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.

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 12/31.

Wasn't really feeling this one tonight, but here it is anyway:

Charcoal, watercolor and ink. Got this shotglass from my good friends Morna Tudor and Gary Bolt (they actually made it.)

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 11/31.

Just a quick drive-by post. Stressed out to the max about arrangements for the art sale on Saturday, and nothing else seems to be calming me down any, so I figured maybe drawing Stewie Griffin would help.

The verdict is still out.

Ink and watercolour.

The Big Art Sale.

So I've been talking a lot lately about this upcoming Closing Time show I want to put on. And of course, the first painting's already done, but if I'm gonna put on a full-fledged show on the scale I want, it'll take some funding - I'd like to put together a book (via Blurb) of the initial sketches of my Muse and offer that for sale at the show in addition to the paintings. And really, having copies of my Hey Ladies book available couldn't hurt.

Coincidentally, I'm also trying to strip a lot of excess baggage out of my life these days. Being a packrat is a real flaw of mine, so I'm determined to cut some of this extra crap away. (Why no, it's not a midlife crisis at all.)

Killing two birds with one stone, then: I'm hosting a sale this weekend, and almost all my paintings prior to the Metalflake show in October are going, going, and hopefully soon to be gone. It'll free up a ton of wall space and hopefully raise the cash I need for the next big show. Prices are being slashed as if I were some crazed, fez-wearing carpet-warehouse owner.

What's on sale, you ask? Well, you can download a catalog of the show right here.

So stay tuned, and if you're in Vancouver, please come by the show. Relevant info is as follows:

Saturday, January 14th, 2:00PM - 8:00PM
210-2075 Yukon St., Vancouver, BC

Thanks, and please spread the word.

Bret Taylor
Vancouver, BC
January 2012

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 10/31.

Saw this one at the Muse's place tonight, and just had to draw it:

Ink and watercolour. Only artistic license I used was in colouring the skull red to give it more emphasis.

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 09/31.

Got this particular glass from my good buddy Paul Whitt, along with a matching flask. He allegedly found it in an establishment of questionable moral fiber:

Coloured pencil.

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 08/31.

Anybody who knows me knows how much I like Jack Daniel's. And a few of you keep asking when I'm gonna draw a Jack glass, so without further ado:

Ink, china marker, gouache, Photoshop.

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 07/31.

Running a bit late, but this is yesterday's shotglass pic:

Drew and painted it last night after supper, but there wasn't time to scan it before I had to go to a birthday party.

Watercolour, charcoal.

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 06/31.

For tonight's entertainment, I proudly present with:

Ink, watercolour, coloured pencil.

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 05/31.

Not much in the way of commentary to go with this one:

Ink on paper.

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 04/31.

Another shotglass offering tonight. This one's from Busch Gardens, another place that I've never been:

Graphite, watercolour, gouache.

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 03/31.

Day three:

Souvenir of (duh) a trip to L.A. in 2004. Picked it up at LAX on the way back to Vancouver.

Watercolour, graphite.

It occurs to me that the number of blog posts this year will obviously be jumping pretty drastically.

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 02/31.

I'm probably late with shotglass number two, given that the holidays are over. But here it is anyway:

Coloured pencil, ink, watercolour, gouache.

(Got this particular glass from my folks, if I remember correctly. I've probably only got about 60 or 70 shotglasses, so I guess that for this project to go beyond that point, I'll have to either invent some shotglass designs or buy more.)

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 01/31.

Happy New Year, folks. Yes, it's a whole 'nother year, and so I figured I needed a new art project.

'Cause all the existing projects just weren't enough, of course.

The new idea is, I draw a quick sketch of a different shotglass every day. Day in, day out, for the whole 366 days. (Yep, 2012 is a leap year.) Trying not to go into it with too many preconceived notions, so I'm not putting any hard-and-fast rules into place. I might do these in charcoal, ink, coloured pencil, watercolour... whatever floats my boat on that particular day. It's as much a disciplinary exercise as anything else, although hopefully it'll help mantain my drawing muscles as well.

So without further ado, may I present you with the inaugural shotglass of the day:

Coloured pencil and charcoal.

Stay tuned for more, every day of 2012.

Cheers,
Bret Taylor
Vancouver, BC
January 1st, 2012


EDIT: After a month I'm realizing that I just don't have 366 shotglasses in me. So, it'll be shotglasses in January, dinosaurs in February, etc. etc.