Hey Friends, Folks, and Fans of Phil!

You may be wondering why the site has not had many updates and I have not had many shows in the last little while. 

I have been in a time of transition as I am moving away from making the bulk of my income through art (which was never that bulky, let me tell you).  These days I am full time as a Student Support Worker with Vancouver School District as well as taking a few evening courses at Langara as prereqs for becoming an Elementary School Teacher (which will be awesome).  Add to this the excitement of planning to marry my sweetie of 8 years this summer!

I do love art and hope to create more pieces, but do not have the time or energy (or studio space anymore) to make a lot of paintings.  These days, if I am creating it is often some digital doodles or working on art journals with the Co:Lab Collective I helped create with my fiance and some very crafty friends.

In the meantime, I do have cards and prints.  You can find some at Arts Off Main Gallery and A Small World Gallery in Vancouver, as well as some at the Stationhouse Gallery and the Hobbit House in Williams Lake.  (If you know of other places that might want to carry my work, drop me a line.)

I am about to dive in to see if I can master the mighty magic of the internet and get a viable webstore set up so you can grab cards and prints and the like in an easy and convenient fashion if you want them.

Wish me luck!

Phil.

My latest excitement (besides getting a new job working as a Student and Support Worker as well as going back to school to become a teacher) is that I will be showing art at VCON!

This seems perfect for me, as I love both genres, yet have never been to a convention!  The icing on the cake was that the art curator found me through Google and invited me to show!  I was very honoured and rose to the occasion by making some brand new prints to share!

Please join me for VCON 36 – from Friday September 30 to Sunday October 2 at the Sheraton Vancouver Airport!

For more information, look to their website: www.vcon.ca

This spring, we were able to install the banners that I had helped create with the students of Pauline Johnson last year.  It was very gratifying to see them hanging in the stairwell and to know that they would be there for many years to come.  Although it was a lot of work to coordinate the efforts of so many students in a short time I am very happy with the results.  The stained glass effect turned out quite well (in my opinion).

Although I am starting as an on-call Student Support Worker with Vancouver School Board as well as working towards becoming an Elementary School Teacher, I hope I am able to do similar projects again. It was fun to work with David and Stephane and Nathalie and all the staff and students!

I have updated my Workshops page to include a lot of the programs I have developed and delivered over the last many years.

This sort of work is one of my favourite things in the world!  It is an honour and a joy to play an encouraging role to any person's creative process.

My degree and experience in Child and Youth Care has honed my faciliation skills, as has further training during my employment with Learning Through the Arts and Arts Umbrella.  Not to toot my own horn, but I believe I am a gentle and encouraging instructor that works well with all ages, from wee ones to teens to adults to seniors.

My three main modes of instruction are: CREATIVE WRITING & ZINES, CARTOONING & COMICS, and MURALS & PAINTING.  I am happy to create opportunities for participants to make art-for-art's-sake but can easly bring an educational, social justice, environmental, or personal exploration theme to the workshops I develop.

If you would like me visit your organization to deliver a workshop, do not hesitate to contact me.

I have a bit more work before I get my web-store up and running, as well as some testimonials for the Workshop page, so stay tuned for more updates!

Recently, I have started taking small graphic design gigs with a few table-top roleplaying companies.  I am still learning the ropes, but it has been a lot of fun to connect with people that are creative and passionate about bringing their dreams to life, and share those dreams with others.

A great part of this is it gives me an excuse to doodle away in Photoshop and learn more tricks with brushes, layers, and effects as I do so.  Learning by playing is one of the best ways to figure something out.

Below you can see some of my concept work on Sacrifice, which is part of an RPG Resource book made by DVOID Systems that details many worlds and dimensions that characters can explore.

To find out more about Sacrifice and similar projects, visit www.dvoidsystems.com!

I am holding an art auction to clear away some old stock and make room for the new.  This means big savings on some very sweet original paintings for the bargain hunting art lovers out there!

How does it work?  Visit the Auction Gallery and find the paintings you are interested in bidding on.  E-mail your bids to phil@philipstephen.com and I will notify you if you are outbid.  Remember to tell me the name of the painting you are bidding on and please bid in at least $5 increments.  I will post the current bid for each painting in its description. 

Find the Auction Gallery at: www.philipstephen.com/image/tid/44

The Auction will end at midnight on the evening of Friday December 17th. Check back often for updates with new paintings!

Payment can be made by cash, cheque, or Paypal upon completion. Arrangements for delivery can be made at that time.

For folks who are in the Lower Mainland or Williams Lake I can likely get the paintings to you before Christmas.  Other folks may have to arrange shipping and recieve their successful bids after Christmas.

Start your bidding and good luck!

This painting and many others could be yours!  Visit the Auction Gallery by clicking the image.

I have started to take a few gigs doing design work for some Role Playing Games.  This is a great way for me to stretch my style and develop new skills while staying in touch with things that have inspired my imagination since I was a child: Role Playing Games!

Besides making art and maps for the setting and game system I am developing with the help of a few friends, I have recently created a few pieces for Debbie Hunton and the folks at www.gamers-rule.com as well as some logo work and in-progress cover-design for Da'Vane at www.dvoidsystems.com

Da'Vane has created a great multi-genre series of encounters and settings that are perfect for fantasy, pulp sci-fi space opera, steam punk, trans-dimensional games.  If that made sense to you, drop by the DVOID website to check it out, as well as take a look at the logo and web-banner I put together.

I don't mind confessing that this is a geek-boy's dream come true.  Fantasy role-playing was a huge part of my creative development starting in elementary school and continuing off and on to this day.

I encourage you to check out the various projects that Gamers Rule and DVOID Systems have to offer.

I was quite excited when Ivan Habel of Green Thumb Theatre contacted me this past winter.  I had painted an image that they used to promote their last year of productions and they wanted me to make another for their upcoming year.

The last painting I had made was quite large.  It would have been challenging to paint a similar sized image again as had given up my studio space at 1000 Parker Street to save up for an unfortunate leaky condo situation. 

My solution?  I offered to paint the new image digitally. This was a great chance to put to work the practice I had been doing with my Wacom Tablet and Adobe Photoshop.

The folks at Green Thumb seem happy with the image and I am looking forward to continuing our creative partnerships in the future.

Please visit their website at www.greenthumb.bc.ca to hear more about the amazing work they do.