? I have a lot of respect for people who can use them effectively. This is all I managed:
Sarah’s attempt at drawing a flower in oil pastel
Now that we’re back, we’re excited about spring (and not just because it’s so much warmer). We’ve updated some of our display items in anticipation of a great season:
New Apple of my Odd Eye display
We look forward to 2014 and all the opportunities it offers for artistic growth and success. Now that we’re back, we’ll be working hard to bring creative content to you here on our site and at our Zazzle store.
– Sarah Y. Varnam, artist and co-founder of Apple of my Odd Eye
Filed under Apple of my Odd Eye, art, Uncategorized
The Artistic Process, Post One
Hello, all.
I don’t know about you, but to me, one of the most satisfying things as an artist is taking an old piece (or, in this case, two old pieces) that wasn’t quite working and making something new and infinitely better out of it.
Cloud cut-out
I like to think that’s what happened with the piece(s) I worked on today. I chopped up an old painting of a skull done on a piece of cardboard sketchbook backing (I like to use whatever I can as “canvases”) that had never quite worked, added it to a neat background that I’d never been able to find a subject for, added some details to tie the two together, and there it was, a quirky little piece about accepting the mad, scary world, Alice-in-Wonderland style.
“Love this Mad World” detail (faces)
“Love this Mad World” detail (mouth)
I still might trim this on the right edge. We’ll see.
These kinds of victories tell me that I’m still improving as an artist and haven’t become complacent. They also tell me that I haven’t given up–I’m still determined, mad as it is, to continue painting. As we’ve been setting up the online shop to supplement the in-person shows we’ve been doing and working on promoting Apple of my Odd Eye, I’ve been exhausted by the amount of work involved (especially as this isn’t the only project we’re working on–check out geekcollateral.com if you’re curious about what I mean!) and definitely had moments when I wondered if I was losing my mind. Sometimes I’m still sure that I am. Knowing me, I’ll have to just go wandering after it, down the rabbit hole.
– Sarah Y. Varnam, Apple of my Odd Eye Artist
Filed under art
Apple of my Odd Eye’s Zazzle Store–posters, necklaces, iPhones cases, cards . . .
Apple of my Odd Eye is excited to announce that we now have a Zazzle store! We’re currently selling posters, necklaces, iPhone cases, and cards. Check it out and let us know what you think: http://www.zazzle.ca/appleofmyoddeye.
“Reach” – Sarah Y. Varnam
“Cat” – Devin P.L. Edwards
“World” – Devin P.L. Edwards
“Jelly Skull” – Sarah Y. Varnam
Filed under Uncategorized
Apple of my Odd Eye 