My sketchbook for Brooklyn Art Library’s Sketchbook Project.

Since I don’t exactly “sketch”, I decided to work my patterns through every page. Let’s call it drawing a cosmic pattern and noting my thoughts along the way.

I really enjoy participating in projects like these ones. People from around the world will be contributing their sketchbook to the library, which will then be exhibited in NYC on June 23rd as well as put together in a book being published this fall.

Some homemade stickers.. for recreational use (haha)..

I’ve been putting my creative energy into my sketchbook for “The Sketchbook Project” (Brooklyn Art Library). Since I don’t actually “sketch”, I’m working with geometric patterns to fill the pages. I’ve been playing around with stencil geometry for the past few months and have produced a number of pieces with just a pen and a stencil. I’m now trying these patterns on larger canvases with larger stencils. Once everything is complete (the individual pieces, the canvases, the sketchbook) I’ll post the whole project on here and maybe give away a couple pieces.

One final thing I wanted to say was thank you to everyone who has supported and is continuing to support my book The Transcribed Photographs either by purchasing a copy or simply contacting me with kind words. This is a project which I feel has really grown some legs and it’s sort of exciting for me. I’ve been brainstorming some new ideas which stem from the book, so this won’t be the last you see of the imageless photographs!

Putting some prints to work at Centrepointe cafe in Nepean.

My book The Transcribed Photographs is happily part of the Drift Station’s “Bookstore” exhibit, which opened March 2nd in Lincoln, Nebraska.

I love my Typewriter very much. I started using a typewriter a while ago because I don’t use the computer much to write (doesn’t feel right). It’s sort of become a multi use object, and I use it in place of a printer as much as possible. These contact cards took substantial manual work but it’s worth it. I might make a little tutorial video or blog post on how to make business/contact cards with a typewriter (if there isn’t one already) because I highly recommend it. Plus, it’s nice because every card is unique and it feels great to hand out something you’ve spent good time on. (I’m big on DIY and the notion of NOT outsourcing your life!)

“Jails and prisons are designed to break human beings, to convert the population into specimens in a zoo – obedient to our keepers, but dangerous to each other.”

“We have to talk about liberating minds as well as liberating society.”

I post this not only in light of Black History Month, but possibly sparking an interest in anyone who may come by this and want to learn more about Angela Davis and her work.

So I have just sent another batch of books out, and I have to say I’m really excited about this. It feels great to share this project with so many people so quickly, and the support has been awesome. For those who had the chance to get one of the thirty free copies, you should be receiving it any day now! I hope it’s as meaningful to you as it is to me.

For anyone who would like a copy, it’s available for purchase on my site fromvenus.ca

It’ll also be available to view and purchase at Drift Station in Lincoln, Nebraska and Monastiraki in Montreal, Quebec. (amongst other venues. I’ll post more details soon)

(The photo above shows my postcards as well, which are being shared on fromvenus.ca)

This project is an experiment of being a photographer without a camera. By transcribing an image instead of capturing an image, I hope to allow the viewer to see what they would naturally see. My intention is not to demean the importance of a photograph, but to explore the the mind’s habitual imagination.

The concept stemmed from an absence of opportunity to take the photographs I wanted to be taking. I would write down descriptions of the ideas in my mind, but a photograph would rarely eventuate. I found an effectiveness in the descriptions, there was an imagined visual to go with everything I was writing. As a result, the images in my mind became transcribed, the words were arrange and ultimately framed, becoming inherently ambiguous.

This experiment came full-circle when I recalled an article I had read about blind photographers. It detailed a photo exhibit which could be attended by the visually-impaired. Below each exhibited photograph on the wall, a description was written in brail to be read by those unable to “see” the photograph. Thus is the basis of The Transcribed Photographs: our minds are the true image makers.

Read a review here, here, or listen to an audio review here.

Would you like a copy of The Transcribed Photographs? 

A page from my book, my favourite one