SPEED PAINTING

Ed started a few of us on a 1 hour "Speed Painting" exercise a couple times a week (with a given phrase) and boy, it's tough! Here are a few of my stumpy versions:

"An exposed to atomic radiation fakir leaps on an apocalyptic warrior in the fog."

"A Supersonic Shaolin monk decapitates an amphibian on a submarine"

"An ectoplasmic fish assembles a goblin in a lane."
Check out Edward's, Paul's, Gene's and Augie's on the Atomic Lead blog!

Wowee wow wow wow

HA! Okay, I know you are thinking, Huh, tomatoes.
But, maybe you'll understand because they were fresh-picked this morning - this gardening business is new to me and Dev, so to have something grow, survive... and be edible... well, I felt it was post worthy. Thanks MOM for the starter plants this summer!

Heeeey... these tomatoes make a decent "Miles" helmet!

Don't Forget TONIGHT!

Things from My Toy Box
Paul Whitehead [metalpig]
Fresh Flours Cafe, Phinney Ridge
7pm-9pm

Plush You2
Schmancy, downtown Seattle
4pm-9pm

Its All Wood (if you're in Portland!)
Augie Pagan
Renowned Gallery
6 pm

Illustration Friday : Trouble!

These durn fish aren't going to take it anymore!
Aquaman... you are on your own, buddy.

Illustration Friday : Quiet...

Aw geez... the cloud he's sleeping on looks more like a 'foot', doesn't it...I tried another version of a cloud shaped like an ice cream sandwhich... because I LOVE ice cream sandwhiches...but it looked like crap (not that THIS looks any better) HA. Oh well.

PLUSH YOU 2!

Mark your calendar for Friday, Oct 6th
Opening Reception, 4:00pm - 9:00pm
Schmancy Gallery and Fancy + Pants
1932 + 1914 Second Ave, Seattle, WA



I've been lucky enough to particpate (100 Plush Artists contributed)
Check out the following LINKS:
Schmancy Toys
PlushYouBlog
PlushYouShowPics
PlushYou Flickr Group
NWSource article

Illustration Friday : Phobia!

I almost did Papaphobia because Fear of the Pope is pretty durn hilarious. But, I kinda felt like painting a garlic instead of the pope for some reason. So here ya go. Alliumphobia- Fear of garlic.
This illo isn't exactly how I imagined it in my head. Its a bit... confusing, but oh well. 'Why the hell does he have a sandwhich?' I don't know. He just does.
Oh, and its a BLT... if you were curious.

Illustration Friday : CHANGE!

"...NOT ENOUGH..."
I had a tough time thinkin' about this week's Illo topic...but last night, one of my favorite scenes of Harryhausen's Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger came to mind - when the queen transformed herself into a seagull to spy on Sinbad...but then ran out of her magic potion to fully change back. HA! Brilliant. Take a walk down memory lane and peek at Harryhausen's trailers HERE.

Illustration Friday : SAFE

Hey Everybody! BE SAFE, KIDS.

Illustration Friday : RUN!

"...ACK! Bees!"
I know... I am lame... I'm posting another piece from the FreshFlours show, but it fits the theme of the week. (I still can't figure out how I could make it so the bee will stay oriented in one direction for second hand...rightside up, upside down. BART! help me out here...)

Illustration Friday : Match

"...call the medic!"


Hey! Illo topic is Match, and luckily I have a couple pieces from our Tastes Like Chicken show to use... hope that isn't too lame. I don't have anything new at the moment...

More Stumpytown garment ideas...

8-bit chicken was just sent off to Porkchop screenprinters tonight. I'm messing around with a couple more ideas (above) and I'd love ANY feedback you might have for me. ...oh, I AM trying to look into the copyright issues for the chewie. I'm hoping it isn't a big deal because it is an 'interpretation' and I am only getting a few dozen printed. But I still don't want to get sued. ACK.

New Link : CHICKEN!

Hey All! I've added a link to my "Events" section called CHICKEN!
(I still have yet to take some shots of the plush)
For those of you who weren't able to join us for the opening last Friday, Tastes Like Chicken will be up until the end of Sept.
OH! And mark your calendar - our friend Paul will be having his kickass show @ Fresh Flours in October!

8-bit Chicken

Hey folks... so, it seems like it is time to get some new stumpytown tshirts made and I'd love to get some feedback from y'all. Please leave me a comment if you like this design or if you hate this design. Black shirts or Olive? I'd like to get these ready for either Bumbershoot w/ Bluebottleart or Stumptown Fest!

A big SHOUT OUT to all our friends and Family!

Thank you everyone for your support in joining Suzanne and I at FreshFlours this past Friday for TASTES LIKE CHICKEN! We had an awesome turn out and got to see a lot of folks we hadn't seen in a very long time. Thanks to Estuko and Kyung for letting us hang our work in their lovely cafe, to Athena for helping me sew stumpytown labels @ 4am and busting out all those chicken buttons for Suzanne and I, to Graig, Leslie and their boys for making the trip all the way down from Vancouver, Canada (so good to see you all!), and to Dev, the best husband in the world, thank you for your constant support, arranging the chickenesque mood music for the show and making sure the wine kept flowing. And last but not least, a big HUG to Suzanne. You did an awesome job, woman. I always love having artshows with you lady. YOU KICK ASS.

I didn't manage to take many pics from the show... I'm hoping to get a few from our friends who managed to snap some up and post them shorly. Thanks all!

Illustration Friday : Clean!

So... we had a small infestation of what I thought were fruit flies in our house this weekend. Turns out they are a type of carpenter ant. ACK! Even worse! A professional 'bug-guy' is coming out to the house tomorrow afternoon so, hopefully he will take care of the problem. So, in the meantime, we keep the vaccum close at hand to suck those little buggers up!

Art Opening: Tastes Like Chicken!

Click the image above to see our Flyer...
Please join Suzanne and I next Friday, August 11th at Fresh Flours
on Phinney Ridge for our art opening 7pm - 9pm.
Hope you all can make it out!

PlushYou2!

Hey everybody! WHEW! I finally finished my plushes last night for Schmancy's group plush show this fall called PlushYou2. Here's a 'shout out' to Dev for hand-delivering them there for me this afternoon.

I thought I'd share a few images with you!





Look familiar? These little dudes are based off of my Illo Friday painting, "SORRY" They are made of felt and polar fleece and about 9 inches tall.


...and last but not least.... "Lone Cone Without A Home"

Illustration Friday : Skyline

Well... I'm not a very tall gal, so this is my take on this weeks Illo topic: Skyline. HoHum (charlie brown music goes here)

Links... Wednesday?

[1] Rachael Schafer My lady is coming to town! Don't miss her show @ Fancy+Pants this Saturday, July 8th 7-9pm.
[1] Robert Valley Funk-fantastic Animated short. Damnation! Massive Swerve. His blog.
[2] Israel Sanchez Love his work - lovely palettes.

Thats it for now. I gotta get painting for the FreshFlours show with Suzanne in August. YIKES.

Illustration Friday : Rain

Holy mother of god. I keep having problems posting in Blogger! It gets hung up @ 0% all the time. ACK. ACK. ACK. .....furball.

This is 1 of 3 paintings in a series called: The Lone Cone Without a Home.
(a few of you will understand this well. I'm smiling at you! HA.)

Illustration Friday : Dance!

Good lord! It's been a while since my last post.
I know, but I'm getting ready for 2 upcoming artshows, so my attention has been diverted away from my blog... but also I was having some major problems with Blogger and I couldn't publish any of my posts! Chaka mad. Chaka REAL mad.
I'll apologize now to all the animators out there for this post, but it fits the Illo topic of the week. I won't dare call it 'animation'. I'll just call it... 'cycling images'. Hows that? And for those of you that tell me "Hey, this is old! Those were on your 'coming soon' page for the past 2 years!" I apologize.........wait a minute...no, screw you guys!

Illustration Friday : Sorry

Oh YIKES! I'm Suhry about that buddy!

Illustration Friday : angels & devils

Well, for this Illo Friday's topic, I decided to go for a hybrid or sorts...
a flyin' evil angel! Yeeha!

Links Friday...er... Saturday!

I had a bunch of links to post this week, but I enjoyed this one so much I had to post it solo... just to make sure you wouldn't miss it.

[1] Fumi and the Bad Luck Foot.
Hilarious Animated short... I could't stop laughing.

Okay... there was too much goodness here too:

"What the hell do you want now?"

Hey everybody! I took a stab at the Illustration Friday's topic: Under the Sea.
'Miles' of Stumpytown is taking on the role of Aquaman...
...poor, irritated fish is asking... "what the hell..."

Spring is here...

A couple of weeks ago, around 3am, Dev and I were spooked by the squaking of a distressed duck. We ran out back to find her swimming frantically back and forth in our pond, and a raccoon with an egg in its paws and broken shells at its feet. (I wanted to kill that little fucker.) The duck had made a nest in an old tree stump... we were too late, the nest was empty.

BUT, surprise, surprise. Yesterday we woke up to find 11 DUCKLINGS in our pond! The cutest things you could ever see. They were swimming happily beside their mother eating the bugs along the bank of the pond. What do you know, she managed to build a second secret nest in a tree stump just 20 feet away, closer to the water (remember the movie Contact? hahaha) I couldn't believe it. She won! (Screw you raccoon!)



See them in action!

Links Friday, BABY!

I know, I know, it's been a while. I've missed you too.

Everybody shout: "HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIM! " It's my sister's birthday today! (She's having a blast in San Francisco! Hi Kim!)

[1] PlushYou.
YEEha! I'm taking part in a group PLUSH Show this fall at Schmancy Toys. Here's a shout out to Kristen! Thanks Kristen. I still don't know what I'm going to make yet... but I can't wait.
[2] Stick It Make It Ice.
Rad sick, Marcos Perez, Carl Is the Awesome has a blog! I can't believe he linked me - YEEHA!
[3] Jeremy Tinder.
I bought one of his paintings at APE! Love, love, love his stuff. "Bleeding clouds, cathing it on your tongue" painting is my favorite...
[4] YetAnotherDot.
80s lyrics baby! Okay, this is a VERY long quiz, but you KNOW you can't resist. Do it, Do it. (Thanks for the link Lisa!)
[5] Japanese Inventions.
Hilarity! Dev sent me this, and damn, the Japanese ARE completely out of their minds (Its okay...its okay...I can say that because they are my people.)
[6] Fluid Effect.
Check out the Portfolio, Before and After section. It is pretty crazy. Its nice to see that the celebs aren't as "perfect & flawless" as thought... but, alas, I still feel utterly and completely inadaquate. Oh well, I'll keep working on my PhotoShop skills. So, uh, I got that going for me...

Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto

Here's my take on Illustration Friday's topic, ROBOT.
(Miles in a box!)

Stumpytown @ Blue Bottle Art Gallery!

I'm so happy! Some of my Stumpytown artworks are now at Blue Bottle Art Gallery + Store! CLICK HERE!

They have a fantastic selection of artwork from local and national artists - from paintings, prints, plushies, t-shirts, magnets, journals, cards, jewelry, etc. Check out the boutique when you're up on the hill!

Spotted!

Hey everybody!
Here's my take on the Illustration Friday topic: Spotted...
it's more like "Busted" but, oh well.

Good Times @ APE! San Francisco baby!

Hey Everybody!

So, remember when I mentioned that we met a ton of cool people @ the EmeraldCon? Well, I lied. There wasn't anyone cool there at all.
...I'm kidding. There were so MANY cool cats there, as a matter a fact, a few of those lovely folks told us about an Expo "you cannot miss" in San Francisco called "A.P.E." (Alternative Press Expo).

"San Francisco, you say? We're there!" Suzanne, Augie, Dev and I decided to GO-FOR-IT and got a table together. What the hell! We also had good company. Special guest stars Gene and Shane!

Come on everybody, here we gooooooooooooooo

APE. April 8th - 9th. 2 jam-packed days at the Concourse. Wall-2-wall creativity I tell you. Plush, silkscreen, original paintings, prints, handmade books and zines, tees, etc. etc. etc. you name it. It knocked me down! I was excited and eager to jet home to get working on new projects... and overwhelmed at the same time, wanting to cry heavily into my open palms from art shame. Would I go again? Absolutely.


So, here we are! Look at all our glory.
Suzanne brought some of her original wood paintings, sketches, archival prints, zines and buttons - she got a lot of response to her originals in particular! She also met one of the owners from Baby Tattoo who LOVED her work. Suzanne! Submit your ABC book ASAP!
Augie brought along a portfolio of some of his sketches and paintings - I can't tell you how many people asked to buy art prints. AUGIE. HEAR MEH NOW (in Arnold voice) for the love of god, make some prints of your paintings (or do I have to print them for you?) Hee hee.


My Madan! He had his original Frankie pages as well as the Monstertown P.I. comic and did quite well! I love the pitch: "Frank Neil Stein. He has the mind of a poet, but no vocal chords..." A lot of people loved his work. Another interesting thing... a young guy said "Dev Madan...Dev Madan, that name is familiar...." and then, KABLAM! "...YOUNG HEROES IN LOVE!" He asked Dev draw one of the characters in his sketchbook. How cool!


Oooooh titillating........HA! Suzanne and Augie up to their shenanigans!


This one is for you Trav! Marcos Perez. Can you believe our luck? Sitting right behind us... creator of rad-sick, Carl Is The Awesome! One of my favorite quotes: "Ladies demand my sexuals!!" Here's a 'Shout-Out' to CARL for giving us a true gut-buster! You are high-larious!


We also managed to see a few things around town as well... breakfast w/ the locals at the Moulin Rouge Cafe. This picture isn't as clear as I had hoped. The ceiling was draped with slats of wood with some shining lights from behind. Kinda creepy, but kinda cool.


Augie took us to the White Walls Gallery on Larkin St. for a Shepard Fairley show. HOLY! Such a good show. I remembered the OBEY GIANT logo from years ago, but never kept up on his career. What a leap he's made. I LOVE that he still integrates the Andre logo in all the background patterns and such.


More kick-ass screens...and affordable to boot. But alas...the shaft. A SOLD OUT show.


The adjoining gallery had a group show called SALON STYLE. Beautiful work. I especially like Patrick Segui's work. He does some incredibly textured, detailed work with... you won't believe it...cardboard. And, one of Dev's favorites, "Chewie & Lando" by Wesley Burt. Did you see it? Are you smiling? I know you must be smiling...


We also made a stop at the Super7 store and what do you know, KAZOW! Bwana Spoons was there hanging up his gallery show! I love his work. We got to chat w/ him for a spell and he recommended another shop called National Product which we checked out shortly after. The Super7 guys were soooo nice, they gave directions and printed maps for us.


DoublePunch. A funky little shop with zines, limited edition vinyl toys, plush & toys from Japan! We also made it to KidRobot (sorry no pics) Vinyl toys, toys and more toys!


Dev got a BIG WELCOME HUG from Tim! Hi there Tim!
Blurry snapshot again.... curious thing, for my photography skills are
extra-ordinary. Oh, uh, what I meant was, extraordinary.


Look at this cute thang...and the plush is cute too (HA! jokes...) I LOVE this little two-headed baby! How can you not love this? This little guy was made for Tim by Jess Hutch. They were once available on Doublefine's website... but no longer. I love her work. I'd buy it all up!


Tim has such a cool ride. We managed to squeeze all 6 of us in there. Hey, there's our pal Gene! Dang, the pic is all blurry again! What voodoo is going on there Gene? Here's a final San Francisco Shout-Out to Tim and Rachael. Thanks for hangin out with us. We love you guys!

SPRING

The Illustration Friday topic this week is Spring. This painting was in my past 50/50 artshow with Suzanne but, it seemed appropriate for the spring we're having in Seattle. WOOHOO! And... and big "thanks mah" if you're reading this. She was a sneaky little thing and bought this piece without me knowing it. (I would've gladly given it to you!)