Happy New Year, (Almost) Everyone!

I just wanted to post something quick to Ye Olde Blogge, whilst I count down the remaining hours of the Julian calendar, and who better to close out the year with than the greatest closer of all time? (Shut up, Sox & Mets fans) I hope you've all made your peace with the rape-in-a-back-alley that was 2009 & are looking forward to some sweet, tender lovin' from 2010. I know I've made my resolutions, and, if I manage to keep all of them, you'll all be referring to me as Grand Overlord Mahoney by the fall. However, it's more likely that I'll just keep the small ones, which means LOTS more content coming to the blog, a new website, new original music, and new art shows w/ some completely different types of art than you've seen from me before. And, that's just the first half of the year.

So, I hope you all have a happy & safe New Year. I myself will be spending it at home in the Mahoney Mansion. I'll be sitting by the fire with my feet on a log, the Mick on my lap, a glass of scotch in one hand, a glass of brandy in the other, my manservant Tebor curled up at my feet, and a prayer in my heart that the friend of mine who's been banging my ex-wife drives his drunk ass right into a telephone pole on his way to hell.

Happy New Year, kids! See you in 2010!

Nature Girl?

Her's a preliminary sketch of a piece I'll be painting this week. Not exactly sure what it means or what I'll be calling it, I just got the image in my head and decided I would do this as my entry in an upcoming mixed-media show. I'll be doing it in a mix of oils & acrylics, with some photo elements filling out the leaves & trees, and maybe even some charcoal or pastel highlights. I don't know. As a self-taught artist/musician, it's rare that I have any idea what in the hell I'm doing, but here I'm really flying blind. I'm just trying to get out of my comfort zone artistically, and break free from the "sports/portrait artist" label. Feel free to comment.

Derek Jeter Painting 1/2 off TODAY ONLY!

Are you a Yankees fan? Is there a Yankees fan on your holiday shopping list? TODAY ONLY you can get the original Craig Mahoney painting, "DJ's HR" - signed by Derek Jeter - for half off the listed holiday sale price. That's only $500 for an original 36"x24" acrylic on canvas painting of the Yankee Captain autographed by the man himself. If interested, e-mail cm@craigmahoney.com

All Sorts of News

Hey, kids. I know I haven't posted anything of interest in a helluva long time, but that's all about to change. After the craziness of getting ready for the show at Jamian's I took some time off, then dove right into the craziness of following the Yankees on their World Series run, picking up extra shifts at my day job to climb out of debt, and putting together a weekly music gig. Now that most of that is settled and humming along smoothly I've got all sorts of new craziness to announce.

• On Wed, Dec 16th I'll be doing my usual gig at The Wine Loft in Pier Village, but I'll also be doing a Toys for Tots fund raiser that night. So come by for a little Christmas cheer for yourself, and bring an unwrapped toy to give a less fortunate li'l guy or gal some of their own.
• Every month In Spirit Living, a yoga studio here in Long Branch, hosts a different art show. I will be contributing 2 pieces to their Jan show that will be wildly different from anything you've seen from me yet. It should be cool, and I will, of course, be posting the progress of those pieces in this space.
• Following that, I'll be having another solo show in Feb. This one will be at the aforementioned Wine Loft and the theme is going to be "Jazz and Cocktails". It's going to be a nice little departure from the portraiture and sports art I've been specializing in. The work is going to be a little looser and not as super hyper-detailed as my past work. The focus will be more on setting a mood or feeling through color and composition.
• Speaking of my sports art. I'm working on what could be 2 very big things involving that. It's way to early in the planning/negotiating stages to say anything yet, but I'll be talking about it more in the future.
• I'm also working on a video piece that (I hope) will be up on the blog in the next week and a half. After that I'm gonna try and post at least one little video on the blog a week.

And, that's all I got for ya right now. Check back next week to see the madness unfold.

Weds Just Got Better

Tomorrow night and every other Wed, from 7:30-midnight, you can catch me doing my solo acoustic thing @ The Wine Loft, Pier Village in Long Branch, NJ. For those of you who've seen me before, you know the deal. 4 hours of me doing the one-man-band thing and running through the last 50 years of popular music. This ain't some navel-gazing, coffee house, folkie acoustic gig. It's a party. So, come on down, drink up, and sing out. The first few nights have been great, and tomorrow, being Thanksgiving Eve and all, should kick a roomful of asses.

If you don't know about the Wine Loft, it's a sweet, hip lounge right on the water in Long Branch's Pier Village. Yes, they specialize in wine, but they also have a great food menu, all the liquor you could ever want, and even a few good beers by the bottle. And, if you show up early on Weds, you'll catch the tail end of their weekly free wine tasting, held every Wed from 5-7pm. Bottom line: Wed night @ The Wine Loft is the new awesome. Hope to see you there.

Holiday Art Sale

Hey, kids! With the holidays upon us, the economy in the crapper, and most people strapped for cash (including yours truly), I've decided to have a little holiday art sale. Those of you who stopped by Jamian's and saw the price list there know just how much I'm slashing prices, but I'd like to get these off of my wall's and onto someone else's by the New Year, so I'm trying to make them as affordable as I can without ripping myself off. If you're interested in anything, e-mail me at cm@craigmahoney.com.

"Eli's Escape" 36"x24" acrylic on canvas
autographed by Eli Manning
$2000

"The Mick" 36"x48" acrylic on canvas
$1850

"Tiger's Roar" 24"x36" acrylic on canvas
$1250

"Pinstriped Dreams" 17"x14" b&w pencil
$500

"The Wee Small Hours" 24"x36" acrylic on canvas
$850

"DJ's HR" 36"x24" acrylic on canvas
autographed by Derek Jeter
$1000

"Simm-ply Super" 14"x11" colored pencil
autographed by Phil Simms
$250

"Bond, James Bond" 24"x36" acrylic on canvas
$450

"Battering Brandon" 11"x14" colored pencil
$85

The Chairman & The Air Man

2 days to go till the opening of my show and I'm basically going without sleep to finish everything up. I all but wrapped up the Sinatra piece yesterday, so, with the exception of a touch-up here or there on some pieces, the only one unfinished is the Michael Jordan painting. That will give me 7 paintings to display in addition to a few drawings. I was hoping to have 1 or 2 more paintings, but work like mine just takes so much damn time, and I decided I'd rather not sacrifice quality for quantity.

James and Michael

Hittin' the homestretch now. I'm not expecting too much sleep this next week as I try to finish up the 3 pieces I have left. With the exception of some light cosmetic touches on the James Bond and Mickey Mantle pieces, all I have left to finish are the Jordan, Sinatra, and LT ones. That's a lot to handle in a week, and if I have to do the show without one, I'm willing to sacrifice the LT. There will be other opportunities. The one thing I do not want to do is sacrifice quality for quantity. But, I'm gonna try my damnedest to show up Wed morning ready to hang 8 kick-ass paintings. Below is most of what I got done this weekend. Enjoy, kids.

Follow on Facebook & Twitter

Hello, boys and girls. We're entering the homestretch as I put the final touches on the last few pieces for the show. I first want to thank all the new blog readers. Especially those of you from well outside of New Jersey (Hello, Belgium!). I also wanted to throw a li'l reminder up to follow me on twitter for all sorts of funtastic musings whilst I toil away at the easel, and to become a fan on facebook for cool links and access to all my online art galleries. Now time for another Red Bull & multi-vitamin. I gotta bust my ass!

2 Weeks to Go...

Alright, so technically it's 2 weeks & 2 days to go until my opening, but since I'll be hanging the work on Wed, I need it all done by that Tue. SO... I have the 2 shortest weeks of my life to finish everything I'd like to get done for this. Not sure if I'll make it, but, you can be damn sure that whatever does end up on the wall @ Jamian's is gonna be some good shit. Here's every goddamned little thing as of right now:

Roundin' 3rd & Headin' for Home

Crapped out on Sunday. Did nothing but sleep & got no painting done. So, I redoubled my efforts yesterday, going straight till 3am, then jumping out of bed @ 7 this morning to get back to work. With extra hustle & concentration I may have this done by the time I have to leave for work tonight. All that's left are fleshtones & pinstripes. Mahoney, AWAY!

The Mick's Progress

Man, I hope this show's successful enough that I can finally start doing this close to full-time. The whole "waking up early in the morning to get some painting in before my barshift" thing is gettin' old. 5 days a week in the studio & 2 nights behind the bar sounds good to me.

Anyway, here's where I'm @ w/ the Mickey Mantle piece. I've got a full day to myself in the studio tomorrow & I'll spend it all killing myself to get this done. If I can have it done by late tomorrow night or early Monday morn, there's no reason that I shouldn't have the Connery Bond piece done by Tuesday. That'll put me reasonably on schedule for Oct 1st, as long as I don't need too much sleep.

Up All Night W/ The Micks

Long Thursday night in the studio w/ Mickey Mantle the painting & Mickey Mantle the dog. And Braveheart on DVD.

FREEDOOOOOMMM!!!!

Building A Better Bond

Yeah... This is JUST a bit better than the crap sketch I started with. Still plenty of work left, but I like where it's headed.

Painting Update

Back to work in the studio after slackin a li'l over the holiday weekend (which I hope all of you enjoyed as immensely as I did). I'm making some good progress on the Michael Jordan piece, and, as for the Bond painting... Well, there IS paint on the canvas. It'll get there. I'll throw some more pics up before I head out bartending tonight.

More of The Mick

Less than 4 weeks away, and I'm officially in "8am-2am 7 days a week" mode for the rest of the month. With any luck, this show goes well enough that I'll be able to prepare for my next one without having to work two other jobs to keep the bills paid while I do it.

Here's a bit more of that Mantle piece I started the other day. There won't be much else done today as I've got to work another double, but, by the end of the weekend, I'll have every piece I want done for this thing roughed out and ready for more detailed work Monday morning.

Enjoy your Friday, kids.

More Show Stuff

Not much from the studio today. Unfortunately, I still have to get my bills paid whilst I prepare for the big Craigapalooza this October, so I'm pulling a double today: video work all day & tending bar all night. I did, however, manage to squeeze in a few hours of work this morning before I left the house. Here are pics of the VERY beginning of a Michael Jordan painting for the show and the latest flyer design for the show's opening reception.

This message has been sent using the picture and Video service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, Quicktime@ 6.5 or higher is required.

The Mick

Time's a luxury that I don't have much of this week, and with only a month to go till the show, I want to utilize what I have as much as possible. So, I'll be spending my time away from my other jobs doing a lot of layout and background work on the other pieces I want done by October. In that spirit, I herewith present you with the first bits of progress on my 36"x48" Mickey Mantle piece:

Where It Stands Now...

I can't believe it's been a week and a half since my last blog post. Slacker! Actually, while I may have been slacking on the blogging, I was plenty busy. I've been spending nearly all day every day either painting, tending bar, or both. I've also been trying to keep up with my twitter and facebook updates, so, if you aren't already a twitter follower or facebook fan, get on that.

Here's an update of where everything stands right now as far as the artwork I've got done for the show. I've got 3 finished pieces, 2 half-finished pieces, and 3 others I'll be starting soon. And, only a month left to get it all done! Needless to say, I'll be bartending a bit less in September - and sleeping much less.

Anyway, here ya go, boys and girls. I'll start with the (finally) finished Tiger piece, followed by a 1/2 finished Sinatra and LT, and, lastly, completed (and signed!) Eli Manning and Derek Jeter paintings. Check back Monday for more.