I've made a few general maintenance changes to the site. My favorite improvement are the descriptions in my portfolio section. Much of the art now has a title and a brief description of the piece. Also included in the description is a link to Flickr.com, where images can be shared, commented on, or "favorited".
Here's a link to the Art Section of my site.

My art was featured as part of 1800 Tequila's "Essential Artists" campaign. Part of the campaign was limited edition bottles with the artists' work. Here's mine!

UPDATE! For those interested in where to get an Essential Artists Limited Edition 1800 Tequila bottle, here's a list of locations that are carrying the bottles:

New York Metro Area

• Winfield Flynn, 558 3rd Ave, NY 10016 (212) 679-4455
• 333 Wine Heaven, 333 3rd Ave, NY 10021 (212)726-0033
• Big Apple, 1408 2nd Ave, NY 10010 (212)288-2133
• Manor House, 61 W. 23rd St., NY (646) 229-5039
• Casa Oliveria, 98 7th Ave. South, NY 10014 (212) 929-0760
• Kessler, 23 E 28th St., NY 10016 (212) 685-7651
• First Avenue, 383 1st Ave, NY (212) 673-3600

Southern California

• Valley Beverage, 14901 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, CA 91403 (818) 981-1566

Northern California

• Liquid Experience, 1589 Haight St., San Francisco, CA 94117 (415) 255-6718
• Spencer & Daniels, 1541 Polk St., San Francisco, CA 94109 (415) 345-1623
• Blackwell's Wines & Spirits, 5620 Geary St., San Francisco, CA 94121 (415) 386-9463
• United Liquor & Deli, 2401 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA 94123 (415) 567-0580

Miami, FL

• Cameo Club, 1445 Washington Ave., Miami Beach, FL 33139 (954) 801-7477
• Quail Roost, 18841 SW 117th St., Miami, FL 33157 (305) 252-0254
• Cellars W&S, 1739 E. Sunrise, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33132 (954) 764-4764
• Publix #577, 2730 SW Martin Downs Blvd., Palm City, FL 34990 (772) 232-4069

Chicago, IL

• Liquorama, 4430 S. Kedzie Ave., Chicago, IL 60632 (773) 847-1166
• Sam's Fine Wine & Spirits, 50 E. Roosevelt (South Loop), Chicago, IL 60605 (312) 867-3295
• Miska 1000 Liquors, 1000 W. Belmont, Chicago, IL 60657 (773) 935-1138

Washington, DC

• Conn Ave, 1529 Connecticut Ave., Washington, DC 20036 (202) 332-0240
• Morris Miller, 7804 Alaska Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20012 (202)723-5000
• Tenley Liquors, 4525 Wisconsin Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20016 (202) 363-0484
• Metro Liquors, 1726 Columbus Rd. NW, Washington, DC 20009 (202) 265-5066

Boston, CA

• Downtown W&S, 225 Elm St., Somerville, MA 02144 (617) 625-7777
• Yankee Spirits, 376 Main St., Sturbridge, MA 01566 (508) 347-2231
• Marty's, 193 Harvard St., Allston, MA (617) 782-3250

Ohio

• Shaker Square Beverages, 3622 Mayfield, Cleveland Heights, OH 44118 (216) 381-2350
• Key Beverage & Liquor, 6542 Broadway Ave., Cleveland, OH 44105 (216) 883-1190
• Chagrin Beverage, 17122 Chagrin Blvd., Shaker Heights, OH 44120 (216) 991-4400

Michigan

• Red Wagon Wine Shoppe, 2940 Rochester Rd., Rochester Hills, MI 48307 (248) 852-9307

New Jersey

• Giannone Wine & Liquors, 55 Riverwalk Place, West New York, NJ 07093 (201) 864-9400

Georgia

• Beverage Mart, 3482 Cobb Pkwy NW, Acworth, GA 30101 (770) 529-3027
• Tower Package - Piedmont, 2161 Piedmont Rd., Atlanta, GA 30324 (404) 881-0902

Shreveport, LA

• Thrifty Liquor #5, 3101 Bert Kouns, Shreveport, LA 71118 (318) 686-8170
• Thrifty Liquor #8, 3424 Youree Drive, Shreveport, LA 71105 (318) 865-8408

More on the Campaign at:
www.1800tequila.com

Special thanks to Scott Beale (of Laughing Squid fame) for stopping by for my annual "Josh at his table" APE photoshoot. Here I am, through the ages, as chronicled by the main tentacle himself:

2005

photo by Scott Beale

2006

photo by Scott Beale

2007

photo by Scott Beale

2008

photo by Scott Beale

More of Scott's great photos from this year's APE are here.

Photo by Scott Beale

I'll be working the table once again at the Alternative Press Expo this weekend at the Concourse Exhibition Center in San Francisco.
Look for me at table #113. I'll be selling lots of new prints, art books and sketches. Hope to see some of you there.

Photo by Mi Mi LeMeaux

Below are some of the projects we've worked on together and I hope we get to make lots more in the future:

Kitten on the Keys Merchandise Spots, 2002
The images above are some of the merchandise imagery that I put together for Kitten on the Keys after our first meeeting. I was really into 60's style spot illustration and the work of Al Hirschfeld. You can see my humble attempt to imitate those styles a little. These spot illustrations are still used on Kitten on the Keys tshirts, buttons, and other items. Both Suzanne and I were interested in vintage Japanese character design and I used that inspiration for a postcard design. The Kanji on the card reads "Happy Kitty Girl". A couple of years later, I was hired to create the artwork for Kitten on the Key's first major release, "(It's Not A) Pretty Princess Day". We decided to expand on the style and color of the postcard for the CD materials.

In 2006, Bender's Bar in San Francisco held a benefit for Suzanne's dental bills. They asked me to do the postcard and it was a lot of fun.

In 2007, Suzanne me asked me to create new black and white artwork for her "Salty Meat Girl" CD and merchandise. In addition, we made an activity/coloring book that included recipes, a maze, a recipe for lamb marinade, and a fold out poster.

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More about Kitten on the Keys can be found on her website:
KittyMusic.com

Eagle with Baby Dragons, 2007 This spread was for an editorial about American games companies moving operations to China and nurturing those new jobs.The art direction called for some kind of chinese dragon and maybe an eagle. I chose to depict a mother eagle tending to her surrogate dragon chicks.

Stormcheaters, 2007 This was a spread for an article about cheaters in massively-multiplayer games. Some people will go to great lengths to gain power in a game, even if it means taking advantages of flaws in the system, or preying on newbies. The original direction of the art was to use fantasy-based characters cheating on a test, but it evolved into something more universally familiar and was a lot more fun in the end because of it.

More of my artwork for Games for Windows Magazine can be seen by visiting my Artwork by Client collection on Flickr.

]]>http://www.joshuaellingson.com/blog/rss-comments-entry-2454806.xmlellingsonillustrationartdesignlainklainkhannahcthulhuwaidtlcjoshua ellingsonSat, 18 Oct 2008 00:33:51 +0000http://www.joshuaellingson.com/blog/2008/10/18/my-art-on-la-ink.html263674:2652191:2440324


]]>http://www.joshuaellingson.com/blog/rss-comments-entry-2440324.xmlgarriottellingsonzero-gzerogravityspacespaceadventuresartworkillustrationdirtymartinimercuryatlasartshowartshowjoshua ellingsonMon, 06 Oct 2008 19:45:37 +0000http://www.joshuaellingson.com/blog/2008/10/6/the-coolest-thing-never.html263674:2652191:2393911So, back in January of this year I responded to a "call for entries" post on one of the art bulletins that I subscribe to. This one was a crazy long shot since the art show was to take place aboard the INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION! Apparently privatized space-travel pioneer Richard Garriott  wanted to put together an exhibit/art fund raiser in space as part of his $30M, multipurpose trip to the ISS in October. I submitted "Dirty Martini and the The Birth of the Space Program"  figuring that it was the best fit from my portfolio for something like this. I mean, there's a Mercury Atlas Rocket, red-white-and-blue, a pretty lady, why not? In early April I got an acceptance letter via FedEx to be a part of the very first art show in space, The Zero Gravity Art Exhibit. At first I thought it was a form-letter rejection, but they  don't send those via FedEx. I almost fell over.

I made all the guys at the studio read it to make sure it was real. I called the contact from the letter and we were both really excited that I could be involved. There were very specific guidelines about materials, size, etc. My piece was digital, so I was required to print on a specific Kodak paper. Time was also critical, because everything had to pass special inspection by the ISS people. I had to order a rush print from my printer and overnight the package to Space Adventures right away. I got all of the forms, the print and whatever else taken care of and sent it on its way. I called my contact back and she was happy that I had sent everything in. Thus began the long wait.

In my acceptance letter, I was asked not to publicize the event, until a formal press release had been issued on thier end. This was incredibly difficult because I was so excited. Of course I told a lot of my close friends, I told Dirty Martini. I told my family. I needed to see a press release so I didn't sound like a crazy person, or feel like I was lying to everyone. Who would believe something like that? I didn't hear from my contact about the show until June, when I was asked to provide a short bio that Richard could read from space. The artwork had passed ISS inspection. My friends made me a cake:

You're Out of This World cake

After that I found out that my contact was being replaced with someone else, and that all questions should go through that new person. I think this is where I started to get nervous. After many more weeks of checking the website for a press release, blog post, bulletin, ANYTHING about the very first art show in SPACE, I saw that the Zero Gravity Art Show section had been updated with images from contest winners. I figured this must be another contest-related portion of the show because none of the artwork posted was mine, and I wasn't waiting to hear back about a contest. I had my acceptance letter from a juried selection, had had my art passed ISS inspection, had sent in a bio to be read from space. I was in. What were these posted images about? Where was "Dirty Martini and the Birth of the Space Program"?

I finally emailed about the status of the show. Will there be a press release? Am I still in the show? After a couple weeks, I got an ambiguous reply to the effect of "All of the artwork that Richard has chosen to take with him into space has been approved." That's it. So, my reply was something like, "Great news! I guess that means I'm still in the show, since I've got this acceptance letter. Please let me know otherwise".

And that was it. That was the last contact that I got from either the media company handling the press releases, or the Space Adventures company. Since that exchange, the list of images on the site has been widdled down to a "final twelve selections" of artwork that Richard will be taking into space. Miniature sculptures have also been added to the list of objects in the show. Oddly, the description of the show says nothing about a call for entries, but just that there was a contest, and here are the winners. If the art listed on the site is correct, then a couple of lucky artists have two or more pieces going up. So, it looks like I won't have any art going up into orbit this time around. I've made a couple of attempts to get some clarity and find out what happened, but no one has gotten back to me.  It's a pretty impossible thing that I would have artwork in space, so it's not that hard to accept. I really just wish that I had been told that things had changed. Sometimes rejection is best when it's cut and dry. Who knows? Maybe my art is rolled up in some tube under the cockpit seat. Launch is this coming Sunday, the 12th of October. Columbus Day.

To see the "selections" of art that Richard chose to take with him to space, go here. More about Richard Garriott and his mission on the web at http://www.richardinspace.com. Below is my piece, "Dirty Martini and the Birth of the Space Program":

Behind my Grandparents' house, there's a barn. When my mom was a kid, they had animals in the barn, but ever since I can remember, it's been an antiques workshop/storage/showroom. It always smells like sawdust and wood stain.