Design Styles
At present, the shirts, hats and umbrellas on offer here come in four different styles with more to come in the future. Each style reflects a different aspect of my creative process.
British Columbia's Southwest
I'm very fortunate to live in one of the most attractive places in the world, British Columbia's southwest corner. Currently, we live in Burnaby, a municipality that shares a border with Vancouver. I was born and raised in Victoria, just across the water on Vancouver Island. As a kid and a teenager, I spent a lot of time on the Gulf Islands, mostly Saltspring, Thetis, and Saturna.
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The designs in this series have been inspired by my experiences here and the beauty that surrounds me every day.
Aloha Alternative
The designs in this series are my take on the Hawaiian shirt, sometimes known as the Aloha shirt. I've named this approach "Aloha Alternative" because the designs reference the feel and aesthetic of the Hawaiian shirt but do so with unusual subject matter and patterning. In my view, almost anything can be a shirt's theme or motif; from umbrellas through bees to shopping carts, I celebrate it all with designs that tend towards the vibrant, vivid, and colurful.
Abstractions
I absolutely love making abstract designs, using extreme filtering to deconstruct and distort photographs (usually) into unexpected patterns and textures. Doing so often results in some soft focus, a side-effect of one of the filters I can't live without, Mean Curvature Blur. It's a small price to pay though, I believe, for the lovely organic quality that it lends to images.
Surfaces and Textures
I have been fascinated and mildly obsessed with surfaces and textures for many years now. I've worked as a scenic artist/painter for over 25 years, experience which has been key in my interests here. In particular, I love how surfaces age, show wear, break down, and acquire distress.
In early October of 2021, I decided to set a design challenge for myself - a new t-shirt design every two days until I ran out of juice, all of them celebrating the infamous "War on Christmas." I managed to crank out just over 20 of them, and the best of these are presented here. More to come!
