Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 20/31.

Why yes, I am way behind:

Graphite, Photoshop.

Blast From the Past.

Once upon a time there was a car magazine publisher named Tom McMullen. Back when I was in highschool, several of his magazines had sections that published illustrations from readers - Truckin', Street Rodder, Custom Rodder, etc.

Fancying myself an accomplished illustrator by this point, I promptly shipped them a handful of my drawings (never occurred to me, of course, to keep copies for myself). Over the next year or so, I think they published four or five of my pieces - my first published work. And last week as I continued in my efforts to purge a lot of the useless crap out of my life, I found three of the magazines:

I knew immediately which issues they were. I can still remember how excited I was to see my art in them. Here, have a look:

I still kinda like that Monte Carlo. Maybe I should draw an updated version sometime.

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 19/31.

Souvenir of San Diego ComiCon, either 2004 or 2005:

Ink, Photoshop.

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 18/31.

Souvenir of a friend's trip to the Big Easy:

Graphite, Photoshop.

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 17/31.

And another:

Go Habs!

Ink, Photoshop.

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 15-16/31.

Playing catchup again, so this post will be a two-fer:

 

Ink, coloured pencil, gouache.

Pencil, Photoshop.

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 14/31.

Continuing my catchup efforts, I believe this is another glass I got from Gary & Morna of Starfish Glassworks fame:

Graphite, Photoshop.

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 13/31.

I seem to have fallen behind on this project again. Catching up, one step at a time:

Ink, Photoshop.

Bret's Big Art Sale.

So yesterday's sale was a smashing success. I commandeered the studio at Imagemaker Photographic Studio, lots of good, fun people showed up, paintings and prints were sold, and a good time was had by all. The show wasn't even started before several prints were already sold, and with the guidance of a few friends, the momentum kept going as we turned the sale into a bit of a Twitter event (#BretsBigArtSale).

(Photo courtesy of George Smeltzer - GSCameraworks)

I was really touched by how much effort people made to promote the sale. Plenty of mentions, retweets, photos and link sharing on Twitter, Facebook and Google+. Right off the bat, I should thank these fine people:

John & Chrissy Watson, George Smeltzer, Lori Kittelberg, Patti Catroppa, Ceci Graber, Brandy Trudeau, Jeff Hornby, Donna Jay-Crowe, Adam Carlson, Ned Tobin, Nikki Cruickshank, Nicola Rueschmann, Richard Finch, Adé Win, Vincent Ng, everybody at Cosca and Novo, Nicola Rueschmann, Yvonne Milroy, Matty Sadorf, April Trasy, Valarie H., Kimli, Stephanie Insixiengmay, Anthony Wittrock, DaDe Art & Design Lab,  Vancouver Vantage, Carly Fryer, BC Berrie, Lora Jean, John Bell, Jenn Ashton, Lola Frost, Louise Perrin, Ashley November, Steve Kubien, and of course my family.

Sold a set of 6 bourbon prints, a Jack Daniel's print, the Crow's Funeral painting I did in tribute to my good friends Lisa and Paul in Mojave, etc. etc. I was sort of sad to see this one go, but at least it went to a good home:

(Photo courtesy of Brandy Trudeau)

In the midst of all the wining and dining and wheeling and dealing, I managed to get a little sketching in:

(Photo courtesy of Tess McCann)

And of course, adult beverages were provided to keep spirits up (see what I did there?). There's still a bit of wine left in my fridge, but the tequila didn't survive:

After 6 hours we packed up the paintings and called it a night. Only thing left to do at that point was celebrate with vodka and poutine.

Thank you one and all for a stellar day. Let's do it again sometime soon.

P.S. Thanks to everyone who put up with my twitchiness and general neurosis on the days leading up to the sale. Apparently I'm always going to be a bit of a mess right up to the point where a sale/show starts.

Ready for the Sale.

So I've spent the last couple days getting everything ready for the art sale. I've taken over my buddy John's photography studio and changed it around (more than) a little. Yesterday while we were still setting up I snapped this pic of the Reception area:

Today we went over with a boatload of art. Here's how it looked shortly after we got there:

Finally I had all the paintings up in the Lounge:

Once that was all done it was time to pose for a photo myself:

Weirdest part of all this, of course, is how my livingroom wall looks now:

But fear not - that big wall space will be reserved for the first Closing Time painting.

Big day tomorrow.