Rule No. 5: Survive With Your Head Down

Anna Wintour by Alex Katz

My indelibly brilliant friend, Globe and Mail business reporter Tim Kiladze, pointed me towards this week's New York Magazine article titled How to Make it in the Art World. While I'm still making my way through the dense copy, I did latch to a particular quote by one of my favorite artists, Alex Katz. He proposed:

"It's hard for young artists. You're an adult at 18, but for a painter it takes longer. You don't really get it together until 35 or 45. In the 1950s you had seven or eight years to experiment. But now you have to sell your first show and your second show and get a third show. And if you don't, you're a failure."

While he speaks from the fine art perspective, the sentiment holds true for any genre of art. And I can't begin to tell you how much this little piece of insight resonated with me. I lived by rule no. 5 all year, trying to survive with my head down, trying to keep all my doubts at bay, feeling like everyone was ahead of me. Comparing myself to my McGill commerce peers and their 6 figure salaries felt like a full-time career in itself. But what I realize and accept, as I finally raise my head up high, WAY high, is that the only timeline that matters is mine.

It's your life, it's your trajectory, compare yourself to no one, and measure yourself against only you. It's your dream, give it everything, and hope for the best. And now I've had my head up too long and it's time to get back to work, night class looms, and deadlines are ticking away.

See you on the other side!!

Much love,

Meag xx

New Portfolio Launched!!

Hello, Hello My Precious Darlings!!

I'm so excited to announce that my new portfolio has been launched at www.meaganmorrison.com!! Finally my domain name, which I bought two years ago, is being put to good use YAY!! It's one step closer to an official commissioned website and I'm so thrilled to see all my work in one place. For me it's a reflection of everything I've accomplished over these past three years. It has been a VERY long haul, particularly these past 12 months, but I finally feel like my career is coming together. Today marks the three month countdown to my expiring OPT and I can't wait to find out what's next for me.

Surely meaganmorrison.com will go through many more transitions as it will eventually become the home of my plethora of illustrated textile products. But for now it will help me on my next venture (applying for my work visa in New York) and many other projects I'm sure. I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you ALL SO MUCH for your amazing, unwavering support. Be it facebook, twitter, my blog, or emails, you all prove to me how much good there is in the world. Having this blog has been one of the most rewarding things I've ever done and it simply would not be without all of you.

Next up, Postcard from Aswan!! Stay tuned for pictures from the Nile.

So much love,

Meag xx

Postcard from Cairo

Illustration for IDEE FIXE Magazine

So typically I'm not really into surprises, unless of course the surprise comes in the form of my illustration being published and made available on newsstands nationwide!! Today I received the most wonderful piece of news when IDEE FIXE Magazine's Features Editor, Katie Kingsbery Palmer, wrote to inform me that after months of waiting the first issue of the magazine had finally been published. Back in January I had created an illustration to relate to their article It's the Singer, Not the Song and was super anxious ever since to see it placed with the actual text.

I'm not sure it will ever get old, the feeling I receive when I crack open a magazine for the first time and see my very own artwork glistening inside. It's quite simply, magic. If you live in the U.S., be sure to pick-up a copy of this uber refreshing, art, beauty, and fashion publication and see for yourself what it means to experience IDEE FIXE.

Much love,

Meag xx

Nile Dreaming

Hello Hello My Loves!!

I've finally returned home safely to New York after what can only be described as the trip of a lifetime. Have you ever had a dream so good that you wished you could live in it forever? Well that's what this Egypt trip felt like for me. As I sit here in my tiny West Village apartment, I play over in my mind visions of Aswan's soothing Nile water kissed by the African sun. There simply are no words to describe the connections that were made along this journey.

In a post revolution Egypt, I climbed the great Pyramids of Giza, sailed the Nile in an Aswan Felucca, smoked shisha amongst locals on the dirt roads of Luxor, walked the Valley of the Kings, rode a camel through an Egyptian Village, danced the night away in Egypt's modern Hurghada, fell asleep on the beaches of the Red Sea, and awoke to snorkel through its crystal blue waters and coral reefs. My heart has been marked perpetually by this adventure and I don't think I will ever be the same again.

I'm hoping you all had a wonderful Easter with your loved ones and I cannot wait to share this expedition with you. Stay tuned for photo postcards and inspired illustrations galore. Egypt Ever After...

Much love,

Meag xx

Illustrated Packing List: Egypt Essentials

Hello My Loves,

How have you all been?! I'm so excited to share this post with you after three days of putting it together. For the longest time I've wanted to do a "what's in my bag" illustrated entry on TWD. I think your essential day-to-day items say so much about you as a person. Furthermore, the things you deem essential on your travels reveal a lot about your character too. Since I'm leaving for Egypt on Friday, I thought it would be really cool to illustrate my travel essentials for this North African adventure. Fun prints, good tunes, great read, and color...= me!!

Magenta Merino Wool Shawl by Virginia Johnson

Floppy Sun Hat by Joe Fresh

Anytime Tortoiseshell Sunglasses by Karen Walker

Statement Necklace by Dannijo

Printed Pants by Cut25

Bunny Ear iPhone Case by Rabito

Egypt Travel Guide by DK Eyewitness Travel

Orange Stingray Leather Sandals by Miu Miu

I didn't illustrate my sketchbook or camera but they most definitely are on the essential list. I have every intention of putting them to good use too!! Alright loves, see you all in April!!

Much love,

Meag xx

The Fabulous Life of the Fascinating Francis Fodder

Hello Darlings,

I'm so thrilled to finally be presenting you with this commissioned post. The illustrated shoe designs I created above have been several weeks in the making all thanks to the clever ingenuity of author William Campbell. Campbell contacted me back in January with an incredibly creative prospect. He was looking for a unique way to promote his trilogy book series, The Fascinating Life of the Fabulous Francis Fodder, and proposed I design three original shoes to embody the lead females in his story. I responded with a resounding yes and jumped right onboard.

The compelling story of The Fascinating Life of the Fabulous Francis Fodder is about a man who endures a life-altering college heartbreak, only to grow-up and become a professional gigolo (yes you read that correctly). When Fodder runs into his former love on a whim his life is turned irreversibly upside down. I would be lying if I said that reading the brief book description left me a tad bit skeptical, but once I broke into the first installment I was hooked. Something about the unwavering connection with his first love really resonated with me, especially reading it from the male perspective.

The shoes you see above, in sequential order, represent the three main female characters from the series: Glamour Dietrich, a stunningly successful, dead-ringer for January Jones, director/screen-writer, and first-love to Fodder; Ruby Tuesday, a sultry hotelier and confidant to Miss Dietrich; and lastly Crystal Canker, a frosty media-mogul and soon to be First Lady. All three women are so brilliantly interlaced into the truly fascinating life of the fabulous Francis, you can't help but want to read more. After all, who out there isn't at least a bit curious to glimpse into the life of a gigolo?!

I would like to be clear that there is some fairly graphic content in the book so I do not recommend this to anyone below the age of 18. What I'm ultimately endorsing here is a very human love story, albeit, one dipped in high-gloss glamour and hidden behind velvet curtains.

Now to get your hands on the first two installments of the series, you can purchase the book over at:

Amazon Book 1 and Book 2

Barnes & Noble Book 1 and Book 2

The third book will be available on March 30th and I for one cannot wait to see how the whole story unfolds!!

If you would like even more insight into the series or are curious to check-out other books written by Campbell, be sure to click the following links:

Campbell's Blog

Campbell's Facebook

Campbell's Twitter

Now before I sign-off on this post I would like to give a massive thank-you to Campbell for this wonderful opportunity. It was an absolute pleasure to work with you and I'm wishing you all the luck in the world with The Fabulous Life of the Fascinating Francis Fodder series.

Much love,

Meag xx

Cairo Time

Hello My Loves!!

It feels so incredibly good to be back on my blog. The last few weeks have been absolutely crazy and perhaps the most insane thing of all is that I've booked a trip to Egypt for the end of the month yay!! I will be cruising down the Nile in what feels like no time. I've been so anxious to announce this on my blog because traveling has always been such a huge component of my life and one of the major reasons I started TWD. Furthermore, Egypt is probably one of the more controversial places to be traveling to right now in light of the recent (ongoing) Arab Spring.

From the moment I contemplated making this journey I received mixed reactions. In the end it was a personal choice and one I feel very much at peace with. Frankly, I think now more than ever, Egypt will be one of the most fascinating countries to visit. Furthermore, I have dreamed of making this trip ever since I was a little girl starring in mesmerization at the mummies in Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum. For this post I've painted the scarab associated with the major god Khepri. Known as being the embodiment of the sun, I can't help but be drawn to him.

I'm so excited to be able to share this journey with you all in the very near future but for now there is more work to be done. Stay tuned for some more exciting posts.

Much love,

Meag xx