Jedi had one of the most ambitious skateboard designs for a ten year-old. He worked very hard and the results were really impressive. In fact, he continued to improvise and paint up until the end of the class. Nice Work!
The original pencil sketch (above) - kind of reminded me of "Killer Croc" from Spiderman...
Some process photos of the first stencil application (above).
October 12, 2008: The Pons Family made a trip up to Millwood, Virginia for the Artists' Reception for this year's Fall "Art at the Mill" event. Scarlett and I both contributed to this group show. I gave an artist demonstration throughout the afternoon, but Diego's painting endeavors attracted much more attention. Below are some pics from that day.
Works in progress...(above) click to enlarge.
Jon and Christina Burge volunteered for the day's event.
supermodels (above)
Composite photo from Micki and Will's house in Berryville, one of our favorite places on the planet. 
We paid a visit to the Salem Church Library last month for a "Career Night" presentation to local students participating in the "Our Space" afterschool program. We had a chance to share with students our experiences as professionals and how we made decisions that informed our career choices. The goal of Career Night is to encourage young people to think about all the opportunities that their future can offer.
Participating professionals (left to right): Dr. Jacinta Topps- Pediatrician, Sandi Holland -Teacher, Gabriel Pons - Artist, Scarlett Suhy-Pons - Artist, Lena Gonzales-Berios - Librarian, and Sgt. Turner - Recruiter US Marine Corps. not pictured: Kori Terrel - Ballet Instructor.
Special Thanks to Francis Fourie (above)- coordinator of the "Our Space" after school program at Salem Church Library.
September 26, 2008: Gabriel Pons gave a guest workshop to the 4th and 5th grade students at Fredericksburg Academy about Map-Making. Pons gave a brief slide presentation to students which showed his collection of maps from around the world and how his architectural studies led to his endeavors in painting and collage.
Map of Easter Island (above). Stone Moai (below).
Detail of Florence, Italy (above). Ponte Vecchio (below).
A composite projection of downtown Fredericksburg, Virginia.
...turned into a mixed media painting on canvas. "The River is the Portal" by Gabriel Pons, 30"x30"
Students were then given a drawing exercise to map several items that hold importance to them in their lives: their home, school, the downtown, the river, and other landmarks. Line, shape, and symbol become the coded language for their drawings.
Student drawing (detail)
At the end of the session, students had a chance to share their maps with one another - "how are they different, how are they similar?"
Scarlett will be participating in the "Point of Connection" exhibit at LibertyTown Arts Workshop in October. This exhibition is an exclusive collaboration of painters, fiber artists, and ceramic artists at LibertyTown.
Visit This Link on Fredericksburg.com for an overiew and video of a selection of the artists.
I'll be posting some select photos of the work soon. For more information, visit the LibertyTown Website.
Scarlett and I will be participating in this year's "Art at the Mill" event at the historic Burwell-Morgan Mill in Millwood, Virginia. Sponsored by the Clarke County Historical Association, this juried art exhibit will feature paintings and ceramics from numerous artists in the region. For more information about this event, Click Here.
The show runs daily, from October 4-19, 2008
Sunday through Friday 12-5pm, Saturdays 10-6pm
I will be doing an artist demonstration on Sunday, October 12 at 1pm (prior to the Artist's Reception).
Scarlett and Diego (and baby) posing in front of the restored wood mill...
I'm busy kicking out the latest deck series for this fall. The MONO "Octo" decks come in 7.5", 7.75" and 8.0" widths. Each deck is individually sprayed, signed and numbered and comes with griptape. Want one? hit me back with an email and $50 plus shipping or get on down to Fred Skates (604 Caroline Street, Fredericksburg, Virginia). Of course, decks will be at the PONSHOP (916 LibertyStreet, Fredericksburg,Virginia) too...
Thom gave me some original lyric sheets - I'll make a mint on E-bay in 2020
Pinot the cat laying on thousands of dollars of artwork...
I had some duties too: photographer, roadie, agent, number one fan...
Thom White is an architect/artist/musician/eccentric/creative fun guy...known him since 1992
Thom collects neat stuff: This toy is the the most interesting piece of Pop Culture novelty that I've seen in a while...(check the video below and rock it like a Beverly Hills Cop)
In the "Mixing The Media" workshop, students combined scraps of paper, acrylic paint, spray paint and stencils to create their compositions. Grace and Jeff were excellent students and methodically layered their boards with images,color, and form until complete.
Grace used xerox copies of earlier sketches as well as magazine clippings and some stock stencils in her collage.
As a quick painting exercise, Grace painted a 6"x6" wood block portrait of her dog Farrah.
Thanks to all students that participated in this summer's workshops.
Below are some snapshots from the August "Intro to Street Art" workshop. Grace paid homage to her favorite pet by making a stencil and spray paint composition. Throughout the three-session workshop she drew, painted, and sprayed until the piece was complete. (Click Images to Enlarge)
I had a fresh crop of students for the "Skate to Create" Workshop in August. Nick and Jason put in three sessions of hard work and the results were really great. Scroll down to see their process...(click pics to enlarge)
Drawing and cutting takes up about 3/4 of the class time - but it's where all the design happens.
Jason (aka J-Dogg) does an "X-Ray self portrait" for his deck graphic.
Nick took one of his sketches from home and transposed it into this camouflage-like design.
Thursday, July 31: Brooks Park was packed with the youth of today shredding their hearts out in anticipation of the Natural Koncept skateboard team's demo. It'll be a while until I get some video footage online from that day, but these stills taken before the demo show some of the "personalities" of the Fredericksburg skate scene. Shout out to Mark Eyestone of Fred Skates for hosting the event and DJ Bredren for bringing some reggae beats for the summer session.
Teddy back from the other side of the planet...
Patiently waiting for the Natural Koncept van to roll through.
B-Fiddy - 'Nuff Said...
Mark holds down the fort as the NK guys hit the ramps
DJ Bredren Soundsystem in effect
Smithson holds his own and drops hammers all day
Kinda like the lineup from The Usual Suspects if Kevin Spacey wore more clothes.
July was by far the fastest moving month to date. One minute, we're celebrating the fourth of July, and in the blink of an eye, we're re-hanging our studio in preparation for the August First Friday. I did have the pleasure of working with two of the most intelligent and hard-working students last month in my "Adult Drawing" and "Skate to Create" workshops. Below are some samples of their work:
Full scale self-portrait (Leah on the left, Gabe on the right)
Leah will be a senior in high school this year and to keep her drawing skills sharp for the upcoming year, she took the "Adult Drawing" workshop. We did a number of exercises including a full-scale self portrait (above) as well as classic sketch studies such as hand sketches and still life drawing. The major focus of this workshop is to encourage students to maintain a 'habit' of working in their sketchbooks. Creativity, like athletics, can only be sustained if it is exercised often and the sketchbook is the vehicle which allows one to continue to explore and hone their techniques.
Full scale self-portrait (detail)
The "Skate to Create" workshop is the most popular among teens this year. I've seen a lot of great designs and met some great kids so far. July's workshop was no exception. Michael gave 110% the entire time and he managed to finish his work with some spare time for us to skate in front of the shop. Below is a sequence from his classes. He chose to use his nickname "Travis" for his deck graphic.
One happy camper - the completed deck, ready to rip!
"Portrait of an Artist as a Young Boy", Mixed Media on Canvas, 18"x24" Sold
Diego collaborated with me on this one. He painted the blue background and I used pages from his sketchbook as collage material to build up the texture on his hooded sweatshirt.
"The River Is The Portal", Mixed Media on Canvas, 30"x30" $700
Seen up close, you can read the history of the city of Fredericksburg and Stafford, Virginia. It was pretty interesting to learn how the Rappahannock River played such a crucial role in the early exploration of this area and how it guided the development of the city's planning, commerce, and trade. It's funny how today so much of the city's architecture seems to turn its back on the river rather than integrate it into the public sphere. This painting won First Place in the Mixed Media category at the Bi-annual "Uniquely Fredericksburg" Juried Art Exhibit. The exhibition will run for the months of August and September at the Central Rappahannock Regional Library (1201 Caroline Street, Fredericksburg).
"The New Babylon #2", Mixed Media on Canvas, 24"x12" $450
The "Intro to Street Art" June workshop offered students a brief history lesson in graffiti and street art while allowing them to draw, write, spray and collage on their own 48"x24" panel.
Andrew made four stencils and several sketches to compose his piece.
Drew literally attacked the painting with an arsenal of stencils and markers. 
Simon found an opportunity to make an oversized poster for his band. 
July will come and go before you know it - so if you'd like to sign up for any of the PONSHOP Art Workshops, click here for a summer schedule.
June ushered in a new batch of students eager to get their summer skateboards painted and ready to ride. Our Skate to Create Workshop challenged kids to generate their own custom skateboard design and execute it using spray paint and stencils. Within the span of three 2-hour classes, they sketched, cut, and painted their own creations on a deck. Good job guys! Below are some snapshots from the final class...(click to enlarge).
Andrew was inspired by the mid-1990s Alien Workshop skateboard graphics...
Noah created his own superhero character for his deck.
Warner's deck took the "smiley face" and "mr. yuck" symbol to the next level. 
Paul and Ross took a "Skate to Create" workshop in the beginning of the month. Their hard work and serious attitude (see above) turned out some great designs. Good work!
Thanks to all students and parents for their participation in the PONSHOP workshops. To learn more about the classes we offer, click here. For a full class schedule from LibertyTown Arts Workshop, click here.
"The New Babylon #1", Mixed Media on Canvas, 40"x14" SOLD
I've been doing some commissioned work over the past month and I'm excited about the direction that the paintings have been going. "The New Babylon #1" is one of the recently completed pieces.
Scarlett and I participated in the King George Art Show this past week. One of the pieces submitted, "Leaving La Mancha" received an Honorable Mention and was sold. The show runs until Sunday, June 29th. Click Here for more details.
"Leaving La Mancha" (detail), Acrylic and Spray Paint on Canvas, SOLD I've been hard at work putting up some of my art on RedBubble.com.
RedBubble is an online art gallery that allows me to sell my artwork as high-quality framed prints, greeting cards, posters, designer T-Shirts and more. My goal is to reach a larger (global) customer base that supports PONSHOP Art. Below is some crazy "widget" of my work. Click it to visit the PONSHOP storefront on RedBubble.com!
I recently received some products from RedBubble to test the integrity and packaging of the products, and I'm happy to say that I was really impressed with the quality of the work. I'll be uploading more paintings and T-shirt designs over the upcoming weeks....Until then, Peace....G
Scarlett and I are pleased to announce that our work was recently included in The Zephyranthes - a multimedia arts journal published by the students at the University of Mary Washington.
To hyperlink to Scarlett's work, click here.
To hyperlink to Gabe's work, click here.
We celebrated the marriage of our good friends, Kasandra and Jay over the memorial day weekend. Their event was wonderful and brought together a number of close friends from our college days at Virginia Tech. Below are some pics from our tour:
Wedding Site: Orton Plantation, North Carolina
Congratulations to Kasandra and Jay
Blacksburg Crew 1992-today
Greenfield Skate Park, Wilmington, NC.
Jason strikes a pose at the park - A Shout Out to the boys at Doublewide Skate and Surf!
On the way back from North Carolina, we stopped in Portsmouth, Virginia to visit the White Family and more friends. Thom is my digital arch enemy, except we're bros.
J.D., Marissa, and Mike watch the kids play in the garden...
