Artomatic 2017 in Crystal City

Elaine Byergo (stained glass artisan) and myself, have
created a shared gallery space for Artomatic 2017 in Crystal City. My stuff is a mix of three groups of work. Fantasy portraits from the "Beaty at the End of All Things" watercolor series. Creeper mini portraiture watercolor samples. And lastly, the first batch of acrylics of (mostly) local musicians that I've been working on in my studio space in Mt. Ranier.

The show runs from March 24th - May 6th. More info here-
http://www.artomatic.org/

We are planning a meet and greet afternoon and would love to see you.

April 8th, 3-6pm
We'll have refreshments and treats for visitors. That day is also a "meet the artists" night for the other 600 artists at the event from 6-midnight. Join us on the 8th floor! Space 8111-8112.

Also- I'll be doing three "creeper shifts" where you can come in and hang out for a short time and get yourself drawn.  Pay what you feel.
Saturday, April 1st- 6:30-9:30pm w/ Justin Shapiro on acoustic guitar
Wednesday, April 5th- 6:30-9:30pm w/ Monty Ferns
Saturday, April 15th- 4-7pm w/ music TBD

P.S. The building is literally on top of the Crystal City metro station.

Resist (Art) If You Can

Have one painting in ReCreative Spaces new show, "What to do? Resistance Art for 2017 + Beyond," opening March 3rd.  Info here- https://www.recreativespaces.com/calendar/2017/3/3/what-to-do-resistance-art-for-2017-beyond-opening-reception

Reception is tonight from 7pm-10pm and the show will be up through the 31st.

Facebook

Eventbrite

Keep your eyes peeled for announcements coming soon about Artomatic in Crystal City, new art in Takoma Park at the Olive Lounge, DC Zinefest, SPX, and a big Fall show too.  Lot's of good stuff coming soon.

September/October

Gearing up for Artomatic Baltimore (November 4th-December 10th) and doing some collaborative experimentation with the one and only Steve Loya as well.

Forrest Fire at Growroom Getdown - IN COLOR!

Steve gave the background of this one a total makeover

Mantra for life?

Steve gave me this water-colored page and inspired the Halloween-centric image

Creeping at Growroom Productions Show - September 2016

Some pretty good stuff happening at the Songbyrd the other night.  Let's do it again soon.

Run Forest, RUN!

Pretzels and Mustard, of course

Forest Fire

SPX and Recent Band Creeps

I haven't been posting much artwork.  Sorry.

Songbyrd- Washington, DC

Bricks- Staunton, VA

Casket Girls

Neumos- Seattle, WA

Black Cat- Washington, DC

The one and only Jaimie Hernandez at SPX

Singing Lupe's praises

ZOMBIES!!!

So this happened.

Yes, the guy I'm pointing out in this painting is green.  Is he a zombie?  Probably.

Pretty funny article in the Montgomery Sentinel.  In print!  Ha, take that internets!!!

Metro beat writer Kathleen Stubbs and I met at the Politically Inclined event and she liked the idea that my paintings depicted riders as zombies.  Sounds zingy, right?  Anyways, it was a fun interview and nice to talk about some of the "creeping" and what goes into it.

"In many ways, as an artist, Gordon becomes a creep any time he rides the Metro and has a sketchbook."  Ha, this is great!

I've always thought of the concept of "creeping" as hard to explain and it is.  The word "creep" has several meanings and in this case all of them are at least a little bit true.  Am I trying to be sly and catch a drawing without you knowing?  Yes.  If you look up and see me staring am I the creep?  Yes, though I prefer "the creeper."  Is there anything "creepy" about this whole thing?  Meh.

Last word, are metro riders actually zombies?  No, but city commuting can be tough on the soul.  Especially if you ride the rails these days.

And also, a link!

City Council Creepin'

A totally innocent conversation during the reception for Stylized Notions (aka an art show gathering of participants in the blood drive Cartoonists Draw Blood) turned into an invitation (along with fellow artists from the show) to be special guests of the Takoma Park City Council Meeting on July 27th to do some "live drawing."  Click the link for more info about the event and art from my esteemed colleagues.

The four of us that were able to make it, Bill Brown (super sharp scratchboard political cartoonist), Art Hondros (wry humor, expressive, and classic ink works), Steve Loya (full on watercolor and ink splotch monsters), and myself (action sketching and comic jams), all had reserved seats near the front of the meeting to work our wares.  The meeting had several major votes on the docket about development in downtown, which if you know Takoma Park at all you'll understand is a really big deal.  I decided to go full color so I brought along watercolor pencils and a squeezy brush.  Never had done that in a live setting before and I'm happy to say it worked out very well.  The bristol I used was a perfect surface for the speed and and was able to absorb enough water to not buckle much.

Here are the sketches I was able to put together during the two hour session-

Gotta creep the camera guy.  The quote is from something a reporter from the Montgomery Sentinel said.

A drawing of the City Manager

An amalgam of some of the numerous residents who came to the podium to speak about their minds about the proposed development plans

The Mayor and two council members

The audience listens to advocates for upgrades to the library that are long overdue

Activist and all around interesting character, Pat.  An audience member tried to convince me that I have misquoted him saying "Love it!" but I was able to confirm it with him later on.  Hence the cross out in the balloon.

A council member being barraged by things that were said