Thanksgiving.

I took my camera with me and had the best intentions of shooting during the holiday. But the overwhelming urge to relax caused me to forget it in the car when we got to my sisters. So you're left with mostly artsy-fartsy shit from my car ride. Enjoy!

:)

The Sweetness.

Yep.

November...YIKES!

Damn. I've really slacked off here. I've been pretty busy I guess. Racing has kind of burned me out. I won't lie. I got sick for about a week, and then took another week to totally get back to 100%. There's nothing like getting sick to really take the wind out of your sails....that's for sure! So riding to work has pretty much been my time on the bike for the past couple of weeks. I had put some gears on the cross bike to help me be a little more competitive on the flats. I've been finishing up in the middle of the pack still. Pretty much in the same place where I was finishing with on gear. So for the race this weekend, I think I'm going back to one cog. Just have fun. No worries. Have a good time. Heckle the shit out of everyone else. We'll see how it pans out. Ghostship is sponsoring the CT State Championships so I have to make time to get some shirts done this week...in my new studio! So stoked ot have a place to work now (outside of my living room).

I've been pretty busy with making art as well. I just have some pieces in the Game Over show @ No Regrets Tattoo/Art Gallery in Naugatuck. Dougy-fresh and I went to Eliza's wedding on Saturday and then high-tailed it up to the gallery to take in some culture. I could only get a couple of photos because we got there so late (damn you LI ferry!). The show runs for another couple of weeks so get on over there and check out some of the rad stuff!




-awesome block Super Mario figures! these guys stand about 2 feet tall or so.




-Life-sized Mario Cart. Super dope! I wanna see a motor in that thing!


-My main piece for the show. Ink wash on 140lb fine watercolor paper. 18"x13.5". Framed. $200.


-Woodman from Megaman II. One of my favorite games growing up. This is my favorite of the series of 3 I did. 4"x6". $50.


-Fireman from Megaman. 4"x6". For sale. $40.


-Bombman from Megaman. 4"x6". For sale. $40.

Discount if you want the entire series of 3. We can talk.

After I dropped Doug @ home, I trekked back to M-Town and hung out with Digger, SA, LT and Deanapar, had a beverage and watched Brock Lesnar pound on Randy Couture. A great fight and a packed Saturday for sure!


-SA and Deanapar taking it all in.

I've also been working with everyone I ride with to organize our club, The Scorchers, a bit better. We've got tons of great ideas floating around and we're all working really hard to make them realized. Got some shirts to work on this week and racing on Saturday. Then I've got a couple more pieces in the works. No rest for the weary!

Finally Home!

Thank God I'm finally home! Another Vegas trip for the books. This year pretty much wore me the f*ck out. Not being a big drinker, or a big gambler, there's not a whole lot there for me to do. Oh yeah, I should also mention that I had very little expendable cash for this trip as well.

Well, the show was a good time. Got to see all the new bright, shiny bike goodies for the upcoming season. Made some new friends, visited and caught up with some old ones as well. Things that really stoked me out? Working along with Rickshaw on an upcoming custom one-off bag, pretty much all of the new BMX stuff. Looks really, really great! Had a good time laughing at the Dean and Digger Show...pretty much the whole trip. Got to race my cross bike on Wednesday night under the lights of a giant soccer complex. Super fun! Well, minus the crash that knocked me out of the first place spot (which I should have taken due to the one lap rule that I didn't know about til the next day!....damn my honesty and niceness!) and left a decent patch of skin on the pavement at about 15mph! Ouch. Randomly ran into Stevil Kinevil and hooked him up with his shirt. Watched Lance get shelled (he crashed in the same place I did! Rad!). Went to some randomly weird bicycle/urban fashion show and made fun of everybody...we've got it on video. I'll post that up later.

Those are pretty much the highlights for me. I didn't drink nearly enough coffee...had my head in a serious fog for the better part of the trip. I did shoot some photos, though. Click the photo below to head to the slideshow....since it sucks to try and post everything here. While I had fun, I think that this is my last trip out to the desert. That city definitely wears thin with me. Now, STOKED for the cross season and getting my art on! Lots of shirt ideas, getting the press warmed back up!





-Best Dressed for sure! photo by Jason Patrician

Vegasvegasvegasvegasvegas.....

It's that time of year again. Our annual trip out to the desert. We're shipping out on Monday and will be back on Saturday evening. Tony and I are registered for the cross race on Wed night, there's a great movie premier lined up that night as well. Digger and Deanapar are pretty much in drunk mode already...we should have some great stories, photos and videos this year! Oh yeah, Jason P is meeting up with us on Tues or Wed. Going to try and take it easy for the first couple days so I can stay fresh for the race. I don't travel well. I'm hoping for some good sleep to get well rested. Have to try and acclimate to the dry air as well. Bringing a bottle cage and bottle for the race. I think it'll be so dry that I'm going to need to actually drink during this one. Wish me luck! We'll see you when we get back!

Catching Up To Do....

Well, I was planning on heading up to Boston to meet up with the rest of the crew, but after thinking long and hard, decided to stay put this weekend. There's sooooooo much I need to get done around here. And after I pay for 2 days worth of tattoo convention tix, gas and food $, that'll cover the cost of shipping Ms. Surly out to Los Vagrants (and then some!). I know I'm missing some great fun, but I'll have my week out in Vegas! So in the meantime, shirts are getting screened, friends are getting visits, and I had a little time to upload some photos from some recent adventures. Check out a few of my favorites:

First up, my Sister got married about a month ago...


-Chill'n w. Pops...probably one of the best self-portraits I've ever taken.


-Ma Dukes and myself.


-My Mom and my Niece.


-My Sister with her daughters.

Click here for a slideshow of the rest of the photos...

And Secondly: Trek flew a few of us from the shop out to their Trek World convention a few weeks ago. Fun times! Some more fun photos:


-The crew ready for an evening of beer, brats and skidding Limes...hahahhahah!


-Spence gett'n live....


-Don't let the cup fool you (he was refilling mine), he finished that himself....Digger on the loose....

Trying to remember what I had promised.......after swearing not to have a drop of beer until after XcrossX season...oops.








-what can I say?

See the rest of the set by clicking here. As always, good times! Should have some more rad photos and even some videos in a few weeks after Vegas. We're heading out from Monday to Saturday (ugh...gonna be total zombies by the time we return!), the longest stint we've done there so far. We're going to the big bicycle convention, Interbike. Tony Tyrant and I are registered to race in the Industry Cup cyclocross race, CrossVegas. We're renting ourselves a "molester" team van, and rocking out to brutal metal for the entire night...if we don't get arrested, we'll have some amazing stories!

Oh yeah!

Look over to your right...no, not that far. On the screen. See the little Followers widget? Get on that! I'd love to see who follows this! Thanks!

X Season...

...is here! Raced up in Springfield a few weeks ago....Not too shabby. It was the last race on the Hexed bike. No mechanical issues, chain stayed on. Nothing to make excuses for my lack of talent and lungs! Haha! Placed 16th out of about 33ish(?) with only one gear. Turns out I was the only guy there with just one. Highlight of the race was out-sprinting some guy on a custom Ti Serotta mountain bike for 16th place at the line. Tony's got some photos here. He's gett'n pretty good with that there soul-stealer.


-that's a thumbs down in case you couldn't tell!

Went and raced @ training race night @ Winding Trails in Farmington tonight. Couldn't get any gears on the bike today so I rocked the single speed again. Switched the rear cog from a 22t to a 20t. It was the right decision. But try telling that to me on a couple of the short, steep hills...after a few laps....legs burning and dead. Placed 15th out of about 30ish(?). Got beat on the flats again (spinning out) and made a few technical errors here and there (was fighting the course in a few spots instead of flowing with it) that pushed me back in the standings. I think gears will be an asset where I need them most (the flats for sure!). Talked with Tyrant a bit about CrossVegas. Still not sure whether I'm going to run gears or a single set-up. Gears will help, but singling that shit is just so punk rock! I'm not about the overall out there...I'm hoping to get some dollar primes and maybe a beer hand-up. As many $'s as I can stuff in my shorts is the name of the game....Still have to name the new bike....haven't thought of anything yet. Need to dismantle her and ship her to Los Vagrants on Monday. Without my cross rig for a week! Ugh...there are definitely worse things...

Burning some screens for new Ghostship stuff. A little slow going. Had a few technical issues to sort out. But I've learned more now! Pretty stoked. The whole silk-screening thing is one big learning process for me. I love it. I wish I had a larger space to work. Although that may get sorted out next week. We'll see how things work out. Work, ride, eat, make art...repeat seems to be the mantra of the past couple of weeks. Hope to keep it up!

Live Mural Art Dopeness!

Last night saw Tony Tyrant and I throw down in our Live Mural Art Battle at Eli's. We had a blast! Lots of friends showed up to support us, hang out, have a couple drinks and give us a hard time! I got there a bit early, loaded in, had dinner and started sketching. About 15mins of scratching away in the sketchbook and I had my loose plan. Started doctoring up the boards right @ 6pm. It was a great set up as it allowed people to float in and out, get food and drink. Saw tons of great friends that came out to support us. I stopped working just about 12AM. As soon as I decided I was finished, my body just about shut down. I packed up, hung with a few friends til about 12:30 and headed home to bed! Here are some photos from the evening:

Dougy Fresh popped these:









My photos:


-Tony's piece


-My piece


-Two tired artists...


-The arsenal.


-Crew.


-3 fast guys right there.


-My boy Ad-Rock and his fiance Kanani rolled through.


-Showing Kate how my camera works. Impromptu self-portrait.

Click here for Tony's photos.

Inked Up!

Couple pieces inked up. The last one was a little ink sketch over on the side of my pad. Kind neat. Check it:


-click for larger...


-click to supa-size...


-click to...ahhhh you know the drill.

Mural Art Date Moved!!

Hey everyone! Quick note: Due to the prediction of rain of biblical proportions, Tony, Eli's and I decided that it would be best to move the event to our rain date of July 30th @ 6PM. No art tomorrow evening. Hope to see you next week!



-click to super-size...

Quick Flyer Piece

Had to do a quick flyer (because of overwhelming resistance to the original one I put together) instead of working on my current pieces. Oh well, gotta promote! Here's the new one:



-click for larger

Please feel free to print a copy for yourself if you dig it. Better yet, print a few and post 'em up to get some more folks out to the battle! See you on Thursday!

Ink

Dropping some ink on my tattooed head-phone girl.



-click for larger size

Photoshop Magic

Next time you see that hottie in your favorite magazine or online, think about this...

"We oughta make 'em tell 'em the truth, from what the camera shoots, and use the negatives for evidence provide'n the proof." -The Procussions

New Sketch

Another fresh piece coming together. There are some proportional issues I need to work out, but another sketch nonetheless.



-click for larger image

The mural battle is on! Tony Tyrant and I will be slinging paint and hanging out next Thursday, July 24th starting 6PM at Eli Cannon's in Middletown. We're chill'n on the back patio and gett'n our art on til close. Come on through, have a drink with us, socialize, meet some cool new people and enjoy some live art! Good times!



Also currently stoked on the new From Monuments to Masses that's coming out shortly. They've been posting videos on their myspace of some of the recording process. Annnd their producer is none other than Matt Bales (who produced the last Mastodon album)! Super stoked!

New Drawing

Started a new drawing yesterday. I started it as just a quick kind of sketch, like what I've been working on lately. But I really like the way it's turned out so far so I think I'll take it to a clean finished product. Here are the pencils so far. I might get to start adding some ink tonight. We'll see how things pan out.



-click for a larger version.

I really pushed the contrast in photoshop cause the pencils are so light. But this gives you a good idea of what's happening. Pretend it's a top-secret spy photo.

Talked to my homeboy Ad-Roc to day. I don't want to jinx anything, talk about anything too soon before it happens, or let the cat out of the bag, but he and I are in the infant stages of something big right now. Big like something that CT hasn't seen before. I'm super-excited! I think this has some huge potential. Can't wait to see where it goes. All in due time.

Other than that, been going riding a bunch. I watched what was almost a really horrific collision between a couple of cyclists and a car. I swear that most people's IQ's just plummet as the pace increases. They're so deadset on passing each other (on a damned CLUB ride!) and are so competitive that they don't check over their shoulders for cars. I watched two guys literally swerve out in front of a car after 'Car Back' had been yelled out. And I watched some dipshit try to blow up the group, sprint out, lose steam, and no one would let him into the paceline, sit right in the middle of the road with a car behind him. It's no wonder why motorists hate cyclists so much. Sharing the road doesn't mean taking the lane when a car is trying to get past. Don't be an asshole.

Still training for cross season. I don't really have a benchmark for where I'm at so I'm not sure how things are going to pan out. I feel like I'm caught between the A's and the fastest B's on our group rides. Once things start going up, I can pass most folks like they're standing still. But there are a few guys I can't keep up with. No matter whether they're on hills, especially when they're on the flats. Had a lot of knee pain tonight too. I think the combination of cooler weather and pushing 20mph for 35mi kind of added up together. I feel like I have to embrocate unless it's stupidly hot out or constantly wear knee warmers. The cooler weather really knocks the shit out of my knees. I hope I can keep up this pace of riding right through cross season and that I don't get burned out. Just have to keep it fun, think right and "I got my PMA...we got our PMA!" Word.

Racing Is War.

Another sketch. Playing with textures, practicing my hand-drawn fonts (they need LOTS of work!, and working off the top of my dome. Keeping the creativity flowing. I think the bombs on the bottom are my favorite part of this one.



-click the image for the huge version.

I had a visitor stop by the studio last night as well. He was here just long enough to zip around the joint, provide some entertainment and terrorize things a bit. I shot some video that I hope to have up by this weekend. Stay tuned.....

More Artwork....

I've been pretty much MIA for the past couple weeks. Here's what I've been up to. Been riding a bunch. Still not drinking beer. I feel like I'm slimming down a bit...getting a little leaner. Hopefully I'll be ripped for cross....but if not, I won't feel like I failed. Been drawing much more frequently. Getting ready for the "Art Battle". Feels pretty good...I feel like I'm learning stuff a little quicker. Knocking out a bunch of sketches/semi-finished drawings per evening. Here's a little taste:


-a semi-classic pin-up bike mechanic for the service boys at work.


-I used a photo from David Perry's Hot Rod Pin-Ups 1 for this portrait. Trying to brush up on my speed and proportions.


-Still really stoked on Todd's tattoo...so here's a girl and her friendly, fire-breathing robot pal...notice the other robots she's chill'n on...the ones that her pal "took offline".

These are still pretty much sketches...nothing is really finished, 'cept for the portrait one. I may post updates as I tweak them more.

Amazing Movie...

Saw this on Defgrip and thought I'd share. Just a really well shot, edited little movie. Pretty amazing.


Martin the Tailor from Ed David on Vimeo.