I rented t a nice car to go for a ride and see a friend last Monday. That friend being Mark Texeira, or "TEX" as he signs his comic book work. We hung out in the little town in Connecticut that he moved to last year. He showed me his studio which he is still setting up. Good to see all the new work he's doing for various Kickstarter books. Everything is being painted and has a light watercolor touch.

We came back to my place to continue talking about art etc. He was going to stay the night and we were going to paint and talk shop. Well, Tex doesn't come to NYC very often so we had visitors. Our mutual friends, Travis Louie, and Ray Lago came to hang out. Ray and Travis had never really hung out so it was a good time and very inspirational. Molly was in the studio putting the finishing touches on her memoir, "Drawing Blood" that is scheduled to come out in the fall. She took a break to hang out and BS with us. I think she actually had Ray as a teacher when she was attending FIT.  I'm very fortunate to live where I do so it's relatively easy for folks to visit.

Out of nowhere, Tex pulls out a small sketch pad that he had passed around to various artists he has met at conventions. He hangs out with some great people! I was actually in this one. I had completely forgot about the pad let alone what I had made in it! It was 3 pages and is completely goofy. I'm sure some scotch had influenced it in some way as well. To be read in a rough and tumble old western cowboy drawl.

Hello it’s Monday. Today I went in to The Week Magazine for my next cover assignment. We’ll see what we have Friday. I have to turn it in on Wed. I hope I can make it into something good. 3 specific figures this week. I thought last cover was going to kill me with 5 figures but fortunately they weren’t anyone in particular. I think I left with enough reference to get it done. Occasionally I’ll be chugging along and realize I’m missing a detail so I’ll blow an hour or two trying to find the right reference. When I’m doing that I usually have a little subconscious clock in my head ticking off how much less sleep I’m about to get!