January 4th 2012

First post of 2012!  Happy New Year, everyone.


It's time to do a little post-holiday catching up.  It's taking a little bit of a push, but I'm starting to get back in to work mode.

{ Uneasy Rider, Mike Destefano }

Just before the holidays, things got very busy!  They always do, but this may have been a record year!  I did what started off as one illustration for The New York Times Magazine, and that turned in to six!  It was thrilling.


The issue I was asked to contribute to was the final of the year, and was dedicated to those that have passed away during the past year.  It was titled "The Lives They Lived".  First off, the cover page of this issue was one of the most gorgeous magazine covers I've ever seen.  It was illustrated by Mike Lemanski, and can be found via the link above.


Ira Glass, Julie Snyder and Lisa Pollak of This American Life guest edited a section in this issue titled "These American Lives".  Included in this section was the article for my favorite of the illustrations I was asked to contribute, "Uneasy Rider", (see image above).  The article was heartbreaking, and made me teary the first read through.  I really enjoyed painting this illustration, but it was a tough, emotionally-charged one.

{ A Man Walks Up To A Bar, newspaper clipping }

{ A Day At The Ballpark }

{ Wilfrid Sheed, book covers }

I realized while looking up articles to link to them for this post, there is a video on the New York Times website of Hugo Lindgren, (editor for the magazine), talking to Ira Glass, (who hosts the NPR radio show This American Life).  I watched it only to realize that pinned up in the background of the video behind the two men is the mockup page of the "Uneasy Rider" article!  In the same room as Ira Glass!!  Okay, I'll calm down...  It was also nice to see Sara Cwynar, an art director for the magazine and good friend, featured as well.


Also in December, I did an illustration for Air Canada's inflight magazine, EnRoute.  Here is a link to the article online.


This post has already gotten completely out of hand, so I'll wait for my next post to tell you all about a couple of paintings that Chris and I worked on together recently.  In the meantime, I hope everyone has a wonderful start to 2012.