True Love and Villainous Monkeys

Its not often that my art becomes an arrow in Cupid's quiver...but last week I found out that it was exactly that. I got this email from a schoolteacher in Michigan, and she explained to me that she was looking for an anniversary gift for her husband. Turns out that they met on a blind date and sat in a booth at the tapas restaurant Sangria in Royal Oak, Michigan. Back in the Spring of 1999 I painted about 7 paintings for Sangria. Four of which were cubist(esque) still lives representing the four seasons. Well, as it turns out, the schoolteachers first date with her future husband was underneath "Winter" painted by yours truly.So, she contacted me and asked if I would be able to paint her a reproduction of the painting as a gift to her husband for their anniversary. (Awwwww) So I obliged her with a 1:16 sized replica (the original was 4'x4'...so this one was 12"x12")

Sangria "Winter" 2010
12"x12" Acrylic on Canvas

Needless to say I have grown a bit as a painter since 1999, so it was weird "forging" myself...

August is the calm before the storm of September/October...but the calm got just a tiny bit more quiet this past week. I found out that I cannot attend (and sell my wares from a tent) the Adams Morgan Day festival! Which means that I don't have any "kick-in-the-pants" deadline to work towards (which is how I work best). Because of this minor setback, I have decided to start working on a short series of "Villainous Monkeys". I want to start injecting my work with some more expressive brushwork, and a generally looser style. So, I have set out to create a rouges gallery of monkeys. Below are all unfinished (but close) paintings started early this week (I apologize for the really bad glare on these...they are progress shots, so they aren't intended to be high quality anyway)

Kung-Food Monkey (working title)
20"x24" Acrylic on Canvas

X-ray Monkey (Working Title)
20"x24" Acrylic on Canvas

Revenger Monkey (Working Title)
24"x20" Acrylic on Canvas

Let me know what you think about these guys. I don't know how far I will take them, since the tug of Daredevil Monkeys is strong...but I'd be interested in hearing what form you think monkey villainy should take....

Merry Christmas to All, and to All a Good Night!

Thanks to everyone for such a great Sketching with Santa at the Palace of Wonders! The jokes were bad, the trivia hard, the models hot and the sketching plentiful! Devonshire Cream not only did us the honor of performing, but she is a top notch photographer to boot...Check out some of her photos from last nights event:

Santa, of course...

Gigi Holliday making all of the other Christmas trees green with envy...

And Devonshire Cream backstage (she cant really take photos of herself onstage, can she?)

If you have any more photos to pass along, please don't hesitate to get in touch! Come to think of it, if you sketched last night, and have a scan of a sketch you are particularly proud of, send that along too!

SKETCHING WITH SANTA NEXT WEDNESDAY! and willful ignorance...

NEXT WEDNESDAY!
Sketching with Santa at the Palace of Wonders! How could you miss the opportunity to:

A) Sketch beautiful women WHILST drinking beer
B) Have a private audience with SANTA six months before anyone else!
C) SAVE CHRISTMAS!

ARTISTS! SANTA NEEDS YOUR HELP! Snickelfritz, the "naughty" gift designing elf has taken ill, and Santa needs some fresh sexy designs for this holiday season. For inspiration, Santa has brought you two fresh burlesque performers to sketch. Bring your sketchpad, your sick little mind...and COME SAVE CHRISTMAS!
Christmas in July drink specials all night long! Hey, no artists materials that are too wet or messy. Leave the dirty stuff to us!

If you really need a FB invite, you can go here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=136698756364178

To be honest, this Sketching with Santa gig has been a major component of my fever dreams during my recent bout of swine flu (turns out it was strep)...I would lay in bed, sweating through the sheets, imagining that I was stuck in a chimney, and that the gremlins were coming to get me!!!
Needless to say, I haven't been working on very much while I was sick. But what meager offerings I have are worthy of a bit of discussion. First, I started working on a new drawing that was going to be a preparatory drawing for a larger piece.

Bat out of Hell study
Pastel on Prepared Paper 14"x11"

I had the idea of making a real chaotic hell scene (the fever dreams again) where there were devils flying biplanes inside a cavern coated with suffering souls. So, I thought that one way of getting some movement into the piece was to have the planes follow a "flight path" through the cavern, with the foreground plane as a framing device for the rest of the scene. Unfortunately, the pastels are far too clunky for me to get the level of detail on such a small piece of paper. So this remains a study for a larger picture...

The other piece is really an experiment. I had been getting the notion that perhaps my work was losing some of its spontaneity and life. So, I decided to go back to some of my roots. That is, when I started making "art" with a purpose, in late high school, I would make things with a certain wonkyness. Really it was an attempt to convey a sense of aggression and expression to the mark making because I was riding high on all of the abstract expressionist art history I was absorbing...plus it felt good to stab at the canvas, and make bold marks. In the intervening years I dropped this method of mark making in favor of a tighter style (which is probably a consequence of feeling that I needed to prove that I could draw and paint more than I needed to prove that I could, er, emote) So, recently, I got the notion in my head that I should take a whack at trying to recapture that same feeling in my work now. I began working on a full sheet of 24"x36" BFK in pastel, directly from a still life I hastily set up (the skull with the fez is my "go to" still life setup...its cliche, even for me, but it dispenses with the "meaning" of the objects in the still life so I can get right down to business) and I began to attack the paper in the old way, without regard for proportion or draftsmanship.

Still Life with Kraken
Pastel on Paper 36"x 24"

In the end, I don't really know what to make of these results. I enjoy the directness of the process (I knocked this out in an hour and a half) and I even like the "willful ignorance" of the application of pigment...but there is, something about its lack of sincerity despite the fact that I was trying to be very sincere! I particularly like the passage with the bottle...its just enough to give you the idea that it is a clear bottle, while letting the viewer fill in the blanks...Expressionists and impressionists had results like these, but they were supposedly working from a framework of theory that gave their work a reason to look the way it did. I don't have any theory to fall back on (well, conscious theory) and yet wouldn't this somehow be a more "pure" expression of my mental state? Seeing as I freed my mind completely and went solely with "what feels right"?

Anyway, I'd be interested in what you think...does this mode of "expressionism" say something to you? Should I embrace the wonkyness? Am I barking up the wrong tree entirely?

I had swine flu...and lived!

That's right, I had a mean ole case of the swine flu* that laid me up for the better part of the week. So, sadly all I have to report on is the film project that was using my backdrop...I was able to visit the set of the finale sequence. You can see my work in the middle of the photo (I'm told that it will look much larger on camera)


The other thing I should remind everyone about is going to see Carrie Potter at the New Moon Prom during the fringe festival. It got some good press from the Going Out Gurus...you can get tickets here!

*Jared did not actually get a diagnosis of swine flu, it was just so horrible, that he assumes it was...

THRILLIST DC PROFILES ARTBYJARED

Wow, I really didn't see this coming...I did a phone interview in March, and promptly forgot about it (I was a bit busy with Yuri's Night at the time, you know...)

I've taken the liberty to cut and paste the article below, but if you would like to visit the source (Thrillist DC) you can find it HERE.

Jared Davis Art

Former highbrow artist monkeys around

Critical acclaim is great, but at some point, you want your art to be admired by people on your own level -- sure, the Emmys, Oscars, and Grammys were great for Jeff Foxworthy, but eventually he just needed to touch those 5th graders. Now making art his friends can actually understand, sort of: Jared Davis.

Formerly a contemplative abstract expressionist, Davis started cranking out playfully lowbrow acrylics -- generally centered on daredevil monkeys, tiki culture, and sci-fi -- after realizing that he wanted to paint for his friends and not "some Swedish guy in a black-turtle neck", prompting a mid-career style shift, and a lifetime ban from Ikea. For no particular reason, many recent works focus on primate daredevil "Fearless" and his goading counterpart "Floyd", including the latter shooting the former out of a circus cannon, a rollerskating Fearless strapped to a rocket, Jackass-style, as well as about to engage a naked woman in a boxing ring in "Sweet Science", although there's no homage to the sweetest science, i.e., the chemical engineering responsible for Fun Dip. Similarly unexplainable randomness includes sci-fi inspired joints like his newest, "Genius and a Dandy", with a well-dressed computer-monitor robot taking tea with an 8-track player, and tiki-tributes like a dancing Polynesian statue, and a depiction of a stern-faced, blue-glowing drink mug painted on black velvet, guaranteed to give you that little boy smile aesthetically approving grin.
Because much like a sci-fi primate, his creativity won't be bound, Jared's also got a slew of uncategorizable pieces, with the standout being a massive oil of a pouncing cat titled "White Tiger Attacking Roy", proving that he may be crazy, but not like a Fox.

Aside from that amazing piece of investigative journalism, I also finished a commission for a film that is shooting in this area. I cant really tell you more than it involves cheerleading and features one of the main actors in three men and a baby...below you can see the backdrop they commissioned...

SKETCHING WITH SANTA ANNOUNCED! LOTERIA ON THE 7th!

Last week I showed you the flyer for Sketching with Santa at the Palace of Wonders (July 28th) with some incorrect information...but this week I can show you the flyer with the correct, new and improved information! I realize that you will be bombarded with different requests to come to this event, from Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, CNN...so, I am giving you loyal readers of BTT the exclusive "first glimpse"...so MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

ARTISTS! SANTA NEEDS YOUR HELP! Snickelfritz, the "naughty" gift designing elf has taken ill, and Santa needs some fresh sexy designs for this holiday season. For inspiration, Santa has brought you two fresh burlesque performers to sketch. Bring your sketchpad, your sick little mind...and COME SAVE CHRISTMAS!
Christmas in July drink specials all night long! Hey, no artists materials that are too wet or messy. Leave the dirty stuff to us!

The other show that you should be looking at for the Palace of Wonders is Loteria De Amor (July 7th)...I have submitted the design for the Diablito Card, and will be represented alongside 53 of DC's best artists!

Loteria is the Mexican version of bingo and instead of being played with letters and numbers it’s played with pictures. For Loteria de Amor we’ve asked 54 celbutantes from the DC/Baltimore art world to either do their take on a traditional Loteria image or to come up with an image of their own invention. Among the local artists contributing images are: Tim Tate (el Corazon), Victoria F. Gaitán (la Sirena) and Philippa Hughes (la Surfista).

In between games, the Metro area’s biggest burlesque and vaudeville stars will perform acts based on the Loteria images. Loteria de Amor Numero Uno will feature Malibu, Mistress of Fire, Baltimore’s Boylesque sensation, Paco Fish (www.pacofish.net), and the star of DC’s Gurly Show, Coco Monroe (www.myspace.com/misscocomonroe).

New Directions, New Drawings

First off, I'd like to apologize for not getting a blog posting out last week. KT was in Chicago, and I was having a rough time getting work done because of missing her (ouch! I think I just caused a bit of tooth decay, due to extreme sweetness) Anyhoo, I had some time to think about my working practice, and actually do some experimentation, and I think I may be on to something...
I started to think about what bogs me down as an artist. There are two major things, Time management and presentation. My issue with time management is normally due to the fact that I am working on several shows at once and I find it hard to set aside time to make 2-d art (paintings and such)....well, I have started to realize that I need to start gearing my work towards the three hour window of time between when I get up in the morning and when I need to leave for work. If I cannot complete a major part of the artwork (if not the whole thing) in that three hour window, the project will probably not get done (that is, it will linger unfinished in the studio) So, I need to start thinking about artwork that can be completed in short bursts...

...which has led me to the idea of drawing. It works for me in short bursts and it doesn't require the kind of set up that painting does. I have made a few over the past week as a "proof of concept" and I am really liking the results. They may not be fully formed pieces of artwork just yet, but they are doing wonders for helping me organize my thoughts...and may eventually become paintings...

El Diablito (for the Loteria D'Amor at the Palace of Wonders)
Pastel and Color Pencil on paper 8"x10"

The first drawing I made was for the Loteria D'Amor at the Palace of Wonders starting on July 7th. Its going to be a game-show-come-Mexican-bingo-burlesque-event where local artists have created the images that are traditionally on the cards...I chose El Diablito (the Little Devil). I think he works on a number of levels, and was really fun to make. I should say a word about the technique here, I am kinda using a recipe that Scott Brooks hipped me to...I am using Fabriano paper, which is the same stuff my screenprints are made on, but I am preparing the ground with burnt umber watercolor. (Scott takes the extra step of adding stiffeners to the paper...I am still experimenting with that) and then I try to use that watercolor wash as the midtone in the drawing (between the dark of the black pastel pencil and the light of the white charcoal)

Untitled Tiki
Pastel on Paper 8"x10"

Here's an example of the midtone being the watercolor...whenever I start to experiment with a new process (or when I try to rediscover an old one) I can always turn to tiki....

Diablito with Grinder
Pastel and Color Pencil on Paper 8"x10"

Here I am experimenting with a much darker application of the ground. With obviously darker results. I kinda wanted to make a very old Europe looking drawing...kinda like an old Red Skelton painting...but intentionally creepy...

Draft of the flyer for Sketching with Santa at the Palace of Wonders

I also figured that I would try using this new technique for the flyer design for my upcoming show at the Palace of Wonders on July 28th...THIS IS NOT THE FINAL DESIGN...that is, the information on this picture is not the final, correct text (for example, I think it will be $10 at the door) Anyway, I think it sends the correct message about Sketching with Santa...it will be Christmas in July, and you will get to sketch burlesque beauties! Also, the "sketchy" look of the drawing gives artists (the ones for whom this event is targeted) an inspirational sketch...kinda like the drawing that is printed on the cover of a sketchbook...

So, lets see if I can keep running with this recent epiphany...Hopefully, I will have more to share with you next week!

Life's a beach...when you're a pirate

During my first week back from staycation I have been largely absorbed with KT's pirate project. That is, she is organizing a Pirate themed open house for Imagination Stage, and she has asked me to help provide decor (as well as be a "grumpy pirate") So, I have obliged her with this groundrow that will be a photo op in the lobby during their show How I became a pirate.

Progress shot on the pirate beach photo op
Acrylic on Luan, aprox 13'x4'

I am also working on a Kraken for their wishing well...but I haven't started it yet...I best be leaving, so I can get kraken on it! (I am so sorry...)

Staycation Part Deux---new and improved, with MONKEYS!

Week two of the staycation and I have actually got some painting done. I was able to knuckle down and create two more watercolor sketches for my continuing series of Daredevil Monkeys!

40,000 Pounds of Bananas
Watercolor on Paper, 5x7

This is a tiny bit of a departure from the Daredevil Monkey formula, because I am using a gorilla instead of the familiar monkey/chimp for Fearless. A gorilla feels more appropriate for an eating contest... Floyd is himself, keeping tally of the number of bananas that Fearless has consumed (or is he counting the money they are going to earn from this latest stunt?)

Barrel Monkey
Watercolor on Paper 5x7

In this painting Floyd is the ambiguous one. We cant tell how he is going to profit from Fearless' act of daring-do...He's actually inspired by some research into the subject of people going over Niagara falls in a barrel. From the Niagara Falls Live web page:

October 22nd 2003 Kirk Jones from Canton Michigan becomes first stunter in the history of Niagara Falls to survive the plunge wearing only the clothes on his back. Kirk's idea had been in the works for a number of years. While here on a visit with a friend, Kirk made the decision. They purchased a used video camera to record this historical event and went to the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side of the river. Kirk entered the water about one hundred yards upstream and began swimming out into the swift current. Eight seconds later Kirk made the 175 foot (53.3m) drop and swam to shore while passing up a free ride with the "maid of the mist" tour boat. Kirk was treated for minor bumps and bruises at local a hospital and released only after promising to return for court. For his stunt Kirk was fined a total of $2,300.00 dollars and banned from entering Canada for life. Unfortunately Kirk and his friend had been imbibing in alcohol before the stunt and Kirks friend couldn't figure out how to work the camcorder and the entire stunt went unrecorded!

So, I thought that it would be funny to have Floyd fumbling around for change to put into the viewfinder, just like Kirk's friend with the camcorder...

Hey Kid's, its Yard Sale Time again!...come on out this Sunday, 8 am - 2 pm at
3210 38th St NW Check out our Craigslisting here.

Staycation...

I have been on staycation for the past week...so there is not much to show. KT believes in these semi-annual "purge" events that spruce up the house, knock things off of the honeydew list, and assemble things to sell at the yard sale (Sunday June 6th!). We did, however, knock out a proposal for Conner Contemporary's *gogo program...Its a total shot in the dark, but I have had this wacky idea for a while now, but I have never attempted it before because I haven't had a place to display it...here's a "visualization" of the project in their space:

I don't want to go into detail about the project, because I am afraid it may jinx it...but lets just say that it involves a giant oil painting and burlesque performers...stay tuned!

MORE MONKEYS! S.A.N. and PEREZ REVIEWED

This week I will start with the Monkeys. Below is the next (number 2 of a proposed series of 12) Daredevil monkey painting watercolor sketch:

Watercolor Sketch of "Highwire Hi-jinx" (working title)
Watercolor on paper, 5"x7"

I am hoping to make twelve of these kinds of paintings. Mostly in order to stock up for Arts on Belmont (Adams Morgan Day) in September. Unfortunately I am the type of person that needs a deadline, so without a "show" to work towards, I just don't get anything done. So, hopefully I will be able to make 12 of these types of Daredevil monkey paintings by the 4th of July!

I have been starting with watercolor sketches in order to work out both composition and color scheme. I think that the major issue with this piece is that I needed to demonstrate that the monkeys were really high up...so I thought the inside of a tent, punctuated by tiny flags on the lowest register would help create a sense of height...and at the same time, be pretty neutral so that the background doesn't detract from the monkeys...Unfortunately, Watercolor is kinda unforgiving, so I wasn't able to tweak the background as much as I'd like. But it helps me get the problems identified, so I can work them out in paint...

Did you know that Scenery Appreciation Night (SAN) for PEREZ was this Saturday May, 22nd? Well, you should if you are a loyal reader of BTT...and you already have your tickets, right? If not, here's the address one more time: WWW.LANDLESSTHEATRECOMPANY.COM

We also have been getting some good reviews...particularly from DCTHEATRESCENE.COM

..From here, saving the universe doesn’t sound so far-fetched after all. It doesn’t hurt that the set by Jared Davis – a scenic little panorama of Los Angeles and its iconic landmarks – only comes up to waist-level, endowing the actors with Godzilla-sized stature. Talk about looking down on high society.

And also some praise from the actual writers of the show:

In terms of the physical production, we really loved the brilliant light-up Christmas village version of LA and the fun theatre tricks they were able to pull off in that small space! My favorite type of theatre is done for $100 on a stage the size of a postage stamp, so this was right up my alley.

Hope to see you on Saturday! And remember, we are going to the Girls Gone Gutter show at the Palace after PEREZ for the traditional "post show discussion with set designer Jared Davis"...

PEREZ OPENS, KNOEBELS and MORE MONKEYS!

I got a chance to watch the final dress rehearsal for Perez Hilton Saves the Universe or at least the greater Los Angeles area last night (while taking some photos) and I have to say that this will be a fun show to watch. Mostly if you are fan of the tabloids, like TMZ...or cant stand the cult of celebrity...It should be entertaining for both ends of the spectrum...

Here's a photo of the set at the DCAC (complete with Lady Ga Ga photo):

Perez Hilton...Production Photo
DCAC, Landless Theatre Company

So, just to hammer it home one more time, Scenery Appreciation Night is going to be Saturday May 22nd! And as a bonus, we are having the "post show discussion" at the Palace of Wonders, during the 11:30pm "Girls Gone Gutter" show! Hope to see you all there!

The rest of the week was dominated by last weekends mini-vacation to Knoebels...never heard of it? Check out their website or you can see all of the awesomeness they have to offer from their park map:And you can see that KT and I were having fun on the Ferris Wheel......despite the ubiquitous rusty bolts and whatnot, we managed to survive!

Now that I don't have any impending shows to design, or build, or paint...the first time in more than a year(!) I have started to think about making paintings again! In order to get back on the horse, I have decided to continue right where I left off with my Daredevil Monkey paintings!

Monkey Moonshot Watercolor Sketch
Watercolor on Paper 7"x5"

I have started to take KT's suggestion that Floyd (the monkey in charge of Fearless' exploits) be a tiny monkey. It changes the dynamic between the two characters a bit...More like the small dog and the big lug of a dog in the old Warner Bros cartoons. But, I'm okay with that...The two monkeys haven't really ever been the exact same two monkeys from painting to painting anyway. I like the idea that they are mailable, and can look different in each painting...It keeps these paintings from becoming too repetitious or cartoon-strip-like...

PEREZ Scenery Finished...Scenery Appreciation Night Announced!

As promised last week, the fruits of this week's labor is the second half of the PEREZ set, laid out below:


This is roughly how the flats will be laid out during the show (you can compare them with the rendering from last week here) You cant really tell from this photo, but the larger buildings are going to be rigged with Xmas lights, so that they light up when that location comes around in the story.
Here are closeups of each flat:
The Capitol Records building, Griffith Observatory and The Motel Valencia...(the motel is where the terrorists will be staying in the show)LAX, Randy's Donuts, the 405 and the Hollywood Bowl...Kathy Griffin's Lair, Beverly Hills sign and the Hollywood sign...The Church of Scientology, Olive Garden, In-n-out Burger, Grauman's Chinese Theater (and downtown, perhaps with the police HQ...)

The idea was to create Los Angeles in the DCAC...so I was going for that "tourist map" kinda look...Its a bit weird because living here in DC, there are lots of places that I could point to in order to make a tourist map...you cant swing a dead cat and not hit a monument to something around DC...but LA is a bit different...there's no "Statue of Liberty" or "Capitol Building" or "Eiffel tower"...so this set proved to be a bit of a challenge in that respect...

The Show opens next Friday May 14th! You can get your tickets HERE.

I would also like to announce the PEREZ Scenery Appreciation Night (SAN)! You will get a chance to see that show and have a post show discussion with the set designer himself on Saturday May 22nd! Email me for the special code for SAN attendee discounts!

On a personal note, this week I became an uncle. My brother's wife, Wendy gave birth to a 6lb baby boy named Thaddeus...in China! So, I wont be seeing the lil' bugger for another year or so, which is fine by me because I am not too big on the infant thing anyway....bring 'em to me when they are talkin' and walkin'...

Perez marks the last scheduled show I have until the fall, so I am looking forward to a very productive painting agenda this summer...More about that next week!

PEREZ Preview in Frederick and set design

The preview for Perez Hilton goes up in Frederick tonight. I spent most of this week building the first half of the set. I spent the remaining time designing the rest of the set...which I will spend all of next week building...Anyway, below is the perspective rendering of the set, as it will be seen at the DCAC when Perez opens on May 14.

Perez Hilton... Set Design
Pencil, Watercolor and Photoshop

Perez was also picked as a "best bet" for May...check out the link below...it even mentions my name!

A Theatre Lover's Guide to DC/Capital Area Theatres – May 2010 Offerings 2010/04/30:

PEREZ HILTON REBOOT

The weeks after Yuri's night always tend to be an emotional roller coaster. While it was a great party, you start to dissect what went right and what went wrong in order to not make those mistakes next year...Next year, you ask? Yep, we have already started talking with venues about next year. So mark your calendars for April 9th 2011!
In these post Yuri's Night days I have also started to take a hard look at what other events we are going to be doing this year, and how my calendar will be shaped by those decisions...for example, do we start thinking about a New Years Eve party right now? Tiki Party in the Summer? People have already started asking about the theme for this years Spooktacular!

Needless to say all of this introspection has not produced very much artwork for me to share with you...except for the impending Frederick preview of Perez Hilton Saves the Universe or at Least the Greater Los Angeles Area...The design for Perez has been taking a back seat to Yuri's Night (and Producers...which strikes this Saturday!) lately, but no longer! The deadline rolls forward on this production and I need to meet it head-on! Unfortunately, all I can offer right now is the floorplan...which might seem a bit cryptic (since hardly anything is labeled), but I know that you loyal readers of BTT actually crave suspense...So, I will simply leave you with the floorplan:

YURI'S NIGHT AFTER...

Countdown to Yuri's Night 2010 is in the history books now...THANK YOU FOR COMING!...you can relive the memories by going to our Party Photo Gallery at www.outofthisworldparty.com and of course we are always looking for more photos, so if you attended and have awesome pics, send them our way!
Here's the set for this years show...complete with the "Tardis"...which was actually a darkroom revolving door...

The set for Countdown To Yuri's Night 2010
(note that the ceiling tile had to be popped out to accommodate it...turns out that the ballroom is 6" lower on one side)

I haven't been able to post anything in the last few weeks because of the zaniness of the buildup for Yuri's Night at for The Producers (at the same time!) so, you will have to forgive the lack of posts and the lack of pictures...I simply have been too crazed to do anything as mundane as a blog posting!

For example, here is a photo of the set before it was painted (the day after "homie help day")


But Producers (you know, that other show that took up my whole life) is in full swing right now, so I think its safe to release some of the photos of the designs and artwork from the show...

Set designs for Max Bialystock's office and Springtime for Hitler...

Backdrop for "Bavaria" (the scene just before Springtime for Hitler, which masks the set change)

I'll be showing more photos of Producers once the company photographer sends them to me...

The other big news this week was that I was profiled, along with several other DC area set designers in the Hill Rag...check out the article here!

I am going to be thrown headlong into Perez Hilton Saves the Universe soon, so please watch this space for updates! You can always get your tickets at Landless Theater's Website...

WIRED.COM PROFILES COUNTDOWN TO YURI"S NIGHT ARTISTS!

Check out WIRED.COM's Coverage of COUNTDOWN TO YURI'S NIGHT 2010! Click HERE or the screenshot below to be taken to the article directly

Big shout outs to all of the artists profiled! They even quoted me!

...The show brings together Pop-Surrealism, Post-Pop and Lowbrow stylists who “frequently and freely embrace the imagery of science fiction and mid-century tropes,” according to Countdown lead organizer Jared Davis. “Countdown to Yuri’s Night is an excellent excuse to feature their more sci-fi inspired work.

“Whether it’s Scott Brooks’ nightmare vision of a future where Cupie-doll robots battle for Thorazine, Steve Strawn’s photo journalism from the great robot wars or Sherill Anne Gross’ green pinup girls, they all create a vision of the future of humankind in space. Whether it’s an accurate prediction is beside the point — what matters is that they are having the conversation and leaving room for any one of a million possible futures.”

Like I have said before, this show will sell out, get your tickets now at www.outofthisworldparty.com

IT'S ELECTRIC FINALLY OPENS TONIGHT!

That's right, IT'S ELECTRIC finally opens tonight. After being snowed out, and numerous other snags and barbs we are finally getting our robots out of the lab and on to the dance floor of the Electric Maid! Come on by 7pm-11pm TONIGHT!

This week has seen lots of great progress for Yuri's Night...I finished a floor plan of the Capitol Skyline Hotel (yes, we can fit 200 people into the Hall of States, thank you) and we spend last weekend shooting a promotional YouTube video...Which will hopefully premiere tomorrow night when I, and perennial Miss Universe contestant, Southern Hemisphere, will be interviewed on the Larz from Marz show...

Yet another year goes by without a clear Lucite trophy from the WATCH Awards (that's 7 nominations and no wins for those of you counting)... We'll get 'em next year!

Oh, did I mention that High Fidelity will be extending their run....at the Warehouse?! Its true, check out the screenshot from their website:


So, if you wanted a second chance to see this great, Helen Hayes Recommended show, here it is!

I also spent my day off this week driving to and from Lyndhurst NJ in order to get a great deal on Gridwall. What is gridwall you may ask? You've seen it before, its a steel grid mesh that comes in 2 foot wide and 7 foot tall sections used by craft fair artists everywhere to hold up their art for display...so now, the artists of Yuri's Night can be secure in the idea that their work will not be sitting on the ground during the show!

And of course, last but not least, I finished painting the drop for Illuminopolis:

Illuminopolis backdrop
Acrylic on Black Velour, 12'x10'

YURI"S NIGHT FLYERS ARE HERE! 30 DAYS TO LIFTOFF!

The flyers from Yuri's Night have arrived! Thanks to the stellar effort of Alan Defibaugh, or designer, for getting all that text into one slick package! We do have lots of stuff going on at this party, just check out the back of the flyer:

So, look for these around town....and buy your tickets today!

Countdown to Yuri's Night
T-Minus 30 days(!)

The other big news this week was the announcement of the rescheduled IT'S ELECTRIC show at the Electric Maid in Takoma Park. Since we were snowed out the first time, we have had to reschedule for Saturday March 20th. In anticipation of the re-opening, I have started to create some new black velvet robot paintings...

Black Velvet Robot, Red
Acrylic on Black Velvet, 8"x10"

Also, this week I will start working on the backdrop for Illuminopolis, the light inspired burlesque extravaganza presented by Yuri's Night performers Miss Joule and Malibu. You can get tickets and info here.

Illuminopolis backdrop sketch
Pencil and photoshop

See you next week when I will have more robot paintings for IT'S ELECTRIC, as well as photos of the finished Illuminopolis drop...