How to Do Summer.

Hello, old friend. Summer is here, and I have taken an accidental hiatus from arts. Why? Because this summer has been for doing other things. Being on boats. Going into the woods. Adventuring. Geocaching? Yeah, that too. Breaking from my usual style of leaving personal and work semi-separate here's a summer-photo-exploits post full of wonder. And Taco Bell.

Goat races at Sly fox started summer. Alicia pets one. Then let there be Doritos Locos. And heads poked thru unicorn paintings at Art Star Craft Bazaar.

Then on to the closing, sadly, of Phantom Hand gallery.  A unique and brilliant space for a diverse mix of some of Philadelphia's finest to ply the wares of their astounding arts and musics. Alas, on South St. in the summer.
I regret none but the last.
Also the Delaware overlooking the Ben Franklin Bridge, and some Morgans Pier action. And the end of the debate of sprinkles vs. jimmies. Jimmies forever, motherfucker.

Liberty Lands BBQin'. And how I wish every meal ever looked. Ghetto sprinkler runnin' & drankin'. Free case of Vitamin Water, post block party, and...we...yeah. Patriotic corn-holing. Which is a phrase (that I'm super curious if will lead to keyword searches here...)

Dogs geocaching in Timber Creek park and our initial discovery of Timber Creek pond.

Alicia and her brother on a boat to a restaurant that you could pull said boat up to and order your food. Yup.

And next is my stupid head above the waves at Island Beach State Park. Which. Is THE BEST PLACE. We caught many a sandcrab that day, I tells ya.

If you haven't been there, it's a state park on the coast of NJ near Tom's River that is paid admission, so it cuts down on stragglers, and where more often than not you have to hike through wooded sand dunes to access the actual, pristine, lonely beach. It's a marvel.
No fucking joke.

Franklin adventures. With God Lights. In a creek hunting tadpoles. And seeing his first deer.

Said deer was seen in the woods surrounding Valley Forge Nat'l/ Park, where we also spotted the mini-Washingon monument.

And what Summer would be complete without watching live, as adults, dudes in funny hats play Double Dare on it's 25th anniversary with the real Marc Summers in a German style bier garten.

Which happened right before Radiolab Live in Philadelphia, where we saw giant dancing eyeballs, uber nerds, heard a blind man talk about sculpture, and turned the Academy of Music into outerspace.

A Disgusting Pile of Delicious.

One of my most favorite holdover foods from when I was a child is Mac and Cheese. It's a damn near perfect thing. I also understand now as an adult how truly not good it is for you. But. I still feel compelled everytime I see an interesting variant on this classic to order it. Here is a rendition of my current favorite, as produced by Philadelphia's own North Bowl. It's a pile of goo and noodles with Goldfish and shred baked onto the top. It is a miracle of modern creation. It's also really fun to exaggerate in drawing. To the left is a sample swatch of the mac-n-chee inspired repeat in the background. This piece is currently hung at the Greenline Cafe in W. Philly.

And Thus A Flaming Skull was in a Chokehold.

I will be slowly trickling out new work over the next few weeks. Some of it from our recent show at Greenline Cafe, some not. This piece was for that show. It involves a luchador in the midst of slime monsters, lizard men, Draculas, mummies, wolfmens, and aliens putting a giant cybernetic flaming skull wrestler in a chokehold. Obviously. Also: Frankenstein in a flying car. Living cactus. Words.

Adventure on a Small Floating Island, Part II.

Companion piece to Adventure on a Small Floating Island I, which can be seen in an earlier post. These 2 paired pieces feature some/most of my favorite things, including: A corgi, a lady adventurer, floating eyeballs, slime monsters, animate Rice Krispy treats, tentacles, more floating eyeballs, I think a monster made of beer, and possibly a living terror macaroon. So.

Empty Night Skies. _ats.

Here is my image for the Empty Night Skies upcoming benefit show. See previous post for more details regarding the cause and it's dates or check out it's event page here. The premise behind this is pretty easily identified (Which is to say it's a bat with a tat on a cat and a rat on pat covered mat with some splats of some fats and a vat behind a gat and a gnat flying round an AT-AT who is looking at a hat). Below is the bat-themed repeat pattern dropped in behind the image. For photo shop whizzes this is hi enough res to grab, crop and make a repeat out of. Feel free.