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.

On the back 9 w/ Tiger

Trying not to choke as I near the 18th hole on this Tiger painting. Ahem. Anyway, I spent most of the day putting the finishing touches on his hat and getting the details in on his face.

Hoping to have the head done late tonight then whack out the shirt and other arm by the time I gotta go tend bar tomorrow. There won't be nearly as much work on the rest of it as there was on his face and fist.

Your Daily Tiger Update

Only got a few hours to work today, but it left me plenty confident that I will have this painting done by the weekend. I am Jack's giddy anticipation.

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Thanks, Kids!

Finally checked my blog stats for the past 2 weeks and noticed that traffic has gone up considerably. I know a lot of this is from my facebook fans and twitter followers, but I'm surprised at how many people from around the world are coming across me through various search engines. So, a big thanks to everyone around the world for visiting my little slice of the web, and I hope I can keep delivering interesting enough content to keep you all coming back. If you like what you see here, please spread the word and be sure to join my facebook group and follow along on twitter. Should we ever meet up in the real world I may have to buy you a round.

Enter The Fist

The most intricate & problematic part of the Tiger painting has been completed & my cold seems to be going away. I'm jacked up on more vitamins right now than I can count and feeling 10x better than I was the last 2 days, so hopefully things run much smoother from here on out and I'm able to pick up the pace. I'm bartending the next 5 nights, so I'll only be able to squeeze in a few hours a day @ the easel. Here's hoping I can make the most of 'em.

Ugh...

Had every intention of pounding thru yesterday and today and finishing up that Tiger painting by tomorrow. Instead I spent the last 2 days in bed fighting a cold and just some general fatigue. Need to rest up if I'm gonna be spending the next month & 1/2 burning the candle at all ends. I've actually moved a mattress into the studio to deal with it. Hopefully I wake up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed tomorrow morning and can get back in the groove. Later, kids.

I leave you with a little bit of what I did get done. A fist. Yay.

Gettin' Closer

Finally got Tigger's details all mapped out. Now, to just throw the final layer on & fill in those details. I'm hoping to put in 2 LONG days in the studio Sunday & Monday, then post this bad-boy all finished up Tuesday morning.

Mas Tigre!

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Some Quick Links

I know I've been off the grid for the past few days. I had a loooong weekend between my bartending gig and filling in on camera for Monmouth Park's TV dep't on Haskell Day (and, if you think there's not a big 'Rachel Alexandra wins The Haskell' planned for Jamian's you're crazy). It actually took me till today to finally get my ass out of bed and in gear to do some real work. So, I will definitely have updated studio pics for you later today. In the meantime, here are some good links I stumbled across today:

Tyler Kepner's got a great article in the NY Times this morning about how the Yankees are far more prepared to take on the Sox this go around than they were earlier this season. I'd link to a story in the Daily News but reading Lupica or Raismann's take on anything involving the Yanks is like watching a Goebbels film to learn about the Torah.

Speaking of that little piece of shit Lupica, Deadspin takes him to task in what I can only hope is the first of a series of "Real Tales of Mike Lupica". Great stuff about a small man and his giant ego.

The Onion's A.V. Club knocked two out of the park this morning with Sean O'Neal's hilarious Daily Buzzkill on NBC's scorched earth tactics to get you to watch Leno's sure-to-be-shitty 10pm show. And, Nathan Rabin turned in another great "My Year Of Flops" casefile (and, if you haven't read any of them, you should really go back and read ALL of them) on Nic Cage's 1991 straight-to-dvd flop 'Zandalee' that literally had me laughing out loud.

Enjoy kids. Back with more later.