Aw crap we're already more than halfway through May and I'm just now working on a blog post? Let's see, let's see, what's going on...

With Our Bodies, my first solo art show since 2018, went up at the beginning of the month at Salt of the Earth in Abingdon, VA! The opening reception was scheduled for May 6th, but then we got with wicked storms and a big tornado warning, so we had to drop it. Instead, we're having a closing reception next Saturday, May 28th! 

This is PROBABLY for the better, if only because SO MANY of my friends weren't going to be able to make it to the opening reception in the first place, which was a huge bummer before the storms rolled in and canceled everything! 

This past weekend, I danced in my SECOND ever performance, with two of the same amazing friends, and it was an overwhelming experience. I only danced for part of the performance actually, before breaking off to an easel I had set up at the side of the stage so that I could draw the other two in motion, all set to Knee 5 by Philip Glass.

(picture taken by my fiancée!)

One of the drawings I did onstage was sold in the silent auction for the show to benefit Huschka House Transitional Living, along with some other pieces I donated. I actually did five drawings altogether for the performance itself, and the others got bought by one of the other performers in the show, which is nice!

ALSO LAST WEEK, Richard Graves and I put up our curated Pouncepunk group art show at the William King Museum's Art Lab! Featuring 28 works from 28 different artists, one for each Pouncepunk prompt, curated by the two of us! It'll be on display until the end of June! We also put up a suggestion board for people to write down prompts they'd like to see next year!

(This means that I am CURRENTLY in THREE separate art shows in Abingdon, as the Humor Me show at the William King Museum itself, featuring my Cosmic Adventures of Slimepunk minicomic, is still on display until July! That's...kind of crazy, actually!)

May 7th was Free Comic Book Day, and I got to set up at Mountain Empire Comics in downtown Bristol, an experience that I missed. I didn't do great saleswise, but still had fun.

Here's another painting for With Our Bodies:

I've worked on very few other things in April as I was finishing up the paintings for this show, and the period between hanging it and hanging the Pouncepunk show, on top of prepping for the dance performance, was chaotic, so I'm only just catching up on things this week. We had figure drawing last month on the 30th, which was a joy, and you can see work from that on the Defining Bodies Instagram page, along with our weekly poses. 

We're meeting this Saturday too, and it's going to be a HUGE experience from the sounds of it. I'm so excited.

My current thing that I'm working on is commission work for a big project from a friend I've collaborated with before, none of which I can share right now, but he did give me permission to share some preliminary art that I've done over on my Patreon, which I will probably do...next week? Yeah, next week. If you're not subscribed, you should! Everything from this weekend's figure drawing gathering will be there this weekend, and I just today shared some newly finished Chainsaw Man and Digimon fanart! 

I'm also getting things together for my next two shows after the closing reception for With Our Bodies: The Johnson City Art Pop Up on June 3rd and Wytheville UFO Fest on June 11th! There's a sticker design I did for the latter that I'm really happy with, which, again, you can currently ONLY see on Patreon. Oh, and I'm also signed up for the Rainbow Festival in Johnson City on June 25th!

I think that's it right now? Maybe? Probably?

Yeah, let's call it a day. Thanks so much for reading and for your support, take care!