Two Hours at the Museum

My parents swung by Philly for a lovely visit and we spent part of the afternoon at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  They have a great collection, and given my recent interest in sketch booking (and trying to brush up my skills for the in-the-works-cross-country-bike-ride) I though I'd try to do a little work while I was walking around.

Bust, bust with stache.

I do love me some Stu Davis.

When people ask me about Philly, I say "wherever you go, nice restaurant, fancy hotel lobby -  there's a guy in shorts and Phillies t-shirt".  This is untrue - as evidenced by this drawing, he is sometimes wearing an Eagles Starter Jacket.

Mod tackles air-smooching.

Drawing of the surgeon, Dr. Agnew,  from the "The Agnew Clinic" by Eakins.

Sketchbook Portraits . . . Some good, some not.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone!

Michelle was nice enough to multi-task - napping/posing - while we watched "Scrooged". 

I must admit, caricaturing Cary Grant while watching "North by Northwest" proved to be a little tougher than I thought. . . These are bad, but I like the page.

Another attempt with a (little more success) of doing a caricature/portrait - Bill Murray while watching Bill Murray.  It doesn't hurt that he's a got a great mug (and I've already drawn him once this year:)). 

New sketchbook pieces

Haven't had much of a chance to do much sketch booking with the show looming so it's been nice to try to get back into a little drawrin'.  Mostly these are done on commutes back and forth from Philly to Brooklyn - and it's fun to play with the shaky hand spontaneity.

The Show!! Jets! Boats! Squares!

This weekend I had the pleasure of setting up my "One Hour of TV a Week" Show at Gallery 543 in Building 543, a communal space for the headquarters of URBN Inc (which for the uninitiated encompasses Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, BHLDN, Free People and Terrain) in the Philadelphia Navy Yard .  The space is . . . pretty amazing.  Coi ponds?  Yup.  40 ft tall bamboo indoors?  Yup?  Handy parking for WWII era aircraft carriers?  You better believe it.  You can also get a good cup of coffee and tasty lunch if you want to make a day of it.

I want to extend a big thank yous to: Lauren Addis for her support of the show and allowing me to do an extended setup (and make an extended mess), Josh Longo (of Longoland fame) for helping paint boats and put on the finishing touches, and most of all to Michelle Provencal who not only put up with my turning our apartment into a disaster zone, but who also helped out this past week with all the last minute preparations that I never would have been able to finish on my own (as well as my manic stress-isodes).  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

On to the show!!  So - some of you may recognize a few of the pieces from the "History of the World" show that was up earlier this year created with Owen Sherwood.  Initially, this show was going to be my half of that show, but - I like doing work - and wanted to repurpose some of the more autobiographical pieces from "History" into a different slant. So with a few new pieces and tweaks on old ideas, here's the "One Hour of TV a Week" show.

A little stage setting . . .

Is that . . . ? Yes, you're correct.  That is an aircraft carrier
looming outside of that large glass window.

"I'll Stop If You Stop", Latex Paint (thanks Josh!)

"National Little League" and "Bicentennial"

"I'll Stop if you Stop" detail

"I Hate Brian Smith", 6" x 6" drawings on paper.  

The story is - I got beat up by Brian Smith a lot.  Many bloody
noses - most of them deserved - I was a tag-along crybaby.  And I'm
still trying to get the last word in 23 years later.  Eat it Smith.

"Cancer" and "Magic 2"

"Magic 2" detail

"Cancer" detail

"A Concept of Four at Two" and "Magic" with the model planes I made and painted,
with help from the lovely Michelle Provencal.

p.s. - Do you know how small the landing gear is on a 1/144 scale plane?
About the size of this "I" with two "O"s on either side.  Teensy.

On the left are two new paintings - "Duplex" and "Ghostrunners" (shown in
my previous post)

"Duplex" detail - That's our old duplex featuring our upstairs duplex mate, Mrs. Maynard.
She was a nice old lady who kept to herself - we rarely saw her but well into her seventies she'd be
out shoveling snow at five in the morning if there was snow to shovel.

"Mango's, 1988", Latex Paint.  This is my squad from 1988 when I was ten and my
first team after I left National Little league for Twin Town Little League in the hinterlands
of upstate NY.

My little workstation for people to make cannonballs featuring: gliders as a reward for cannonball making,
my old D&D wallet (thanks Kate Glasheen), a vintage Queen postcard (thanks Colin O'Higgins), an old gas can I love (thanks N.C.), Wiffle Ball boxes (thanks Jen and Jed Heuer) and some childhood favorite books from Mom and Dad.

And to finish, I'll take an aircraft carrier and jet combo.

Make it a double.

"One Hour of TV a Week" Show Dec 6th!

Im getting ready for my new show at the URBN campus in building 543 next week!  At this point it's half panic, half excitement getting ready for the install.  The show is really based on a lot of childhood images: little league, toys, fights . . . ahh . . . the good times.  So if you're around the city of Brotherly Love on December 6th (or anytime through the first week in January) swing by the amazing URBN campus down in the Navy Yard (pretty amazing in it's own right) and check out the new stuff!

"Ghostrunners" 22" x 22", gouache on BFK

Reginald Chelmsley Wigglebottom - Gouache demo

Hour 1 (plus a little)

Hour 2 (plus a little)

Here a little in-class demonstration I did for my Methods and Media I class at Pratt.  Demos can be a little fickle and rushed, but I like how this one came out.  I usually do weird colored renditions of celebrities from photos for demos (see the otis below) but this time I thought I'd just paint out a character of my own with more of a realistic feel.  I started out with laying the background green, and then layering on the major base colors in the face: the brownish lower portion, the reddish nose and ears and warmer forehead and cheeks.  Then I subtracted out some of the lighter portions with a brush and rag, and then just continued building in light and darks.  In the second hour I just kept shaping the face, rounding it out and adding detail in the wrinkles as well as finishing out the frilly cravat and jacket.  Then I flattened out the background tone to highlight the texture in the face with a couple twinkley stars for giggles.  Ba-boom.  Wigglebottom.

Bill Murray Show!

Just sent my piece out for the Bill Murray show out at Gallery1988 opening November 3rd!

Here's a little of the piece in progress.  Fun to do a big portrait!

"Stevezee" 24" x 24" Gouache on paper mounted on wood panel

 

This is Otis. I love Otis.

A little gouache and watercolor demo I did for my Illustration class students at Pratt of the late great Otis Redding.  Some of them were unfamiliar with Otis, and to be honest, I'm sort of jealous of the mind blowing they'll get when they discover the best soul singer ever.

New piece for Kelly Carter at Deleware Today

Series of small spots for Scott Dvorin at the New York Observer

Video Gamery

"Forget-me-not", an homage to the blessed konami code, savior of the weekend Contra player.

"Nailbiter on Custom Track 'Hunter'"

As a kid who grew up with NPR, and only one hour of TV a week my only contact with video games was at friends' houses.  It was much treasured.  So here's my two contributions to the genre from the iam8bit show and the video game show at Gallery1988 Venice opening Friday the 16.  God bless Nintendo.

Funtown USA!!!

Have you been to Funtown USA? All you need is a passport, driver's license, 34 dollars, a penchant for skeeball,  and you may want a grown up diaper.  Happy Birthday to me!  Thanks Michelle!  Funtown is way better than Snacktown!

PS - That's me on the left hand seat.  You are not able to hear me scream, yet I assure you, I did.

Another batch!

A new one for Scott Dvorin at the Observer - unfortunately it ended up lacking the story to accompany the illo:(

A fun double spread for FHM in the UK.  Good thing I like drawing windows!!

Piece for the Southern Poverty Law Center's Teaching Tolerance Magazine.

Map for Tony Judge at Enviva Magazine about hiking in Oaxaca.

New Illos!

New piece for Annemarie Neff at American Medical News about the upcoming influx of twenty-somethings to the healthcare system thanks to the Obama plan.

New piece for Rob Schultz at MacWorld about creating safe wifi ipad/laptop network when you're on the road.

New piece for Scott Dvorin at the Observer.  These are fun one day turnaround pieces.  After about 6 hours of frantic work, they're a nice sense of accomplishment, and reason to go out for a happy hour beer!;)

TNG

For whatever reason I've been in the mood to watch Star Trek: Next Generation for a few months.  Maybe it's the appeal of cold space to contrast with the heat, or maybe a bit of summer nostalgia but whatever the case, it was pretty sweet when all seven seasons showed up on Netflix's watch it now.  I always considered myself a Kirk man - but I'm swaying . . .

Post Reform Reveal

 Here's a new piece for Jennifer Wenger at American Medical News about the implementation of the Obama Healthcare Plan - a matter of great concern as no one is quite sure how it's all going to actually work.  Thought I'd throw up the sketches too and the digital mock up.  I had fun contrasting the pencil with the graphic and doing a little digital painting.