Apr 16, 2012

My First Yoga Competition

Sunday (yesterday) was the Eastern Canada Asana Championships here in Toronto where yours truly was a competitor :)

Last year I made a goal to compete in the 2012 competition. Through the encouragement of my incredible yoga community, I made the commitment to follow through and began training in February. Training consisted of getting my ass to as many Bikram classes as I could manage (4-5 per week), practicing postures after class, attending advanced series classes and not letting anxiety get the best of me :P

Competition day was a bit unnerving, however I was sure to remind myself that yoga practice is SO dependent on your day. The best I could do would simply be to show up and perform my postures to the best of my ability, for that day. In all honesty I could not have asked for anything better- I successfully entered, held and exited my seven postures without falling out in under 3 minutes (2 mins and 28 seconds to be exact!) to the best of my ability. The feeling that followed the completion of my routine was unreal, I was able to make a distinction between feeling happy and feeling proud- a really special moment pour moi! (In the pics below my stretching pose is missing- woops!).

Esak Garcia was one of the judges at the competition (pretty cool to see him live and in the flesh!). Before the 'winners' we announced, he noted that there are no 'winners and losers', instead we are all yogis sharing our practice and journey with the audience, and the 'winners' are simply representatives within the yoga community for our region- I loved that! Even though I didn't place (hey, Joseph Encinia never placed the first time he competed!) I am extremely proud of myself for squashing this goal. A huge THANK YOU to all of the instructors, fellow yogis, friends and my family for making this a truly rewarding experience. You're support was overwhelming and I could not have done it without you all!


Esak Garcia

The winning yogis from the Youth, Men's and Women's divisions

Amazing card from my family

Standing Head to Knee pose
Standing Bow pose

Bow pose


Rabbit pose

Spider pose

Crow pose
Got a pic in The Toronto Star online! WOAH!

Apr 13, 2012

Threadless purchase at The Gap

A few weeks ago I wandered into the Gap and was immediately drawn to the awesome in-store Threadless display. I was floored and knew I had to pick up a tshirt to support the collaboration and the lucky (and extremely talented) artists who's creations made it to the sales floor. Choosing my purchase was difficult, but Light Bulb House by Steven Rhodes was the winner. You may have noticed from some of my pattern work (and the blog banner) that I do enjoy a good light bulb, love the form and the connection between light bulbs as a symbol and thoughts/ideas. Please check out Steven's work on his site, his illustrations have a lovely retro aesthetic and his tshirt designs are unreal! (the Bloodsucker illustration is kick-ass). I LOVE MY TSHIRT! Thank you Mr. Rhodes :D



 

Apr 7, 2012

Hot Cross Buns

Happy Easter! Although my family doesn't observe the religious aspect of Easter, traditionally the long weekend meant good eats, hunting for Easter eggs and watching The Ten Commandments with my grandmother. My Dad would tell us stories about how when he was growing up, the beaches in Guyana would be filled with people flying kites during Easter weekend (something I would like to see one day). Having Good Friday off meant I could spend some time in the kitchen. Even though store-bought cross buns find their way into our usual Sunday afternoon tea's at home, I wanted to try making them this year. Naturally Cynthia Nelson's recipe for hot cross buns was my go-to. I have virtually no experience working with yeast so I made sure to meticulously follow her recipe. After all was said and done I was pretty pleased with the result! They are a bit more meatier/denser than the store-bought ones, or maybe I screwed up on something :P Either way they definitely had that cross buns taste and the smell that filled the kitchen was amazing. Thanks for the recipe Cynthia! I definitely have a little more confidence working with yeast now :) Perhaps butterflaps will be next...


Apr 4, 2012

4 x 6 Exchange submission

Art House Co-op has been putting out some great (free!) projects of lately. My co-worker and I have been participating in as many projects as our schedule will allow for, so many fun things to do and so little time! The 4 x 6 Exchange project had participants designing/drawing/illustrating on anything that was kept to the mandatory 4in. x 6in. dimensions. Participants post their submission to Art House Co-op, and in return receive a submission from another participant (hence the exchange). I thought this aspect was pretty cool, once the project is completed all participants have an original physical piece of art from some one they've never met (community- holla!). Below is my submission, I'm trying to do more this year- hopefully I can encourage some one else to do the same. The piece was done with a fine tip pen on wood paper (which I am fosholy going to use more!). I can't wait to receive my exchange in the mail- stay tuned!


Apr 3, 2012

A Book Called Forever by Rob Jelinski

Through participating in Art House Co-op's Sketchbook Project, I got the opportunity to connect with Rob Jelinski, an extremely talented artist based in New Jersey. For Sketchbook Project 2012, Rob went above and beyond simply creating a book with a number of sketches (like me, whooops!). He went as far as to create a microsite for his sketchbook, A Book Called Forever which features an original EP, a music list that inspired the work, a read list featuring other artists participating in Sketchbook Project 2012, videos, wallpapers and the list goes on (surf the microsite for yourself). I had the pleasure of creating a hand-lettered type treatment promoting an event that was held this passed Saturday in New Jersey and online, exhibiting some of the work featured in Rob's 2012 Sketchbook. It has been a truly great experience collaborating with Rob so far, he's working really hard to do cross-promotions with other artists which I feel enforces a much needed sense of community on a global scale and is oh so admirable (reeespect man!) Congrats on the success of your first exhibition Rob! Definitely won't be your last :)