Howie Green Pop Art Fun

"Nellie Oleson" visits Gloucester

2011-09-30T07:30:00.000-07:00

My friend Alison Argrim was in town for a few days visiting last month on her way down to Cape Cod to do her one-woman show, "Confessions of a Prairie Bitch" which celebrates her life and career including her role as Nellie Oleson on "Little House on the Prairie." I took her up for a day trip along the North Shore to visit the various sites and we stopped in Gloucester harbor to take a photo with the famous fisherman statue and so Sock Monkey could see the famous location. It was all very silly and a lot of fun.

New Public Box for City of Boston "Project Paintbox"

2011-09-30T07:23:00.000-07:00

I finished up a new box for the Mayor's Office Project Paintbox. This one is on Western Ave. across the street from the Harvard Univesity playing fields. I was aided by my best bud Mr. Aidan H. Demsey who suggested the seahorse idea. This is the 9th box I have painted in Boston and other locations. I love doing these and can't wait for the next one.

Boston Red Sox Foundation Murals in Springfield, MA

2011-09-30T07:11:00.000-07:00

I spent spent several days this month working on the latest mural marathon for the Boston Red Sox Foundation. With the help of a group of awesome volunteers we painted 8, count them, 8 huge murals. I put the finishing touches on them all but a HUGE thanks to the great crew of around 50 folks who came out and painted at the Stage One school. The photo is just of few of nice folks who stuck it out to very end. Thanks again to everyone involved.
Click on the title link to see the portfolio of photos from the project. The colors and images were softer and a bit more gentle than my usual in-your-face style but since the rooms are filled with infants and small children I didn't want to overwhelm the kids.

My Trail of the Painted Ponies Pop Art Figure

2011-06-04T12:27:00.001-07:00

My Trail of the Painted Ponies collectible Pop Art Pony figure is now available and they made me Artist of the Month in their magazine which is also available online at

http://www.trailofpaintedponies.com/e-magazine/e-magazine-2011/table-of-contents/artist-of-the-month/

I think the pony turned out awesome and can't wait to get my hands on a few. They are currently taking orders and will begin shipping in August when the figures arrive from the manufacturer in China. I'm going to do a special edition with a hand-painted lazy susan display platform and a limited edition print.

And the fun contiues....

Biggie Smalls Goes Home

2011-04-09T08:20:00.000-07:00

I recently did a huge painting of my Biggie Smalls "Unbelievable' album cover for Wayne Barrow the man who was, and still is, Biggie's magager. Wayne was surprised on his birthday with the painting by his assitant Nirvana Savoury who arranged the whole thing. Thanks to Nirvana and Wayne and I look forward to Wayne's next venture.

Red Sox Clifford Park Mural Photos

2011-02-20T12:48:00.001-08:00

Last summer I did a mural project with the Boston Red Sox Foundation and a group of visiting Japanese baseball players at Clifford Park in Boston. The event was covered by the New England Sports Network on the show "Boston Red Sox Week" - here's a couple screen grab of me with the group and the Red Sox Mascot, The Green Monster and the painters hard at work.

MusicCares Streisand Portraits

2010-12-18T14:25:00.000-08:00

I did this quadruple album cover painting of Barbra Streisand for the annual MusiCares charity event in Los Angeles in Feb. 2011. Ms. Streisand is the guest of honor and the painting will be part of the auction which all goes to help MusiCares do their good work helping aging musicians who need a helping hand. Thanks to Mike Goldstein at the Rock Pop Gallery in Portland, Oregon who sell my album cover paintings for coordinating this project.

New Boston Paint Box for Mayor's Office Program

2010-11-24T04:01:00.001-08:00

If you should happen to find yourself at the corners of High and Pearl Street in downtown Boston near Post Office Sq. you're probably lost. However take a look around and you will see the new public utility box I painted for the Mayor's Office Paint Box program. They asked me to do the box and I could have waited until Spring but I thought I'd squeeze another one in before the cold weather decends, which it did today, so I finished just in time. Looking forward to Spring and the next box - a huge refrigerator-size one in Alston. Thanks to Holly George at the Mayor's Office for coordinating the project.

Boston Living Center 2001 Calendar

2010-11-05T15:08:00.000-07:00

I designed the Boston Living Center's 2011 desktop calendar and used my painting "Big Red Tree" (an homage to Clarice Cliff) for the cover. The calendar is $10 and available directly from the BLC web site - http://www.bostonlivingcenter.org - see the link a the bottom of the home page with an online order form and a list of retailers. The calendar makes a nice gift and features really nice art and photographs by artist living with HIV. All the money raised by calendar sales goes to fund the Center's art program.

Alison Arngrim (Nellie Oleson) visits Boston

2010-11-01T16:30:00.000-07:00

My friend Alison Arngrim (Nellie Oleson) camped out at my place during her two week visit to Boston which featured 6 performances of her one-woman show, book signings, personal appearances, a quick trip to NYC for a TV appearance and my ongoing Jeep tours of the town and surrounding areas with fine dining at Kelly's on Revere Beach, the No Name Restaurant, The Victoria Diner and Lydia Shire's fabulous new place Towne at the Hynes Center...ever had Lobster pizza? We had a blast and laughed a lot. She also autographed 3 of my recent portraits of her as Nellie Oleson that we are going to auction off to benefit Protect.org.

My lastest book project now available

2010-09-25T09:10:00.000-07:00

The kid's book I designed and illustrated this past winter has finally been published and is available from Black Heron Press in bookstores and online at Amazon, B&N, etc. The story was written by Willa Gold and it's a bitter sweet story (with a happy ending of course) about a mama and baby dachshunds who have gotten lost and are trying to find their way home or a new home. Along the way they meet up with a wayward pug and several other pups and finally end up being rescued by a dog-lady. If you know any kids who are dog lovers this is the book for them!

Boston Red Sox Bleachers Wall Mural

2010-07-31T06:24:00.000-07:00

Had a blast doing another mural project for the Boston Red Sox Foundation yesterday - see photo. About 50 people were on hand to help paint including a group of visiting Japanese kids who were on a baseball exchange visit to Boston. Everybody manned a brush for a while and we got the whole thing done in a day. And it's right around the corner from my house so I can keep an eye on it. Thanks to Gina, Rico, Jonathan and rest of the nice folks at the Foudation for asking me to do the project. I look forward to the next one!

Path Tags with my Pop Art Designs

2010-07-05T07:34:00.000-07:00

A while ago I was introduced to the growing fun collector phenomenon known as PathTags by Dacia Volz who contacted me to see if she could use some of my designs to get some PathTags made. I loved the idea and of course said 'Yes' and at long last, and after a lot of work on Dacia's part here they are!

PathTags are about the size of a nickle coin and the designs on them are all over the map, literally. Part of the fun of trading, buying and collecting PathTags is that you can register each one online at the PathTags website (www.pathtags.com) and you can track the location of each tag.

Thanks to Dacia for all her hard work and for her professionalism in creating these tags. I love it!

'Boston Rocks' public utility box

2010-07-05T07:25:00.000-07:00

As part of the ongoing program by the Boston Mayor's Office I was asked to paint yet another public utility box - this one in the middle of Downtown Crossing near Macy's on Washington Street. The theme is 'Boston Rocks' and features my two painting styles, the wild brushstoke style with the pop art cartoon style. This is one of a series of designs I submitted over a year ago for the project and I finally got to paint it this past weekend on a cool breezy evening just before this stifling heat wave decended upon us. Oh well July in Boston is usually hot and miserable anyway.

Rochester, NY Painted Utility Box in the South Wedge

2010-06-02T19:50:00.001-07:00

I was in Rochester, NY this past weekend to paint this public utility box in the cool South Wedge neighborhood. The box is located at the entrance to the neighborhood at the corner of Mt. Hope Ave and South Ave. My sister Kathy Benner helped me paint it and we had 2 awesome days of sun and nice breezes. There were 8 or so other boxes being painted by other artists and the whole project was sponsored by the Business Association of the South Wedge Area.

Thanks guys!!

Painted ponies, cow and art, oh my!

2010-05-14T12:47:00.001-07:00

I recently painted several pieces of art along with a couple custom Cow Parade and Painted Ponies for a nice client out West for the Equine Welfare Foundation. She just sent me this photo of the group which I think is pretty cool. Thanks to Kay S.

Fritz Trautmann Exhibition coming to Rochester, NY

2010-05-12T09:03:00.000-07:00

Artist, color master, architect, philosopher and my personal Buddha Fritz Trautmann is finally going to have an exhibition of his work, 39 years after his death. The University of Rochester Memorial Art Gallery and Museum in Rochester, NY is opening the exhibit in August and I got to add my 2 cents worth of contribution to the event this week. My time with Fritz completely changed the artistic direction of my life and work and I was happy to sit with the show's curator Jenn Marten and talk for several hours about Fritz and his work and his philosophy, etc.

The painting by Fritz shown here is titled "Galaxy" and is one of the top most popular pieces of art in the Museum's collection. I have had a photo of it posted in all my work spaces for the past 40 years so its never been out of my site.

If you want to know more about the exhibit here is the link for the show blog

http://blogs.democratandchronicle.com/rochesterarts/2010/04/21/do-you-know-fritz-trautman/

I will be thrilled if this show finally gets Fritz the public attention and acknowledgement he has deservered for his groundbreaking work with color. He died in 1971 but he has never been out of my thoughts. Everytime I pick up a paint brush I think about everything I learned from Fritz and I can't imagine what my work would have looked like if I had never met him. And always thanks to Paul Parkman for introducing me to Fritz.

Benches On Parade Opening Event, Rochester, NY 5/10/10

2010-05-12T08:49:00.000-07:00

I was in Rochester, NY this week for the opening event of the public art project called Benches on Parade. My sister helped me paint my bench for the event back in December and I got the rest of her family involved picking up and delivering the thing. That's my sister Kathy Benner and my Niece Stacey Rae Benner sitting on the bench with me.

The event was a big success with tons of folks attending and I brought a bunch of my family along for the fun, food and art - not necessarily in that order. It was nice to run into Phillp Burke at the event since I have been a long time fan of his work and its was fun to see the over 100 benches in person.

If you are in Rochester any time soon you will be seeing the benches make their debuts outside and inside company lobbies, stores, etc etc.

Very cool project and I had a lot of fun with it. Cudos to Nazareth College for being the project sponsor and to Dixon Schwabl for producing the whole thing. You can see all the benches in the book of the event which will be available at area book stores like Barnes & Noble, etc.

Official Boston Celtics Utility Box for Boston Mayor's Office

2010-04-25T12:32:00.000-07:00

I had a lot of fun this weekend painting the official Boston Celtics public utility box for the Boston Mayor's Office annual Fresh Paint program. The box is located at the intersection of New Chardon and No. Washington Streets just a couple blocks from the Boston Garden on the new "Greenway". If you take one of the many Boston trolley or "Duck" tours you will go right by it.

The Mayor's Office sponsors the program each spring to bring Boston artists out on the streets to paint those ubiquitous utility boxes that are on every city street corner in America. I got to do 3 of them last year and am looking forward to doing a couple more this year as well.

Poker Cows Hit the Fair in Florida

2010-04-08T09:19:00.002-07:00

The nice folks at The Poker Room in Jacksonville, FL used my painting of the Poker C0ws to promote their venue at a recent county fair in the neighborhood. Perfect combination of cows and gambling. Thanks to Dan Kossoff, Creative Director of the Jacksonville Greyhound Racing and Poker who is pictured above with his lovely assistant at the fair.

Poker

2010-04-08T09:19:00.001-07:00

Benches on Parade - DELIVERED!!!

2010-03-15T06:04:00.000-07:00

Yay! Finally got the Benches on Parade bench delivered back to the event organizers on Friday. Made the trip to Rochester, NY for a quick visit to my sister and to get the bench delivered. My brother-in-law Jerry helped me schlep the thing back and I am greatly relieved to have that task completed. Looking forward to the launch party event on May 1oth.

Boston Red Sox Scholars Help Paint New Dimock Center Mural

2010-02-22T09:40:00.000-08:00

I got to work with the Boston Red Sox Foundation again at the Dimock Center to paint another fun mural project. This mural is a kid-friendly Pop Art landscape with lots of color and creatures for the wee ones since it it painted in a hallway frequented by lots of kids who pass by and play there. I added a lot of details at kid height so they can see lots of fun stuff at their own level.

About 25 or so young kids from the Red Sox Scholars volunteer program manned paint brushes throughout the day taking turns so everyone got a chance to paint. I had fun supervising the mayhem and hopefully the kids had fun too. After it was over I spent a day and half cleaning up the painting and doing all the finishing work. Special thanks to Donna Saunders-Wallace from Dimock and Gena Borson from the Red Sox for their enthusiasm and support. I look forward to the next project!

Pop Artist Steve Kaufman - R.I.P.

2010-02-16T11:59:00.000-08:00

It is with much saddness that I was informed of the death of one of my favorite artists and favorite people Steve Kaufman. I got to meet and spend time with Steve a years and a half ago in Providence, RH (see photo) and found him to be a really genuine, fun and personable guy in addition to being a great artist. We hung out with him for several hours and talked about art and commerce and laughed a lot... a lot! Steve was assistant to Andy Warhol for several years and created a major career for himself which included raising millions for charities from the sales of his art.

His death is a major loss for the art world and he will be missed. I own a bunch of Steve's paintings and was looking forward to seeing his new work projects. I was recently involved with Steve and a group of promoters who were putting together a museum show for Asia which included work by me and Steve and I was honored to be included. Via Con Dios Steve.

Rainbow Ninja Warriors and robot toys

2010-01-14T04:57:00.000-08:00

I just finished making a bunch of toys for fun. As a lifelong toy collector and fan I'm in love with all the Kid Robot Dunny-type designer toys that are now out there and I wanted to try my hand at creating some toys which I haven't done for a while. When my book Jazz Fish Zen came out in the mid-90s Hasbro / Parker Bros. wanted to do something with my characters from the book but they never could figure out what to do. I guess I was just a few years ahead of the curve.

Miniature toy robot drawing in group show at Gallery 242 Boston

2010-01-14T04:54:00.001-08:00

My miniature pen and ink drawing of B.O.B. the vintage toy robot has been accepted into the February group of at Gallery 242 in Boston, MA. The show is all about robots and should be fun. This is one of new series of robot drawings, paintings and toys I've been creating that are so new I haven't had time to add them to my website yet but you can see lots more Pop Art Fun there at www.hgd.com

Yellow Submarine painting on cover of The Venue newspaper

2010-01-14T04:36:00.000-08:00

My painting of the Yellow Submarine album cover is featured on the new issue of The Venue newspaper which is distributed throughout Connecticut and Southern New England. The issue is a special tribute to the Beatles. See more of my album cover paintings click here.

Benches on Parade in Rochester, NY becomes Green Family Public Art Project

2009-12-18T08:29:00.000-08:00

12/18/09: Howie got to paint one of the benches in the Rochester, NY Benches on Parade public art event and got several family members involved. Sister Kathy Anne Benner hosted the painting in her garage with her usual good spirits, high energy and awesome food and joined in for two solid days of painting. Niece Stacey Rae Benner and her friend Ryan Beattie pitched in as pick up and delivery team and lent a much appreciated propane space heater while Brother-in-Law Jerrry Benner cheered from the sidelines. Big hugs and many thanks to everyone involved.

Howie Green Paints Boston City Hall Entrance

2009-11-23T05:28:00.000-08:00

11/20/09: At the request of Boston Mayor Thomas Menino's office I painted the new entrance shelter structure to Boston City Hall in November. The mural adds a fun blast of festive holiday color to the oft-maligned building that can be easily seen from the Cambridge Street side. Click on the picture for a larger view and visit www.hgd.com for more. Special thanks to my brother Glenn for helping out with a full days worth of painting. Thanks Bro!

Howie Green Paints 4 Murals With Boston Red Sox Foundation Vol

2009-10-06T15:15:00.000-07:00

10/5/09: I was joined by a large crew of volunteers at the Dimock Center for a new series of 4 Pop Art Murals that were all created in a short day - many hands make for light work. I went over on Friday and drew the mural images in place and on Saturday the busload of Red Sox volunteers decended upon the Dimock Center to spruce up the place which, among many other tasks, included painting the 4 murals. Somehow in the craziness of the day the work all got done and then I returned on Sunday to do touchup painting and finish the project off.

Howie Green Movie Debut Now On YouTube

2009-09-21T13:02:00.001-07:00

9/21/09: File this under "OMG!"

In 1985 or 6 or 7 or somewhere in there I was working out in Hollywood at the World Famous Laugh Factory and one night my friend Sharon Phalon and I accompanied our friend Alison Arngrim (Nellie Oleson on Little House On the Prairie) to a movie shoot for a film called "Video Valentino" about what was then a new phenomenon called video dating. Alison was one of the leads in the movie and the "shoot", as they say in the biz, was in a back alley behind a restaurant in Hollywood somewhere. I always thought it was appropriate that my movie debut was a scene with me standing between two garbage dumpsters. Anyway they did a couple takes, we were done and off we went, still in costume, for dinner at the Cocoanut Teaser on Sunset Blvd.

Alison just called me to tell me the movie had been posted and I have never seen the movie til now. I'm in the middle of the film for about 20 seconds. So began and ended my acting career. From one dumpster into another. But it's funny to see the film 20+ years later and remember that fun era in my career. I do miss hanging out in Hollywood!

If for some odd reason you want to see the film just go to YouTube.com and search on Video Valentino or here is the direct link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umxEDGrE4Qg

- Howie

Howie Green Paints Iron Ranger for Mass. Dept. of Conservation

2009-08-31T05:56:00.000-07:00

9/21/09: Painted my second "Iron Ranger" out on Castle Island at Fort Independence yesterday. Another beautiful day to be outside and enjoy the nice weather.

8/31/09: I finally got to spend a nice day at the beach and painted one of the "Iron Ranger" donation contatiners on Carson Beach near the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, MA. Thanks to Sharon Hoey and Chris Spillane from the Massachusetts State Department of Conservation and Recreaton for creating these fun art opportunities.

My Mellow Mushroom Bus Makes CNN

2009-08-12T13:49:00.000-07:00

15 year-old guitar wonder kid Conrad Oberg from Jacksonville, FL was picked to open the 40th Anniversary Woodstock Festival playing his rendition of Jimi Hendrix's version of the Star Spangled Banner.

Conrad was interviewed by CNN at the Mellow Mushroom on Jacksonville Beach, FL in front of the psychedelic bus I painted and then was filmed playing his guitar in back of my bus.

All in all very cool.

To see the CNN online video of the interview - CLICK HERE

Howie's Pschedelic Musician Art Graces Cover Of The Venue Newspaper

2009-08-11T08:32:00.000-07:00

My painting titled "Hippie Musician" got used by the nice folks at The Venue newspaper for the cover of their August 2009 issue celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock Festival. To see a larger view of the art click here - prints are availble.

Munny Toy Psychedelic Pop Art Painting

2009-07-06T04:25:00.000-07:00

I love all the artist's wacky collectible toys that are out on the market and I finally got around to painting one of my own. It took me forever to figure out how I wanted to paint the little guy and now I want to do lots more of them.

Check out more of my painted objects on my website gallery at CLICK HERE

Thanks for looking!

Howie Green

Michael Jackson Album Cover Paintings Added To My Online Gallery

2009-07-02T09:35:00.000-07:00

Since the "King of Pop" died I have gotten numerous requests for paintings of his album covers so I have added three paintings to my online gallery of album cover paintings that now numbers almost 300... just a few more and I'll be over 300. You can view the album cover paintings at http://www.hgd.com - In addition to Mr. Jackson I also added 4 David Bowie covers and Peter Gabriel's "So" cover.

Have Fun!

- Howie Green

Howie Green paints Mellow Mushroom Bus at Jacksonville Beach, FL

2009-06-05T10:29:00.001-07:00

6/4/09: Howie spent a week on location in sunny Florida hand painting a full sized school bus that had been altered to serve as a dining area in the new Mellow Mushroom on 1081 North Third Street on Jacksonville Beach, FL. The entire surface of the bus is covered in psychedelic hippie retro-style pop art images done in eye-popping colors. Many thanks to John Valentino and David Valentino for the gig and to Tim Lenoir for coming over and helping out with the painting. For lots more photos CLICK HERE

Howie Green participates in Harvard Square May Fest Street Art Event

2009-05-03T14:01:00.000-07:00

5/3/09: As part of the annual Harvard Square May Fest in Cambridge, MA the local Rotary Club sponsors a street art event and artist from all over the area participate. The artists are given chalk and a space on Church Street and off they go to create some pretty cool images on the blacktop. Howie participated this year, for the first time, and did a Mamboland landscape featuring Noodle and lots of colors. It's an incredibly dirty process to go through but the results are pretty spectacular. We're looking forward to next year! To see more of Howie's Mamboland art click here

Howie Green (and posse) paint public utility boxes for "Boston Shines" weekend

2009-04-26T08:39:00.000-07:00

4/25/09: I took part in Boston Mayor Thomas Menino's "Boston Shines" Paintbox program by painting two public utility boxes in Coppen's square in the Dorchester area of the city. The freakishly hot 80 degree April weekend brought out lots of street traffic who provided ongoing commentary and encouragment.

One of the boxes is an homage to British Art Deco pottery designer Clarice Cliff and features one of her typical red roof county cottages. The second box is a blast of Pop Art flowers with a dove. On Saturday Chris, Aidan and Bella came down from up North and chipped in and helped finish the second box. Thanks again guys!

Cibu International Stylists Portraits

2009-04-15T11:30:00.000-07:00

Cibu International is having me do a series of portraits of their star stylists and this one of Christopher is the first one. Congrats!

Visit to the Woodstock Museum

2009-03-23T12:56:00.000-07:00

I made a roadtrip yesterday to the Woodstock Museum and the Bethel Center for the Performing Arts in Bethel, NY. It was like going to Mecca. I was not one of the lucky ones (or unlucky depending on your point of view) who actually got to go to the festival in 1969 and my two friends who had tickets only got as far as Syracuse and got turned back because the NY State Thruway was closed from there to New York City.

The museum is very well done but it was bit odd seeing my youth on display as relics from a bygone era of the last century. Most unsettling was the pop up interviews that show during the Woodstock movie in the theatre. The windows have new interviews with the performers commenting on their memories of the festival and it's a shock to see what they all look like nowdays... except for Carlos Santana who looks remarkably unchanged.

Overlooking the concert site is fun nice memorial shrine with the plaque shown here. You can easily imagine the now pristine massive hillside covered with 300,000 wet and dirty (but happy) hippie kids having fun and grooving to the music. I admit being there sent shivers up my spine... or was that just the freezing cold wind whipping around? The place is totally out of the way and in the middle of nowhere but if you should ever find yourself in the neighborhood (why?) its worth a visit.

My Pop Art Flower Mirror in Hartford Courant newpaper article

2009-03-21T07:20:00.000-07:00

My Pop Art flower mirror got featured in an article on home decorating in the Hartford Courant - see the link to read the article.

The article by Korky Vann discusses the renewed interest in using Pop Art items in home decorating schemes. I got interviewed for the article an got quoted a lot. It's a fun article with a nice batch of photos.

Peace Love Music - 3 Hearts Paintings

2009-03-20T06:43:00.000-07:00

I just finished this large set of 3 heart paintings for a client and I thought they turned out great so I wanted to share them. They were done for new client in Tampa, FL who saw one of my heart paintings on my web site and asked me to do this set for him.

New Howie Green Pop Art Mural In Delray Beach, FL

2009-02-04T07:25:00.001-08:00

12/20/08: On a recent visit to sunny Florida Howie took the opportunity to create a new mural at the Mellow Mushroom (On Fed. Highway 1) in downtown Delray Beach. The mural depicts Mellow's character Mel and the Fun Guys as rock stars on a stage at the Atlantic Ave. Cavern - named after the Club that the Beatles made famous in Liverpool, England. The mural is located on the outdoor patio so if you're in the neighborhood drive on by and take a look. See lots more of Howie's Pop Art Eye Candy With The Accent On Fun at http://www.hgd.com/gallery.

Howie completes new mural and pop art installation in Delray Beach, Florida

2008-07-18T14:59:00.000-07:00

5/7/08: Howie's latest large mural projects were installed and completed in Delray Beach, Florida in April in the brand new Mellow Mushroom in downtown just off Atlantic Ave. and a short walk from the beach. The Mellow Mushroom opened for business in May and if you visit you can see Howie's 2 murals and 26 individual paintings that decorate the very cool and very modern new facility. Designed for owners Ron and Mary Ann Platt by architect Roger Cope with interior design by Bridget Conway / Lighthouse Interiors the Mellow is a stunning new landmark in the booming fun destination of Delray Beach and will surely quickly become the town's new hot spot... 50 beers on tap!!! If you're down in Boca or West Palm Beach stop on by, toss back a few brews, have some of the best pizza on the planet and see lots of fun artwork.

See Howie's Gallery web site for new videos and updates on news happenings and activities.

Jacksonville, Florida Mellow Mushroom Murals

2007-02-22T10:03:00.000-08:00

Howie completes installation of Mellow Mushroom murals in Jacksonville, FL

2/19/07:Howie spent a week in Florida installing 3 murals and additional art piecesfor the new Mellow Mushroom on Fleming Island, Jacksonville, FL. Next timeyou're in that part of the Sunshine State stop in for some awesome food andone of the most colorful restaurant interiors you'll ever see. Howie gotcommissioned in January of 2006 to do the mural installations and it tookover a year of planning and painting to complete the murals and get theminstalled. Owner John Valentino worked closely with Howie and his designteam including his partner David Valentino and Jackie Waller of Barganier Davis Sims Architects to design an exciting and eye popping eating establishmentin a brand new shopping area just off Route 17 on Fleming Island. The restaurant,located at 1800 Town Center Blvd. (across the street from the Post Office)features 56 of Howie's original album cover paintings and two 36 feet longmurals. One of the murals features celebrties gathered around a bar and theother one features a 6' x 10' original painting of the Beatles Abbey Roadalbum cover as well as Mellow's mushroom "Fun Guys" crossing "Mellow Road".

See Howie's Online Gallery for lots more - www.hgd.com/gallery

More cows, murals and glamor

2006-10-21T07:18:00.000-07:00

Cow Finale
The 2006 Cow Parade Boston came to a spectacular end in late September when 44 of the cows were auctioned off in a huge live auction that was more like a lively sporting event than a sedate art auction. Howie's Flower Cow was the first cow in the auction and got things off to a rousing start selling for $8500. Flower Cow got renamed to Emily by her new proud owner and now is resting comfortably at her new home on Wellesly Street in Weston, MA.

The album cover cow also sold for big bucks although we have no idea where its ended up. Things were pretty chaotic towards the end of the auction and we lost track of the new owner. Poker Cow sold in the online auction and now is proudly on display in Warren, Rhode Island at Imagine Gift Store at 5 Miller Street.

Mural project for Mellow Mushroom gets underway
After over 9 months of planning and pre-production work Howie is hard at work on a series of murals for a new Mellow Mushroom location that will open in February 2007. Stay tuned for more images and info as it becomes available. The murals will feature large renditions of Howie's ongoing album cover paintings as well as lots of other fun pop art imagery.

Glamour Paintings For ColorWorks Salon
Howie recently completed a series of 8 paintings for the Ratner Companies Color Works Salons that will be used during their upcoming Holiday promotions. If you live in the Washington/Baltimore/Beltway zone you can see the artwork on display starting November 1.

Howie Green's 2006 Cow Parade Boston

2006-05-30T12:25:00.000-07:00

Howie got an Artist Spotlight in Boston Hearld newspaper's Cows on Parade Magazine
The Boston Herald featured Howie in the June 18, 2006 Sunday Edition in a color insert magazine they did to promote the Cows On Parade 2006. The magazine featured photos of a lot of the cows, a locater map to show where all the cows are on display and Howie was honored to be one of several artist that were featured in the magazine.

To read the whole profile article CLICK HERE

Howie's 3 Cows were on public display as part of Cows on Parade Boston 2006June 15, 2006: All three cows were on display as part of the outdoor public art display for Cows on Parade Boston 2006. Flower Cow and Poker Cow were on display at
historic tourist spot Faneiul Hall Marketplace (within a few feet of each other) and
Rufus the Moosic Cow was on display in front of the Mariott Courtyard Hotel at 275 Tremont Street, across from the Wang Center in the theatre district. If you were in town for a visit you probably saw at least a couple of the cows

Sophie The Flower Cow Featured on TV
June 2, 2006: Sophie the Flower Cow made her TV debut on WCVB's Chronicle in a segment about the Cows on Parade. Sophie was prominently featured and she looked great. Who said that the TV camera adds 10 pounds? She looked svelte and every pound the major star that she is.

Cows Cows and More Cows!
The Boston Herald newspaper photographer came by the studio to take some photos of Howie that they used to go with an article they did on the Jimmy Fund 2006 Cows on Parade Boston events. Since all three of Howie's cows were delivered and were being installed in their display spots we had nothing for her to photograph except our exceptionally messy studio and Howie's beaming face. So in order to have something cow related for her to photograph Howie reworked a painting I had done of a cow a few years ago and turned into a Flower Cow. The Jimmy Fund picked Flower Cow to use as the illustration for their website home page article about the Cow Parade.

"And now for my absolutely true cow story: If you've ever met a cow they are sweet beasts.Mostly just food on legs with about 2 conncected brain cells. When I was a young lad growing up on the wind-swept barren prairie outside of Buffalo, NY we lived waaaaaay out in the country.

We lived amongst several farms and the farmer to our South had one single solitary cow that as much a pet as it was a source of anything useful. Every October during the first week or so of hunting season those crazed city folks would drive out to where we lived, drink a lot of beer, park their cars anywhere they pleased and go trapsing across anyone's land shooting at anthing that moved in hopes of bagging themselves a nice meaty pheasant. Now if you've ever seen a plucked pheasant there ain't much meat on them so the hunter folks mostly shot at tail feathers and by the end of the day were pretty frustrated. Mostly those hunter idiots just wanted to kill
something so having been mistaken for pheasants a lot of cats, small dogs and other assorted small beast met their makers. My mom used to make me wear a bright orange rain coat for the walk from our front door out to the road to meet the school bus because she lived in fear that one of those booze fueled city gun wackos would shoot me, thinking I was a really tall pheasant. Our neighbor with the cow, Mr. Lindsay, every year during this fearful week of hunting season would paint large orange letters on both sides of the cow that said "COW" so that no liquored-up gun-toting cityfolks would mistake ole bossie for a wayward bird. Absolutely true story!" - Howie Green

Cows on Parade
It was a lot of work and a lot of fun as we created 3 of the cows currently on display in Boston, MA as part of the 2006 Cows on Parade to benefit the Jimmy Fund at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

The first cow we did was Sophie the Flower Cow who was all painted to look like old 1940s drapery fabrics I grew up with and have always loved. Aidan and Bella Dempsey gave me a big hand starting the painting of old Sophie and she came out beautifully.

The second cow was Rufus the Boston Moosic Cow who features 39 of Howie's ongoing series of album cover paintings - this time all by Boston-base rock bands and pop groups. The albums go all the way back to 1967 with The Lost and continue through the decades with Aerosmith, Boston, The Paley Brothers and on up to the current scene with the Drop Kick Murphys, Apollo Sunshine and the Dresden Dolls.

The third cow was The Poker Cow which was specially commissioned by Pokerstars.net.
The cow features Howie's pop art version of that famous hilarious "Dogs Playing Poker" painting by Coolidge except this time its cows, not dogs, playing poker.

The cows were on display all Summer in and around Boston. At the end of the summer they all got auctioned off with Flower Cow leading off the auction and selling for $8,500

You can see lots more of my artwork and lots more photos of the cows at our online gallery