Continuing to put up leftover merch from Renegade in my shop today, including this lovely green beard. Anybody feeling particularly Irish today? This beard is for you!

by Al Murphy!

Just FYI

Did an interview with Venus Magazine a little while back, it's on their website today! Hooray!

Lisel Jane Ashlock is an insanely talented painter. Amazing like you jaw is on the floor, and you're not entirely sure you'll be able to ever close your mouth again. Spotted her work on Booooooom this morning, and I wanted to share this beardy fellow with you all.

Another weird one... found this crazy bearded ice cream cone on Etsy. Seems appropriate with the 100+ degree weather this week.

Some pretty sweet beardy sweatshirts from Shobo Shobo. Not that I'd need one here, it's gonna be in the 90's and 100's all next week, but come wintertime, this sweatshirt will be looking pretty appealing!

Remember that beard giveaway I did a while back? Well, the lovely winner, Pang, sent me another awesome photo, comparing her fake beard to a real one... I'd say it's a pretty close match, eh?

Finally home.

Hey beardos, did ya miss me? I just got home after two weeks of craft fair madness in LA and San Francisco, and it was amazing. Of course, being dependably obnoxious, my camera failed to take almost any good photos during the trip. Luckily, lots of folks have posted photos from the Renegade shows on Flickr, so I can still prove I was there. Check it out!

Here I am in my booth at Renegade Craft Fair in LA... looking a little creepy, but there's no avoiding that. Let's tell it how it is: I'm a beard pimp.
(photo taken by paul and kat, who make awesome buttons, and now have a yarn beard of their very own)

Some of the delightful merchandise. (also taken by paulandkat)

Here's a close up of the rainbow beard on one of the round heads I made for the show... I get creeped out by those styrofoam heads, so I had to think of something to display the beards on that didn't make me grimace. These seemed to suffice, although the nose I embroidered on is hard to see in this photo. (photo taken by Anita K. Hart)

Renegade also brought me my first brush with fame in LA! Chris Hardwick bought a beard, then posted a photo of it on his twitter. Standing in front of (fellow Portlanders) Berkley Illustration's booth, no less!

Renegade in San Francisco was also amazing! The venue was a lot of fun too, Fort Mason is quite a spot. (photo taken by * j e a n e e)


See how lovely it was? (photos from treatzone, whose booth I missed at Renegade, and I am kicking myself for it.)

Look how busy it was! (another photo by * j e a n e e)
All this craziness might help explain my absence the past couple weeks, but I promise I'll make it up to you. I'd like to do a little post on here of some of the awesome people I met while doing these shows... perhaps later this week?
Glad to be back in the beard workshop, but I'll be thinking fondly of you, California.

Loving this drawing of Ginsberg from chris time travels flickr! Everybody loves noodle hair!

So, as I said before, most of my photos from Renegade in LA turned out blurry and sad. Luckily, the awesome peeps at Poketo managed to take a shot of my ridiculous display heads! I made these especially for Renegade, since those styrofoam mannequin heads give me the creeps... you can kinda see me, partially hidden behind the massive beard on display. Here's hoping more photos of Renegade LA turn up on the interwebs this week!

It seems I will never stop discovering amazing beard art! This beauty was made by Clare Owen. Thanks to Margaret from Paper Pastries for tipping me off to this amazing illustrator!

I was really hoping to have some photos from LA Renegade Craft Fair to show you today, but they all turned out blurry! I'll be more diligent about taking good photos in San Francisco. In the meantime, here are some excellent bearded nesting dolls made by Leanne Biank!

some funny bearded drawings by David Galletly!

Rad paintings by Michael James Maxwell.

So true! A great illustration from ooli's flickr.

My beardy face on the Juxtapoz website!

In case you are just now tuning in, and haven't noticed me talking about Renegade every ten seconds or so... I'll be at Renegade Craft Fair in LA this weekend. Click the link on the right for more info. I'll try to keep updating here, with some of the fun new things I'm bringing to the fair, but as you may have noticed from the light posting, I'm a bit overwhelmed.
Anyway, I was mentioned in the short article on Renegade Handmade on the Juxtapoz Magazine website (I'm a big fan of the print magazine, it consistently features amazing artists I've never heard of).
Heck yes! See you in LA!

beardy mermen

Another great beard art find! This print is by Wayne Pate, and while these mermen are seemingly French, the red white and blue is perfect for today! Buy a print in Mr. Pate's webshop.

Happy fourth! Please enjoy this drawing of a narwhal being held hostage, with two delightfully beardy dudes! Fun! Scary! Kinda like the fourth of July!
Drawing by Michael Hsiung.

While I will always be a fan of Bread and Badger's original moustache pint glass, I'm loving their foray into espresso cups: