Episodes – We're Gonna Make It!

Episode 6:

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I hope you liked our previous episode on illustration (See Episode 4 with Renee Nault) because this month we dig that freshly buried horse right back up and beat it until flies come out.

Our guest this month is the mildly sinister Laura Bifano, who took better use of our “explicit” rating than any of our previous guests – even the chefs, which I find quite surprising. It also appears that Taylor and I have met Laura before, but none of us remembered it until part-way through the interview when we discovered a previously unrealized link between our lives. Fateful!

Laura bobs between Victoria and Vancouver as she pursues her work as a freelance illustrator, and routinely provides work for magazines, studios, and art shows across North America. Her portfolio can be found at http://www.laurabifano.com/

“Badger” from the Menagerie Series

“Encounters at the Edge of the Multiverse”

The contest Laura subjected to us in this episode had a rather psychological slant to it and once again forced us to contend with an unfamiliar medium.

I won’t spoil the episode any further, but I will say that the contest had a great deal to do with this oddity that Laura painted for a 2012 art show at the AGGV.

“Alain” from the Cube Portrait Series

As always, we will post our competition pieces below, but do yourself a favour and listen to the episode before you look at them!

Moss’ Painting

(Turns out that a picture drawn in pastel is still called a painting. Huh.)

Taylor’s Painting

This episode’s soundtrack includes the following tracks by OLAV:

(Laura’s Theme)

(Encounters at the Edge of the Multiverse Ambiance)

Episode 5:

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This month we bring you a very special episode of We’re Gonna Make It. The perfectly aligned celestial bodies of “there’s a big event in our future” and “oh my god we have no time to make a podcast this month” have conspired to bring you this, our first (and I’m guessing only)...

Wedding Spectacular

I’m marrying my co-host tomorrow, on June 2nd. And as such, neither of us had any time to put a proper episode of this show together. You think we just roll this garbage out in a day?

We realized though, that over the course of our 15-month engagement, we had ourselves become experts in a very exclusive niche field. That is to say, the planning and preparation of our own wedding.

So this month, we talk about the myriad crafts and artistic endeavours we undertook to create our wedding decorations, invitations, and more. As much as possible, we DIY-ed wherever we could, partially to save money but mostly to make our wedding a singular event that reflected our own personalities as closely as possible.

To hear all about our handmade nuptual garnishes, have a listen to the episode. Or have a look below for a few select images of our crafts.

Showcasing our exuberant use of fonts inspired by both Zelda and The Lord of the Rings.

This was the background Moss drew for the invites, inspired by a map of Quadra Island drawn by Hilary Stewart. The faded sections are where words were to be overlaid.

From left to right: Douglas Fir tray, candle holder w/sand, flower vase, inukshuk pie toppers, favour boxes with washi tape, escort stones for place settings. Not shown are the pie server and the larger inukshuks.

This episode’s soundtrack features the Marriage of Figaro Overture by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:

Episode 4:

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This month, we focus our sights and speak to a solitary artist about an artistic form that began in paleolithic caves, was refined in the high days of the Rennaissance, and persists in Elementary schools throughout the world.

It’s watercolour painting, and to guide us in our exploration, we have contacted one of its brightest young pupils.

Renee Nault is a Canadian artist who operates out of Victoria, BC. She works primarily in watercolour and ink, using crisp lines to reign in the dynamic nature of the paint. Her art has appeared in magazines, advertisements, books, and periodicals such as The Los Angeles Times.

Her current focus is on an original graphic novel called Witchling, which she is both writing and illustrating.

More of her work can be found at reneenault.com

On the contest front, it turns out that watercolours are a merciless and unforgiving medium that require a great deal of foresight and planning to use properly. Hooray.

Neither host had ever used watercolours outside of grade school art class, so this was a tricky test of skill. Overcoming adversity though, Moss and Taylor each produced a work of art using paint and ink to be judged by Renee. The illustrations are shown below, but Renee’s verdict is locked away in the depths of the audio file that you can conveniently hear or download at the top of this page.

Taylor’s Painting

Moss’ Painting

This episode’s soundtrack includes the following track by OLAV:

(Renee’s theme)

Episode 8: http://ia601007.us.archive.org/21/items/WGMIE08TheBuskers/WGMI%20E08%20-%20The%20Buskers.mp3 Download Episode 8 (right click and choose Save Link As...)

Last month we took a hiatus for hosts Taylor and Moss to go on vacation to Scotland. This month on We’re Gonna Make It!, they’re back with proof of their adventure. In a land of craftspeople, poets, and artists, talent was not difficult to find. But rather than finding October’s interviewee in a studio or gallery, Moss and Taylor actually found their guests just outside of one.

Right outside of the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh is a lovely viewpoint of Prince’s Street Gardens. It’s sandwiched between the metropolitan glamour of Edinburgh’s new town, and the incredible wealth of history held in its old town. This spot, it seems, is a favourite haunt of The Spinning Blowfish.

The Spinning Blowfish are three men. Dave, who plays the bagpipes, Ram, who plays the electric guitar, and Javipatillas, who plays the drums. Through the summer months, they busk together outside the gallery, combining time-honoured bagpipe melodies with exciting, funkadelic new rhythms from the drum and guitar. The fusion of their music echoes the fusion in the city around them, and makes them quite a remarkable act to see. Have a listen to the show for a sample of their music.

The Spinning Blowfish can be seen in Edinburgh outside the Scottish National Gallery on summer evenings, and they can be followed through their Facebook page or their Twitter feed.

The two primary tracks played on the podcast are both by The Spinning Blowfish. The first is called Rumbadelick, and the second, more traditional song is, of course, Scotland The Brave.

Episode 7: http://archive.org/download/WGMIE07TheRedMage/WGMI%20E07%20-%20The%20Red%20Mage.mp3 Download Episode 7 (right click and choose Save Link As...)

This month on We’re Gonna Make It! our focus is less on medium and more on method. Our guest is most prominently a comic artist, but she is also an illustrator, a writer, a feltcrafter, a soapmaker, a chef, a sculptor, and an aspiring organic farmer. But above all these other titles to choose from, our guest, Sydney More, prefers to identify with this little fellow: If you’re like Taylor, you’ll need to listen to the episode to really understand the reference.

Sydney More’s work can be seen through her tumblr at sydmore.tumblr.com. Her Homo Erectus comic series can be found at The Paltry Sapien, and she usually can be spotted at a variety of comic art festivals.

Keeping in line with the diverse nature of Sydney’s portfolio, this month Taylor and Moss embarked on a rather lengthy exploration of many different artistic mediums. After thirty days of experimentation, each host selected five of their finished pieces to lay at Sydney’s feet for the inevitable judgement.

Taylor’s Artwork

Moss’ Artwork

This episode’s soundtrack includes tracks from Final Fantasy, composed by Nobuo Uematsu.