Back in June I received an email with the subject line "Southern Living". I got a little excited because Southern Living and I have a bit of history together. Back when I was a kid, my mom had a subscription to the magazine and I would see the back issues all over the house. Then, when I was in college, I would stock the new issues on the newsstand of the bookstore where I worked. And now that I am in my 30s, I was receiving an email from the travel editor requesting samples of the screen prints that I've been working on the last couple of years. I was definitely excited now.
It turns out they were working on a little piece that featured regional screen printers who were doing work focusing on the cities that they lived and worked in. They asked me to overnight a couple of my prints to see if they wanted to use them. I rushed to Kinko's and sent them on the next flight out. A few days later I got a phone call saying that they loved the prints but were wondering if I could hypothetically come up with something specifically for them that was similar to what I had already sent. They wanted an illustration that showcased not just Texas, but all of what the entire Southern United States represented. And I had two days to do it. And it was July 4th. And I said yes.
So after a few sleepless nights researching and illustrating, I came up with the drawing below. I was happy with it, and they loved it. And about 6 weeks later my mom walked out to her mailbox (she's still a subscriber) and opened her favorite magazine and saw her son's name in it. This one's for her.
Special thanks to Jonathon at Napkin Art Studios for passing along my name.
Also, thanks to Brooks and his gang of professionals at Mama's Sauce for assisting me with the printing of this thing.