What's Going On / News
09/8/10: I was interviewed on this website: My Stroudsburg
06/26/10: Because I contributed artwork to Night of the Living Dead Reanimated, I am listed on IMBD. I'm the shizzle.
IMBD
Night of the Living Dead Reanimated
07/16/10: New section added in the menu bar - CHRIS FRANCZ MOBILE. This section will contain - duh, mobile uploads from my Blackberry - sketches, paintings in progress, photos from shows, etc.
Flickr album
06/26/10: I'm getting a little away from doing as many drawings and want to do more paintings. Stacks of fresh canvas wait to be covered. It's hard to open the refrigerator sometimes. Sometimes a painting works out right away, other times I it doesn't so I just take it outside and hit it with a can of Krylon.
Art N Soul Studios
06/16/10: Nothing I posted looks like it does in person so I'm almost regreting putting this stuff up. Things just don't translate well into jpegs.
04/19/10: Just uploaded the drawings section. Sketchbooks are where it's at. Nothing is more envigorating than opening up my sketchbook with a pen or pencil in my hand. I fill every inch, front and back of each page in my sketchbook. I have a bunch of more pages to photograph tomorrow. Man, I've got a lot of paintings and drawings to get off the camera and post. It's pointless to write it about here since hardly anyone I know navigates away from Facebook and sometimes Myspace. But anyway, I'm going to start making packs of stickers to sell. They will all be handmade on Hello My Name Is type stickers. They will all be signed with my real name so hopefully they will not end up stuck on inappropriate places.
03/25/10: I have to finish a bunch of art. So many things started. Here's some things pertaining to one of my main projects - the Stroudsburg Area Art Alliance. The link to the main site is on the left.
Hundreds of photos that I've taken of Stroudsburg area street art
Pocono Record article about the art gallery that I guess I sort of run at the Sherman Theater
1/14/10: I designed this banner/flyer for The Red Show. I'm pretty proud of it since I am in now way a designer and have no real idea of how to use Photoshop.
1/07/10: To drive myself even more I've begun painting murals at Main Street Jukebox in Stroudsburg, Pa. My good friend, Nara Strete is going to join me for the third round of painting next week.
1/03/10: Stroudsburg Area Art Alliance is all over the paper! Check out these articles!
Nara Strete takes over live painting at Main Street Jukebox
Nara Strete solo show and live painting at Main Street Jukebox
Feature story on SAAA Artist Socials
Stroudsburg Area Art Alliance official website click here: Stroudsburg Area Art Alliance
12/24/09: I have a solo show at Art N Soul Studios in Allentown, PA August 28 - September 17, 2010. Art N Soul Studios. Photo of part of Art N Soul below.
12/16/09: I don't see the purpose in posting a lot of my new stuff since a lot of is really detailed and none of the detail really shows up in an image formatted to fit on a computer screen. Maybe I'll just post full sized images and you'll have to scroll up and down and side to side. That could be aggravating.
10/24/09: I'm working on a bunch of 8 1/2" x 11" extremely detailed pen and ink drawings for my solo show at Main Street Jukebox in Stroudsburg, PA in February 2010. Not that anyone is clamoring to see them or photos of the progress that I'm making but i suppose in the next two week I will try to get photos and post some close-ups. They're pretty much unlike anything I've done before. Check out the Stroudsburg Area Art Alliance (link on left). I'm not just sitting on my laurels. Some people have said ChrisFrancz.com is not "maintained very well" or "updated enough." This is not some daily news website where content has to be updated every single day to remain relevant. This site is about my artwork and presenting what I think is my best. I probably spend over fourty hours a week drawing and painting but I'm only going to post the things that I think are good enough to post.
09/18/09:Check out the photos I've taken of street art in the Stroudsburg, PA area in the Stroudsburg area street art Flickr album by, you know...CLICKING HERE!.
07/15/09: Customized skate deck show at Main Street Jukebox in Stroudsburg, PA. Click here for Main Street Jukebox!
07/15/09: An all-photo art show that I set up in Stroudsburg, PA
03/15/09: This is the banner for a show that I am setting up.
03/19/09: New tattoo by Ainslie Heilich of Vintage Karma.
Pocono Record article that I am mentioned in from 2/27/09. Someone thought my painting was titled "Pink Floyd." I don't title paintings.
02/22/08: After the March 7th opening of Skitzo in Stroudsburg, PA I will begin posting all of the new paintings and drawings. I am excited about my new work because it is so varied in styles. In the meantime you can check out my MySpace page from the menu on the left. Go to pics to see a lot of new drawings and paintings in progress that are not posted here.
02/10/09: After my two next shows I will begin posting a lot of my new paintings.
01/27/09: Two major art openings coming up soon. The Sherman Theater in Stroudsburg, PA on February 28 at 8:00pm and The Main Street Jukebox on March 7 at 5:00pm.
Lots of stuff going on! Debuting new series at the Sherman Theater in Stroudsburg, PA 1/24/09 and 2/28/09. Check out: Sherman Theater.
01/01/09: Happy New Year everyone! I am looking forward to a great new year of art opportunities and personal progress with life in general. Lots of live painting dates are set up with lots more very soon. I just posted a new schedule. This Saturday I will be painting at the Main Street Jukebox. It seems like forever since I painted there - it was October 11, 2008 when I painted The Clubber Lang. The Main Street Jukebox is like a home to me and I enjoy painting there more than anywhere else. Thei website address is: www.myspace.com/mainstjukebox. On Saturday I will be depicting three scenes at the Jukebox: Laura Below's art opening and the performances of Friday Night Parking Lots and Eric Becker. This will be a crazy busy night for me with me painting from 5pm until 9pm when the store closes.
12/23/08: There is exclusive content going up on a regular basis on the MySpace pages for myself as well as for the Stroudsburg Area Art Alliance so don't be afraid to click on those on the menu on your left. From time to time I will post sketches and paintings on MySpace before they get posted here. Also, please check out Art Day With Chris to see lots of cool photos. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! P.S. The banner for the coloring contest (below) is for friends of the Stroudsburg Area Art Alliance The entries will not be posted on www.chrisfrancz.com.
12/06/08: Lots of stuff going on. I don't expect many people to have that much interest to check out all of these things but I'm posting it anyway. Now back to making Christmas presents...why do I feel cheap for doing this? Like it's better to go to the store to buy something for someone...I forget where I was going that - I'm watching Seinfeld as I write this.
12/01/08: Brand new section added today. This section is for the business side of my art which is running art functions for local resorts. Check it out if you want! Go ahead and click: Art Day With Chris
11/24/08: Lots of stuff going on. I'm working on a huge series for an opening at the Main Street Jukebox in Stroudsburg in March 2009. Check out what the Stroudsburg Area Art Alliance has been up to by clicking on the link on the left. Big things are going to start happening soon. Check the Alliance's MySpace page often. Artists wanting to trade Artist Trading Cards should get a hold of me. I'd like to do trades.
You can read my weekly column ArtAttack in Sharp Magazine in print or online each week.
10/10/08: New Live Painting section has been updated. More to come soon!
10/03/08: New schedule posted. Working on new paintings. Many of them will go up at Starbucks Stroudsburg November 1st along with the paintings of sueBdynamo
09/13/08: New drawings/sketches posted. The NOTLD:RE illustrations will not be posted larger since they are contributions to a film project and people....steal stuff like that so just get the DVD of Night of the Living Dead:Reanimated when it comes out in the spring of 2009. I am now contributing art-related news items to The Aquarian, a big east coast weekly music newspaper. Starbucks Stroudsburg November 1 - 30 will feature the art of myself and sueBdynamo. We will be at the store on November 1st from 5 - 8pm. Fly in to meet us and buy us coffee.
09/06/08: Don't forget to check out my weekly art column, ArtAttack in Sharp magazine - in print or online (link on the left). Sometimes it's only online which is something that I have no control over. I think that I'm going to be asked to write something art-related for a major east coast music weekly on a regular basis. Don't have the details yet. I'm working on a lot of new paintings now - three of which were shown at the Cherry Creek Art Walk in Delaware Water Gap. I don't have good photos of them to post right now. Every time I do the live painting things I swear it'll be my last but I keep getting asked to do it and I keep agreeing in hopes that I will finally "nail it" the next time that I do it. No matter how much I plan these things out once it all starts happening...what happens, happens. Weston who I painted last Saturday is using the painting on their MySpace profile.
08/20/08: in Stroudsburg Area Art Alliance Tuesday Artist Social featured in the Pocono Record
08/15/08: Working on a series that will be done on large pieces of plywood. These pieces will be shown at the next couple of Cherry Creek Art Walks. See schedule on front page. Someone has approached me about publishing a book of pages from my sketchbooks. Sketchbooks have always interested me more than fancy paintings anyway.
08/08/08: This is the 7th week that I've been doing the group painting thing with the guest of the Shawnee Resort. This week was a real standout!
08/03/08: That 70's Art Show! was a huge success. It was as big as the Munny show on April 5th. Over 20 records were sold on opening night. All of the records will be on display throughout the month of August so there is plenty of time to get down there to see them and purchase a few yourself. All records are $25 with all money going to the Stroudsburg SPCA. Main St. Jukebox on Main Street in Stroudsburg, PA. For tons of photos from the show please visit: Stroudsburg Area Art Alliance and Main St. Jukebox.
07/26/08: The Curiosity Shoppe in Philadelphia 7/25/08: Some photos from a live painting session and a group show that I was in.
07/22/08: Barbara (who I've never met before) wandered into the SAAA Monday Artist Social and sat down and started to talking to me so I drew her picture and gave it to her. Turns out it was her birthday!
07/17/08: The first installment of ArtAttack for Sharp Magazine is out today. Click on the link from the menu. It's an article with the great artist, John Kolbek. Hopefully for the next issue they will correct the name of the column which is ArtAttack not Art Attack. Once you break the column name into two words it takes on a whole different meaning and feel.
07/11/08: You can read my weekly column ArtAttack in Sharp Magazine in print or online beginning next week.
07/04/08: Nice article about The Main St. Jukebox in Sharp Magazine
07/04/08: You Tube clips from TV news stories about the Crystal Street mural vandalism and resoration (I am interviewed in one of the stories). Click here!
06/25/08: Lots of stuff going on. On July 5th I will be doing some type of art collaboration with renowned artist Ted Michalowski during his solo art show at Main St. Jukebox. Opening reception is at 5pm. When I Float Backwards will be performing live.
06/16/08: Sexy photo of me painting in front of the Main St. Jukebox on June 7th.
06/15/08: Check out Sharp Magazine's Photos / We Saw That section. In the First Saturday on Main Street photo album you can see photos of me painting live at the Main St. Jukebox. Click on the Fusion Painting album and see some photos of one of the Artist Socials held by the Stroudsburg Area Art Alliance.
06/10/08: Just some of what's been up lately. Check out out the Stroudsburg Area Art Alliance and check out tons of photos and see what's going on.
06/05/08: The newest addition in the paintings section is a Fusion Painting. I began with a 16" x 20" canvas and put two splashes off color on opposing corners and painted a cartoonish face in the upper right corner and then gave it to Myke Maldonado and told him to do whatever he wants to do with canvas. Yesterday he gave the canvas back to me and I was blown away. He turned my cartoon face into a seriously menaced face and..well, just look at it! Awesome! Tough act to follow. I spent the entire night adding little things that you can't quite see (the Diet Coke bottle in the top right) and other things. Today I dropped off the canvas to Vicky, the apprentice at Dreamland Creations and she has free reign. I can't wait to see what she does! Today I gave a 26" x 36" piece of plywood to Ainslie Heilich at Vintage Karma and I am hoping within the next week she gets to work on it so I can see what she did and then get to work on it before I give it back to her to work on some more. I can't keep up...today I drop off another Fusion Painting to Hethur Babka at Dreamland Creations for her to build off of what I put down yesterday. Check out the art galleries of both Ainslie and Hethur (click on the red links yo!). You'll be impressed for sure!
06/03/08: Check out the MySpace page of Stroudsburg Area Art Alliance. Yesterday a reporter from Sharp Magazine came to our Artist Social and interviewed us and took photos for a story in the magazine!
06/01/08: As you can see by the things in the New Drawings section I have become obsessed with a certain location to paint. The roar of the water is like a watery mantra that has eaten its way into my mind and not painting there at least every two days is hard to do. Hours go by marked by the nearby church bells that toll off every fifteen minutes. No need to look at the time, I can hear it. I plan on bringing all my paint and easel down there and spending an entire day capturing the best angle but I have not figured out what the perfect angle is just yet. Three busy painting weeks starting tonight at Main St. Jukebox.
05/28/08: Posted Fusion Painting Number Two. This was done by Vicky Pena, Sherley Escribano, and myself. It was completed in two and a half sessions: May 1, May 24, May 27. The last session was done by myself which goes against what Fusion Painting is supposed to be but Sherley and Vicky were done and it was not easy to get us all together in the first place. This was more than a group painting. It was a bonding experience. Spend a lot of hours with two other people sharing brushes and painting and elaborating on each other's artwork while talking and listening to music and you can't help it - it's like becoming blood brothers (and sisters) only the blood is the paint and the time.
05/18/08: I will post the new live painting schedule in a few days. There are tons of new dates added and I will be quite busy all summer. I might actually need a real vacation by the time summer is over. Sherley posted a bunch of photos of the Fusion paintings that the Stroudsburg Area Art Alliance has been working on. Check them out! We have artist socials every Monday at 6pm and once a month on Saturdays at 5:30pm.
04/28/08: Please check my MySpace for new photos posted of several recent live paint gigs that I did. Also, you can check out the Stroudsburg Area Art Alliance's MySpace for photos and news of our progress. It's been hectic lately and I have been having friends do the posting of the photos. I will post the pics on ChrisFrancz.com sometime in the near future for the sake of convenience.
04/12/08: The Stroudsburg Area Art Alliance is now official. Check out the MySpace page to find out more about it.
Stroudsburg Area Art Alliance
04/11/08: More Munny photos at Sharp Mag online! These are photos from the show last Saturday. There's also a photo of Ellen Minsavage's (a Sharp writer) Munny in the Ellen's Easel section.
I made this banner last night. Came out pretty cool, right?
Also, I am very happy to announce the formation of the Stroudsburg Area Art Alliance. I will have a MySpace page set up for this very soon - all of the details about the Alliance will be spelled out on there. Also, the Main St. Jukebox and the Stroudsburg Area Art Alliance are please to present That 70's Art Show!. The date has not been set for this special charity art show that will push the limits of the artists involved as vinyl records will be the medium on which the artists will work! Please visit the Main St. Jukebox's MySpace page for more details and sign-up info!
04/07/08: Photos from the Munny show on Saturday night. It was amazing to meet so many other artists for the first time and become friends with them.
Also check this out - Tom LeFevre of Main Street Jukebox made up this album of Munnys that were a part of the show. Click this: Munny Album
04/05/08: I added photos of my Munny and a portrait of "Gary in the Morning." I was planning on giving him this when we met but the meeting fell through.
04/04/08: Munny on Main Street charity art show at the Main Street Jukebox mentions in the press:
Sharp Magazine. Here is a link to the online version of the article about the Munny on Main Street charity art show.
570.com has some coverage too.
03/26/08:The staff of Sharp Magazine were at the Main St. Jukebox tonight taking photos and interviewing artists that are involved in the Munny on Main Street art show on April 5th (5-9pm). It was fun to meet some of the other artists. Here's a photo that I took. Below it are some new banners that you can put on your own site to link to me (you know you wanna!)
03/12/08:This article is in Sharp the weekend section of the local paper: click on it: Sharp Magazine
03/09/08: Some photos from Saturday night. I was asked to do paintings of bands / musicians as they perform at the Main Street Jukebox. Deer Tick cancelled on Saturday but I was asked to come and paint anyway. Thanks to all who supported me in this strange event. I felt totally at ease painting in front of people. It was just like being in art class in high school only no one was picking on me.
03/07/08:Buzzgrinder.com did a nice write up on me. Click here: Buzzgrinder.com. Also a little mention on a hot new site: 570.com.
I added some sneak peeks of my Munny for the show on April 5th.
03/04/08: Thanks to all who came out Saturday night. The Main Street Jukebox has asked me to chronicle their live in-store events on paper or canvas as the event takes place. This means that I will be painting the band / musician / or whatever as the performance takes place. Time will be limited and the deadline for completing the painting is when the store closes. Come out and watch me go insane...and then buy me a few pints at Flood's! The first date is this coming Saturday. Deer Tick is playing from 7 - 9pm. I will be in the store from about 5:45 pm until the store closes.
02/29/08: I added photos of two new paintings. They don't translate very well to such a small format here on the site so I included some close-ups for your non-pleasure and to help make your nightmares more vivid. I did these for the show tomorrow night at The Main Street Jukebox.
02/18/08: Come out to The Main Street Jukebox in Stroudsburg, PA on April 5th from 5 - 9pm for the "Munny on Main Street" show. I am one of the featured artists.
02/17/08: On the evening of Saturday, March 1st you will be able to see twenty of my paintings on display / for sale at The Main Street Jukebox in Stroudsburg, PA. I will be there on March 1st from 5 - 7pm to answer such question as "were you on drugs when you painted that?" The paintings will be on display / for sale throughout the month of March. Bring some cash because the store has a phenomenal selection of new and used CDs. You don't want to set foot into this store without bringing some lettuce. You'll regret it. These paintings will range in years from 2002 - 2008.
02/10/08: I will be having a solo art show at The Main Street Jukebox in Stroudsburg, PA on the evening of the first Saturday in March. Fifteen to twenty of my paintings will be on display / for sale there throughout the month of March. More details to follow.
11/03/07: November 7th will be the fifth anniversary of ChrisFrancz.com. I can't believe that this site has existed that long. The whole idea for this site came about when I was sitting in Laurie's office at work back in the beginning of November 2002. I was thumbing through an issue of Print magazine and they had a section on personal websites. Laurie's boyfriend at the time, Christopher Kresge (he designed websites) was there and I looked up at him and said, "I'd like you to design a website for me!" He said he would and over the next few weeks things came together and it all happened. Mr. Kresge is no longer involved in this site which is why all of the art postings since 2004 have not been thumbnailed. I can't figure out how to do it. I am hoping that over the next year this site will be entirely revamped with a bolder and more organized feel. Special thanks to Laurie Monteforte and Christopher Kresge for all of the help during ChrisFrancz.com's first two years. And to you for checking out ChrisFrancz.com
10/29/07: New audio clip added to my PureVolume site.
10/13/07: I added a banner link to my PureVolume page that now contains audio of my comedy / spoken word material. If you are interested in recieving a CD of my material please email. I won't feel bad if you don't.
09/21/07: Added a bunch of new stuff over the last two days. Can't think of much to say about the stuff. It is what it is. They are what they are. I have two Gorillaz CDs and can't seem to get away from them.
09/03/07: I did some artwork for a halloween party flyer. I will post them on Thursday. Like everything that I do, I have a love / hate relationship with them. I am making no headway with finding a style that I like to do the Milton comic book in. I produced six or seven 10" x 15" pages of poop.
07/17/07: Four drawings added today. These are characters from a book that I started to write in 2007 titled "Milton." Since I do not have the attention span to finish a book I am going to try to do short comic book style stories of scenes from the book. These drawings are just me tinkering around with rendering styles trying to find out what would work. Getting back to real ink and brushes is a relief after working with pens for so long. The lines a pen makes can appear very, very dead. I like the freedom of a brush dipped in ink. Of course, it's a lot messier.
07/16/07: Two new paintings up today. They are companion pieces. Front and back of a CD. I have a bunch of new paintings that I will shoot and then post. Thanks for looking!
05/04/07: I'm pretty happy with the new stuff that was posted today. I finally posted the photograph of the bookstore that I painted in 2003. I did it on whim. I had a photo of the shop. I painted it then went to the store to see if the owner would buy it. He said one thing: "You spelled the name wrong. From the small photo I couldn't see that the name had two r's in it. I left the shop embarassed and went home and fixed it. I brought it back and he purchased it.
04/27/07: I posted a painting of the old location of Main Street Jukebox that I did in the summer of 2003. The building it was in was on Main Street in Stroudsburg burned down last November. The store just relocated across the street and has this painting (16" x 20" acrylic on canvas) hanging inside the front door. I asked the owner if I could take the painting home for a day and spray it with some fixative so it would be more durable. I also got a photo of it. The photo that I took in 2003 never came out.
04/21/07: Sketches posted. Pretty self-explanatory. They are what they are. Don't dig too deep. I don't.
03/06/07: It's hard to believe that I posted art two days in a row. I seem to have the "art fever" again. I added a color piece today and will add more soon.
03/05/07: All of the newest stuff is tattoo-orientated. The flower sketch will be done in watercolor and is for the back of someone's neck. I'm fond of black and white line work for tattoos and the "Mom" and one of the "Capella watching" pieces will end up on the back of my forearms. That's just the way life is. Thanks for taking the time to look at my artwork!
01/17/07: I just posted two website banners that I created. The one for Rhonda Rich is already being used. The other is for another site that I haven't made yet. Doing graphics was always something that "other people did" and mostly because I had no f'n idea how to do it. I still don't but I enjoy learning. Blah, blah, blah.
12/16/06: I recorded two CDs of my stand-up comedy stuff. Hopefully I will get to an open mic night at a comedy club before I die. I also have a comedy blog: www.ChrisFranczComedy.blogspot.com. If you are interested in hearing these recordings, please drop me an email.
06/13/06: Seems the portrait that i did of Mark Levin recieved good feedback on Talk Radio websites. Click on Talk Radio Fan on the main menu for a link to some comments.
06/13/06: I actually finished the two latest updates way back at the end of last December. I was going to do a whole series of my favorite Talk Radio hosts but ran into some problems - finding larger and really clear photos of these hosts. Most hosts have little photos of themselves on their website. I have several more portraits started that I will try to finish in the next couple of weeks of Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Curtis and Kuby. But like I said, finding good and clear photos to work from is not easy.
04/13/06: Buncha new paintings added today. Also, there are four ChrisFrancz.com banners in the "contact" section if you wanted to put them on your website.
04/01/06: I knew some different styles would be "coming out." If you sit on the pot long enough you'll eventually make something interesting. I feel some "way out there" stuff coming on. Stay tuned.
03/29/06: Again, lots of new stuff up lately. Styles are pretty much "all over the place." Using LiveJournal.com for my blog has helped with the amount of people visiting my site since I belong to a ton of artist communites there. If you look at the blog, click on "friends" to get an eyeful. Since the site was established in the late fall of 2002, a large percentage of the time when I have told people about the site, they would ask: "are there naked photos there?" Why do people assume that if you have an internet site that it's porn-related? I guess the people that assume that my site is porn-related are in a way admitting that most of their time on the time on the internet is spent looking at porn sites. I mean, I even tell them that the site features my art and still they automatically think there will be porn.
03/17/06: Lots of new stuff up lately. I am still looking for someone to redesign this site. Be sure to read the blog and click on "friends" in the top right. There you will see the work of other artists that I have become friends with through LiveJournal.com. No, I will not be drinking green beer tonight. I am going to Barnes and Noble to get some books. I got pretty plastered last year and made an ass out of myself.
03/13/06: A bunch of new sketches up. Nothing outstanding just spontaneous stuff. I feel a major shift coming on as far as painting style and subject matter.
03/05/06: Some new sketches added this morning. These are spontaneous sketches, meaning I sat there with my new sketchbook and pencil and "whatever came out, came out." I've always liked looking at sketches that people do because you get to see the raw information, pimples and all.
03/01/06: One new painting. I will soon go back to having thumbnails for everything. I don't have someone to do the more technical things with this site and I know there are many things that need revamping. I know the site is pretty simple but I've seen some that utilized a lot flash and beyond all of the flash animation and glitz there was basically nothing there. All you get here is the raw reality of something that I hesitate to call "art." Why hesitate to call it "art"? The word has many meanings to many people and I'd rather not have to try to fit what I do into any of those meanings. "I do what I do," is what I say. If you want to call it "art" that's fine, if you want to call it "crap" that's fine as well. There is a new blog up. Thanks for visiting.
02/25/06: Maybe things are heating up a little. Patience is rare. Inspiration runs deeps unlike motivation. Two new paintings added to prove I should've gone to art school because I pretty much stink as an artist. But the nice thing is no one stinks exactly like me and I find solace in that.
02/06/06: Two new paintings added. I know, I know, I'm not very impressed either. Hopefully the other ones that I am working on will get posted by the weekend.
12/23/05: I added two new drawings today. The GWB portrait is a little too detailed to translate properly to a computer screen. This was more or less a "test portrait." I am working on a series of portraits of talk radio hosts.
12/12/05: I added the "Weekly Sketches" section today. This section will be updated every week with drawings fresh from my sketchbook. Hopefully, you'll stop by to check out the site each week. Drop me a line if you do.
10/21/05: Some drawings added to the "sketches" section. This section will soon become the "Sketch of the Week" section where I will post new sketches on a weekly basis. It's very, very exciting, I know.
07/29/05: Four new paintings. These were originally going to be part of a series called "Children of the Apocalypse." A few other paintings from this series can be seen in the first galleries. Soon I will post photos of three murals that I did for someone this summer. Each mural is about five feet high and twelve feet long. Stay tuned.
12/31/04: There is now a new section for my sketches. The ones just posted are from the beginning of December. Very uplifting I know. Be sure to stop by the new guestbook and leave your comments. Thanks.
12/29/04: Seems the comment submission site I was using is no longer working. I just added a brand new guestbook. Feel free to post your comments. I just added some new sketches today as well.
12/24/04: Lots of new artwork posted in the last few..days...or weeks or whatever. The latest three were done in February 2002. I was just shoving things into my Hell Closet when I came across them so I snapped some photos of them and posted them. They are the largest paintings that I've ever done - around 24" x 36".
12/16/04: Yes, Chatterbox will return. #26 is almost done - it's double-sized and free upon request - just send me your mailing address. I should have a few new sketches posted soon. Sketchbook material. I will begin working on
some new paintings soon as well. Please keep checking back, sending your comments, ideas, etc. The journal has been updated on a more frequent basis lately. Please write...
10/13/04: Three new drawings posted today. Also, a new post in the writing section. a Big "Thank You" to my friend, Laurie for
scanning the drawings out of my sketchbook. What would I do without her?
09/14/04: Now that I have Windows XP and Microsoft Office loaded on my "new" laptop
I can once again begin working on Chatterbox. The "1978" double-sized issue is pretty much
done. I just have to do the artwork for it and print it out. I may have to get a new printer and dread the thought of
it. If you've been following my journal you know that all of August until now has been totally crazy
and everything seems to be balanced on the head of a pin. I seemed to have gained momentum and then it all fell apart at the
beginning of August. I hope to regain that momentum (with this site) as the fall rolls in. I have not done any artwork since the middle of
July. Computer problems and...stuff....it all caused me to lose that momentum. Thanks for checking out my site. If you are
interested in recieving Chatterbox free of charge in the mail just email me from the contact page. I posted a nice
interview with Mark Levin at Talk Radio Fan so please check that out.
08/19/04: Here's a nic photo of my newly-totalled 1993 Ford Escort station wagon.
07/26/04: As if you couldn't get enough of www.chrisfrancz.com and it's family of websites already. You can now head on over to Talk Radio Fan where we can discuss all of our
favorite talk radio shows and personalities.
07/08/04: I know that if you're reading this it's because you have an insatiable appetite for some of the best artwork in the world and accidentally came upon this site by mistake and will soon leave it to never return again but before you go...please scroll down to see a photo of my ten year old cat,
Joshua. I just bought some big drawing paper and I want to do some charcoal drawings. As soon as I do them I will get them up at Viagra speed, I promise.
06/29/04: I realize that doing this gives www.chrisfrancz.com a very dorky, amateurish, homepage feel but I will do
it anyway....this is a photo of my cat, Joshua. He is ten years old.
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06/26/04: I reformatted Dark-Skies tonite and moved The Patriot to another host. It seems that the old host would not allow anymore visitors. I don't know why.
06/24/04: If you were one of the few privileged people to recieve the last issue of Chatterbox you can now see a photo of the "tiny notebook" that I must have mentioned atleast ten times. Go to the The Writing section to see several of them.
06/23/04: A big "Whoop-dee-doo" and high-fives all around. A bunch of new paintings added over the last week or so and the Contact page has also been updated with a photo and some more
information. Writing html is getting a little easier and I don't have to constantly write things down and back pedal checking things.
06/18/04: Well, things are chugging along nicely for chrisfrancz.com. Three new paintings were posted inside of two days. I've taught myself to take over the maintenance of the site which means that I can now
post things when I feel like it and I am no longer at the mercy of other people who actually have lives of their own. That's no put down either. I hated burdening other folks with my site.
I still have some things to learn and some kinks to work out but hopefully you will be able to see lots of new stuff posted on a regular basis. Thanks for checking out the site. Tell your friends.
06/06/04: Chatterbox #26 will be mailed out in about one and half weeks. This will be another double-sized issue!
I've been working on the "1978" issue since February. Originally it was going to be in two parts but I decided to print the two part in one big issue.
No sense in breaking it up. I am almost done writing it. Send me your mailing address for a free copy.
06/03/04: Chatterbox #24 will be mailed out tomorrow. This is the sixth part of the Strange Days series.
If you've never read any of the Strange Days series - they deal with the five months that led
up to my mom's death in June 2002. I am not sure about the future of Chatterbox. It will continue but I
do not know when.
05/31/04: Last night I set up a new addition to the site - The Patriot. This will contain political thoughts and ideas. If you're not interested in reading this kind of thing then please don't click on the link. I am not attempting to be divisive but I have a lot of ideas
that I wish to express and wanted to create a forum for those ideas. My Journal will contain personal ramblings and be almost void of politics. The Strange Days series in Chatterbox is almost done.
I am almost done working on the conclusion issue. This will be a double-sized issue! Yeah, I am as excited about it as you are. It will be mailed within a week.
05/12/04: I have not really felt like writing the conclusion issue(s) to the Strange Days series in Chatterbox. I just have not felt like sharing the emotionally wrenching moments - especially on paper. I shudder at sharing such things. I know I must finish the series though. Out of the 25-30 people I send copies of Chatterbox to only about 1-2 people even tell me that they got them so I have no idea if these people even care if they see they see the concluding issues. This is not me whining, this is me
just wondering out loud. If anything, I need to conclude the series for ME since the memories will never be fresher than they are at this point in time. If I waited another year to write about that time my memory will be less fresh.
05/01/04: I don't know what the future of Chatterbox is right now. All that I can promise is to finish the Stange Days series. There are four parts left to the series. I expect the last part to come out at the end of June.
Once the last issue is done I am going to heavily edit and polish up the entire story adding and deleting a few things here and there and publish the whole
thing in a little booklet. I am a little unhappy with the way each part in the series had a different graphic look and feel the story needs to be
pulled together into one cohesive piece. Dark-Skies (A Backyard Astronomer Journal) is still in progress. This will be in the same format as Chatterbox
03/20/04: Dark-Skies is a brand new publication from Room 15 Press. Dark-Skies is an
astronomy-based publication and will more or less be a journal of my night sky observing. I began working on the first issue tonight. Copies are free upon request. When the issue is done I will post a note
on the opening page of this site.
03/01/04: Lots in store for Chatterbox as spring draws closer. "1978" - a two-part series will be out soon and deals with, you guessed it - 1978! What a year!
Houtz and I are almost finished with the first issue of the "Let's Discuss Time Travel" series. This is the first time that there's been a guest writer in Chatterbox. These two issues will be very, very interesting and are not to be missed!
I don't know when new artwork will go up. I haven't really done any paintings/drawings since the beginning of January.
02/28/04: Chatterbox #19 "Tales of Childhood Woe!" and Chatterbox #20 "The Passion of the Christ" movie review issue. An entire issue devoted to the movie. Both issues available now for free by requesting them.
02/19/04: Chatterbox issues 14-18 were copied today and will be mailed tomorrow. I had get out all the issues that I was working on to "clear house."
It was ridiculous with how many issues I had to copy today. I can't keep up with myelf.
02/14/04: I fell for it. Poetry.com is a rip off. Go to the link on the opening page. They will take almost poem you send them and publish and then charge you
up to $70.00 to get your own copy! They put your poem in a tiny little font on a page with about ten other poems in a book that should not retail
for more than $25.00. If you believe in your writing seek other avenues to be published in. There are tons of places that will print good work and send you a copy or two of the issue/book you are published in. Poetry.com will send you all kinds of letters telling
you that your work is "unique" and "creative" and that "you have a unique voice" but trust me, it's all a scam to get your hard-earned money! I already knew that my writing was good before I submitted to them so I was not seeking
validation of any kind. Another publisher I should warn you about is Illiad Press (River Road Press). They accepted two of my poems. I sent them the money for the book they would be in. I waited a year and then I recieved a lettter
from them telling me sales were down, the books were printed and bound but they had no money to ship them and asked me to send them another $8 for shipping so I could get me copy! I told them I wanted my money back! I was suckered again! I thought they were a small publisher so I didn't feel bad about paying for the book. Ha. Be warned!
02/13/04: She Never Called is finally dead. The title of my book that will come out
is now A Little Rust to Go With the Dent.
02/13/04: I am no longer accepting commission work. Almost everything is for sale on the site. Don't send money before you order. New issues of Chatterbox
are coming out pretty regularly.
02/04/04: I don't update this much since nothing is new except when it comes
to Chatterbox. I've been doing about an issue a week. Just send me your address and I will send
you the most recent issues.
01/24/04: Chatterbox number 12 1/2 is done. I will do these 1/2 issues between issues in the "Strange Days" series.
I want to devote entire issues to "Strange Days" and would rather keep my dead-on-the-money observations of my world as it spins wildly out of control writings in separate issues until
the series is completed in June. As usual, just request a copy and I will send it to you for free!
01/21/04: My AIM screen name is "shellnevercall" - I am just posting this information
because no one is really interested anyway. Seriously, that's the only reason.
If you want talk to me live I am on and off all evening. If you want to
meet at a specific time, just drop me a line. It's a lot better than talking to me in person
01/19/04: Chatterbox #12 is all done and copied. This will be the first issue in a series that will conclude in June. This series
will deal with the months before my mom died in June of 2002. Each of these issues will contain some of my usual
ramblings but like I said, a majority of the issues will deal the months I just
mentioned. As usual, you can get a copy for free simply by requesting it. How do you
request a copy? Click on "To Contact" and send my an email with your mailing address. Don't worry, you won't ]
get any junk mail. I won't sell your address. Please order this issue. Please? Thank you.
01/14/04: My personal jury is still out on the new paintings posted tonite. This may make me sound like
a weak-minded individual but I rarely like my own artwork. When I am home looking at and working on the originals
in the safety of the confines of my own little apartment I view my creations differently than when I see them
on the site on display. I don't really paint or draw for any other reason than I feel I just must do it. Maybe I need to do some
self evaluation. Maybe I am just too critical. Don't worry, you are not seeing not seeing double. The duplicated lines of paintings is for a top secret
reason. It's between me and the FBI. Hopefully the problem will be cleared up by Thurs. night.
01/05/04: I guess I like the new artwork that was just posted. I can't look at my own paintings. Chatterbox #11 is done and free just for the asking. If you've been sent previous issues you will not
automatically be sent the current unless you drop me a line requesting it. Look for three new Mike & Missy strips in
gallery 16 in the next few days.
12/30/03: Look for new artwork soon - three "new" Mike & Missy strips (see gallery 17) and lots of new
watercolor paintings. Since you spend so much time sending all your relatives "dumb blonde" jokes through email, why not send out a letter
telling them to go to www.chrisfrancz.com? They will think you're crazy but not as crazy as when you send "dumb blonde" jokes!
12/19/03: Today is my mom's birthday and Gary and Michele had their baby. Won't be hard to
forget his birthday! Order (for free) the Christmas issue of Chatterbox. Just send your
address to recieve it before Christmas!
12/15/03: Ah, finally, the world can see the Mike & Missy comic strip that I started way
back in the fall of 1999. These first three strips were just experiments with three-panel
comic strips. I have some more of these that will be posted. I actually planned on developing
the characters and pitching them for syndication. I still may - some day. Chatterbox #10, The Christmas Issue is done and
is free simply by requesting a copy.
12/13/03: Crucial Record of the Week section added to The Crucial Times page today. I will try to update that once a week.
12/12/03: I am sorry to anyone who tried to log onto the site last night and got a message
about "daily bandwidth exceeded." This problem will be corrected on Saturday night and will
never happen again. I don't know how many people tried to get onto
the site and weren't able to. Chatterbox #10 "The Christmas Issue" is done. You can recieve a copy simply
by requesting one.
12/11/03: New paintings up. The Crucial Times page (in the store section) is updated with some classic
covers and a crucial flyer that I made for the radio show that was the inspiration for The Crucial Times.
12/08/03: Chatterbox #9 is done - "Confessions of a Dishwasher". If you have requested
this issue you will recieve it this week. I just have to make copies. This issue is about
my brief stint as a dishwasher during the winter of 1987/1988. I said to my friend, Gary today: "I should do an entire
Chatterbox about my time spent as a dishwasher," and he said it would be a good
idea - so I did it. If you have recieved other issues of Chatterbox and would like this issue you
must request it. I have been sending out copies of each to some friends and they don't even
drop me an email telling me that they got them so...no more. Thanks to the people that do
request each issue. I should have about 9 new paintings up in the gallery within a week, or maybe less. Check back!
11/26/03: 11:01 p.m. - wow, finally some new stuff on the site. Check out "new" drawings
in Gary's guest gallery. They are from 1996-1999 and taken directly from his sketchbooks. Drop Gary a line if you have any comments.
I am pretty happy with the new paintings in my own gallery. Very different from the other stuff. That's what happens
when I don't paint for a few months - I come at it again fresher and stronger. I think the reason that I didn't paint for a few months
was because I was getting really, really bored with painting in the same way. Working in a smaller format and with watercolor mixed in with
some acrylic - it just refreshed me.
11/20/03: There really isn't any news. Chatterbox is now up to issue number eight. The current issue is free
just for the asking (and sending a mailing address). Read the Forum to see what people
have been saying. Wow, fan mail. She Never Called WILL happen. The other two books will
follow. I don't know when though. No one is pounding on the door anyway! Oh, I just sent
out some artwork to Jersey Beat magazine. I have a feeling it may show
up on their website. If it does I will mention it here and post a link in the links section.
11/12/03: More Chatterbox issues are available. I also just finished a
new issue of The Crucial Times. I should get that copied in a few days. Please send a s.a.s.e. if you want
a copy.
11/10/03: Four issues of Chatterbox. are available. See Room 15 Press page for description. Inkwell number 1 is almost done.
11/06/03: CD art is off. New issue of Chatterbox is out (a new version of #1 - printed on pretty blue cardstock) and free just for sending
your mailing address and requesting it. Don't worry, your address will not be shared - I lose
things right away...