Horizontal Skydiving…Nobody Walks to LA part 2

I know what you’re going to ask, “Under the correct circumstances, can an unattended glass of fruit punch become self aware?” And I’m going to ignore that question and just continue on with my originally intended post, that being the update of my trip to Los Angeles and back, on my bike, for the Sketch Theatre Book Release and Gallery Opening…..I mean….seriously, what the hell kind of a question is that?!

My ride, packed and ready for the road. (Notice its beautiful, shinny bug-free-ness)

Milque Toast, my travel buddy, is getting antsy to go. We are a few hours late on leaving thanks to a kitchen disaster, involving a garbage disposal exploding. (Notice his beautiful, shinny bug-free-ness)

The first day was the hardest and longest of the trip, and contained all of the total jaunt’s mishaps, including: having a semi truck’s tire tread flung at me from the car in front while going near 90 miles per hour. Luckily, the tire hit low enough to get whisked under my bike, but in doing so managed to whip my right leg off the bike and open a gash in the knee. I managed to keep the bike up, regaining control after getting speed wobbles at high speed. A few neighboring autos pulled over as I did to make sure I was alright. I called it a day after this and stayed in the first hotel I could find, where I mended my knee with super glue (not kidding! Amazing on deep cuts!). There I discovered that I had the funniest looking sunburn caused by not putting sunscreen on my hands during the morning ride through Colorado….and after a Good Nights Passed Out Face Down on the Bed, I went outside to find that the tire that went under my bike had hit the roll bar on the right hand side with such force as to bend it back into the engine (as seen above). I decided to take it a bit easier on day two. (which I have no pics to document…we now jump a day to my one and only day in Hollywood)

Milque Toast and I sharing a bottomless mug of coffee from what is becoming my favorite spot to stop in L.A., Café Muse….if having only gone to a place twice now can be considered enough of an attendance to warrant a favorite place recommendation…which I believe is a Yes.


Milque Toast patiently waits for me to take this picture before we visit the Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City. We missed seeing the artwork from the Anniversary show, but got to see original Coop paintings, so who could complain?

And finally we arrived at the Gnomon Studios. Milque Toast poses with the incredible Lily Feliciano, the Executive Producer of Sketch Theatre, the one who originally invited me to become involved, and just all around amazing person. The breasts in the background are unidentified and completely unintentional…really…seriously…

The innards of the Gnomon Workshop’s Gallery…with many (if not most) of the sketches that are contained within the Book’s pages. All were up for bid in a silent auction. I was bidding on a Travis Louie sketch (not the one that hung above my own sketch….but seriously, how cool is that?!), and the last time I looked before the bidding was overwith, I was still the high bidder. Enough time has now passed that I have to concede that someone else got a bid in at the last second…and I now hate whoever that is with every fiber of my being (kidding…congrats to the winner)

Milque Toast in front of our new favorite drink, Absinthe. We tipped this drink tender well, for even though he was stocked with whiskeys and vodkas and other such sot after beverages, he did spend the majority of the evening making absinthe drinks for everybody.

Milque Toast with Dave “the Chung” Chung. I met Dave and his wife, Desiree, early on in the evening and hit it off with them immediately. Dave has an awesome style, and an incredible ability to quickly freehand his vision in pen on the page….his sketches are better than my finished drawings.
As an example of what I’m talking about, GO HERE to see one of my favorite sketches he did under the Sketch Theatre lamps.

And here is the BOOK that this trip was all about. I had no doubt that the volume would be impressive, but I was still impressed by every detail taken to produce such a book! The design, the printing and binding…everything about the book is amazing!
It was published by Baby Tattoo, who are also responsible for a few other art books in my collection that I cherish. I think it’s safe to say that they are a company that I’m starting to more than admire greatly.
The book has already been reviewed HERE, by the cool folks at Nerd Reactor.

Here Milque Toast poses in front of the expansive Salt Flats in Utah. Sadly, this is one of the only scenery pics I took during the entire trip. One of the problems with having planned out such a long journey within such a short period of time was the inability to stop and enjoy areas like this further….and there was a lot of beauty to take in.

Just look at this badass bike….got to and from Los Angeles, over 2000 miles, without incident or complaint. (Notice the beautiful dull bug-coated luster)

Nobody Walks to L.A.

I’m a little late on doing this post, that is, I really should have written about this over a week ago. That being said, I’ll just get into the meat of it.

For those of you who know me, or have been following me in any of my various forms of social media outlets (blog, Facebook, screaming out of my studio window into a megaphone made from luncheon meats stitched together), you might recall a drawing I was fortunate enough to do for an ongoing online project known as Sketch Theatre.
A quick recap for those who are giving me that blank stare that I’m all too familiar with: I did a drawing for Sketch Theatre. That’s about the quickest recap I can do.
A little more in depth: Sketch Theatre best describes what they’re about in the Mission Statement, but the process is this: they film artists from various fields drawing and use the footage to make a short film of the process.
Its fairly genius actually, and completely surprising to me that it hadn’t been done before, at least, not to the success that Sketch Theatre is doing it.

Like I said, a little over a year ago I was extremely lucky to become a part of this, and had traveled to L.A. to have my own drawing filmed.

The reason I’m bringing all of this up is because of the fact that I’ll be travelling back to L.A. in just a weeks time to join the Sketch Theatre Crew and many of the artists who have participated for the release of the first Sketch Theatre Book:

Needless to say, I’m excited to be a part of this, and there is no words to describe how amazing it is to be listed among such other artists that I’ve admired.
So, if you are reading this and have the ability to attend at all, please do! It’s looking to be a great event.

I’ll post more info on where and how to get a copy of the book when I learn it at a later date, for those of you who can’t attend.

Hope to see you there!