It's that time of year again when the smell of wood fire emanates the air, fallen leaves dance around the ankles, and a lone deer stares at you from behind the neighbors fence, whispering scurrilous gossip of strange and imprudent deer. It's time to indulge in pumpkin pie, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin drop cookies, pumpkin ale, pumpkin stout, pumpkin shaped reese's cups, It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, Pumpkinhead the movie starring Bishop from Aliens, pumpkin underwear, pumpkin helmets, and anything else pumpkin related or pumpkin smelling. It's time to put on jackets and boots, and enjoy the last days of leaf-filled trees before the onset of a bare limbed winter. This is my season, and it seems like a fine time to release some prints.
I'll be releasing 4 new prints on Halloween, Thursday October 31st at 3:00 Eastern Time. So grab some hot cider and head on over to my Etsy store next week.
Happy Fall Everyone!

Here are the print release details.

I've received a good number of these emails over the years, so I thought I would share a recent one in case any of you haven't heard of this scam. Here's the initial email.

Good Day,

Am interested in your Artwork I saw in your website, The work am talking about is below....

Bring Forth the Tides of Night 2012 Oil on Wood Panel 30" x 30"

Please email me the details of the work if they are still available and their price you want to sale them.

I will be expecting your reply,

Holly

First of all, all the details of the work are in what she copied and pasted off my website, and there is a price for the piece on my website. Also, the "I will be expecting your reply." is a pretty much a dead give away that it's a scam. For some reason they feel like they should create this air of urgency on the transaction, but all it should do is create a red flag. At this point I know I'm dealing with assholery... but just in case I send an email back.

Hi Holly,

It's still available. It's $3500. It would ship from the US. $40 for domestic and $100 for International

What else do you need to know?

Best,

Andy

-Short and wasting as little of my time as possible because I know what's coming.

Dear Andy,

Thank you for the Information about the Artwork and am happy to read  back from you.

Regarding the Payment Am not using PayPal due to my past experience on PayPal, I will issue you a Check it might be a cashier or Bank Draft, "according to the advised given to me by my Bank" I will inform you as soon as the Check is been sent out from my office here in Glasgow Scotland.

I will need your information to process the Check. We may also speak on Skype if you wouldn't mind in other to discuss about the  transaction verbally and for you to be able to know more about me.

Name on Check:

Address:

Phone Number:

Skype ID:

Also i want you to know that i will appoint a secured shipping company that will come for the pickup of the pieces in your destination. The shipping fees will be added to your payment.

So I guess a guaranteed secured shipper will be preferably considered and appoint for the pickup.

Am on Skype as: hollyfriedman, or call me on 447024073077 for any question concerning my purchase

Holly Freidman

Annnnnnd there it is. It will be a check coming from Scotland and she has her OWN "secure shipping company" that will pick the piece up. Well that's convenient! As soon as the personal and secure shipping company pops up, you know someone is trying to rip you off.

So if I continued with this, a couple things could happen. I would receive a check that was double or triple the amount I asked for, and I would be asked to send the remainder back with the "secured shipping company."

Or the check would be a few hundred dollars more, and a personal tragedy or financial crisis would occur before the "secure shipping company" had a chance to pick up the piece. They would then ask you to refund the money straight away to deal with this terrible, terrible tragedy. Either way, the check would be bogus and your bank would take that money out of your ass. Instead of getting thousands  you get shorted thousands. That's a raw deal.

Even though it's happened before, having someone trying to pull one over on me pisses me off. I thought of some mean spirited things to do, but I just ended up having some fun with them.

Hi Holly,

Great! I'm so glad you're interested in my piece. I've been hoping and praying to sell this piece so I could finally afford the double bi-pass surgery for my sick Iguana, Chaka Khan.

I don't accept checks, I only accept gold ingots or ammunition. Preferably 9mm Luger, .45 ACP and 5.56 x 45mm NATO.

As for shipping, I actually have my own shipping service so no need to worry about that. My friend, Dan, is an avid outdoorsman, sailor and mountain biker. He always delivers everything for me and has never failed me. It might take him a while to get to Scotland since he insists on using a one man skiff to cross the ocean. Then once he gets to Scotland, he will hike and bike his way through the Scottish highlands to find you and deliver this precious, lovely artwork to your doorstep. Dan will probably be pretty starved and exhausted by this point, so would you be able to feed him and let him crash on your couch for a few days? He'll need to regain some energy for the long trip back to the States. And if it isn't too much of a hassle, could you show him the place where William Wallace was executed, and where the Battle of Falkirk was fought? He's a huge fan of that movie... and don't be surprised if he yells, "FREEEEEEEEEDOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!"

Please let me know as soon as possible. I told Chaka Khan about this sale and he is very excited and hopeful. I haven't seen him this heartened in years, but he is very ill so please hurry.

Also, I've informed Dan of the job, and he is getting geared up for the trip across the Atlantic.

I will be expecting your reply,

Andy

-I am still waiting for a reply. Hold on Chaka Khan!!!

**UPDATE**

It looks like Holly sent the same email to my brother, Ben. Here is his response.

Hey Holly!

Thanks you so much for the interest in my artwork. You copied and pasted some of my most personal works to date. Unfortunately I donated all of my artwork to help out my brother's iguana Chaka Khan so I have nothing available.

But I hear you are going to purchase a painting off of my brother Andy. This is such a blessing! Little Chaka may just pull through with that sale and I may be able to afford to make more art.

Here's a picture of Chaka… he's really pepped up since learning of his imminent life-saving surgery:

We plan on re-naming his aquarium on your honor. It shall henceforth be called "The Holly Freidman Life Giving Aquarium". 

Is there any way I could get a picture of you? I know a master sculptor that works in bronze… it was would be amazing to have a miniature statue of you in the aquarium. I am certain that you are a beautiful person… I just hope he can capture your inner beauty. This will probably be the greatest test of his lifelong passion and skill.

Thank you again and God bless!

Ben Kehoe

Just returned from New York from my latest show, Luminous Reverie, at Jonathan LeVine Gallery. All  in all, an exceptional trip. I drank at least 8 different bourbon cocktails, shared a 38 oz steak with my wife Ash, got a friend slapped at a bar, punched at least 3 people in the gut and returned with out a scratch... well excluding the small bruise on the bridge of my nose when Ash accidentally elbowed me in her sleep. The show itself was an amazing experience and I got showcase the new resin paintings for the first time in the Big Apple. The overall reception was extremely positive so I can rest easy.

I posted the new work to my website and my Facebook Page. Please check it out and if you are in the New York, please drop by Jonathan LeVine Gallery and see it in person. The show is up until June 15th.

I'll be releasing 5 prints from the show on Friday at 4:00 p.m. EST. Here's the info on the release.

1. Relish the Moments of Glory
20" x 20" including 1" white border
edition of 100
$75

2. Roamer of the Subterranean Forest
22" x 18" including 1" white border
edition of 75
$75

3. Riding a Dream

22" x 18" including 1" white border
edition of 75
$75

4. A Flowering Fascination
20" x 16" including 1" white border
edition of 75
$65

5. A Placid Pause
12" x 16" including 1" white border
edition of 75
$50

Also please note, I will be releasing resin print versions of Relish Moments of Glory and Roamer of the Subterranean Forest later in the year.

I have an update on the resin prints which can be considered good and bad. The update is that turned out wonderful... and quickly sold out before I even posted them. Here are some pictures of the completed resin prints.

I've been meaning to post about it, but I've been caught in an art making maelstrom that has left me little time to do anything but desperately art make. My next show at Jonathan LeVine is coming up on May 18th, so every minute counts at this point. I am incorporating some new elements into my work, literally into my work, since it'll all be submerged in resin in the end. Some paintings are finally coming together and are actually starting looking like something. That's always been a satisfying aspect to my work, but especially now with the resin pieces. Most of them start out as an abstract idea, a hopeful plan and a lot of improvising.
After this show, my next show isn't for another year so I can slow things down a bit. I've been going full tilt for years now, and I'd like to leave some room for other things in my life. Like updating this blog with updates more pithy than practical... and more than four times a year.

I'll also be releasing a new print this Friday at 4:00 pm ET. It'll be my last print release until the end of May when this show is over. Here is the info:

Cloaked in a Vast and Quiet Wonder
12" x 18" including 1" white border
edition of 75
Signed and Numbered
$60

Cloaked in a Vast and Quiet Wonder

Well, looks like the world is still here. Which is a good thing since these resin prints are making some serious progress and it would be a shame if they all burnt up or fell into a chasm. They look great so far and I'm very happy with how they turned out. Though, they are taking a little longer than I thought, which doesn't surprise me. Very few of my endeavors end up being completed in a reasonable time frame.
Regardless, I hope to finish the first batch off relatively soon. I'm done painting all 3 layers of leaves on most of the panels and just need to do some blending and wood staining to finish it off. This first batch will have 15 pieces and 6 are reserved so far. Send me an email if you'd like to reserve one.
Here are the specifics again.
14" x 14"
Acrylic, Oil and Resin over Giclée Print
$350

andy@andykehoe.net

Here are some shots of the progress.

I love Thanksgiving. Though I'm not one of those folks that celebrates the misconstrued, weird history behind it, I do like the idea of being all thankful about everything all day.
In this often horrifying and crazy world, I actually do have a lot to be thankful for. I have an awesome family and an amazing wife that I recently tricked into marrying me. She's amazing and I feel like a very lucky chap. I have an outstanding group of friends and colleagues around me. I'm ever thankful that I love what I do for a living even though it consumed my soul and traps me in a black hole where neither time nor socializing exist. I'm thankful that I have a job that I can listen to audio books and work at the same time. I am thankful for the Harry Potter audio books for being so well produced and enjoyable. Jim Dale is amazing. Thanks Jim Dale. I'm thankful that I can live with cats that somehow don't kill me with allergies. And of course, I'm thankful that I have the privilege to share my work with such a kind, gracious and generally awesome group of art makers and art lovers out there. So to all of you out there that have put my work into a show, bought a painting, bought a print, said hello at an opening, shook my hand, gave me a hi-five, wrote me a nice email or message, interviewed me, blogged about me, commented on that blog post, or just thought, "Huh. I like this." To all those and everyone in between, I thank you.

To get in the holiday spirit, I'll be releasing 4 new prints this Friday, November 23rd, at 3:00 PM Eastern Time through my Etsy Store. Here is a list of the prints and all the info.

Just a quick update before I rush around to get my Halloween costume together.
I'll be showing at the Wes Anderson Tribute show, Bad Dads, tonight at Spoke Gallery in San Francisco. It's also a costume party, so it should be quite the event. Wish I could be there.

Here's my piece for the show. I couldn't pass up doing a Fantastic Mr. Fox piece. It's called "Days of Cider." This is also an ode to Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven. I always loved the Rat character and imagined him in better days.

Days of Cider

Just returned from LA a couple days ago and I feel like the show was a smashing success. Thanks to everyone that made it out and got to see the work in person. Overall, it seems like the majority of people were very into the new resin technique and I can't wait to explore this direction further. Please check it out in person if you can, as I really feel like it resonantes so much more in person. Also, if you're close to the gallery, send me a chicken burrito from Pinches Tacos. We can't get burritos like that on the East Coast. All we have here is some grade A sarcasm. I can certainly trade.

I'll be releasing 3 prints from the show through my Etsy store on Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Summoning the Dusken Wanderer

Summoning the Dusken Wanderer
20" x 20" including 1" white border
edition of 75
$75

Sir Botley, Lord of Troublemakers

 Sir Botley, Lord of Troublemakers
12" x 22" including 1" white border
edition of 75
$70

Isle of the Floating Moon

Isle of the Floating Moon
16" x 12" including 1" white border
edition of 75
$45

I'll also be releasing 3 more prints in a few weeks with a new venture in resin prints. Stay tuned.

Well, my next show at Thinkspace Gallery is on the horizon and the ship has almost passed through the fogs of exhaustion and the rocky shores of panic and fear of complete disaster. Never in my life have I been involved in a show with the upmost hopes of reaching new heights with my work coupled with the heaviest fear of absolute failure.
For this show I decided to add a new dimension to my work and that is the dimension of depth. I've been playing with layers and depth a good deal over the years and for this show I decided to push that even further by adding layers of resin to my work. Each of these new pieces is made in a box and comprised of multiple layers of resin that I paint on and build up to make a 3D-like effect at the end. So it feels like the characters are actually immersed in their surroundings.

This is after several layers.

Resin layer poured

Trees added on top of lovely creatures

The final result after a couple more layers of trees

I only intended to do a few of these at the beginning stages of the show, but I just kept coming up with more and more ideas for these resin boxes. So I just went all in with it and centered my whole show around this concept and technique. It was a little risky to devote a whole show to something I've never tried before, hence the the occasional pangs of panic. But in the end, I love how these turned out and I'm glad I took the leap. This is definitely work that needs to be seen in person to really appreciate. So any of you in the LA area, please come out to see it.

Profound Encounters Amid the Forest Deep

 
 Here's a painting I did for my fiancé and soon to be awesome wife, Ash. I started this piece around October/November last year and it's been quite a journey from inception to completion. I originally intended it to be a Christmas present, but then I had different plans for it. I knew I was going to propose to Ash so I decided to include it in my engagement plans. But as I worked on it, it took on a life of it's own and a simple idea turned more grand and fantastical and layers turned into more layers.
   Then one night, Ash and I went out to a nice dinner and my sister's friend came up to our table from the bar. After the normal courtesies, he says, "I just wanted to congratulate you two. That's really awesome." In the next second, I saw Ash's look of complete obliviousness to what was just said, his brief but unmistakable look of immediate guilt when he saw Ash's face and his quick retreat from our table, leaving me completely caught off guard and looking at a face that wanted answers. All I could do was plead ignorance and formulate the angry texts I was going to send my sister when I had a free moment.
   After that, the lid was blown off the whole deal and Ash started picking up on every little sign and every little comment. Some of my friends were interrogated, but I didn't really tell anyone... to prevent this very thing from happening. So in the end, the painting didn't become part of the engagement day, but I was able to take my time with it and really make it the painting I wanted it to be.
So here it is.

I'm also releasing this as a print, to which a large portion of the sales will go directly into our wedding. So in a way you'll be helping us celebrate our wedding... and you might be contributing to that special bottle of whiskey that leads to one of our guests to becoming the drunk guy that takes his shirt off, makes a drunken, teary speech before jumping into the pond. You could very well make that magic happen.
The print is 18" x 22" with a 1" White border and an edition of 100. It'll be in my Etsy store for $70.

Thanks!