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Earlier this year I’d gotten the heads up {YAY!} that I’d been given the opportunity to contribute to On Deck 9 an annual art auction by the good people of the Missoula Skatepark Association {MSA} to raise money to upkeep their beloved MOBASH skatepark. I love being able to be part of a community that promotes outdoor activities and I get to paint on a skateboard once again, which is always pretty pluckin’ rad! 

So just finished this piece and is on its way to Montana to be displayed at the Brink Gallery from April 18th through the month of May.

If your interested in bidding on this piece or ANY of the wonderful work in the gallery the bidding starts on April 18th and ends on May 1st.  For additional info visit our friends at MSA: www.montanaskatepark.org/ondeck .

 Happy Bidding folks!!!

xoxo,
Ninz

Last month the good people at the Montana Skatepark Association invited me to create work on a skate deck for their annual fundraising gallery show called ON DECK 7.

The money raised will go towards construction and maintenance of  Missoula’s MOBASH skatepark. The art decks will be displayed on May 4th, at the Brink Gallery in Missoula, MT where they will also begin the silent/online auction. So lookout for that come May! Visit the MSA website for more information.

Anything that keeps us active and off the streets is A-OK with me! 

I was super psyched to be given the opportunity to create work on a skate deck since I’ve never worked on a surface like this before. Prior to receiving the skate deck I had a few ideas in mind but nothing sounded as fun as creating a tree house and possibly a place where Animal Chin lives! (Special thanks to the BF, for telling me the Legend of Animal Chin.)

Here’s the fun process of finding Animal Chins House:

Step 1:  I started out with a quick sketch of the tree and a faint mapping of where I’d like to see the leaves.

Step 2:  I painted a thin layer of gesso on top of the sketch.
Step 3:  Laid out some color for the grass and painted layer of green as an underpainting for the tree.

Step 4:  Started to lay in some actual color for the tree trunk..There goes my boss…micromanaging.

Step 5:  Once I got the trunk texture down, I worked on the house, and added a thin layer of gesso on the stairs for later.

Step 6:  I started to work on the stairs, and the little look out point on the middle left making sure to use a slightly different wood tones for the stairs so the tree and wood wouldn’t blend.

Step 7:  I was really planning to keep the natural wood exposed for the finish but it was looking too brown and very monochromatic. (Boo.) So I placed some contact paper on the tree hou

Hi all y’all. I hope you are enjoying spring (those of you who are north of the equator). The trees around here are finally getting around to leafing. Soon enough it will look all springy and then summery and hopefully warmth will follow. I myself have had it with winter. Bah!

The above is the  image on the spring promotional postcard mailer that Illustration For Kids (the illustration group I am a part of) recently sent out. The entire front of the mailer (with the all the images) is below. Check out our group blog for more details from the illustrators themselves in regards to our respective illustrations!

Anuzzer Skateboard

i a n s a n d s : http://www.ponywombat.com

Another image of skating. Earlier image can be viewed below.
What I want to do is combine these two and maybe another into one larger piece.

Teen has been skateboarding for a long time. But because Teen is of the girl persuasion, she is not quite as crazy as the boy skateboarders. I personally have no idea how she does it, because I get scared standing on an unmoving skateboard, even if I'm holding on to something for balance.

Teen only learned how to drop in last fall. To drop-in, you anchor the back of your skateboard with your back foot, while the rest juts out into empty space. Then you transfer your weight to the front of your board, and swoop down the steep curve.

That's the theory anyway.

Over spring break, we visited my mom's, where there is a wonderful skatepark. Teen was a bit anxious about dropping in, and decided she would definitely do it the last day. My mom and I sat on a bench and watched her balance over the lip of the drop.

The other side of the curve was hidden from us, but I could hear the sound of an empty skateboard skittering away. Teen popped up, face contorted, and then lay down again. I started running.

Running and swearing.

The worst thing was that she got the wind knocked out of her. Her arm hurt, but she seemed to have full range of motion and only a tiny bit of swelling. She had landed with one hand flat to catch herself.

We didn't get an X-ray until the next day. It seemed ambigiuous. Then on Monday a radiologist decided there was a hairline fracture.

This morning, though, we were given a choice. Cast or no cast. We looked at each. I knew she wanted one. She had already told all her friends. A cast would be "bad-bottom," as she puts it. So I said cast.

In the car, she said she had a brief panic attack when they put on the cast. Like her arm had claustrophia for a few seconds.

Avast ye, me maties! Thar be a bit o' confusion with the new Inkheart film. Arrrr.

Producer Andy Licht is suing New Line and author Cornelia Funke, claiming that he first submitted a manuscript of the book "Inkheart" for consideration as a feature film but was elbowed aside when the movie was greenlighted. New Line recently wrapped production on the Iain Softley-directed film, a children's fantasy starring Brendan Fraser, and set it for distribution in spring 2008..." (full details)