"Ship" to-my-lou, my dahlin'! Star Wars Ship gazing.

Recently, (as in LAST NIGHT) I decided to 'Deviantart' myself, and create my own artist page and profile. Well shucks, you need to upload artwork to that new page. So since thawing out of a long long apathy-induced-hybernation, these leftover Star Wars cards featuring the Millennium Falcon and sister Star Wars vehicles are now surfacing. Have a look, will ya? Encourage the sleeping bear to get busy making some honey! (What do Star Wars cards and bears and honey have to do with each other? Pfht!)

-Steve!

Mihailo Vukelic: A great great talent, and wonderful guy.

Mihailo Vukelic - Art Gallery Show

My mind was on other things while his show was going on back in 2010, or I would have attended, but, Mihailo Vukelic is an enormously talented man, innovative and gifted beyond his years. Enjoy his youtube video and review his work as often as you can while internet surfing.

Please see for yourself. Click here. I double-daggone dare ya.

-Steve

Ye Shall not drink and draw.

Elderly Woman Ruins 19th Century Fresco in Restoration Attempt

By Katie Kindelan

Centro de Estudios Borjanos

It’s one thing to stage a do-it-yourself renovation on a table, mirror or painting found deep in the weeds of a yard sale.

It’s quite another to attempt a repair job on a one-of-a-kind 19^th century fresco by the Spanish painter Elias Garcia Martinez with a few broad brushstrokes.

Such was the lesson learned by an elderly member of the Santuario de Misericodia church in Borja, in northeastern Spain. Her handiwork, or lack thereof, was discovered after the painter’s granddaughter donated the work, “Ecce Homo,” to the archive of religious paintings housed at the Centro de Estudios Borjano, also in Borja.

When officials from the center went to examine the work at the church a few weeks ago, they found it was not as Martinez had left it, the U.K.’s Telegraph reported.

The last photo taken of the artwork before any damage was done, in 2010, showed Martinez’s intricate brush strokes around the face of Jesus.  A photo taken in July by center officials for a catalog of regional religious art showed the painting splattered by white marks, possibly the work of the woman trying to remove paint.  The final photo, taken this month after Martinez’s relative donated the work, showed broad and thick layers of paint now covering important details in the work, such as the crown of thorns on Jesus’ head.

While not a good day for art historians, local officials said the restoration attempt by the woman, said to be in her 80s, was not malicious, just misguided.

Juan Maria Ojeda, the city councilor in charge of cultural affairs, told the Spanish newspaper El Pais that the woman turned herself in and admitted causing the damage when she realized it had “gotten out of hand.” He added that the woman, who was not identified, attempted to restore the work with “with good intentions.”

The U.K.’s Independent reported the church and center are now trying to assess the damage to the painting and determine whether a professional can restore Martinez’s work.  Ojeda added that the woman herself would meet with restorers to explain what kind of materials she used to help them undo the damage.

There was no figure given on the value of the work, said to hold more sentimental than artistic value because Martinez’s family is known in the local community.

Joe Kubert, comic book artist icon, dies at 85

Joe Kubert, comic book icon, dies at 85

August 14, 2012

NEW YORK (JTA) -- Joe Kubert, called one of the last of the great American comic book artists as well as the founder of The Kubert School, has died.

Kubert, 85, died Sunday in Morristown, N.J. of multiple myeloma, according to The New York Times.

Kubert was born to a Jewish family in southeast Poland before immigrating to New York as a baby. He started drawing comics at an early age before working for DC Comics in the 1940s. He continued to draw in the hospital despite his illness. 

“He’s the longest-lived continuously important contributor to the field,” Paul Levitz, a former president of DC Comics, told The New York Times on Monday. “There are two or three of the greats left, but he’s definitely one of the last.”

Kubert is best known for his work on the DC Comics characters Sgt. Rock and Hawkman. He was inducted into the Harvey Awards’ Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1997 and Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1998.

Kubert also worked on a number of Jewish projects, including “Cartoonists Against the Holocaust” for the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, a traveling exhibit of 1940s political cartoons from American newspapers about the Jews in Nazi Europe, and a two-page adventure comic with moral lessons called “The Adventures of Yaakov and Isaac” for the Lubavitch magazine Moshiach Times, reported The Jewish Daily Forward.

He is also known as one of the leaders of the Wyman Institute campaign to persuade the Auschwitz State Museum in Poland to return eight paintings belonging to Dina Babbitt, a fellow cartoonist and illustrator. He started a petition that gathered more than 450 signatures of comic book creators from around the world and international attention for her cause. 

He founded The Kubert School in Dover, N.J., to train future illustrators. It is the only accredited school devoted entirely to cartooning and graphic art. 

The thinks of the past.

Gene Simmons drawing. Copics and
prismacolor on red stock.  20'' x 25''

Started thinking about 1978. This is what crept out onto red paper stock. Sketched with Copics, colored pencil and a hint of acrylic paint--and get your grandma out of here.

I'll scan properly and place on the website eventually.