Art Studio Newsletter:
Reflections on the First Quarter
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Jim Crawford's Pinstriper's Jamboree!
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To start the year off, I shared pictures of a couple Kennedy tool boxes I pinstriped for a client’s gift to her sons. Those photos sparked a phone call from an artist whose work is commonly found on the tools and builds for Gas Monkey Garage. He invited me to an event called the “Pinstriper’s Jamboree” at the Dallas Autorama. |
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This is a yearly event where artists from all over the country come together to donate 100% of their time and talents to create art for a weekend-long auction during a massive indoor car show. ALL proceeds from the auction benefit the kids at The Scottish Rite Children’s Hospital in Dallas, Texas.
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I jumped on this one of a kind opportunity because it fell in line with my belief in giving back to my community with my art, and allowed me to network with some talented artists, whom I admire.
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Over the course of three days, I created art for the auction with complete creative freedom; something rare in my line of custom commission work. I met new friends and, together, we learned new tricks of the trade just by painting side by side.
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This event has become something that I hold in high regard. Not only did we raise over $30,000 with our art for the children’s hospital, but painting “off the cuff” art with extremely talented people on either side of me fueled my creativity like no other. I came home inspired with a full soul.
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For the holidays, I painted over 100 custom ornaments! To each of you that purchased a custom ornament, THANK YOU! Those ornaments, combined with a little bit of penny pinching, allowed me to purchase a brand new 5x8 enclosed storage trailer! This travel trailer will be a game changer for me (and my poor family who usually helps me with the madness) in setting up at outdoor shows. No more worries about the weather, unpacking, and repacking my little, open air, Jeep trailer! The new trailer is a blank white canvas for now, but I do plan to paint her up with my brand and a few other ideas I’ve had in my mind. Car show and festival season is here, so be on the lookout for the ACCA trailer and my Jeepster at a show near you!
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Paint and Kustom Graphics Magazine is nationally renowned art publication that is based in the UK and covers all aspects of Kustom Art and Lifestyle. I remember flipping through the magazine pages in awe of the artists before I even knew how to paint with pinstriping brushes. When they reached out to me to do a 3 page feature on my hand painted ornaments for issue # 71, I was absolutely ecstatic. If you would like to purchase this issue, or any of their beautifully designed magazines, just click the link above!
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The Baylorian is a literary and art journal that has been in publication for over 100 years by the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and features the work of students, faculty, and alumni. While I was a student at UMHB, a painting I did as a tribute to Ansel Adams (the black and white film photographer) was included in this journal. This year, my pinstripe illustration of a VW bus was selected out of hundreds of works of art as featured alumni work. I am honored to have my artwork be part of such a historied and creative endeavor.
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Kate Cook: Licensed "Rat Fink" Artist!
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For those of you who aren’t familiar with Rat Fink, his little story goes something like this. His creator, Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, was a huge influence in the custom car culture during the 60’s, building wild cars and painting out-of-the-box car monster characters. Around the same time, Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse was all the rage. The car culture was that of rebellion, and the ideology of Mickey Mouse was quite the “prim and proper” opposite. So out his love for drawing little monsters, Roth created a little grotesque mouse character and named him Rat Fink, a direct adversary to Mickey Mouse. Fink stood for everything that was different, “cool”, and even a little mischievous. Fink has become a national icon for the hot rodding scene and his image is, to this day, still copy written by the Roth family. I wanted legal permission to draw Fink at any time, so I applied to become a licensed Fink artist. I was accepted by Ilene Roth, Ed Roth’s wife, herself. I was star struck and quite honored to know that I can carry on a legendary artist’s creation and have the ability to offer this to my clients. I love what Rat Fink stands for.
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Commissioned Art Highlights
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I was contacted by Multitool USA, who commissioned me for a massive project as the lead artist for their companywide rebrand. Multitool is a nationally renowned company that sells high quality bench grinders and performance attachments. This company has catered to industries such as desert racing, axe throwing, knife making, welding, fabrication, and work working for over 30 years. When their brand manager initially reached out to me, I was speechless! It is surreal to think my art will be stamped into each of their newly designed tools and printed on their merchandise all over the world. I will not be be able to share much in the process of creating their new logos. However, I will be sharing sneak peaks on my social accounts!
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Thank you for your continued support of my work! I could not run a successful small business in art, without people like YOU!
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