STELLAR: Evidence of an alternative space program

Oh my god. How is 2014 already halfway over? More importantly (to me, anyway!) – how is my solo art show at Twilight gallery opening in only eight days?! I am soooo excited – there will be paintings of planets, starscapes, unnamed cosmonauts and floaty space girls. You are officially invited! If you are a facebooker, here is the invite page.

This weekend I’ll be into the gallery to paint the walls black, and any day now my bags of glow-in-the-dark stars will be showing up in my mail. To be used on the gallery walls, of course, but which after the show I’m sure will all go straight up in the apartment walls.

Why am I devoting a whole set of drawings and paintings to this franky, naive and arguably overdone subject?

What I’m after – childish wonder, stark beauty, vast loneliness + absurd simplicity. Exploration, finding comfort in the unknown + active curiosity.

I’m not a scientist, or an astronaut, this collection is just a portrait of what I thought being a space explorer was like, when I was 10.

I have this desire to touch emptiness, embrace the nonsensical, and lose a sense of proportion. Gadgets, physics, magic… all that good stuff!

I aim to create a portrait of an innocent motivation to seek comfort and wonder in the unknown.

 

If you are in the vicinity, please come by for opening night! There may be space-themed cocktails. And there may be spacemen/women. YOU should definitely come dressed in your finest intergalactical gear. 🙂

Four days till the largest Comic Convention… oh, in the world!

Getting excited! Nick and I are flying down in a couple of days to set up shop with two super-talented funny men: John Lustig of Last Kiss Comics and K.D. Boze, co-author/illustrator of the Virgin Project series. We will have copies of both VP 1 and 2, and I will be bringing prints. We’ll be at booth 2303, er, here:

AAAAH! Oh my goodness. This reminds me of how lost I got last year. Here’s a closer view:

Anywho, lots to do and I will definitely post pictures as the weekend goes on. 🙂

Some things I’m excited about: Bill Pympton, Penn and Teller (Teller, one of my first ill-informed early-puberty crushes),

Err, moving on – Wendy and Richard Pini of Elfquest (!!!!). I haven’t read a ton of comics, especially compared to the average comic-con goer, but this is one of my favorites!

Elfquest’s Skywise, another embarrassing early crush… speaking of, I’m pretty sure there’s a zine ready to be made chronicling my long string of nerdy, embarrassing and unconventional crush-choices.

Also at the con, Kevin Smith, of course all sorts of Star Trek craziness, the Mythbuster’s crew, and on the more business-end of things, children’s book publication and marketing panels… if I find time for them!

Most Awesome Save-the-Date EVER!

I was extremely lucky in being able to help out in the realization of this awesome save-the-date – brainchild of Nora and Garratt, one of the cutest couples I’ve had the pleasure of working with.

Garratt, a robotics engineer, and Nora fend off swarms of zombies with the help of their robot army and pet hedgehog, Leonard (turns out he actually has his own website)! The piece is done entirely in sumptuous sumi ink on heavy watercolor paper. This is possibly the most romantic project I’ve ever worked on. 🙂 These two are obviously meant for each other.