Comic-Con Fun!

Watch for me getting rejected in the video above! (about 45 seconds in)

Dustin and I spent the whole day nerding out with friends, and we had a great time! I wore a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shirt and was super happy that they had a booth there! I had Dustin take this picture of me and Donatello being ninjas together. It was a fantastic day, and we saw a ton of really cool stuff.

July First Friday

What a great time this month! If you weren’t there, you definitely should have been! A very nice lady stopped by my booth and brought this cute little guy in with her to get a lollipop. He’s some kind of tiny monkey, and he decided to hop over onto my arm to get his candy!

We also met Rip Van Twinkle, the Creator of “Magic Lucky Stars.” I knew right away that we’d be friends when I saw his “Art Kills Artists” t-shirt. I really wish I had worn my “Waste Your Life, Be an Artist” shirt. Rip’s stars are really cool, and his site is definitely worth taking a look at: MagicLuckyStars.com.

Since I decided to become a full-time artist I’ve met a lot of great people, and this month was no exception!

Abandoned Series Update

I realize that this is the first time a lot of you are hearing about the abandoned series Dustin and I are doing, so this will really be more “Breaking News!” than an update.

We make the drive from San Diego to Las Vegas pretty frequently. We’re there at least once a month for First Friday, and other shoots and family visits bring us up even more often. We took a trip down old Route 66 and were blown away by the amount of abandoned structures along the way. Towns that flourished before Highway 40 was put in died out pretty quickly and thoroughly after it was complete and drew traffic away.

Last December we stopped at the towns of Amboy and Ludlow to shoot some of the buildings. We got a lot of great material, and decided that we wanted to flush the series out and shoot as much of the Mojave as we could for the series. On our way to First Friday this month we stopped at Rock-a-Hula, an abandoned water park, and spent a good portion of the day taking pictures of it. On the way home we stopped by the largely-abandoned towns of Goffs, Essex and Chambless to get pictures. Each shoot has been more exciting and breathtaking than the last.

Our goal is to shoot more of the towns off of the 40 near Barstow, and flush out an entire “Abandoned Mojave” series. We’re really excited and we’re getting close to being finished! When we are done, we’re going to put together a coffee table book as well as prints!

Venetian Las Vegas, Carnavale

Last month at First Friday we were approached by a member of the Venetian’s staff who was looking for artists to participate in the hotel’s Carnevale art festival. For the whole month of June, two pieces of my art will be displayed in the Venetian and the Palazzo. Look for my big, 4-panel, brushed aluminum flower on the large display window of Corsa. Be sure to also keep an eye out for a 36″x36″ canvas print displayed in Prosecco Jewelry!

I’m super thankful to the Venetian for a chance to show my art off in such a great setting. Both pieces look incredible, so make sure you stop by and take a look at them if you’re in Vegas!

North Park Festival of the Arts

Our first big show in the San Diego area was this month! It went really well, and we had a great showing of family and friends who came out to show their support. We ran into a few friends from Frist Friday, like Maynard Breese, which is always a treat. The art was spectacular, and Dustin was showing off some leg, so if you didn’t show you really missed out. Better make sure you come next year!

One more huge thank you to all of the people who came out and helped us with the show. You guys are amazing!

Little Italy Art Show Scouting

I’ve been really interested in getting into more shows in San Diego. It would be nice to meet more local artists and to be able to have a show without driving as far as we have been. We spent the day at the Little Italy ArtWalk that Mission Federal puts on every year. It was a great crowd, and we were happy to see some friends there! We had some good food and spent the day looking at some good art!

It was good to see a lot of extremely talented photographers at the event, and I was happy to see that none of them shot like I do. I think I’ll be able to find a pretty good niche for my art here. We’re going to be attending the North Park Festival of the Arts next month, so it was good to get an idea of what to expect!

April First Friday

You wouldn’t think the desert is all that cold, but you’d be wrong. It was a pretty chilly month there this month, but the crowd was great! Earlier this month, I ordered a mug that’s a replica of a Canon 24-105mm lens, and I’ve been keeping it full of our favorite First Friday coffee from Grouchy John’s to stay warm!

More exciting news – we’ve been experimenting with new ideas for our printer, especially with the cool prints he does on brushed aluminum. This month we’re featuring a huge, 4-panel metal print of one of my flowers. The picture here doesn’t really do it justice, so you’ll just have to stop by next month to see it!