Motor City Art Expo, part 2

Last Tuesday night's Motor City Expo held at the Emerald Theater was a somewhat success if not just a fun night. I sold some copies of my cartoon book, Here And Abroad, a print of one of my paintings and almost sold a drawing. I know that he took one of my cards, so maybe he'll contact me in the near future.

It was also a chance to talk with some old acquaintances and fellow artists, some whom I only see at such events. Also, it was nice to talk with the new faces setting up this year. Actually, my time to socialize and look around was somewhat limited as I had to man my table most of the time. Luckily, Tina was there to give me a hand.

The above pictures are of Wolf Little Bear who was selling books of his poetry and writings. I was capturing him in a candid moment, repaying him for doing the same to me. The other photo is of the folk singer, Audra Kubat through a crowd of artists and the crowd.

All in all a good night. Thanks to all who came out to show there support.

Here And Abroad

I have experimented with self-publishing and made up a 6x9 47 page book of my published and exhibited cartoons to sell (hopefully) at the Motor City Art Expo this Tuesday. The collection is titled Here And Abroad: The Published And Exhibited Cartoons of Bruce Gerlach and covers my earliest printed cartoons from the late 80's when I had two strips that I was trying to get syndicated to my most recent published exploits. Wade's World (which predated Wayne's World by about six years, btw) ran in the Sienna Heights College newspaper and The Beanfield, which ran in a local Detroit paper. Wade's World actually was in consideration by a small syndicate and was being shopped around to newspapers across the country, but that syndicate was gobbled up by a larger more well known one and that was that. Maybe, I should have called the book "Close only Counts in Horseshoes and Hand Grenades." So, with those early strips the book also has many single paneled cartoons from the various magazines that they appeared in and covers all the cartoons that I have had in international exhibits, including my one man show in Osijek, Croatia in 2005.

This being the first time I've had to design and layout a project like this, the book came out surprisingly well. I'm very happy with it, if I may say so. For those of you that can't make the show or live in far away places and might like to purchase your very own copy, you can go to www.lulu.com and the ID# is 1229881 or you can just type my name in and that should get you there. It's available both in print and download form

If this is received well, maybe I will do one for the hundreds of Wade's World and Beanfield strips that I have done and put them in one collection. That might be good.

Well, for me at least.

Motor City Art Expo 4

On Tuesday, November 13th I will have a little section of my own at the 4th Motor City Art Expo held at the historic Emerald Theater in downtown Mt. Clemens. I did this last year and it was a lot of fun. It's a very laid back atmosphere with a lot of very different artists with very different art styles showing their stuff and onstage there is entertainment, this year in the form of a folk artist.

It's a good way to talk with other artists and art appreciators and just kick back, have a few drinks and have fun. Hopefully, I will have a self-published book of my published and exhibited cartoons that I did through Lulu.com. Of course, I finished this at the last minute, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my copies will arrive before the show. More on this later. So, if you're in the area come on out and stop by my table and say hello.

And maybe next year they will spell my name right.

Happy Halloween

Here is a quick sketch for Halloween done in the ol' moleskine.

Peter Vischer The Elder

I haven't worked with watercolors much lately, so I've been experimenting a bit. This is a study based loosely on Peter Vischer the Elder's Self-Portrait made out of brass in 1510. I like his helmet.

Peter Vischer The Elder
6.5x12
watercolor

Edward Gorey

This is a portrait I did of the twisted and demented children's book writer and illustrator Edward Gorey. I would give a copy of The Gashlycrumb Tinies, which came out in 1963, to all of the kids in my life, but I would probably get "one of those" talks, from their parents, if you know what I mean. The kids would love it, though.

G Is For Gorey Who Laughed In Dark Places
12x18
colored pencil on tinted paper

Labor Day Girl

I did the top sketch last year around Labor Day and had always wanted to do a better rendition of it, so I finally experimented with the image somewhat, doing a colored pencil drawing on tinted paper next. Then I tightened it up a bit and went for a more graphic look in my final version.

So, that was the process on this one.

Labor Girl
10x9
acrylic on illustration board