Turkey Day on Sunday

On Sunday, Laura and I hosted our first Thanksgiving dinner. We usually go up to Lee, MA for Turkey Day but this year we stayed local. Thanksgiving with family is fun but I've always thought it would be fantastic with good friends. So this year, since we stayed in NY, we decided to invite our closest friends and four of them happened to be around -- two of Laura's and two of mine. They've never met so it was even better.

I made a slammin' Turkey along with some green beans, boiled potatoes, carrots provencale, gravy (awesome!), and to finish it off I made one of my favorite childhood desserts, a Pumpkin Torte. Laura made the Stuffing, a breaded tofu, the delicious yam puff, and corn bread.

See everyone (sans myself) at the table here and my dinner plate here. It was awesome! Thanks to all who came!

Boonville Update - Fundraising

I'm getting much closer to making this project a reality. A few weeks ago I secured a hefty equipment and film grant which takes an enormous financial burden off my shoulders.

Look for more posts about Boonville coming in the next few months. I'm hard at work with Cannery-Works, a non-profit organization helping artists like myself get such projects off the ground. We are currently working on a fund-raising plan - stay tuned.

New York Art Book Fair

On Sunday, the talented Sarah Small and I went to the First Annual New York Art Book Fair. While we were roaming around we ran into Jon Feinstein, a talented photographer, cool guy, and one of the creators of Group-Show.com.

The fair took place at the old Dia:Chelsea. Thousands and thousands of books, it was a complete overload. I think I only picked up 4 or 5 of them - there were so many I didn't know were to start. Richard Price had a cool collection of Nurse books but they were in glass -- no touch. I wasn't disappointed just overwhelmed.

Artist of the week - Jason Covert

Jason Covert drawing Laura, Catskills, Nov. 2006

Jason and I both moved to NY in the year 2000 and met shortly after in early 2001. We bonded over hating a certain photographer we both worked for - J was a studio manager and I was a freelance assistant. Jason and I have been close ever since. He has been a very important influence on my own art work - he was the original character featured in the "Boonville Project."

About 4 years ago J and I started an annual photo excursion. Last year we rented a cottage in Woodstock and Jason shot his Fairy Tale Series, one of my favorites.

The above image is a portrait I took of Jason just this past weekend while in the catskills.

The drawing Jason is finishing up in the above portrait is part of an exercise he has been working on. The rules are that he cannot look down at the paper nor can he lift his pen or stop his hand movement until the drawing is finished. For almost two weeks now Jason and I have been sending Postcards with drawings on them to each other. I am sending really crude drawings and old 4x5 polaroids with sketches and text on the back. Jason is sending old postcards with drawings created in the way I just explained. I am really into these drawings and I hope he keeps it up - see some of them below.


Postcard, Woman, 2006

Postcard, May I Ask A Question, 2006

Postcard, Frank, 2006

View more of Jason's work on his site and be sure to check out his blog Clogvert. . And here is a picture of Jason in their kitchen just before he made us a killer burger

Halloween in the Terrace...