Photo and Illustration by Alison Garwood-Jones Josh is in the fifth grade. He likes history and basketball. Photo and Illustration by Alison Garwood-Jones Adelaide likes hearts and story time. Today, I joined forces again as a portrait artist with my wonderful partners at @JamiiEsplanade. It was their 10th year organizing @culturedays and the program, […]
Meeting my customers
Originally published in August 2019 in Blog, Custom Portraits, Enamel Pins, Jane Jacobs Enamel Pin, Pen Jar Productions, Profile,, Toronto Illustrators
The best part of owning and operating Pen Jar Productions, my online store, is creating the product and meeting my customers. Here is my interview with Fernanda van der Laan, proud owner of my Jane Jacobs enamel pin. This summer my Jane Jacobs pin (circled in blue) entered a special collection of over 300 pins, […]
Best in Class
Originally published in April 2019 in Blog, Canadian House and Home, Profile,
Anyone who knows me knows I like interviewing people who are best in their fields. I got to do that for the May issue of House & Home magazine. I sat down with Tony Round of blackLAB architects inc. and designer Cameron MacNeil to find out how they positioned, built, and appointed a modern farmhouse […]
Virginia Woolf and Alice Munro in conversation
Originally published in March 2019 in Blog, Illustration, Toronto Illustrators
Studio Tour of Pen Jar Productions
Originally published in November 2018 in Blog, Gift Ideas, Graphic Recorder, Graphic Visualizer, Illustration, Toronto Illustrators
Click on image to play my video greeting, or click here. An email I sent my contact list on November 1st: Top of the morning to my friends, family and work colleagues: For those of you who haven’t heard from me since high school, here’s what’s new: I cut my hair, became an art historian, unbecame […]
The rebirth in failure
Originally published in August 2018 in Blog
This is post was first published eight years ago. Egads, I’ve been blogging a long time! Some people said it made them feel hopeful — even brave. Your morning dose of hope. The ability to focus and commit to something through thick and thin is a quality I admire. Writer and comedian Craig Ferguson describes […]
Say no to racism
Originally published in July 2018 in Blog
I grew up in a multi-racial family. From left to right: Catherine, Alison, Richard, Trevor, Peter, and our 1972 orange Volvo wagon. My brothers and I were born at time when Martin Luther King Jr. was doing his most important work, standing up to segregationists in Georgia and organizing non-violent protests in Alabama. Meanwhile, a […]
Milton Glaser
Originally published in June 2018 in Blog, Doodling, Illustration, Toronto Illustrators, Visual Storytelling
Deepa Mehta
Originally published in April 2018 in Blog, Illustration
