Bill Presing is a comic artist and story artist at Pixar. I'm in love with some of the images from his book Belle de Jour, and may have to get myself a copy...

Ben Walker is an artist out of Sacramento, he really likes cowboys and bears. I just ordered his book and can't wait to get my hands on it...

Hey, you know besides being a comic, film actor, and having a distinct mustache -- Martin Mull is a damn fine artist. I've actually known this for about a decade, but every time he had a show in L.A. I was unable to go for some reason, kinda ticked me off really. He uses a lot of imagery that is sort of 1950s meeting paint by numbers. Me likey. He is in several museums which is quite a feat for anyone, let alone this guy.

Once upon a time when I worked at Herbert Palmer Gallery, I finally got some cash together to buy a silkscreen by Gerald Laing (since I didn't have the money for an Albrect Durer woodcut that may have been a fake). I bought a great piece from the Baby Baby Wild Things series he did in the 60s...

It is my favorite thing in my home. I don't even care about Bridget Bardot, but I like the image. Little did I know that he was STILL making kick ass pop art images, even of today's celebrity train wrecks...

do yourself a favor and grab one if you can.

Steve from "Artwork by Steve" also does pop art style oil paintings; girls with colored sunglasses and always with food, or bubbles, or both...

You can also buy prints from his site.

My parents started collecting the work of David Miretsky in the 70s. In fact he did a huge painting they bought to celebrate the birth of moi. He does a lot of social and family scenes that reflect the Brighton Beach circles of Russians and Ukrainians, but also nudes and political satire paintings. His work is either soft and pretty, or very surreal and bizarre. The men in his work are always in fact, very ugly. Though I guess the women can come off like cheap whores or well-to-do depending how you look at it. I grew up with both types of his work hung around the house, and I'm sure it made an impression on me on top of all the other eastern European artists my parents collected. In fact, many visitors to the house always asked how my family could live with so many large, bizarre, and somewhat disturbing images. I thought they were awesome, and thought it was normal. But here is one of his more subdued works...

I am not really a fan of vector art or digital painting, mostly because it looks digital and has the potential to appear very dated in the long run. But, I do like Tom Bagshaw, aka www.mostlywanted.com.

His work has a painterly figurative, anime, and comic book-like quality that for some reason I really dig. You can see some of his process on his blog: http://tombagshaw.blogspot.com/

So we're scrambling to help husband find a new place of employment, otherwise we have to move! It isn't that there aren't jobs in Cleveland, it is just that he has, you know, standards. It also doesn't help I was just rejected for a summer art teaching gig without even an interview, something that shocked not only me (because my oil painting class was going to be friggin' awesome!), but all my peers who teach in the arts themselves. They know me and my experience; it is actually very sweet that they are just as outraged about it as I am. So, I may try and go elsewhere with that. Laying out a 6 week curriculum gave me a little more confidence about it and now I actually want to teach again after almost 10 years.

After watching Simon Schama's program for the second time about Bernini and Caravaggio, I feel totally inadequate in every way, on top of just overall lazy.

I've officially lost 27 pounds since September of last year. About frickin' time! That's what I get for working in an office that had free food all the time and sitting on my butt all day. I promptly lost the last ten pounds after seeing photos of myself at my Asterisk Gallery opening -- gah! I somehow lost weight over Thanksgiving as well, which is kinda weird in itself since most people gain weight. Maybe I got a case of tape worm? Thank you tape worm, you rock!

Other than that my new favorite art related blog is Space Sick out of Toledo. He's funny, can draw real well, and he has that special love for all the 1980s cheese I grew up with.

This is for the space themed show coming up over at Art Whino Gallery. 11x14" oil on board.
One of these days I'll either get a better camera, or a sweet large format scanner to better capture image quality...one day.

SpaceisthePlace

Looks like I'll be showing in a lot of places around N. America the next two months. I'm glad I got it together enough to do some pieces specifically for the themed shows -- I've been lazy since October. So here, mark your calendars if you are in any of these cities...

Friday, March 7th
“All Girl Show” @ Anxiety Gallery in Madison WI. I'll have two mixed media pieces in this one, wish I could go.

Saturday, March 8th
The 2nd Annual 'Ladies First' art event in Vancouver, BC. As part of the Indie Music Video Festival
This show will also be traveling to Chicago, IL in May and Portland, OR in July and possibly more.
Many hot artist chicks involved in this one. Here's some work you'll find And I'll probably be attending the Chicago event.

Saturday, April 5th - 26th
"Isn't It Romantic" group show @ Mahan Gallery, Columbus OH. I'll be attending this with my posse -- watch out!

Saturday, April 12th
"World Space Party" group show. Space themed art in honor of Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.
@ Art Whino Gallery, Alexandria VA. I'll have a painting I made just for this on display. Wish I could go to this.

Apirl 14th - 20th
"Attack of the B Movie Show" @ Space Gallery 1141 Polk St (at Sutter) San Francisco. CA.
Curated by The Creep Machine. Opening Reception Friday, April 18th, 8pm - whenever. My "Switchblade Sue" series will be on display. A lot of awesome people involved in this show too, damn I wish I could attend.

You can also find my stuff at Boxheart Gallery in Pittsburgh, Gina's Gallery in Cleveland and well as on display at Velvet Tango Room in Cleveland.

I don't remember when I first became aware of Louie Metz. Maybe it was the old Onyx Cafe, maybe it was through artist Stacy Lande or maybe some other L.A. gallery like Circle Elephant (now Bert Green Fine Art). Either way, we started showing together at Cannibal Flower around 2002, and I've loved his stuff ever since. He captures sordid situations and the L.A. vibe so well. I found him again through Flickr, and I'm happy he has a website now.

Little Robot is a gal living in Scotland that does such great drawings; I'm normally not a fan of this kind of work, but her stuff I like enough that it has inspired some tattoo designs for myself...

Amy Abshier-Reyes does wonderful little portraits, the bulk of which sort of look like gals from Edwardian era up to the 1930s. She's selling original tiny paintings for cheap too...

I've started a series of low priced paintings, here is the first of it...

"Winter Wind, 11x14" price: $150.00 Sold.
Basically, I ordered a bunch of art board from a website and it was not what I was expecting. Not only does it turn oil paint into acrylic on contact, it is just difficult to use overall. Rather than waste a bunch of art board, I decided to do a series of quick paintings I could get done in a few days with no planning and just, you know, off the cuff so to speak.

Please email me if you are interested in owning this pretty gal.

Artists I'm digging, including ones that make me want to just give up....

Julian de Narvaez

David M Bowers

Julie Heffernan

Khuan Caveman Co.

Rey Misterio

This week is a repeat of a couple of things. I give each drawing a second chance before it goes into the trash; that is where they all end up if you good people don't adopt them for a $1. Let me also say that a certain resident in my house is very offended that no one wanted to adopt the drawing of Richard Butler and Ian McCullough this past week. What, no Echo and The Bunnymen or Psych Furs fans? Sheesh.

Well anyways, here's 3 endangered drawings for you....

Rain - CLAIMED

The Rules:

First person to email me for a particular piece gets it. You may only pick one piece, but can list 1st choice, 2nd etc. I will send you a PayPal invoice ASAP and you can either click the button for payment, or send me a buck via snail mail if that's how you roll. Please always include a mailing address in your email. You don't need a PayPal account to use it.

Artwork is mailed the same day as payment. Your art will not be mailed until payment is received. If payment is not received within 6 days, the artwork goes to the next person in line and so forth.

If you do not get a response email from me, that means someone beat you and you can try again the following Monday.

Stuff to Know:

*All art is original
*Sizes vary. Nothing is over 8.5x11 inches.
*Nothing is framed or matted.
*I won't use your address again and annoy you with stupid junk mail crap.

Easy enough? Okie dokie then have fun.

Art blogs I've been digging on lately:

www.CreepMachine.com put together by Josh of the SF Weekly, I like that he alerts people not just about shows, but new prints and stuff available on Ebay by much of the lowbrow/pop surrealism crowd.

www.LinesandColors.com this goes back and forth on featuring very "painterly" painters, to commercial illustrators, comic artists and animation layout designers. Very awesome.

www.OurArtSite.com a little bit of everything.

www.ArtBoobs.blogspot.com  Boobies!

www.OnMyDesk.com showcases designers and illustrators workspaces that they submit. I'm glad I'm not the only one cramped into a dinning room or small space to work. And people ask me, "why don't you have a big loft with skylights? Isn't that where artists work?" sheesh.

www.Coagula.com I used to read it regularly when I lived in L.A, but have only recently started up again after the wonderful and entertaining video smackdown Mat Gleason gives Shepard Fairey. Brian Teasley of Chunklet Magazine used to be my internet cranky-pants crush, but sorry Brian, Mat has re-claimed my heart. His review of the Murakami exhibit ends with things like,

"After you have visited the Takashi Murakami show, this bombastic, empty plastic palace of sterile child abuse, caucasian humiliation and Hyper-capitalism making even Beijing envious, well you can say you saw it.

And you can forever look MOCA director Jeremy Strick right in the eyes and call him a WHORE.

You can look MOCA curator Paul Schimmel in the eyes and call him a WHORE.

You can look at anyone associated with the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art with the same tittilation and disgust that you would aim toward Heidi Fleiss were she to walk in the room."

Thank you Mat, may I swoon now?