it's been a long time

A monkey fucking a doorknob is probably the best metaphor to describe how graceful I am at interwebbing. It’s literally been over 6 years since I’ve logged on to my own site so I commend any soul brave enough to bear with me as I begin to re-familiarize myself with how to do any of this. Anyway, I encourage you to read on if you’d like to hear what I’ve been up to recently…

About 2 months ago I hopped on a plane headed for New Orleans where I was excited to catch up with Amy, my special someone, who had arrived there 2 weeks earlier on a writing assignment. While beignets, fried chicken, and po’boys were definitely on the docket, Akasha Rabut’s book release party at The Neighborhood Story Project was the focal point. Unfortunately, Covid had other plans for the Big Easy so the party was cancelled and before you know it we found ourselves barreling across the country in a MCU (mobile containment unit) - commonly known as an RV. [link above to buy book, you won’t regret it!]

This warming space gives you a hug the second you walk through its’ doors, if you’re interested in learning the true narratives of New Orleans don’t miss it!

Before leaving NOLA we visited the bayou where we saw an owl, multiple gators, and countless geckos - amazing nature aside, the highlight for me was Amy’s dance to Creedance Clearwater Revival but I’m keeping that gem for my personal records:)

Also had the opportunity to paint this large roll up door at bluedreamneworleans before setting sail for the open road, hopefully it helps spread a little positivity:)

This is right around the corner from the door I painted, if you’ve ever been to downtown New Orleans you know how bizarre it is to see the streets this empty.

Ah, the open road, no better respite from the pandemic blues - especially since we’ve been rather diligent about remaining in lockdown since our return to PDX.

Did a few paintings during the road trip home, above is the simplest of such paintings and actually my favorite of the lot. While the other pieces were painted on structures this piece was painted on a discarded board that someone didn’t want to properly deal with. I’d like to think that by putting a face on it and leaning it against the fence, people passing by would now notice it and even find amusement in their discovery.

There were countless amazing and unique photo opportunities on our voyage, here you can see Amy taking a call from the comfort of my thumb.

Shortly after our return to Portland I dropped 20 doodles at Genuinely Whatever, last I looked there were still 8 available, hit the link if you’d like to nab 1.

I also went right to work on a new series of 7 drawings called “internal dialog”, these works are currently available through straightline studio in Aspen, CO. They have sold 3 of the 7 thus far.

I’m currently in the process of making paintings of all 7 drawings to complete the “internal dialog” series. Above is the 1st painting which surprisingly sold directly the day after I posted it online.

In other recent news, I’m honored to have been interviewed by the good folks at CCCollectors , they have featured serious heavyweights like James Jean so even if you have zero interest in reading what I had to say to them you can get your visual rocks off by clicking that link. Well, that pretty much brings things up to date, if you’ve made it to this part of the post you’re a champion and I appreciate you more than you’ll ever know:) While this has been fun it’s also time consuming so not sure when I’ll post next. In the meantime, there’s always Instagram.

the great outdoors

i'm a bit concerned for the youth of today and all their indoor gadgetry....as a kid i was always outside....climbing trees, building forts, catching crawdads all that americana shit...nowadays i spend a lot of time inside painting but i'm lucky enough to consider the ocean my playground so i stay pretty balanced...on occasion i also paint outside...below you'll find some quickies from recent ventures in the great outdoors

a few lines from finished and still in a contemplative state....this outdoor ditty actually inspired a series i'm working on in the studio that is yielding favorable results

the face in the center is the very first thing i painted at slab city and i believe it to be an accurate response or feeling of this unusual place...after painting what i may consider a ghost of slab city i began adding  lighthearted imagery more akin to my painting style

bombay beach is not far from slab city and it too has a post apocalyptic feel that makes spraying some faces on walls without worrying about johnny law questioning your artistic endeavors seem second nature

mexico is another great place for painting outdoors without much concern for coppers...bridge pillars always make for a fine canvas

i don't generally sign my outdoor quickies but i like the way it worked out for this photo of me painting....while i certainly enjoy painting bridge pillars in foreign places i've also started working on other surfaces

for whatever reason i've never felt comfortable painting on anything natural but once i did i definitely enjoyed it....the contours of this rock really lent themselves to the faces i've added

here's some deets of other faces i decided to put my name on...i'm stoked on how much the black background makes the colors pop

since i liked the black background i figured i'd put some black around the next colorful face i painted...while i didn't like it as much as the last the easy-going folks at san miguel who let me paint their wall seemed very pleased so i'm all smiles

further down the road you can find walls so far off the beaten path there is no one to ask permission to paint them....a wall like this is awesome because it allows you plenty of time to get weird

this is a detail action shot of the wall in the  previous photo...lots of time to get weird is fun because you can just keep painting over things...at one point this wall was covered in faces...you can see one of them peeking through the bird body in the finished piece

the face in the bird on the recent wall i did in mexico reminds me quite a bit of the faces i painted on this wall about 9 months ago in portland

this is that same wall from when i painted it a year earlier...as you can see i had plenty of time to get weird...lets have a closer look at this 2 day ditty shall we

alright, so here's some deets of aforementioned weirdness...but it's come to my attention i'm straying off the bloggers path...this wall was painted like 2 years ago with permission and 2 days to execute it when the focus was to be on recent work that was done quickly without permission so lets get back to brass tacks and wrap this shit up 

this is what i'm talking about...getting out there...finding yourself among the ruins and leaving a trace...this little birdie was painted on my way to a tiny island called isla natividad

here's another from that excursion...dilapidated structures such as this one really appeal to my aesthetic...i guess i get some strange sense of stories past and i find them so visually interesting i can't control myself

1 can ultra generic black spray paint from home depot.... 99 cents

a dilapidated structure to paint on with zero concern for the law...priceless

so i hope you've enjoyed this brief look at some work outside and find yourself inspired to put down your palm pilot and go outside to play

oh, i almost forgot...i wanted to share some studio work from my current series...these two are titled "contemplating the intricacies of inner conflict" and "accepting life as easy lowers expectations"

back it up

got me a new website and since my old one is no longer on the interwebs i figured i'd post a few highlights and random snippets from the past before diving into the here and now...thought the image below well suited the blog post title....and away we go

this piece is titled "holy handbag"....it was one of four pieces i painted for a short series that mocks sexuality in advertising and high end consumerism...you can check out the other three in the work section of my site

wasn't really sure where to start with the back posting bit so i cheated and read my own bio...wow that seems kinda narcissistic but hey, it totally worked because i love painting walls and the en masse dudes rule 

i met jason botkin and a few other awesome peeps from en masse when volunteering at the sd art fair which led to my participation in painting on this wall in mexico...we also painted on a moving car as it waited to cross the border...brilliant

it's not very often i get to participate in museum shows so when i do i always feel honored....momento mori at oceanside museum of art was the most recent of such shows

this is my piece from the show...it's titled "the absurdity of unreasonable reasoning"...basically it was me venting about a recent ex who broke my little heart...but for a more eloquent sound and profound effect i'll refer to this quote: 

"When a man has learned within his heart what fear and trembling mean, he is safeguarded against any terror produced by outside influences." 

I Ching, Hexagram 51

now that i've added two highlights taken directly from my bio i'm gonna get to a random snippet....i'm an old man now but in the days of my youth i rode my skateboard religiously....that enthusiasm for the art of skateboarding carried on well into my adult years and i even still ride the useless wooden toy from time to time today....long story short skateboarding means a lot me so you can imagine how stoked i was to have a piece of my work on colin mckay's wall

the painting is titled "dissolve doubt and set sail in the assurance of favorable winds"...it's a good life lesson i came up with and i am still trying to implement the idea on a daily basis - sorry for the ridiculously shit photo but i wanted to show the space and couldn't find the original pic so i just highjacked it from facebook...you can get a much better view of the piece in the work section of my site

those first entries are all relatively recent but the whole holy shit really aspect of seeing my work on a guys wall that i used to watch videos of when i was still popping zits made me think of a mural opportunity a few years back... i was invited to paint a wall in portland and then discovered i'd be painting over herbert baglione's work....

felt really strange to be painting over such a talented established artist so i began by duct taping a separate little painting on wood to the wall to preserve at least a small section of his piece...by the time i went back the next day to finish the piece and take a couple pics someone had already stolen the small wooden painting...revealing a little grey square of his piece

alright, i'm already tiring of this catch up exercise so i'm going to call it for tonight but i'll probably do a couple more back posts before i end up posting anything current or maybe i'll post some current shits then go flashback on it...who knows, all i know is smiles are good medicine so hopefully this little guy will get you grinning

have a loosely related on going series called "animal style"...don't tell in-n-out about the title because i can't afford a lawyer