ARTISTRY CARDS

I am very excited to announce that you can buy these cards at Artistry Cards just in time for the holidays! A portion of the proceeds go to Creative Works Studio. This is an amazing charity that provides a creative and healing environment for people with mental illness. I am a strong believer in art as a form of therapy so I really hope the cards sell and raise money for Creative Works. 

JUST A FEW MORE COSTUMES

Nothing like polaroids to capture the moment. Here are some photos from my Halloween celebration. A big thank you to the Leeder sisters who always host the most amazing parties. 

HaPPy Halloweeeeeeen!!!!

Happy Halloween to Everyone! These a just a few of the halloween gems I found on Flickr. The bottom photo is a custom art piece I made for a client. We were going through all of their old photos and I convinced them that this had to be made into something! 

CUTEST LOFT

I have had these images saved in my inspiration file for quite a while. This loft belongs to the super creative couple of Something's Hiding in Here. You might recognize their famous mustache's on a stick that are sold on etsy. If I could only find an exact copy of their loft in Toronto. See more photos of their home here. 

BECKERMAN BITEPLATE FUN!!!!!!!

Had the best time shooting Beckerman Biteplate the other day!!!  We shot this on a steep incline in the woods and I can't believe we didn't end up rolling down the hill. The third Beckerman was very much missed!!! Also check out the Beckermans covering Toronto Fahsion week for Teen Vogue!

EDWARD SHARPE AND THE MAGNETIC ZEROS

Counting down the days until the Edward Sharpe show at the Elmo Combo.  I am in love with their song "Home" and their photoshoot for Flaunt magazine inspired by the 1970's cult, the Source Family. 

FUN AT THE FARM

                                                                                                                                     photos by Mahmood Popal
Despite being sick for three weeks I managed to escape to one of my favorite places, Fina Vista Farm, close to Orangeville, Ontario. A big thank you to Camilla and Victoria for having us up! I met Camilla at an art show and we came up with the amazing idea to trade my art  for riding at her farm. She breeds and boards Paso Fino horses. I was lucky enough to ride Camillas prized stallion Mercy. Paso Fino's have an amazingly smooth gate that is specific to their breed. We took a night ride, practically letting the horses lead us through the dark and a 4 hour day treck the next day. I have videos to come! Makes me miss my horsies!

GIFT CERTIFICATE PACKAGING

This is the packaging I have created for my custom art gift certificates. The envelope is handmade with vintage paper. So happy I recently found my old collection of sealing wax and stamps!

KITTY FASHION

These pretty kitties are from United Bamboo's limited edition 2010 calender that comes out in November. They made miniature versions of every piece from their latest ready to wear collection.

VOGUE BAG

This is the  bag that I designed for the 2007 Vogue annual meeting. I had a teeny tiny budget that was just enough to cover the transfers of my illustration onto about 200 bags. The bag was filled with goodies of all different kinds. I got the amazing staff at Cythia Vincent  to contribute the cutest little suede pencil bags. If I remember correctly, the other items in the bag were; gift certificates to the newest spas and salons, a pair of jeans, jewelry, scented candles, perfume, cosmetic samples and any new products that companies were trying to promote. From what I heard, the annual meetings were pretty incredible to attend. One year the employees were whisked away to the Bahamas. The 2007 meeting was NYC bound but they were treated to the best of the city and that is a definite luxury. 

VOGUE JOURNAL

This is one of my journals from the summer of 2006. These are some of my notes and sketches while interning at Vogue. They make the cutest journals for the staff every year with all of their best photos. I still treasure all of my Vogue ephemera....pencils, envelopes, stickers, pencil bags. You can see my sketches for an ad, drawings for a bag I designed for their annual meeting, random logo work that I did for a staff members wedding, and collages that I made for the design department before I left. Miss them!

Courtesy of Mahmood Popal and inspired by Julia Werbel

This is me taking a run through a soybean field up north on our way to Collingwood for Thanksgiving dinner. What a nice moment....before I got hit with this years variety of the worst flu-cold ever. 

FOUND HOMEMADE CARDS

These are all old cards that I have made for various friends. It is fun to see all of the different styles that were meant to match the recipients personality. 

ETSY WISH LIST

Vintage hiking boots from Trashyourself Vintage

    Chitah mini dress from Hold My Gold Vintage

    Unicorn tatoo from Julia Pott Illustration

    Ice cream cone necklace from Gingerbread Jewelry

   Perfect Match matchbox necklace from Yellowgoat

     Etienne Aigner pumps from Bitsywearsvintage

Little Bo Sheep from the Runny Bunny

Light shade from Nice

Wolf Pendant from Poodlebreath

I apologize that most of these items are sold!! I don't intend to inflict shopping torture. At least you can shop for other fun things at each of these etsy shops! You can see the rest of my favorites on my non-existent etsy shop.I promise I will have some items to sell in time for the holidays. 

THE BROTHERS BLOOM

I just recently watched The Brothers Bloom and loved it. The movie was directed and written by Rian Johson. At the same time, it had glimmers of a Wes Anderson or Tarantino film. I was particularly in love with the wardrobe of Bang Bang (played by Rinko Kikuchi). I tried to find out who the wardrobe designer was but was unsuccessful. If anyone knows...message me!

HENRIQUE OLIVEIRA

                        

Henrique lives and works in São Paulo, Brazil. He harvests the wood from  dumpsters and constructions sites around the city to build these massive installations. It is amazing how he manipulates and layers the wood.

VINTAGE FINDS

These fun findings are from my last visit to the St. Lawrence market. I have just started to go there again. I stopped going because one of my favorite vendors stopped selling there and I hardly ever found old photos. I guess this last Sunday was my lucky day because it seemed that every other stand had piles of old photos to sift through. I might have lost my mind with the embroidered accountant sweater and the one lensed glasses!!!! 

STYLE AT HOME

A couple of my pieces were featured in Style At Home Magazine.Yay!!!! Always cool to see how they look in different spaces.  

WISH LIST

Col. Littleton No.5 Cinch Belt

Brady's Sutherland fishing bag.

Col. Littleton No.1 Grip Bag

Col. Littleton No. 2 Grip Bag

Braided hoof pick belts

Col. Littleton No.1 Grip Khaki

DOILE COLLAGES

I made these doile collages for a recent show. I plan to sell these on etsy at some point!!!!!

MONTREAL

I went to Montreal last weekend so I wanted to share some of my finds.

FOOD:

- Olive + Gourmando for breakfast and lunch. This is the cutest little Cafe in Old Montreal.

Soups, sandwiches (on the craziest focaccia bread), salads, and a million baked goods.

- Aux Vivres for breakfast, lunch, dinner, every day!!! This is one tasty vegan diner. I am still mad at myself for not buying the secret dragon sauce!! watch out Fresh!!!

-Schwartzs famous deli for a mid- day feast. There was a long line so we had to try it. Their famous smoked meat sandwiches with black cherry pop is pretty darn good. Just as we sat down, a young man was being wheeled out to an ambulance waiting outside. I was praying it was not a reaction to the food. I made it through the calorie packed snack alive but I stayed full all night and missed out on my next recommendation.

- Au Pied du Cochon- My friend Brianne highly recommended going here for dinner. I read a bunch of blogs that mentions how amazing this place is.

- Juliette et Chocolat for chocolate fondue and crepes. This place served different vintages of liquid chocolate like it was fine wine. Yum...chocolate lovers heaven.

SHOPS:

Monastiraki: This shop/gallery/art studio/museum to random objects was the most inspiring store I saw in Montreal. If there is one store we are missing in toronto it is this. This magical little place turns into an enchanting community space for art workshops and "micro" concerts.

Leora looks like the cutest little vintage shop... through the windows!!! I wouldn't know what it was really like because I went to visit it on a Sunday and it was closed. boo. too bad. I am sure it is amazing because it was recommended by the most adorable Isabelle of YeYe style blog.

Thank you Isabelle!!!

Les etoffes was a really cute boutique on Saint Laurent. So happy to see Ken Chow's Krane bags there!

Armee du salut- go to all of them! Good stuff!

Village des Valeurs- more good stuff but value village is getting more and more expensive!!

HINTS:

-Lots of things are closed on Sunday and Monday.

-Almost every store closes at 5pm!!!!

-Bring some sort of French translation device. Although Montreal is bilingual you may get stuck when a horse carriage driver is yelling instructions at you or you get lost in Dorian on a detour a fraincais. I know, I put my Canadian heritage to shame with my lack of french.

- Montreal is a great city to bike around. You can rent bixi bikes but they can get mighty pricey if you want to use them for more than 90 minutes.

JUSTYNA WERBEL

Justyna constantly amazes me with her creativity!!! She creates incredible work in all mediums. Industrial design, photography, collage, sculpture, social change campaigns.....Justyna does it all. I am especially fond of this series of collages. These were constructed from a box of ephemera that was given to her. When Justyna described the man who gave this to her, I realized it was the same person I used to visit every Sunday at the St. Lawrence market to buy my old photos and notebooks. When he stopped selling at the market, I stopped going because he always had the best collection of found objects.

THE XX

Sorry for the lag in blog entries!! Just got back from a trip to Montreal. It was a long drive there and back but some new music on the ipod helped the time pass.

Here is my favorite new find...thanks to Kathryn. THE XX. Especially obsessed with this rexix by Jamie (eliza doolittle) from the XX.

TREASURES

These beautiful art pieces are past birthday presents from Kathryn Macnaughton. It was recently her birthday ( her little gifty is the purple bag in the middle photo). I usually make art for her too but this year she got a makeup goody bag from me. I will have to search for photos of some of the pieces I made for her. The bottom photo shows the collaged horse boxes Kathryn made for me two years ago. I feel so lucky to have such wonderfully creative friends!!!!!! Thanks Kathryn! xoxoxo

FUN PURCHASE

courtesy of Deco Alley

Hard to tell from the first picture but I am showing off my new candy- covered contact and pill cases from Deco Alley on Etsy. You won't believe the detail on these!!!! My sweet tooth has officially overcome me!!!!

BOOK COLLAGE

A year ago I escaped to a friends adorable little cottage in Prince Edward County and did a whole lot of random collaging. I bought Dash & Dart at a library book sale in a tiny town called Bloomfield that was 30 minutes away from the cottage. There are still so many pages to decorate!!!!!!!

VINTAGE FINDS

These finds are from Elora, Ontario. I went on a an amazing day trip with an overloaded car full of friends and we stopped at a garage sale on the way. We all found fun little treasures and then made our way to the Elora Gorge. Can't wait to go back !!! Next time we will be prepared to go tubing in the Gorge!

DREAMS DO COME TRUE

I continue to be enchanted by Tim Walker's photos. While interning at Vogue, I would escape to the Conde Nast Library at any chance just to study photos like these. The design department would use inspiration from past publications to help illustrate new campaigns or photo shoots. I would be flipping through hundreds of magazine's a day and each time that I came across a Tim Walker photo I couldn't help but get lost in his dream world . It turns out that Tim Walker was first inspired to become a photographer while sifting through magazines in Conde Nast's library. This was while he was working for Cecil Beaton in London. If only the Conde Nast library was open to the public!!!!

MUSHY PONY

A new interview for Mushy Pony!! Mushy Pony's founder and #1 cowgirl, Emma Farquhson, has created this website to help city dwellers navigate Toronto's social scene. I wish I had this when I moved to the city. I have lived here for 8 years and I am still learning new things about the city. Can't wait to see what adventures the cowgirls guide us to next!!!!!

COCOROSIE!!!!

I saw Cocorosie play at the opera house last week. It was the most captivating show I have ever seen. Sisters, Bianca and Sierra Cassidy gave a magical performance. They are widely eccentric in every way and their costumes and makeup tell a different story each time they perform. Bianca was sporting masculine garb, as she usually does, and her makeup drew resemblance to a raccoon. Sierra's neon outfit interacted with the black light that they had at he front of the stage. Her face was painted white with florescent pink highlights. She wore many a layers of colourful unitards with a gold bathing suit on top. It took me three songs to realize that all of the background beats were coming from one guy beatboxing. He was amazing too!!! If Cocorosie comes near you, I highly recommend going to see their show.

There is an interesting documentary called The Eternal Children featuring Cocorosie too!

NEW WORK

Here are some new pieces. I am doing a continuing series of little balloon people. To see more work visit my website. Lots more that I have yet to post!!

It is my Nana's birthday today!!! This is the card I made for her. Her siamese kitty Coco is the love of her life so I always try to make kitty cards for her. Happy b-day Nana.

DISCOVERY

Discovery is the brainchild of Ra Ra Riot singer Wes Miles and Vampire Weekend keyboardist Rostam Batmanglij. I have loved listening to them lately and can't get their songs out of my head. Hope you enjoy!

PAPER WORK

These are a couple of my mixed media experiments. They are pencil drawings on vintage scrapbook paper with sewn elements. I am planning to do more but these took an eternity to finish because of the hand-stitching.

Yesterday's adventure took us to a deserted construction site!! We had tons of fun jumping around in the dirt. To see more from the shoot go to Beckerman Biteplate.

My newest craft obsession is this Japanese washi paper tape. It comes in all different colors and patterns. You get great tertiary colors when you layer the tapes too. I ordered my tape from a company called Happy Tape. If you want to see more of my art pieces using the tape check out my website.

COLLAGE SCRAPS

These are collage remnants from an image transfer workshop I took a few years ago with Claudine Hellmuth. Claudine is an amazing artist and teacher. She taught me how to do gel medium transfers and I have been using her technique ever since.

MUSIC OBSESSIONS OF THE MOMENT

I am always amazed at all of the great bands that come out of Toronto. Bahamas is a band that I just found out about recently. I first saw them on performing on MTV live. I will have to go see the in October when they come through Toronto again.

A few weeks ago I went to see Lykke Li in concert. Thank you to Julia for the tickets as my birthday present!!!! Lykke Li was as incredible as expected. She has an undeniable magnetism on stage. I was also blown away by the opening band, Miike Snow. I had never seen pop and techno mixed live like that.

DJ FILTHY GORGEOUS + KATHRYN MACNAUGHTON

These posters were made by my very good friend Kathryn Macnaughton. These were designed for the talented Kristin "Filthy Gorgeous" Leeder and her various DJing gigs. I am always in awe of Kathryn's design and artwork. We both went to Ocad together. I took graphic design and she was in illustration. Her typography and graphic style always surpassed anything that I saw in my graphic design classes. I will make sure to post some of the pieces Kathryn has made for me over the years. They are treasures!!!!!

BECKERMAN BITEPLATE FUN!!!!!!!

FUN FUN FUN with the girls!!! We stopped to do a photoshoot for Beckerman Biteplate in an alley off Ossington.

I am at the bottom in my Honey bee + American Gold Finch outfit. My girlfriends are a constant inspiration to me!! Kristin Leeder (top right), is an incredible DJ. She is otherwise known as DJ Filthy Gorgeous!! The other two stunning ladies are the Beckerman twins. Samantha, Callianne and their younger sister Chloe are my favorite designers. Checkout it out: http://www.beckermans.com/. I have so much fun playing dress up with these girls and dancing around the city.

SOMERSET STUDIO MAGAZINE

Yayyy! I was so excited to receive Somerset Magazine this month!! Anxious to see how my artist portfolio turned out. Thanks to RicË Freeman-Zachary who did my interview. It was a wonderful experience getting to know her and working with her. Check out her website and blog. Also a huge thank you to Jenny Do for contacting me to do this!!!!

I have been a long time fan and subscriber of Somerset Studio and all of the other Stampington publications. I submitted my work to Somerset when I was 16 and it was always a dream to someday get my work published in this magazine.

HOMEMADE CARDS

These are a few handmade cards I have made over the years. I always try to make something for special occasions.

COLLAGING ON POLYVORE

ballerina daydream by dannyanddani featuring Chanel

equestrian love by dannyanddani featuring Hudson

NEW ART

These are some new pieces. You can see more on my website!!!!

ENCHANTED GARDEN TEA PARTY

I had a tea party for my 24th birthday!!! I know, I must still be 7 years old. It was a magical night of celebration. I made the tea trays myself with old teacups and plates. I used 2 part epoxy to glue them together. The spectacular carrot cake and cupcakes were given to me by the amazing ladies at Eat My Words. Believe me when I say these are the best cupcakes EVER! To decorate the backyard I hung all of my Nana's old hankies and baby dresses on a clothes line. I got the other red banner from Courage My Love, in Kensington Market. The last photo shows a clothes line of tea party accessories for my guests. Thank you so much to everyone for making that night so memorable!!!!!

PORTLAND, OREGON

I can't say enough good things about Portland. It is the such an inspiring place. Creativity spilling out of each neighborhood. There are endless amounts of independent coffee shops and book stores. I have never seen so many buy, sell, trade clothing stores. My favorite was the Red Light Clothing Exhchange.

This is the Ace Hotel!!! The most creative and inspiring hotel I have stayed in. I have never seen so many little design details incorporated into a hotel. Everything had a handmade touch. If it wasn't crocheted it was covered in old army fabric. Stumptown coffee shop was attached to the lobby of the hotel. I had to try the famous $15 cup of coffee. Sadly disappointed. I think it was prepared the wrong way because it tasted like water. I have to say that their non-$15 coffees were the best I had tasted in a long time. I highly recommend staying at the Ace Hotel. This way you are close to Powells Bookstore. I spent a few hours exploring each floor of this enchanted emporium. I bought so many vintage books that I had to ship a box full home.

VINTAGE FINDS

I took these photos while I was staying at the Ace Hotel in Portland, Oregon. These finds were from a vintage photography store called Ampersand, in the NE Portland. They had the most incredible collection of photography books and wonderful boxes of vintage photos.

These are postcards that the Beckerman sisters found for me at Brimfield Antique show. I plan on going to this magical show next year. The show is 1 mile full of treasures!!!!!! Click on the link above to see their Brimfield adventure.

I found these little characters at the Christies Antique show in Dundas, Ontario. I have an extensive collection of horses and fawns are a new addition to the miniature animal family. Check out the fun we had at this show on the Bekerman Biteplate!!!!

These photos were found a various antique markets and vintage stores. These are in the process of being made into a shadow box art piece.

BECKERMAN BIRTHDAY FUN

I will leave you with a constant inspiration to me.....the Beckerman sisters!!!! Caillianne, Samantha and Chloe are the most creative girls I know!! You will see many references to our little adventures and fun moments in this new blog format. Check out their blog and the incredible clothing line on their website.

These were the twins birthday presents. They had a Mickie and Minnie themed party!!!!

The floral wrapping paper is actually lavender and geranium scented drawer liner from Cath Kidston. If I could buy everything from Cath Kidston.....I WOULD!

NEW WEBSITE

Hi Everyone !!!!! Check out my new Website!!!

www.daniellehession.com

I will be away on vacation in Oregon and Colorado for a couple of weeks. After that, my blog will turn into a place where I will post all of my inspiration instead my work!!! I will be posting the messy process behind all of my work and anything that inspires me creatively.

Thanks for bearing with me!

Lots of love

Dani