Today, I'm greatful.

Last night was an awakening of sorts for me and the other artists who share this office space with me. I had just finished two portraits for Bloomberg magazine, and was shutting down my computer for the day when outside our building we heard 3 gun shots, then 4 more. The shots were loud, they almost felt as if they were in the studio shooting. There wasn't time to get down, it happened very fast. One of the bullets found it's way into my studio, it went through the styrofoam that we have stuffed in a window, in the summer we put an air conditioner in that space. Anyways, there's piping along the ceiling that the bullet hit, from there it hit the floor. We found the bullet. It was only three feet away from me, the event could of been tragic.

I'm grateful to be alive, to be able to hold my daughters and wife, but to be honest, being grateful that I was alive wasn't what was going through my mind. I was very frustrated at the situation, all I could think about was the "what if's", or "it could of's".

We brought the bullet to the police, I heard later that the police went into our studio and took photos of everything for evidence. Today I am grateful. God had his angels around us yesterday, fo shizzel.

Anyways, my posts today are of a quick watercolor sketch I did of Putin, and then an hour and half study from the sketch with oils. Both for fun, just getting the paints out and pushing them around, a little theorpy as I like to call it. I've been honored with the task of judging an illustration contest along with Wouter Tulp and Court Jones for the NCN (National Caricaturists Network). I was asked if I could dontate a piece of art or a print or something for the winner, so I will be donating this oil sketch of Putin. It should be interesting, I'm looking forward to seeing what they'll come up with.