Artistic Oilers fans churning out best work during motivating playoff run
The Edmonton Oilers' playoff run is inspiring the team's most creative fans.
"Creativity comes in random spurts, more often than not," artist Taleb Choucair told CTV News Edmonton in a recent interview.
"So usually during the playoffs I get that hype… I feel that's when the Oilers paintings, for me, really thrive and I get my best paintings out during that time."
Since last season's playoff run, he has created about 20 portraits of the Oilers' star players.
The paintings portray the players on the ice, perhaps gliding back to the centre line or celebrating a goal. Like his other work, the portraits feature some abstract styling and high contrast colouring.
They are displayed in a gallery at Hectic Cutz, a barbershop that has been frequented by some of the Oilers' star players.
Edmonton Oilers fan and artist Taleb Choucair stands beside his paintings of the team's star players Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman. (Nahreman Issa / CTV News Edmonton)
"(Customers) really like them. I've noticed they're really engaged in sports, especially because we're Edmonton," Choucair said.
Playoffs have also spurred interest in Catherine Hiller's bedazzled jerseys and bead bracelets.
The latter came first, inspired by the "Taylor Swift craze," she says.
"I was like, well, why can't I do the same for hockey players or hockey? So when I posted the idea, a bunch of people had reached out," she told CTV News Edmonton.
Then a TikTok user put her on to bedazzling and she ventured out to an old Connor McDavid jersey with glue and jewels.
Edmonton Oilers fan Catherine Hiller holds up a Connor McDavid jersey she bedazzled. (Nahreman Issa / CTV News Edmonton)
"I'm pretty happy with the outcome of it. I learned a couple new techniques along the way," she said. "You learn how to outline and line up the beads a little bit. It definitely helps cover a lot of the spaces. In the beginning I was always worried I'd have to put another little bead to fill it in. If you honeycomb it, it actually works pretty well."
Bedazzling all of the numbers and letters on the jersey took about 40 hours.
"So many (beads). I had to order extra, too, because I thought I had enough then I ran out," she said.
Even the oil drop on the Edmonton Oilers' logo was bedazzled when Catherine Hiller took jewels and glue to an old jersey. (Nahreman Issa / CTV News Edmonton)
By now, her bracelets have been sent out across the country and interest in bedazzled jerseys is spreading, too. Hiller is even willing to work on Flames memorabilia, she said.
"I love my Oilers, but if there's another team I can do and jazz it up for them, that would be pretty wicked."
The Oilers sit 1-1 in the first round against the Los Angeles Kings. They play next on Sunday in L.A.
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Nahreman Issa
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Average hourly wage in Canada now $34.95: StatCan
Average hourly wages among Canadian employees rose to $34.95 on a year-over-year basis in April, a 4.7 per cent increase, according to a Statistics Canada report released Friday morning.
From outer space? Sask. farmers baffled after discovering strange wreckage in field
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
This iconic Canadian song is turning 50
Andy Kim's 'Rock Me Gently' is marking a major milestone, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Oprah Winfrey: I set an unrealistic standard for dieting
Oprah Winfrey said on Thursday evening that she has long played a role in promoting unhealthy and unrealistic diets.
Ontario family receives massive hospital bill as part of LTC law, refuses to pay
A southwestern Ontario woman has received an $8,400 bill from a hospital in Windsor, Ont., after she refused to put her mother in a nursing home she hated -- and she says she has no intention of paying it.
Toronto police called to Drake's Bridle Path mansion for another alleged intruder on Thursday
Toronto police say a man who allegedly attempted to access Drake’s Bridle Path property was taken to hospital on Thursday after an altercation with security guards.
Flat tire on a highway? Here's why you shouldn't try to fix it
If you're cruising down a highway and realize you have a flat tire, you may want to think twice before stopping to fix it on the side of the road.
Storm-battered U.S. South is again under threat. A boy swept into a drain fights for his life
Dangerous storms crashed over parts of the U.S. South on Thursday even as the region cleaned up from earlier severe weather that spawned tornadoes, killed at least three people, and gravely injured a boy who was swept into a storm drain as he played in a flooded street.
Broadcaster and commentator Rex Murphy dead at 77: National Post
The National Post is reporting that Rex Murphy, the pundit and columnist who hosted a national call-in radio show for decades, has died.