On My Desk

Linzie Hunter had a great idea of having a showcase of artists' workspaces on blogspot. I was honored when she chose my pictures to be featured! Check out the fun website. This is proof that many other artists have more knicknacks than I do.

On My Desk

Illustration Friday: Clean

Perhaps a bit of a stretch, but the best I could think of was a clean view of the sky. This was a sketch for an old Cricket poem.

Passing In, Passing Out, and Prima Linea

I passed in Gallop O' Gallop today in NYC, and from what I could tell, they were really excited about the final artwork. Thank goodness. I rewarded myself this afternoon with popsicles, beef jerky, and a gross helping of Wife Swap and Supernanny. Ah, being a sloth for an afternoon was great.

It didn't last for long when I saw this place online. It's so frustrating knowing what you want to do, but just not being able to jump in there and get at it. I am DYING to see what Peur(s) du Noir is going to look like. The talent is phenomenal...

This crazy and unusual project assembles 11 creators of the first rank — comic artists, illustrators and graphic artists. For the first time, these creators step over from the stillness of drawing to the movement of animation. They will tell us about their primeval fears. In Winter 2006 in the movie theaters, open the doors of their fears. And their fears shall become yours.

A film by Blutch, Charles Burns, Marie Caillou, Pierre di Sciullo, Dupuy-Berberian, Jerry Kramski, Lorenzo Mattotti, Richard McGuire, Michel Pirus and Romain Slocombe
Art direction by Etienne Robial
Produced by Valérie Schermann & Christophe Jankovic / Prima Linea Productions, with the support of the Centre National de la Cinématographie

www.fearsofthedark-themovie.com

Shybird Studio

Finishing the latest picture book means a more concentrated effort on Shybird Studio. With colleague Antoine Revoy, the studio is a grand anventure into the animation and motion arts. Here are working sketches of the studio's logo.

The Last Stretch

Amost done with Gallop O' Gallop. These picture books take longer and longer to finish. I can't help but look at it spread out on the floor and think: 1.) If I had a fire tonight... wow, that would be mental breakdown 2.) It soooo feels like I should have so many more paintings 3.) I can't wait to have these out of my house. This book has pretty loose renderings of the images, and it was scary to leave it that way. In the long run, I think they will look like a more relaxed version of my other stuff. Let's hope!

The Famous Again Narragansett!

As a child digging on the shores of a vacation river spot you would come across some weird stuff. Old medicine bottles, weird looking 70s shoes, or crazy patterned china wasn't a rarity. But what seemed more like an acheological dig was the assortment of beer bottle and cans you would find. It was always a blast to find goofy looking Bud labels or the obsessive quantity of High Life people drank. I remember clearly the day I unearthed the aluminum can of Narragansett Beer. I think I literally said, "What the hell is this? This must be a bazilliondy years old." I never knew or heard anyone who drank this label.

Fast forward about 15 years. Holy nuts! There it is on the shelf! There is something simple and classy that instantly catches your eye with that maroon and white label. I was flabergasted so much, that it even brought back to memory the cold river smell when I lifted that old can out of the sand. So.... I had to try, and friends? It's shuckydangdarn good!

Upon researching the company, another classic name came up. Haffenreffer. I grew up hearing this name, but never seeing any of the brew. The family did alot for anthropological studies in southern New England and I can remember thinking... beer helping out the better good was pretty rad. So let me tell you a bit of history and why and how Narragansett is making a big come back.
Six men came together in 1888, with previous success in the industrial world, to form the Narragansett Brewing Company. Buying a brick brewing house, an ice plant, forty-five wagons, and seventy-five horses, they were ready in 1891 to produce over 28,000 barrels of the liquid gold. By 1914, they now owned the largest beer brewery in New England. Unfortunately, prohibition hit, and hit hard. While they were allowed to brew through those times for medicinal purposes (I need that prescription), the company fell into hard times financially. This is where the Haffenreffers helped Narragansett stand on its own two feet once again. The Haffenreffers had built one of Boston's first brewery complexes so was an old pro... at marketing too! The team both hired young illustrator Theodore Geisel (Dr. Suess commonly) to design the Narraganett indian icon. While Chief Gansett was a favorite amoung the true lovers, the catchy phrase, "Hi Neighbor. Have a Gansett" ads appeared all over the country, and a happy relationship with Major League Baseball made Narragansett the number one choice of comsumers by 1955.

By the early 1980s, aging facilities, outdated equipment, increased cost of operation, company buyouts and mergers, striking union workers, and years of neglect for the Narragansett label's marketing were taking their toll. Finally, other national brewing companies forced Narragansett to near cease production in thier Cranston Rhode Island brewery, shifting the production of the brand to Fort Wayne, Indiana. By 1995, almost all the buildings had been demolished. But don't openly weep yet!

Mark Hellendrung (a life long Rhodey) and a group of New England investors (the tough old badgers that we are) purchased back the Narragansett Beer Company and have been on a marketing assault, redesigning the cans, cases, labels, caps... and all the way to a website! In October 2005, Narragansett bottles were back and you can find it on tap once again. Fricking A.... brought back from near dead! So my archeological find was almost near truth. It was almost an antique.

So friends... whether you are a native New Englander, a salty Rhodey, or some dude in California, support local pride! Buy a Narragansett and remember the company for its tenacity and dedication throughout good and bad times, much like most weekend nights. So, hey neighbor. Have a Gansett!

Illustration Friday: Skyline

The first collaborative illustration as Shybird.

Let's go Frenchies!!

We're all ready to route the Frenchies on tomorrow! Hopefully some creative costumage will send them good luck! Vivent les coqs!!

Independence Day 2006

Truly, the height of this year was the HMS Pink Chicken. ARrrrrrRRrrrrgh! Admiral Thorfin Erikson and his trusty parrotdog, Swilly ruled the high seas capturing delicious children!

Animation: Puppet, POPPET!

Here's my guy in progress. I realized last night that he looks like a wacked-out christmas elf. That will be remedied. I'll post pics when he's finished.

An Odd Summer

This wonderful picture came from a summer or two ago, taken from a beach in Falmouth MA. The colors were absolutely amazing. Although you could swim through the humidity in the air here already, it oddly enough doesn't feel like summer... yet. Back at my mother's house, there is a crazy biblical-like plague of tent caterpillars that have eaten almost all of the tree foliage bare. It's so strange. No gentle rustle of the leaves in the summer breeze, only the almost deafening munch of caterpillar jowls. With the upcoming 4th of July, I am hoping that summer will start to feel like summer and I can finally finish this current picture book. I'm looking meanly pale these days.

¡Aye Sheewawa!

Working Like a Horse

Good Night Sweet Swedes

Well, my boys failed to get a goal against those tricksy staubsauger hugging Germans today. Call it home field advantge or the vast amounts of brats soaked in steroids, but it was just not a pretty game. Oh Olaf, Kelly will make it all better. We can go out for a glögg or four. In the meantime, I guess I will have to follow those silly coq flailing Frenchies. Barthez and Zidane will have to be my new flames. Why Olaf, why?

Illustration Friday: Dance

It's an older image, but untypically bright for me.

Bring on the Dancing Horses

I keep painting... but I have so many more to finish! Sorry it's been quiet on here lately. I have a few updates to come though!

Call me, Team Sweden!

Is it bad to pick a World Cup favorite purely based on how hot their players are? Well if so, shame on me. And it is soooo good to feel it. Truthfully, I enjoy playing and watching soccer... I always have. It's a fun sport to play, even though it cripples you for life. Some people complain about the low goal score as a problem, and perhaps it's my unbridled tolerance of patience that well equips me. Who am I kidding. I just like to see the nice legs on the fellas. Team Sweden... you have my number, now give me a buzz on the celly.

XX: Dos Equitacular

Hello all! It's been many moons since my last beer post, and now that summer is in full swing, what more appropriate than honoring the good ol' Dos Equis. I was first introduced to XX awhile back, in fact I can't even remember when. I can guarantee it was summer time though. Call me trendy, or a phoney... but there is something more charismatic about XX than Corona. Maybe it's because I'm not one of those ladies, corona in hand, shirt 2 sized to small, and bedecked in big hooped earings looking for some nasty summer play. The XX has a look to it that says, "While my chest might be large and I am looking for love, I am not holding a Corona." Know what I mean? Ok, neither do I, but XX are great alternatives to the Corona summers. Crisp dark taste and refreshing on a hot day. Ahhh summer.

The history behind Dos Equis is also very interesting. Dos Equis has been brewed since 1900 and was developed by master brewer Wilhelm Haase who emigrated from his native Germany to Mexico and melded the traditions of his homeland with the ones of his new country to create this excellent brew. The brew was originally called "Siglo XX" to signify the coming millennium. It seems some ad whiz should have tried to capitalize on this during the hoopla surrounding last year's faux millennium celebration but missed the opportunity. Today we all know Siglo XX as Dos Equis or the "two x's" in English. And it is sooooo good to taste it.

Dos Equis Amber is actually classified as a lager, but it has the body and feel of an amber ale. It's something like a Newcastle Brown Ale mixed with Sam Adams. But don't be frightened... it sooo blows Corona out of the water. So make the right choice friends! SALUD!

More Galloping

Illustration Friday: Portrait