3rd SpeakesyDC Postcard

Here is the 3rd and final postcard I've been hired to do for SpeakeasyDC's 2007-2008 season.

rough sketch

Blue line final drawing

Final illustration (color added in Photoshop)

Saatchi and Saatchi

At the end of last year I was contacted by the Dutch branch of the ad agency, Saatchi and Saatchi, and was asked to do three small paintings that would be part of an ad campaign for the Dutch Cancer Society. The campaign addresses the idea that children who watch their parents smoke are twice as likely to end up smoking.

Well, I’m done and here are the finished paintings. I added the text (the diary entries of the kids) in Photoshop; this is not the final version. In the final version of the ad, the diary entries will be handwritten.

Ad 1 Ad 2

Ad 3

New Book

Last Fall I was contacted by Upset Press's Robert Booras who asked to use my painting, The Sloth and La Pachamama, for the cover of a new book of poems, The Comeback's Exoskeleton, by Matthew Rotando. Now the book is hot off the press and I just received some copies(the cover looks great!). I'm looking forward to reading it.

Here's a review:
Incorporating the density of Spanish surrealism and a sprawling Whitmanesque line, this amazing first book finds Rotando engaged in a poetic biathlon that draws equally from maximal and minimal traditions. There are tight, economical poems, free verse forms derived from the sonnet, poems leaping about the page, but my favorites are the wonderful prose poems tumbling over and under themselves toward gnomish statements that feel both didactic and self-parodying.
-Tim Peterson, Since I Moved In (Chax Press, 2006)

Here's another review and you can buy the book HERE.

Argentina and The Rolling Thunder

ARGENTINA: Just got back from a wonderful 3 week trip to Argentina (Buenos Aires and Capilla del Monte, Cordoba) to visit my wife’s family and old friends for the holidays and, believe me, going from summer to winter in less than 24 hours has been a shock!.

After almost 2 years since we’d last visited, it was really great to be back in BA and to enjoy the rivers and scenery in Cordoba!

Every time I go back I’m reminded of how differently Argentines live their lives (as compared to here in the States). Argentines (in general) seem to work to live, while we (in general) seem to live to work. I don’t mean to idealize it (both Argentina and the US have their pros and cons) but it’s a good place to be.

What did we do while we were there????

we watched BA get ready for Xmas

we cooked a pig for the new year's eve dinner ......

had fun with sparklers (on new year's eve)

and saw some good art!

El Mudo by Argentine sculptor Juan Carlos Distefano

If you’ve never been, then go! You won’t regret it! Lots of asado, maté, argentine gelato, and (of course) futból!

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THE ROLLING THUNDER (a children's book):

What am I working on?

In my Recap of 2007, I mentioned that I’d been commissioned to illustrate a children’s book about the Rolling Thunder. I spent most of December working on the layout and drawings for the book. Now that those have been approved, I’m on to the finished paintings and should be done by the end of January. For now, I thought let you see some of the drawings.

New Illustration

The following illustration was done for Education Week and accompanied an article demonstrating the failings of the "What works Clearinghouse" (WWC), an initiative of the Institute for Education Sciences and designed to "help the education community locate and recognize reliable evidence to make informed decisions," and to "provide educators with a central and trusted source of scientific evidence of what works in education." Whew!

rough sketch

final drawing ( i scrapped the original layout and, at the directions of the art director, made it less "cartoony")

Final illustration colored in Photoshop

A Year in Review:

This year was especially good to me as I move forward in my career as a fine artist and illustrator and I want to thank all of you who have supported me and my work by going to my shows, by purchasing my paintings and prints, and by sending me your kind words of encouragement and by spreading the word about my art. Thank you so much and I look forward to more of a good thing in the New Year!
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BLOG
Speaking of new things, this year I finally added a blog to my website where you can check in regularly to find out what I am up too and get a better idea of how I work. In 2008, I'm hoping to include photos of paintings as they develop, stay tuned!

PRINTS
If you are looking for a special gift for someone this holiday season, please consider buying a limited edition print of one of my paintings. In April I finally was able to make limited edition archival prints available on my website.

Note: If you do not see a print of the painting you would like, please email me and I can make a special order for you.
Also, if you are interested in purchasing a print, live in the DC area, and would like to avoid the additional shipping and handling costs by picking the print up yourself, please contact .

RECAP OF SHOWS & EVENTS OF 2007
- Transformer Gallery's 4th Annual Silent Auction, Washington, DC
(this was the second year I was asked to participate in this, had a great time, and witnessed a little bidding battle for my piece)
- Artist Collaberation, Art Whino Gallery, Alexandria, VA
- Arts on Foot, Penn Quarter, Washington, DC
(this was a wonderful event, and I definitely plan on doing it again next year!)
- ArtRomp20, Warehouse Gallery, Washington, DC
- One Word Project, Arts Club of Washington, Washington, DC
- Art in Heat, Warehouse Gallery, Washington, DC
- Artomatic, Washington, DC
- Everything but the Kitschen Sync, La luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
(my first show outside of DC…. Looking forward to more!)
- In a Land Far, Far Away, DCAC. Washington, DC

PLANS FOR 2008
It looks like next year will be just as busy and exciting as this year as I work on a new huge (I’ll explain later) series of paintings, a children’s book for Rolling Thunder, Inc., and begin work on a big public awareness ad campaign for a very important international ad agency (look for news about that in January), and begin lining up shows! I’ll make sure to keep you up-to-date and please keep reading the Blog and checking in for new paintings!

2nd SpeakeasyDC Postcard

Here is the second of the 3 postcards I've been hired to do for SpeakeasyDC's 2007-2008 season.

rough sketch

final blue line drawing

final illustration colored in Photoshop (nixed the text around the speech bubble... way too busy!)