Alphonse Mucha

+100 years later, his art still inspires me . . . and is really incomparable.

Alphonse Mucha "Peonies" (watercolor, pattern for fabric design)

Mucha's "Woman with Daisies" (printed velour)

Mucha was very much undervalued, in my eyes, but continues to inspire and instruct artists from other media -- check out this amazing stained-glass work from Iowa-based Bogenrief Studios, Inc.. It's just SPLENDID. I absolutely love this piece. . . . 

PREVIEW: First Piece in my Upcoming Gallery Show (June 3)

Here's a sneak preview of one of the pieces I'm doing for the show . . . it was 50% finished last night, at the time that I took this picture (sometime after one in the morning -- why am I only productive after midnight?). Of course, the piece has been finished this morning, and has also taken a slightly different direction than expected. However, I love the piece, and I'm going to have to sit down with the Handbook for Pricing & Ethical Guidelines on Tuesday -- when I ship the dozen or so pieces out to the gallery. This is a smaller board.

I'll be working on the longer panels tonight, depending on when I finish the suite of small wood panels.

Anthology Update

So, while I was pouring over my copious paint and layout notes for my gallery collection, the frayed and buzzing thought wafted through my mind while tearsheets fluttered to the floor of my studio: June first, June first. What in the world is happening on June 1? I asked myself, scrunching my eyebrows and twisting my lips.

Ah. I've got it: Thymos.
No, it's not the name of a glandular condition, . . . or a Greco-Roman lyric hero.

THYMOS is the name of an Asian American organization currently seeking submissions for their anthology; contributors must be affiliated with the state of Oregon in some manner, which was not elaborated very thoroughly on their Web page. Either way -- being an Oregon-born and -raised Asian American, I suppose I qualify! Hurrah!


Their tentative deadline is June 1.
Although you don't need to be Asian American, you should still consider giving them a ring if you want in on the project. E-mail them at: ThymosBook@gmail.com


I'm going to be preparing a mini-comic pulled directly from my 20s in San Francisco, and a personal essay on generational shifts between three generations of immigrants in denial of their vagrant beginnings in the United States. You know, cheerful stuff for the Portland, Oregon, set.

My cousins there should get a kick out of it.
I haven't been back to Portland since trying to sneak in to a Beastie Boys concert over by Yamhill way, way, way back in the time I'd like to call "the '90s". Or, I suppose I can call the days of listening to 7 Year Bitch and Veruca Salt the turn of the century instead?

Memorial Day Weekend

There's something really wonderful and soothing about spending a morning doing normal things -- walking the dogs, gardening, cleaning -- with the knowing that it is akin to setting up the stage for a grand theatrical debut: tonight, I get to create something beautiful . . . over and over again until the holidays are over. I've amassed a pile of sketches and photo references over the week for my collection -- and now that the rains have passed, I'm excited to let my wood panels dry outdoors while brewing sun tea and making chocolate-dipped almond shortbreads.

Painting is, for me, cheap therapy.

FREE Sneak Peak -- Letterhead

     Here's a quick snapshot of the letterhead that I created this morning for the gallery show. 

     Since there are two other artists showcasing in the space (and I'm gathering that I have a distinctly more "contemporary" style and floor/wall layout plan) I intend to handwrite truncated quotes from my artist's statement on these sheets throughout my wall space just to keep the collection in JUNE 2010 cohesive with my vision of postfeminist re-appropriation of American advertising images, the business-side of weddings, and classical [global] fairytale archetypes. I've fallen in love recently with old Victorian children's books, so those will also be a large influence -- blame it on Salinas, CA. 

     I went to the historic John Steinbeck-town last autumn for a reading, and discovered a gorgeous antique store on the main boulevard that just floored me with its immediate intimacy, history, and endless array of trucs and bric-a-brac. I bought Scrabble board pieces and vintage elementary school valentines printed on parchment paper and silk, and will never send them away. The carefully-cut sheets of tissue are still scrawled in the tight cursive penmanship of a fledgling secretary -- the deep and even grooves of graphite swirling in tiny loops and measured hooks for the letter "G" in "To Mrs. Grimshaw, much love to a wonderful teacher!"

     Last month, NPR featured a short radio segment with an author on the exploding culture of rudeness across America -- Do children even appreciate teachers, anymore? They wouldn't seem to have any sort of model to learn from, judging from how teachers are being bled right out of the educational system at the moment. But I digress . . . 

     It's an ambitious show, I know . . . come, and be surprised.

     There will be white wine sangria, and lovely tea and cookies to nibble. In  fact, opening night attendees may even get an extra surprise! (Shhhh)

Website Redesigned -- with Million Thanks to Graphics Fairy!

Thank God for Karen of Graphics Fairy (http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com) for the ticket background for my Blog Redesign! I've been trying to fix my scanner for ages now . . . and it's not going well. But this was perfect for my aesthetic. Karen, you are my rock star.

Rack & Mailer Postcards DONE!

Wow . . . I'm really, really loving Google Doc's new OpenSource drawing tool. 
I just sent these out to my gallery, and will be doing more posts soon.  Anyway . . . Here's the front of my flyer design. Ta-da!

WEDNESDAY!!!! 

     Boy, the week just crept up on me all of a sudden. I should be cranking out this show's collection tonight and tomorrow afternoon. I have a meeting with some city officials regarding an online initiative to create a source of e-commerce for Fresno-based artists. Although I find it redundant (e.g., I'm already on Society6 and other social sites), I think it's still a somewhat necessary step in the right direction for the City of Fresno's IT specialists and marketing team. It's about time the Central Valley was slingshot into the 21st century. 

Linking Blogs

I was inspired today, while talking to a retired telecommunications marketer at my favorite kitschy-retro coffeeshop, to produce webcomics based on these wacky conversations I've been having with the locals in my new environs . . . some of the stories are just too crazy to be made up. So, I will be considering linking a NEW BLOG purely about these first-hand testimonials to this main page soon enough.

Also, I was reminded today that I had originally wanted to start up my own Cartoonists Conspiracy collective here for the Central Valley. My friend, Brian Kolm, has a great blog for the Cartoonists Conspiracy of San Francisco (CCSF) on WordPress; I used to go and do publishing jams with them every Thursday at the Lower Castro coffeeshop across the street from Trina Robbins (Barbie, Go!Girl) and her husband, an inker for MARVEL COMICS. Of course, that was a million years ago, when I still lived in San Francisco -- before my newsmagazine went kaput. Well, actually . . . it was just a little short of a year ago.

Anyhoo . . . yep: those are the two ideas I have going from this morning's coffee-fueled chit-chat.
Back to the studio: I have only a few days left to finish my pieces before the big unveiling on JUNE 3rd.
There shall be free refreshments and snacks -- I'm thinking Russian wedding cookies, chocolate-covered strawberries, cream-filled eclairs, and white wine sangria since my pieces will be certainly candy-colored.

HOWEVER, I must quote Cindy Sherman here:

"I like making images that from a distance seem kind of seductive, colorful, luscious and engaging, and then you realize what you’re looking at is something totally opposite. It seems boring to me to pursue the typical idea of beauty, because that is the easiest and the most obvious way to see the world. It’s more challenging to look at the other side."

Preparing for My Art Gallery Opening in a Week!

Sweetness, Mary Jehoshaphat. June is actually turning out to be a very good month for me! 

     I went to check out the gallery space last Thursday, and it turned out that the curator was giving me a lot more space than I had originally assumed: I have one 100 sq. foot room, plus the hallway -- which adds (wait a minute, what's seven feet times eight feet time three?) . . . that adds another 168 sq. feet for a grand total of 268 sq. feet of display space. Wowsers. So far, I've been working and re-working sketches to make sure all my pieces are cohesive -- and now that I know I have this much space, I may need to provide an interactive arena on one wall just to keep it interesting. I'm all about circulating the chi.

     While I have been incubating ideas for the June collection's showcase (think pastel sugar flowers, Ron English, Americana kitsch, and Grant Wood's "American Gothic"), my publisher from New York City contacted me and alerted me that I am the only writer who is doing a graphic novel adaptation in the MediaBistro e-book/print-on-demand literary reinvention of Horatio Alger, Jr.'s 1913 novel, Joe's Luck; or, Always Wide Awake. They've partnered with Blurb.com, Scribd.com, and the hilarious folks who wrote and published the wildly-successful literary mash-up, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. A huge publicity campaign for the final product has been lined up, or at least *promised* by my publisher, and I will be quickly churning that one out for the deadline -- which is literally a few days following my gallery reception.

     I feel ecstatic, to say the least -- BUZZED, I think, is more like it.

     Now that the wood panels have been sent out to the New England chapter of the Anti-Defamation League's seventh annual Youth in Leadership Awards ceremony in Boston, MA, in time for their posh gala on June 5th, I can focus on this gallery opening and the reception party to ensue . . . . . What should I do for the party? Perhaps a wedding theme?