Catching up... visit to Jeff Jones - dinner with Michael Golden

Just a quick one to keep you up to date

Last Saturday finally managed to meet one of my favourite artists Jeff Jones. Drove up early in the morning to his place North of New York and arrived at 9.00 am.

After a bit of searching finally found the appartment of Catherine (the artists formely know as Jeff Jones - inside joke from Jeff himself).

Honesty obliges me to inform you that Catherine is still struggling with the aftermath of her depression and has to cope on a regular basis with anxiety attacks. So please do not ask me for her address - I'll keep it a trade secret.

Introduced Catherine to the work of Belgian painter Leon Spilliaert http://www.expo-spilliaert.be/en/bing2.asp via the book of the exibition which currently runs in Brussels. After that Catherine showed me the work she's recently finished (Wading - see picture + currently on ebay http://tinyurl.com/ydnn93 )



It's one of the few recent paintings with a human figure predominantly on the canvas. Catherine explained that she still feels pretty unsure to paint the human form, and prefers to stick to landscapes at this point in time. But for sure this painting is a hopefull indication of things to come. (I noticed a couple of empty canvasses some of them already off larger dimension)

I really hope she'll beat her demons and finds back the confidence of the past. But for sure it's looking good. Thank you Catherine for your hospitality, it was a pleasure meeting you.

After my visit to Jones, went back to New York for some early Christmas shopping and dinner with Renee & Michael Golden. Next to discussing some topics regarding the upcoming show. Needless to say that the dinner and the Bourbon afterwards were big fun :)

I'll keep you updated on the progress

Regards

Carl

Ready to go...

Last day in San Fransisco,

Will miss it after almost 3 weeks.

Today was Thanksgiving, so almost everything was closed, except Chinatown. Did some last minute shopping for the family.

At noon I went together with Barron to Twin Peaks (no not the location of the movie) to have a magnificent view on San Fransisco and the environment. I'll post pictures later.

Afterwards had a superb Chinese dinner with Barron and Petra. Thx to both of you for the fantastic hosts you were during my stay.

In th evening, I went to see "the Fountain". http://thefountainmovie.warnerbros.com/

Just wonderfull movie, a real must see picture. A lot of the Graphic Novel by Kent Williams is intergrated in the film, a lot of Barron's influence can be seen "Finish it" being the most obvious one.

Tomorrow off to New York Again.

vvvv

Meeting Jeffrey (Catherine) Jones http://www.ulster.net/~jonesart/ on Saturday and afterwards of to Renee to talk the preparation of the show.

xxxxx

Current idea would be to have a show Amsterdam / Brussels / Paris, or three artists three European Capitals. Brussels and Paris should be OK, only waiting for a reply from Amsterdam.

I'll go to sleep now, need to wake up at 3.00am to catch the plane.

Just a quick picture of my last Comic Art find

A very nice Heinrich Kley

Till later

Carl

Bill's in !!!

Went back this morning to the NY Big Apple Convention, and finally met Bill Sin-KEV-its !!! http://www.billsienkiewicz.com/menu.html.


And yes, he's very willing to come over to Belgium for the Graphic Novel Art 2007 show !!!


So we have 2 Mike's and a Bill !!!


This is just great !!!


Otherwise, a day filled by flying packed like sardines back to San Fransisco


See you later


Carl

New York New York !!!

What a day !!! and what a night !!!

Packed like sardines in a can, flew overnight from San Fransisco to New York. Did not close an eye and arrived without sleep 6.40am at JFK.

Went straight to the Club Quarter hotel downdown near Wall street and I got a penthouse on the 21st floor !!! Expected to have a great view of the city... but when I looked outside, only saw higher skyscapers...

Bye Bye view ;)

Took a shower, quick breakfast and went of to visit Michael Kaluta. http://www.kaluta.com/index.php3

Super experience !!! Very warm welcome by an awesome artist. He lives 5 high in a beautyfull appartment without an elevator. Keeps him fit.

Michael's studio still looks like on this picture. Very dense with lot's of material for inspiration.

Michael showed me an avalanche of art, both recent as "Studio" stuff. Just too nice to describe. So I've just put a couple of pictures in this blog.

The "Metropolis" piece on top has found a new owner - me !!!

You've no idea how happy I am. Thanks a lot Michael !!!

I've also bought some more recent pieces but that will be posted later on my CAF gallery.

Michael also showed me the "Stealer of Souls" piece - a real stunner !!!

I'm certainly going back to visit Michael... or maybe, he'll come over to Belgium, as he agreed to participate in the Graphic Novel Art 2007 show !!!

After the visit to Michael, I went to the NY Big Apple con http://www.bigapplecon.com/index.htm . Was my first US comics convention, and have to say that the atmosphere was very particular :)

I Managed to meet Michael Golden, http://lambiek.net/artists/g/golden_michael.htm, who also agreed to come to Belgium !!! It's starting to look good.

After the convention, a quick nap and then back into town to meet Ted McKeever (and lovely wife) and Kasra Ghanbari. A nice diner at "Empires dinner" and a long walk throughout New York by night. Ted was the perfect guide. Thx a lot Ted !!! Hope to see you and your family soon again.

Till later

Carl

Back from San Jose

No did not see Neil Gaiman, but had a great time with Brian from Anno Domino. Discussed potential distribution possibilities for Barron's book. And it's looking good.

Had dinner with Barron, and great phylosofical discussions on the way back to San Fransisco. Kept us both awake. Very tired today, so the blog will be short...

The First Post...

So this is it, the first one, the first time, the time to remember when you did it for the first time...

Got my Blog up and (hopefully) running !!!

With a bit of luck this will be my ideal tool to keep you updated on the projects I'm working on, and which may be of interest to you.

If not, welcome anyway.

Currently at the other side of the world, San-Fransisco for a three weeks job with Levi's.

Great place to be, great people and the weather is superb !!!

Last weekend rented a PT Cruiser convertible to drive from San Fransisco to Los Angeles anlong Highway Nr 1. Great drive.

Visited Allen Spiegel on the way up. He's the publisher all Dave McKean artbooks, and represents a couple a super talented artists such as Kent Williams, JJ Muth, Phil Hale, ... to name a few. You can visit his site on http://www.asfa.biz/

Btw, could not help purchasing a couple of Dave McKeans B&W pen and ink pages. To be uploaded on my CAF site once back in Belgium

On Sunday morning visited Kent Williams to talk about his art, the show we did last summer and advice on the publication of Barron Storey's journal #45 "Life After Black". Was great to meet Kent, he looked super energised after the work he has done for the Fountain together with Darren Arnofsky.

And yes, how can you resist when Kent opens his cupboard with nice art !!!

Kent also promised to help Barron and me out on the publication of the journal. Feel very happy to have a "pro" watching over my shoulder.

In the afternoon, I went for a suprise visit to Ashley Wood. After the initial shock, I had a warm welcome by the Australian Pop-Bot artist.

We talked a lot about his art and the effort he put's into it. We also finally resolved a 2 your trade (a Kent Williams piece for one of his painting) and look forward to have the finished cover of Zombies vs Robots II over in Belgium.

It was worth the detour and the 9 hr drive back to San Fransisco

Yesterday 14th of november, went in the evening to a signing session with Joann Sfar. Yes quite incredible to meet a French comic artists here in the States. Instead of the long cues in France, there were maybe only 5 people, So plenty of time to talk. Nice chap, very funny and a great storyteller (like his books). Unfortunately he does not sell any original art :(

But managed to sneak out one of his drawings he made on the spot. Never for sale however, as this would be against Joann's principles, and I prefer to stay friends with my artists.

Tomorrow looking forward to join Barron in meeting Brian & Cherry from Anno Domini Gallery http://www.galleryad.com/ , the official art representatives of Barron. We'll be talking about the distribution of Barron's book.

In the evening we'll try to meet up with Neil Gaiman who's giving a lecture overhere http://www.litart.org/gaiman.htm with a bit of luck (and with Barron's help) we might be able to ask his support for "Life after Black".

Just to close this first post, a picture of Barron's contribution the "the Art of The Fountain"