"We have to fight for the Muppets"

Here's the latest project. It's coming along. I need a welder. The machine, not a person who welds. Although, since I'm not prepared to buy a machine, and don't have the space to weld in, a person who welds may be a good place to start. This piece needs a few welds for it to realize it's potential.
Yesterday I heard the words "We have to fight for the Muppets" come out of her mouth. This struck loud chords deep within me. Lately, regardless of my circumstances I feel like that is what I am supposed to do. Not actual combat with anything outside of myself. But, I feel it is crucial to my development that I can move past interior obstacle like fear, and anger, resentment, self pity, and confusion in ways that matter. My ideas matter. It's useless to have ideas that I don't put into action. So here's phase 1 of this idea. It is truly a small beginning. I have plans to develop this form, (the legless, squarish, winged light being), into much larger versions of itself. I would like to make these accessable to the public. I feel like they are a start for me in a direction that can improve the quality of whatever space they are installed in.
This is where the muppets come in. There is something so pure, and loving, and fun, and humerous about them to me. They are an inspiration. I want to somehow make things that fearlessly put themselves out to people in a way that makes them feel like love really does exist everywhere, and is funny.
Large scale sculptures that inspire people of all ages to play with eachother like kids, or muppets is what I'm working towards. There are a lot of practical business moves that I'm researching, and trying to iron out. Untill then, I'm working out the fundamental designs at home with paper and wire, and these cobble stones that I wrapped metal bands around a few years ago.
The pictures above are the top and bottom of a floor lamp idea. I need to weld a pipe in between them so that it can stand anywhere.

value

what determines art value? how do i let it be known that my work has value? i mean real dollar value. people can theorize all day about the role of the artist is to..............blah, blah, yeah. how does that become something that people are wanting to part with their hard earned money for? what is better about paying me for something they can't buy somewhere else?
this is what i am determined to figure out. i've got new work, i'm not going to post it yet. right now i want to know what it does for someone else to see it. why do you care? what's it worth to you?

answers would be greatly appreciated. i've been confronted with so much talk lately about "our bad economy", "art is a luxury", "need to do something more practical." i'm not going for it. everything i make creatively is proof that it's not a luxury for me. i don't do it just for myself. i want to share my living moments with others. the times when i'm not shut down, or scared of the future, or stuck trying to make somebody else money for a measly portion of their profit per hour. these works are pure. they are done as a direct result of my being free and alive in this studio apartment, in this town, on this day, in this country. instead of any other activity that i could have chosen to do, i made something. it, as well as all of my other work, is available for a fair price.

i buy music, and i buy flowers these days. they are worth it to me. they improve the quality of my life temporarily, they make the rooms where i spend my time better. they help me to feel alive and inspired. i wouldn't give them up for any economy. if i didn't have so much of my own work around, i would have to buy something to go on the walls. i would not be satisfied with some generic stuff just to take up space. that's me. i know other people are the same way, just look at all the great t-shirts available, and seen walking around every town. people like to express their individuality in cool ways. i want to sell those people something to hang on their walls that will make them feel better about their lives. i know how corny that may sound. the truth is like that.

this is like a muppet experience i try and sell myself

This is one of my more recent works. It's rediculous. I like it. Ths message snuck up on me, and has been near impossible for me to shake. "We all fit". Why does my mind disagree? Somedays all day I seem to be trying to convince myself that everything is exactly as it is supposed to be. Everyone is doing exactly what they are supposed to. It seems like this should be obvious. Still I can sell myself on the idea that if somebody else did something different than what they are currently doing I would be happy, or at least more at ease. I turn this beast on myself more than anybody else. If I were somewhere else, doing something other than what I am doing right now I'll tell myself that then, under those circumstances I'd feel better.

The truth seems to me that if I can not accept myself right now under the present circumstances, then I probably won't have any more success accepting some alternate version of myself living under different circumstances. Same goes for my comfort levels with other people. We all are sharing this planet, town, room, parking lot, road, whatever.......All versions of these experiences are real. I live with them. If I can find peace with that right now, here, I feel that I might be OK.

jiggernaught sketch

first part done!

warrior angels

http://www.encorepub.com/read_articles.php?r=read&cat_id=37&section_id=3

that link will take you to an article about a show that opens tonight. Friday May 22. These images are for a project that Quinn and I are working on.

I'm about to get started on spacechimp drawings for a project with Cow.

Collaboration is where it's at for me right now.

straight line, spaceman, wave and circle

i am suspicious of this piece. it is coming together too easily. i like everything i do with it. it's probably best that i keep it at home for awhile. see what it wants to do.

blue face paint

this past week i followed through on an idea i've had for a while. i thought i might feel better with blue face paint in times of uncertainty. without a doubt it helped. i took some pictures, i drank coffee, i read helpful things, somehow i know having the facepaint on this week helped get from having a lot of fear about my current life situations to having the courage to take some unusual actions for me, and right now i feel confident enough to do exactly what i think i'm supposed to.

sometimes it's gotta be rough

Early sketches have more life to me than finished products.

like i was saying...

funny talking guy. my girlfriend says this looks like me. ha ha. i tried to upload a short video clip of this guy talking, but it won't work for some reason.

starting to get going on some fun video projects. all part of trying to develop radical new approaches for my life, and my making a living.

final version

He's done.

circle and line

This is one of my most enduring obsessions?, meditations?, recurring thought pattern?, or inspiration. It goes away, and then returns full force like my Frank Zappa collection.
It's basically this, every written language, every other shape, and almost every other place I look into can be broken down int simple constructions of circles and lines.
For design purposes, I haven't found any more challenging and satisfying material than building compositions on the simple straight line, or of a circle.
This is my most recent attempt.

still going...

gave the ox some feet, and some pink paint. more color in the water, it's a fun morning ritual.

ox, love rays, water...

it's probably time to move on. i think the ox is done. wahoo!!

year of the ox

now the Ox is starting to look more like I was thinking he should. very funny to me that i can say that day after day, after everytime i work on something, then, after being out all day and coming home, or when looking at it the next day I'll think "what was i thinking?" it looks dumb. it looks boring. Neon fixes boring most of the time.

white heat like sonar

Kablamm-O

exploding slow

more colors shoot from his eyes later

love explosion # 512

The ox now has love exploding from his eyes!

almost there

oil crayons for drawing, paint medium on top makes for painting fun. he's trudging through it.

table top joe

I made this table about a year ago. I'm feeling the need to push my self in some sculptural way. It happens around this time every year.

keeping it real?

After painting Eye of the Tiger, which is the reaction I had to having seen some clouds that looked like a Buddha with boxing gloves, I was inspired to attempt a more realistic representation of this vision.
I painted over this canvas several months later.

big blue green body

I was living in Charlotte when I painted this. Having just returned from a trip to my friend's family's beach house, we decided it was time to move closer to the ocean immediately.
This painting was executed quickly, and felt right from start to finish.
I donated it for a fundraiser soon after moving to Wilmington. I have no idea what it sold for. It was a silent auction.

adding oil

After the composition is worked out, and basic color scheme is in place, I start adding oils on top of the acrylic undercoat.

digital photo fun

I still am blown away everytime I take a picture, upload it, quick edit, then can post it here, or send it out. This is great technology.
i'm off to work. planning on having a great day.

Tibetan Ox in the water

This is the first stage of my most recent painting. I am going to post pictures of it as it develops. So far this is three acrylic colors on gesso, on wood panel.

surface noise

This one is going to Southport tomorrow with several others to a gallery named Artshak. I will have work for sale there for the next 6 months!

Riley the Waffle

Riley the Waffle was always warm
he found himself often in a cutlery swarm
he called on the butter to come to his aid
but the butter would seldom escape from the shade

finding socks that would fit was an infinite task
as Riley dashed through the store with a shiny green mask
the clerks all decided it was useless to fight it
so they joined in and all hit the flask

with ice cubes for armor, he lept out of the freezer
while in flight he encountered a miserly geezer
they exchanged quick "hello"s and then struck a pose
as the armor soaked poor riley's clothes

Armor now puddled beneath Riley's feet
he fashioned a bat with some leftover meat
just as he held the bat at full poise
dear Riley was startled by a frightening noise

he looked left, he looked right & gripped his bat tight
when the fork sauntered in with his chili night light
the peppery glow was a soothing distraction
but riley knew he should soon be prepared for duel action

the fork carried on at a moderate pace
so Riley decided not to douse him with raspberry glaze
attention called back to the task at hand,
Riley began his inspection of a disturbance so grand

suddenly Riley realized what had caused the commotion
the spray cream had been punctured
and caused a whipped, dripping explosion!
Riley set down his bat, gave the strawdog a pat
and licked it up in a circular motion.


This was the first real collaborative effort with Quinn. It was her idea. She told me that I should bring some drawing material to illustrate a poem she was going to write. I had no idea it was going to be about a waffle named Riley, I don't think she did either. Spontaneous creative collaborations rule!

machine love

This one is inspired by a temp job I had cutting pipe on the night shift when I first moved to Wilmington. The colors of painted steel coated with grease made my mind wander. Some of the gears had been grinding on eachother for many years. I figured that they must have developed a love for one another.

The answers came

This is the front to what I posted yesterday. Quinn (who is the woman in focus in this painting) asked me to paint this to illustrate something she described in these words......

"The picture is a visual representation of how I use to feel most of the time. It's a group of people, standing outside in a circle, with their arms out in front of them as if they are holding a stack of logs. Nothing appears to be in their arms...but the world is actually contained there in each of their arms. In their arms lies love, compassion, wisdom, passion, determination, faith, hope, desire, unique talents, integrity. What each of them holds in their arms are the things it takes to change hearts, to change life, to change the world. The image is heartwrenching. Each of them have amazing things within themselves...but they are at a loss as to what to do with them. They have come together, and understand the value of the togetherness. At least they do not feel alone. But what next? What are all these beautiful gifts for? Each person has a look of confusion on their face, sort of looking to the others for the answer. They know they cannot put their gifts/burdens down, they must stand firm. They are desperate to offer these gifts outward, but have no idea how to make it happen. So they stand together in this circle. Stand in silence with the key to a better world. Stand and hold the weight of the world with broken hearts.

This was the picture....

Now the picture has shifted. The picture is now engulfed in a radiant, golden glow. Each person has a beam of bright colors,racing with energy, which connects them to one another in the center and radiates out in all directions. After standing together all that time, the answers came. The answer to ignite love and progress, the music to call forth faith and hope, the vibrations of new beginnings...it all came."

I got to work on it immediately! This was a great experience for me.

additional amplification

This close up better illustrates what I was talking about in last post.

process

I am always intrigued by the temporary beauty that happens while a piece is created. It gives me the sense that I am a part of a process that is happening, more than something I am creating all alone.
This picture is the backside of a painting that I just finished, and was framing. I painted on the backside of this one out of convenience, and I had to sand four spots to get good adhesion for the framing brackets. It was then that I realized how cool this assembly looked to me. It was fun to take a picture of it, continue on with the frame making, and forget about the back of the painting.

Here's looking at you

Relationships, connection, separation, lacking, resentment, attachment, partnership. This is the only unfinished sculpture that I've felt the need to hang onto. It entertains me.
My plan was to carve my own Buddha, and his head came off while carving his foot. That entertains me too.
Light hearted contemplation on deeper things.

tell the truth today

That's what it says in the rectangle suspended between the two figures on the bottom left. "Tell the truth today" This painting was maybe halfway completed at this point.
That is my greatest challenge today. telling the truth. There's a lyric in a Dr. Dog song "Why is it that we need amazing grace just to tell it like it is?"
My experience today tells me that this is the best course of action. Speaking up, telling it like it is for me, and allowing others to help me. I wish I could say that with practice this has become easy. maybe easier.

practice

The word practice is one of my favorites. It implies to me a certain attitude of "lighten up", and at the same time "this is very serious". This painting was created at a time that I found an urgency to get home and paint. Mostly this was because I was learning a great deal about how certain paint medias worked together. I approached this canvas with the luxury of having no objective for how it turned out. The surface was built over about a month of painting for 5-20 minutes per session. It was fun, and educational. One thing that I have been afraid of with artmaking is to develop one approach, and get stuck in it. I find it critical for my growth to keep trying different approaches, and to continue expanding my vocabulary of brush strokes, and markmaking. It keeps it fresh for me.

Heart for Brains

This piece was more about style than content in its execution. I wanted to use some direct graffiti references with something of a rock & roll attitude for a heavily tattooed crowd who worked and frequented the establishment where this painting was first displayed. I used a small canvas, and kept the price low to ensure that it would be purchased. Now, three years later, and after having been toted to several other locations, it hangs over my TV set.
I've read a story about a Zen Master who when talking about his mind would point to his heart. A young art student made the connection to Bill Watterson's illustration style in Calvin and Hobbes when he discussed the two characters in the bottom left of the canvas. This was an exciting compliment for me! His drawings were a gigantic inspiration for me all through school.
Zen, Rock&Roll, Skateboarding, Graffiti, Calvin and Hobbes, and Love all on one small canvas. Good Times!

Dead Bones

This was my first online sale. It is an abstract that I had appropriated for a "Day of the Dead" show at Pura Vida. I spent one night adding skeletal references, and flowers to a zero that was in the middle of the composition.
A friend from my home town found me on myspace, and said that she and her husband loved this thing, and wanted to buy it. I sent the painting, they sent the payment.......straight business.

Turtles on Market Street

At the intersection of 5th and Market Street in Wilmington is a fountain that I have admired since moving here. The turtles are perched there, spitting water out of their mouths. All day, every day.

Dreams and train smoke

The line Tom Waits just sang to my living space was "I lived on nothing but dreams and train smoke". In the wintertime he is my favorite artist. This painting is shooting for that type of isolated poetic beauty. Old Chimney stands alone against the clear blue sky. Wilmington is loaded with this type of historic architecture. I love that.

Intentional art business connections

I woke up this morning feeling urgent about creating opportunity for a solution. The problem I face is I'm sure common to most other artists out there. How do I make my art sell. In this day of having the capability to connect with everyone else who is online, I have to believe that other artists are doing things that would help me. This morning I did a search in Facebook for NC arts, and made friend requests with everyone who popped up. This is not an approach I came up with on my own, I was in fact, reluctant to try it. I feel super good about it now, and am optimistic about the possibility of being in touch with other people who are in the same boat.
I make art that keeps me excited about being an artist, yet, I do not have very much experience in making this somehow fund the rest of my amazing life. "I've got a lot of things that I want to do! If I could just sell a few of these paintings I could go do them....." -What do you do in that situation? I would love to know.

without the frame

This is the painting from last night's post without the frame. I have two frames to make right now, and I'm almost ready to dive into a little woodworking project for a while. I'll keep this one brief.

going for it

This painting is my most ambitious in scale. 4' x8'. It's at least 200 lbs. It's the view of downtown Wilmington dwarfed by the green painted rusting metal of The Cape Fear Bridge as seen by the cars driving into, or away from Wilmington.
During the time that I was deciding to move to Wilmington I was mesmerized by this structure, and this view. In my gut I knew that this was to be a great place for me to live.
For months I've talked to people about trying to find a place for it to hang. So far it hasn't left my living space. I need to focus on getting it out of my home, and into a more visible location.

SUPER SONIC LOVE BEAMS

Super sonic love beams. That's what it's about. Funny thing about this one is it was painted at a time when there was absolutely nothing going on romantically in my life. I had been feeling lonely, but didn't find that to be very interesting subject matter for painting, not a neon one anyway.
Painting these characters and their laser like pull towards each other made me feel less lonely then.

"I don't know Butchie instead"

This is a painting of John from Cincinnati of the star "John". He was a visitor from somewhere else. A very awkward individual. A hero. The name of this painting is taken directly from an exchange between John and his friend Butchie. Butchie did his best to try and fill John in on the common protocol of humans here on earth.
He asked John some simple questions, and always John would say "some things I know, some things I don't". Butchie gets fed up with this, and tells John not to say that anymore, just say "I don't know Butchie. instead". For the rest of the series he answers in this way to questions that he doesn't have an answer to. "I don't know Butchie instead". John had an excellent attitude for someone who didn't know what was going on most of the time, and he had superpowers! A radical character.
I felt like he was a presence that I could handle having around, and wanted to be reminded of. I like the challenge of painting faces. I like making paintings where the people are more realistic than the atmosphere surrounding them. I like pause buttons on television.

Awkwardness, it's a way of life

" This painting is about the totally
awkward communication (failed attempts at communication) that i had
with an artist named Laura. She lives down the street from me, and
we've known eachother for over two years, and we wave sometimes to
eachother. that's it. she'll tell me that she's having an art show,
and when i go, she won't even make eye contact. sometimes i'll
skate past her house, and deliberately not wave. there's like a giant
barrier between us. it fascinated me how well we don't relate to eachother, yet she makes some of the most interesting art i've seen,
and i find her really attractive. the twelve on the spaceship is a
guestimate at how many attempts i've made at breaking that barrier.
(this painting being # 12). it didn't work. we still don't speak.
it's cool. it's possible that somehow i offended her in a blackout a
couple of years ago? or maybe she just doesn't like me.
i've considered holding the painting up as kind of a sail as i skate
back and forth in front of her house. i've been advised just to
leave her alone. Someone almost bought this one, but flaked out."

That part is in quotes because it is an excerpt from an email I had sent close to two years ago to my friend Matt. I've been fascinated by the awkward relationships in my life for much longer than two years.

I am an awkward human in an extremely awkward period of my life. It's very rewarding to me. I was out tonight and felt like the spaceman in this painting again, detached floating about. What is new for me, is that I've been really attempting to make friends with all experience, to open myself to feeling all of it. I've been speaking my mind more lately as a result. It's a new freedom. This makes for very unusual conversation, and a raw quality to my interactions that is very educational to me. It's like pulling the rug out from myself, my usual grasping for comfort, and security in my usual tools for dealing with people. There's something about stepping out into the unknown that really thrills me. I have a sense that I like people more than I've been willing to show in the past, but I have a low tolerance for idle chat, and social lubricant. I would much rather deal with what is happening immediately when it's happening. When gathered in groups people often talk about what they are going to do in the future, or how their past week, day, or year has been, what about right now? If we are all just standing around waiting for someone to make a move for the door, why can't we just leave?
I was told that I was boring tonight, I guess I can be. I don't know how to relate to groups of people talking loudly. Never have, maybe in the future. Maybe not. So I told this person that I felt like he insulted me, and that isn't a good approach with me, that I feel like he likes to insult me, and I don't like it because it hurts my feelings. What an unusual conversation for me. Maybe it was good, like there is more space for me and this individual to talk about something more interesting than we have in the past. I hope so. I don't like to be thought of as aggressive, or unfriendly, or boring for that matter, but the truth is I can be all of those things at times. These are all real experiences, and I am glad to be aware of them. Maybe now I'll paint about these things rather than confused images about disconnection like the one above.

cyclops loves mermaid

This one is a story of attraction being described as love. On first sighting, with a single eye, the cyclops decides he's in love. This mermaid, the way I see it is about 1/2 second from diving back into the sea never to be seen again by the love stricken cyclops. It was sweet while it lasted for the lad, and now he'll keep gazing out to the sea for another sighting while she splashes around out there, gladly oblivious of her admirer. A sad and beautiful tale.
Truly, this was more about exploring paint techniques and exercises in color layering, and of course trying to make paint shinier.

spaceman and the birds

This painting was very popular this past fall. It was hanging in a gallery downtown in Wilmington. There were 12 other paintings in this show, and personally, I thought all twelve of them were stronger (more likely to sell) than this one. I actually had forgotten to bring it down on the day the show was to be hung.
Quick tangent; I think it's really appropriate that we "hang" paintings. It sounds like the old days in the wild west. It's like they've been on trial since the first brushstroke. "This painting tried too hard" -"hang 'em". "This painting offends me" -"hang 'em" "This painting doesn't successfully say what the artist intended" -"hang it" "This painting showed it's heart, and didn't win the girl" -"hang it"
Anyway, sorry......it's something I could go on and on with. I realize that so many artists don't put their work out there because it's scary. They don't want to stand trial in front of the public, and be declared guilty for not delivering what people want, or like.
My experience with this painting is that many people liked it, it even got to appear in the newspaper along with an interview with myself the day before the show opened, I made up flyers for this show with the spaceman's, and the birds' images on them, and still, on the night of the opening, a total of three people wandered in to take a look around.
I had showed up anticipating something more like the crowds that are seen in the movies gathered around the gallows, throwing vegetables and shouting insults. So much for expectations!
I know that art is important to other people, and there is interest in paintings, sometimes people even buy them. This is what keeps me trying to engage the public in what I prepare to be hanged.

expansion

This painting HENRY AND THE HELPERS is a story about how the super power on the right gives strength and direction to the little pink people to help Henry. As far as mark making, or paint vocabulary, I think this is my most successful painting. It hangs in my kitchen right now to remind me to keep exploring different approaches of applying paint to canvas, and when I'm done to ask the superpower for strength and direction to get out there and help people.

success

This painting was purchased by somebody who seemed to know what he liked, and why. This was a truly gratifying experience. It was pure capitalism. I liked it. He also bought another one that I believe was one of my stronger pieces. To top it all off, he insisted on writing the check out for ten dollars more than I was asking for both.