Zine Review: Animal + Media Sketchbook

Animal + Media Sketchbook
Artzine, Lynn Scurfield, lynnscurfield.com, price not listed

Lynn Scurfield’s work is vibrant. Fresh and clean and so colourful you can nearly taste the pages. This is a simple sketchbook, and the only semblance of an introduction we receive is a “This book belongs to…” page, filled in by Scurfield herself: “This is my animal + media sketchbook. Enjoy!” Included within is a postcard depicting Scurfield’s “Summer Weeds” illustration as it appeared in the the Globe and Mail. It feels a bit press-package-y, but no matter — the notebook is such a treat that I am happy it landed on my desk, regardless of intention. Scurfield works with a variety of oil paints, acrylics, pencils, and watercolours, and wanders in and out of a pseudo-Japanese style of character presentation almost reminiscent of Hayao Miyazaki. It would be a shame to characterize her work this way and leave it at that, however, because there is a great deal more here than imitation. Scurfield demonstrates an impressive range, depicting everything from horse to mantis, dish soap to Nintendo characters with surprising originality.If one is able to find this notebook for sale at one of Toronto’s many art fairs, I could not recommend it enough. That being said, Scurfield continues to work and produce, and I look forward to seeing what she yet has in store for her readers. (Joel W. Vaughan)