I haven’t painted in oils yet this year. My pallet is always out, the oil tubes are still fresh, and I have surfaces ready to go. Just no time to invest! I like what I can get done with gouache so my urge to paint is satisfied, but... This oil painting is small and I did it last year. I have a group show coming up in June that will give me some incentive to create but it will probably be a gouache painting. More on this later!

​I started a Patreon thing. I’m still figuring it out but it’s free at the moment. Search for Fred Harper there because the url isn’t showing my page address. Also make sure your safe search is off.

Four months ago I started to pick up some extra comic book work. My intention was to just get enough work to bump up my monthly income. Somehow that little 7 page story once a month for the next 5 months attracted other work.

My friend who does comic books more often was in a pinch. If you know my buddy, he tends to be %100 on everything he does. This time it included being behind deadline! He also has 5 issues. I thought I could help with the one in December and he’d be back up to speed.
HA!
Every month since December the last week or two has been an “all hands on deck!” scramble to hit his deadline. I’m worn out just on my end, but hats off to my friend because he is also orchestrating coloring and lettering and talking the editor into not firing him for being so late.

I don’t want to make my friend sound like he’s the reason the books are behind. As often happens in comic books, there are a bunch of unique jobs to line up and if just one of those isn’t on time it affects the end of the line. Most often the artist, such as my buddy. Unfortunately, the artist will get the blame for a late book.

​This is is a panel out of one of the comics I’m currently working on instead of painting!

I’ve also been plugging away at producing my “Girls with horns” Instagram. Drawings and paintings. Several are currently in a show that comes down tomorrow. I suck at promoting! Anyway, here are a few.
​

I have a new thingy thing on Instagram. It's Girls with Horns on Instagram. I try to post once a day with a drawing or painting of a girl with horns. I'm very casual about the specifics because I am pushing the female figures I've done from other areas of gallery work, illustrations and just plain figure studies under the one umbrella. I was doing fairies which were more an exploration of color and composition. The figures with pipes and wires etc. were more muted color wise which goes against my natural tendencies to use brighter colors.

As always the original art is for sale.  If you'd be interested in hearing me rant and show off the latest art I've been doing I have a News Letter I put out every other week. You can sign up here. Or if you are extremely patient, you can wait for the sporadic updates I post here!

Steve and I decided on the loose interpretation of "monsters" as a common ground to bring our work in the same arena. The show title,"Persona Monsters", basically just means monsters. We didn't go with just plain monsters because how many shows have been called that???

I'm really looking forward to seeing this amount of our work in the same room. He and I have talked about having a show together for years and finally this opportunity came up and we jumped on it. Here's a few more I'm considering to put on the walls.

I have a little bi-weekly newsletter that I rant and rave and show more preliminary drawings and art if you are interested.

The next show "Persona Monsters" is  a 2 person show with my good friend Steve Ellis at MF Gallery opening MAY 26th. Steve and I have a lot of similar influences. We both come from an illustration and comics background. We've both worked at DC and Marvel comics but left before we got all that "icky" fame and fortune from doing Batman or Wolverine. Instead we took our souls and our less conventional styles to devote to our own careers. Steve has produced a bunch of his own properties and I went with editorial art. In the long run, Steve was smart! I'll eventually be filling the role of crazy old man that lives in a cave behind Steve's house while Steve enjoys living off his many royalties and a nice life with his family traveling the world.... Now I have to convince him to put a cave in his back yard and maybe throw in a few blankets!

I'm encouraging every person I've ever known  to show up for the show May 26th.
I'm going to find some cool bar/restaurant we can all take over that will be near by for after the show. I'll be letting everyone know either here or at the show.

Plans for Saturday. MOCCA Fest, food, Opening for Scales and Feathers at Spoke Gallery in the Lower East Side around 7pm!

Fun thing, I usually pick up a cool or weird T-shirt from an underground comic artist. Last year I picked up a cool one. Hard to explain here, but it's not your typical Walmart swag. This year I'm willing to trade shirts at the gallery opening with equal T-shirt coolness for coolness. I'm a Large by the way.

"Paved roads rule" Oil on panel. 8" x 10" Yes it's for sale!