Earthchild

One thing I enjoy is picturing the land that I know as the entire world, and I take an almost naive perspective of land masses in many of my pictures. It's as if I'm painting in the stupid ages, where the world was a flat land mass floating in an endless sea. But the twist here is that it's still a planet. Like, earth is floating in the ocean. And it's a head. Woh, trippy.

Sleepwalkermoonstealer

He only realized that he stole the moon when he woke up the following morning and saw it on the chair beside his bed.

This is the first cut-paper & paint piece that I've done in some time. I miss the result. I don't miss the process. Time will tell what techniques I end up choosing in the long run.

Turbulence

This one was cathartic. She's trapped, stuck in her hole, while the world ends all around her. But she's reading about happier days, if somewhat remorseful, trying her best to pretend everything will be okay.

The Old Man and the Sea Serpent

A sea serpent saw a big tanker.
He put a hole in the side and he sank 'er.
He swallowed the crew,
in a minute, or two...
And picked his teeth with the anchor.

Giant Squid

I had much bigger ambitions for this painting, but I got scared. Initially he was going to be attacking a ship, and there was a big scene around him. I wasn't sure that he'd turn out though, mainly because I'm not used to working with red, which I'm trying to overcome. So maybe I'll do a bigger version someday, since it mostly worked out fine for me here.

Within Reach, Within Sight

I created a companion for the little boy with the stretchy noodle arm. Sorry, no clever poems to accompany this one.

Big man in a small town

This one was fun to paint. I was working with flat stenciling and masking, trying to give it a really crisp and clean feel. It worked out for the most part, especially on the character himself. The edges are so crisp and mechanical that it almost looks like a vector.

Draw me a Sheep

I did this little guy for a printed Illustration collective called the Pocketful Illustration Magazine. The theme was "draw me a sheep". I didn't have any clever ideas, or brilliant concepts, so it's an exercise in composition and colour that turned out better than I had hoped.

I know this is pretty small to see what's going on, these skinny horizontal images don't fit well into the blog format. The original is just as unwieldy, it's a large painting and I'm running out of wall space. However, my heart has enough space for a lifetime of paintings no matter how awkward their dimensions. Unless they've got pointy edges or something.

Wooden Fish

This little guy was just a test to see if I could cut a character and objects out of wood. As you can see, I could. But it was very annoying, so don't expect to see it often :P

Flowers of Indecision

Just some flowers, painted in a fury of indecision. When I don't know what to draw or paint, I often think, "might as well do some flowers". I can't decide if I like or hate them, but here they are regardless.

Within Reach

This little guy, reached for the sky,
and in this case, he reached up into space.
Who knew that in June, he'd shake hands with the moon?
or have a star linger, on the tip of his finger?

Northern Lights

Have you ever seen the northern lights? I've seen them 3 times, only once in my adult life. They're something spectacular. It's like one of those moments that make you wonder what it would be like to experience this without knowing the science behind it. As if it were thousands of years ago, with no explanation of why it's happening, to see lights in the sky as vivid as these would certainly be something magical.

Spring Showers

Start your engines, spring is here!
Let's go outside and play!
But wait, it seems we can't, my dear...
the sky is dark and grey.

And I think, my dear, I see some rain...
In fact I'm sure I do.
Getting wet is such a pain,
this I know is true

But you know what else is true, my dear?
The rain will go away.
So wait with me and stay in here,
and soon enough we'll play.

Wooden Wonders

These are just a few small paintings I did to get warmed up in my new studio. They were also the first batch of paintings that I made on wood and cut with a saw.

Whaleboy of the Sea

Just you watch, and you will see,
the majestic flight of the Whaleboy of the Sea.
He's graceful enough below the water, you'll agree...
but then he soars above the waves with glee.
Like a rocket blast, and on the count of three,
he and breaks the bonds of gravity.
A beautiful life, it seems to me...
Oh Whaleboy, how I envy thee.

Skyboy and Spacegirl

It's no secret that I'm a child at heart. There's something cathartic about flinging children about in the air, and up to the stars. I think the 10 year old within myself is indulging his life long fantasy of being able to fly, breathe underwater, or visit space. For now, drawing my fantasies is as close as I'll come.

Loch Ness Monster Parade

I like the 2nd one from the right. He's a cutie.

Flowerfully Turtleriffic

The turtle lost a bet. Now he's got to be the flower's personal chauffeur for a month. Luckily the flower has agoraphobia, so he doesn't like to go out often.

:o

Smoking

Thank heavens I never took up smoking. I'm the type of person, with my oral fixation and addictive personality, that would smoke himself into an early grave.

If you're a smoker, quit. Seriously, it's time to grow some willpower. You may hate me for saying it so bluntly, but deep down you know I'm right.

What's wrong with the world?

The fish that I loved

The Nowhere Man

The task at hand here was to represent "Nowhere Man", which turns out to be more difficult than it seems at first. I mean, how do you draw someone that is "nowhere"? It's like setting a pad and pen in front of someone and saying "pick up this pen and drawn nothing".

Fish with Milk

I went through a phase at once point where almost everything I drew or painted had something to do with food. I think I was on a diet at the time.

A flower

I've always had a soft spot in my heart for this guy. Something about the moment of his creation felt really significant to me at the time, and I feel the impact of the discoveries I made while creating pieces like this one on my paintings today.

Bath time

It's me in the bathtub!
why look at me go...
Scrub a dub dub,
clean from head to toe!

The Man from Eritrea

This little guy is "The Man from Eritrea", illustrated for an article about oppression and freedom of speech in Eritrea. The black stuff coming out of his mouth is anti-oppression verbiage.

The past...

I thought it might be a good idea to make my first post on my new site an homage to the past of andrejolicoeur.com. Since I'm a forward thinker, let's get this out of the way and move on to fresh pastures.

The old andrejolicoeur.com:
· Gallery
· Blog
· The Worm

andrejolicoeur.com v.1:
· Site
· Blog