The Mincing Mockingbird

Our blogs got married

2010-02-15T16:44:00.000-08:00

My wife and I have combined our two electronic-newsletters into one handy "blog." Please reset your bookmarks at www.themincingmeerkat.blogspot.com. See you on the other side!

New

2010-02-10T22:10:00.001-08:00

2010-02-07T23:37:00.000-08:00

Sitting In Silent Condemnation
acrylic on panel
8" x 10"

Faking Injury For Predator Distraction And Emmy Whoring
acrylic on panel
8" x 8"

These brand new original paintings are available for purchase - if interested, contact Paula Smail at Henry Road: 818.762.8966 (Pacific time) or customerservice@henryroad.com.

New

2010-02-07T23:35:00.000-08:00

The Enormous Tiny Art Show 7

2010-02-07T22:32:00.000-08:00

SOLD Amateur Hour This Isn't
acrylic on panel
10" x 8"

Why Write Poetry When I Can Live It - Oh, Who Am I Kidding
acrylic on panel
8" x 8"

Though I Must Bounce, Know That Leave-Taking Saddens Me
acrylic on panel
10" x 8"

Sharply Disappointed, But At Least Not Lonely
acrylic on panel
8" x 8"

SOLD Living a Life of High Character When Not Illegally Downloading Rom-Coms
acrylic on panel
10" x 8"

SOLD Getting Through the Day On Just a Few Well-Worn Slang Phrases
acrylic on panel
6" x 6"

Finding Comfort Above the Fatigues of Humanity
acrylic on panel
8" x 10"

The Enormous Tiny Art Show 7 is on now at the nahcotta gallery in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. For more information and to check out the other artists, click here!

Most have sold, but there's a few pieces still left at the "Free As A Bird" show at Cactus Gallery - here!

Senseless Cessation By The Seashore

2010-02-02T20:46:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you gotta take a break.

The other day the Meerkat and I hopped in the car and drove down to one of our favorite beaches in Malibu, in the hopes that a stroll along the beach would clear the taxes out of our heads. Both of us hailing from Illinois, where January temperatures hover in the lose-an-appendage zone, a beach stroll in 70 degree weather is a benefit of living in Southern California, and we took advantage of it.

A more perfect day could not have been laid out before us. The sun sparkled and the air was perfection. You wanted to fill a paper bag with it and hide in the linen closet and huff it. Outside of two lovely topless sunbathers, the beach was empty and existed only for us to enjoy. We explored tide pools. Walked barefoot. Explored caves exposed by the low tide. We - shudder - held hands. It was enough to make you puke, it was so great.

Soon it became apparent that something in this paradise was amiss. Every so often there would be a dead sea bird. In a mile of hiking, we came across two dead pelicans and three dead cormorants. The Meerkat let go of my hand. "What's with the dead birds?" She looked at me. "I paint birds, yes, but that does not make me a bird doctor." I then decided to get all CSI on the situation. "Give me some room," I said. I gently poked the cormorant with a piece of driftwood. "No apparent gunshot wound," my voice suddenly David Caruso slow. "I suspect fowl play." I took off my sunglasses and put them back on. I waited for a laugh and got none, as the Meerkat has never seen CSI Miami. She looked down the beach and yawned. So I poked the bird again. We ran through a number of scenarios, with mine, in retrospect, being fairly ridiculous. I mean, obviously Aquaman would not instruct flying fish to kill birds because he was bored.

"To hell with it," I said, and spoke "SoCal bird deaths" into the Google voice app on my phone. Immediately several articles came up, each explaining about how cormorants and pelicans need to dry off after getting wet, and that the week-long series of recent storms had made that impossible. The hypothermia, combined with run-off toxins affixing themselves to the feathers, doomed a large number of local birds. We shielded our eyes and looked up at the crags, where a number of oily black cormorants held their wings wide, as if trying to embrace the sun.

The Google thing made me feel all intellectually dirty, for some reason. The answer was there - immediate, fulfilling...Yet, there was a real joy in trying to figure out what had happened. Even the absurd theories held a giddy kind of pleasure. What if I had just immediately gone Google on the situation? Is that what would happen in the future? When our iContacts have Google built into them, will they just look at the bird and provide us with all the information we need to know about what happened? Was Aquaman real? These were heady questions, and lunch was upon us.

"Where do you want to eat?" I asked the comely beachcomber next to me.

"What's around?" she asked.

"Let's ask the iPhone." And off we went, toward some killer fish tacos we never would have found on our own.

LA Street Food Fest

2010-01-26T22:21:00.000-08:00

Having grown up in a Pepsi household, it was a rare treat when a visit to Grandma's house resulted in ice cold Coca-Cola. Cokes would be sipped...savored. Thinking that people in commercials behaved normally, sometimes a sweating can of Coke would be gently pressed against my forehead, a sighing "ahhhh..." escaping from my lips. Andy Warhol knew Coke’s appeal: “A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the president knows it, the bum knows it and you know it.” It was a true and good democratic beverage. Then I became an adult and found out that my metabolism turned Coca-Cola into reasons why my dressy pants didn't fit anymore. Coke was abandoned.

I moved to Los Angeles and got a job. One of the benefits of the job was that a food truck - a lumbering, food-inspector-immune behemoth that belched the most delicious smells in the history of the world - stopped steps from my office twice a day. Not only was the food achingly good (I've yet to have a better breakfast burrito), but they carried Mexican Cokes. In large bottles. On ice. Mexican Cokes, made with real cane sugar and not any of that corn-syrup nonsense, taste like childhood. Only better. A Mexican Coke on a hot Los Angeles day - in a bottle so cold you can barely hold it - is akin to heaven. Thankfully I've learned moderation, though it's difficult. Viva la food trucks!

The Frantic Meerkat and I will be vending our wares in the designer section of the 1st annual LA Street Food Fest, which on February 13th will host a collection of gourmet food trucks and street carts from around Los Angeles. There will be DJs, photo booths, two beer gardens, a mini-marketplace and some eats straight from the streets. And hopefully some Mexican Cokes. The event will be held at the studio where they film Mad Men. Let me tell you something - back then they had their Cokes with pure cane sugar. And it was so good they had to have a cigarette after.

New Originals

2010-01-24T22:51:00.000-08:00

Keenly Aware Of My Own Foibles, 8 x 10 acrylic on panel

SOLD I Appreciate Your Efforts To Appear Absorbed In My Story, 4 x 4 acrylic on panel

Surely There Must Be Larger Adventures, 4 x 4 acrylic on panel

If interested, please contact me at mincy@mincingmockingbird.com.

ETA 7

2010-01-24T19:17:00.000-08:00

I'll have six new pieces in the upcoming Enormous Tiny Art 7 show at nahcotta gallery in Portsmouth, NH! The diminutive pieces by the diverse collection of artists nahcotta puts together for the Enormous Tiny Art shows are really something to behold.

Charnel House

2010-01-23T22:03:00.000-08:00

Efforts To Harmonize My Charm And Talent With Being A Biological Charnel House
18" x 18" acrylic on panel

Available for purchase - if interested, contact Paula Smail at Henry Road: 818.762.8966 (Pacific time) or customerservice@henryroad.com.

Free As A Bird - 3rd Annual Bird Show

2010-01-07T17:52:00.000-08:00

I am the featured artist in the upcoming gallery show "Free As A Bird" at Cactus Gallery in Eagle Rock, CA. Cactus' 3rd annual bird show will feature avian art of all types - painting, installation, sculpture - and Cactus openings are always an absolute blast. If you're in the L.A. area and like bird art, Cactus will be the place to be on Saturday night.

I hope you can make it. For those of you that can't, I've listed all the pieces I have in the show below. If you're interested in any of them, feel free to contact Sandra Mastroianni at Cactus. She can be reached at 323.256.6117 or at semastroianni70@yahoo.com. All the pieces are available for sale and can be shipped. For those of you coming to the show, the gallery is at 4534 Eagle Rock Blvd., Eagle Rock, CA 90041. Sandra's a passionate supporter of artists at all levels - it's an honor to be the featured artist in the show.

SOLD Well-Born To Wonderment And Finery
18" x 24" acrylic on panel

Really Kind Of Hoping Against The Existence Of Divine Justice
6" x 6" acrylic on panel

SOLD Sitting Unseen Amongst All This Human Misery Makes One Giddy
6" x 6" acrylic on panel

Waiting For A Bit Of Hope Like It Is Candy Thrown From A Parade Float
6" x 6" acrylic on panel

Choosing To Ignore Unutterable Sadness
10" x 10" acrylic on panel

SOLD Secret Wounds And Unknown Longings
9" x 12" acrylic on panel

Membership In The Legion Of Death Is Not Without Privileges
12" x 16" acrylic on panel

I Guess In Human Language My Name Would Translate To Baron Von Dandycock

16" x 20" acrylic on panel

As Far As Suckling Sweet Nectar Goes, I Am Armed To The Teeth
8" x 10" acrylic on panel

SOLD Finch Number 11
4" x 4" acrylic on panel

SOLD Finch Number 8
4" x 4" acrylic on panel

SOLD Finch Number 9
4" x 4" acrylic on panel

SOLD Finch Number 10
4" x 4" acrylic on panel

SOLD What Happens In Extinction, Stays In Extinction
11" x 14" acrylic on panel

SOLD Taking A Break From Dancing With Dust Motes
12" x 16" acrylic on panel

SOLD The Mornings Before Grand And Horrible Shifts In The World Are Always Beautiful
8" x 8" acrylic on panel

SOLD You Call It Singing, I Call It Speaking In Tongues
6" x 6" acrylic on panel

Park Patron, I Appreciate The Bit Of Seed, But Understand That It Is Only My Wee Size That Prevents Me From Taking Your Arm Off At The Elbow
6" x 6" acrylic on panel

I Have Migrated Back Beyond The River Styx, And I Would Like A Word
18" x 24" acrylic on panel

If By Devilish Ambitions You Mean That I Enjoy Killing, Well Then Hell To The Yeah
18" x 24" acrylic on panel

Tending The Weeds In A Watery Garden
18" x 24" acrylic on panel

2009-12-29T19:49:00.000-08:00

"Too often in the past we have thought of the artist as an idler and dilettante and of the lover of arts as somehow sissy or effete. We have done both an injustice. The life of the artist is, in relation to his work, stern and lonely. He has labored hard, often among deprivation, to perfect his skill. He has turned aside from quick success in order to strip his vision of everything secondary or cheapening. His working life is marked by intense application and intense discipline. As for the lover of arts, it is he who, by subjecting himself to the sometimes disturbing experience of art, sustains the artist - and seeks only the reward that his life will, in consequence, be the more fully lived." - John F. Kennedy, 1962

Busted

2009-11-24T12:03:00.000-08:00

One of my prints was featured in the Bust magazine gift guide.

Night Of The Comet

2009-11-24T09:07:00.000-08:00

Next week we'll be in Chicago for Renegade Chicago, which will be held at the Pulaski Fieldhouse in Wicker Park. I was there years ago, working on a Russian movie that was filming in Chicago, something about a Russian hockey player whose brother was murdered in Chicago and now he's here to kill everyone. It was certainly one of the most disturbingly racist movies I've ever seen, as the Russian filmmakers thought black people were either a., in a gang and crazy or b., homeless and crazy.

We were shooting late one night, and I stepped outside into the fall air to get away from the director of photography, who did his best work while falling down vodka-drunk and screaming and groping the female P.A.'s. Just as I stepped outside into the park the sky exploded in a burst of brilliant green-white light, and a massive fireball, green flames licking away from the white incandescent front, burned slowly across the sky and disappeared behind the buildings. It was true surprise. A woman in front of me saw it too and immediately burst into tears, thinking a jetliner had exploded. "Oh, God! They're all dead! They're all dead!"

"It was a meteor," I said. She stopped crying and looked up into the sky. Inside the fieldhouse I could hear the D.P. screaming in Russian. The woman and I looked up into the sky for a long time, but there was nothing there.

65 miles away, my future wife was driving down a darkened rural road and saw the same flaming ball plummet across the sky.

Anyway, we'll be at the Pulaski Fieldhouse next week.

New

2009-11-23T07:53:00.001-08:00

For the upcoming Bird Show at Cactus Gallery in Eagle Rock, CA.

Enormous Tiny Art Show L.A. 2

2009-11-21T10:53:00.001-08:00

Here are the new paintings for the Enormous Tiny Art Show L.A. 2, which opens December 4th. The show will be held at Living Room on Sunset Blvd. in Silver Lake, and the opening reception is Friday, December 4th from 8-10 p.m.

If you're interested in purchasing any of these, please contact the gallery through etawest@gmail.com or by phone at 603.433.1705.

Another Night, Another Bout Of Sickening Yet Exhilarating Butchery - acrylic on panel, 8" x 8"
Sometimes While Neck-Deep In A Flower's Bloom, I Can't Help But Feel Used - acrylic on panel, 4" x 4"
Finding Comfort Above The Fatigues Of Humanity - acrylic on panel, 8" x 10"
All I Need Is A Flicker Of Weakness, And I Immediately Go For The Eyes - acrylic on panel, 10" x 8"
Judging From My Shrill Whistles And Calls, You Wouldn't Think My French Is Excellent, Yet It Is - acrylic on panel, 4" x 4"
I'm A Lot Of Fun Once You Get Past The Feather Nits And The Biting - acrylic on panel, 6" x 6"

Finch Number 7

2009-11-21T10:50:00.001-08:00

Sold.

Commission

2009-11-18T18:29:00.000-08:00

Two cabinet doors I recently painted for a wonderful longtime patron.

Finch Number 1

2009-11-18T16:11:00.001-08:00

From my new Fifty Finches series - 50 original finch paintings priced at $50 each.

Or "fitty," if you prefer.

Now available in my Etsy shop.

Battered Dove Center

2009-11-16T17:54:00.001-08:00

I walked outside the studio this afternoon to see a majestic red-tailed hawk perched on the roof of our back porch. It immediately flew away, and then I saw why it was there - this guy was huddled under our table, panting like mad.

The bird activity around here has gotten intense!

New

2009-11-13T14:53:00.001-08:00

The Visitor

2009-11-11T15:49:00.001-08:00

So there I was, working, minding my own damn business, when I was rudely interrupted by this wildlife intrusion. It showed no signs of agitation. After a minute or so, it began singing. Singing! Sir, this is a place of work, not a concert venue.
Then, as if mocking my vocation, it proceeded to land inside a picture frame, where it appeared to pose. The nerve! As soon as I began "tolerating" the birdsong, the beast flew outside.

Birds. Who the hell do they think they are?

Rib-tickler

2009-11-08T19:49:00.000-08:00

The other day I was walking through the house carrying a large box in front of me, oh, let's say lower rib-height. Distracted by, oh, let's say a dust mote, I misjudged the doorway and the box caught one side of the frame. Now, when I walk, I do so in a brisk fashion. I have things to do. I'm a very busy man. However, when the box made contact with the door frame, I came to the most abrupt stop in the history of abrupt stops.

Ribs broken. Now it feels like I'm being stabbed with a phillips head screwdriver when I sneeze.

So I've kind of been out of commission for a bit. I did, however, paint this robin for one of the recent contest winners. I suffer for my art.

If By Devilish Ambitions You Mean I Enjoy Killing, Well Then Hell To The Yeah

2009-11-04T16:42:00.000-08:00

Don't Judge Me - I Live In A World Devoid Of Drive Thrus

2009-11-04T16:08:00.001-08:00

Doodles

2009-11-02T14:16:00.001-08:00

2009-10-31T21:04:00.000-07:00

"If you really want to hurt your parents, and you don't have the nerve to be gay, the least you can do is go into the arts. I'm not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something." - Kurt Vonnegut

A Safety Warning

2009-10-28T14:46:00.001-07:00

I think we can all agree that the overall theme of this amateurish, self-serving, sporadically-updated electronic newsletter has been wilderness safety. Today's post is a reminder that it is bear season, which means you may be mauled by a bear. Please be alert and remember that playing dead will not work.

Neither will running.

If you want to scream like a girl in pigtails, that's your prerogative, but you'll get little respect from me.

Caitlin Kuhwald

2009-10-28T14:41:00.000-07:00

I first met Caitlin Kuhwald at Unique Los Angeles this year, and she embodies kindness and talent, something that gets high marks in my book. Her work has been seen in Rolling Stone, Spin and on the covers of Criterion DVD covers, among other cool places. Check out her work here! Make sure you check out her Ira Glass illustration.

The Incident At 417 Magnolia Street

2009-10-21T22:19:00.001-07:00

Another piece for the Critters show.

My Friends Call Me Petey, And Everyone Is My Friend

2009-10-21T22:09:00.001-07:00

A new painting for the upcoming "Critters" show. A few years back, Ms. Meerkat and I were discussing getting a dog. We stopped into a suburban pet megastore. They had an Italian greyhound there. We immediately named it Petey and asked if we could look at it. They brought Petey out and Ms. Meerkat held him, immediately in love. Petey gazed up at her, the feeling mutual.

"How much?" I asked the clerk, thinking I was going to make the woman I loved very, very happy.

"One thousand dollars," the clerk responded, and by the time she finished saying "dollars" I had grabbed the dog, returned it to the clerk, and ushered Ms. Meerkat to the car. She seemed a little unsure what had just happened.

"How did I get in the car?" she asked, but by that time we were already on the interstate. "Where's Petey?"

I turned the radio up and pretended not to hear her.

Handmade Brigade Of Orange County Holiday Indie Craft Show

2009-10-17T23:32:00.000-07:00

The Frantic Meerkat and I are pleased to announce we'll be at the Holiday Indie Craft Show put on by the Handmade Brigade Of Orange County!

Critters

2009-10-16T13:02:00.001-07:00

A group show I'll be a part of!

Up, Up And Away

2009-10-16T00:13:00.001-07:00

When I was seventeen, I sold all of my comic books to make a car insurance payment. Ever since, I've been buying them back, one at a time, at about 456% of what I originally purchased them for. So as a comics fan, I'm very excited to be in this show, at one of my favorite L.A. galleries, Monkeyhouse Toys. Hope you can make it! I will resist the urge to dress up.

Bruce Wolf at Gold Bug

2009-10-15T20:48:00.001-07:00

Photo: Bruce Wolf

I was walking by Gold Bug today while running errands in Pasadena, and was blown away by a group of photographs on the back wall. From the sidewalk, they looked like holograms: animals in distorted death poses, glowing eerily on a black background. They are the work of photographer Bruce Wolf, and the show is "Death By Cat." The photos are of dead animals his cats bring him, animals the cats kill while roaming the 70 acres of woods surrounding his home. There are flying (and non-flying) squirrels, snakes, mice and birds, and I've rarely seen death rendered so beautifully. Wolf spent six years preparing the photographs, and this is the first time they've been shown publicly. You can find the store at 22 E. Union Street in Pasadena. Phone: (626) 744-9963.

Chillingworth the Owl

2009-10-14T14:20:00.000-07:00

This beautifully evil owl was made by the multi-talented Ann Wood. To see more of her astonishing creations, click here!

(via beefranck)

Patchwork

2009-10-13T23:46:00.001-07:00

We'll be in booth 72! Lots of new Scarface items!

Color (Twitter) Commentary Of A Bad Craft Show

2009-10-12T17:33:00.000-07:00

What follows is a twitter account of a show we did Sunday at a popular L.A. flea market. Doing this show took our batting average down from 1000% to 0.01%.

First of all, I do not want it to sound like the whole day was bad. A handful of very cool people came through, including some previous customers (who belong to that most special of all clubs - the one in my heart). I'd say only about 97% of the day was a holy shrieking nightmare. Secondly, I don't want to give the impression that the Rose Bowl Flea Market is bad. On the contrary, the vintage and antique section of the Market is without a doubt one of the most amazing places in the world. Really. I've found things there of such coolness that they made my heart ache just because they existed. However, as you're about to read, I feel like the "Arts & Crafts" section of the market was...well...

Early a.m stillness broken only by low, trumpeting farts by booth neighbor. Oh glorious gypsy life!
7:55 AM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

Are cigarettes "arts & crafts?" one vendor says "yes!"
8:19 AM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

Things here can be described as "handmade" the way my high school girlfriends could have been described as "faithful"
8:25 AM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

Some Armenian gangster-looking types have a booth selling what looks like "everything for the modern, discerning douchebag."
8:29 AM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

Kim calls me "Debbie Downer." I prefer "Rhonda Realistic."
8:38 AM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

"Arts and crafts" here can be interpreted as "crafted artfully" by a child in a factory outside of Hangzhou.
8:54 AM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

Breaking craft trend! Take what you were selling before. Paste a picture of Michael Jackson on it. Get rich. Boom! Easy!
8:58 AM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

Next time I come here all of my birds will have Michael Jackson and Scarface heads. Early retirement, anyone?
9:05 AM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

Could this be the end of craft show success for our trusty heroes? It looks like it! Don't change that dial! Meltdowns in real time!
9:15 AM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

Lady with pendulous breasts and no bra: "You got any of them there critters with a Scarface head?" Me: "Next time."
9:25 AM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

Ha ha - that would only happen if someone actually walked INTO the booth.
9:27 AM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

There are fashion crimes being committed here that may require me to make some citizen's arrests.
9:29 AM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

Al Pacino will go to his grave content in the knowledge that a character he played is a true hero to people with mashed potatoes for brains.
9:56 AM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

Shamwows are art? Sigh...grateful at least that we are not next to the "romantic jazz cd" booth.
10:03 AM Oct 11th from mobile web

If I wanted cruel indifference to my work I would have married one of my art school teachers.
10:06 AM Oct 11th from mobile web

Just set a world record for angrily hissing "Oy vey" underneath my breath in an hour. I'm not even Jewish.
10:13 AM Oct 11th from mobile web

I have died a thousand deaths since 9 a.m., not one of them honorable.
10:16 AM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

It's like we woke up at 5 a.m. and said, "Let's go to a parade of the tasteless and inane! Maybe they'll throw candy!"
10:28 AM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

SO MANY senior ladies who are utterly confused and baffled by our work. The withering parting glances - Grandma is DISPLEASED.
10:33 AM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

Drawing pictues of Michael Jackson and Scarface on napkins and selling them so we can hopefully afford lunch.
10:47 AM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

We are currently arguing about this being a "learning experience" or an "incindiary cluster f--k." I am in the latter camp. Natch.
10:54 AM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

A man wearing a fanny pack & a shirt with wolves on it, & who appeared to be pregnant, just threw my ego down a flight of concrete stairs.
11:01 AM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

Years from now Kim will say, remember the flea market? & I will throw my highball glass against the wall & scream, just scream incoherently.
11:15 AM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

The "romantic jazz" cd booth made the executive decision to crank the volume to 11. Sway, lovers! Sway!
11:24 AM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

Sometimes I feel a twinge of guilt over being a snob, but today has made me feel proud to don the tuxedo and monocle.
11:31 AM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

It's like I'm being held hostage by my own bad decision.
11:46 AM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

Cool customers have started arriving. I've put away the razor blade. FOR NOW.
12:55 PM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

Black pleather tights, ugg boots and surgical mask? Hello beautiful!
1:04 PM Oct 11th from mobile web

"arts and crafts." 'Nuff said. http://twitpic.com/l5trj
1:15 PM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

I just gave a patch of middle distance my unfocused attention for about fifteen minutes.
1:37 PM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

It's about now that Satan appears and says, "Surprise! You've been dead and in hell all this time!" and you just burst open in sobs of relief.
1:40 PM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

My beard is full of bits of kettle corn and my heart is full of impotent rage, or, just another Sunday.
1:56 PM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

"Hello. I am unable to appreciate any sort of beauty, any type of irony escapes me and I have no sense of humor. May I peruse your wares?"
2:18 PM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

I have begun greeting customers with, " How 'bout that Scarface, huh? He sure did a lot of blow and murder!" It breaks the ice.
2:30 PM Oct 11th from TweetDeck

I finally understand the Scarface phenomenon. He's like Robin Hood. For people who don't know who Robin Hood was.
2:38 PM Oct 11th from mobile web

A Winner!

2009-10-09T11:08:00.000-07:00

B. Lampman of Victoria, B.C. was the winner of October's Free Favorites contest! Congrats!

Alas, Poor Alec! I Knew Him Well

2009-10-07T17:50:00.000-07:00

Painting of Swamp Thing done for an upcoming superhero-themed group show at a gallery. If you're interested in purchasing this original, feel free to contact me.

Burn

2009-10-01T12:01:00.001-07:00

The Gypsy Fortuneteller

2009-10-01T08:44:00.000-07:00

2009-09-27T19:05:00.000-07:00

It's rather difficult designing a Christmas card when it is 100 degrees in the shade. Nothing a little Vince Guaraldi on the iPod couldn't fix.

Still working on the verb-iage.

Dandy Lion Press

2009-09-26T20:58:00.001-07:00

The letterpress work of Dandy Lion Press is stunning in the quality of the reproduced drawings done by Maia Karolina de Raat. Maia has a calendar of her jackalopes coming out soon. Keep an eye on her shop here!

Mindfulnest

2009-09-23T19:27:00.001-07:00

Mindfulnest, a beautiful new boutique in Burbank that carries the cards of the lovely and talented Frantic Meerkat, is having a shindig tomorrow night. LA Green Drinks will there - anyone concerned about the environment is encouraged to show up for drinks and discussion.

Waiting For A Bit Of Hope Like It Is Candy Thrown From A Parade Float

2009-09-23T18:03:00.000-07:00

The Mornings Prior To Grand And Horrible Shifts In The World Are Always Beautiful

2009-09-22T17:35:00.000-07:00

ROADWORKS San Francisco

2009-09-21T09:09:00.000-07:00

These Aren't The Poladroids You're Looking For

2009-09-15T21:47:00.002-07:00

Are you Poladroiding yet? All the kids are doing it! Click here to get started!

This weekend! San Francisco!

2009-09-15T17:12:00.000-07:00

Join The Mincing Mockingbird and The Frantic Meerkat at Roadworks this weekend in San Francisco! Lots of vendors (with books, prints and other handmade items) and music - plus artists will be making prints from large-scale, hand-carved linoleum blocks with a steamroller.

Chicago

2009-09-15T08:28:00.000-07:00

OC Weekly Inteview

2009-09-08T17:49:00.000-07:00

Steph, from Hearts & Lasterbeams, interviewed The Frantic Meerkat and I for the OC Weekly blog. You can read it here.

Sneak Peek

2009-09-07T20:24:00.000-07:00

The cover of the new book, which is coming soon. 136 pages, full color, lots of newness. What your coffee table will be asking for for Christmas.

A Winner!

2009-09-01T08:45:00.000-07:00

Congrats to K. Smith-Adair, the winner of this month's contest!

An owl will be flying her way shortly!

FREE FAVORITES CONTEST!

2009-08-31T21:07:00.000-07:00

It's that time again!

Do you have an avian favorite? Do you like art? Do you like free? If so, this monthly contest may be right up your alley! Each month I'm drawing a random bird from email entries and painting a 10" x 10" original painting of the winner's favorite bird - and they get it free!

If you haven't entered yet, simply email me the name of your favorite bird (and specify male or female, if it matters) to mincingmockingbird@gmail.com. I will not use your email address for any other purpose but for this contest. It's so easy! Winner will be drawn at midnight Pacific Time!

Enormous Tiny Art Show

2009-08-31T14:01:00.000-07:00

The Enormous Tiny Art Show 6 is on at Nahcotta gallery. New original paintings are available by clicking here!

Dancing In The Acadias, And Time Looked The Other Way

2009-08-30T14:19:00.000-07:00

A new print, available here!

Renegade Chicago

2009-08-27T13:07:00.000-07:00

Ah, Chicago. So many memories: late night strolls - drunk as a lord - down the alley where Dillinger was shot. Super Dog. Finding myself inadvertently in the middle of a baseball bat beat-down between rival gangs. The Green Mill, where world-class jazz was served alongside frothy, unironic glasses of Schlitz. Digging in a 7-foot-deep snowdrift trying to find my automobile. Good times.

I had an apartment in an old stone resort that was right on Lake Michigan. The windows looked out on the lake, and in winter the tips of waves would wash onto the glass. By February the windows had about four inches of ice on them, filtering the light in a way that even then seemed magical. A memory perfectly balanced by the fact that some sonofabitch in the building liked to open every package I received, so that returning from work I would find packing materials strewn through the lobby like confetti from a party I wasn't allowed to attend.

The Frantic Meerkat and I will be making our triumphant return to that toddling town. Hope you can stop by and say howdy.

Enormous. Tiny. Art.

2009-08-23T18:39:00.001-07:00

Apologies for lack of posts, but The Frantic Meerkat's card line has really taken off and I've had to help her ship out her awesome cards. Also! I have been painting away, and new pieces will be revealed at the Enormous Tiny Art Show 6 at Nahcotta gallery in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Most of my work is fairly small anyway, so it fit right in with the size requirement (smaller than 10" x 10").

If you're in the area, I hope you can stop by and see the show! Lots of cool artists and affordable art.

In other gallery news, I'll be the featured artist in Cactus Gallery's Bird Show in January! I'm pulling out the stops for this one - it's going to be "off the hizzy" as my grandfather used to say. More details soon!

Education and Creativity

2009-08-15T09:50:00.001-07:00

Crappy Taxidermy

2009-08-05T10:41:00.000-07:00

Taxidermy treasures await you at www.crappytaxidermy.com! The creepy wolves with human faces brought forth tears of joy. And who wouldn't want to have a drink with the gentleman pictured above?

(via morbidanatomy.com)

A Winner!

2009-08-01T20:56:00.000-07:00

The winner of this month's Free Favorites contest is K. Palette!

For information on the monthly contest, click here!

The Humming Is Always There, Even At Rest

2009-08-01T20:32:00.000-07:00

Another Drink Won't Hurt - I Only Live Two Years

2009-07-30T18:46:00.001-07:00

Poe Was A Friend

2009-07-29T20:12:00.000-07:00

New

2009-07-29T20:11:00.000-07:00

Delicacy And Gentleness Underneath The Overpass

2009-07-29T20:00:00.001-07:00

Upsetting The Balance Of Nature Is Kind Of My Thing

2009-07-29T17:18:00.000-07:00

The Chimneynaut, Or, The Planet That Smelled Of Cookies And Marital Discord

2009-07-28T17:44:00.000-07:00

New

2009-07-27T21:00:00.001-07:00

San Francisco

2009-07-22T19:42:00.000-07:00

F.I.N.C.H.

2009-07-15T15:56:00.001-07:00

The F.I.N.C.H. (Fully Integrated Nuclear Cat Harasser) is the latest in cutting edge backyard avian military hardware. Designed to provide a comfortable, mobile home-away-from-home, but also providing the latest in laser guided missile systems and heavy railguns, the F.I.N.C.H. is there for you in any pinch. Raise your young free from the pressures of worry - this bristling treaded nightmare fares well against most predatory mammals up to and including humans. The side-firing weapons utilize sensor, navigation and fire control systems to provide surgical firepower or area saturation - even at night! Light up the yard with tracers and hollowpoints and keep your family safe from feline terrorists.

The missus will enjoy sitting on eggs within the luxurious pleather nest on the spacious lower level, while you sit in air-cooled comfort above using night vision targeting and catnip-tipped daisy cutters to send cats back to wherever it is cats come from. Why should birds miss out on the fun of motorhoming? Sure, when you can fly, the world's your oyster - but what about the times when nature demands procreation? Why settle down in some stationary hole in a gourd? Get out there!

Ask for the biological and chemical package - free with any F.I.N.C.H. purchased between now and August 31. Hybrid models also available.

Most Know Nothing Of The Magic Of Magnificence

2009-07-13T21:19:00.000-07:00

My Badge Of Dignity Was Bought On Ebay

2009-07-13T20:58:00.001-07:00

Renegade San Francisco - THIS WEEKEND!

2009-07-13T16:16:00.001-07:00

Stop by and see us!

Moments When My Gaze Goes Vacant

2009-07-09T18:19:00.001-07:00

New

2009-07-07T23:52:00.001-07:00

New Dodo Picture Uncovered

2009-07-07T14:20:00.001-07:00

This drawing, dating from the late 1600's, was recently discovered. In the article from the Telegraph, a dodo expert from the Natural History Museum called the drawing "very interesting but rather odd." Exactly what I want people in 2350 to say about my work.

Read the article here!

Lovely And Charming And Always Hungry

2009-07-05T22:44:00.001-07:00

Getting Drunk In Hats

2009-07-05T18:16:00.001-07:00

The Frantic Meerkat has some swanky new note cards up in her shop. Fezzes, booze and pretty colors. Bliss.

2Feet's 2 Feet

2009-07-05T18:11:00.001-07:00

I'm really digging these terra cotta feet. By the appropriately named 2feet. Her Etsy shop is here.

Braving Danger And Darkness To Eat, But I Wouldn't Call Myself A Foodie

2009-07-05T17:29:00.000-07:00

Crazy In Love

2009-07-04T23:09:00.001-07:00

12 Rounds Was Never Enough For Her

2009-07-04T22:39:00.000-07:00

A new ACEO in the Etsy.com shop - where right now there is a half-off sale going on. Half-off everything!

The Inter-Net

2009-07-01T22:55:00.001-07:00

The Frantic Meerkat and I have a large collection of vintage books in the studio, occasionally providing collage material but mostly posing a fire hazard and providing us with 100% of our daily mustiness intake. I was browsing through them tonight when I came across this stained and beaten volume.

I got a little misty-eyed, knowing that in a few years children will Tweet the following questions: "What was a book, Gan'pa? Was that a Kindle for poor people?"

A Winner!

2009-07-01T09:05:00.000-07:00

Congrats to L. Rosenheck!

Thanks to everyone who entered! A new drawing will take place Aug. 1st, and if you've previously entered the contest, you're eligible to win!

FREE FAVORITES CONTEST!

2009-06-30T14:39:00.000-07:00

It's that time again! Last month's winning painting is on the way to Australia!

Do you have an avian favorite? Do you like art? Do you like free? If so, this monthly contest may be right up your alley! Each month I'm drawing a random bird from email entries and painting a 10" x 10" original painting of the winner's favorite bird - and they get it free!

If you haven't entered yet, simply email me the name of your favorite bird (and specify male or female, if it matters) to mincingmockingbird@gmail.com. I will not use your email address for any other purpose but for this contest. It's so easy! Winner will be drawn on July 1st.

There Is Nothing To Fear But Fear Itself - And The Neighbor's Cat, Jingles McFiggins

2009-06-30T12:59:00.001-07:00

Trying To Change Public Opinion That I Am But A Wickedness In The Madman's Dream That Is Night

2009-06-30T12:00:00.001-07:00

The Cost Of Daydreams In Prey Items

2009-06-30T11:14:00.000-07:00

Millionaire

2009-06-29T21:56:00.001-07:00

I'm really digging the cover to Elvis Costello's new album - it's by one of my all-time favorite artists: Tony Millionaire.

His Sock Monkey comics contain tales of sea-faring adventures, killer ants and a stuffed crow that is also a drunk. Millionaire's beautiful drawings of Victorian houses and the batshit insanity that goes on inside them are too good to be true. Some pages from The Adventures Of Tony Millionaire's Sock Monkey may be perused here.

And here's a sock monkey that looks like Mr. T:

Zoo

2009-06-28T13:13:00.000-07:00

All Over Coffee

2009-06-26T15:45:00.000-07:00

Paul Madonna's "All Over Coffee" strip is published every Sunday in the San Francisco Chronicle. It combines beautifully rendered scenes of San Francisco architecture with bits of dialogue and stories. There's a published book, which I absolutely treasure. Heartbreakingly good stuff. More can be seen here.

Constant Travel Is Bad For Relationships

2009-06-25T22:46:00.001-07:00

From the travel book.

Setting Out

2009-06-25T19:14:00.001-07:00

From the travel book.

A True Story: The Last Days Of An Adventuress

2009-06-24T18:49:00.000-07:00

From the travel book.

Still Here

2009-06-23T22:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry for lack of posts. The Frantic Meerkat and I were a little unprepared for the success we had at the National Stationery Show and have been reeling for weeks. I've also been hard at work on two new books, which will hopefully be done by fall. Also! Be sure to check out the Renegade Craft Fair in Los Angeles July 11 & 12. The Meerkat and I will have a booth.

And here you thought I was on a meth bender.

My show at Henry Road has been very successful, but there's still great work available and I'm bringing new paintings to hang this weekend! More info here!

In The Flash Of Reflections, I Cut A Heroic Figure

2009-06-12T19:15:00.000-07:00

The Mincing Mockingbird at Henry Road

2009-06-07T16:33:00.001-07:00

This Thursday, if you're in Los Angeles and happen to find yourself in the mood for wine, bird art and gorgeous home decor, the place to be will be Henry Road. It's the opening of my show containing all new work! The show runs through October, but I hope you can make it - I'd like to meet you, and I'm pretty amusing before I get too drunk.

Details:

Opening: Thursday, June 11 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Where: 3949 Laurelgrove Ave. Studio City, CA 91604 (South of Ventura, 2 blocks west of Laurel Canyon)

Overlooked New York

2009-06-04T16:39:00.000-07:00

Very much worth checking out is "Overlooked New York," a collection of portraits and interviews with"ardent New Yorkers about their joyous obsessions" by artist Zina Saunders. Click here for great stories and art!