Hello all!! The time has come for my first official exhibition as an artist! For the month of February I will be showcasing some of my wildlife works at the Fish Creek Environmental Learning Center!! This is a very exciting opportunity for an emerging artist such as myself, and I’m stoked to be able to display my work throughout the entire building! I will be having an opening reception on Saturday, February 9th! Please contact me for times and details if you do not already have me as a friend on Twitter (VividEarthArt) or Facebook (Vivid Earth Art by Shayla Tansey)!!! It’s interesting to showcase some of my earlier works, as I’ve strayed away from creating a lot of wildlife pieces as I become emerged in other projects and grow as an artist but I encourage any of you who enjoy art to come and check it out! I’ve got pastels, charcoal, and ink pieces featured in the show and there’s a little something for everyone!  Over the weekend I went and snapped some photographs of what’s going on at the Centre and i’m very pleased with how they set everything up! Not to mention, it’s located in the lovely Fish Creek Park, perfect to stop in after a nice stroll through the trees! Enjoy the gallery, hope to see you there!!

“Love Struck” ink on paper, © 2012 Shayla Tansey

“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.”
― William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Sometimes I like to delve into some Shakespeare and reading that quote inspired me to get to work on a new piece. Hope you enjoy “Love Struck”.

“Dance” , ink on paper, © 2012 Shayla Tansey

Now that I’ve discovered how much I enjoy working with ink I have about a million more ideas I’d like to get down on paper. Of course this comes at an extremely busy time of my life, as I’m moving this week, going into an art show on the weekend, and in the middle of three other projects. I always find that my creativity comes in waves. There are days when I’m so unmotivated and have zero ideas and then there are days when I feel like there just isn’t enough hours in the day and I’m up until 6am working. Since I love to be way behind the times with any shows (I don’t have cable) I recently got into the Vampire Diaries and that was definitely a big inspiration behind this piece, seeing constant red spewed everywhere. That, and my curiosity to use red ink resulted in “Dance”.  I’ve always been interested in taking a dance class so maybe once my life settles down a bit I’m going to have to make that a reality. Looking through all the pictures of couples doing the tango, I think it’d be a great way to stay in shape and learn some new skills, not to mention the potential to stir up some serious passion on the dance floor….

“Winter”, ink on paper © 2012 Shayla Tansey

I get grumpy when I have to scrape ice off of my car. I don’t like wearing 8 layers of clothing. I often question why I inhabit this country in this miserable weather…I don’t ski or snowboard and generally lock myself indoors for the majority of the 9 Canadian winter months….but sometimes, about twice every winter on a beautiful clear night right after a lovely snowfall, I can appreciate the beauty of winter. The way the snow settles on the trees making the branches droop…the white snow reflecting the moonlight perfectly so that it lights up everything even in the dead of night, giving everything a blue tint…and the smooth contours of the untouched snow before it’s been stepped on and dirtied by people tromping through it are rather magnificent and at least for a couple minutes I understand how some people choose winter as their favorite season. I had one of those moments the other night and wanted to capture it using some blue ink so I picked up a pen and got to work. I like the simplicity of this one and it was my first piece using solely blue ink. While I’ll always have a spot in my heart for summer as a choice season, I am indeed looking forward to a white Christmas and a kiss under the mistletoe at the Zoolights, so I guess I can’t say winter is ALL bad.
Before we have to deal with THIS anyways…

“Koi”, ink on paper © 2012 Shayla Tansey

So glad I finally got this down on paper. I’ve had this idea floating around in my head for some time now and have kept getting distracted by other things. After being inspired by a friend’s ink drawings I decided it was time for me to pick up a pen and go for it. This is my first piece of work using ink and it definitely won’t be my last. Not too much else to say about this one. Get inspired, go use a different medium than what you’ve already experimented with. It’s exhilarating and when was the last time you did something for the first time?

http://realbanksy.tumblr.com/

It’s funny how the smallest things can have the biggest impact on your life. I’m having some trouble sleeping tonight which I’ll admit isn’t unusual for me. When that happens I’m always thankful to have the internet for mindless searching to get inspiration or anything that will help put me to sleep (romantic comedies). Often I’ll cruise through Banksy‘s art. His street art has had a huge impact on my life before I even knew who he was. After watching “Exit Through the Gift Shop” I was hooked and realized just how much of his art I’d actually seen and been inspired by. The piece above has gotten me through some tough times in my arduous journey to becoming an independent artist more than anything. I don’t doubt that his work will get me through many more hard times in the future as well. Nothing can inspire my creativity like browsing through his amazing street art. Some images are controversial, some bring a smile to my face but one thing they all have in common is that I’ll never get tired of looking at them.

I find Banksy himself very inspiring because it was never his intention to get famous or become rich from his art and yet he most definitely has. He did his own thing and it worked on a whole new level. Sneaking around to spread his message on walls while avoiding the watchful eyes of the police and anyone who can’t appreciate the value of good street art is quite an amazing thing for a guy who wants to remain anonymous to do. Obviously his anonymity is important in his line of work. I can’t imagine how thrilling putting up one of those giant stencils in the dead of night must be and I’m so happy that the internet has made his work immortalized for others to enjoy before they get washed away. If anything it’s taught me the importance of using my art as a release for myself when I’m emotional or inspired, instead of creating it for others. Banksy may be intending to spread an image or idea occasionally, but he knows full well that his work may not be seen if it gets busted early in the morning or while he’s in the middle of creating it, yet he does it anyways.

I also love his lack of regard for what people think (check out his image of two male cops making out, you KNOW some assholes got in a snit about that one) and intend to be more like that in the future. It’s so easy to listen to the negative and hurtful things that people say, or believe that their hurtful actions are directed at you but in reality everybody is living their own life and chances are they didn’t take two seconds to think about how whatever they did made you feel. Everybody is in their own selfish little bubble with their own selfish little thoughts and selfish little ways of life. I’m not saying that’s always a bad thing, sometimes being selfish can be a good thing in the long run. I find that when I take care of myself first I’m much more likely to start wanting to take care of those around me, am more receptive to other people’s feelings (whether or not I care is another story) and am just generally a more pleasant person to be around because I’m not wasting time thinking about how to please others and worrying that I’m not doing a good enough job. I cease to stress about how much money I should be making, what bills are due, what needs to be done at the office, what my plans are for the weekend, if I’m going to end up a crazy cat lady eating frozen dinners three times a day, etc.  I have one life and the only person I need to answer to is myself. The more I let go of insecurities and embrace being an individual, the more I find that things in my life are starting to come together. It seems the people and opportunities I’ve always desired are becoming integrated in my life, but only since I’ve started thinking more about what I want out of life and not what others expect me to get out of it. I will never, ever let ANYONE cancel MY dreams, they’re only just starting to come true!! Selfish? Absolutely. Going to cause some controversy? Probably. But you bet your ass I’m going to go for it, because turning back isn’t really something I’m good at. Thanks, Banksy, YOU ROCK.

That’s me today

So I woke up to a wonderful surprise today! I got a message from Graham Matthews, an artist who has created Artpromotivate, my favorite online art blog! He’s featuring me in an artist spotlight!!!!! I am so stoked for this opportunity. I highly recommend checking out his blog, he’s got amazing information for artists everywhere and it’s been a HUGE resource for me to learn everything from marketing online to coming up with creative new ideas. This guy knows his stuff. I got the chance to do an interview and he’s also featuring pictures from a few of my pieces. This is amazing and ever so inspiring for a young artist like myself to be on a blog I read every day! Can’t begin to describe how awesome I’m feeling today! Talk about a great way to start the day, I can’t stop smiling!

“Broken Heart” copyright 2012 Shayla Tansey

I’m working on my first collaboration as an artist. I’m beyond excited! A friend of mine who is a wonderful writer has written numerous poems throughout her life and used to exchange them with her grandmother before she passed on. One of my favorite of the poems is called “Broken Heart”. We’ve all had out heart broken at some point in our life, myself more than I like to admit. However, I like to think that each time I get my heart broken I come out a  stronger person and will be a better partner for the next person I date who will be more worth my time since obviously the last one wasn’t. Amber’s poem does an amazing job of  expressing feelings of longing and grief that comes with heartbreak and I can’t wait for people to read her poems. While “Broken Heart” is one of the darker, emotional poems, she has a great mix of work that ranges from hilarious to beautiful. I will be illustrating a little somethin’ somethin’ for most of the approximately 50 poems, using different styles and mediums for each one but for now enjoy a taste of what’s to come with “Broken Heart”, a charcoal creation by yours truly.

“Elephantastic” copyright 2012 Shayla Tansey

Got a request for a piece featuring a mother elephant and her calf at a watering hole. I haven’t done any wildlife pieces for a while so this was a nice change of pace to work on for the long weekend. HB 2 pencil and some sketchpad paper, as well as a couple solid days of work are what brought this one to life. Thanksgiving is a great time to connect with family and friends, as well as get in some good relaxation time and I’m happy to report I got all of that accomplished this weekend. I hope this mother elephant and her baby inspire you to go spend some time with your own mother, best friend, or other loved one today.  I’m really not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. Better eat some more pumpkin pie and enjoy it while it lasts. Happy Thanksgiving, Canadians!

“Heather”, copyright 2012 Shayla Tansey

Well, Warhol, I agree with you. I haven’t been in the art game long, but I’ve always admired Warhol’s style of art for obvious reasons. I wish he would’ve been around longer, he died about 10 months before I was born so I just missed him. He was only 58 when he died, and look at the huge impact he had on modern art! I can only imagine what he could’ve done with a few more years! Bright colors and bold black lines always catch my attention, probably why I enjoy comics so much.  So when a client approached me about making a drawing of his friend, Heather, I was excited to try out something a little out of the ordinary for me and pitched the idea of this style to him. He had sent me a black and white picture initially, and then sent me a different picture with her in color so I could get an idea of her hair and eye color. It’s a good thing he did, in the black and white pic I would’ve assumed she was a brunette with dark eyes….that could’ve been really awkward. Interesting how different adding color can make something look. Anyways, a few hours later this is what I came up with. She’s gorgeous and it was easy to draw her, she really does have the most beautiful blue/green eyes! Enjoy “Heather”!