CHANTALE RENEE

About a week ago, myself and 16 other artists signed up for a 3-day Molding & Casting workshop, offered by Festival Stop Motion Montréal. The workshop was held at Sial in Laval, QC, where they ever-so generously supplied us with the space and materials we needed in order to experiment. If you're a stop-motion nerd like me, it was a serious candy store. I jumped on this opportunity to improve my puppet making. Everything has to be planned out: from the mechanics of movement, t

Is everyone feeling like they're dying too? What a year it was! Full of dramatic entrances and exits, shocking tales and testing times. It's important to reflect on the year we've had though. It may have been a really bad one- but there have been worse ones, and the best ones? They're up next. I love this comic by Drew Dernavich. He's a featured cartoonist in The New Yorker's December issue of Best Cartoons of 2016, which has now become a household tradition during the Holida

I love nature and solitude In November, we seem to need quiet time. This year our little getaway was no exception. Total tranquility in the middle of not much going on. It's hard to disconnect from the frenzy of the big city. And let go of your phone. Everywhere I go, I grab a little piece of nature to take home with me. Don't know why... I have a thing for dried flowers... there is beauty in the death of a living thing. My most prized picking is a tiny poppy pod that I pick

October is a difficult month for me. It is one of my favourite months, but one that brings joy and sadness all at once... all the feels. It's funny how a time of year can make you feel, the same way, every year. This year, October also brought a lot of work and distractions my way, which I am thankful for. But of course, that meant very little time for this animation. October to me is colour, the Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack and the smell of candle lit pumpkins. Oh go

September was a major moon month. As the fall crept in over some intense full moons, it really felt like there was a shift in the universe. Toronto also got to experience the sensory voyage that was In/Future down at Ontario Place. Amazing exhibits showcased works exploring time and space. It couldn't have come at a better moment. The inspiration for this month was vibrant. Everything fell hand-in-hand for September's plan. When I first began doing this animation challenge, E

Oh, August. You HOT, HOT sun of a month. Now don't get me wrong... The height of summer is pretty great- but if you're a gardener like me, and it doesn't rain for days, you start to worry. And then when it finally does, there's a giant sigh of relief. For August's animation, I knew I wanted to animated things from a different angle. I looked into ordering a rostrum tripod online, but after doing a bit of research, I figured it would be pretty easy to make one. Luckily I had

I've probably mentioned this before, but I think hands are fascinating. For some odd reason, they really inspire me, often. For July, I knew I wanted to build a shadow box. Of course the word shadow led to puppets! Shadow puppets!! They just bring me back to being a kid. With flashlights, in tents or forts, it felt really cool when someone showed you how to make that 'shadow bunny'. I began to trace a bunch of different hand shapes. I didn't really storyboard anything out- I

Ahhh Summer! Nothin' but BBQs, everyday. Naturally, for June, I made a hot dog puppet. Being in the 6th month, I'm finding it pretty easy to be inspired or think of a concept that can fit within "30 days". Of course, I'm terrible with deadlines (why I set up this project in the first place) but I am dealing with it. I pile up quite a few things up until the very last minute. Then, the deadline becomes pressurized and I just HAVE TO DO IT. That's my process, I guess. I'm doing

For my birthday in April, I received a handful of beautiful bouquets. I love flowers, and I didn't want to see these go to waste, so I pressed them, on purpose of course. I wanted to animate pressed flowers for May because Spring is finally here!! After very little research (a youtube video or two) I learned that you have to press flowers in their "prime". I enjoyed them for a couple days and then laid the prettiest ones to rest on newspaper between two heavy books. Then you

So there I was, in the dead of February, thinking: I need to learn a new skill. I looked up 'felting kits' on Amazon.ca and decided to watch youtube videos on how to felt small things. On the subway and even during down times at work, I poked away in excitement. Felting is relatively easy, and in this case, it was pretty inexpensive ($30 with shipping). A friend of mine is in the process of opening a brewery (halo) and they came into my work one day looking for bees for a pho