Unpublished illustration, destined for my next promotional mailer, due out in September. If you wish to receive a printed copy, drop me a line at sylvianickerson (at) gmail.com.

I completed this commission for friend Heather Spielvogle back in March. It's a portrait of her mother-in-law and now husband David when he was first born. Collection of Gillian Wu.

My illustration "Wild Strawberry Jam" accompanied a story by author Barb McKenna in the July 8, 2010 edition of The Globe and Mail. After losing her job and then her house in an economic downturn, McKenna reaches back to memories of simpler times. Upon discovering that her mother-in-law's lawn is filled with wild strawberries, she recalls sun soaked days on Prince Edward Island when her Aunts obsessively picked wild strawberries for the jam pot. 40 years later, she understands their lusty zen when she picks buckets of wild strawberries for her own jam pot. Read her story or listen to the Facts & Arguments podcast. Art Director: Cinders McLeod.

To see a larger version of this painting, click here.
Collection of Larry Amey.

Seven new illustrations appeared in the July issue of The Literary Review of Canada. The cover illustration, "dead ends", accompanied an article about changes to Canada's prison policy. Art Director: Alastair Cheng.

Appearing June 2, 2010 in The Globe and Mail, Katharine Edmonds wrote a story about how the shoes of a now deceased friend remind her of the paths walked together and alone. The shoes in question, bought on a shared trip to Italy, proceeded Shelagh's illness with bone cancer, a frightening journey no one wishes to face. Now, with her friend's elegant Italian heels on her feet, Edmond's reminisces on the peregrinations walked in those shoes, in both the light and the dark. Read the story or listen to the Facts & Arguments podcast. Art Director: Cinders McLeod.

Collection of Katharine Edmonds and Paul Charles.

On June 26 2010 the leaders of G20 nations met in Toronto. For the occasion, the Dominion newspaper offered analysis while their related media wing, the Toronto Media Co-op, offered coverage of the street confrontations between protesters and police. The Dominion asked me to work on the cover for their special issue, and to include some related spots for the interior text. Above are the resulting spots. We used a kindof "politicians eat the world" theme, but in the end, the cover was pulled. However, the spots were printed in the following issue with a round up of the Toronto happenings. Art Director: Tim McSorley.

This May I was interviewed by local civic blogger Cal DiFalco, publisher of The Hamiltonian website, about living and working in my current home, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Playing second fiddle and generally overshadowed by the sometimes megalomaniacal Toronto, I find Hamilton to be an underestimated place. If you're driving from Toronto to say, New York, you may think you're passing Mordor when you drive by the industrial skyline prominently visible from the QEW Skyway bridge. However, if you get off the many extra- and intra-urban highways that crisscross this city, there's a lot more to it. And a thriving arts scene too.

Read the original interview here on The Hamiltonian. I've also posted a stable version of the interview to the Press section of this website.

These two illustrations were created for Eileen Costello's article in The Boston Globe, March 21, 2010, about the death of the autism-vaccine debate. She argues that recent evidence has overturned an earlier, badly conceived study that sparked the idea that vaccines cause autism. The illustration below got killed in the editorial process. The top illustration ran with the article, with a few of the syringes added into the layout from the other. Art Director: Heather Hopp-Bruce.

This illustration accompanied the April calendar of events in the Arts and Life section of The National Post, March 31, 2010. We selected the theme of running and puddles for the April theme, as many people take up running or compete in road races at this time of year. Art Director: Genevieve Biloski.

This piece illustrated a story by Vanessa Greco in the March 4, 2010 edition of The Globe and Mail. Shy about her non-buff physique and wonky stride, Greco vows to run in secret until one day she is inadvertently outed. Read her story on the Facts & Arguments page. Art Director: Cinders McLeod.