Babies and Books

I can haz baby boy?

The book! The book! She is a here! After god knows how many edits, rewrites, interviews, shoots, re-shoots, transcriptions, analyses, spell-checks, caption follow ups, style changes, photo permission requests, second guesses, and just flat out grinding, it is finally here. Woo hoo!

And as chance would have it, so is our son. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Yeah, so by a weird cosmic bit of timing, Henry Ignatius Verel, our second child, joined us on Friday, August 14. It's a very strange confluence, and one that presents a few challenges, to say the least, when it comes to promoting the book. But it's a good kind of busy, you know? Momma and child are in good health, and Henry's older sister is thankfully excited too. So no complaints here whatsoever. Ok, I do have some serious bitching in reserve related to extreme sleep deprivtion, but no one would care; this much I know.

If you've been following me on Instagram (and really, why the hell wouldn't you be?), you've seen several sneak previews of the works featured in the book. Since this is a book about art, I'll simply share those posts here, and let them do the talking.

Only 3 weeks till my book "Graffiti Murals" comes out! Pg 117, featuring @werk with the #wallnuts in #Gowanus. #graffiti #streetart #Brooklyn

Well hello there. It's @robotswillkill on page 44. Two weeks till Graffiti Murals! #graffiti #streetart #Brooklyn #veng #overunder #chrisrwk #peeta #never

A day after my son came home from the hospital for the first time, the extra copies of my other "baby" arrive. Kickass!   #graffiti #streetart #Brooklyn #Queens #Manhattan #StatenIsland #Bronx #nyc

If you haven't been to Whitlock Ave in the #Bronx to see the @tatscru's #graffiti, what the hell are you waiting for? Just 1 week till the story behind this iconic mural and more is out! Info on "Graffiti Murals" in my bio. #StatenIsland #Manhattan #Queens

Got #Graffiti? In Manhattan's #Inwood, the answer is "Hell Yes!" The story behind this and more amazing murals is available today! Info on"Graffiti Murals: Exploring the Impacts of Street Art" in my bio. #Crane #Just #Vest #Import #streetart #nyc

Pretty sweet, right? I'm really happy with how the graffiti looks in the book, and judging from some of the advance press it's gotten, it seems like others dig it too. Yeah yeah yeah, I know, there's one three star review that sort of trashes me. I'd rather be trashed than ignored. Also, haters gonna hate, blah blah...

Anyway, I feel like now that the book is finished and on the shelves, the real challenge has just begun, which is to get the word out to the folks about it. It's nothing quite as challenging as trying to raise, along with my wife, a 3 year-old and a newborn, but at least I know that the former has, like her daddy, embraced a most kick ass aspect of New York City street culture.

More on this real soon, as soon as I manage to nail down five straight hours of sleep. 

Cheers!