Alabama Shakes, Lilly Ledbetter and The Incognito Project

The Incognito Project seems to have sparked people's imagination much as it has mine. I'm honored that this month it is written about in B Metro : The Magazine of Metro Birmingham Living.

The article, written by Phillip Ratliff, is about the painting project, the show and the book. It is in their January 2013 feature, The A-List.

From the magazine:
Our annual list of people who fascinate, inspire, and make this city a great place to live.

Each year we put together a list of people (and this year we added an event) that we think have had really exceptional years and are poised or equally great things in the year to come. This year our list includes a comedian, a potter, rock and roll stars, equal-pay advocate, two artists, a convention center executive, a marine general turned college president, and the Dia de los Muertos festival. It’s a compendium of achievement we are proud to have associated with our magazine and our city.

Other people on the list this year are the amazing musical group Alabama Shakes, (their debut album is my new favorite music), Roam Project visionary-Greg Wingo, and Equal Pay Advocate-Lilly Ledbetter.

I had a total fan girl moment and got a secret thrill to see Lilly and President Obama on the page before The Incognito Project since I'm such a huge fan of both!

The magazine is in bookstores and news stands locally till mid-February and you may read it online here.

Steampunk Rats and Blue Ribbons

I'm pleased to announce that Professor Rattus and Her Royal Court, The Incognito Project has won 1st Place in The Portrait Society of America's, 2013 Member's Only Competition, Outside the Box category.

Professor Rattus and Her Royal Court, The Incognito Project,  24x18, oil on panel

The painting is of my daughter, Carly, and her pet fancy rats, Queenie and Dutchess.

Here's Carly's "Witness Statement" from the book: 

I find that my ability to converse intelligently is inversely proportional to my proximity to a furry mammal. If it’s furry and friendly, I want to hold it and talk to it to the exclusion of the humans around me. My conversation, that may have started as, “Why, yes, I did hear that the Large Hadron Collider created an event that was a hundred thousand times hotter than the sun,” devolves into, “My goodness! Who’s a furry critter? You’re a furry thing. Yes, you are.” Take equal parts Asimov and Conan Doyle, two writers I’m passionate about, and add a dash of furry minions, and I can wallow in a mystical land tailored just for me. ~Carly

The painting is included in my book about the project, pages 94-99.

You may see a big post about the painting here, that covers the Steampunk aesthetic and more close-up details.

The painting is now at Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA. The books are available through my website, or in the sidebar to the right or at the gallery. In Santa Fe you may also purchase the book at Sugarman Peterson Gallery.

Amy Strickland has done a series of posts about how she ran our successful Kickstarter to fund publishing of the book. You may find the first one here. Just follow the link at the bottom of each of her posts to see all six.