You were my rock, always ready with a beer or cold water. People would always ask about you at cook outs. You were the life of the party. Everyone naturally gravitated to you.
Remember the time you kept my sandwich cold for a week? That was the best.
We had a good time, but now you're needed elsewhere. The studio won't be the same without the gentle hum of your compressor. I'll never forget you.
I have a stash of print overruns I get from the print shop to cover any blemishes that occur with my custom print jobs. I've picked through them to weed out the bad guys, and I'm giving away the good stuff with your orders until I run out. I still have quite a few left, and they're randomly selected to be included. I'll give out one free 5x7 with every print ordered. They come signed and dated on the back! Keep it for yourself or surprise a friend.
This is a photo I snapped while I was packing up some prints for a customer last week. I’ve always loved the typography from the Clockwork Orange movie poster, and I was excited to get to include it in one of my paintings. I used a lot of dry brush technique and got a little sloppy with drips. I think it turned out nicely, and the details really held up in the reproductions.
There a bit more information about the prints in the shop, if you’re interested in picking one up.
While I work to build up enough inventory to carry my wood block print collection on my site, they're still available way over in the Etsy shop. When the weather cools off a little, I'll produce a few runs and figure out where to add them in my shop.
Inventory fades in and out as I have time to make more (did I mention they're hand-made?), so if you see one and want one, grab it! Of course, you can always contact me to pre-order one for no additional fee (other than a little patience).
The local mall in the middle of a week day is a strange and wonderful place. There are shops that I swear don't exist on the weekends, when the parking lots are full and kids are being outfitted for the first week of school. At some point on Monday morning the mall concourse turns into a back alley where men who wear sunglasses indoors appear to fill the empty locations with imports from their trunks and vans.
One such enterprise is the literally-named "Gifts", which sells an assortment of items one might buy a distant nephew who visits for the holidays. Hanging out in a corner near the decorative knives and bobble-arm (?) waving kittens is a tribute to 90s pop-culture so lost on the target audience for this store that they surely think these are poorly paid models and the frame is a suitable wedding gift. In this magical place, if you focus hard and squint your eyes, you almost believe that Courtney Cox is copping a feel on Lisa Kudrow and Joey is just a floating ghost head.
There is no point to any of this other than to remind you to shop local, even if it's not really local.
This week's giveaway sketch got a little serious. It wasn't supposed to, but it did.
Anyway, he's 8"x10" and sporting a pretty legit line beard, designed to fit with various Presidential tchotchkes in home-based altars.
Enter to win this (did I mention it's free?) ink drawing by giving us a follow and a share on your social media platform of choice.
And, of course, you can always leave a comment below or contact us with only your best ideas for future sketch giveaways.
We created a little game to play online with people we know (and a lot that we don't). Here's how it works:
1. If you buy something from us or win a contest (or we have any other reason to send you a package), we'll include a miniature paper cut out. Just let us know if advance that you want to play.
2. Carry your mini guy around until the time is right, then snap a photo.
3. Post your creation to social media and tag us.
4. Send your mini cut out to the next lucky soul. Rinse. Repeat.
I did a warm-up sketch this morning of David Choe. It's tiny.
I'm not going to recount the details of Choe's life (you can get them here), but if you miss the intersection of art and deviant culture, he's carrying your torch.
Random bits of inspiration.
This week's free drawing is a good one! Leland is 8"x10" ink on paper.
To enter, share our Leland/Giveaway posts across social media and give us a follow (so we can contact the winner). Social links are below.
This is my last Twin Peaks drawing, so load up!
“What pens do you use for your ink drawings?”
I’m not going to knock artists who don’t use “professional” tools to create art. If creating art with crayons or ketchup or pig’s blood gives you what you need, then so be it. However, it’s NOT okay to make excuses for your work based on your lack of knowledge of the options you have. I know this, because I did it for years.
“That’s how I intended it to look.”
“I think it adds to the effect.”
For me, that attitude was rooted in complacency. I spent years blocking in ink drawings with Sharpie pens because they were cheap, and I was used to them. It wasn’t until long after I started getting paid on art jobs that I began to upgrade my rig.
I went through many brands of pens before I settled on Pigma Microns. It’s a matter of personal preference, but take the time and minimal expense to experiment with different brands before you make your final selection. I prefer the Microns because they offer a great variety of pen sizes, and the ink is consistent throughout a whole piece.
You're an artist. Experiment for Christ's sake!
Social media is an amazing invention. Instead of relying on TV writers and record executives to herd us all into a box (see: 90s), we get can search each other to connect on the most obscure of interests. I don't even know how to really tell what is popular anymore. When I first came to that realization, I was unnerved, but it turned out to be liberating. Now, I just do what I do and trust that enough people will find me, and we can create a community around our remote obsession.
So unite! (alone, in dark rooms, staring at our phones)
Each week, I do a few ink drawings to warm up (or procrastinate). These sketches are mostly the early basis for full pieces of art that come later.
I'm going to start randomly selecting active members of our social media crew to receive a free ink sketch. If you want to play, see our links below. Share our Giveaway posts to enter, and don't forget to tag us!
UPDATE:
This was our first giveaway that spanned all of our social accounts, and it went great! We'll make this a weekly thing, and feel free to make suggestions for sketch topics (like twin peaks, outkast or your favorite movie), and I'll try to work them in. Thanks to everyone who participated and joined our online community.
Everything is wild up North.
But seriously, that line. "I go huntin', put heads on my fireplace, oh my".
And that time Drake was in Justin Bieber's "Baby" video.
It's (almost) the weekend. I'm done.
"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it. Don't wait for it. Just let it happen. It could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot black coffee."
When we're in Arkansas, our present is this place. One hot chocolate, one coffee and an hour of rolling hills on the way home.
"This fly is a major problem for us. It will ruin our batch..." -Walter White
I knew there was a fly in the studio. I knew the epoxy attracted flies. I'm going to hang this monument on the wall as a reminder.
And start shopping for a screen door...
I've been stuck in this weird cycle of coincidences for the past few weeks. I draw a famous person, and they make headlines the following day.
Although, in Rick Ross's case, pick any day and the odds he'll be arrested seem to be in your favor.
We kicked of our festival tour with the Blue Dome Art Festival in May, then followed it up with the inaugural Historic Kendall Whittier Art Festival in June.
Preparing for festival season each year has basically expanded to absorb all of April. It's always stressful, but I do like having the extended break from creating art to recharge.
So... time to start making again.
I've been constantly refining the process I use to make these wood block prints over the past year. These are a hit at festivals, often out selling paper prints.
The process I'm using now consists of about five separate steps, and a batch takes nearly a week, but each run looks better than the last.
I'm dedicating some time each week this summer to build inventory to add to our shop. I'll try to capture some quality product photos along the way that authentically translate the thick coat of supergloss resin that coats the art.
I accept custom orders for these throughout the year. Use the contact form to request a piece of art to be bumped up in production.
Country Living selected one of my prints for its photo shoot “14 Design Ideas Inspired By Classic Country Music Songs” in May.
Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line” hangs with a mix of framed prints (pictured above) and looks great in a 12"x18" frame.