End of January - Hello February :)

Did a bunch of sketching today of ideas for pieces for a summer group show in NYC. Coming along nicely. They are rough thumbnails right now. I don't really have an in-between stage for sketching. I go right from rough thumbnails to sketching the work out on the final paper. I might have to put off working on the finals if I get an illustration assignment that is currently in talks. Here's hoping......

Available Art at Lunar Boy Gallery

Hey everyone,

I have two pieces of art still available at Lunar Boy Gallery. So if you are a Goonies fan or enjoy happy skeleton families, go on over and check it out. You can purchase through the website.

http://www.lunarboygallery.com/featured/The+Goonies+Show.php

http://www.lunarboygallery.com/featured/Dia+De+Los+Muertos+Group+Show.php

My work in Elle Girl Magazine

I was recently asked to have my sketchbooks featured in Elle Girl magazine. This is the Korean edition, as the U.S. edition was discontinued several years ago. They specifically requested this sketchbook because of the bright colors in it. I created it back in 2007-08. My work is on the left page. Myself and 3 other artists had their sketchbooks featured, as well as a mini interview. I'm posting below my answers (in english). I have to say that I was surprised they contacted me, because I never would have envisioned my work in a teen girl magazine overseas. However, I am very grateful for the exposure it will afford me (in South Korea anyway).

1. First of all, please introduce yourself to ELLE Girl Korea.

My name is Jon and I am an American artist currently living in Rochester Hills, Michigan. I was born in South Korea but moved to the United States when I was less than a year old. I attended the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland where I earned a bachelors in Illustration. Now I divide my time between doing freelance illustration for editorial publications and work for gallery exhibitions. I have exhibited mostly in the United States but also overseas a bit too.

2. When did you have your ‘first’ sketchbook? Do you still have it?

I really can not remember, but it must have been some time in elementary school. I do not have many of my early sketchbooks anymore, which is unfortunate because it can be really fun looking at your artwork from childhood. Most of the sketchbooks I have are from the past 10 years.

3. Please introduce the theme of your sketchbooks (cartoon, travel, story..).

My sketchbooks usually do not have a theme to them. I use them to record whatever random and interesting images pop into my head. It is very much my free thinking recorded on the pages. If the sketchbook is unified in any way, it is usually by whatever medium I choose to use.

4. Usually which materials do you use to feature your sketchbook? (ex: color paper, pencil, crayon, acrylic, watercolors and so on)

I use a lot of pen and ink, acrylic paint, watercolor and sometimes markers and collage paper elements.

5. What is the most beautiful thing about having my own sketchbook?

There are no rules and you can experiment in any way you choose. The only person you have to please is yourself.

6. What do your sketchbooks mean to you?

They are very personal, sort of like a journal. They are also a record of the past, which can be very insightful to reflect upon later. When you look at old sketchbooks, you can remember what you were interested in at the time you created the artwork.

7. What is your favorite color and why?

I like the color green a lot. Green can be a very versatile color in expressing emotion in art. It also has a lot of associations with nature, which I really appreciate.

8. Do you have a wanna-be artist? Who is she/he?

I really admire the work of artists like William Blake, Gustaf Tenggren, Alfred Kubin, Harry Clarke, Remedios Varos, Kikki Smith, Giorgio de Chirico and Ernst Haeckel.

9. Are there things you want to come true this year? Are you working on some projects?

I think it would be fun to have a solo art exhibition this year, work with some new editorial clients, make an animation and work on my painting some more. I have a collaborative sketchbook project I am working on right now, as well as a group show in New York later in the year.

The picture below I just posted for fun. I found it amusing because I have never seen fashion and cheese balls or fruit by the foot in the same image. Who would've guessed?

I like this too. It's suggestions for sensible presents to give your boyfriend/girlfriend for Valentines day. Now what could be more sensible than digestive crackers for "her" and anti-wrinkle cream for "him"? Awesome.

Finally

I FINALLY got this back today. It's the piece I sent off to Barcelona FIVE months ago to be in a gallery show. The whole fiasco with foreign customs imprisonment, language barriers and unresponsive/unorganized curators is finally over. I am glad to have this back, and it is in decent shape too, unlike the first piece I sent to them. What a mess.

Incidentally, the piece is for sale, so if anyone is interested they can shoot me an email at jon@jonmacnair.com

The Night Visitor

This is the most recent piece I have done. It was a wedding present for my friend Marcus and his wife. For some reason it took me a long time to figure out what to draw, but I think it worked out in the end.

It measures about 13 1/4" x 18" and is drawn with ink.

click to enlarge and see the details

New products added to my shop!

I recently added new products to my shop. Now in addition to art prints, you can also purchase iphone cases and ipod skins, laptop skins, and some apparel items. I will be adding new prints soon, so be sure to check back :)

http://www.society6.com/studio/jonmacnairportfolio/store

Working in the Sketchbook

Doing a bit of work in the sketchbook lately. This sketchbook will be a collaborative project that I am really excited about.

No. Zine - Issue #4

I'm in the No. Zine series Issue #4. It's wonderfully put together and curated by Patrick Fry in the UK.

"No.Zine is an independent arts zine, released in series and featuring a variety of young artists, designers, writers, photographers and illustrators. Each issue is conceptually centred around it's issue number."

Check it out! http://www.nozine.com/index.html

Weary Vagabond on Blik

My art print "Weary Vagabond" is being sold on Blik through Society6. Check it out:

http://society6.whatisblik.com/product/28879/prints?cl=21

Scrapbook

I was just thinking today about how it would be good to have a scrapbook of inspirational images. I mean, in a physical book that I can glue stuff into and flip through whenever I want. Not just a bunch of files in some random folder on my computer. Making a mental note now.....

Files finished

So I finally got all the files on my computer organized. Took forever but it needed to get done. I'll be working on my sketchbook a little more today. Maybe I will post some pictures later.

Bookmarks

Here are some simple handmade bookmarks I made for friends as gifts for the holidays.

Donald's New Website

Give your retinas a workout and go check out fresh new website of my friend Donald. You won't be sorry!

http://www.donaldely.com/

Boring Tuesday

Spent today doing a lot of reorganizing, re-filing and burning of data cds. It is looong overdue. I will be doing the same thing tomorrow, and hopefully not the next day. What a mess. I need to try and be more organized.

Zine Reminder

Hey everyone,

Just a little reminder that I still have my zine available for purchase on Little Paper Planes. It's called 'Slacking on the Job'. If you haven't checked it out already, here's the link!

http://www.littlepaperplanes.com/product/2362-slacking-on-the-job-zine

The Wall Collective

Have a look at the new website The Wall Collective!

http://wallcollective.com/

Donald's new blog

Check out the new blog of my good friend Donald! Donald is based in Baltimore where he creates his colorful art and illustration.

http://donaldely.wordpress.com/

Accomplished Friday

Finished up the drawing I have been working on all week. I can't post pictures or divulge all the details yet, but pretty soon. Tomorrow I need to make a run to UPS and ship it off. Going south. Hope it doesn't cost too much.

Thursday sneak peek

Just a sneak peek of a current work. More to come...

Hard Feelings blog post

Many thanks to Dylan over at the Hard Feelings blog for the post about my recent work!

http://www.hardfeelingsblog.com/2011/01/jon-macnair/

If you haven't already checked out the blog, be sure to. It has a plethora or great featured artists.

EMPTY Magazine

I remembered today that I wanted to make a small post about Empty Magazine. I was contacted a while back about being part of Issue 19. Of course I was happy to oblige, especially since they recently cut back on the number of issues they release each year. Empty is an Australian creative magazine based in Sydney. I don't have a copy to show you because I must save up to buy one. They are $20, plus $20 to have it shipped to me in the U.S. So $40 for a magazine is not in my budget right now, but I will get my hands on a copy sometime in the near future.

Artist List: Issue 19 Sam Leach Shelley Reed Kate Lewis James Reka Dirk Dzimirsky Marco Zamora Claire Martin Brendan Danielsson Erin McSavaney Rebecca Campbell Jeremy Forson Roderik Henderson Bridge Stehli Justin Harris John John Jesse Jon Macnair Juergen Grewe Dabs Myla Lily Mae Martin Jodee Knowles Langdon Graves Brandon Bird Mercedes Helnwein Bessie Nunes Lucy Fahey Susan Purcell Steven Nuttall

http://www.emptymag.com/

My postcard

The Postcards From the Edge: Visual AIDS event was this past weekend. I found a picture online wherein I spotted my postcard. Look closely to the left of the left ear of the man on the far right.

below is a scan of my work

Where my weekend went...

I've been working on this new piece since thursday. Put a solid 12 hours into it today (my hand feels like it's permanently curled into a claw at the moment). Obviously I was not drawing while I took this photo, but you can get a sense of scale with my hand and pencil there. This is only one portion of the drawing. Stay tuned....

Postcards today!

Postcards From the Edge opens tonight in NYC. The preview party was last night, but tonight you can actually purchase works.

Hope someone takes pictures!

2010 Review

2010 was a great "work" year for me. Maybe the best so far, which I hope continues into the new year of course. I participated in about 22 shows, which is a huge leap from last year which was about only 6. A lot of the exhibitions were on the west coast (Oregon and California), but I also managed to show in some new states like Arizona and Washington.

Some of the highlights included a group show at Flatcolor gallery in Seattle (with an amazing lineup of artists I admire), The Blab show at Copro gallery in L.A. (special thanks to Monte Beauchamp), my first "real" group art show in NYC at Sacred Gallery, being part of STROKE .02 Urban Art Fair in Munich Germany and top it off with my first exhibition overseas at Recoat Gallery in Glasgow. Also, in terms of commercial work, I did two album covers (one of which will be coming out this year). I was also very fortunate to be featured in some excellent publications like: EMPTY magazine, SLICE, Finerats, Color Ink Book, AMMO, Beautiful Decay, The Stranger, Funswant and the Washington Square Review.

I would have loved to have sold more work, but I can't complain about what I did accomplish.

2011 holds promise too, with a group show in NYC this summer and a feature in a major magazine overseas.

I'll keep you updated! Better get working now :)

Don't forget.....

Tomorrow is the preview party for the Postcards From The Edge Show! Starts at 6 and goes till 8pm.

Hosted by CRG Gallery
548 W 22nd St, New York

See my December 28th blog entry for more details.

Plateform Magazine

I'm in the current issue of Plateform Magazine, an online PDF magazine featuring artwork and photography. I have a little mini interview in there too, which I have posted below. It's pretty basic:

1 - Your art

My work primarily depicts fantastical characters living in otherworldly landscapes. It deals with themes of birth and death, fear, the struggle for power, and man versus beast.

2 - Your inspiration sources

My work is inspired by a variety of sources, including: fairy tales, mythology, Medieval and Renaissance art, German expressionist film, Russian animation and alchemy.

3 - Your projects

I am currently working on some ideas for a future show in NY as well as a sketchbook collaboration. My next exhibition will be in Seattle. I also continue to do freelance illustration.

http://www.plateformag.com/

Preternatural Prison

Did this piece about 4 months back. It was supposed to be in a show overseas, but something tells me that is not going to be happening now. Anyway, I just thought I'd share it with you all :)

For those of you wondering, here is the definition of "preternatural":

–adjective

1.

out of the ordinary course of nature; exceptional or abnormal: preternatural powers.

2.

outside of nature; supernatural.

Just a reminder....

Just a reminder that all six of these works (along with tons of other great stuff) are still available to purchase online from Flatcolor Gallery. Check 'em out!

http://www.flatcolor.com/inventory.html

Two large drawings from 2010

I did this piece for a show that never ended up happening, but I thought I'd show you all. I did most of it earlier in the fall, and then actually finished it up and scanned it at the very end of December. It measures 18" x 24".

Same story with this second piece. I did it way back in 2010 for a project that was scrapped eventually. It was for the poem "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe. It measures 20.5" x 28.5"

Happy New Year!

Hope everyone enjoys a prosperous, healthy, and productive new year!