Marc Scheff Illustration

Last weekend, Valentine’s day weekend, I went to Boston for Boskone. I also, coincidentally, was taking down my solo show at Roxbury Latin. This worked out well since the con ended up with some extra space in the art show, and there I was with a car full of framed art. Thanks to John Picacio and Gay Ellen for making that happen for me.

Boskone is a sci-fi/fantasy fan con. While it’s not the most costumed con, the people there have a lot of heart. I was impressed with the more or less equal footing was given to exhibitors and artists. These are some fans who really appreciate the artists who vision these worlds. The programming was also exceptional, with great readings and some serious art demos. Michael Whelen, Bob Eggleton, John Picacio, Alan Beck and Jean Pierre Normand did demos. It was great to see how different they all were. Whelan started by giving an 8 year-old a brush and a piece of masonite, then he took the scribbles and made a great painting. Jean Pierre did a big pen drawing of a spaceship with sharpie on a post-it board. Eggleton did a quick study out of his head. Alan Beck did a commission, Sigmouse Freud, and John Picacio did a demo of his detailed pencil stage. If nothing else, I got to really get the lesson that it doesn’t matter what tools you use, and you should probably use whatever tool is handy. Whelan was grabbing sheets of manuscript for masks, and the holes in the sheets to place impressionistic flowers on his study.

The art show was good with 40 Whelan paintings, one for each year of his career. John Picacio, Bob Eggleton, Rick Berry, Marc Robinson, Kelly Kotulak, and many other artists were also there. I won an art show award, which was quite an honor. Marc Robinson had a piece that I loved too (pictured here).

There were not a lot of ADs there that I saw. Irene, of course, was there, and it was fun to hang with her and meet some new artists. I didn’t make it to Berry’s post-con studio wine and cheese, I had to drive West, but next year I’m going to make that a priority.

All in all, it was a great con and I expect I’ll be back next year.

Below are some iPhone shots from the con.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 at 7:18 pm and is filed under News & Muse. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.