Ugly Mug 6

I am thrilled and honored to have my artwork, portraits and city scenes, included in UGLY MUG 6. I just received my contributor’s copies. I didn’t know what to expect but find myself totally delighted with the content and quality of this magazine. Here is the blurb from the House of Harley Instagram page:

“house_of_harley

– UGLY MUG 6! The House of Harley cuts ’22 in two with 100 pages of prime comix-art righteousness.

Featuring stories and pictures by John Bagnall, Ed Pinsent, @jasonatomic, Masaman, Niall Richardson, @patgaig, @vince.mancuso, @mauretaniacomics, @marc.baines, Iesorno Zines, @tombaxtertiffin, Denny Derbyshire, @jimbobarker and the anonymous artists of the House of Harley.”

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Oh Boy!

Issue Six of the Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine Art & Literary Review contains reproductions of two of my drawings. You all have seen them before – the old man in Penn Station who keeps falling asleep while he has his morning coffee.

Every page is filled with essays, poetry, photographs and artwork created by members of the medical school or Northwell Health. Th front cover – someone else’s drawing.

This is the back cover, an iPad drawing.

And this is an ink drawing on a napkin which is collaged on a gelli printed moleskin spread.

Forgot About This

A couple/few/many (?) months ago I was surprised to find a magazine in the mail. It was a complementary copy of a new publication, Digital Inspiration , which contained a reprint of an article of mine that appeared in Somerset Digital Studio (Spring 2010). Pre-iPat.

I used a photo of my groceries and worked in ArtRage 2.5 and Photoshop Elements on my Mac with an old Wacom Intuous 2 tablet. It brought back memories

They did mix up the titles of the pieces though. Sigh.

I wish wish wish the ArtRage app had the ability to make stencils. Boy oh boy was I in 7th Heaven with the stencil feature. No. Probably 8th Heaven.

Of course, with iPat, I’m in continuous 10th Heaven all the time and the Wacom is nicely wrapped in a plastic bag inside a cupboard.

By the way, (I’m sure I blogged this at the time but one must be allowed to “toot one’s own horn now and then”), in Spring 2012, Somerset Digital Studio ran an iPad article of mine in which I described the way I used Sketch Club. Just tootin’.

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(The magazine pages were way larger than my scanner bed so things have been cropped and cut off. Sorry.)

Sigh. I Got Nothing But Misc. Stuff

A.  The Got Nothing Part 

I haven’t been very inspired lately.  There is a collage (created the last day at MoMA Print Studio) that is sitting on my boardonironingboard studio annex waiting for “something”.  I think that is what is blocking me and I have decided that I will declare it Finished, will scan it into the computer later or tomorrow (ha ha The Famous Tomorrow) and banish it to some pile somewhere else.

 

I don’t remember if I mentioned that a small multi, multi-page book resulted from the MoMa collages.  I need to add a few more pages (yes, I have to scan and print the abovementioned Blocking Me Collage) and then Declare It Finished, Photograph It and Make A Decision.  

 

Oh boy.  I visualize me as a speeding vortex of productivity as soon as Tomorrow comes.

 

B.  The Misc. Stuff Part

1.  Spotted a photo of a Picasso painting on Facebook.  This reminded me of a postcard I painted during 2011 using that image as inspiration.  I haven’t shown any of the 40 (!) postcards I made last year (hmm that’s something I could do.). All but 2 have been stamped and mailed.  I LOVE making postcards and sticking them in the mailbox.

 

 

My version:

Picasso’s:

 2.  Cloth Paper Scissors has a new free eBook available which includes a reprint of one of my articles from 2010.

  

 

 

3.  Cloth Paper Scissors has a new digital magazine “Art Journalling Exposed Vol. 1“.  They put out a call for journal pages to be used in their (CPS) submission to The Sketchbook Project and I discovered that my page was included:  

 

 

Below is an image of the book.  It was a very clever way to include artwork from many people.

 

 

(I received permission to show the images.)

 

4.  Last week Benedicte and I took a B
olt Bus (WiFi on the bus!) from 34th Street and 8th Avenue and ended up in Philadelphia for Fiber Philly (or whatever the proper name is).  We had a very successful trip two years ago so neither of us researched anything beyond the bus schedule.  When we alighted in Philadelphia and realized neither of us knew which direction to head off in we spent ten minutes rolling on the ground laughing our heads off.  Fortunately, trusty iPat and Benedicte’s cell phone saved the day and we ended up exactly where “planned” – Snyderman Works Galleries.  Oh My.  Totally Blew Us Away. Aside from how Nice they are, the artwork was Breathtakingly Marvelous, Beautiful and All Things Good.  And there was a lot of it.  We were stuffed full of gorgeous art and our faces cracked from too much smiling.

 

After that we walked to a zillion other venues (6 miles on my pedometer – I’ll explain some other time), saw more luscious artwork and a few duds and dragged our sore feet to the return bus. 

 

5.  Yesterday, Benedicte and I (nobody else could make it) boarded a NJ Transit train and went to see some art in New Jersey.  Well.   I probably liked half (if that much) of what I saw.  Really liked maybe 3 or 4 pieces.  The rest was, despite all the intellectual art blah blah on the wall nothing more than “Bleh” to me.  Maybe I’m not smart enough to “get” it.  

 

Yes yes yes, I’m sure not everyone gets the secret, very deeply buried hidden truths and mysterious messages contained in my cartoons highly skilled digital renderings.  

 

C.  And In Conclusion

I think it’s too late to scan today.  Maybe Tomorrow will do it for me.

Hmmm. Modesty? Or LaLaLaLaaLa?

So, I’ve been kinda Ho Hum.  In the throes of ArtArtArtEveryDay Withdrawal.  I can’t even get up the oomph to aerate my brain.  This was expected so I’m not letting it get me down and I think I won’t call it laziness.  This time.  

 

Anyway, I managed to rouse myself enough to open the front door and, there on the ground right in front of me was a padded envelope of just the right size.  

 

Yay!!  The new, eagerly anticipated: Gwen Diehn‘s  The Complete Decorated Journal, A Compendium of Journaling Techniques. This book is a compilation of The Decorated Journal and The Decorated Page + Bonus Content.

 

Guess who makes up some of that Bonus Content?  He He.

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(psst. I was given permission to scan and show off these pages.)

 

 

Just in case I’m spotted curled up in the recliner with a book propped up in front of my nose, IT IS NOT LAZINESS.  I’m doing research.  

 

 

Other Stuff Happens Also – Surprises

I had two Totally Out Of The Blue surprises last week – via snail mail and e-mail.

1.  In April I entered three small prints into the “8th Biennial International Miniature Print Competition 2011” at Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Norwalk, CT.  They weren’t juried in – competition is stiff and formidable and international – but all the non-selected (100’s of them) entries are put in portfolio books and kept on display for visitors to peruse and purchase.  (Psst.  I was juried into the previous one – the 7th Biennial etc etc.  Just saying.)  

Anyway, a check came in the mail.  Yay.  One of them sold. 

“Phone Talker”  2″ x 2″, screen print on a used (!) coffee bag.

2.  I didn’t know about this next one also until after the fact.  I don’t seem to be aware of any spam e-mails if I read the mail on my iPat but if I look on Mac they are nicely tucked away in a Junk folder.  That’s how I discovered an e-mail telling me about this the day after Teri brought it to my attention.

Cloth Paper Scissors issued a FREE e-book with four encaustic articles and two of the articles are mine.   

Check out some of my artwork http://www.clothpaperscissors.com/free-encaustic-painting-techniques/) it really is free.

(Those two ladies up above?  Don’t ask.)

Today is Cool

I found a complementary ?copy of HandCrafted (Stampington & Company) in my mailbox this morning. ?There are “250+ of our favorite crafting projects” in this issue. ?My article, “Colorful Quilts”, and artwork from the 2007 issue of Sew Somerset is on pages 80-82. ?

This is cool. ?

The current issue of Cloth Paper Scissors has a picture of a pendant I sent as part of their Pendant Swap. ?It is #19 on page 81. ?That came as a complete surprise to me.

This too is cool.

And, because I was pleased with how the following turned out, I am also Cool.

“Rush Hour” (edition of 4)

Each one had a special wrapper.

All this coolness is having a tough time convincing me it is not 102 degrees outside right now.

My digital side and my messy finger side

Last week I received the Spring 2010 issue of Stampington?s Somerset Digital Studio in which I have four digital pieces.  Here?s the last page of the article because these are my favorites and were a lot of fun to digitally paint.  I used ArtRage 2.5 for most of the work and then tweaked, poked and prodded them a bit in Photoshop Elements 6.

 

 

 

 

The other, bookmaking, side of me made a small book with my chair images.

 

 

 

 

And, not being able to stop there I made an envelope for this book and for the Tut small book made earlier this month.  The envelopes were made out of tyvek which was painted with acrylics on both sides, assembled and then stamped to fit the themes of the books.  The tyvek takes the paint wonderfully, no warping at all.  It makes a very strong, supple container.

 

The images are the fronts and backs of the envelopes (I also decorated inside of them).

 

Fronts:

 

 

 

 

And backs: