Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Where's the beef?

And the pork? And chicken? And the art?

Know What You Drink
Know Your Beer - 13 x 19 print available here

Things have been quiet here on MEAT SECTIONS, but not for me. MEAT SECTIONS began as a daily art project in 2010, and was intended for nothing more than to keep my sanity and to be creative while I was unemployed and "on sabbatical."



Use Every Part - Chicken 13 x 19 available here.

I never expected to turn the art from this blog into a full-time business, but I am proud and excited every day that it did. So first of all, thank you, sincerely, to everyone who has come to the blog, left a comment, or even purchased their own print.  You've allowed me to make a career out of selling meat art, which really really really few people can say.

But since this has grown from a daily art blog into a full-on business, from here forward, I'll be posting only on my main blog, drywell art - the blog.  (I know. Clever title). There will still be meat art galore, as well as recipes, advice for creative biz, and behind-the-scenes stuff. Oh, and a lot about food.

So change your RSS feeds, adjust your following, and come over to drywell art - the blog.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

McNugget "Meat"

McNugget "Meat" butchery diagram
original watercolor and ink illustration, 9 x 11


A couple of days ago, I started researching retail cuts of chicken, to make a "Use Every Part of the Chicken" piece, to go with the lamb, pig, and cow in the series. In doing this, I thought it might be funny to include a "nugget" part of the chicken, so I quickly became sidetracked in trying to figure out the age-old question of "What part of the chicken DOES the nugget come from?" Of course, this question inevitably leads to the grandaddy of the nugget, the McDonald's Chicken McNugget.

There was a report from inside the McDonald's McNugget factory.  Information about the four (and yes, only four) shapes of the nugget. (That's the "bone", "ball", "boot" and "bell" if you're playing along at home.) Pictures of the McExtruder. The now debunked posts that Mcnuggets came from mechanically separated chicken parts. Dramatic standing McNuggets. Quite funny illustrations of a "McNugget" animal.

And most useful for me, information about the many MANY ingredients in a McNugget. Yes, yes, there is real white meat chicken in there. But that's not all. Not even close.

The troubling ingredient list has been explored in Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. Things like thirteen corn-based ingredients in a bite-sized chunk of chicken. Or tertiarybutylhydroquinone (TBHQ), a petroleum-based product, similar to butane(!), and used to preserve freshness.   Or that the dimethylpolysiloxane, added to the frying oil to prevent foaming, is a silicone-based ingredient commonly found in make-up and Silly Putty

But don't they look delicious?

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

mimosa


mimosa illustration
original watercolor and ink illustration


Mimosas are pretty delicious. especially if you hold the oj.

Print available here. (because i know you have to have some mimosa in your life.)


Saturday, July 23, 2011

Drywell at Indie Mart - TOMORROW!!

INDIE MART JULY FRONT FLIER FRONT FINAL

If you didn't get a chance to say hi or snag some meat art of your own at Renegade SF a couple weeks ago, tomorrow is your chance. I'll be selling my artwork, as featured on The Atlantic (I tried to mention that super casually. Did it work?) and hanging out with my partner in crime, Steve. Much of my new work is not available online yet, but it will be available tomorrow at Indie Mart.  Come on by and say hello. I'm friendly.


INDIE MART
Sunday July 24, 12pm to 6pm
Thee Parkside (16th and Wisconsin)
There will be food and drinks and music and blood. 
Wait, there might not be blood. But you can make your own succulent pot.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Los Angeles is for Meat Eaters

LA is for Meat Eaters

***UPDATE: Poster now available here!***


I'm crazy excited to announce the newest city in the "Meat My City" poster series: Los Angeles!

The boobs there may be fake, but the meat, it's all natural, baby.  Whether at a Hollywood steakhouse where the elite meat, at a sustainable butcher shop where your pork was the one on an organic diet, or inside your taco, Los Angeles is for meat eaters.

This 13x19 poster is of a hand-drawn map of the MANY neighborhoods of Los Angeles, in the form of a pig butchery diagram. In addition to the neighborhoods, there are some pig parts diagrammed, like hocks, ham, ear, etc. Oh, and cities within LA county, yet not in LA proper get their own special meaty treatment. ("Cleaver City" anyone?)

This poster makes it grand debut at the Renegade Craft show in Los Angeles, this weekend, at the Los Angeles State Historic Park. Come see me in booth 29, right outside the large central tent.


As with all my "Meat My City" posters, I'll be donating 10% of the sales price of each poster sold to a local food bank. For Los Angeles, the money will go to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, where each dollar donated allows them to distribute $5 worth of food. That means when you buy a LA poster for $25, the LA Regional Food Bank will be able to distribute $12.50 worth of food. Amazing, right?

I can't wait for the LA show, and I hope to see you there.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

T-Bone Grid

grid tbone
original graphite drawing of T-bone
9x 12 $75


I love love loved making this one! I took my only art class ever last January at Root Division from the very talented Robert Minervi. One week in this drawing class, we did Chuck Close-esque portraits of ourselves by gridding images and coloring in each grid on our blank paper with the average value of the corresponding image grid. Uh, yeah, that made it sound more complicated than it is. Anyways, it also requires a full arsenal of pencil hardness(es?), from 8B to 6H to get all the values in there. The result almost appears to be a digitally pixelated image, but it is totally handmade. *minds have been blown, people*

I find these grid drawings to be super fun and relaxing to make. Look for prints in the shop soon. I also have plans for a bacon grid too.

Friday, June 24, 2011

NY Striptease Steak

NY striptease steak
original watercolor and ink painting, of NY Strip Steak
5x5 inches, $75


Wednesday, June 22, 2011

my loins are burning

my loins are burning
original watercolor and ink painting of pork loin
5x5, $75 SOLD

***UPDATE : Prints now available ***

Admittedly, not a great situation for a dinner party, but funny none the less.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

he had a weird foot fetish

he had a weird foot fetish.

original watercolor and ink painting of pig's foot
5x5 inches

***UPDATE #1: Prints now available ***


***UPDATE #2: Steve wouldn't let me sell this one. It's now in a place of honor above his desk. In our bedroom. ***


***UPDATE #3: No, he does not have a foot fetish.***




This one was a late addition idea. I felt like this series was a little too dude heavy, so I wanted to have something mocking guys. And as a huge bonus, pig's trotters are insanely fun to paint. I *think* we may keep this one. :)

Monday, June 20, 2011

are you a top sirloin, or a bottom?

top sirloin
original watercolor and ink painting
5x5, SOLD

***UPDATE: Prints now available ***

This was another one where I had a long debate over which cut of meat was funnier to use(top round? top sirloin?). Sirloin clearly won.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

upskirt steak

upskirt steak
original watercolor and ink painting, 5 x 5
Available, $75.

racy, I know.

Skirt steak is pretty awesome. Beefy, chewy, cheap. And it's the diaphragm. Yea.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

i like big butts

i like big butts
original watercolor and ink painting
5 x5 inches, SOLD

***UPDATE - prints now available***

Another hat tip to Sir-Mix-Alot, who used a surprisingly high number of meat references in his work....

Here's a little PSA -- pork butt (aka Boston Butt) is NOT from the pig's rear. It is the top of the shoulder. There isn't really a clear consensus on WHY it is called a butt, but some historians believe it has to do with the colonial American practice of storing this cheap cut of pork in large casks or barrels (also known as "butts").

I think I just made Sir-Mix-ALot sad.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

baby got fatback

baby got fatback
original watercolor and ink painting of pork fat back.
5 x 5 inches - SOLD


**** UPDATE: Prints now available ****

Fat back, aka back fat, is, well, fat from a pig's back. It is delicious. It can be rendered into lard, salted for salt pork, and cured for the Italian charcuterie, lardo.

Also, if you're awesome, you'll eat it fried as chicharrones. If you're my friend, you'll only eat 4505 Meats chicharrones, because they are the best and I am STOCKED up.

Hat tip to the one and only Sir-Mix-A-Lot (who incidentally played a Halloween show on campus during my college years) for the classic caption.

Part of the MEAT MARKET art show, at Pot + Pantry, San Francisco. May 6 - 27, 2011


prime ribbed for her pleasure

prime ribbed for her pleasure
original watercolor and ink painting
5 x5 inches. SOLD


***UPDATE - Prints now available.***


I have to give credit to my brother-in-law for coming up with the "ribbed for her pleasure line." (Laaaadies.... he's single.)

Anywho, we went through a lot of rib-iterations before settling on prime rib, mostly because it was the coolest to draw. Baby back ribs, spare ribs? Not so much, at least in their raw form.

Monday, June 6, 2011

i'm more of a leg man.

i'm more of a leg man
original watercolor and ink painting.
5x5 inches on watercolor paper.
Original available. $75