I was asked by Darren Diletto of Hire and Illustrator to produce an illustration for an exhibition in London around the Author Jules Verne. He had done many early science fiction and fantasy books that have been loved throughout the ages. One of my favorite was the book 20 Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. I decided to capture an iconic image of the Submarine with a sea monster. To add a twist, I put trash and netting around the sea monster and ocean to bring the statement of man's environmental impact to the image. It brought the theme into a modern context. The piece was displayed at the ___ Gallery in London with other illustrators. Darren lovingly printed my digital file for the exhibit.
The Creative Action Network contacted me to design a poster around an illustration that I had done for Amnesty International's UNITY Magazine. My illustration was a response to the Syrian Refugee Crisis at the time but is timeless to the struggle of asylum seekers due to displacement because of civil conflict or war. My parents family moved during the re-building of the Philippines after WWII and immigrated to the United States.
I decided to create this Skateboard on Boardpusher for my daughter's birthday. My daughter's name is Beatrice so I created the BEE BOARD for her. She's been making in roads skating with me.
In March of 2022, I decided to quit smoking. It was about 25 years since going to school at MICA (The Maryland Institute, College of Art). I had quit on and off since then but never successfully. But realizing that I planned to live longer and that I did not die young as my punk rock dream was, I found myself realizing that it was about time to quit. I also figured that it had been since 1996 since I did a large format painting. The last one being a 8 foot by 5 foot "Red Bunny" in a dessert with bombers above it. It was a reactive piece against the second Iraq war.
This time, I did not want to place any limits on subject matter and decided that I would like to just "Play" with color and paint. I started the painting with Sherwin William's Latex paint that I had used for a commission for Marc & Mary Archambault. Normally I'd start by smoking a pack of cigarettes before I even started painting. This time, with my nicotine patch and nicotine lozenge, I was able to spend 3 weeks embedded in the piece. In the end, I felt rejuvenated, relieved and excited to do more painting.