City Kitties Hit the Country

Some recent personal work I've been chipping away at. I have a good grip of sketches from the last year I'm trying to build up into a body of work about life during the pandemic. City people have probably never engaged with the outdoors more than they did this past summer. I thought the neon cats I have been making over the last few years would lend themselves well to this idea.

I've also been really enjoying drawing grass with colored pencils and crayons this past year. It's very meditative and has been a soothing activity to help deal with all the noise in the world. I could imagine covering a whole wall or room with it someday.

Scroll down for the process pics.

 

PRE SALE For PRINTS!

ALERT! I've got a big ol' PRE SALE going on over on MY WEBSITE for the next 2 weeks. I've been taking note of prints people have been asking about and have tried to put up as many as I could remember. PRE SALE will end at 11:59PM on OCTOBER 23rd so act fast, hit that 'Click to Purchase' and get your order in. 

I've included a few images here, out of the 12 new prints I have added on my site, to give you a little idea of what you may find when you browse through my WEB STORE. 

 

The Phil Ashworth Store for Super Cool Gifts

It's that time of year again; To support the small people trying to do big things! Oh, and buy your loved ones some super rad gifts. If you just don't know what to get your cat, coffee, rat, neon sign, soul music, Snake Plissken loving friends this year well, I am here for you. Get those orders in asap before it's too late!!

SHOP HERE

"Character and Narrative" Opening August 16th

Here's another new one for the upcoming group show "Character and Narrative" featuring work from Phil Ashworth, Travis Winters, John Van Horn, and Tom Sarmo. Opening on August 16th at the Foothills Art Center in Golden, CO. 

Comin' down the line

I'm still here internet! Been deep in the studio cave but here are some sneak peeks of some projects I'll hopefully be able to show in full sooner rather than later.

Down on the corner

Still keeping the dream alive with the bodega cat drawings. I'm trying to shake it up a little bit so things don't get too repetitive here. In college I was turned on to Ronald Searle's cat books and later on I noticed Ralph Steadman had done one as well and I'm pretty sure Edward Gorey placed quite a few cats in his illustrations. There are probably a bunch of other illustrators I'm not aware of that have some affinity for drawing them as well. I guess illustrators and cats just have some weird, magical bond, or maybe it's just that we appreciate a pet that lets us work as long as we please.

ATM INSIDE

Thanks to a friends instagram account, I had this idea while traveling in Europe and knew when I got back home I had to get it in with the other 5 bodega cats I had done last year. I have this dream that there's going to be hundreds of these paintings when I die and they are going to morph and evolve into something completely different from the very first painting. Not that I wanna devote myself to painting neon cats my whole life but I do really enjoy doing these. Here's number 6: ATM INSIDE

Bathhouse is coming!

Neon Christmas

It's that time of year again and I just wanted to take a minute to say thanks to everyone who has supported me and my work this year. I've had some great opportunities and it's meant a lot to me. I'm gonna leave you with some Christmas tunes, or ones that have Christmas in the title, that are personal favorites of mine so, spike that egg nog, kick back and enjoy!

See y'all in 2016!

The Complete Bodega Cat Neon Signs

#1 Hot Coffee - Cigarettes

#2 Newspaper - Magazines

#3 Fresh Meat - Cold Cuts

#4 New York Lotto - Play Inside

#5 Cold Beer & Sodas

Well, there it is, the first wave of neon bodega cat signs. This series was created in a very busy month due to a deadline for show submissions but, it was definitely one of those, "I felt totally crazy but had a great time doing it." Now, let's all go back in time to the end of September and look at where these babies were before I really dove in. Thanks to all those rainy nights when the neon signs really show off in store windows and in the reflections on the wet streets. Also, big thanks to Thomas E. Rinaldi's blog New York Neon.