September - kicking some a$$

Hi, it's me. 

I'm happy it's Sunday, grateful to have slept late and looking forward

to another beautiful New York week in September.

The skies have been stunning all month long. 

My work as a scenic artist has been very very busy, but 

I did take a mini vacation with two wonderful fun friends.

I also had the chance to see two inspiring creative people discuss 

the business of art, at a terrific neighborhood bookstore.

:::

Sharing lots of photos today. If you're up for even more

then visit me on Instagram :)

Scenics, Bryon Finn and Michael Taranov get started

on a set piece at Artificial Reality.

190th St subway station. Love this simple old sign.

En route to Hopewell Junction, New York.

I wish I could share more photos from this commercial. It was a lot of work,

but looked pretty cool in the end. It's not that I'm mysterious, it's that we 

are expected to keep most of what we do confidential, since these 

don't air til weeks, sometimes months after shooting.

I enjoy new locations, since we tend to spend most of our time in

carpentry/scene shops or in windowless stages in LIC, NY.

This is Shenandoah farm in the Hudson Valley.

Above, my brand new Gloria sprayer and little orange funnel for aging 

and distressing set pieces.

The young man who worked with the grips to move around scenery was great. 

It's primarily a dairy farm, meet Stella, below (ok, I named her that)

Living in Brooklyn for so long has given me a great appreciation for land and this family has a lot of it!

Prop guys in discussion amidst the "destruction".

I took a train home late that Friday night and 

happily hopped on one Sunday morning to visit Montauk :)

Thom Baker, Kristine Lombardi and I rented a couple of rooms in a 

lovely house, a 5 minute walk to Ditch Plains beach.

I wish we could have stayed a little longer. The house was all ours, with two decks, 

the top had a view of both the ocean and lake. 

Upon arriving, we saw a small brown bunny in the backyard, a good omen for

Kristine's picture book about, yes- a brown bunny, due out this spring!

Here's the room I shared with Kristine. 

I chose the small bed for the cozy nook and nice window.

Sailboat wall art - I like the minimal mod style. 

Meet 'n Greet

Cheers!

As you can see, we experienced a gorgeous sunset our very 1st night.

This was taken from Thom's deck. 

Below, from Gosman's Dock.

This pic above is for Melissa Zexter. She loves cheap sunglasses!

Here, I step into a vintage convertible Cougar, not really, but it's fun to pretend.

Charming table outside John's Pancake House. The line is not nearly as long in the fall :)

It's nice and low key during off peak season. Unfortunately, some places are 

closed Mon-Wed (and some until next summer).

Nice signs ...

Retro over Real Estate is particularly endearing. This is Whoa! Nellie!

great shop, but closed Tues & Wed. Darn! Nellie!

Montauket Hotel

I had forgotten that I'd been here a few times, years ago with Stephanie Ferrante.

Steph loves Montauk and I used to tag along in the summer.

I think the last time I went was sadly, about 7 or 8 years ago. Time really flies.

It overlooks Fort Pond Bay and we witnessed another pretty sunset on our last night. 

The sailboat obviously added to the moment. 

Montauket is known for it's bar & view, more than for it's food and hotel rooms. 

It's nice to see locals, but most people are gone by the time the sun is down!

If I owned a car, I would have to have one for my steering wheel!

Bionic Woman stares out from her window at Whoa! Nellie! retro

new friend

So long Montauk. 

Thanks for the great weather, though a bit chilly to swim (for me)

the bikes, tasty food and cute dogs on the beach :)

Oh yeah and to the guys of Surf Taxi, who seemed happy

to chat and to recommend restaurants!

Most of all, Thank You Thom for working out our stay.

I loved it!

Back to NYC

Once home, there was just enough time to eat dinner at Frankie's 

(just turned 10 years old, btw, again - time flies!)

Kristine, Melissa Iwai, Yuko Katakawa and I met up at 

Powerhouse Arena in Dumbo for Lisa Congdon's book launch of Art, Inc

Grace Bonney, creator and force behind Design Sponge, interviewed her.

Photo courtesy Kristine Lombardi

It was a fun informative interview with an artist I've admired for years.

She is doing everything I'm striving to do in my own career. Lisa consistently exhibits

and sells her work, illustrates on commission, licenses designs to manufacturers

is represented by high profile agent, Lilla Rogers and has now written 

several books for Chronicle, including this one.

I would only add children's picture books to my wish list.

To me she is living the dream. 

It's helpful to hear about the steps she took.

Lisa uses social media brilliantly and spoke candidly about it.

She also talked about the self doubt that all artists experience, 

about managing a full time job while creating and the ups & downs

of running a business while staying true to yourself. 

She didn't begin making art until she was in her 30s, 

after taking an art class along with her brother. 

Yes, I feel jealous, but it's not too awful ;)

Above, I ask some questions as she graciously signs my book. 

I'm looking forward to reading it!

Another day, another job. September has been a money maker.

This one is blissfully located in the West Village.

I can't share pics of our set, but we worked our butts off on Friday,

yesterday wasn't so easy either.

It was tough to put a crew together with so much television being shot

at the moment. Two of the scenics I hired, I was meeting for the 1st time.

All I can say is, I got lucky. It was a hard working crew under a quick steady pace.

:::

Thank You to new friends - Dominick Lombardi (no relation to Kristine)

Iosef Yusuopov and old favorites, Michael Taranov and Millree Hughes!

I met the owner and creator of this solar dune buggy.

His name is Doug Manowitz of Stone Core & Shell, LLC

He's restoring the unpainted brick building above. 

He appreciated our faux stone work, which was nice, since we all 

marveled over his electric car. Apparently, it's parts were  predominantly 

taken from a VW Bug.

Millree and I followed this pretty bird on our walk to get coffee.

Back in Brooklyn, I needed milk, but if I ate peppers I'd buy this brand!

Bark

and barking ...

and finally 

Meet the sweetest puppy in the world.

He's a Chiweenie, the Mexican Hotdog, the German Taco, the Weenie-huahua.

New to me, this is a Chihuahua mixed with Dachshund breed. 

I fell in love as soon as I saw him.

He stared up at me through the window display, while other dogs were 

rolling around and playing. He was calm and quiet and just wanted some love.

Of course, I am a big proponent of adopting rescued animals, 

not to mention I can't afford this little love. 

After sitting in the shop for nearly 30 minute as he slept on my shoulder, 

I felt pretty heartbroken having to leave. 

I'm working nearby again tomorrow, so I'll stop in to say hello, 

hoping a nice family has snapped him up!

He is currently living at Le Petit Puppy.

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a good week.

xo, A

Ice Bucket sketch for ALS and a good person lost to this disease

I took on the less chilling Ice Bucket Challenge, to make a drawing, 

from Melissa Iwai.

Here it is, quite sketchy, but I like it.

:::

My father's good friend, Richard Garretson,

 whom he'd known since attending the University of Richmond, 

was struck with ALS almost 7 years ago.

It's a heartbreaking illness.

Richard, also called Pete by his older college friends, 

had lived in NYC since graduating in the late 1960s. 

He was a wonderful, funny, vibrant person 

and an avid bird watcher. 

We got together with him each time my parents came to 

visit me here in New York.

Few people made my dad laugh as much as Pete did.

:::

Once diagnosed, it didn't take long for ALS to take 

Richard's life, which may be a blessing.

He and his girlfriend and another couple made 

one final trip, an African Safari. 

My parents have a few photos from that trip which 

seemed to be a life altering event. 

I have enormous respect for him. Despite being ill,

he had the will to see a bit more of the beauty in life.

I don't know if I would have that kind of courage, but I recognize that it's

important to seek as much as you can from life while you have it.

My dad mentions Richard often. It's still hard to believe he's gone.

I hope there will be a cure, someday soon, for ALS 

and other devastating neurodegenerative diseases.

:::

You don't have to dump a bucket of cold water on your head to give!

I made a donation to the ALS Association

You can read about what they do, here.

Keep in mind- every little bit helps! 

:::

I found a beautiful memorial to Richard by one of his friends 

 on Fantastic Forum - this is one small part,

but it says so much.

"Finally, what I would also like to share with you about Richard's interests, was that he was also a lover of birds. He travelled the world, from Central America, to the Galapagos Islands, and near the end, on the trip of a lifetime to East Africa to observe these magnificent creatures. His love of birds extended to nature and highlighted for me the delicate balance of this world we live in. Birds as I know them are small creatures, with incredibly varied and delicate features. In many ways, his love of birds reflect his gentle soul, and incredible diversity." 

This was written by Scott. I have no idea what his last name is, but Scott -

if you happen upon this post, it was a touching tribute to a lovely person.

Hope you're having a pleasant weekend!

xo, A

My NEW Website is up!

I have a NEW website - YAY!

:::

I decided to use Squarespace after hearing positive things from other artists, 

plus reading a few build-your-own site comparisons. 

I took advantage of their 2 week free trial to set it up 

and it took about 3 days, working on & off. 

I'm sure it takes less time if you have less images to add. 

Scanning new work and locating older images, slowed me down a bit.

:::

I was drawn to the clean style of their templates and I really wanted

a grid layout, so the viewer can see images clearly at one shot, 

then click to enlarge if interested in seeing it in more detail. 

I had to customize slightly to get that, but it was fairly simple 

once the support team helped me out. I'm currently using Avenue.

A big thank you to Carmen of Carmen Mok Studio also.

We're in an art group on Facebook that was organized after 

taking Lilla Rogers' Mats3A class last spring. It's a great group and 

provides a nice way to ask for advice and share resources with each other.

I like her work and the ease of her site. She answered 

some of my initial questions and I really appreciate it!

:::

Once I heard Marc Maron give a 10% promo code on his Monday wtf podcast,

 I knew it was meant to be, so I went for it :)

My only setback is that the company where my domain is registered 

has not gotten back to me about "mapping/forwarding"

my domain - AllynHoward to squarespace, so for now my site is

www.allyn-howard.squarespace.com 

It's a temporary issue, but one I must resolve before mailing out 

new promotional cards, obviously.

A refreshed Ruben & Cooper are real happy with their new home.

I wanted to go ahead and share my site with you guys, my friends, 1st anyway!

When you have the time, please take a look. I would love to hear your feedback.

I assume it will all be constructive.

I have a lot of images on there, but I think it's well organized.

There are 7 Gallery pages listed across the top and a link page that brings 

you here, to my blog.

It's pretty easy to navigate.

Melissa Iwai, I entered your name when answering a survey that asked 

who recommended the site. 

I think you were the first to mention Squarespace to me. 

Regardless, I hope you get some kind of credit or prize!! :D

Thanks for stopping by!

Enjoy the rest of your week.

xo, A