Cobwebs and Exploding Pies

Well folks it’s been an eventful January with the great remodeling of CRG Studios! Every piece of furniture has been unmoored and rearranged, spiders and centipedes evicted, and flat files given a delightfully thorough spring cleaning in winter.

This means I have unburied some gems from the archives, and this Friday, February 1st at 12 noon (pacific time) I will be releasing a few select prints from the vaults. in the CRG Store I will have a few available of:

“Who’s Afraid of the Peppermint Man?” 

“Becoming Animal” 

and “The Suffocating Corset”

Come early, to the CRG Store,  as I only have a few of each one!!

Watch Me Paint Exploding Pies

I am currently  working on a delicious illustrated cover for some my pals over at McSweeneys Publishing. Here are some sneak peeks of my process.

For this project I'm using watercolors on handmade watercolor paper. I have a few different watercolor sets, The bottom one is Japanese and the top one is German made.  I've had the lil' one on top since high school! I can't bear to part with it, plus the quality is unparralelled. Vintage rules.

Dr. Ph Martin's inks can be very intense, so I water them down a bit. Yes, I love Philippes. I'm very sad this mustard jar is empty.

I do some rough sketches first on vellum paper, then finalize and transfer my sketch to the watercolor paper. I think this guy looks pretty good, real rubbery.

When I have my drawing transferred, I do the black areas in a waterproof ink first. 

Then I lay in some watercolors in many thin layers, letting it dry in between. What's he baking?

I'm still working on this one, but when it's all done I'll post a little film of me working on it.

This year is shaping up to be an exciting one, many fun and varied projects taking me to San Francisco,   New York, Los Angeles and beyond! Come back and visit me soon, kay?

I'm a Cherry Ghost

As an avid music fan, I get excited to see live performances when I get the chance. Since I live pretty far from any “cool” city, my options for live music are slim to none, but this week I got to see one of my all time favorite bands, Wilco, play at an amazing outdoor venue in Jacksonville Oregon!! The moon and stars came out to see the magic, I swear, and the only lame part of the whole evening was the girl in front of me who decided that the middle of “Jesus etc.” might be a good time to check her email on her phone. Oh the young-uns, they don’t seem to know when they are in the presence of greatness. 

The above link is not from that particular evening, but I had to share Wilco performing one of my favorite songs. I know what you're thinking, you all thought I was just into punk rock and David Bowie, but I like anything that sticks it to The Man, in whatever form, and that includes lots of anti-establishment folk music and alt- rock from Chicago. I’m no hater. I dig the rock and roll!! 

So back in the studio, sometimes I have this problem after I see/hear something great, I have trouble “making” because I set my expectations of myself that much higher. But THEN, oh then, I got just about the greatest idea ever for my next series of work, I’m not gonna tell you what it is, you’ll have to just come and see it next fall, but the hint is in the title of this Blog post. A musical Scavenger hunt, if you will.... 

ALSO look for some new goodies in the store this Friday! I’m bringing some treasures out from my personal archives, card sets, dollies, and new prints too! I will be adding new stuff every Friday until December 15th. Why you might inquire? because... 

You get a Golden Ticket

I am announcing a ridiculously fun contest! First, from now until the end of the year I will be introducing new goodies to the store every Friday, and I will be introducing a new section of items for under $100. I will also be introducing select limited items from my personal archives. 

But the fun part is that anyone who places an order at my store from now until December 15th, 2012, will be automatically entered into a raffle to win three unique prizes: 

1st prize: A hand-painted Peppermint Man doll customized with your name 

2nd prize: A lovely “Doomsday Animals” print set by Pressure Printing 

Third Prize: Well, that’s a surprise. 

I will be drawing the winning names out of a hat on December 16th, winners will be announced, and prizes will be mailed out in time for Christmas. Happy collecting everyone!!