“til nothings left” [the story]

“TIL NOTHING’S LEFT” as seen here
various sizes
mixed media on canvas

experimental work to tell a story about excessive consumerism. the black with the layers beneath peaking through symbolize movement of this happening before our eyes as we mindlessly and habitually consume til nothing’s left.

the goal of this work isn’t about perfection [you don’t need to be BEST at making more sustainable decisions], it is just to bring awareness to all that we consume and then to maybe try to consume a little less.

consuming less often comes down to using what you’ve already got, prioritizing buying secondhand, choosing people and experiences over things, choosing a career that you love and not for the money [if you learn to buy less you might find you don’t need as much money as you think you do], challenging what you’re told you ‘need,’ appreciating the joy of fresh air on a sunny afternoon, embracing change and all your human thoughts and emotions, making more things with your hands, and appreciating all the simple things life has to offer.

about the process

for each piece in the series [8 total] i used rejected materials such as old canvases from thrift stores and canvases i had previously painted on while learning. the background of each canvas is primarily made up of a collage of old national geographic ‘zines i saved from a literal dumpster once, parts of some of my old art i was no longer fond of, and the paint i never seemed to reach for but wanted to use up before i could justify buying more.

this project had about three very different versions until i really felt like it was ‘done’ but after each version i left it all alone for a couple months before coming back to i

“transparent” [the poem]

i wrote this initially and then used it to inspire the visual behind “transparent” [seen it here]

—

“transparent”

love so freely
be transparent
love what you do
make it impossible to not want to take notes
be kind
everyone is includable
only a fool would miss the heart
don’t join the fools banquet
open your eyes
the fake news, the curated images
the opague ones that hide by design
they’ll leave as fast as they came
as soon as you say something a little too real
they were never for real
as for me?
i’ve got nothing left to hide
the risk is high but the reward higher
wearing my heart on my sleeve simply isn’t enough anymore
i want to cover my flesh with my heart and soul
turn myself inside out and paint my body
with what’s inside for the world to see

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collage stories

mixed media collage work to make some stories without using my words; just something new to play with [and a way to use up some paper i had somehow collected much of]

8×10 or 8×8 inches; some were framed, some not

SHOWN BELOW [IN ORDER]:

“life of an artist”
“bright as ever”
“hearts that want to be seen”
“light a fire”
“outside”
“for the soul”
“seek/find”
“see + know”

ALL SOLD/UNAVAILABLE

rambling hearts [the words]

words that inspired the romantics collection.

all were written quickly with minimal to no editing to mimic the way that we tell stories when we are excited or care deeply about something; different variations evolved over time but this writing strategy stayed.

all artwork shown below is sold

—

“HEART FIRST”

WINTER 2025

version 01
acrylic paint pen on media paper
7x7 inches

“my heart was tired of only doing things for my mind and body. the heart is the leader and it knows best. it’s seldom ‘practical’ but i think we need to shut up, listen, and follow it and this is so often the hardest thing to do of all. the heart beating is the only sign of being alive and i think this says a lot about how humans should live. when the heart fails——when we lose passion and no longer light up about anything, the rest of our being will soon follow. so if we want a long life we ought to put the heart first. maybe then everything will fall into place?”

SUMMER 2025

version 02 [2]
acrylic paint pen on media paper
8x10 inches [11x14 frame] & 4x6 inches [5x7 frame]

“the beating heart is the only sign we’re alive and i think that says a lot about how we ought to live.”

—

“MAKER”

FALL 2023

version 01
high flow acrylic ink on media paper
18×24 inches

“don’t create to distract, create for the joy of it. do it grow——to create a better version of you. make things that give a crack of light in the darkness. do it to heal. do it if you love it. don’t do it if it’s popular if you don’t love it. make what’s inside you. just make things.”

WINTER 2025

version 02
acrylic paint pen on media paper
7×7 inches

“create for the joy of it, not to impress or distract. do it to grow so you create a better version of yourself. make things that give a little bit of light in the darkness. do it to heal even the parts you don’t understand. you will someday. do it if you love it, don’t if you don’t. make what’s within. just make.”

SUMMER 2025

version 03
acrylic paint marker/pen on media paper
8x10 inches [11x14 frame]
4×6 inches [8×10 matte/frame]

“create for the joy of it, never for the fame or fortune. do it to grow, to create the best version of you. make whatever brings you light in all this darkness. do it to heal even what you don’t yet understand. you will one day. do it if you love it, don’t if you don’t. make from within, nothing less. just always make things, okay?”

—

“REAL DREAMER”

WINTER 2025

version 01
acrylic paint pen on media paper
7x7 inches

“people have daydreams but they keep them inside and locked away. they always talk about their grand dreams but never actually even try to do them. maybe for those people it’s more fun to dream. every so often along comes a dreamer who sees it all differently——the one who believes their little dream is not too far fetched to become a reality. they are seen as crazy, impractical, delusional, and have no sense of grounding at all. but the dreamer is the only one who sees what’s real and true. you see, dreams are never meant to stay locked inside our heads forever and the ones who see this are the ones that survive.”

SUMMER 2025

version 02
acrylic paint pen on media paper
8x10 inches [11x14 matte/frame]
4×6 inches [8×10 matte/frame]

“every so often along comes a real dreamer who sees life different. they see their dream as possible to be a reality. the real dreamer is seen as crazy, impractical, and delusional. ‘their head is in the clouds,’ they say about the real dreamer. this real dreamer is the one that sees the truth. you see, dreams aren’t meant to live in our heads but to be used as a compass for our lives and the ones that see this are the ones that survive.”

—

“TOO MUCH”

SUMMER 2025

version 01
acrylic paint marker/pen on media paper
8x10 inches [11x14 matte/frame]
4×6 inches [8×10 matte/frame]

“you give all you’ve got to everything you do. if you’re not 100% in, you’re out. you’re black or white, all or nothin’, love it or hate it, fuck yes!!! or fuck no. no grey area, no middle ground, never neutral. you never half-ass things, you care way too much, you can be obsessive, are kinda crazy, and hate to settle. you rarely take no for an answer on the first try and if anyone could help change the world in a full-assed kinda way, it’s you.”

uncool [the words]

the words that inspired the uncool collection.

all were written quickly with minimal to no editing to mimic the way that we tell stories when we are too excited about something and don’t care if it’s ‘cringe’; different variations evolved over time but this writing strategy stayed.

all artwork shown below is sold; words below are an expansion on the concept from the Almost Famous quote, “the only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with someone else when we’re uncool.”

—

WINTER 2025

version 01
acrylic paint pen on media paper
7x7 inches

“we do a lot but most things are just filling in the blanks of our lives and don’t tell us who we want to be. the moments of total uncoolness are where it’s at. these moments of sloppy joy and big enthusiasm are filled with belly laughs and things far too real to put on social media feeds; these are the moments we remember for years. these uncool parts of our story tell us who we are meant to be and what our life should really look like. fuck being “cool” when the uncool parts are actually what matters most.”

—

SUMMER 2025

version 02
acrylic paint pen on media paper
8×10 inches

“to be uncool means to be yourself——even if you’re not like anyone else. even if you don’t fit in. love what you love, do what ya want and stop following any ‘ol crowd for the hell of it. be your own crowd, be the crowd you want. love the most real version of yourself. when we like ourselves, it shows on the outside and the right crowd can find us. being yourself only may be uncool on the surface, anyway. i think, deep down, it’s the only way to be cool. so, as i always say, stay uncool… stay uncool, and one day you’ll be cool.”

“sure, why not?” [the story]

not available [canvas is in the process of being upcycled into something new]
this project was done primarily as a personal exploration to tell a visual story

—

“sure, why not?”

mixed media on an upcycled wood frame
46x42 inches

about work as we once knew it and work as it is today with changing tech. it shines a light on opportunity and the future of work and subtly suggests it may be more about community, belonging, connection than anything. we never know where opportunity may lead… but the light inside doesn’t lie.

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we were told finding work and a career was simple:

go to school or do training for something of interest and get a job in exactly what we are trained in. back then, we’d walk in and drop off a resume or maybe submit it online or through email, a person would look at it shortly after, we’d have one 30-60 minute interview with a simple follow up call a week or so later and if we were lucky, we would soon be on our way to a good life with a pension plan and paid vacation days. we’ll keep on at this job, climb this corporate ladder in a nice, orderly fashion, and be set for life.

this is what i was told.

this is no longer the way it is.

yet for some reason many organizations are still operating as if this is the way that it is, having applicants apply for a new job in old, tired system and it’s creating friction to the hiring process. both parties are frustrated.

we’re tired of being rejected by non-humans with no feedback. entering the same information that’s already on our resume into form fields over and over again. writing ‘authentic’ cover letters in the hopes of being seen as a person.

is this all worth it?

sure, it might be. it might give you a good life… until they do another round of budget cuts and it might just be you on the chopping block this time. the years you dedicated to this job you fought so hard to get, poof, gone.

what if…

…we started thinking outside the box when it comes to looking for work and seeking workers? with how we should be treating work and what it should be, for our own sanity and health, if nothing else?

what if we loved our jobs? what if we never said “i have to work” but instead “i get to work”? young people today are probably going to be working until we die at this rate, so we might as well love it.

what if the corporate ladder didn’t exist? what if nobody cared about career gaps on resumes? what if we didn’t put our entire sense of self worth into our career and how much money we made and instead we actually found meaningful work that brings us joy? what if everyone had their basic needs met so we didn’t need to work at jobs we hate just for a ‘better life’?

maybe there’s a better way to do all this than we ever imagined… maybe we just need to think outside the traditional cubical, for once.

—

the process:

—

final look:

i showed this at the riversdale art walk in saskatoon at saskatoon makerspace at the end of 2025.

makerspace typically dims the lights for events with hanging patio lights so in addition to that, i hung flashlights on either side of the canvas to move the lights around to see all the details as an immersive treasure hunt experience.

flashback: “sorry, not today”

2016? 2017? idk, somewhere around then.

words + photo by my sister while working with the UN; poster design by me just because the creative inspiration struck.

flashback: “heartbreak dreamer”

a digital poster just for fun as a visual for mat kearney’s song “heartbreak dreamer.” the small text in the background are the lyrics of the spoken part of the song, a part i’ve always especially liked, not meant to be legible or read but rather to add visual interest.

—

draft 1 in a few different colours:

a colouring book for a better world [the story]

It started with these drawings I did in the summer/fall of 2024.

After being laid off at the end of 2024, I took those drawings and made a colouring book in Jan 2025. I didn’t love it [side quest: I revised this one at the end of 2025] so I made another in the spring and made it better.

I got pretty good feedback on the second one, which I sold a bit locally throughout the summer, so I started thinking about the third.

I wanted to do something different this time. I didn’t want to draw a bunch of new illustrations myself. And I wanted to make something that actually made a real, tangible difference somewhere in this weird little world.

I like the saying “do what you can with what you have” when it comes to volunteering or contributing at all; I learned this from my favourite band during the walk era in 2007 with the one-mile barefoot walks before each show. Between the handful of barefoot miles in, too many pairs of TOMS shoes, and a banner I made during class and printed on campus before packing it in my carry-on suitcase for three shows in a weekend, it wasn’t a lot… but they were all things I could do.

And for this, one thing I could do and wanted to do… was make books. So I did.

Was it the most perfect project ever?

Of course, not. But I made it work with what I had, it made a lil difference, and it got me a little more involved with the community to help in a pretty big way.

the rock boat no. 12

ABOUT

following a music festival [on a boat] i went on once, i made this short editorial book mostly as a keepsake for me but mostly because i like to make books like this.

my intention was never to sell it but i decided to keep it general and focused more on the music than anything to make it more timeless with the potential to share [if this book happens to live longer than me, maybe someone will discover a new favourite from it?]

photos are my own; lyrics throughout were carefully selected, credited, and come from artists on the boat or cover songs performed on the boat that year

this camera is going into retirement / summer + fall 2025

taken with a pentax k1000; unedited, miscellaneous shots from summer + fall

“flashback: “the reckoning” book

2011

still pretty early in my career, i was itching to explore typography in weird ways, so i made this ‘zine style book for the lyrics from needtobreathe’s newest album at the time “the reckoning.”

the project was fully self-initiated and i self published it online via a print on demand site, mainly just to print a copy myself.

a few fans contributed photos to the project (credit given in the book) and a handful of fans purchased the book as well; any proceeds were fully donated to one world health [the band’s charity of choice at the time].

flashback: “sk6ers tour book”

2009

somewhere between school and getting my first design industry job, i thought it’d be fun to make a tour book for this band i loved as the tour was happening. it wasn’t paid work or anything, but they knew about it and even helped a bit with it.

i initiated fans to submit photos, stories, and setlists from each show [credit given] and had the books self-published to a print-on-demand site for a very low cost and allowed fans to order a copy if they wanted to.

“one day, you’ll be cool”

HANDMADE VISUAL JOURNAL [PERSONAL PROJECT]
MAY-JULY 2025

“The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with one another when we’re uncool.”

(almost famous)

—

I don’t know, I just wanted to make a magazine or photo book or something from this lil adventure. I opened up Adobe InDesign as I always have but then got the urge to buy a plain sketchbook and do it all by hand.

The title for this was based off this collection and everything that means; but that collection was actually inspired by this journey, in a way.

tiny useless things [exploration]

HAND BUILT CERAMICS, AIR DRY CLAY, ACRYLIC, AND A FEW OTHER THINGS

—

an exploration to communicate a message about ableism, self worth and human value, and not giving into this never ending need to ask “am i doing/creating enough?” in order to feel productive/successful. the point of life is not to have some profound, grand purpose; our value is not tied to what and how much we produce. i think it’s a good idea to put one of these tiny useless things somewhere to remind you of this.

TINY THINGS SEEN BELOW:

• tiny mugs you can’t drink out of

• tiny vases of (faux) flowers

• tiny buckets you can’t put water in

• tiny (faux) house plants you never have to water

get the heck outside / spring 2025

taken with a pentax k1000; plants, flowers, time outside, and a trip to the zoo

“maybe i just need the beach?”

AIR DRY CLAY, CANVAS, ACRYLIC, JOINT COMPOUND, AND ~ONE MILLION SEASHELLS I’VE COLLECTED OVER THE YEARS

—

nothing more than a fun personal adventure when i was missing the beach during the depths of winter.

flashback: “report to the community”

dimensions when folded 7x10 in; poster dimensions 21x30 in

2012

the report to the community was an annual project i often worked on in my role at usask that summarized the biggest news stories across campus from the previous year and was primarily used as something to give out at campus and community events for free.

what was often a typical brochure/booklet, one day i thought, “maybe it could start as a book but then also be a poster?”

i wanted something that could be hung up around offices and be out of the way [imagine a desk, clutter free] once it was read to maybe make the lifespan a bit longer. the relatively new [at the time] brand slogan words acted as a nice way to introduce the stories, too.

a project that never quite happened: “our six”

In 2019 I was asked to participate in Spreadshow called “Our Six,” a local design show in Saskatoon. “We are all Treaty People” is a refrain for those inside Canadian Treaty boundaries. Participants were asked to design a logo to explore and visually portray the aspects of living within Treaty 6 territory and show the process work next to the final artwork as a visual juxtaposition.

This project was done on a volunteer/community basis and was delayed and then cancelled due to COVID-19. Even though this project never saw the light of day, I still enjoyed the process… so, I suppose some good still came out of it.

initial sketches:

a sneak preview of the final design:

digital concepts and sketches:

“fire inside” [the story]

version 01, 02, and 03; version 03 was part of this collection

version one

in the summer of 2024, i made this painting one day just for me. i didn’t spend a lot of time on it and i didn’t have a plan. i just started painting, adding one part at a time and a felt like i was led by a fire inside.

naturally, i named it fire inside. it felt a bit personal so i had no current plans to sell it.

version two

in december 2024, i met this song that i loved.

“never seen a fire, like the one inside her;
even when she’s tired she could melt sierra snow
and make the goldenrod grow”
[broken bow by john calvin abney]

the song felt like music to go with this painting i did, so one night i [impulsively] bought handwritten lyrics of the song from the artist knowing i’d frame them and put them near the artwork. i recklessly ripped the canvas off the original frame and planned to put the lyrics in a frame juxtaposed next to the canvas. again, moving without much a plan, i updated the original painting to be a little more bold [and, of course, fix some parts to the original canvas that i no longer loved].

version three (the final version)

in april 2025, i had just bought this small (about 11x14 in) wood frame from a thrift store and wasn’t sure what to do with it, but it felt like a good piece for a collage…

at the same time, version two didn’t feel right anymore. i still loved the song and the handwritten lyrics, so i reframed those on their own.

and then i started recklessly cutting up the canvas art just enough so that it fit onto this wood frame. again, not much of a plan here other than knowing i wanted to collage it back together to fit in this new-but-old frame. i sorta wanted it to look like a bit of a rough mess because that is often what the fire inside looks like.

once the canvas was back in place, sort of, i added a bunch of random things to build on the story [paint, oil pastel, ‘zine cut outs, construction paper cut outs, etc] to the canvas once again led by the fire inside. no plan, no vision, just purely led by an inner fire and knew it was done [three versions later] when i felt it.

[sold in aug 2025, a few months after sharing it for sale]