Traveling Turkey!

Here’s my latest editorial for The Minneapolis Tribune . . . It ran on Thanksgiving day. The story is about the history of the turkey and oh how it’s traveled over the years! Many thanks to the fantastic A.D. Nicole H. for the gig!

TAMPA BAY TIMES

A few weeks ago, an inquiry arrived from Art Direcotor Suzette Moyer of the Tampa Bay Times. She was looking for someone to illustrate a museum preview story for a cover feature section. The article looks at 8 museums in the Tampa Bay area (Dali, Fine Arts Museum, Ringling, Tampa Art museum, photo museum, etc). It previews the year and there are no specific works coming to Tampa this year that are standout so the writer took a generic approach by focusing on single museums when new shows arrive. The theme and direction I recieved was “the museum experience.” This was a tough one! Here are a few of my sketch concepts (we flipped the specs width and height at the last minute) along with process photos and the final image that ran this past weekend on Sunday, September 2nd. Many thanks to Suzette and Paul for the opportunity. All images copyright 2012 Wayne Brezinka.

Fly Away

Just received printed samples of Grace Pettis's forthcoming album Two Birds, out September 15. Complete with hand made paper feathers and birds ready to fly. Turned out great! 

Elton John & Leon Russell for cover of L.A. Times

I received a call from the L.A. Times a week ago last Thursday. It was a little before 7:00 p.m. and they asked if I was available to illustrate Leon Russell and Elton John for the cover of their Arts and Books section. The image would run October 10th. I answered with a very loud and excited YES! Sketches were due the next day on Friday. Upon approval, I began creating the final image. They requested a pen and ink style similar to a Willie Nelson portrait that I had created and they referenced. In addition to executing the final image in pen and ink, I wanted to experiment with bringing in a small and limited amount of collage. I am very pleased with the end result as were they. Collage, pen and ink and mixed media.

On The Cover

I've been fortunate this past year to have been published on the covers of The Washington Post Capital Business section, The L.A. Times Business section, The Chicago Tribune Sunday Section and now the prestigious Hartford Courant Home and Real Estate section. This particular image ran about a week ago. The article is about the overwhelming task of cleaning out your parents home after they are moved into a retirement home or after they have passed away. Collage and mixed media.

The Prodigal

The homeless. The addict. The bum. The black sheep. The throw away. THE PRODIGAL SON. A timeless story with relevant and modern significance. Whatever your belief and or religion, you cannot deny the power and impact of redemption. Would you welcome your son or daughter back? Would you lay down your anger and feelings of disappointment despite the awful smell and filth? Would you wrap your arms around him and lavish him with kindness, passion and love? How would you feel? What would you do? This image was created for the upcoming 2010 FBC arts festival in downtown Nashville . . . A Juried Art Exhibition and Sale. If you are in the area October 2-17th, please come by and check out the show. Collage and mixed media.

Capital Business - Washington Post cover

I worked on this image with Meredith at the Washington Post last week. A very pleasant experience. It ran yesterday (Labor Day 2010) on the cover of the Capital Business section. To tie in with the holiday, they we're wanting to do a piece on what it would take for employers to actually start hiring again. One side says it would take essentially another stimulus to get people spending money again and the other says it won't happen until things like the new health care, the tax cuts that are set to expire in 2011, etc. are settled. Meredith was looking for an image that generally spoke of the laborforce and workforce and the sense of it being trying in such uncertain times. They were initially drawn to the sketch with the emaciated figure set within the silhouette of the labor man . . . however they felt that this idea might be a bit jarring in the end. We decided to go with the card balance image. You'll notice on the actual and final collage, the only part that was digitally set in were the card faces. I try to keep everything on my final images organic and as natural as possible as I'm not a big digital fan when it comes to faking drop shadows and making something look like it was done by hand when it actually was not. I realize there are moments when this is not always possible. Here is a bit of that process and the end result. 

OP-ED - Obama, Race & "The View"

Wes from the L.A. Times called on Thursday of last week. He said they were running an Op-Ed story regarding Obama's appearance on "The View." He inquired about my portrait of Obama and asked about commissioning me to run it with the article. The story centers around his response to Barbara Walters' question about why he didn't call himself a biracial president. Collage and mixed media.