2018, you sly fox. While all-up in you, I traveled the world, took two trips to Vegas, painted like mad, was Artist-in-Residence at Teton Springs, golfed 100 rounds, played lots of hockey, auctioneer-ed a charity event; and even officiated my first wedding!

With record sales, amazing collectors, great friends and a loving family at my side — I couldn’t be more grateful. And now… let’s break you down, and drop it like it’s hot — 2018.

I’m a life-long New York Islanders fan. So, you can imagine my delight in painting Isles enforcer — Trevor Gillies… commissioned by his brother-in-law.

With my Jackalope gracing the delicious vodka created by Jackson Hole Stillworks — I found myself in Cheyenne, live-painting at the Governor’s Conference, as the featured Wyoming artist. Don’t tell them I really live in Idaho.

I kicked-off a new series… East Meets West, ala Borbay — or, Silver Screen Cowboys in front of NYC Neons. The first? Gary Cooper from The Westerner, in front of the Seinfeld Diner.

Thanks to Jackson Hole Public Art — this piece was copied and wheat-pasted in downtown Jackson for the Jackson Hole Fall Arts Festival. And, a big shout to the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce for having me participate in their QuickDraw event — I was their first non-gallery-represented artist.

The family spent a week at Saratoga Hot Springs… I had to capture the magic on canvas. Saratoga, Wyoming — btw, not to be confused with Saratoga Springs, NY.

I had a fabulous chat with Rachel Wells, of the Art Business Journal… we dug deep into pricing and art business.

My annual painting trip to Vegas was a barn burner… I captured the Mint from the 60th-floor of The Cosmopolitan… thanks to my boy Mike. Big shout to Justin, SOZ, Conor and Neel for joining me!

As life tends to do, things took a twist… and I found myself spending 24-hours in Reykjavik.

I then found myself traveling around Europe, based in Antwerp. I was treated like a king, thanks to my new friend, Rayes!

Did you know there is a replica of the Las Vegas Eiffel Tower in Paris?

Turns out, Willem Dafoe’s self portrait is hanging in Amsterdam.

Finally met collector and longtime friend, Owen. He let me crash at his spot in ‘Sterdam… we went paddle-boarding, played heaps of pinball and dined like sultans. I also got to see Jennifer, Matthew and their gorgeous children.

Nothing beats having another artist commission you to create your interpretation of their art. Big ups to the world famous street photographer — Brendan Ben Feeney!

Oh Clint Eastwood, where have you been all my life? The East-Meets-West series is now two strong… thanks to Blondie from The Good, The Bad and The Fanelli’s.

Well, 2018 was the year of golf for this guy… not only did I paint the 15th hole of Teton Springs… I drove that bad boy three times, and even birdied the hole. My handicap dropped from 36 to 21 (no more excuses out there,  unfortunately). My goal for 2019? Two rounds under 80.

Despite the improvements, I respectfully declined to participate against real golfers during Teton Springs’ Member Guest Championships. I did, however, paint the first-place-prizes… big thank  you to Tony and Carrie Snoey, and the entire team at Teton Springs!

Thanks to my boy, Justin Oringer, I met and collaborated with SOZ. Always good to connect with the yutes.

My painting of Bubbles continues to get that quan… in fact, stay tuned… homeboy may be visiting Sunnyvale in 2019…

As a warmup for the 10th Guggenheim (more on this later), I created this plate live at Teton Springs. It was later auctioned at the Jackson Hole Center For The Arts to benefit Community Entry Services — one of the many amazing charities I worked with this year.

It was a tremendous honor to paint Dr. Robert Schattner on commission. The inventor of Chloraseptic, our Good Doctor was an incredible entrepreneur, deeply involved with charities and a loving family man… thank you Phyllis, Sid, Maureen and Robert.

Thanks to my amazing town — Victor, Idaho — our Mayor, Jeff Potter; the Victor Placemakers (Erin, Molly and Liv); Victor City Council; The Teton Valley Foundation; Ray and Sheelagh Howard; and a legion of amazing donors — we brought this 264-square-foot mural to life! This is now the largest Borbay original on the planet.

My Bill Murray portrait was aptly published in a book of Bill Murray Art — go grab yo’self a copy!

A long-lost Las Vegas painting of The Sahara was re-ignited with this two-piece, commissioned series of, you guessed it — The Sahara. In a rare art-advisory collaboration, I worked with the fabulous Kevin Barry Fine Art — it was a pleasure.

Thanks to Jeremiah Krage, and The Practical Creative Podcast — I was able to speak about selling a piece of myself… and a whole lot more.

Up next, was this colorful painting of the London Eye… it was commissioned by the Wender’s for their dear friends, who were just married. May their love go round-and-round…

As a completely apropos ending to 2018 — I finally finished Guggenheim 10, in my 20-year-series. As Homer Simpson once said, Crisis + Opportunity = Crisitunity. Without multiple delays, I wouldn’t have discovered something new. Like running races and playing hockey games — paintings often take on an outcome of their own… which is why we run, skate and paint.

So what now? What comes next? To kick-off 2019 — I’ll be heading back to Antwerp to create a portrait on commission. Beyond that, I have two other portraits booked — and am currently finishing up a massive painting of Central Park.

I’m taking a MAJOR step-back on social media to focus on my work, family, travel and life. There is a secret series in the works, which will not be released until completion — I plan to show the works in two major cities, and perhaps overseas. I’ll continue to work on being a decent beer league hockey player, while focusing on my irons in the off-season. This will be my second year as Artist-in-Residence at Teton Springs — I cannot wait to see what that collaboration brings.

Here’s wishing you a magical  2019! Thank you for making 2018 my most successful (by far) to-date. Love and Gratitude, Borbay