blech.

This is a quick portrait that I drew, and totally hate, but Jammer seemed to like it so I thought I would post it anyway.

New Pen! New Pen!

I am in love with my new fountain pen.
It draws like a dream, all fluid-y and non skip-y.
Yep.

RARR

button up!

This guy LOVES following the rules.

I've been messing around lately with these small portraits, trying to do one every day or so. They're experimental, using a variety of media and techniques. More to come.

The Missus On Wallpaper

Hunky Meat Cube

Pow! Portrait 2

Peasant-y Portrait

I've been focusing on portraits lately, I find them to be always challenging and interesting. Here's a particularly sad little individual, I was trying to paint her very quickly and not overwork it.

water + color = happytimes

Looking at Jillian's watercolor posts made me realize that I miss painting with that medium. It has special qualities, which is kind of how my mom describes me.

Me on TV

That's right - CityTV recently did a little piece for the Avant Garden Market Mall project...

see it here

awarded...

Thanks to Communication Arts for choosing me to be a part of their Illustration Annual again this year! The Market Mall 'Avant Garden' pieces will appear in the annual this summer.
Thanks also to American Illustration 28 for choosing one of my Breast Cancer feature pieces for their book! Very much appreciated.
Also, I was nominated for the National Magazine Awards for a spot illustration, so I'll have to wait and see about that one.

Nudy Tuesday

Avant Garden Part Deux

Here are some shots of my work in situ, along with a few shots of the editioned posters that were created for the mall as giveaways. They packaged them with a lovely ribbon and an artist's statement. Salut!

stupid pig

Avant Garden!

If you visit Market Mall by May 1st you'll see the posters I created for their Spring campaign "Avant Garden". Above are the final images that were printed as banners, posters, coloring pages, and various other applications throughout the mall. I worked with great people on this project, Zero Gravity's Kristen Ruggles, Cheryl Shepherd, Dan King, and Rob Fairhead. And of course my Colagene rep for this project: Ariel Tarr!
Below is a snapshot of some of my process for this particular project...

Humbrol high.

Nudy Tuesday

some scribbles from last night's drawing session...

My poor goat.

Nudy Tuesday

Some selections from figure drawing last night, really great model. Lean, dancer-like body, great dynamic poses. One of the best models I've seen, and enjoyable and challenging to draw!

Black, White and Red all over.

Some recent sketchbook activity.

Colagene, Society, Pépère

I am pleased to announce that I am now represented by the agency Colagene, check them out at Colagene.com. They will cover Europe, US, UK and Canada, and I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do together!

Some more happy news, I have 4 pieces accepted into Society of Illustrators LA Illustration West 47. That's a mouthful. Or a fistful, since I'm typing.

Here's a portrait I did over the holidays, of mon pépère.

Merry Christmas!

figure drawing

figure drawing

Went figure drawing last night with Le Jacket and Dena...Great curvy model...

gallery visits

I saw some great work today from current illustration students at ACAD, strong figurative and conceptual illustrations that are worth taking a look at. You have to hurry though, the show's only up until December 5. (Photo Mike Kerr)



Also visited Newzones, some interesting paintings by Kevin Sonmor

Visit my store!

My etsy store is stocked up, plus I'm adding new items as I create them....
KarenHasCabinFever.etsy.com

sketchbook

a little process...

Here's a small test painting I did for my Fashion Portraits show...

Messin' Around

Some recent sketchbook activity...The first one I did right after reading "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield. A good book that I read around once a year, it gives me a kick in the butt. If you're a creative person and sometimes struggle with motivation, read it.

Home Sweet Home Sale

I'm participating in a sale on November 23 with 11 very talented people - we will all be selling our unique, handmade wares from 11am to 5pm. Bring a friend!

Fashion Portrait Show

Here are some snaps of my show that was up for Sep/Oct at Shisomiso (and one shot of the paintings in progress on my studio wall). Thank you Irene and Victoria, the two sweeties who are Shisomiso.

A month off, sleeping, and chocolate.

So it turns out that taking time off is REALLY good for getting the creative batteries charged up. Go figure. I'm slowly starting to realize that being busy doesn't mean I'm being productive, and that getting adequate sleep is important if I want to come up with good ideas and make work that I'm happy with.
I took a month off over September and October, and part of that time was spent in Los Angeles. I have a cousin who lives there and she's also an artist, and we cooked up a plan to work on a project together (which is top secret, until we're further along) and I'm very excited to start working on it. I have around 314 cousins (not far from the truth, I would count them all right now but I can't count that high) and I'm happy that there's one who is on the same creative planet as I am. One that I know about, anyways, there could be more but how does one get to know 345 people? I guess that's what French Canadians did before t.v., they had babies.
Anyways, during my stay we rode bikes alot (she lives near the beach), I taught her how to silkscreen, we worked on our top secret project (T.S.P.), we ate chocolate, slept in, made art late at night, went to the opening of Kent Williams' show (TRES BIEN), and borrowed internet from unsuspecting neighbors. I also enjoyed taking secret photos on the beach (hence the attractive surfer man) and visiting Urban Country & Obsolete, two amazing stores (more like mini museums) with so many wonderful old things in them. Oh yeah, and one day we ate brunch at a nice little cafe and Sissy Spacek was at the next table. How LA.

kk

finally, a studio companion to help pass the lonely days.

I've wanted a studio pet for a long time, preferably a dog who will lay around, not pooping or shedding or smelling like a dog. I really love dogs, but I don't love the 'realities' of having one, so when I saw this glorious cat (at the thrift store, of course) I knew she was destined to live out her days as my studio buddy. And unlike the breathing variety of feline, she doesn't puke up hairballs, poo in my flower bed, or act bitchy.
Perfect!

it's promo time again?

Sooooo, I decided it was high time to unleash some promotional material into the universe, you know, since there isn't enough paper out there - and here is what resulted: 408 screenprinted envelopes in lovely (dizzying) shades of pink, yellow, green, purple and blue.
Also known as Punky Brewster's color palette.
They were printed by yours truly, and I haven't printed that many of anything before so it was a good experiment.

I call this: "Self-portrait as a Pissed Off Vampire".

This year, I decided to keep my costume simple.
happy halloweenie.

figure drawing

KingShit.org

KingShit.org has posted artist profiles for the Element Eden charity shows that I'm participating in, check it out - lots of great talent!

More Shows!

I have work in upcoming group shows for Element Eden in Toronto at Resistor Gallery and in Vancouver at Chapel Arts. Also, I have a solo show opening this week at Shisomiso Boutique & Gallery.

Old School Show at Uppercase Gallery

pretty much

effen

Some NYC

Oh yeah...

go visit my new website (karenklassen.com) -
If you happen to be on a pc and are using Firefox 3 as your browser, you may have issues when trying to view my image galleries. Until I get that figured out, you can always check out my altpick page....

Hey, thanks American Illustration!

They've included me as one of their picks for their awards annual.... AI27.

Hey, thanks Comm Arts!

See me on pages 24 and 25 of this year's annual...

Hey, thanks 3x3!

3x3 Illustration Magazine awarded me a silver medal for one of my editorial illustrations.
Thank you!!

ICON 5

I just got back from New York city where I attended ICON 5 - an illustration conference that bounces around the US every couple of years. It was great, and it did what I was hoping it would do. Lately I feel like I've been on a bit of a hamster wheel in terms of my work life, and the passion was waning. Being at ICON and meeting other illustrators was a great reminder that I'm really lucky to be doing what I'm doing, and that I love love creating stuff. I think I was just a little burnt out.

But now I'm back and ready to go!
And, as an extra special bonus, while I was away I missed half of the Craptastic Calgary Stampede! Does life get any better? I think not.

Here are some of the great illustrators I met at the conference, along with some I already knew and had the chance to catch up with.

Raymond Biesinger
Joe Cepeda
Doug Fraser
Doug Jones
Ted McGrath
Andrew Mitchell
Chris Silas Neal
Nathan Santistevan
Terry Shoffner
Marcos Sorensen
Riccardo Stampatori
Jillian Tamaki
Sam Weber

Cabin Fever Press

Thank you to Shelley Boettcher at the Calgary Herald for this write-up and photo op of the upcoming Portobello Show. The sale is only two weeks away - mark your calendar!
-K

New Craft Collective SPRING SALE

Yep, it's that time again. Time for another sale with the NCC girls - I have all new Cabin Fever designs and illustrations...Come check it out!

Applied Arts illustration awards

Applied Arts chose some of my work for their illustration annual again this year, thanks Applied Arts!

Hey! That's me in Snowboard Canada Magazine.

Big thanks to SBC!

t n 'eh

back to figure drawing...

on the 'easel'

work in progress...

New Screenprint - Knit Won, Purl Too

Snowboards

Here are a few sketches for some snowboard designs I've been working on...

Canadian Business portrait

...of Mr. Leonard Asper. Now on newsstands

Orchard Park Mall

This past summer/fall I did some work for Orchard Park Mall in
Kelowna. It consisted of ad illustrations for bus kings and in-mall banners as well as a paper doll direct mailer. I also did the hand lettering.

screenprinty fun time

i'm taking a screenprinting class right now and it is sooooo fun. here's some stuff i made.

more press more press

Press!

Some nice press for my Cabin Fever line...

New Craft Collective - Fall Sale!

Same location as last time. Stop by and say hi! I have some new designs in my Cabin Fever line.

figure drawing

LOTS of new work on my website...

what are you waiting for? go look at it. karenklassen.com

New Cabin Fever Stuff...

I've been making some more Cabin Fever stock....check out my store to see what's new! KarenHasCabinFever.etsy.com

K

The Shatner

Here's my version on Mr. Shatner for the Shatner show which is up for the remainder of August at Uppercase Gallery. I wanted to capture his Captain Kirk 'seduction' look, which is what I remember the most about watching old Star Trek reruns. I received some good news that my painting sold...

OH. YEAH.

so this post isn't art related. i think it's still worthy.
i found this stub for the first concert i ever attended.
i was 11, ok? so shut it.

Gifts

I made some gifts for the newish babies of some friends, inspired by my Cabin Fever line...

My Etsy Store

Hey!
Check out my Etsy store, there are a few prints in it so far, and I will soon have more prints and my Cabin Fever textiles collection in there as well...
karenhascabinfever.etsy.com

Second Lifers

the obsession continues

Yes, you guessed it - more dolls.
Why won't they leave me alone?

Cabin Fever

So, I've been working hard on creating a line of home accessories - it's called Cabin Fever.
"A line of artful home accessories that begins with 100% cotton sateen and adds vintage trims and screenprinted illustrations. Each piece is unique."
For a long time now I've been trying to figure out a way to marry my illustration work with textiles (because I've been sewing forever and I love it). A couple weeks ago I was part of a sale with 10 other artists, and that was the official launch of my Cabin Fever line. As a result of that sale, I now have some stores interested in my work, and my stuff will also be in Fashion Magazine in the summer. How great is that!
I'll be selling my stuff on my etsy site very soon - stay tuned!
Here are a few of the items that I have so far - aprons, potholders, pillowcases, boudoir pillow, tea towels, and prints of some of my illustration pieces. The one photo is my sale setup at the hall, with my sweet dad sitting behind the table. My parents drove down to help that weekend, they are so amazing :)

sketchbook

New Craft Collective - KA-BLOOM!

sketchbook

figures....

drop in figure drawing session....

The New Craft Collective

I'm participating in a show and sale with The New Craft Collective on May 11, 4-10 pm (no minors) and May 12, 10-5pm at the Carpenter's Union Hall, 310-10th St NW Calgary. I'll be selling prints of some of my work, as well as my new line of home accessories. (images of home line to come....)

The Shatner Show

I have a piece in the upcoming "Shatner Show" at Uppercase gallery, here's where you can read the Captain's Blog: http://uppercase.squarespace.com/captains-blog/
I'll keep you posted as to a show opening date...There's a book that goes along with the show, here's the cover

awards and stuff...

I recently found out I won some awards, which is always nice news to receive...At the top: a book cover I illustrated and designed - Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design. Middle 7 images won awards for this year's Applied Arts Illustration Annual, and bottom image won best illustration in the Alberta Magazines Showcase Awards. Thank you, greatly appreciated.

window illustrations

I've recently completed some illustrations for a local wine store, the artwork is printed on adhesive vinyl that sticks to the inside of the shop windows. There are six windows that will be covered in the illustrations, giving it a mural effect.
neato.
I'll post a photo of the shop after the vinyl has been installed.

The Shatner Show!

Yes! - a show all about The William Shatner. Visit the website at TheShatnerShow.com. I'm lucky enough to be participating in the show - and I can't show you my piece yet (it's a secret) but here's a tiny bit of it...