Completion

The Willy Wonka sets are up! They look amazing and I am so excited to see the show come together. It's tech week so some touch ups need to be done but so far so good. Everybody working on the play is so great and I am having a blast being a part of this. I also completed a limited edition print that I will post shortly that goes along with the play.

Limited Edition

I will be creating a limited edition print of the cast of Hartford Children's Theatre's "Willy Wonka." Prints will be available at the show. For more info about the production and tickets visit www.hartfordchildrenstheatre.org. I will have prints available through my website as well.

So today I saw the movie "The Switch" starring Jason Bateman and Jennifer Aniston. Cute movie. Anyways while staring at Bateman's face for an hour and a half I realized that he had a very interesting nose. I love strange noses. They are so much fun to draw. So I did a quick sketch sans reference. It could be the start of something more, who knows. I realized that he's a pretty good looking guy. He's worked his way into my list of top male leads among the likes of Johnny Depp (who holds the #1 spot for all eternity), Robert Downey Jr. and Gerard Butler. Speaking of noses RDJ has an awesome one.
I have always been inspired by movies. I would watch a movie, come home and then paint the characters on my walls. I have a house full of murals. Nowadays I turn these characters into my own interpretations of what they look like.

Willy Wonka Begins!

The sets for Willy Wonka are looking great! The carpenter, Nick, is doing an awesome job building the sets. They are huge but I've already gotten a few panels done and detailed and it's only been a week. I have also hired my first official employee, Nate. He was a great help the other day and I look forward to working with him some more. I just started taking pictures to document this experience. I will post them soon on my Facebook page. So keep checking in.

HCT

I just attended the first production meeting for the creative staff for the Hartford Children's Theatre's production of "Willy Wonka."
I am so excited. It is going to be great! The sets are apparently gigantic but I can deal with that. I will just need a very tall ladder for one very short person (me). The color scheme is vibrant and I can't wait to put my own little spin on things.
For more information about the show visit www.hartfordchildrenstheatre.org

Sheet Music

So as my mind has been wandering to find a direction to go in with this "Pub Face" idea...I think I have finally made a break through. Since all the subjects will be musicians I have decided to do their comical portraits directly on the sheet music of the songs they play. Now apparently folk music sheets are rather collectible so I will have to make my own. I figure I'll make copies of the actual sheets and stain them with tea to give them that aged look. Can't wait to start this project! (amongst all the other work I have to get done)

You Ain't Never Had a Friend Like Me

Every artist has style that goes beyond the drawing board. Mine is my shoes. I like weird crazy shoes, they make me happy. Check out these new kicks. I feel like Genie from Aladdin...if he had cool sneakers and wasn't just a puff of smoke. Actually sometimes he wears brown shoes but he would definitely be jealous of these sneaks. I figure if I am going to create these colorful illustrations why not illustrate my own life with color. I can be a living breathing illustration of crazy despite the fact that I am not crazy at all ;)

A Genius Idea

So last night I went to McKinnon's Pub in downtown Hartford, CT. They had an Irish folk session where a whole bunch of musicians come to "jam." Most of them are over the age of 65. My brother however is the exception. He is 20 years old and is what I like to call a folk music savant. It is on rare occasions that I attend these gatherings for the boredom and repetitiveness is at times too much to bare but last night I said what the hell I don't have anything else to do. And it's a good thing I went because I came up with a genius idea! There were so many characters there that my head was spinning. I whipped out my sketchbook and began to draw whatever faces I could see. From these sketches spawned the idea of a project I'd like to call "PUB FACE," a series of comical portraits based on these well seasoned CT musicians. It would work as a gallery show that travels to pubs all around the state...

So here is the first piece of work since finishing up my two weeks at the Hartford MFA program. I felt the need to immediately create something...no downtime allowed. I actually recycled one of my drawings from the first week of class and gave it a whole new spin.It's a little weird I know...it's meaningful though, to me at least. I call it "The Other Side of Blue." It's acrylic, charcoal and colored pencils on illustration board.
Enjoy!

Day 1

So I did it....I created a blog. Let's see how this goes. I will post updates, thoughts and artistic processes. This includes photos, videos and who knows what else.

Magge