Update

So, I stayed at Illustration Academy through the impressive Lecture Week, and decided to come home a little early to get working.

I am back in Boston now, which means back with Boston Handmade, and gearing up for selling at shows again. First up will be July 11th at the annual Boston Handmade Marketplace in Somerville's Union Square. I will have some new pieces available at this show, including FIN ninja prints and new illustrations.

Here is the official website for the show on July 11th. I hope to see you there.

Be well,
Jaye

IA Week Three video

IA Week Two video

IA Video, week one

This is where I am...

Greetings from Sarasota

some sculpture downtown


what the heck are these? they are everywhere


relief from the heat is always within reach


caution down on the docks


water, boats, beaches...


...but, this is the view I will have
the rest of the time I am here

The Artists That Leave

I've lived in Boston my entire life, but as I write this entry, I am some 30,000 miles over Georgia on my way to Florida. The plane's cargo area holds my three 60-pound suitcases, full of shorts, tee-shirts, and a tremendous amount of art supplies. I am both terrified and thrilled. This is new. I have never seen a palm tree. I have never seen ocean water that is not dark blue. And I have never been to art school.

This is the first time in my life that I will be able to focus on nothing but art for 24 hours a day; but I am not the first artist to be able to do this. My girlfriend, a professional singer, has made this trip twice before. Anyone going to tour the museums, countryside, and cities far away for the sole purpose of being creatively inspired, has made this trip before. Anyone with a performance or exhibition far from home has made this trip before.

Part of the art-making process includes finding ourselves ready for the next level. It shows in the amount of work and the quality of work we are producing. We can just feel the rut, we can see the weaknesses, we can be pulled to grow now, because that growth is the only thing that will allow us to continue to breathe.

So we pack up our things, kiss our loved ones goodbye, and take off for grand adventure. We follow the poets, the musicians, and the painters before us to the land of something new.

For me, this comes in the form of studio art education. I was accepted into Illustration Academy, and will be spending the next two months learning new techniques and industry methods to be a professional illustrator. Expect to see some new things from me in the autumn, for I expect to making lots of new things from here on out.



My online shops are closed until August, but rest assured, even though I am now among the artists who leave to better their craft, I will be back.

An Old Friend

As a child I used to read Price Valiant in every Sunday newspaper. Harold Foster's creation was beautifully drawn, with incredible detail, and really stood out from the other comic strips.



In my pocket sketchbook recently, I found myself remembering Val, and his incredible hair:


... and, trying out some new color pencils, here is another one I made as well:


It was a nice exercise, to visit an influence from my childhood and work with it. There are many comics these days that take a lot of shot cuts with the art, but Hal Foster never did, and I will always respect his epic body of comic work.

Greetings from Wisconsin

Even in March, I find this place beautiful, so I send a big Thank You to everyone who ever told me I must see it here Its been a spectacular trip so far, full of relaxation, creativity, and fresh air.



Today is lovely and warm, but on my walk I did happen upon some ice fisherman! This is new to me, so I share the photo proof. I have no idea what they are catching in the frozen lake, but a passerby told me that there were hundreds of them out all winter, and this seemed to be the last one of the season.



But, spring is coming, I can just tell.
Today is 70 degrees!



More soon.

Be well.

Greetings and...

Happy St. Patrick's Day, from Chicagoland.



Its been a blast seeing the city this weekend, and I have taken a lot of new photos to share over the next while. This one is from today, the day of the city's St. Patrick's Day Parade, and they dye the river green. Its bright green- almost neon... AND its all environmentally sound. Or so I hear.

Enjoy.

Jaye

Movie Poster

My latest project:

The poster is 18" x 24" - one of my largest ever. It was a fun project for a compelling new documentary from Nantascot Films. It is the story of the horrible plane crash in 1978- PSA Flight 182, when a large commercial plane collided with a smaller cesna plane, and went down in the city of San Diego.

The trailer can be found here in quicktime format.

Boston Exhibits

Lately, to save money and keep inspired, I have taken some opportunities to visit a couple free exhibits in the Boston area. There are two I wanted to especially share here on the Boston Handmade blog.

The first is Ports and Ships: Photographs by Andrea Frank which can be found in the Compton Gallery on the MIT Campus in Cambridge until June 14th. The gallery is open daily 10am-5pm, and directions can be found by clicking here. It is near Kendall Square.

Andrea Frank's photography of ports and container ships from around the world are presented in fabulous large-format frames and offer up interesting colors and patterns that I truly enjoyed seeing.



The second free show, Joseph Wheelwright's 28 Moons, concludes this weekend (on March 15th), and is at the Boston Sculptors Gallery in the SOWA area of Boston. It is near the NE Medical Center T stop. Directions and hours can be found by clicking here.



For 28 years Wheelwright created one moon, and now the collection is complete and on display for all to enjoy. The space itself invites you in to look down on each moon, much as the moon looks down upon us; they are small in size, but large in character.



I hope that you are able to check out some of these and other free exhibits in town right now. Thank you for supporting the arts.

yay weekend

Well, its been a busy week. I am both surprised and relieved it is Friday. This week my boss was in town every day, which makes for some exhausting and stress-filled work days. The ceiling caved in our apartment, so my evenings have been filled with dealing with that. Most of our kitchen stuff is in the living room right now, which is okay, except we have a good friend staying with us for the weekend and the poor woman has to deal with dishes all around her. She's being great about it, thankfully!

Check out Franken-ceiling:

This is just one of the MANY repairs.

All that said, the weather is warming up and I was able to play basketball for the first time in '09 yesterday. What a great feeling to be outside again. Its been an awfully long winter. This weekend I will be working on a few drawing projects, going to a show, and enjoying the company of our friend. Hopefully I'll be able to post some new work on Monday.

I wish you all well, and hope you enjoy your weekend.

Jaye

next

I spend more time indoors than I would care to, so as the weather warms up (and the sun stays out later), I will be taking my sketchbook outside. Lately I have been drawing every day, including quick drawings of random people I see, to practice gestural drawing. They are quick sketches done in ballpoint pen on whatever paper is handy. So far I have learned that I am not so good at ears, and that my powers of observation are slowly improving. Its been worth it.

One surprising outcome of my drawing every day is that my appetite for drawing is insatiable. Everything I see becomes just lines and shadows in my minds eye, and I play with it until I find my favorite angle. I am always eager to take pen to paper now, and no longer care if the outcome looks a mess.



For whatever reason, with each sketch, a new idea is born. Current projects include: FIN cartoons for March, April, and May; and a film poster for an upcoming documentary. This is a new thing for me, in that I have done some gig posters, but never one for a film. Its a larger format for me to learn, and I look forward to helping promote a movie.

right now

My days inevitably begin with me waking up late. So much so that my boss officially changed my start time to "9:15 or whenever." This sort of flexibility is the main reason I remain in this job. I've never been one for time-clocks and early meetings. In fact, in this job I have no meetings what-so-ever, a far cry from my days as a facilities manager.

My commute is wonderful, I walk 230 steps (ah, pedometer) to my neighbors' house just around the corner. Often I'll go one block out of the way to a local cafeteria for some coffee and a corn muffin to go. This gets me through the morning grumbling- not from my tummy, but from my boss.

I stay there in his house for the next seven or eight hours, and I organize his life. It keeps me busy, far busier than I ever expected- I mean, the amount of work this one man generates is truly astonishing. At times it is stressful, at other times it is peaceful. The deciding factor is a simple one, for it only depends on whether he is home or not.

After work is done, I walk back home and enjoy dinner with my girlfriend, who is a professional singer. We've lived together for years, and always have a lot to catch up on from our day. After dinner, my real work begins.

Like so many other artists, my evenings are filled with answering emails, packaging orders, updating sites, reading books about business, reading blogs, scanning, blogging, and - oh yeah - drawing, inking, and measuring out new boards.

I also enjoy, and need, some sort of exercise during this time, but it varies. Sometimes its a long walk with a camera, or to the post office, or to shoot baskets at a local court. Sometimes I do nothing but stay hunkered over my work until I am too drowsy to do anymore. When I go to bed and start the whole thing over again. It is not the way I want things to be, but it works for right now.

Obviously, I cannot do all these things every night, so I have recently developed a schedule for me as a guide. And its one thing having a schedule, its a whole other thing to post it on my wall. Seeing it constantly encourages me to stick to it, and to know that whatever else is on my list of things to do, there will be a time for everything. I figure, if I spend half my day organizing my bosses life, some of these skills can surely apply to organizing mine.

oh, really?

Out for a walk the other night, and happened upon this sign.
Sure glad I wasn't driving.

New Gig Poster

The wings were the only thing hand-drawn and scanned in for this quick poster. And the colors are not as rich here as they are when printed, because the compression for web viewing faded it a bit.

Other gig posters I have done are here.

All over Flickr

Today I upgraded my account on Flickr, and I have uploaded tons of art you don't see on my regular site galleries. I'm quite choosy about what goes on the website, I treat that like my portfolio, but I wanted to have an online sketchbook depository as well, and I've decided that Flickr is a great place for that.

There are a ton of communities that are related to drawing, and many of my friends are already there. So, if you are on Flickr, or want to see more drawings than I usually post, go on and check it out here:

Thirteenth Story on Flickr

PS

This is the latest in my PS series, which serves as light commentary on whats going on with me at the moment. I can't really explain any of them, though. In a sense, I'd like to just keep it as a drawing and not get thinking too much about meaning.




This one also features my trusty sidekick, Hamlet.


These are always drawn in ink on Bristol, with a rapidograph pen and brushwork for the inking. They are larger in real life than I upload them for the web, because I think the reduced size serves just as well.

Many might recognize them from the back cover of the Thirteenth Story zine, and if you are interested in seeing the others, just click here, to the comic art portion of my site.

FIN Valentine

Habits

I've often wondered how important it is to create daily. At every new years (or whenever I am compelled to have a new beginning), the first thing I say is: "I want to draw every day."

Unlike my friend Bret, I have not been unable to accomplish this. And, this year I've found it helps to really contemplate how important drawing every day is to me. For starters, practicing, developing new techniques, and new ways of interpreting the world are critical to keep my work fresh. My work tends to be simple, stark, iconic looking, but that doesn't mean it has to be without dimension and story. You should see some of the under-drawings! Practicing, especially drawing from life, will enhance and help my work along to the next place.

I was checking out some of my favorite artists whom I have dedicated a "Spotlight" section of my zine. Though very different they all have one thing in common:

...sketching and drawing as often as possible. And if it helped bring these artists to the level they worked at, it sure can't hurt me to try!

Be well,
Jaye

13 Forest Gallery has Plenty

13 Forest Gallery in Arlington, MA is in the middle of their winter show, aptly called "Plenty." It features over forty local artists, and their small works. The Antique Shop original, which is actually one of my largest works, is included.

The show runs until January 9th. The gallery also sells wonderful handmade gift items from artists around the world. There are household goods and jewelry, along with many prints and original pieces of wall art. For directions and store hours, please check out the website, 13 Forest.



Thanks,
Jaye

BHDX: Buy Handmade in Boston This Season

This year, the City of Boston (via Mayor Menino and the Boston Redevelopment Authority) surprised us in Boston Handmade by offering us an opportunity to have an actual store in the heart of Downtown Crossing during the holiday season.



With a few weeks- no, a COUPLE of weeks to prepare, some of us worked to renovate this wonderful-but-not-ready-for-the-public-yet space for a Grand Opening on the day after Thanksgiving. Our team is led by Jessica Burko, a talented JP-based artist and amazing organizer, who pulled everything together and ensured we were ready to receive the shoppers of Boston with the utmost poise and professionalism. Many customers were shocked to hear we just opened, which speaks to her and our efforts.

Now that we have been open for a couple weekends, I am proud to report that it has been quite successful. The store carries 100% handmade items from local artists. Could there be any place more special to do some holiday shopping? :)

Find us here:
Boston Handmade Downtown Crossing
Open Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
11am-7pm
until December 28th




Thanks!
Jaye

Phew

My 2008 show season is officially over, and it was a very successful one. I am grateful for all the new connections I have made in the area, and excited for the next big things on my drawing board. Literally.

Thanks to Worcester stART in the Street, the SOWA South End shows (one for Baked Fresh, the other was with Boston Handmade), the Boston Zine Fair, the JP Holiday Market, and Boston Bazaar Bizarre. Its been pretty busy preparing for these very well-attended fairs, and I am pleased with how organized and well-run they all were.

Next up is a new FIN, a new nautical picture, and (the much expanded) zine four. Here is the cover to Zine Four, which will be out February first.





Thanks for reading. Now the shows are over I'll be posting more often, happily.

Jaye

Coraline

I've always been a little proud to be part of the handmade movement, and tonight I saw something really special that I wanted to share with you guys. There is a new movie coming out in February, called Coraline.

Its is a stop-motion movie down with "puppets"." Everything is 100% handmade, and it is stunning. There is only way you can see bits of production for it right now, and that it to go to: Coraline.com and enter a "key."

The keys that I think you would appreciate are:
stopmotion
buttoneyes
sweaterxxs
armpithair
puppetlove

Enjoy,
Jaye

Happy Halloween, Day of the Dead, All Saints Day, Daylight Savings Time...




Be well,
Jaye

FIN Holiday Card!

Flat note cards available in singles or sets of five.
Envelopes included.





Get em here.

Thanks,
Jaye

howyadoin

My friend Bret Taylor is now blogging, which is only good news. Bret is known for his paintings, and for hooking us up with rich close-up photos of his details and clear step-by-step points of his process. He is also known to hook people up with booze, music, and fun.

He lives in Vancouver, and there is a nice in-depth interview of his, with a ton of pics of his work right now on digitalapplejuice.com. Brets Interview

Oooooooh, and I'm not sure I mentioned yet here that I was also featured on digitapplejuice. I've been slacking lately on the blog. But, the interview with me is here if you are interested in reading about the inspirations for FIN and zines and stuff. Jayes Interview

Anyway, back to Bret. His blog, howyadoin graphics, be-eth here: http://howyadoingraphics.blogspot.com

Take care,
Jaye

interpretations

At shows I am always so excited about the different things people see in my art. Last month a lovely couple asked me, "Why didn't you include the poem with this one?"

Having no idea what they were referring to, as the clothesline drawing was inspired not by a poem, but by my laundry I asked them about it. They then were surprised I had never heard of this wonderful piece:


Love Calls Us to the Things of This World
by Richard Wilbur

The eyes open to a cry of pulleys,
And spirited from sleep, the astounded soul
Hangs for a moment bodiless and simple
As false dawn.
Outside the open window
The morning air is all awash with angels.

Some are in bed-sheets, some are in blouses,
Some are in smocks: but truly there they are.
Now they are rising together in calm swells
Of halcyon feeling, filling whatever they wear
With the deep joy of their impersonal breathing;

Now they are flying in place, conveying
The terrible speed of their omnipresence, moving
And staying like white water; and now of a sudden
They swoon down into so rapt a quiet
That nobody seems to be there.
The soul shrinks

From all that is about to remember,
From the punctual rape of every blessed day,
And cries,
"Oh, let there be nothing on earth but laundry,
Nothing but rosy hands in the rising steam
And clear dances done in the sight of heaven."

Yet, as the sun acknowledges
With a warm look the world's hunks and colors,
The soul descends once more in bitter love
To accept the waking body, saying now
In a changed voice as the man yawns and rises,

"Bring them down from their ruddy gallows;
Let there be clean linen for the backs of thieves;
Let lovers go fresh and sweet to be undone,
And the heaviest nuns walk in a pure floating
Of dark habits,
keeping their difficult balance."


All prints are now on sale in my shop, and if you would like this one you can find it right here... and now you have a poem to go with it.

Be well,
Jaye

Color

Most of my drawings are in black and white, but my inspiration board is covered with colorful clippings. This made me realize that I have been thinking a lot about color lately, specifically the variations within monochromatic artwork.

My latest sketches and designs seem to be breaking away from pure black and white, but they still maintain the simple, clean look which I have been developing for years.

There are a few places I have been getting inspiration and direction. They include DeGraeve's Color Generator, a site in which you point to an existing photo, and it generates a palette in list form, giving both vibrant and dull options. Or Peter Piper's Color Palette Picker: a site where you can choose colors and create a layout that gives a good visual sense of how to best weigh the colors within a composition. And lastly, photographs. Here is one that shows how much real-world variation there can be within just one color:

photo by Michelle Vachon

I hope these resources might help you in your own exploration of color.

Be well,
Jaye

Zine Shots

In gearing up for the Boston Zine Fair next month, I thought it would be cool to share a couple pages from the most recent zine here.

When I made these I was pretty unhappy in my job, which is now my ex-job... it all worked out in the end. But for a while there I felt like doing anything to make my days a little more interesting. It was a tough time for my art, creativity was not flowing, but these two little stories gave me some outlet.