This is one of a series of three anti-tobacco ads spoofing the game "Clue".  Fun project to work on and a healthy cause as well.

This cover is the second in a trilogy of fantasy books by Daniel Fox, a fantasy is set in a mythic  alternative feudal China. The first book was Dragon in Chains.

Lookin' on the bright side. An article about optimism. 

 Here is an illustration I did for The Atlantic's Gallery section.  This illustration is entitled "Disinclination".

 An illustration to accompany an article discussing the advantages of wine that is packaged in a carton (Tetra-Pak). Cartons are becoming more popular and accepted as the economic benefits of shipping cartons - easier to pack, less fragile, as well as the environmental benefits - less costly to produce and recycle, are gradually usurping the tradtional appeal of glass bottles.

Cover for extra number 100 of colombian cultural magazine "El malpensante"

 I really had fun with this one... a commission from Spectrum Magazine for their annual Tech Winners and Losers issue. I got to illustrate the Losers. This image is one out of five and is about a proposed screening technology the Dept. of Homeland Security wants to install in the nation's airports.

Peril!

This was a really fun piece to draw for a story about a butterfly expedition. 

 This was a quick turn-around 1/3 page illustration for an old client. The subject was where in a run, was it best to tackle hills: beginning , middle or end. Thanks for the fun assignment Kory!

 I was commissioned to create an illustrated informational "map" for the Library's new "Explorium" which is a "hands-on" nature classroom. The image will be use as a map, turned into posters, brochures, website etc... 

Sandra Tsing Loh reviews books about being a bad mother and reveals some of her own pitfalls as a parent

Image about indoor pollution.

The art features a Kirin, which, according to the firm’s website, is “a mythical chimerical creature known throughout various East Asian cultures, and is said to appear in the presence of a wise person. It is a good omen that brings serenity or prosperity to those it visits”. Working on this project was such a pleasure that I’ve started working on a series devoted to mythical beats and monsters.

 This was for an article about office employees who can't escape their bosses, even at home, even at late hours, because of e-mail, cell phones and BlackBerries.

Part of an ongoing series of Program Guide covers for the season.

 Google wants to own your mind. How bad is that?

It is the 8th cover in the monthly graphic novel series The Unwritten. Usually, the covers are more serious and action packed, but this one (published in December) is a nice change with two cute kids reading bed-time stories.
Each cover has to be different from previous in terms of composition, color and ideas. It has been a great experience to work on this kind of project monthly. More to come next year. If you are interested in seeing previous covers, please check my website.

Article on pot smoking parents. The images were of people you just wouldn't expect to see getting stoned... this one of Lil Wayne sparkin' up Dick Cheney's bong.

 Moscow is thinking that using the air force to seed snow clouds to force them to drop snow before it hits the city will be cheaper then the snow removal system they're currently using.

Back in 1951 the Little Golden Books classic, "PANTALOON" was published by Simon & Schuster... written by Kathryn Jackson and illustrated by the marvelous Leonard Weisgard. Random House now owns all the rights to all those Golden Books titles (remember, Poky Little Puppy and Saggy Baggy Elephant?).  

Well... PANTALOON is back, and I was given the wonderful opportunity to illustrate this classic and put my own spin on the new illustrations. It's the story of the obsessed poodle, Pantaloon, who will stop at nothing to become the Baker's new assistant... and get his hands on all those "delicious baked-and-iced things!" I had a great time with all these illustrations... with the visual elements of a dog, a baker, pastries and a bicycle, who wouldn't? Yesterday I received an advance copy of the final printed & bound book, and I must say so myself, it looks terrific... The book will hit the stores in spring 2010. The calorie count is high with this story... try not to eat too many chocolate eclairs when enjoying it! (I did a quick count of how many cookies, cakes, pies, breads, pastries, etc... I depicted throughout the book, including the cover, endpapers, etc...   about 490!)

Check out my web site and blog for more images from this upcoming new picture book for children.

 Personal work. Can't seem to shake my love for Dutch Painting. And my recent obsession with the passing of time. Impending empty nest and other life changes get you thinking.

QP for feature about menories; where they come from and where they go.

Nothing says" the holidays" like Dinosaurs and bicycles.  Festoon your tree, mantel, or rearview mirror with a Slackart cut and fold Dinosornament. Guaranteed to bring you and your loved ones at least fifteen minutes of crafty yuletide cheer.

A fun holiday download from me to you.

Happy Holidays!

 I was dismayed earlier this month when the New York State Senate voted down the gay marriage bill, so I decided to interview and paint long-standing gay couples, both men and women, and ask them about their stories and their relationships and what marriage means to them. This is the first of the series "Love Stories". To read their interview, here's a link to the article on Drawger

I was asked to contribute a piece to Migrate, the official magazine of The Loerie Awards in South Africa which rewards excellence in advertising, communication and design. Each issue and submitted work is based on a theme, this edition's concept was "Sign of the Times".

This is a brochure cover for a report by M.I.T. and US Geological Survey on the harmonizing of science, politics, and policy in natural resources management. The client prepares environmental advisors to coordinate, or "conduct" stakeholders with different environmental agendas to work in harmony with one another. For example, if an industrial facility is producing pollution in a water source needed to sustain a population, an M.I.T.-trained facilitator focuses the attention of those affected by the water (stakeholders), such as mothers, fishermen, farmers, big industry, and so on, on one shared vision, as though making music together.

A personal piece about survival.

From Drawger:

5 years ago I was sitting in a house in the mountains of Pennsylvania feeling quite low.  Outside the winter chill cut through the pines and sent ice crystals against the window I was peering out of.  Inside the family was occupied and staying warm.  It was a holiday visit to the mountains and this left me with idle time.  I don’t know how to deal with idle time.

At this point in my life, things were off kilter.  As a result my work was in a rut and though I had assignments, none were the kind I wanted and I wondered, looking out at the frosty scene, how I would get things right.

Inspiration is the only path I know of at times like these.  I had just been studying the paintings of William Johnson Heade.  I connected to the idea of images as ‘stages.’  One can direct the eye exactly where you wanted to no matter what the liner design was.  Seeing these works, I was pondering the idea of my own little presentations of birds and flowers.  Albert Bierstadt’s grand scenes have always inspired me and standing in front of one of these canvases, it can pull the breath out of your lungs and almost make you shield your eyes.  The crucial element that both Heade and Bierstadt utilize is deep darkness. 

 Staring out a window I drew a giraffe.  Why?  I have no idea but I must have been thinking of past successes, such as my elephant painting.  This giraffe was sketched on a piece of paper on a message pad.  We all know the feeling; when an idea is just born.  It felt good.

Slowly over that winter and year my doldrums lifted.  Many things factored into this change, some of it the energy I got out of teaching at the University of the Arts, some of it helpful shrink visits and most of it from leaning into life and looking forward. 

In the subsequent years I added this sketch to a sketchbook and added many more ideas.  The career took over again as it often does and I was again busy and fulfilled.  The sketchbook ideas give me a deep satisfaction and comfort but I’m starting to think of my unrealized sketches as false bullets.  I feel safe having them but they kind of make me a TV cowboy.  Shiny silver holster and a sure shot but not a real cowboy.  It’s time to get them out and risk having to reload.  I guess all artists have to do this.

 I started to produce this painting with research.  I love alleyways.  They are the stages I see all the time.  Subway rides from Brooklyn to Manhattan can sometimes give you unique views into these wonderful alleys between buildings.  These are often perfect frames for images.  I began photographing them and saving these references.  The Philadelphia zoo is a wonderful place to see animals up close.  The Bronx zoo keeps the visitors far from the action but the old Philadelphia Zoo gets you very close.  I shot many images of this particular giraffe with my class at the University of the Arts 3 years ago.  Still, I did not get the artwork right away.  The alleyways were good, but not what I was imagining.  I would just have to wait and shoot more.

Last spring I was out with my class at UArts for lunch.  It was raining and I was leaving a pizza joint and there it was, the lighting and alley that I was thinking of.  The wet ground made the light even longer in the alley and I knew this was it.  I shot the alley.  I had all the required elements.

This fall, on the heels of success with ‘Chuck Brown’ and perhaps feeling a bit of a TV Cowboy, I did a final sketch. 

This image is what I love to do besides portraits.  Lately I’ve been talking to my classes about the importance of working hard on parts of a painting that were NOT the idea.  A window in the corner, a downspout in the shadows are easily sketched in and forgotten but I practiced what I preach in this one.  There is equal attention all over this painting.

 Feeling low is part of being an artist I fear.  We ride waves of euphoria when we catch a wave of good work or success.  We crash off the board and sometimes just sit in the calm water waiting for the waves to come back.  Sometimes you have to be more proactive that waiting and actually get moving and find a wave.

 Article about depriving schoolchildren of play time in favor of testing and evaluating.

Children's book by Nicki Granta Bosch

http://bedtimeballyhoo.com/

This portrait of photographer Struan was completed for the Double Vision show hosted by CAPIC, a Canadian association of photographers and illustrators. I worked with Struan in an outdoor setting, away from the studio, in order to focus on the regenerative and inspirational side of getting outside.

You find my illustration for the "Haggler" written by David Segal every other week in the Business section of the New York Times. I love doing these kind of editorial assignments.
 

This is for the Globe's Ideas section on how we need to develop a system for evaluating the effectiveness of teachers.

These are photographs from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concerts that took place over two nights at Madison Square Garden last month.  My painting was used on all of the merchandising and advertising for the event, in New York City and throughout the country, via print ads, billboards and online advertising.  The concerts were televised on HBO on November 29th.

Doing one of these "Annual 100" or "Best of" covers is always a bit challenging. So I was pleasantly surprised when the American Bar Association—what I would imagine would be a fairly conservative bunch—bought into my approach for this.

its about as much fun as anyone who loves dressing up and riding bikes can have while doing great good for local nonprofilts in Marin County and beyond

Cover illo on California's financial dilemma.

Paul Willmott predicted imminent instititional financial collapse, and no one believed him. His opinion is the very mathimatical foundations taught at the MBA level are faulty and poorly understood. Paul Wilmott is the Quantitative Cassandra.

 It might be chili outside but it's a burning ring of fire on the inside! Once more Las Vegas dishes up a LAVA HOT Smok'in Chili Competition. Pull up a chair and sweat the night away.

I did this in my sketchbook while watching a ballgame on TV in New Hampshire.

Painting marking the 50th Anniversary of a Mexican restaurant.

Tito's Tacos is a casual local eatery in L.A. that's been owned and operated by the same family for 5 decades.  They commissioned this original, also using it to promote their milestone year in a variety of ways, including ads, posters, and a small run of prints to be framed and given to special customers.
 

From an upcoming solo show of new and recent illustration for fashion at Atom Plastic, Milan.

Father Christmas has a well-earned break. A post-Xmas tv section cover with plenty of blank red space to accommodate type and headline.

SooJin had seen some of my personal watercolors and asked me to illustrate this article on suits. It gave me the opportunity to step outside the world of little guys with big eyes and big noses.

This was for Golf World's Newsmakers '09 issue. The forst of what would be a tidal wave of bad news for Tiger Woods.

 " Death of an Addict ", I think the title says it all !