national doodle day

What do you do when you get a personal invitation from actress Gillian Anderson to participate in a charity event she is heavily involved in . . . you say YES! I am very fortunate to have been asked to participate in Doodle Day 2008 along with an amazing list of people including Gillian Anderson, Jeff Bridges, Ellen DeGeneres, David Duchovny, Seth Green, Goldie Hawn, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and many, many more. (my doodle appears below.) The Doodles are part of a fundraiser for NF or Neurofibromatosis. NF is a genetic disorder that affects one in every 2,500 births. NF is more common than Cystic Fibrosis, Muscular Dystrophy and Huntington’s Disease combined. Funds raised from the Doodle Day auction will go to support education, advocacy, coalitions, and research for treatments and a cure.

Go to this link, www.doodledayusa.org to see all the doodles being auctioned for 2008. Then visit the site on May 8th and click the link to eBay when the auction for all of the doodles goes live. Happy bidding!

I want to thank Gillian Anderson for inviting me to participate in the 2008 auction. Cheers to you and to the success of this year’s auction event for NF!

the animation show 4

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything here on my blog, however, I’m excited to share with you something new today. Below you will find an image for a movie poster I just completed for The Animation Show 4. It is an animation festival which tours around the country featuring amazing work by independent film makers. Please go to The Animation Show site at www.animationshow.com for information on dates and locations of the show, as well as animated shorts, interesting articles, and much more. In the near future they will be posting a pod-cast interview with me regarding the poster and lot’s of other ramblings I was able to share. I’ll let all of you know when the pod-cast goes live.

Also, I will be at the show opening in Portland Oregon on June 20th at Cinema 21 signing posters for The Animation Show 4. If you are in the area, make sure to come by to see the great films and say hello.

Thank you to everyone at The Animation Show for making this project so enjoyable and groovy.

funplex-a-licious!

I know my updates have been long overdue. This past few weeks have been extremely busy with several projects. I’ll post more info soon. Until then, a hint about two of the projects. First, Spookie House will be hosting another story. Second, a certain skeleton girl will be having another adventure. Very interesting indeed.


Anyone who knows me knows I am a huge fan of the B-52s. As such, I am filled with psychedelic joy to share the B-52’s have just released a new album titled ‘Funplex.' It’s hard to believe it has been 18 years since their last album ‘Good Stuff” and “Funplex’ is a stunning example they have not lost any of their funkified grooviness! My studio has been thumping to the sound of the new album for days; in fact my dogs have learned the Mashed Potato and have started wearing go-go boots! Funplex amps up the sounds the older B-52s work along with some great new twist. If you like the B-52’s you’ll love their new album. If you’re not familiar with the B-52’s then go down right away and meet them at the ‘Funplex’ and get hooked on their ultraviolet beats! Thank you Kate Pierson, Fred Schneider, Keith Strickland and Cindy Wilson for another delicious outing with ‘Funplex.”

bone heads

Surprisingly this post has nothing to do with my siblings, it’s the title of a piece I created for a show in 2007. It is a combination of acrylic and black ink, coated with two-part resin.

When I was a kid, my mom used to make these groovy Myrtle Wood clocks and coat them with thick two- part resin. One day while I was painting I recalled her showing me how to use the resin and I thought I would try it on a painting. I experimented with it on a few pieces in my “wicked little things” show back in 2005 and it worked quite well. It made the painting look magical and gave them so much depth. Now I use it all the time. Unfortunately, the effect does not come through on photos. The credit for my use of resin goes to my mom . . . THANKS MOM!

oahu

The first and second week of January I took a research trip to the island of Oahu. I am fascinated by the history of the islands and during my trip had the opportunity to visit the many museums to research the history, culture, royal family and the beliefs of the islands native people. The people on the island were so friendly and generous with their knowledge making the trip simply amazing.

Hawaii’s Plantation Village in Waipahu I recommend to everyone. Here you get a real understanding of life on a sugar plantation and this time period in the history of the islands. There is a 20-minute film and a small museum filled with artifacts from the old sugar plantations. Then a guided tour through a village that consist of original and replicated houses of the various ethnic groups which were bought over to work in the plantations. The tour was almost two hours. Our tour through Plantation Village consisted of Corey, our tour guide and myself. As a result we got the chance to ask a lot of one on one questions and see a bit more than a larger tour. I will say I was shocked at how awful life was for these workers, like slavery.

I also went to many galleries on the island looking at what the art scene was like for potential shows. I must say the gallery owners on the island were so kind and willing to share information. A thank you to everyone I spoke to. One of my favorite galleries was located in the arts district in Honolulu called Bethel Street Gallery. Here is a link to their site. http://www.bethelstreetgallery.com/index_flash.html

At the Honolulu Academy of Art they had an excellent exhibit, Hawaiian Modern: the architecture of Vladimir Ossipoff. The show featured everything from his sketches, architectural drawings, models and photos of his work. If you don’t know the work of Vladimir Ossipoff, here is the link to the page at the Honolulu Academy of Art site for the exhibit. http://www.honoluluacademy.org/ossipoff/

While there I also wrote a manuscript for a new children’s book, which I am very excited about. I am tweaking it a little bit at the moment and then I will send it to my agent for presentation to publishers.

Enough with the words, a few shots from the trip.

Corey and I at Hanauma Bay. The bay itself is an ancient volcano. One side of the volcano collapsed allowing the ocean water to fill the crater creating a coal reef. For those who are Brady Bunch nerds as I am, this is where the giant spider found it’s way into Jan’s beach tote.

Sunset on Waikiki Beach.


These beautiful mountains are near Kualoah Regional Park.


This is the Byodo-in Temple in Kaneohe. It is an exact replica of the Byodo-in Temple in the ancient city of Kyoto in Japan. It was beautiful.


This was sunset at Waimea Beach on the North Shore. As there is nothing to show scale it is hard to tell, but the waves in this photo were 25-30 feet tall and the beach was closed as a result. That is why the beach is empty making for a perfect picture.

sneak peek

I apologize for my lack of posting. I am happy to report, things here have been so busy since the holidays I’ve not had much time to sit and focus on updates. But when I find the time . . . I have a lot to share.

The image here is a sneak peak at a final illustration for one of the three books I am currently working on. A couple more posted on my web site, www.jimmypickering.com on the digital gallery 01 page, so go take a look.

More later.

quick sketch

Today I’ve been working on a lot of project based sketches and needed to take a breather. When I did, I felt like doing something quick for myself. This was the result 30 minutes later. Enjoy.