It's Sunday on Saturday.

Here's one of my bonus sketches from Leap Day yesterday. The revival of Sunday In the Park With George recently opened on Broadway to glowing reviews. It's my favorite Sondheim show (which I guess means that it's my favorite show). I'm a Sondheim geek I know, but I love what the show says about being an artist and the decisions artists have to make. And – Come on! – can anything compare to that first act closer?! I'm always a puddle. I really need to see this production, but in the mean time I've made my own little glimpse of the show on my drawing board – here's Daniel Evans (George) and Jenna Russell (Dot) in a pose I swiped from a production still – with a bit of the Squigs flair. Enjoy! Have a great day.

Happy Leap Day!

I'm so not used to getting extra time in the schedule, so I feel like anything I get done today is a bonus. Yay! I'm drawing a bunch of recycling kids from Riverside as well as tackling a couple other tiny projects, and I'm enjoying the blue skies and breezes on this lovely day.

The Punch Brothers really knocked it out of the Troubadour last night. I had a great time with good friends and a packed house (including other artists the Watkins, Jon Brion, and Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones). They did two sets which included a good portion of their latest album and that of their last incarnation How to Grow a Band. Really great stuff!

Well, I'm back to the drawing board. Peace & love, y'all!

Sunny.

Boy, the weather has been amazing the last couple of days. For quite a while now we've had rain (much needed but often inconvenient) and unseasonably cool temps. Gov. Schwartzenegger recently passed a law that raised the freezing level to 55˚ so we've actually seen icicles. Ha ha. I'm kidding, but Southern Cali folk get out the scarves and hats when it dips below 60˚. (I just heard a guffaw from my bro who lives in Minnesota.)

But the weather is now in the upper 70s and I'm living with the windows wide open. And I'm getting ready to actually venture outside, so here I go. Take care, all! Peace & love in 2008. Go get 'em!

Looking forward to...

The Punch Brothers. This is the new project of Nickel Creek mandolin guy Chris Thile. Their new CD came out yesterday and I'll catch their show at the Troubadour tomorrow eve. It's always fun to see what this guy comes up with – traditional bluegrass mashed up with classical composition and storytelling, musicians at the top of their game creating new sounds. Can't wait!

Boo!

Taxes suck. My tax guy is great. But taxes suck.

On a happier note, I saw Be Kind, Rewind today. Michel Gondry's imagination is just plain amazing – some crazy brilliant visuals and storytelling. It's most likely not everyone's cup o' tea, but I had a good time.

A fun photo...

As I mentioned in the last post, I drew caricatures at a party hosted by the wonderful Leeza Gibbons. Here's a photo (by Brian Putnam).

As I arrived at the party, Leeza was the first person I saw. She introduced herself, "Hello! I'm Leeza." And I said "Nice to meet you! I'm Juztin." (With a "Z".) Horrified at my tiny slip, I actually bit my tongue. I don't think she noticed. If she did, I hope she had a laugh. She really was great and everybody seemed to like the caricatures. Yay!

Oscars and other stuff.

I thought the Oscars were spiffy this evening. A few things particularly made me happy – Jon Stewart's hosting, the Once gang winning for best song, and Diablo Cody winning for her fantastic Juno script. Yay movies!

I drew caricatures for Leeza Gibbons' son's birthday party last night. It was a fun evening and I drew a LOT. Leeza was lovely and gracious, and the kids were as wild and crazy as you'd expect a bunch of 16ish folk to be. Upon asking how they wanted to be drawn, I had such varied requests as "skiing", "skateboarding", "playing the piano", "swimming", "finger (skate)boarding", "on the toilet", "as a falcon". Ah, the life of a party caricaturist!