Cornwall_2016_12_21

Justin Labelle has been drawing ever since he’s a kid. He’s now doing custom drawings for Cornwall residents. — supplied photos

draw in a certain way. Labelle then absorbs the whole informa- tion and incorporates it in his future pieces. Labelle has become a local celebrity, his drawings being viewed by several hundreds of Cornwall’s residents, over Facebook. “Yeah, sometimes someone will recognize me,” he said, laughing lightly. “I’m not one for attention. I’m not what you would call a social butterfly, I like to keep to myself.” But the talented artist is quick to point out that he does appreciate the recognition. “As an artist, the exposure is great,” he admitted. “I love it when people compliment my work.” Labelle hopes to someday own his own art gallery, where he could freely expose all of his art pieces. “I would love for people to come in and watch me draw,” he declared. “I’d love for nothing more than to become a fulltime artist.” In the meantime, he creates drawing by commission. “People send me pictures of what they want drawn and I do them,” he stated. But even that has resulted in some head- aches. “Some people sent me pictures to draw,” he expressed. “But when it was time to pay me, they didn’t want the piece.” Therefore, the artist has decided to ask for a fee in advance, prior to starting the draw- ing. “I hate doing that, but I had to.” With the Christmas season being in full swing, Labelle happily said that he’s getting several requests for pieces. “Things certainly have

Year in Review impresses In what has become a Cornwall tradition, Team Cornwall hosted its popular Year-in-Review meeting on December 15. The annual meeting attracted well over 300 community leaders who were eager to hear a recap of the year’s eco- nomic activity, compiled by the City’s Economic Development Department.The meeting was held at Galaxy Cinemas on Second Street. The Year- in-Review report summarizes major development activity that has occurred in Cornwall over the past 12 months. “2016 has been a busy year of notable developments in both the private and public sector,” said Bob Peters, Senior Development Officer with Cornwall Economic Development. “Our goal is to showcase the overall positive impact that results from indi- vidual decisions to invest.” The meeting was a particularly important one according to Team Cornwall chair Peter Gault.“Cornwall Economic Development does an excellent job in preparing the Year-in-Review presentation,” said Gault. “It is exciting to recap the success of the past year so that we can all take that information and share it with people beyond the boundaries of Cornwall.” “Success breeds success, and we can all play a role in helping attract the next investor by speaking positively about our community.”– Francis Racine picked up,” he said with a smile. To view some of Labelle’s work, visit his Facebook page at facebook.com/ thebeautifularts/

The Journal Cornwall

3

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker