quick update-

it's been a while-
the past few months have been productive...
to back track-
* visited nyc for a week in may- painted live at the 10th annual nyc tattoo convention. met so many great people and made some new friends... saw the trailer for Art Fusion at the national arts club, stayed with the krak family and bert introduced me to quite a few nyc tattoo artists... Photographed 18 tatto artists to paint for my upcoming show at invisible in august, including- paul booth, bert krak, seen, civ, mike rubendall, chris o'donnell, shinji, kiku, troy denning, regino gonzales, scott campbell, tim kern, jk5, steve boltz, brad fink, eli quinters, bryan randolph and nikki balls...
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* went back to nyc in june for a week with 10 CCA students/recent graduates...
- I got into town a day early to stay with my friend jesse- his band, Smoke Wagon, played that night- great to see live- jesse threw down- and the singer/guitarist kevin omen killed it!!!!!, and was blown away by the closing act- Brant Bjork- heavy, melodic, vibrating power- I picked up every cd they had...
- the next day, met up with the students- we stayed at a really great hotel/the gershwin- in two rooms, bunk bed/hostel style... the quiet room and the 'crazy room'.
this trip turned out to be more than any of the students expected, including myself.
- in less than a week we visited: the Met, the MOMA, the Dahesh museum, the Illustration House (where walt reed gave us a guided, informative tour), the society of illustrators and life drawing in the bar...
- We did a grand tour of DC comics, thanks to sweety- and the students got to drop off portfolios at Vertigo;
- the owner of the Alternative Pick, Maria, gave us two hours of her time- a great pep talk and kick off for what it takes to make it as a freelance artist;
- Dan Dos Santos drove down with his wife and baby for lunch and a three hour presentation/portfolio review tag team style at Tor Books with Irene Gallo- this was probably the highlight in terms of what it takes to be a professional commercial artist- really appreciative and I know it's going to really sink in for the students...
- 48 original JC Leyendecker's at the Illustration Gallery;
- an hour and a half at Tara McPherson's studio in williamsburg- anothe r ass kicking example of what is possible if you stick to the grind every single day and have your own personal, unique vison- tara fucking rocks it!!!;
- a great talk by Scott Campbell at Saved Tattoo in williamsburg- not only is Scott a great artist and tattooist- a smart, humble dude that knows how to deal with business, knows better to NOT be taken advantage of and is willing to push the boundaries of what power and control we can have as artists dealing with the commercial market.
- jk5 gave us a great presentation of where his art comes from and how you can have your own unique vision and not compromise it's intensity...
_ an old student from ringling, Tom Carlson, gave us a guided tour of the New York academy of art, his studio and a feddback on the representational contemporary arts scene in new york...
- checked out arcadia gallery, eleanor ettinger gallery and good old evolution in soho... the fuse gallery and a collabro show, as well...
- a few comic and book stores...
- and ran into mercedes helnwein at the met- who had a solo show that night... we checked it out, really great new works and a 'hidden' new painting...
- painted with the boys at west side ink
- photographed 5 more nyc artists to paint for august- josh lord, patrick conlon, andrea elston, marcos serio and elio espana...
- the students also set up their own portfolio dropp-offs and interviews during the week...
- the students sang to me the last night, with a little gift for august...
- I'm sure there is more that I'm missing but it was an inspiring, productive trip!!!