Mythology and the Forgotten Gods Show - Tonight at Phantom Hand

TONIGHT and the next few weeks, Phantom Hand (located at 6th & South in Philly) will be hosting "Mythology and the Forgotten Gods", a group art show curated by Anthony Pedro. It's a great show with an awesome group of local artists. Please see the showcard below.


Here is my (Jeffro's) Minotaur piece for the show. I drew it with a borrowed pencil at Bob & Barbara's listening to Kelvin, Rich, and Lucky during Wednesday's jam session. I was lucky to sit alongside fellow cartoonists James Kaminski and Michelle Miller with the legendary Bob Dix behind the bar. I finished the inks at the bar, but a swarm of Wharton students came in around 10:45 and grossed the place up. So I had to finish the colors on my lunch hour yesterday at Paolo's Pizza on Pine Street.


Tonight's show will be especially celebratory, because we found out this week that Phantom Hand has been granted an extension in the gallery space for being an 'exemplary member' of the Arts on South program. We will now be in our current location regaling you with art and assorted hand-made sundries and occasional free beer and baked-goods until mid-August.

30-day Drawing Challenge Cont-d

I'm continuing with the challenge with mixed results, but I'm afraid my work lacks consistency (a fever impeded some progress last week). Because I want to think of myself as an artist, I tell myself that I have to do a polished piece of work every time, which leads me to overthink each assignment and become overly ambitious. It's also difficult to squeeze in "drawing time"; the girls require a LOT of attention. But I won't give up.

As usual, there are write-ups about each image on my Studio Ed tumblr account.

Day 8: Favorite Animated Character


Day 9: Favorite TV Show [I include this as an example of FAIL.]


Day 10: Favorite Candy


Day 11: Turning Point in My Life [Moving Day]


Day 12: Most Recent Accomplishment [Weight Loss]


Day 14: Favorite Fairy Tale


Day 15: Family Picture [including a do-over]



Day 16: Inspiration


Day 17: Favorite Plant


Day 18: Just a Doodle

A Drizzle of Pizzle.

YES! Its a tongue having a romantic drink with the chef who shall roast it and chop it to pieces. A murderous dinner setting, to the tone of "Lady and the Tramp". I have heard that this one caused a few hands to wring, over uneasy mumbles and "herm"s "errr"s and "hawww"s...which bring me pride. To romance!

Visit the pebble beach of bathroom walls for more works.

Jeffro's Norris Street MixTape Show in June

On June 16, I have an opening for an art show based entirely on some of my favorite songs and song lyrics. Music is a huge part of my cartooning. I would have to admit that I get a lot more inspiration from music than I do visual art - because I can draw and listen to music at the same time. It gives my hand a rhythm. I hope to have at least 30 pieces in the show.

There will also be limited edition screen print and giclee prints for sale. Plus I will be giving away free crazy mixed CDs with each purchase. I want to keep the originals fairly small in size, so the art is affordable to working class people.

The working title of the show is called "Norris Street MixTape". My Dad always had music on in our house when I was a kid. So I figure this all starts there on Norris Street. This is the first piece I started for it, but I am going to add color, and I will probably turn it into a large screen print to sell at the show. I drew it in my Moleskine. It's based on Nick Lowe's awesome song, "The Beast In Me", which he wrote for his then father-in-law Johnny Cash. Cash recorded it on his first album with Rick Rubin, "American Recordings". That is hands-down the best version of the song. It's my favorite Johnny Cash song.

This one is kind of a dedication to my lady Joannie and her family. I drew most of it at the kitchen table when hanging out with her and her sister and their friend. I finished the inks and colors in McGlinchy's Bar. It's based on Little River Band's "Lady".

I don't know what it is about this song, but they must have played it when they were kids at a really happy time in their lives. Every time it comes on at a party, everyone in their family stops what they're doing and sings along - Joannie's Mom, her Dad, all of her sisters. They LOVE this song. I didn't really know this when I was growing up, but I like it. It makes me realize how you can tie music to certain memories. It also makes me realize how important music can be in affecting people's emotions.

Masthead is an awesome gallery and print studio, run by Shawn Hilemen. It's a really great space located at 340 Brown Street (near the corner of 4th & Brown) in Northern Liberties. http://mastheadprintstudio.com/

30-day Drawing Challenge

My attempt to recapture the habit of daily drawing (by doing the 30-day challenge) is meeting with mixed results. Here are days one through seven; there are notes associated with each on my tumblr, which coincidentally serves as a temporary replacement for my on-hiatus 'studioed.net' site. Hope you find something you like, and I'll post more in a week.

Cheers!

(P.S. Still really missing you guys!)

Joannie's Valentine - 2012

Joannie's 2012 valentine. She wanted Tomer Hanuka's Valentine's Day print, but he was all sold out. She asked me to redraw it, and I said, "No way! but I will do something similar." The final is an 18” x 24” color, archival giclee print that will hang in our kitchen. I had it printed by my man Chris at Gicleetoday. Dude does awesome work! Apologies to fellow Meathauser Tomer for biting the concept. To see Tomer's prints (including the one I ripped off), please CLICK HERE.

Ron Hextall - Happy Birthday, "Famous" Nick!

Drawing for my nephew, "Famous" Nick's 13th birthday - his all-time hero, Ron Hextall. Nick wears Hextall's number. A couple years back I had the privilege of designing the logo for his hockey team's jersey:


Happy birthday, brother!