Go Figure- Cassandra

This past Go Figure session featured Cassandra as our model, and she was amazing; definitely one of the best- she had a classic look (reminded me of a "Klimt" model), got into interesting poses, and held them very well. We were lucky to have her.

The Day the Music.....died

October 15th marked the last day of CBGB's- the birthplace of Punk Rock in America. It was sad, but a fun night; I snapped this pic of Tina Weymouth when she was up on a chair taking a pic of Hilly- the owner. I did a number of loose drawings, had a shot of whiskey, and met a few people, as well as meeting up with Pete Luna.
I'll never forget playing there with "the Lunch" back in 1989- driving down from Providence- skipping part of my animation class, getting lost, final getting to play late, and driving all the way back at 4 AM. It was a lot of fun. We played once more in 1992 before we disbanded. I'll never forget it.

More GO FIGURE

Here's a few more sketches of the Go Figure sessions- thanks to Bobbi, Erin, and Kayla- all great models

Lady J @ "Go Figure"

Last Monday night was the first "Go Figure" session (figure drawing), and we we're graced by the presence of the infamous "Lady J". Here are a few pics and drawings from that night. Hopefully in the future I'll get some drawings from other people, but for right now, I only have a couple that I did.
"GO FIGURE" is every Monday night at "Satchmos"- located at 347 Graham Ave. in Williamsburg, from 7-10 PM and it costs $10.
Call me for questions: 917-513-2148

Fox- Rest In Peace

Fox didn't make it; she started getting worse and had to be put to sleep today. She was just in too much pain. It's sad that her life had to end so soon- she was only about 6 years old.
At least she had some interesting experiences when she was alive- such as going cross-country with Peter's sister for 3 months. These are some of the photos from that journey: sniffing some cows in South Dakota, posing in front of the Nevada sign with a UFO in the background, feeling the breeze in "confusion range" in Utah, and finally making it to the Pacific Ocean.
The last one is one that I shot while she was lounging on the couch she loved.
I will miss her.

Pray for the Fox

This is "Fox" or "Foxy"- the dog that I co-owned with Peter Griffin when we lived in a big loft a few years ago. I lived with her for about 3 years with the rest of the roommates. Since we moved out of there, Fox went to live with Peter and Elizabeth (his wife), and I got visitation rights every now and then.
Unfortunately, Fox is now at the Vet Hospital in Brooklyn for Pancreatitus; her pancreas is not working as it's supposed to, and she can't digest her food. So she's been on an I.V. and at this point, not doing too well. She's been there about a week now. Hopefully she'll pull through.

The rest of the Profile Theatre Project playwrights

For Harold Pinter and Wendy Wasserstein I used a photo- the other ones I met at their apartments in the city.

David Letterman

Here's a watercolor of Letterman before he started wearing his glasses and before his hair(piece) was really short.

Profile Theatre Project

Every year I do a profile caricature of a famous playwright for the cover of the "Profile Theatre Project". The added benefit is that I get to meet the playwright and do the caricature in person. This is one of Edward Albee, which I did at his apartment in Tribeca a few years ago. Others have included Harold Pinter, Romulus Linney, Wendy Wasserstein (from a photo), Terrence McNally, and Lanford Wilson.

The Frick

Last Thursday I met my parents at the Frick Museum (1 East 70th St. at 5th Ave.) to see the exhibit of Jean Etienne Liotard. His stuff is definitely worth seeing; he captured a lot of character in his subjects, and was at ease in switching mediums. Included is his self-portrait- unfortunately in b&w, but nevertheless showing his ability and his sense of humor. He hinted at caricature in a number of drawings he did, which I found interesting.
The rest of the Frick has many masterpieces in it's permanent collection and free audio which reads like a history lesson. This one is an amazing painting by Hans Holbein the Younger of Sir Thomas Moore. You really have to see this in person- this scan of the postcard I bought really doesn't do it justice...

Wyatt

Here's a caricature I did in Central Park of my second cousin- Wyatt, who I just met the night before. He does Tae Kwon Do, so I had him kicking a Ninja. You never know...it could happen.

Attention people who want to hire me to do caricatures

Here's a couple of examples of caricatures I did at Faces and Names- 54th St. between 6th & 7th. They're done with a Japanese brush pen, and each one took about 5 minutes to do.

California's Governor

I was cleaning up underneath my bed today, and found this one of Arnold- it was for one of those mucle magazines I think, and I was trying to get any job I could. I just graduated from RISD, and I answered an ad from the NY Times. It was for a full time artist position, and this was my only sample to show, so I didn't get the job. This was in 1991 and it's scratchboard.

The Park is not what it used to be

Well I got my computer back after 3 weeks sitting in Mikey's Hook Up on Bedford and N5th. Thanks to a power surge in the apartment due to the ineptitude of the workers next door who used our electricity for their power sander, my computer completely crashed, and I had to bring it down there 3 weeks ago. My very generous Landlord said he would pay the cost at least, which was great, but now my printer/scanner/copier is not working. I might need a new AC adapter...
Anyway, I couldn't do some computer work that I needed to do right away, so I had to go back out to the Park to try to make my rent.
Recently in the Park, there has been a real cut-throat attitude amongst the artists to get a good spot on the main path going towards the zoo. Artist are now locking their bags or suitcases up on the fence where the best spots are at 9:00 at night, and returning the next morning at 9 and claiming the spot. Others are saving spots for their friends. So, most of the time, you can never get a good spot in the Park, and I've not made as much money in general when I go as a result. Therefore, I went to the Park at 3:00 AM on Sat. morning to get a spot and brought my sleeping bag to sleep there. I barely slept, and couldn't function to full copacity the next day. My friend from Bulgaria set up in the really good spot at about the same time (3 AM), but when 3 friends came later, they threw his stuff over the fence and claimed it as their own. This is just dispicable. We complained to the Park Police and she yelled at them about the rules, but they don't seem to care, and I know they did the same thing last night (as far as saving spots for each other). One of the guys got so mad at me for even telling what happened, that he looked like he was going to get violent. I know I can take care of myself if it gets physical, but it's so ridiculous to fight over something like this, and I don't want to hurt anybody or escalate things. Now it's fallen upon me- after talking with some of the other artists- to write up a written agreement and have all the artists sign it before we have a real war on our hands. (I guess I know English the best out of anyone there.)
Most artists don't want to cause trouble because it can really affect the kind of work you do that day, which I can understand. The problem is that most of them don't do anything, and let these bullies get away with whatever they want.
Another problem is that the Commissioner of the Park decides that certain spots are okay to set up at, and some aren't. But his rules don't make any sense, and he's drastically reduced the amount of spots this year, so that's why everybody's fighting for them. He's an angry, hateful man, who seems to hate artists. Why should anything change?

Here you go, Justin

Here's a couple fairly recent drawings from my sketchbook. Ball point pen as usual.

This is the new stuff

This is the initial sketch of the 2 dogs that will be in the commissioned painting for the Fishs' of Houston, Texas. There are 5 other family members(human), but I thought I'd post the dogs cause they're harder to caricature, and I don't know if the Fishs want me to post theirs. The trouble with caricaturing a dog is that if you go too far, it might look like another breed.

MoCCA Festival

The MoCCA Festival went well this year. I was lucky enough to be included at Cam Chesney's table, where he let me put out my 24 Hour Comic, and in return, I watched the table while he made his rounds, and tried (and succeeded occasionally) to sell his work. I got rid of all my 20 copies of my 24 Hour comic-"The Way" at $1 a piece, but mostly through trades and give- aways. The first trade I made was with Jannie Ho (aka Chickengirl) and her "Abe the Burping Rooster" comic. Good stuff. There was a lot of chicken-themed comics coincidently this year. I don't know what it means. I also ran into Donna Chang, who I used to draw with at our weekly figure drawing session in the East Village a couple of years ago. She had a cool comic called "Other Space".
The highlight, though, was getting an original preliminary drawing from Charles Burns which I've included here- along with the actual drawing from "Black Hole"- his brilliant graphic novel. I did a quick caricature of him while he was in the panel discussion with Adrian Tomine (also a great comic book artist). All in all a fun weekend. I must've spent about $150 on comics- and one shirt from Molly Crabapple.

Page 24

Finally- the 24th page and hour... I was so tired at this point, I couldn't wait to go to sleep, but wait I did, because I actually finished a little early, and as Cam kindly pointed out, "YOU HAVE TO STAY UP THE FULL 24 HOURS!!!" He didn't really say it like that...
I think we slept a good 10 hours, but I was still exhausted the next day. It was worth it, though, and I'd like to do it again next year... Any takers?

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If you're just logging onto this blogsite- this is my 24 hour comic. Check the archives at the right for caricatures or paintings.

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Ah, the 19th hour...I was starting to get tired again around this time.

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