Meet authors and discover your next book to read at McKay Used Books in Manassas, VA for Independent Bookstore Day! Myself and other authors will be selling our books and connecting with readers from 11 AM to 3 PM next Saturday, April 25, 2026. If you find the Golden Ticket, you win a year supply of Audiobooks and there will be other exclusive giveaways while supplies last.
This past Sunday I participated in “Blossom Bash” an official National Cherry Blossom Festival event, transforming PenFed Plaza into a vibrant spring destination at Tysons Corner Center.
ArtsFairfax hosted live chalk art contest inspired by America’s Semiquincentennial: In honor of America’s 250th, chalk art reflected the natural beauty of America’s flora and fauna, celebrating the plants, animals, and landscapes that make our country beautiful.
The event “paints PenFed Plaza pink” with a curated retailer market, live entertainment, family-friendly activations, giveaways, and interactive experiences—designed to drive regional attendance while spotlighting participating retailers and restaurants.
This was my first time at this one-day outdoor program. I heard from the other artists there that they had done the event in previous years. My art was inspired by the Japanese cherry blossoms and I did a koi fish with blossom fins in the water with emphasis on movement and spring colors.
It was definitely windy at this elevated outdoor event space and two of my name tags blew away. I am happy with my art given the parameters of the wind and physically doing it in a squat position. I rarely got on my knees, but they did advise artists to bring towels to roll up for protection. I did bring a bath towel, but didn’t really use it. Many of the artists had skateboarding knee pads. I was starting to use up many of my main colors — white, pink, and blue — glad to make it through to complete with sparse resources. We had to tell PenFed event workers and attendees not to step on the art area (which was obviously sectioned in five foot squares with tape, so it was striking to see so many people oblivious to what we were doing — for those that don’t know the colors smear when being stepped on). It was an interesting challenge and I’m glad to be a part of it!
Curls Studio experienced CulpeperCon this past Saturday with a display at their Artist Alley in the morning. Joe Carabeo debuted his new 2026 filmmaking reel during his presentation. I gave my “Fine Toon Your Life” comics workshop including an engaging Q&A segment in the afternoon. Several people walked away from the presentation with a freshly drawn comic and a start to their career in cartooning!
This past Saturday I set up a display table at MoCoCon with Montgomery County Public Libraries. It was their 10th anniversary show and my first time at this show. Geoff Weber, Christiann MacAuley, Oliver Mertz, Jamie Noguchi, Carolyn Belefski, Tiny Pineapple Studio were the creators who exhibited in Artist Alley. The event also had a cosplay parade, button making activity, crafts, panels, trivia, scavenger hunt, and more. I only got to see a portion of the show because I was at the table most of the day and it was in two buildings (I didn’t even see the other building). It was great to hang out and meet the other creators and also meet event attendees.
It is super to see many libraries embrace comics and host their own library conventions. I’ll be at another library convention this coming Saturday in Culpeper, Virginia called CulpeperCon.
Curls Studio had a great time at Awesome Con 2026. I am thankful to have people continue to discover my comic strip, Curls. Joe Carabeo showcased his film “PAUL POPE: THB” at the Awesome Con Short Film Festival. I got to spend a bit of time at the Science Fair area, saw 3D printed goods in the vendor section, and slightly participated in the Disney-themed 40,000 piece group jigsaw puzzle. We had the debut of issue 24 of Magic Bullet, a large format comics newspaper featuring Washington, DC based creators. It was enjoyable to see how Awesome Con embraced their 13th year with a horror theme because the event started on Friday the 13th.
The event highlight for me was moderating “The Other Side of the Table: Lessons from Creators” with participants Shawn Martinbrough, Karen Hallion, Jimmy Gownley, Kata Kane, Rich Woodall, and Joseph Schmalke. The panel gave a lot of hopeful insight to fuel your success in the comics industry and was jam packed with inspiration.
Awesome Con returns April 23-25, 2027 at the DC Convention Center — that’s in 399 days! What is something new you’d like to see from Curls Studio?