Hey all! Just wanna make an announcement that I'm not taking on any new commissions this coming year. I need to have some 'draw for me' time. I feel like I've been in the same level of competence for the past couple years and to get better I really need time to experiment. If I already talked to you about a commish then I'll still do that. But no new ones. I need to get back into sketching hardcore, and there's only so many hours in a day. Seeing as how my 2011 is already going to consist of my first out-of-state convention in 7 years, putting together a 2nd artbook, planning at least 2 engagement parties, getting married, a solo art show in Brooklyn and configuring some sort of career path, I'd say my plate's already a bit full to begin with. @__@;;
Some sketches:
Varla (Tura Satana) from Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
I also did a sketch of my 'wedding ensemble' for my upcoming wedding to Phil Balsman on Dia de los Muertos next year in Las Vegas. (He proposed on my 30th birthday.) The dress is going to be from Vivien of Holloway, corset from Louise Black and hair inspired by Patricia Day of the Horrorpops.
So on Saturday 11/13 Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School had a special blowout session at the Brooklyn speakeasy The Red Lotus Room that was themed after Andy Warhol's Factory.
My inspiration for the night
NYC BFF Christy and I, always eager to dress up cute, attended as Warhol print versions of Liz Taylor and Marilyn Monroe. My surrogate little brother and tattooist Paul even came up from Maryland with his girlfriend Chelsea just for the party. Good times were had by all!
Liz and Marilyn scoping out the scene
After a couple drinks channeling Norma Jean got a little too easy...
Well, the VIDEO of his adventures around NYC is up on FunnyorDie.com and you can see a certain bespectacled punker girl reduced to utter speechlessness at 2:58! Like really, my hands were shaking and I thought I might burst into tears.
And just to show you how much I LOOOOOVE Pee-Wee, here's a couple pics from last year's Halloween when my fiance Phil and I dressed up as Miss Yvonne and Capn' Carl. BEFORE I EVEN KNEW HE WAS MAKING HIS BIG COMEBACK!
Did up a quick flyer for my sword-swallowing friend The Lady Aye for a burlesque show she's producing called Cramp-Us, which is a glorious marrage of The Cramps, Krampus and burlesque. This is the 3rd installment of this show, I saw the first one last December at the old Slipper Room, then missed the 2nd one that also featured my art on the flyer due to it being all the way down in Coney on Thursday. But THIS time it's in Manhattan on a Sunday and I am SO not gonna miss it!! So excited to get to do another flyer, I really do love doing promo for shows I can really get behind.
KingCon Brooklyn was this past weekend, and also marks the end of my big convention year for 2010!
Me at my table on Saturday- rocking my new Louise Black corset!
Another 2 day con (thank goodness- 3 day cons kill me...) I worked at my table and sold all day Saturday. Sunday I sold the first half of the day then took part modeling in a special mini Dr Sketchy's session and afterwards spoke in my first panel ever! Excitement!
I also met legendary X-Men write Chris Claremont! He created Kitty Pryde!! He was impressed by my tattoo! I was also super duper nervous to talk to him.
I was also part of a video made by The Brooklyn Cowboy who asked around the con What makes Brooklyn awesome?
Go ahead and pretend my feathers ain't luxurious...
Sunday afternoon I got to model for Dr. Sketchy's Anti Art School, a bi-monthly cabaret life drawing session and worldwide phenomenon I usually attend as a guest artist with my friend Christy. I've been attending Dr. Sketchy's for about 2 years now and have become friends with Sketchy's founder Molly Crabapple, who I practically squealed with glee at via email when she asked me if I would like to wear the showgirl outfit I wore to NYCC to the KingCon Sketchy's session as a model. I was ALL ABOUT IT! I even made a little playlist just for the occasion!
NYC BFF Christy got some great shots from the session (which you can see above on the flickr slideshow) and I had a GREAT TIME modeling! I even got to be in the Dr. Sketchy BLOG!!! XD I hope to have more opportunities to model for life drawing sessions (of the non-nude variety) as I have a TON of crazy outfits and costumes I could utilize. Just sayin'. ;)
After the Sketchy's session, I got to take part in my first ever panel discussion for 'Hips, Lips and Pencil Tips: Sexualization of Women in Comics from a Feminist Viewpoint'. Thought it'd be funny to keep my showgirl costume on, as it was a main part of my talking points regarding my own experiences in the comics medium.
It was a really great panel, I almost wished it had been recorded. Everyone had really interesting perspectives and stories to share about how their sexuality has come into play as a comic book artist.
What I talked about:
~How when I was 12 I was looking for porn but found comics. My story of discovering my first comic while hunting for my dad's vintage Playboys/Penthouse Forums that my brother had gotten ahold of. While searching under my brother's bed I came across 2 comics: Uncanny X-Men #236 and #243, which started me on my lifetime obsession of comics, and Wolverine being naked.
Better than porn.
~Being my own 'booth babe'- Utilizing my past as a cosplay girl as well as my costume/dressup obsession as a tool to grab people's interest in my table/artwork at conventions with choice of dress (what I call my 'con drag'), using sales techniques from when I was a tv salesperson (yet another male-dominated industry I fell into) such as standing 90% of the time, eye contact with customers and starting up conversations with total strangers. Putting on the 'Paigey' persona at conventions which is basically just a friendlier, more outgoing and energetic version of myself than say, when I am at home in my sweatpants actually creating the artwork I hock at conventions.
~Alot of my pinup artwork has helped me embrace my own sexuality with more confidence, especially as I myself have become more 'womanly' in my proportions over the years. And since I've moved to NYC I've gained an exposure to and ultimately a fascination with burlesque and it's history, which has served as an amazing resource of inspiration not only for my artwork but to myself as well as that is a community which is accepting of women in so many shapes, sizes and colors.
I'm sure there was other stuff I went on about, as I tend to ramble when put on the spot, but I'm very excited to see what 2011 has in store for me convention-wise.
Check it out! MY NAME's on the poster!!! Sweeet!!!
So this upcoming weekend is my final convention appearance for the year- King Con Brooklyn on Saturday November 6th and Sunday November 7th at the Brooklyn Lyceum!
Saturday I will have my usual Paigey merch for sale at my table- including prints, artbooks, buttons, magnets, toys and jewelry.
Sunday however, is actually the first time I will have direct involvement in events for a convention-
3:30pm: DR. SKETCHY'S ANTI-ART SCHOOL KING CON EDITION (bring your own drawing supplies): Dr. Sketchy's is what happens when Cabaret meets Art School. Artists draw glamorous underground performers and compete for prizes. In our KingCon special edition, pinup artist Paige Pumphrey poses as a MiniComics Showgirl, with Syd Bernstein hosting.
VERY EXCITED! Been going to Dr. Sketchy's for about 2 years now and I am beyond honored that I get to be counted amongst the plethora of gorgeous women who've modeled for Dr. Sketchy's Anti Art School over the years! I've had a little experience as a life drawing model before and know it is VERY HARD WORK, so I hope to do it justice!
6:30pm: HIPS, LIPS, & PENCIL TIPS: The Sexual Female as Feminist Focal Point a conversation with female artists Paige Pumphrey, Laura Lee Gullidge, Jennifer Hayden; moderated by writer Rachel Kramer Bussel.
THIS SHOULD BE FUN!! I've never taken part in a panel and speaking in front of alot of people makes me nervous, and I have a sneaking suspicion I'll be playing the Devil's Advocate on the whole idea of the sexualization of women so if anything maybe I'll just keep my showgirl costume from Sketchy's on and fully embrace my role.
But also, my boyfriend of 5 1/2 years and love of my life- Phil Balsman aka 'Ballsy' PROPOSED TO ME!! XD
I had no idea what he was planning...
We had quite a weekend planned- Friday I had a small gathering of friends over at one of my new favorite mixology bars The Randolph at Broome on the Lower East Side for some happy hour madness. Lots of drinking! Lots of catching up with friends! I was two-fisting Texas Porch Sippers all night! What a great opener for an amazing weekend!
Then on Saturday my most bestest friend in the world Fenny and her husband J came up from Washington, DC to accompany us on my actual birthday to the Pee-Wee Show on Broadway!! I LOVE PEE-WEE!!! He's my childhood hero! He taught me that not only is it ok to be weird but to revel in my individuality. We had 2nd row center seats! When the curtain came up on the Playhouse I cried, like ALOT! It was amazing! I was THERE! Suddenly I was 7 years old again! I was bouncing up in down in my seat I was so excited!!! We were so close you could see the spittle come out of Pee-Wee's mouth! I didn't want it to end!
Post Pee-Wee glow
After we saw Pee-Wee we had dinner reservations at Havana Central, a Cuban restaurant with awesome drinks and awesomer steaks on 46th street in Times Square. I loooove me some Chimichurri sauce!!!
So slightly tipsy and carrying a 'steak baby', we walked down 46th on what was an unusually quiet strip of street for being Times Square on a Saturday night. Especially being the Saturday night before Halloween. ("Deviiiiil's Niiiight!") So in search of a cab, we head away from Times Square towards 7th Avenue when Phil gets an odd look and ushers me across the street to the arched door of an old school. Perplexed, I thought he was trying to get a little smootchy make-out session before Fenny and J caught up. But he gave them a nod and said to me very low 'I've got something I wanna ask you....' and I saw him dig a black ring box out of his jacket pocket... (queue video)
Which is when this happened.
As it turned out, Fenny had known for MONTHS about Phil's plans. Which is incredible, Fenny and I have no secrets between us. I'm impressed how well she kept it under wraps, as I had NO IDEA. My parents knew about it 3 days before he proposed, he called them to ask for their blessing and Fenny picked up the heirloom engagement ring my grandmother has held onto for me since I was a wee one to bring up to NYC. Phil called his parents to let them know what was up after the Pee-Wee show let out and he had 'popped out for a smoke' while I was at the merch booth. Completely clueless as to what was going on...
So yeah!!! At 11:45 on October 30th 2010- Phil Balsman asked Paige Pumphrey to marry him, and she said yes. ^_^
We're still planning everything, but we have set the date and we'll be getting married for sure on November 2nd of 2011 (on Dia de los Muertos) in Las Vegas by Elvis. So so soooo excited! XD
Holy crap what an INSANE weekend!! So insane that it took an extra week of me recovering before I could even think about updating my blog here with any sort of con report. Get ready for some TL;DR action!!!
So late, late Thursday night after the whole 'meeting my childhood hero Pee-Wee Herman'-thing happened, my BFF Fenny came up from Washington DC to join me in convention exploits for the weekend, resulting in about 4 1/2 hours sleep as we got up for the convention Friday morning at 7:30am to hopefully arrive at 9:30-10 for our set up/opening table shift for Girls Drawin Girls, which so did not happen (we got there more like 11-12). So Fenny and I after we got our insane pin-up girls costumes on trekked to the Javits Center with 2 stuffed suitcases of GDG merch and after looking for our table, found this:
So our space, which was supposed to be a 6x6 booth with a 6' table and 2 chairs looked more like where they put the trash cans. Like it was literally as big as a bathroom stall. And I being the first to arrive with Fenny, and either of us having no idea what the hell was going on, and I being convinced for sure NYCC REALLY hates me, resulted in me having a full tilt fit of crying. Thank god GDG founder/President Melody Severns was on her way, since I didn't have a clue as to who to talk to to alleviate our situation. It literally looked like we had been Punk'd.
Me, post fit of crying.
Fortunately Melody had the proper contact info and information and wasn't afraid to pull her bitch card to get shit done around the con. One of the options the floor managers had for us was moving the table altogether, but with a completely sold out convention plus having ordered a thousand postcards with our booth number on them, unless that spot was awesome we weren't gonna move. Especially since the only options it seemed right off the bat for moving to was the Anime Festival floor, which was in the basement. Which was not an option, we had a decent space and we weren't going to give it up for something even worse. So after realizing that the reason why the size of our booth had shrunk was because of the whiny, over-weight middle-aged men on either side of us who didn't seem to realize 6 foot wide booth plus 6 foot wide table equals no extra space for them to waddle in and out of, so that extra foot of they commandeered on either side of their tables to get in and out of is actually encroaching on our footage. And once we reclaimed that space you couldn't hear the END of their incessant whining about fire hazards and how they're supposed to get out. Ugh. So once we got the booth the correct size (with the help of some teamsters we batted our eyes at) and got ahold of our table and chairs over the span of 3 hours that morning, we were set up and I started my booth babely duties while Fenny got her cigarette tray on and walked the floor with promotional items.
So after we got everything set up and started getting into the groove of selling, one of the Reed Expo floor managers who was really going above and beyond helping us out came by to check up on us and told us that there was a 10x10 corner booth in the next aisle that was a last-minute cancellation and if we wanted to move there. And wow- before we can even give her an answer- dude next to us interjects with a condescending 'Well, if YOU GIRLS don't wanna move because of all those postcards- *I* can move there instead.' Like, yeah- really. To which Melody asks the floor manager- but you're offering the table to US, right? Floor manger nods. Melody- let's go. But yeah, really- how much of a gaggle of idiots do you think we are, dude? Ugh. So we move to the new space, which is AWESOME and they even throw in another 6 foot table to cap off the L shape to the booth at no extra charge. It is glorious, the amount of cross traffic from the two aisles converging results in us being consistently busy all weekend. Even when we were still setting up we were swarmed.
So with the stressful morning behind us, and our relief shift of Daisy and her husband finishing pricing and setup, Fenny, Melody and I hit the super-nice, super not crowded at the time Lucky Strike bowling lanes up the street for a good solid 3 hours of drinking alcoholic Arnold Palmers and talking about boys.
Afterwards Fenny and I departed for dinner then headed home where we got to work on finishing up our costumes for Saturday.
Thankfully I had a closing shift at the table Saturday, so I could sleep in a bit and relax before the barrage of people that awaited me at the con. We didn't actually arrive til about 1 and took our costumes in trash bags so we could change in one of the bathrooms at the show. We got quite some interesting looks from the overcrowded ladies room as we attached feather bustles, applied flash tape to our boobs and laced ourselves in corsets.
The cigarette girl costumes were definitely a hit, alot of people stopped us to get pictures taken and get one of our postcards and buttons. I seriously can't wait til the next time I get to wear these costumes, they were so much fun to wear.
We actually got some inquiries from other companies on our cigarette girl promo idea who showed interest in hiring us to represent them at other conventions. Hopefully that'll pan out, cause that would be soooo sweet!
We were also interviewed by my friend Tameeka for her pop culture blog Tameeka Time- I was a bit overwhemed by the con and exhausted at the time so I don't have too much to say. Fenny however totally rocked it.
Even though Saturday is usually the 'big party night' at the con, the sheer exhaustion I felt from way too much interaction along with spending a little too much dinero at Lucky Strikes lanes on Friday had me wanting to head home after the show. Even Fenny went out to party, I just gave her my spare keys and let her have run of the city. From what I remember I changed into my pj's, ordered Thai food (Drunken Noodle- my fave!) and watched The Losers with my boyfriend.
Sunday morning Fenny actually left early, so I donned my Wonder Woman costume and went to the con with Phil later that afternoon. And how funny- one of the first pics taken as I came into the convention ends up being for UGO.com's NYCC 2010: Babes of Comic-Con photo spread.
From the rest of the day:
The Wonder Woman costume was extremely well-recieved! Alot of people even said it was the best WW costume they had seen all weekend and gave me praise for the old school sensibilities and how classy it was. It's really comfy and I love wearing it as well- it's got such a great amount of personalization to it since it's made from things I found in my closet. The only things I had to do were add the stars and get some yellow nylon rope from the hardware store.
So with NYCC over with for another year it looks like the only con standing between me and 2011 is King Con Brooklyn in about 3 weeks, which I will be a guest at and looks like I will be speaking at my first ever panel for, about the Sexualization of Women in Comics. Which for some reason I feel I'm going to be playing the Devil's Advocate for.
