Story 4: "The Adoption"

Happy 2019! 

My first posting of this year will be about how it all started... the story of how we adopted Oreo (Rory) last March from Grimsby, Ontario. I thought it would be a nice way to celebrate a belated birthday with him too, as he turned 5 years old on January 30th. Happy belated birthday little guy!

I hope you like it. It's a story that I've been wanting to tell for a while now so I'm glad it's finally finished.... between night classes, a full-time job and Christmas, it's been a struggle to find any spare time. Anyway, I had a few more stories up my sleeve so stay tuned and I'll make an effort to update my blog more often. One of my co-workers recently complained about my lacklustre schedule, so I don't want to disappoint too many more people.

Thanks for reading and stay warm y'all (:

Third R&R story: "The Sleepover"

Happy September! I hope that everyone had a good long weekend with lots of sunshine and relaxation. Summertime sure flies by quickly.

I am proud to say that I finished the third Ran and Rory story (see below). I hope you like it...it's about how Ran and Rory (Oreo) finally became really good friends after first ignoring each other. I guess some quality "together" time in the same house will make even the shyest dog come out of his "shell".

Thanks for reading!

 [narrated by Ran the dog]

For the past couple of weeks, Ritsy and I have been staying at Rory’s house with Matt and Maki. Ritsy is selling her condo so that she can buy a house with a basement, out of which she plans to run her own dog grooming business.

At first, me and Rory just ignored each other. I still couldn’t understand him and he smelled funny.

But soon after, we became really good friends!

Now we do everything together and even chase each other around the park. So much fun! We even stay at each other’s houses each week and cuddle together on the couch. Rory turned out to be a really great little guy and I don’t think he smells funny anymore.

THE END (and Ritsy did end up buying a bungalow with a basement 😊)

Second story: "The Beginning"

Hi everyone! The second Ran and Rory story has been posted! This one is all about Rory and his journey from Korea to Toronto.

Hope you like it (: 

Hi there! My name is Rory and I moved into Matt and Maki's house a few months ago.

I came from far away and now I feel like I'm finally settling into M&M's home. Their place is nice - it has lots of parks close by where I can run and chase balls!

During the first month in Toronto, I as really nervous and shaky on the streetcar. I only trusted Maki and growled at other people.

One day, Matt took me for a walk and I ran away! I saw the stairs that Maki and I walk down everyday and I wanted to run home before she forgot about me…

It was scary - I had to cross a busy road and run down lots of streets before I got home.

Maki was shocked to see me in the backyard: she told me she was very worried about me (?)

Matt came home shortly afterwards and seemed upset and stressed out. I promised him I would never run away again.

THE END

First story: Ran and Rory's chum-chum tales

Hello hello! Well, it's been a SUPER long time since I posted last, but I'm happy to finally be back. I mean, what is 3 years anyway in the grand scene of things? 🙂 Lots happen in a short amount of time, but the most notable thing for me is that I adopted a dog. Yay! This "new acquisition" is the main reason I've decided to start posting again...

Ran and Oreo (June 2018)

Over the past few months I've decided to draw a little comic series about my new pooch Oreo. He's a tiny mixed breed dog and is hilarious and quirky in so many ways. He makes me laugh every time I look at him because he has so many strange habits and behaviours. What a wonderful thing dogs are; they're great company and they're good for exercise too!

Anyway, here is my first bunch of drawings about Oreo (and Ran, my mother's dog). I changed Oreo's name to "Rory", but everything else is as-it-happened. Since Oreo is a rescue dog, I wanted to show how interactions with him and his new environment might confuse local dogs (not sure if this is true at all but I thought it would be intriguing). Enjoy! There will be more to come...

Monteal!

Wow, it's been a veeeeery long time since my last post! I didn't mean to be away so long, but school and then my prolonged internship has meant that I haven't been sketching or painting very much this past year (except for my job of course, but is only "inpainting").

Anyway, a lot has happened to me since January. First, I finished my Master's of Art Conservation program of two years at Queen's University (and just graduated last week!).

Second, I left Kingston, moved to Montreal, and then started my internship at a private paintings' restoration studio. It was pretty tough at first, but I managed to get the hang of working quickly and efficiently. In fact, I did such a good job that I got offered an extension until the end of the year, which is why I'm still here in la Belle Province.

At first, I moved into an apartment in the Plateau with two girls from the West coast. I only knew a few people in Montreal (Marc and Rob, below), and they were kind enough to hang out with me during my "initiation period", which I really appreciated (:

Some of my Toronto pals also came to visit me so all in all the first three months went by quickly (despite the language barrier). I was originally going to England for a month-long internship in August, but since my Montreal contract got extended I had to find a place for August to December, which proved really difficult. In the end, I got a place for just August (near Park la Fontaine), and then a place for September to December after that. Luckily, I became friends with my neighbor, and we've hung out a lot the past few months (below, at Halloween!)

So anyway, since September I've visited Toronto twice, went to England and Scotland for a week, and have been back and forth to Ottawa every two weeks for work on a mosaic site. Hectic! I'm looking forward to returning to Toronto at the end of the year. My pal Emma is now working with me at the studio, so we travelled together to Ottawa yesterday to work on the mural site (photos below of us in Ottawa).

The BIG mission now is to complete Terence's painting in the next couple of weeks. I can't believe this gift will literally be an entire year late! Phew!

First post!

Yippee, the first posting for my new blog! Who knew that setting up a single blog page would be so time consuming??

Anyway, I'm glad it's up before the end of summer, as my days of glorious freedom and sweet stressless bliss will soon come to an end...to be replaced by horrible essays, strict professors, and a clampdown on summer awesomeness....but I digress.

Later this week I'll try to post my first bunch of drawings that I started while I was in Brooklyn this past May. Why is architecture so much more inspiring in NYC? Maybe I would get tired of it if I lived there permanently (doubt it). Brooklyn is home to Sleigh Bells and they're all about intense urban coolness.

Stay tuned!