#363: Mugs on Mugs, New Yorkers Comedy Show, Ludlow House Sketchbook, & Paris Recommendations?
+Morris catches up on some reading.
…from my messy studio to yours. Hope you’re having a great week leading up to Holiday Season!
I don’t suppose I have any readers in Paris? I’d love some recommendations on places to go, and things to see that are only around during the Christmas season. The 10th Wedding Anniversary trip Sophie and I had planned this year was put on ice as we went back home for my dad’s funeral. We are squeezing in a shorter trip at the very end of the year (between Christmas and NYE) in Paris. Any recommendations are appreciated!
The only plan we have at the moment is to see a Christmas Eve mass in one of those insanely ornate cathedrals and visit as many old libraries as we can find. (And of course, draw as much of Paris as I can before I run out of ink.)
New Yorkers on Stage
I went to a comedy show at The Stand run by my pals at @NewYorkers. It was fun to see the logo I designed for them used as a big neon sign on stage.
Mugs on Mugs
I spent 2 Days being hired to draw human faces on coffee mugs at an AI conference. Paid subscribers will get an account of it later this week, along with another bonus post on Sunday.
The conference was a mad scramble of technological advancement and people trying to out-A.I. each other as Google dropped their new Gemini model. It kicks the pants off GPT-4. Terrifying. Your move, Open AI…
Don’t forget to order your Holiday Goblin Greeting Cards and Wrapping paper in time to wrap for the holidays!
This week’s Sketchbook is a clump of live sketches I did for a company at Ludlow House last week. I get hired to draw people at all kinds of events. Let me know if you’re interested in having me at yours!
While I do love the convenience of an iPad/Wacom/Xenselabs tablet… I can’t ever replicate the joy of using analog tools. I’m starting a new Substack in 2024 called “Process Junkie” to explore all of the joys of the Process of making art. If you’re interested in that kind of thing, you can sign up here.
Until nex2t time,
Your pal,
Jason
Sixteen years ago, I needed miles to make my airline status, so I took a “mileage run”. A weekend in Paris near the end of the year. When I returned, I told my friends about the trip and that started the Paris Weekend Club. About five of us go to Paris every year for a “long weekend” (Wednesday through Tuesday).
We always go to see the Christmas decorations at the lobby of the Four Seasons George V hotel. They change every year and are spectacular. Also, if you are at the top of the Arc de Triomphe at 5:00 p.m. you will look in one direction and see the sun set and then look down the Champs-Élysées to see the trees suddenly sparkle with Christmas lights.
The Paris Weekend Club is really about eating. I can make recommendations from a tiny corner café that serves world class food to a lavish meal at a restaurant that is the favorite of Bill Clinton, Alice Water, ands Gérard Depardieus.
When I went to Paris in June I discovered that you can get in for free to the Rodin Museum if you can prove that you are an artist! I just showed my business card and it was fine. The museum is amazing with a few works that are by other artists as well as Rodin. But my favourite part is the gardens.