Hey Punk!

My newest piece, wrestler CM Punk- marker on an acrylic background.

FREE(!!!) Giveaway Contest!

Hey everybody, is it your dream to own a piece of Lucky Lefty art but not have to pay for it? Well, I'm giving you an opportunity to make that dream comes true with this contest!

I'm giving away a 16 x 16 inch Lucky Lefty Box Canvas Print to the winner of this contest. That's $100 bucks retail value!

You get to decide which 1 of these 3 prints you want:

How do I win this, you may be asking yourself? Simply:

A) Follow @DAVEKUSH on the Twitter

B) Tweet this exact phrase:

"Follow @DAVEKUSH to win 1 of these

http://davekushner.blogspot.com/2011/11/free-giveaway-contest.html"

C) Sit tight, and on Wednesday, November 30th I'll randomly select a winner!

Jose Jose Jose Jose Joseeeeeee Joseeeeeee!

Like most met fans, one of my favorite current Mets (hopefully for a long time) is Jose Reyes. I remember back in the summer 2002 when I first heard about "the Mets most exciting prospect since Darryl Strawberry". By '04 he was in the big leagues, but not without some injury troubles. By 2006 he had put it all together, and was fulfilling his potential as one of baseball's best players. Injuries caught up to him again, but this season he came out firing on all cylinders. Now he's the National League's probable MVP and his contract is ending. If the Mets can't retain him I can honestly say it could be too much for me to handle as a fan. Hopefully Alderson and co. know what they're doing.

For whatever reason, I haven't tried capturing any of the current Mets with my art. Reyes, however has been one of my most heavily requested subjects. The fanbase is simply inspired by him, and I am too. Along with being my first piece of a current Met, this also another first for my Lucky Lefty line- a collaboration with the photographer of the picture that served as the basis for the drawing. I hit up Mets photographer extraordinaire, and Metsblogger Michael Baron on Twitter (@michaelgbaron) and was into it. A couple emails later and I was drawing away. Check out Michael's website here. When working on my Lucky Lefty pieces I strive to capture sports' personalities in dynamic lighting, I sense that is Michael's goal with his photographs, which made using one of his photos a perfect match.

The Piazza Man Delivers!

Just finished this new Lucky Lefty piece. This is something new I'm giving a whirl- doing smaller pieces in mixed media, mostly marker. The background is orange acrylic paint, which had the unintended result of reminding me happily of Shea Stadium. The paint I used was transparent, so in order to get it even I had to put a ton on. Kinda like how Shea used to not actually get anything fixed every year, they just slathered on new coats of orange paint every season.

I love the source photo of Piazza that I based the piece on. Piazza looks so intense, but a little forlorn in it. The American flag patch on his hat (and blonde highlights) place this picture in 2001, after 9/11.

Updated 07/13/11: This is now available as a print on my Etsy shop: CLICK HERE

Own a Piece of LUCKY LEFTY!

After multiple requests about prints and buying my art I've finally got it together and started up an Etsy shop.

So check it out, I've got products available at various price points- high quality giclee prints for 30 bucks, and box canvas prints starting at $80.

All of the Lucky Lefty prints are available, including BIGGIE, KEITH, SANDY, GANGSTA, and more!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/LuckyLeftyArt

Life After Death

I've been touching up the painting today, and finishing up the sides of the canvas (as seen in the the post before this). Sometimes the hardest part with painting isn't painting- it's stopping.

There's always imperfections that will drive you crazy, but as my buddy Matt Fried told me, "That's why it's a painting" as opposed to a photo.

This piece is for sale, by the way, so hit me up if you want Big Poppa up on your wall.

"Check it, we can do this every weekend. Keep banging."

Oh, I just remembered to spray varnish on it.

How I Do

I recently read a great blogpost by Austin Kleon called "How to Steal like an Artist (And 9 Other Things Nobody Told Me)" that really inspired me while working my latest painting

(read it here: http://www.austinkleon.com/2011/03/30/how-to-steal-like-an-artist-and-9-other-things-nobody-told-me/).

One of Kleon's points is that artists should share their processes. He says, "Artists aren’t magicians. There’s no penalty for revealing your secrets... I get a lot of inspiration from people like Bob Ross and Martha Stewart. Bob Ross taught people how to paint. He gave his secrets away. Martha Stewart teaches you how to make your house and your life awesome. She gives her secrets away."

I agreed with this, and for a while had been thinking about putting together some posts not just documenting my work, but detailing a little about how I make the work.

Which leads me to masking tape.

Masking tape is my secret weapon while painting. Every time I need a clean edge I use masking tape. I didn't learn this in art school, I learned this in preparation for a floor hockey tournament at summer camp. This tournament was a big deal at my camp, and a big part of it involved the painting of the boards that surrounded the rink. I was painting lettering and wanted to have a colorful background behind it that I spray-painting. Instead of painting around the letters first (this I learned in art class: ALWAYS paint the background FIRST), I simply covered the letters in masking tape and went to town with the spray paint.

While painting Biggie I used masking tape to achieve straight lines in the background for the "red and black lumberjack" pattern. I didn't want the edges to be too clean for, I wanted to emulate the texture of fabric so I didn't put the tape down completely flush to the canvas.

It's a simple little thing, but boy it helps.

Another important piece of advice I'd like to give to artists is: Listen to other artists. Not because you'll necessarily learn something new, but because you'll come across something you knew but forgot.

I was reading an interview with comics legend Jim Lee, the definitive X-Men artist for my generation and current Co-Publisher of DC Comics, and in it he mentioned turning his pieces upside down to make sure the composition works. I learned this in 9th grade and probably forgot it sometime around 12th grade. It works.