Photo by Carlos Baena

Wow, what an incredible event!  This past Saturday night we saw over 200 beautiful artworks get sold at the Totoro Forest Project auction that took place at Pixar.  Every single piece sold!  Now that is a resounding success!  The estimated final tally for the Sayama Forest charity is $201,236!  Wow, that’s double what they were hoping for!  I was salivating myself over all the incredibly beautiful art, and getting the chance to meet so many artists that I deeply admire and am truly inspired by.

Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to bring cameras inside, but a select few photographers were there to document the event.  You can see some photos here at AWN’s blog.

There’s more to come!  All of the artwork will be exhibiting at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco from Sept 20th through February of 2009.  On a rotating basis I believe though, because of space constraints at the museum.  Opening reception will be held sometime in early December.

Also the Totoro Forest Project book will be available soon for purchase online.  Keep checking the blog for details.

A special thanks to all the hard work of Dice Tsutsumi, Enrico Casarosa, Ronnie del Carmen, and Yukino Pang who worked so tirelessly to make this entire thing possible!

For the Totoro Forest Project!  Visit the website and start bidding away on all the fantastic art for this great cause!  Online bidding ends, I believe, Friday night, and the highest bid for each piece will be the starting bid for the final auction this Saturday night, Sept. 6th.  You may still end up with the piece you want even if you can’t attend the auction in person!

Keep checking the official blog as the organizers are constantly updating with new information and showcasing many of the artists.

Wow, so in three days $100, $200, and $500 dollar tickets to the charity auction at Pixar have already sold out! There’s still time to snag tickets to the event, but seems like you’ll have to be quick. $300 tickets are all that are left and I don’t know how many. Click here for the site to get your tickets. All proceeds go to charity!

Also, the Totoro Forest Project has put up a blog to keep everyone updated.

Tickets are are sale today for the big auction at Pixar!  Check below for the message from Dice Tsutsumi, Pixar art director and the organizer of this special event!

Many of you have been wondering when and how you can buy tickets for the upcoming Totoro Forest Art Auction Benefit Event to be held here at Pixar on September 6th. Finally we are ready to start selling these online! The first pre-sale will start monday 8/11 at 10am. Here’s the options available - Please note that all tickets include the stunning Art of Totoro Forest Book (worth $40)

Forest Friend - $100 regular admission + book.
Forest Sponsor - $200 includes admission + book + signed limited edition print
Forest Champion - $300 includes middle VIP live auction seating + book + signed limited edition print + gift certificate to Blowfish Sushi
Forest Hero - $500 includes front VIP live auction seating + book + an original drawing by one of the artists

Tickets will go on sale at this LINK exactly at 10AM Monday! We have a rather limited numbers of tickets so we suggest acting quickly if you want to be part of this event. Remember many of the donating artists will be in attendance, this will be a night to remember!! All the “Totoro inspired” art is up for preview at TotoroForestProject.org. All proceed will be donated to the Totoro Forest Foundation!! Let me know if you have any questions.

All right gang, this is it. (I will stand my ground and say that my 2 readers formally constitute a gang!) The Totoro Forest Project is now formally being announced and the organizers have created this nifty website that will tell you all about it in more detail. Above is my framed contribution to this great cause.

In quick summary, this will be a charity auction to help save the “Totoro Forest” in Japan which was the inspiration for Hayao Miyazaki’s masterpiece “My Neighbor Totoro.” The auction will take place at Pixar Animation Studios on September 6th. But please make sure to visit the website for the full details, since there is so much more, including a book cataloging the event and all the art, and an exclusive exhibition at the Cartoon Art Museum!

The website is not fully complete as they still need to get some more artwork and artist bios up there, but it should be filling up soon. I learned that, like my own piece, some of the artist’s scans weren’t so great and so they are taking the time to re-photo or scan those paintings for better quality. My big thanks to Yukino Pang of the Asian Art Museum who told me she could arrange to have a higher quality photo taken of mine.

Another big thank you goes to my friend Dice Tsutsumi, art director at Pixar, who invited me to participate. I am truly thankful, and am deeply in awe of all the artists that are participating.

The finished illustration from here. The scan is a bit funky because of a gloss coat over the painting, but ah well. This piece will need to find a happy home with someone at a charity event coming up. The event still has not been officially announced, but I will send out links and info as soon as I am able. And yes, there was a theme… It’s going to be a doozy!

I’ve been lousy poster as of late. It started a little over a month ago when I came down with a nasty little bout of tonsillitis, and continued after I got better and busy with work.

Something big is in the works which I am grateful to have been asked to be a part of. It hasn’t officially been announced yet, so I have to hold off on letting you in on the details. However, it’s related to the photo above which is my blank canvas. Or blank paper to be precise about it. Not a great photo or anything, but you get the idea.

Preparing my paper/canvas for a painting or illustration is an exercise I really get into. There’s something quietly serene and pure about cutting the paper, setting it to my board, taping the edges, and sizing it to paint on. It’s become a little ritual, a little offering to the gods of creativity out there who I hope will lend me a little bit of their sugar. I’m hoping to show you what happens with this one soon. Hopefully when this whole thing is announced!