My Very First Post.. Better Make it a Good One!
Welcome to the Hammer and Pen Artist Collective, a group of artists that create things and share them, here. My name is Aaron Schallie and I’m an illustrator living in Burnaby, a suburb of Vancouver, Canada.
Roughly two years ago, I made a commitment to revisit and improve upon the drawing skills I’ve had since childhood. I had just moved to a new neighbourhood and was presented with a beautiful, brand-new environment to explore, on the edge of a sizable urban forest. What better excuse could I have to be creative and learn.
There were plenty of great subjects to work on and fascinating places to explore. An incredible contrast to living so close to downtown Vancouver, with it’s quick access to beaches and the marine life I was already so familiar with. This ‘neck-of-the-woods’ presented an interesting mountain topography, lots of new critters, and over three dozen trails covering 30+ kilometers. These trails crisscross several distinct watersheds that drain in every direction of the compass. The top of the mountain is crowned with one of Western Canada’s most beautiful architectural jewels, the main campus of Simon Fraser University, designed by Arthur Erickson.
I was surrounded by inspiration.. it was game on.
Since then, I’ve filled more than a dozen moleskine cahiers and sketchbooks and have come to know the ‘mountain’ like the back of my hand. At home, I’ve created a small workspace dedicated to my art projects and supplies, and now have a small functional shop space in the garage, brimming with the potential for much larger projects. I started small, but I’m aiming to create much larger works and possibly explore print making. For now, I try never to leave the house without out something to draw on and I’m keeping it simple.
I mainly use pencil, pen and ink and have started to incorporate some watercolour. I try to draw everyday and give myself regular challenges to improve my skills. Sometimes these challenges lead to more detailed studies of subjects I find in my local environment.
Of course, life’s busy pace and, uh.. a certain global pandemic.. can make allocating time for art difficult. But I try to foster creativity as often as I can and manage to fit it in whenever possible. Most recently I’ve been focused on botanical and biological detail, but I also explore more abstract approaches and sometimes gravitate to subjects in the urban landscape as well.
Over the past couple years, I also remembered to take photos of a lot of my work’s incremental progress, in the hopes I might one day get the chance to share them. This blog is finally that chance. I’m looking forward to sharing some of the steps and challenges in my journey, show off some of my available work, and hopefully inspire others to pickup a pencil and draw. I’ll keep my past works in my Throwback Posts is you’re keen to follow along.
Once we get settled in a bit, I’m looking forward to offering classes, guided walks and plein air sessions. Until then, I hope you enjoy my posts. Let’s get started.
– Aaron.