Illustration Ale III @EastEndBrewing @UncoveredSpace @Aetherea @valkyriesbard @strawberryluna @toonseum @Waynocartoons

The third edition of Illustration Ale was released last Thursday (Dec. 5) at the Toonseum in beautiful downtown Pittsburgh. Six local artists were invited to illustrate and design their own version of a label for the series.

Artists include (left to right; top to bottom):

Ilene Winn Lederer
ME!
strawberryluna
Sarah Miller
Lizzee Solomon
Jessica Heberle

The ale itself is a 1,600 bottle limited edition, Belgian-style ale with a rich, dark malt character, brewed by Pittsburgh's own East End Brewing. A portion of the proceeds from sales of the brew benefit the Toonseum.

Artists take a selfie

My brew and me

Original Square Kat painting: April Fool

Read about the origins of the April Fool Square Kat here.
See the progression of the painting here.
And see into the mind of the boozer Kat here.

ArtBox Project for @PghCityPaper (part 6)

I was selected to paint (decorate? enhance? art?) one of ten Pittsburgh City Paper street boxes. This is Part 6 of my progress reports.

The box is finished and delivered! Below are photos from different angles to give you a sense of what all the sides look like together.

 

 

And here's the box with the masking removed and awaiting delivery.

The boxes will be revealed October 15 at the Best of Pittsburgh party, and then voting for a favorite begins October 16.

ArtBox Project for @PghCityPaper (part 5)

I was selected to paint (decorate? enhance? art?) one of ten Pittsburgh City Paper street boxes. This is Part 5 of my progress reports.

This is the back of the box where Andy will be, but just the background is complete.

The next thing I did was the flesh tones. Those were the scariest part of the box for me (along with the balloons), so I decided to tackle them first.

And then, here's Andy's head complete.

...And the back of the box with the masking removed. This is the side that will be facing the street. I think it's safe to say I'm pretty satisfied with how he turned out.

ArtBox Project for @PghCityPaper (part 4)

I was selected to paint (decorate? enhance? art?) one of ten Pittsburgh City Paper street boxes. This is Part 4 of my progress reports.

Not a whole lot to show on this one. This is the top of the box. Pretty straight forward.

D's Six Pax & Dogz @Ds6Pax

My paper towel @ D's Six Pax & Dogz, 1118 S Braddock Ave, Pittsburgh PA.

(This also doubles as Day 15 of The Rots' 31 Day Rotty Halloween Challenge.)

ArtBox Project for @PghCityPaper (part 3)

I was selected to paint (decorate? enhance? art?) one of ten Pittsburgh City Paper street boxes. This is Part 3 of my progress reports.

The next thing I did was the underpainting on the other four sides of the box. Kinda boring, sorry.

But if you think the underpainting was boring, imagine what painting "Pittsburgh City Paper" eight times down two sides was like. Yeah. A little tedious.

But finished.

Let's move on.

ArtBox Project for @PghCityPaper (part 2)

I was selected to paint (decorate? enhance? art?) one of ten Pittsburgh City Paper street boxes. This is Part 2 of my progress reports.

The first thing I had to do to the CP box was prime it, then transfer the sketches and then get the underpainting going. (Sorry, kinda boring.)

The sketch on the front.

The underpainting on the front.

Here's how the front turned out.

ArtBox Project for @PghCityPaper

A friend (I suppose I can still call her that) from work told me that the Pittsburgh City Paper ArtBox Project just "screamed" for me to paint some Rots.

So I sketched, and I entered.

And then they went and picked me to paint one of their boxes.

I guess now I have to paint it.

Here's the sketch I did for what might be considered the "back" of the box. It's the side opposite where you open the door to take out a paper. It's also the side that will be facing the street.

The box will be Andy Warhol themed (in case you didn't know, he was a native Pittsburgher) with his mylar cloud balloons on the top and front and the City Paper logo painted repeatedly down the sides.

Working hard on my 15 minutes...

D's Six Pax & Dogz

A paper towel @ D's Six Pax & Dogz, 1118 S Braddock Ave, Pittsburgh PA.

Smokin' Joe's

My napkin @ Smokin' Joe's, 2001 E Carson St, Pittsburgh PA.

D's Six Pax & Dogz

My napkin @ D's Six Pax & Dogz, 1118 S Braddock Ave, Pittsburgh PA.

D's Six Pax and Dogz

My napkin (they use paper towels) @ D's Six Pax and Dogs, 1118 S Braddock Ave, Pittsburgh PA.

Radisson

My post-it note pad @ the Radisson, 101 Radisson Dr, Pittsburgh PA.

Applebee's

My napkin @ Applebee's, 6570 Steubenville Pike, Pittsburgh PA.

Apple Store

Apple Store, 5508 Walnut St, Pittsburgh PA. (Yes, I'm shameless.)

Smokin' Joe's

My napkin @ Smokin' Joe's, 2001 E Carson St, Pittsburgh PA.

And so as not to embarrass those with me, the photo was shot behind closed doors.

Smokin' Joe's

My napkin @ Smokin' Joe's, 2001 E Carson St, Pittsburgh PA.

The March of the Penguins

Take that, Marian Hossa!

Bleeding Black & Gold

I know people who don't live in or around Pittsburgh probably wouldn't understand (well, maybe Yankees fans might), but when the Steelers play the Super Bowl, it's an extension of the holiday season. I only ask for the T.V. 16 days of the year unless, of course, the Steelers make the playoffs. And in that case I'll need an extension.

I don't think enough has been said about the schedule we were dealt this season. We had to play eight of the 11 other playoff teams from last year (the Steelers were #12). Half our season was the Patriots, Colts, Chargers, Jaguars, Titans, Giants, Cowboys and Redskins. Thankfully Cleveland and Cincinnati are in our division, which eased the blow a little. But I would like to thank the rest of the NFL for eliminating from the playoffs all the teams that beat us through the regular season. That was very nice of you guys.

Anyway, I've left Rots in a lot of restaurants around the area, and many have been of both Steelers' players and fans. I put together a collage of those Rots and posted it here in honor of Number 6.

Six long months until training camp.

Smokin' Joe's

My napkin @ Smokin' Joe's, 2001 E Carson St, Pittsburgh PA.