Finally posted Hallmarket Photos from October!

   I'm spending the morning (and last night, actually) backing up my hard drive. I ran across these photos and realized I'd never posted them. So, enjoy!

Hallmarket 2, Electric Boogaloo

   Today on the Hallmark square: the second annual Hallmarket art show & sale! Steph & Jack invited me to share their booth, and they said it was dog-friendly, so I brought the crowd-loving Taylor with me, and spared his more shy sibling.

View from our booth

Our booth

Donna VanHooser's Sundog Mosaics

Tag Team Tompkins

Steph's work

Jack & Steph's work

Jack, Steph & Penny, and Taylor & me

Michael, Aidan, and Aiden's new bat plush!

Me & my Cyclopticat

Steph & Penny

Chieko's daughter & her friend loved Mr. Tay!

Panda lover Maria Villa

Jeff Wilson's Frenchy puppy, Rocco

Renee, Joe, Rosie & Boo

Flora Chang

A guy in Retail who used to work for Disney

Sarah & Colin Walsh

Ruth Donikowski

Carol Osborne

My loot!

Hallmarket part 2: Update

   This Saturday, Hallmark artists will be selling their work at "Hallmarket," an art fair in the square outside headquarters in Crown Center Square, downtown Kansas City, MO. I was originally thinking that I wasn't going to be able to participate, but Steph & Jack graciously invited me to share their booth, and I've got some plush that recently returned to me in a big box after they've been vacationing in LA & San Francisco for a while (lucky plush!), so I'm going for it!
   The majority of what I have to sell are from my "Catattack" series (monster cats of all breeds: catbats, mercats, cyclopticats, reptilicats, yeticats, robocats, etc.) Shaun & Ed of Shaun of the Dead may also make an appearance. These are some of my favorite plush that I've ever created, so it's bittersweet to offer them for sale. Good homes only! All are 100% hand-sewn, one-of-a-kind art pieces, not intended to be toys for kids or pets.

   It would be nice to make a lil' extra cash, for an upcoming trip-of-a-lifetime that I'm *hoping* I'll be able to take this year... more to come on that!

My photos of last year's event

Information about the event from the Hallmark newsroom

KC Star article

It's Dangerous to Go Alone

   Here it is, the painting that got me back into painting after a four-year plush extravaganza! I was surprised at how easy—and frankly, how fun—it was to get back into it. And I'm pretty happy with the results as well. I truly enjoyed creating this piece!
   It's called , aka "Hitori de iku no ga kiken desu", aka "It's Dangerous to Go Alone", and it depicts the hero of The Legend of Zelda, who had been pursuing a couple of Octoroks, who cunningly led him to meet their mama.
   The game was created by the legendary Shigeru Miyamoto (do Mario and Donkey Kong ring a bell?), and originally released for the original, 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System. It will always hold a special place in my heart: I sunk a lot of hours into it when I was a kid, and it is a true classic that still has a great influence on gaming today.
   Here are some in-progress photos that show my painting coming to life:

The drawing, which I transferred onto canvas after laying down a base color

Finished lifework has been painted

Starting to fill in the color (and making decisions along the way); initially I considered making this a full-color piece, but in the end I liked the dramatic impact of limited color

Filling in the Big Octorok

Starting to bring Link to life

TA-DAAAA!!!

   It's already on its way to the classic video game-themed show at Gallery 1988: Venice, opening Friday, September 16 in Santa Monica, CA. Over 90 artists will be participating, so there will be tons of variety as usual. Here's a teaser. Here's the evite, as well as the evite from their VG show earlier this year, which I also love.

Crazy 4 Cult Book

Photo by Cool & Collected

 The new book is getting a ton of press already: very exciting!

Purchase the book on Amazon

...and a calendar?!

Titan Books

What Culture!

Guardian UK

Moviefone interview with Jensen

Crazy 4 Cult 5: I'm Too Old For This Sh**

   The next installment of the popular annual show, Crazy 4 Cult, is opening 7/8/11 in LA at the incomparable Gallery 1988. For a change, I will be in attendance for both the opening and the special book signing on Sunday, 7/10. So excited to be a part of the show... now if I can only avoid being eaten by my own artwork... I give you Audrey II, otherwise entitled, "Feed Me, Seymour."

Hyper Hobby

   Thanks to Mark Nagata and the Max Toy 5th Anniversary show, my work made it into another Japanese magazine: Hyper Hobby! (Interior image, bottom right corner... right where your thumb goes so you can't miss it, right?!) すごいね。ありがとう、マルクさん！

Link to more info  /  Link to more photos