The Monster Drawing Rally - December 10, 2011

Ralf and I throw down

Today was a great day because it was Monster Drawing Rally day at the 1708 Gallery in Richmond, VA. The premise is simple, invite a bunch of artists to draw in one hour shifts and donate their efforts to the gallery, which in turn sells the art at $65 a pop as a fund-raiser for this most excellent non-profit creative space. I did the event for the first time and was a bit nervous drawing in front of people and under a time limit to boot, but actually found the boundaries actually had a freeing affect. This year, I couldn't wait for the big day, which was originally back in August, but Hurricane Irene ruined that, so it was moved to today. An old friend from way back in the underground comix days, Ralf Schulze (of Zombie Vomit and Dinky-Doo fame, check out his blog) joined me this year. That is he and I in the top photo, Ralf is on the right. My first big drawing was called "Edgar Allen Poe VS. The Brain Eating Microbe" and some one from the Poe Museum in Richmond stopped by to look at it. I'll post a clearer image of the drawing in a later post. Several Richmond friends came out in support and it was wonderful to see so many old friends that I haven't seen in so long. Mark your calendars and come on out next year!

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PS- My friend Casey Gwinn took the photos. Check out his photo-blog COGfoto!

Me and my drawing "Edgar Allen Poe VS. The Brain Eating Microbe

Image for December 7, 2011 - Hello Rudolph!

I got out for a quick two mile walk after work tonight. The air was full of wild energy because a storm front was moving in. The winds were whipping the trees around. Many of the houses in the neighborhood are well decorated with Xmas lights. There seem to be more then last year, which I take as a good sign that things are getting better. One yard had a lovely herd of reindeer lights with Rudolph in the lead. Guide us through the gloom Rudolph!

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Image for December 6, 2011 - Xmas Card Blast From the Past!

Way back in 1994, before the internets (well, before the net was available to "normal" people) and Facebook and all this new fangled crap that makes our lives so extra special these days, I would send out post cards to invite folks to art shows or, in this case, to celebrate a holiday. I made this card exactly seventeen years ago today. Made it by hand, no Photoshop kids, just me and an X-acto knife and a glue stick. That's not a photo of me, but an image that I found somewhere and added my style of facial hair. Funny thing is, re-reading this card all these years later, I'm still not ready for Xmas... OK HW

Note- click images to enlarge.

Image for December 3, 2011 - How These Things Get Done...

I have mentioned on here from time-to-time about a project I am working on to collect my old underground comic from the late 1980s called "Reluctant Sadist". Considering the glacial pace that I have been moving on this project, I should just call it "RELUCTANT" and turn it into a performance art piece. I was going great guns gathering materials and scanning all the art work and contacting folks from the past securing permissions to use their words and images and then I came to the hard part of the project; ACTUALLY WRITING THE DAMN THING. Through the years, I have grown lazy in my creative work habits and throw on top of that distractions like the internets and the sad result is not much to show. Part of my problem too is I haven't been able sustain the effort. Sure, I have been able to achieve little victories here and there, but then I'll have a gap of months with no work and I lose the flavor of the thing. Today, I decided to commit to half an hour a day to the project, even if it's just research or reading, I need to keep my ass in the chair with the materials in front of me for that thirty minutes. Now, that doesn't sound like a lot of time, but you'd be surprised at how much can be accomplished in those thirty minutes. I also find that I often work well beyond that period, as I did today, because the hardest part for me is often just getting started. Here's my work table, I need to spread out. I also have three different notebooks open for other notes because I usually get ideas for other projects; short movies, comix stories, this year's Xmas card, etc; and I make sure to capture them all.  I also took this photo to document how I work, as I enjoy seeing other people's work and studio spaces. What's your workspace look like?

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