Happy June ladies and gentlemen! The heat has hit here in Carmichael, and it’s time to get in the pool. This month’s desktop background uses a photo I snapped today of our beautiful backyard swimming pool—the surest source of refreshment this summer.

I didn’t manage to squeeze in an actual calendar, but I figure most folks have other ways to tell what day it is, and the less clutter the better. Download the background here: 2560×1600, 1920×1200, 1680×1050, 1440×900, 1280×800

Wishing y’all a joyous June!

My first trip to an art trade show was quite a time in the big city of New York.  Three days in a row I headed to the gigantic Javits Center in Hell’s Kitchen on Manhattan’s West Side.  I learned a lot, saw some fantastic art and design, and soaked up the sights and sounds of an industry that for years has been humming along right under my nose without my knowledge.

If you go into the housewares section of any department store, you’ll find the work of numerous licensed artists.  Any product with a print or design is likely the result of a partnership between a manufacturer—the licensee—and an artist—the licensor.

95% of the industry is comprised of purchases made by women.  The biggest piece of the art licensing pie is Christmas and all it’s kitschy glory.  Snowmen, reindeer, and holiday cheer are what manufacturers plunk down money for every summer at SURTEX—planning ahead for the big shopping at year’s end.

Some other themes that always find their way into market: roosters, wine, cupcakes, chefs, coffee & tea, and nature.  That last one’s important, because I like to draw flowers.

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Today I’m heading to New York City to attend my very first art and design expo: SURTEX .  Surtex is an annual event where artists and designers show off their patterns, prints, and designs for companies.  The name of the game is art licensing, which is described by Wikipedia thusly:

A licensor may grant a permission to a licensee to copy and distribute copyrighted works such as “art” (e.g., Thomas Kinkade’s painting “Dawn in Los Gatos”) and characters (e.g., Mickey Mouse). With such license, a licensee need not fear a claim of copyright infringement brought by the copyright owner.

Hypothetically, I am the licensor, some cool company that likes my stuff is the licensee, and the art is my original art.  I didn’t rent a booth to show off my work, but over the course of the three days I hope to learn as much as I can about art licensing and how it might work for me.

In preparation, I’ve collected a number of pen-and-ink drawings and collages, and created a new page on my website: gaberobertsart.com/licensing.  I also created a little sequence of designs for Dolores Park.  Check out the page and let me know what you think!

I don’t know if I’ll have a chance to share my work, but if I do, I’ll use this page.  My friend Leah recommended I explore art licensing and suggested that my ink drawings in particular may have commercial appeal.  Whether or not this is true, I’m very excited to see what the pros have put together for this show, and maybe make some new connections.

If you’re in the big apple and would like to say hello, please drop me a line!  I’m looking forward to ten days of adventure on the east coast.

On Thursday night I had the distinct pleasure of watching the Denver Nuggets demolish the Los Angeles Lakers in game six of their NBA playoff series.  The win means LA must host Denver tonight for a decisive game seven.  The next morning, having come to a realization about my motives for watching the game, my Facebook status read “The Prospect of Kobe Bryant being eliminated: why I watch the NBA playoffs”.  It may seem harsh and cruel to root solely for a single player’s demise, but in my case it’s very true.  If I may, some words in my defense.

Adore me, oh inferior ones

Kobe Bryant is an arrogant bastard.  He may not technically be a bastard, but he is most certainly the most arrogant human being I can think of.  You can almost taste the self-righteousness dripping like the sweat from his brow; you can feel the presence of his massive ego.  His arrogance shows when he makes an important basket and sticks out his jaw in an “I’m bad” sort of way, or when he pretends to be amused when a ref doesn’t make the call his way.  A less arrogant player might react with pure excitement over a big shot, or surprise and dismay over a missed call.  But to Kobe, making a shot is thanks to his inferior teammates finally giving him the ball, and the missed call is the tragic result of a pathetically inept referee.

Kobe believes he’s better than everybody else, that he’s the most important player on the team and in the league.  In fact, he his a fantastic player, and has for years been the most skilled player in the league.  But that’s no excuse for arrogance.

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