Category: Paintings

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Expo ’26 – Back Home and Back to Work

Another Calgary Expo is in the books. If you’ve been around for a while, you know how this goes, so I won’t bore you with a play by play.

Sales ended up almost identical to last year, within about twenty bucks, which is oddly precise. Not a record year, but still well worth my time. As always, it’s not just about the money.

The best part, and the reason I keep coming back, is getting to see so many of you in person. Thank you to everyone who stopped by the booth, said hello, and added to your collections. I never take that for granted. When I first started painting these funny looking animals, I had no idea if anyone would connect with them. Every year, you show me that you do, and that keeps me going. Talking with all of you refills my creative tank and makes me want to paint more.

I tried something new at the Banff Christmas Market last year, but this was the first time I brought it to Expo. A small display screen with sped-up painting footage, along with a couple of signs that said “NOT AI. NOT PHOTOS.” Both got a lot of positive reaction. People are paying attention, and they care how the work is made. That matters more than ever right now.

On the first morning of the show, sitting in my hotel room, I recorded a quick, unscripted video for YouTube. Nothing polished, just me talking into my phone. A few hours later, a young woman came by the booth with her family because she had seen that video that morning. She had never heard of my work before.

That was a nice moment. Also a bit of a kick in the ass. I spend too much time overthinking this stuff. I just have to put the work out there and let it do its job.

One of the most useful parts of Expo is seeing what people actually respond to. I have my own favourites, but the real feedback happens at the booth.This year, Peekaboo Panda and the Porcupine did very well, and the Highland Cow continues to be one of my strongest pieces.
But the biggest surprise was the Raven on White painting. It’s a couple of years old now and has always been popular, but for whatever reason, it hit hard this weekend. I sold more of that print than I ever have of any single print at Expo, and I could have sold more if I hadn’t run out.

Not to worry, I’ve got more on the way.

With another raven in progress right now, I’m curious to see if it will resonate as well. It’s one of my favourite subjects to paint.

Saturday threw me a bit. It’s usually the strongest day, but this year Friday was better, and that got in my head more than I’d like to admit. I was back in the hotel that night wondering if my time at this show might be coming to an end.

But I rebooked Sunday morning, and by the end of the day, with very good sales, I’m glad I did. I relearned a lesson I already know. Don’t make big decisions when you’re run down.

I also had a couple of important conversations. I connected with another artist I admire who shared some valuable insight that might lead to something new. I also reconnected with Alex from Renegade Arts about the bear book we’ve talked about for years. I’ve been dragging my feet on it, mostly because I don’t trust my own design skills. That’s on me. Time to deal with it.

Now it’s back to work. The week after Expo is as busy as the week before.

I’ve got cartoons to draw, commissions to finish, works-in-progress and new paintings to start based on everything I saw and heard this weekend. And I need to finally make real progress on the bear book.

Sometime soon, I should probably take a couple of days off. Funny how that’s always my last priority.

I’m working on it.

Cheers,
Patrick

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This Was Never About the Bear

You can watch and listen above, or read the piece below.

As I write this, I’ve just turned 55.

I’ve got a strange relationship with birthdays, especially in recent years. I’ve never been that big on them. They’ve often felt more like an obligation than a celebration, something I’m expected to enjoy for other people.

Twice a year, I experience a certain flavour of melancholy. New Year’s is one, my birthday is another. It starts a few weeks out, taking stock of where I’m at and feeling like I haven’t done what I meant to in the year that’s passed.

Which is a bit ridiculous, because if I try to name what I actually wanted to do, it’s a mix of specific things, like finishing my bear book or getting out for more wildlife experiences, and vague ones, like doing less doomscrolling, painting more, and yes, making more money.

I’ve never claimed to be above that.

Money may not buy happiness, but it does offer security.

In the months between New Year’s and my birthday this year, I’ve been taking more stock than usual. Not because I want to slow down. I don’t. Time off isn’t good for me. An overactive creative mind left idle tends to wander into places I’d rather it didn’t.

But I’ve become acutely aware that 40 doesn’t feel that long ago. And yet, it’s the same distance between then and now as it is between now and 70.

That lands differently.

I still have a lot of work I want to do. I don’t think I’ve done my best work yet. I’m still improving. I’ve spent most of my art career agreeing with those grade school teachers who wrote the same thing in my report cards. Patrick isn’t living up to his potential.

Those demons are always around. I don’t mind calling them what they are, my own particular brand of batshit crazy, but I’ve come to accept they’re tied to the same place the work comes from.

That’s the trade.

Physically, I’m in decent shape. A few more aches, worse sleep, more bad dreams, a little less tolerance for things I used to shrug off. Nothing alarming. But I’m not naive about where I am on the timeline.

I’m seeing more obituaries for people my age. Some younger. People I’ve known, or at least known of, for years. Heart attacks. Cancer. Strokes. Plans that didn’t get finished.

Didn’t they all think they had more time?

I don’t fear death itself. But I do think about the stretch between now and then more than I used to. I have an acute awareness that the runway isn’t endless.

So what does that have to do with art and funny looking animals?

My start in this career wasn’t early. I didn’t even consider doing this for a living until my late 20s. I’ve been full-time for twenty years now, and for most of that time, I’ve felt like I’ve been trying to catch up.

To who, I couldn’t tell you.

A lot has gone right, some of it by design, some by accident. I never got an editorial cartoonist contract with a daily newspaper, something I really wanted in the early 2000s. In hindsight, I’m grateful for that. Staying self-syndicated meant I still have that part of my business, long after most of those staff jobs disappeared.

Nobody is more surprised than I am that I’m still drawing editorial cartoons every day.

In those early years, I threw a lot at the wall. Some of it stuck, most of it didn’t. Or at least that’s how it felt at the time.

I spent years drawing caricatures of celebrities and regular folks, taking commissions for birthdays and weddings. I did contract illustration work for board games, everything from game cards to box art. I even went down the animation rabbit hole for a while, learning software, recording voiceovers, trying to figure out if that was a direction worth pursuing.

Even though it wasn’t, none of that time was wasted. Every one of those detours built skills I still use.

And one of those experiments became the work I enjoy most, my whimsical wildlife portraits. I painted the first one in 2009 with no real plan. It was just fun, so I did another. Now there are well over a hundred, plus all the sketches and half-finished ideas sitting in folders.

That part worked out.

But something has shifted this year. Maybe it’s the number. Maybe it’s just time doing what time does. Either way, the question feels louder now.

How many more years do I get to do this?

I’m not being dramatic, I’m being practical.

I don’t need a big deal made about my birthday. It matters to me for reflection, but I don’t want it to be a social thing anymore.

A couple of years ago, I rented a cabin for my birthday and went there by myself, just to think.

And it didn’t work.

Because there were the birthday texts. Emails. Phone calls. All well-intentioned. People reaching out because they care. And I answered.

Which pulled me out of it.

That’s when it hit me that it’s not just about wanting the time. It’s about protecting it.

For most of my career, I’ve spent more time running the business than doing the work. Marketing, promotion, logistics, all necessary parts of the job, but they come at a cost.

Time.

And I’ve given too much of it away.

To projects I didn’t really want to take on. To requests I said yes to just to be polite. To things that had nothing to do with the work I actually care about.

I’ve let other people’s agendas, criticisms, and priorities dictate my direction, even when I knew better. I went along to get along. And I regret that.

I can’t afford that anymore.

These days, it’s a polite no.

Because they’re not minting more time.

Even writing this, I caught myself wondering if it sounds too dark. If I should lighten it up, because people just want happy animals and not my voice in their ear going on about this stuff.

But honestly, who am I to decide what people want?

Before I painted my first whimsical grizzly bear, nobody was asking for it. It connected with some people who were already following my work, and then more people came along who liked my brand of wildlife painting, too.

With less time ahead than behind, I don’t have the luxury of trying to be everything to everyone.

The people who like the work, the funny looking faces and the writing that goes with it, will stick around.

Those who don’t will find what they’re after somewhere else. No hard feelings.

We’re all living on borrowed time.

I’d like to spend more of mine on the things that make it bearable.

Gentle Grizzly


 

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Peekaboo Panda

SORRY FOLKS! Put the wrong link in the New Prints email. You can see the video here.

 

 

Here’s a brand new painting I’m calling Peekaboo Panda.

At first glance, this one looks like a pretty simple idea. A red panda popping out of the bamboo with a curious expression. But paintings like this often come with a bit more planning than people might expect.

The inspiration for this one was a photo I took at the Calgary Zoo one day. I don’t always share my reference photos, but in this case I thought it might be interesting to show the pose that sparked the idea. For the colour, lighting, and texture, I used several other photos I’ve taken over the years.

A recurring theme in some of my posts is the difference between art for fun and art for a living.

In an ideal situation, I would just choose an animal I want to paint, find or take some reference, put a whimsical spin on it, and enjoy the process. And to be fair, that still happens often enough to keep me interested while painting my funny-looking animals.

But this work is also how I pay my bills, so I have to think about what comes after the painting is finished.

When I start a painting, I usually work at the same dimensions because I know the final print will most often be 11×14, either vertical or horizontal. From time to time I will create a square painting, depending on what I see in my mind’s eye when I imagine the character in the critter.
I keep these dimensions because it makes it easier for my customers to find a frame, and that is a selling feature.

But because I have done my best to diversify my revenue streams, which is marketing speak for not putting all my eggs in one basket, I also have to think about my licensing clients.

In simple terms, art licensing means that companies pay to use my artwork on their products in exchange for royalties. If you have ever bought a backpack with cartoon characters on it, that artwork is licensed.

The challenge is that very few products come in neat little 11×14 rectangles.

That means when I paint something like this red panda, I have to allow extra space. More background and sometimes more of the animal so the artwork can be adapted to different formats later.

Pacific Music & Art, for example, might use one of my paintings on several different products, from magnets and mugs to calendars. While my vision for this piece was the vertical print you see at the top of this post, I had to paint quite a bit more of the panda, the background, and the bamboo leaves so the image could be adjusted to fit those other uses.

Last week I finalized the images for the 2027 calendar for Pacific Music & Art. Just like other licensing contracts, there is a lot of lead time for design and printing. My vertical red panda print would not work for a calendar page, so I had to create this different horizontal version, and that meant thinking about that layout when I started the painting.

The downside is that it means more work. Even though I paint digitally and can use layers for much of the process, the final cropping still requires extra time to make sure everything blends properly and does not look like pieces pasted together.

Because my goal is to continue diversifying my work to help ensure the longevity and security of my business, I will have to make these considerations more often than ever.

But the upside is that my licensing clients get the images they need to best fit their products, while my customers get the print of the painting that I originally envisioned when the idea for this critter first popped into my head.

Art for a living. Some assembly required.

Cheers,
Patrick

 

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A New License and a New Lane

Over the past year, running a small independent art business has required more flexibility than usual.

Between labour disruptions at Canada Post and the removal of de minimis exemptions in the U.S., not to mention the tariffs, shipping anything across the border has become unpredictable and, in many cases, unsustainable for a one-person operation like mine. I heard from many of my American subscribers last fall who were frustrated they couldn’t order the 2026 calendar. Believe me, that frustration went both ways.

Self-employment teaches you one thing very quickly: you can’t control external conditions. The only thing you can do is build a strong enough foundation that when something shifts, you’re not left stranded.

Over the years, I’ve worked to build multiple income streams so no single lane determines whether the lights stay on. Licensing, especially, is a long game. An agreement can be signed, files delivered, and then… nothing. Months pass. Larger companies move slowly. And when something finally launches, you don’t know whether the first royalty payment will feel significant or symbolic.

Which brings me to this week.

I’m very pleased to share that Elephant Stock has just launched 40 of my paintings as canvas wall art in the United States.

Every time a company chooses to license my work, I don’t take that lightly. Forty pieces is no small thing. They first approached me in June of last year, and like most licensing agreements, it took time before the launch finally happened.

At the time, it was simply another license I was pleased to have. Given the shipping issues mentioned above, it’s now especially useful for my American collectors. This means those works are printed and shipped from within the U.S., with no cross-border fees or customs complications.

If you’re in the United States, you now have several ways to collect my work locally:

Elephant Stock – Canvas wall art (newly launched, 40 pieces live)

The Mountain – This is a long-standing partnership, and I’ve had two different licenses with this company under two different owners.

Diamond Art Club – Exclusive diamond art kits. Several of my subscribers have sent photos of their completed pieces. This has been a strong and enjoyable partnership.
Still, if you prefer ordering directly from me, I can now have custom giclée, metal and canvas prints produced and shipped from within the U.S. through my printer.

Canadian customers, nothing changes on your end. You can continue ordering prints, stickers and tote bags directly from the store, and custom orders through me. And I’m always happy to answer questions.

I’ve learned not to assume smooth roads ahead. The best I can do is build something sturdy enough to handle a few detours, and change lanes when required.

Check out the galleries of my available designs with any of these U.S. licensing partners at
Elephant Stock
The Mountain
Diamond Art Club

Cheers,
Patrick
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Painting a Pudgy Porcupine

This porcupine turned out to be a lot more fun than I expected, and that was exactly what I needed right now.

I’m in a busy stretch, finishing a few new paintings so I can send updated print and sticker catalogs to the zoos and start lining up licensing for the first half of the year. There’s a lot on the go, and most days it feels like I’m working with one eye on the calendar.
But this piece reminded me why I sit down to paint in the first place.

After finishing the recent Bear Boop painting, I moved straight into this porcupine and felt that familiar shift. Less pressure. More play. The kind of focus that quiets the noise for a while. When everything else feels heavy, as it often does right now, this is my happy place.

I really do love this work.

Cheers,
Patrick

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In the Middle of It

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last post and I try not to go longer than that. But I almost skipped this week because I don’t have a finished piece to show you yet.

The world’s feeling heavy. And while half of my job is following the news and drawing daily editorial cartoons about the worst of it, many of you have been clear you’d rather I keep that separate from A Wilder View. So I will.

Sometimes the news pollution slows the painting pace. It can be tough to switch gears and draw a happy, whimsical critter face.

A lot of you have told me over the years that you actually like seeing the middle part, the unfinished stage, even when you don’t get the finished piece until later. So I’m leaning into that more.

In a world where people can type a few lines and get an AI image in seconds, it matters for real artists to show what the work looks like while it’s being made. Now more than ever.

So here are a couple of paintings in progress.
Black Bear
This bear was drawn entirely on the MovinkPad 11. Wacom hired me to make a video with it late last year and lucky me, they let me keep the device. I’m really enjoying it. While unwinding in the evenings and watching TV, I’ve been sketching editorial cartoons on the couch or playing with painting ideas.

It came with Clip Studio Paint, and even though it’s a fully capable drawing and painting program, I actually prefer using its Simple Mode on the MovinkPad 11. It’s fun to see how far I can get using limited tools. Then I bring the sketch over to my full PC setup and Cintiq 24HD for the heavier painting and detail work.

I like the progress so far. Next week I’ll bring this bear over and start turning it into a full painting. I think it’ll make a fun sticker too. We’ll see when it’s done.


Porcupine
I want to have a few pieces finished soon so I can send out a catalog to zoos for print and sticker orders early next month. The Bear Boop grizzly I shared recently will be one of them, along with this black bear, and I’m also working on this porcupine.

This one has a long way to go, but I’m enjoying discovering this little guy. I’m working from several reference photos, some I took at Discovery Wildlife Park and the Calgary Zoo, and I also bought a couple of stock photos, which I don’t normally do. Porcupines seem to vary a lot in body type and colouring, and I wanted a wider range to work from.

I’m drawing it full body, but the final piece may be cropped a lot closer. As for the background, I have some ideas, but this is still earlier stages, so I’m playing and deciding as I go.

Again, I’m not comfortable sharing unfinished work, but as I’m trying to remind myself more and more these days, you don’t grow when you’re comfortable. And if you want different results, you have to try different things.

Cheers,
Patrick

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No GPS for the Year Ahead

Most of us now use Google Maps or some GPS equivalent. You enter your start and end points and it tells you the most direct and efficient way to arrive at your destination, in the shortest time and in one piece. It can route you around construction and traffic incidents, tells you when to switch lanes, turn, and keep moving.

In the old days, we often had a stack of folding maps in the glove box. It wasn’t uncommon to find yourself pulled over on the side of some road with the map open wide enough to cover the driver and passenger side, trying to figure out how the highway you thought you were on suddenly became a rural route, then a dirt road, then a cart track, and hey look… we found a river.

On New Year’s Day, as I was planning the year ahead, I realized how nice it would be to have either of those options for an art-for-a-living career.

One of the toughest challenges in this profession is figuring out where to put limited time and energy. There are only so many hours in a day, and I’m already working every day of the week. If I want to add something, it means I have to let something else go.

The problem is that with limitless content, free advice, and options in every direction, there are a lot of things I could try to add variation and longevity to my career. There are also things that sound exciting to try, but take time and energy away from the practices that move the progress needle. But none of those things are a quick drive to the grocery store. Every option is a cross-country road trip, and you only know if it was the right route once you’ve invested the time and energy to get there.

I could start any number of creative projects or experiments, design and launch new products, but it might take a year or more to find out whether they were worth the time, effort and expense.

My focus this year is to continue to build my career, adapt to the ever-changing landscape, and try not to stretch myself too thin. That last part keeps tripping me up.

The newspaper industry isn’t what it used to be and has ongoing challenges, and though it’s not the largest part of my business anymore, it’s the only part that provides steady monthly income. I still have to draw six editorial cartoons each week.

Art licensing is where companies use my work on their products and pay me a royalty percentage. Just some examples include Diamond Art Club, Harlequin Nature Graphics, Pacific Music & Art and The Mountain. Royalty payments are subject to each company’s plans, vary according to the economy and season, and arrive quarterly, not always on time. So budgeting for that revenue is near impossible.

Pet portrait commissions pay as I finish them. Because of all the other work I need to get done, I only take on a handful of those each year and I’m booked up for 2026.

Shows like the Calgary Expo at the end of April or the just completed Banff Christmas Market are big paydays, but they also require big expense in the months leading up to them. I’m already working on Expo inventory planning, because I’ll need to start ordering next month.

Website sales come in waves, and wholesale orders hit at different times of year as gift shops and zoos prepare for their busy seasons.

Balancing all that, and finding the right mix to pay the bills while still growing the business, takes a lot of planning, with no guarantees.

And of course, I need to write regular posts like this one for A Wilder View, record and edit videos, reach out to new companies, and seek new opportunities, planting seeds for future growth.

I’ve often said, I spend more time marketing my work than creating it. That’s part of the profession and something every starry-eyed young artist needs to realize before choosing this career.

There are always unforeseen circumstances that can flatten tires at any point during the trip. The economy and the weather are two obvious ones. Then there ones you never see coming, like a pandemic and a president.

So most of New Year’s Day last week was spent with spreadsheets, Word files, and internet searches, mapping the route for the year ahead. Though AI art has been a detestable part of new technology, it would be hard to argue against how valuable ChatGPT has been as a researcher, virtual assistant, and editor.

By day’s end, I had created a document with clear boundaries on where to put my efforts this year. Regardless of whatever trends, shiny objects, or tempting tangents might pop up, I intend to keep that roadmap handy so that when I get distracted and lose my way, I can pull over, open the map, and remember where I want to go.

Cheers,
Patrick

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That’s a (Christmas) Wrap!

Another Banff Christmas Market is in the books.

It was a very good year. Even with a couple of slow days where I wondered if it was going to be disappointing, the busy days more than made up for it. After thirteen long days over four weeks, my sales came in just a hair under last year’s excellent total, so I’m pleased the effort paid off.

I had an annoying sore throat after the first weekend, and I’m still not sure if it was a mild cold or simply all the talking I’m not used to in my day-to-day. Either way, I made it through without picking up one of the nastier viruses making the rounds.

The weather was mostly decent, although the final weekend was all over the map. We had a short cold snap earlier in the week and I had to plug in my block heater a couple of nights. Then Saturday night, with a Chinook wind in full force, it was +7C as I drove home to Canmore. By Sunday everything was a wet, sloppy mess, and the roads in town were still treacherous.

I talked to more people than I could possibly count over the past month. Long-time supporters who have followed my work for years stopped by to say hi or add to their collections. People I’ve never met were delighted to tell me they own one of my pieces from a vacation somewhere, and they were surprised to meet the artist who created it. I even met folks who’ve bought my art through Diamond Art Club, one of my licensing clients.

I also met locals who know my editorial cartoons and have seen my animal art, but had no idea the same person makes both. That’s not uncommon. People often recognize one or the other.

Mostly though, I met people who had never seen my work before and told me how unique it felt compared to everything else they were seeing. They asked great questions, and we ended up talking about what it’s like to be an artist right now, including how AI is affecting the art world. That part was prompted by the little signs I added to my booth this year and the video display showing my process.

And on that note, Merriam-Webster’s word of the year is slop: digital content of low quality that is produced (usually in quantity) by means of artificial intelligence.

As expected, my 2026 calendars sold out, as did several best-selling prints (thankfully not until the last weekend). In hindsight, I ordered well this year, and there’s nothing I would have changed. It’s a good feeling to know I didn’t leave much on the table.
Highland Cow, Snow Queen, Otter, Sire, Kodiak Cub, Raven on White, and Winter Wolf were all popular again this year. Spa Day, one of my personal favourites, seemed to find its audience this year and was more popular than it has ever been. It ended up as my second best-seller after Highland Cow.
After the first weekend, I was disappointed that my latest Snowy Owl painting didn’t seem to resonate, but it was a slow burn. By the end of the market it was in the Top 10 out of the 40 paintings I had on offer, so I’ll gladly take that win.
The week after the Banff Christmas Market is still a busy one, but most of it is thankfully spent at home.

One thing about the market is the seasonal atmosphere. With the wood-burning fire pits outside, it feels like a proper Christmas village. People gather around with hot chocolate (or something stronger), eat from the food trucks, and soak it all in. A very convincing Santa makes the rounds and poses for photos, and all that’s missing is a few reindeer wandering around.

The consequence, though, is wood smoke. It gets into everything, and with the doors constantly opening and closing, I come home each day smelling like I’ve been camping. So every week I’m washing layers and winter coats, and after tear-down, my tablecloths, drapery, and booth covers all smell strongly of smoke. Six loads of laundry on Monday.

I enjoy the ambience of an airtight wood stove at the cabin I rent with friends, but outdoor fires don’t appeal to me anymore. I think it’s because I now associate the smell with forest fires. When this valley fills with smoke in the summer, it’s a reminder that evacuating is always a possibility.

Before I put all the booth hardware, displays, lights, and support kit away until April (Calgary Expo), I do a full inventory of what came home: stickers, magnets, coasters, prints, tote bags, metal and canvas prints. In a couple of months, when I start ordering for Expo, my future self will be grateful I did the work now.

Before the market, I had to remove a lot from my online store so I didn’t accidentally sell something online that had already sold at the market. This week I had to add it all back, though there’s a lot less than there was.
I’m an introvert, like a lot of artists I know. I’m most comfortable working alone in a quiet place, so after all the noise and interaction, plus an incredibly busy schedule for the past couple of months (when I was already running on fumes), it takes a toll.

Newspapers put their holiday issues to bed early this time of year, so I had to draw nine cartoons this week to accommodate that. The upside is that next week I should be able to take some time for me.

That means painting what I want to paint. And with nowhere to be, I’m planning to indulge in a couple of guilt-free afternoon naps.

I have a half-finished raven painting I’ve been missing, and I’d like to get back to it. I’ve also been itching to do another painting in the same spirit as my popular Peanuts image. I’m not trying to replicate its success, I just miss spending a few hours on a close-up of a grizzly bear face, which is still my favourite kind of face to paint.

After all the human interaction lately, all I want for Christmas is some quiet time at home without deadlines.

So yesterday, I spent some time in the grizzly folder of my photo archive and found the reference I needed to paint the image in my head. Even though I have photos from many years ago up until this year, the main reference I chose came from a bunch of photos my friend Serena at Discovery Wildlife Park generously shared with me the last time I was there this fall.

I’ve got more to say on this topic, but my biggest failure this year has been balancing business and creativity. When art pays the bills, it’s hard not to ask myself for each new painting, “Will this be popular? Will it sell? Should I paint something else?”

But I also know that if money becomes the prime metric for deciding what to paint, it will rob the life and personality from my work. So that’s what I’m up against in the coming year: how do I create art that I’m proud of and enjoy, while still thinking like a business owner?
Ending the year painting a grizzly bear face will hopefully help me take some first steps toward better perspective. None of us gets out of this alive, and I’m desperate to use my time better.

Though I’m emotionally and physically tired and selfishly clinging to some alone time right now, I don’t want to sound ungrateful for the past couple of months of craziness. I truly enjoyed meeting so many of you at the Banff Christmas Market, especially those of you who come every year. You say such nice things about my artwork, and while compliments are always a little uncomfortable, they do help quiet the demons that tell every artist their work is never good enough.

So thank you to all of you who found me at the booth, took time for a chat, and took a little bit of my work home with you. I hope you put it somewhere it can make you smile, and that you notice it most on the days you really need it. And if you bought it to give to somebody else, thanks for helping my work travel a little further.

However you spend the next couple of weeks, whether with family, friends, or taking a little time for yourself, I hope you enjoy it.

Merry Christmas, and I’ll see you in the new year.

Cheers,
Patrick

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Painting Delta

A few months ago, I was ready to start my next commission, but the next person on the waiting list, somebody I had painted for before, had a bunch of life stuff going on and didn’t have the bandwidth for a commission until the other stuff had been sorted. She agreed to let the next person in line jump the queue and I’d come back to her next.

The next in line was Pat, who’d already been waiting quite a while.

I first met Pat several years ago at Electric Grizzly, the Canmore tattoo shop owned by my buddy Derek Turcotte. I don’t actually remember our first meeting, but I got to know Pat as one of Derek’s clients. Derek is an enthusiastic supporter of other artists and has a few of my pieces hanging in his shop. Pat liked my whimsical wildlife and since then has collected several of my pieces. He has poster and matted prints, plus canvas, metal and acrylic in different sizes.

These are some of the ones hanging in his home.
So he knew what he wanted when he asked me to paint 10-year-old Delta.

Because he lives in Calgary, I figured I could take my own reference photos. But on the day I set aside late this summer to go there, the check-engine light on my car came on several times before I had even left the mountains. I have a code reader and it let me know that one of my ignition coils was the culprit. Not wanting to risk damaging the car with misfires, I took it home, called my mechanic to get an appointment, and told Pat I couldn’t make it.

He was just about to start his next shift rotation at work, so I suggested that rather than wait for another day almost two weeks later, he could send me some photos he had so I could see if I could get started. I sent him a Dropbox link where he could upload them, and he dumped 400 photos into it. I’m not kidding.

If you think that’s overkill, I assure you, I did not. I was thrilled. Sometimes, especially if the portrait is a memorial, the problem is that I don’t get enough photos. And it’s not just about the likeness; it’s about seeing the character and personality in my subject. Pat has taken some incredibly good photos of his dog over her lifetime, from comical to serious, with several different poses.

Just like when I take my own reference photos, I was quick to discard most of them, which still left a couple of dozen gems. Best of all, after more back and forth where I shared the ones I liked, Pat told me that Delta often sits with her paws crossed, something she’s done since she was a puppy. That pose was among my favourite photos, which is why he brought it up.

Anybody who does anything creative knows about happy accidents, those unexpected moments that give you something better than you could have planned. That engine part was going to fail anyway, but because it happened on the day I was going to take my own photos, I ended up with better reference than I would have shot myself. Of that, I have no doubt. And would I have found out about the crossed paws without seeing those photos Pat sent? Probably not.

I finished this painting on November 15th and sent the final image. I’m always nervous as I wait for the client’s response.

“I won’t sugar coat it. THIS IS AMAZING! It literally brought a tear to my eye, causing the delay in my reply. I’m blown away seeing Delta portrayed in your artistic style, I love it!”

Every commission includes a professional 18″ x 24″ metal or canvas print. It also includes shipping, but I like to deliver it myself whenever I can, especially since it often means getting to meet my subject. OK, fine, my clients, too.

As he is familiar with all my print options and owns at least one of every style, he chose metal with a black frame. He also ordered an extra one for his Mom in Saskatchewan, and three more smaller canvases for each of his siblings.

I’ve had the prints in my home for a little while, as Pat was away and I was busy with the Banff Christmas Market. But I was thrilled to deliver them to his and Vanessa’s home in Calgary on Tuesday this week. Not only did I get to meet Delta, but also her younger brother Luke, and it sounds like I might be painting him down the road as well. Both dogs were very sweet and friendly.

Pat and Vanessa sent me home with some delicious homemade holiday treats and a very nice art print that I’m eager to hang in my office. I’m going to take it in for framing next week and will share that later.

I’m so fortunate that my commission clients have all been so great to work with. As they’re most often already invested in my work, usually own some pieces already, and have read all about what’s involved from posts like this one, the experience is one I enjoy. It’s collaborative and a joint effort, which means the end result always feels more special than just “Here’s a picture, draw my dog.”

This was no different, and I loved painting Delta. Pat was great to work with and exceptionally patient, knowing it was already a very busy time of year for me. He didn’t have a deadline, and this wasn’t a “must be done by Christmas,” but I’m still glad it was anyway. It’s a nice way to end my year, working with a great client and creating a painting I’m pleased with.
I’ve already got my next few commissions lined up and will start the next one right away in January, but Delta felt like the right way to close out this year.

Cheers,
Patrick

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The Banff Christmas Marathon

On Thursday morning, I’ll set up my booth for the Banff Christmas Market and doors open at 5:00 pm for Twinkle Night. It’s going to be a marathon month, balancing drawing my syndicated and local editorial cartoons from Monday to Thursday, then selling my whimsical wildlife art at the Banff Train Station from Friday to Sunday.
There won’t be any time to paint until just before Christmas, but I’m glad I finished my latest commission on Saturday morning. At least I won’t have that deadline weighing on me. I enjoyed working on this piece, and best of all, the client was very happy. I’m looking forward to sharing it with all of you. But that won’t be until after I get the metal print and deliver it to the client.

Prep for this market is the same as any big show. Updating inventory in the point-of-sale system, signing and packaging prints, creating price signs for every metal and canvas print, plus all the other signage around the booth. I added a few small acrylic signs this year because I know I’ll be asked (or accused) if my work is AI. That’s just the landscape now.
But with a growing backlash against AI art, I’ve read that more shows and events are prohibiting anyone selling it. So, if the little signs create an opportunity for discussion and education, I’m happy to provide that.

I’m also introducing a digital picture frame that will loop a silent video of my painting process. Making that video took more time than expected, but I think it’s ready.

Rather than reinvent the booth, I just try to improve it a little with each show.

If you were at the Banff Christmas Market last year, you’ll find me in the same spot in the train station. It’s a big list of vendors in different tents and buildings. The organizers of this event are excellent and really know what they’re doing. Several of us asked for the same locations again, and they delivered. We’ve got a nice little neighbourhood at that end of the station. Plenty of camaraderie and goofing around, which makes the slow periods a lot easier. And customers feel that positive vibe when they walk in.

Once the booth is set up on Thursday, I won’t have to tear it down until December 15th. I won’t get any time off for the next month, but the commute is only twenty minutes so it’s just like going to a regular retail job, though with much longer hours. My boss is the worst.

A lot of people on the Christmas market circuit have to juggle accommodations and travel, which gets even trickier in winter. Many of my neighbours at the Banff Market come in from out of town every weekend and I feel for them. That’s a bigger expense, which creates more sales pressure.

I wanted to record a video showing all the products I’ll have on offer this year, but I just don’t have the time. The business of art always takes more time than the art itself, and editing video always takes more time than recording it. I’m already stretched thin.

Instead, I’ll try to shoot some video during the market and share that closer to Christmas when the dust settles.

As usual, I’ll have stickers, magnets, ceramic coasters, 11×14 prints and larger metal prints at the booth. I introduced tote bags at the Calgary Expo this spring, but this will be their first appearance at the Banff Christmas Market. I’m curious to see how the Smiling Tiger, Otter and new Christmas Bear designs do. I’ve already sold several of each this season, and I won’t be surprised if I’m sold out by the end of the year.
Last year, I underestimated demand for my calendars and had to reorder halfway through the market. Then sales slowed and I had to hustle to move the leftovers in January. This year, it looks like I might have ordered just about right. Calendar sales have been brisk for the past month and I’ve sold more to subscribers than ever before. Thanks to all of you for that. I still have plenty of stock to get me through the markets. But I wouldn’t be surprised if I sell out before the final weekend. Better that than leftovers again.

These markets are always a question mark. You can order based on previous years, but it’s still guesswork. A new painting might sell like crazy at the Calgary Expo, but barely move with the Christmas crowd. Or the reverse.

Then there are the other variables. The economy, the weather and visitor traffic can all boost or sink sales. You do what you can and hope for the best.
Tickets are now on sale on the Banff Christmas Market website, where you can book timed entry slots in advance. It’s a good system and once you’re in, you can stay as long as you like.

One of the perks of the location is that it’s right next to Banff’s free overflow parking lot. You don’t have to pay for parking like you do almost everywhere else in town. As for the scenery, it’s pretty spectacular.

They’ve built a great holiday atmosphere at the event with live music outside, a courtyard with food vendors, cozy fire pits, free professional pictures with Santa and a real Christmas village vibe.

Hope to see you there.

Cheers,
Patrick