April Showers Bring May Flailings
Catching Up with the Last Month and a Half
Hello Sketchbugs,
Apologies for the radio silence throughout the past month and a half (and Happy Mother’s Day? Weird timing). April went by in a flash and May is passing by even faster. I was taking most of the past weeks to catch up on obligations and deadlines put on hold due to migraine issues in March. Thank you for your lovely patience and I promise I will be on a more solid schedule the coming months (fingers crossed). My migraine situation has been improving too and I have been slowly going back to normal: yay for visiting a good neurologist! Please enjoy some sketches and musings from April, as told by my busy self in May.
Before I talk about April, I wanted to announce that my work will be in a show in LA!
Do you remember my Pleinapril series? (See Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3) Well, I will have some of those paintings along with a few new plein air pieces featured in the Sitting Outside III show, curated by phenomenal artist Kellan Jett (he worked on the latest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie and Spiderverse) and hosted by the iconic Giant Robot Store & Gallery in LA. The show opens May 18th and I will visiting LA for the first time while attending the opening! If you are in LA or nearby, come say hi and check out some divine work from some of the best artists in the Visual Development Industry.
THE ECLIPSE
On April 8th, everyone and their mother were preparing to see the solar eclipse. Philly wasn’t in the totality unfortunately but we were supposed to get a good view. After teaching class, I walked towards Rittenhouse Square to paint this once and a lifetime moment. While the sky was cool, I found the people watching to be way more enjoyable, plus the sun got covered by clouds during the most intense time so we didn’t end up seeing too much of the eclipse anyway. There were people from all walks of life there, excitedly looking up with their glasses: from families, school classes, workers taking lunch breaks, and this iconic man who brought his two parrots to entertain people. Someone even left their puppy on one of the vase park sculptures, which I tried to capture in the painting.
THE NEW YORKER
While getting back on my feet, Stephanie Wu at the New Yorker reached out to me with one of the coolest and most challenging projects I’d done so far. It was this portrait of Captain James Cook for the Book Review Section on Hampton Sides’ new book “The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook”. You can find the article HERE and the book itself HERE.
This portrait was an interesting conceptual challenge because the article was balancing the legacy of James Cook as a distinguished captain and explorer with the harsh realities of his role in colonization, violence, and the reason for his murder in his 3rd and final voyage. I might make a post focused solely on the process of creating this illustration but suffice it to say, I was happy with how the result came out. It felt like flexing my conceptual muscles after a month of groggy brain fog.
A WEEKEND IN NYC
On the last weekend of April I headed to NYC for two days jam packed with illustrator events. First off, I went to the Society of Illustrators Part 2 show on a crisp Friday evening. I had actually gotten into the Part 1 show but couldn’t make it due to migraine flare ups so this was a nice makeup for that. Plus, it was nice to see some familiar and new faces at the event. Fellow substacker
won a gold medal for her fabulous editorial piece and judged for the competition which is also a huge honor and big deal! Congratulate both of them, everyone! They’re both legends!The next day I headed to Books of Wonder for their Indie Bookstore Event! Me and the iconic
(if your not subscribed to her legendary substack, , then what are you doing?) did a fun draw-off activity, where the audience (mainly kids but we heard some adults too) would give us suggestions on what to draw. First we did an alien (sorry I couldn’t find those pictures) and the last one was “The Most New York Scene” which featured a cat stealing food in Times Square. Kids are very creative. The event ended in a tie and a firm handshake. I had never seen kids so enthralled, not even in book readings, so when in doubt, just do a drawing competition. The rest of the event went well, full of drawing little doodles for kids and talking to other cool authors and illustrators like Brian Floca and Cat Min.
THE CATS YOU FIND ON WALKS
Before I end this section, I wanted to share a little doodle about all the cats I’ve seen on my walks in the neighborhood. I will be moving out soon, so I wanted to memorialize them before I don’t see them on the regular. Please enjoy all the little fellas I’ve seen on my journeys.
Lastly, Some Things I’ve Been Loving
Fellow substacker
’sA fun and engaging substack that always sparks joy.
I mentioned this show in my last post but I’m going to mention it again. Hiroyuki Sanada is going to win a bunch of Emmy’s next year because this show was phenomenal, from the incredible acting, the set design, the use of translation, and the incredible writing. Ughh. TV is good again.
Plays at the Wilma Theater
I saw the Good Person of Setzuan at the Wilma Theater a few weeks ago and am still thinking about it. Director Justin Jain and main star Bi Jean Bgo did a phenomenal job of taking this script from the 1940s and breathing some asian american campy goodness into it. Go support your local city theaters because I guarantee you’ll be impressed.
Monkey Man (2024 film)
Dev Patel’s directorial debut was an action packed masterpiece. I loved how each use of violence had some interesting double meaning behind it, which differs so much with the typical American action blockbuster. I literally would make a whole post analyzing the visual metaphors and themes of this film if I could. I really recommend you try to see it if it’s still in theaters in your area.
Finch (App)
My partner introduced me to this app but it’s basically a to do list/ mental health check in, cute animal with outfits simulator. It’s pretty simple but very sweet and helps me keep track of things I have to do. It’s like if your Webkinz asked if you drank your water for the day. If you’re on it, send me your friend code!
Aww thank you so much for the shoutout!!
Love all these updates and the mini comics! Sweet Benny and his stray hairs! The neighborhood cats!!
Also I for one would love to read detailed posts on your brilliant Capt James Cook illo AND Monkey Man, which I'm obsessed with!!
LA exposure at Giant Robot will be extra nice…glad to hear you are feeling better. New Yorker …WOWZERZ!!! way to go