Posted on

The Rescue Limited Edition Giclees current count

Cropped image from "The Rescue"
Cropped image from "The Rescue"

I was asked earlier today what the status (particularly current remaining count) of the 32×22 (full sized) giclees are, and since I feel it may interest repeat visitors and new visitors alike, I thought it would be good to repeat the information given here:

Of 50 to be made, ever (no “Second Editions”, no “Bonus Editions”, no “Super-duper Extra Golden Millennium Editions Plus!!!”), minus the one I am keeping for myself, 10 remain.

Of those 50 “the Rescue” giclees, 2 have been stolen (1 disappeared in shipping and was replaced with the next print, 1 was stolen from an owner), 2 have been destroyed (1 accidentally, 1 purposefully).

That leaves 46 existing, meaning only one in 139,417,298 people planet-wide will have one of these things when they are gone.

I am saving 3 for upcoming gallery shows, 1 for myself, and I keep 1 print on hand for every print that is in transit (to have a replacement on hand for those who order, just in case something goes wrong).

So, when another 5 of these have sold, they’ll be out of stock online, and I think they’ll have pretty much seen their last Holiday season here.

I say these things not to pressure anyone into buying, but as a heads up. And my refusal to release future separate editions, is to protect and ensure the value of those prints purchased from me.

I do 1 set of full-sized limited editions from each of the three support types (metallic, canvas, and fine art rag paper), and any open editions of any of those support types are at a reduced size – and of course un-numbered and un-certified.

Thank you for visiting – thank you everyone who has purchased prints here (and enabled me to make artworks for a living) – and thank you everyone else who has made this possible – for every blog, every article, every friendly link or friendly mention, for every url scrawled out on a bathroom wall, and every child named “MykeAmend.com” – You people are incredible, even those of you which don’t exist but might.

Posted on

Clockwork Cheshire Cat and Mechanical Moon Men

I haven’t been updating much, you may have noticed – Web and print ad work for clients, as well as the last of the commissioned paintings have kept me busy.

The painting I am working on is a  large one; and since I work in the same amount of detail whether working small or large, it is still going to be a while before I get that one finished.

Most of my client work is for a studio that works with Disney, hosting art events for Disney artists, and selling special edition Disney merchandise; I have a large portfolio of fliers, print ads, and web work relating to these things – and perhaps this is beginning to sink a bit into what I do in my free time – as I just had to do my own version of the Cheshire Cat to round out this last series of engravings (below top).

This recent series began with my needing to get the cover art for the Halloween issue of Gatehouse Gazette (below bottom), and since I buy these things in threes, and cannot resist a fresh plate to engrave on, I ended up using more time that I had scrawling out designs in tiny detail – and I’ll tell ya – my hands and eyes are hating me for it right now.

Well, at least I managed another black and white for my “Airships and Tentacles” series – a series I realized this week I have yet to get around to posting an actual premise for. Innsmouth Free Press will be getting that info first, as I have an upcoming interview with them, and they asked the question.

Speaking of interviews, if you have the time, take a look at my recent one with Dark Roasted Blend (which was also picked up by IO9)

Also, I am pleased to announce, that my painting “Sabicu” will be the cover image for the upcoming installment of the amazing fantasy magazine: Beneath Ceaseless Skies.

Anyway… the art… below… BTW metallic prints and giclees of these are available in the Store

Cheshire Cat
Cheshire Cat


Attack from Planet Moon

Attack from Planet Moon (yes, it is a silly title for a silly picture)

I have a Special Plan for this World
I Have Special Plans for this World (Cover for Gatehouse Gazette October)

Posted on

Four New ModoFly Journals

I have 4 new journals available now at Modofly: The Antarctic Experiment, The Machine, Missed Me, and Sabicu.

"Missed Me" Modolfly Journal
"Missed Me" Modolfly Journal - Raygun Girl and scrapyard on front, scrapyard and "Smile" airship on back.

Each is rich in color, and quality-crafted with quality canvas and quality books, as per Modofly Standards, below are images of the four showing what they look like. For images of the front and the back, please visit my page at modofly.net.

Antarctic Experiment ModoFly Journal
Antarctic Experiment ModoFly Journal - Airship on front, Icebergs and Ether Crate on back,

You can buy these unsigned and undoodled in directly through ModoFly at Modofly.net for only $36 (US).

These are comparible to Moleskines, and are really, really nice (and really unique) journals.

Sabicu Modofly Journal
Sabicu Modofly Journal- Airship on front, tentacled trees and fog on back.

The ones offered in my store are doodled in and signed, to your specifications, and within reason. $75 gets you a black and white doodle in pencil or in pen, signed to you or to a friend/family member. All 4 can be found here in my store.

Behold the Machine ModoFly Journal
Behold the Machine ModoFly Journal - airship on front, icebergs and starry skies on back.

Be sure to specify in the notes for this item how you would like to have it signed, and whether you prefer a ruled or sketchbook version.

Posted on

Happy Accident – new print available

I love the printer I work with. They are not only fantastic at what they do, but wonderful to deal with

When I mess up the lines of communication, sometimes some really nice things can happen, such as this new 24×12 inch giclee of “the Machine”

camera phone pic of the thing stretched and mounted
camera phone pic of the thing stretched and mounted

I switched this order over to them because the last printer took forever (months) getting the artist’s prints from this batch to me.

I could not make up my mind if I wanted a new proof or not, first I did want one at half size, then I didn’t.

The reason being was that I already had their color profiles, and they matched up perfectly with those of the printer I had used to make the artist’s prints for this series.

Even though I did not need one, my first impression was to get a proof anyway, just to be thorough – but I decided instead to go ahead and print full-size, just in case it came out right. Choosing a different printer to run the series meant another artist print was called for – and this would be one of them.

Well, in my back and forth, I ended up with a 24 x 12 inch print instead of the 48 x 12. I thought I would sell this smaller artists print as just that… but when I stretched and mounted it, I realized it was the perfect size:

At 24 inches wide, it fills a decent amount of wall space. It looks great at this size, and is probably the smallest this wide-format image could be printed and still show all the detail and give the same feel. Most importantly – it offers a cheaper alternative to the huge 48 x 24 prints, which are a bear to stretch, mount, and ship (finding 48″ stretcher bars is tough, finding a 52x28x3 inch box is tough, shipping it out is very expensive).

On the 48×24 inch machine print in particular – I have had a lot of people tell me they really want one, but, as no surprise, things are too tight at the moment for large purchases. It does sadden me a bit that I cannot go any lower on the big ones, but I can offer alternate sizes.

Stretched and mounted, these are $165, but are reduced through this week to $125 (my typical introductory price thing). I do this because I know that seeing my art on the walls of people’s homes, makes people want one for themselves.

Posted on

Sale

Starting August 12th at 10PM EST, or sooner, 11×14 prints of the airships will be $23 a piece.

I am currently marking those items down and building a special “Sale” category for them (Store categories are on the far right column within this site, towards the bottom if you are on the main page).

This sale will last through Friday, August 21st.

11×14 prints are printed on heavy photographic professional stock with an archival rating of 90+ years. They are printed in archival pigment inks, and coated with a UV, Moisture, and Scratch – resistant surface.

Posted on

Win a Free 24×24 Antarctic Experiment Giclee [ended]

24x24 Giclee of "The Antarctic Experiment"
24x24 Giclee of "The Antarctic Experiment"

[ ——- This contest has ended. Joe McCormick of Iowa is the winner ——-

The other contest (my Twitter / Twitpic one with the picture guessing)  that one is still going. Thank you all participants, I will make sure you all get something extra for playing. ]

I’ve been wanting to hold a contest for a while, but aside from the paid raffles at Random.org, wherein I would have needed to either have a raffle – I couldn’t think of a decent option… until today.

When I was looking through old orders today, I remembered that all orders from my store come with a purchase ID!

Currently (at the time of this posting), the most recent purchase ID is 210.

Purchase IDs are auto-generated by the store as purchases are completed, and an email containing this purchase ID is automatically sent to the buyer via email.

Since 10 purchases, big or small would be nice to have, and not to ambitious a goal: I am going for purchase ID 220 – Purchase ID 220 will be the winner, and the winner will now almost immediately whether or not they won.

If your email receipt says “purchase #220”, you win – if paid for by e-check, winner will be declared if/when the e-check clears and not before, a canceled payment or bounced e-check for the winning purchase of course disqualifies the winner.

The contest ends Wednesday July 8th, 2009, the winner will be announced here Thursday July 9th.

If there is no #220 by that time, #215 wins, if there is no #215, then #212 wins, if there is no #121, #211 wins. If there is no #211, then no one has participated, and one can’t pull a winner from a list of zero participants – but as long as someone buys something, someone wins.

The winner receives a limited-edition and hand-embellished Antarctic Expedition Giclee**, or the original 5×7 engraving for “20,000 Leagues Under (the Nautilus)” – their choice. No cash value can be substituted for winnings – I am an artist and therefore do not possess this “cash” you speak of.

** For the giclee, I will even cover up to $15 of the shipping cost – meaning if you are in the States, shipping is free. This item will ship rolled, not stretched and mounted – so shipping should still be relatively cheap if not free wherever.

Posted on

Gargantuan War Machines: Airborne Carriers and Giant Robots

Giant Gundam via <a href=

The 59-foot-tall Gundam in Tokyo is now finished, surely developed as a countermeasure against the China’s recent development of flying aircraft carriers such as those reportedly seen on google maps in a lake near Shanghai (below) and that reported in the China Military Report, best described by others as a ripoff of the Giant Helicarrier from SHIELD (second below).

Mysterious Aircraft carrier in lake seen near Shanghai
Mysterious Aircraft carrier in lake seen near Shanghai via The Register
Giant HeliCarrier as Illustrated within China Military Report
Giant HeliCarrier as Illustrated within China Military Report

Still, these are not as impressive or elegant as the airborne aircraft carriers of history, such as the USS Macon or her sister ship the USS Akron, which, sadly, crashed off the coast of New Jersey on April 4th 1933, killing 73 crew and passengers.

Macon over Manhattan
Macon over Manhattan
USS Macon mockup presented as web advertising for the National Geographic Special
USS Macon mockup presented as web advertising for the National Geographic Special: Flying Aircraft Carrier – Image copyright National Geographic Online.

The Wonder that was the USS Macon, and her demise, will be the subject of a special airing on National Geographic on Saturday August 1st at 3PM.

Additionally, a great picture of the Akron can be found <a href=”http://www.ottens.co.uk/gatehouse/akron-over-manhattan”>here</a> at the Gatehouse