Trout Salad

"Harvest Time"

2011-11-19T12:00:00.000-08:00

On display now at Quicksilver Mine Co. in Forestville. Those that have seen my art for a while will recognize a slight return to a personal mythos (the deer-man figure), but combined with my ongoing love and exploration of circus graphics and Mexican street art. It's about 37"x48".Also-I'm on the cover of the current issue of the North Bay Bohemian, which is pretty cool. I started the painting that this cover uses late last year and in fact the above "Harvest" piece is a somewhat sequel to this. The painting is almost finished-I just need to add my words to the banner, which will be the painting's title--"The Hunter's Star".

Open Studio Sale!

2011-10-08T20:08:00.001-07:00

"Good Hunting" 24"x30" Sold

Sale begins Saturday October 15th, 10:00 am, and goes until 5:00 pm, then continues Sunday and the following weekend-same time. If you want to come by before or after those dates, that's fine too-just give me a heads up (fallguy@sonic.net or 707/824-1587).
Hope to see you!"Hee-Haw" 8"x10""Fight Club#1 & #2" each 24" square(click to enlarge)

New Work-At The Graton Gallery.

2011-08-15T16:21:00.001-07:00

"Summer Sun" 10.75"x18" $450.

Yep, it's a new series. Shot these myself (can't ya tell?) so colors are approximate. Most are on view at the Graton Gallery (except "OK" and "Nice"-which are sold). Show runs from Aug. 16th-October 2nd, with an opening reception Sunday Aug. 28th, 3-6 pm. Come on out if you can!
"We Deliver" 23.5"x24" $975.
"OK" sold
"L.M.A.O." 8.5"x10.25" Sold."Black & Blue" 14"x16" $500.
"Bird Song" 14"x16" $550."Nice" sold
"Happy" 14"x16" $475.
"Rescue Me" 17.5"x25.25" $775.
"La Cariñosa (The Loving Woman)" 18"x14" $475.

"Never Not Working"

2011-03-19T10:59:00.001-07:00

I came across this short on British artist David Shillinglaw the other week, and really like a lot of what he says about art and being an artist. I definitely relate to his short-attention span, and how he uses that to his advantage. And I like how he frames art as being somewhat between religion and science, embracing "confusion" as a means toward discovery. I think he's on to something here...

Never Not Working from Photo Booth Works on Vimeo.

A Short Film About Sign Painting

2011-03-02T20:22:00.000-08:00

Maybe some of you know that a long time ago (the early 80's) in a galaxy far, far away (Livermore), I worked for a time as a sign painter (this was even before I went to art school).
For a while now in my own paintings-and especially in my work with B.L.T., I've reconnected with my sign painter past. I was never a great letterer-and I'm still rather proudly clumsy-but there's something in the practice of painting letters that I do really enjoy (separate from their actual or implied meaning). Anyway-I came across this short of sign painter Damon Styer of "New Bohemia Signs" in San Francisco-and thought I'd share.

FontCast #12 — Damon Styer from FontShop on Vimeo.

"Happy Accident"-- a show of B.L.T. paintings now in Healdsburg

2011-02-27T11:34:00.000-08:00

A while back, Lisa posted about the fun we were having (Lisa & I & our good friend Bob Stang) working together on some collaborative paintings. On Friday, we hung the first show of a batch of them (14) all together. The show is up at the Flying Goat, a lovely coffee venue in Healdsburg (419 Center Street). On March 19, Saturday (I think at 8pm?) we'll be throwing them a little party. Hope to see you there!

(click on the images to enlarge 'em, but click over here to see some slightly better images of the pieces.

Looking at Chip Kidd

2010-10-22T15:03:00.000-07:00

Man I'm slow. Just turned 52 and I only now find out about a book and graphic designer that's been quietly crawling into my creative subconscious. Here's a few of his book cover designs-

And here's a 'lil video. Oh-he's a singer/musician too, though, well--I like his designs better.

Looking at his designs also led me to these book cover designs-NOT designed by Chip Kidd, but by Peter Mendelsund. I like these alot.

A Few New-ish Paintings

2010-10-19T11:47:00.000-07:00

"I Can't Sleep" -but in a good way.
still working a little on this one, but almost done...
"Nobody Gets Me (Like You)" sold last weekend at my Artrails Open Studio (Thanks L.&M.)

Open Studio: June 5 & 6, 12 & 13!

2010-06-02T11:25:00.000-07:00

Come out & visit to check out what I've been up to!

"So Good" version two

2010-01-26T00:48:00.000-08:00

A Few New Ones

2009-08-27T15:36:00.000-07:00

(click for slight enlargement)"The Way Back"
"Best Intentions"

Show Is Up!

2009-06-03T11:26:00.000-07:00

At Kuhl Frames + Art (412 22nd Street (at Franklin, almost at Broadway)--just a few blocks north of the Paramount Theater in Oakland. Above is my wall, below is part of Lisa's wall. (click to really enlarge).Here's a few more shots of Lisa's paintings-
Hope to see some of you there this Friday or over the next two weekends (show info below).

Upcoming Show in Oakland-- Local Preview Saturday!

2009-05-27T14:31:00.000-07:00

Lisa and I will be participating in the up-coming Pro-Arts East Bay Open Studios in Oakland (first two weekends of June) and thought I'd post a little preview here. Several of these paintings still have a day or two of painting left, but should be mostly done by this Saturday, and if any of our local (Sonoma county) fans would like to stop on by-we'll be here from 12 noon until 5:00. (We're at 211 Donald Street, two blocks south of downtown Graton. Phone # is 707/ 824-1587). Here's the card for our show-
"So Good" 21"x28"
"Sunny-side Up" 19"x20"
"Party-Bot" 17"x23"
"Cherry Graffiti 2" 22"x15"
"Try Some Action" 21"x19"
"losers" 9"x10" (almost done)
In addition, I still have these paintings available-
"Lucky Lady" 28"x26"
"The Season Of The Old Me" 16"x22"
"Changes" 24"x20"
"When It Rains" 22"x29"
"(Sing Me) Spanish Techno" 43"x37"
"The Fox And The Hare" 48"x32"
"Portrait Of Rachel" 5'x6'.
And here's what the chaos looks like now. You may notice a few paintings that I didn't highlight-notably the one that sez "The Game Of Best Intentions". Hopefully that and another small-ish robot painting will be done in time for the second weekend of the show.

2 New Paintings & Terry's Birthday Bash

2009-05-03T14:55:00.000-07:00

4 weeks left before Lisa and I hang our show in Oakland, time to start finishing things up-so here's one, called "Secret" (which will hang in the Pro-Arts Gallery) and a quick B/day present for Terry (I may try to do another version for the show...but as I'm working on 7 other pieces now, well--who knows)-

Here's a few shots from Terry's great 50th (thanks Natalie and Carly and Mike and everyone else for a smashing event-I'm still reeling!)-(and thanks to Paul Gower for the great pics, most of these are his)-

No shots of Mel and Sue or Ted and Kim or the kids and lots of others, (maybe someone else has some?)-anyway, Happy birthday Terry--good times!

Studio View-Six Weeks Before June Show

2009-04-21T17:44:00.000-07:00

Well, It's getting towards crunch time here in the 'ol studio...Lisa and my show in Oakland is less than six weeks away. Still tons to do, but here's a couple of progress shots, including one I started last night, still in it's tracing-paper stage. (click to enlarge)-the three stacked in the middle are still unfinished-and then my new piece on the easel, still in it's infancy.
This shows a bit of my process. I do a small sketch and then transfer it roughly onto tracing paper that I tape over my primed panel. I overlay other bits of tracing paper and play with my composition -like the cat here-and then block in my background in paint, and then finally transfer the foreground figures. On the floor is another new start that I've only begun to paint.
Some of these you've seen here, the two on the left are unfinished, as is my new version of "Cherry Graffiti" above the anime Morton-Salt girl.

S.F., Oakland, and Sunol

2009-04-10T11:43:00.000-07:00

Man I'm behind in the blog-thing. So before any more time passes-here's a few shots from our lil' out of town jaunts from last week. First we went to San Fran and saw the Juan Carlos Quintana show at the S.F. MOMA collectors gallery at Fort Mason. Shoulda got more shots-
Lisa and I really liked this wall-grid of paintings...I might have to borrow this idea some day...

Then over to south of Market, where we saw several things, but I'm only going to highlight one-the Jennybird Alcantara show at Varnish. Holy mackerel, these are so beautiful! Check it-(and be sure to click to enlarge)

Pretty hard to top that (and for me, nothing else comes close). The show's up 'til May 9th-while you're at it there's also a good show nearby at Catherine Clark, also up 'til the 9th- Philip Knoll and James Barsness-

OK-so, in a whirlwind, Lisa and I headed over to Oakland to meet up with Bob and Erik for a little Murmuring (Oakland's first-Friday art walk)-which was a zoo, but fun. (Paul and Tara were there too but we couldn't hear our phone ringing.) We started over at Swarm Gallery (where Erik shows) for a fine John Casey show. Go over to Fecal Face.com and see their blog photos-nice stuff. Over at the Murmur galleries proper, the best was, as per usual, Johannson Projects and Mercury Twenty (maybe Lisa will post some shots on her blog), but we also saw this fine gem at a CCA student show at Hatch Gallery around the corner from Johannson-Then the next day, a fine hike with my mom over at Sunol Regional Park. Man, that place rules, especially this time of year-This is the part that's called "Little Yosemite"
Me and me mum
Then that night, over to Paul and Tara's for drinks. We shoulda snapped some shots of their pretty amazing art collection-their new Shepherd Fairy and Camille Rose Garcia pieces really looked sweet.
That's all the bloggin' for now. Nice day today-here's a shot of the backyard with the studio on the right, and here's a new small one that I'm working on now-called "Sunnyside Up". Cheers!

"Justice" (That Feel)

2009-04-01T00:51:00.000-07:00

Finally finished a rather large commission painting I've been working on and off again on for like three months. Whew! (click to really enlarge)

Best Series Ending Ever?

2009-03-23T19:20:00.000-07:00

Everyone's talking about the ending of Battlestar Galactica, a series I still haven't seen. But my favorite series ending is still 'Six Feet Under". I think about it all the time.

"The Reason The Internet Was Invented"

2009-03-16T18:46:00.000-07:00

That's a quote in one of the comment sections from one of the following videos. (Yeh, I know...where's the art? A long-fought commission piece is finally winding down, and I've begun several smaller pieces, and I will post 'em soon--but for now...)
These videos are from a very talented guy named Kutiman. What he does is take video clips posted on youtube and splices and mixes them into a unique sound-collage song. They are AMAZING! (The last one here is Kutiman explaining a bit about his process) Enjoy...(also fun to double-click and go to the actual youtube page and read the comments and in the "about" section if you hit the "more info" you'll find links and info about all the original clips used>)

Some Old Drawings Re-discovered

2009-01-26T12:50:00.000-08:00

Last night I opened up an art book I haven't looked at in maybe 20 years, and found these drawings from an old sketchbook inside. They are from 1983, and I was around 24 years old. They were drawn at the house of my High School art teacher (and still good friend), Mel Friedman, and I post them now for fun, but also with continued thanks for all he and his whole family have given me in the 30 years I've known them. Happy New Year Mel and Sue! (and cheers Erik and Brent)

"Portrait Of Rachel"

2009-01-25T15:17:00.000-08:00

I'm entering this in a drawing show coming up. Who knows if it'll make it in--for one, is it a drawing? Or is a painting?
Also-is it done yet? I keep tinkering with it (small stuff-like I'm still a bit dissatisfied with parts of the mouth and hair). Also-I needed to give it a title. My friend Monica once shot some portrait shots for me to consider, of a young woman named Rachel. This isn't her, but I like the name, so there it is. It's 5'x6'. Small, as these things go for me. (Oh, and as is often the case, it's somewhat washed out in these photos-sorry.)

Group Show Over At White Walls In S.F.

2009-01-25T13:00:00.000-08:00

Michael Coy and I went over to S.F. last night to catch the last performance (for now) of a pretty cool new opera about Burning Man and first stopped by White Walls to check out their group show. Here's a few of my personal faves-
first up-work by Sylvia Ji (as always, click to enlarge)

These two are by Ian Frances
This is by Adam FloresThese weren't actually in the show, they were upstairs (Bob and I saw this show a month or so ago)--anyway, still really great work by Regino Gonzales
Jim Houser
And a smallish one by Shawn barber (dude can paint!)There's tons more there-if you get a chance, I think the show's up for another week or so. And there's a cool Van Arno show next door at The Shooting Gallery...a few of my faves there-

(This last one features Freddie Mercury flanked by Suzie Quatro and Joan Jett. Fun.)
OK, wrapping up this set, how about a little somthin' from Animal Collective's great new c/d-"Merriweather Post Pavilion". This is "My Girls"

It's A Beautiful Day

2009-01-20T01:57:00.000-08:00

Almost hard to believe. Just two and a half months ago, everything changed. This was at an election-night party in Sydney, Australia.
Happy Obama Day.

When You Wake Up Feeling Old...

2009-01-17T15:03:00.000-08:00

Winter will do that to you, but it's so dang nice out! Maybe some videos will help too.
I saw this short piece on artist Robert Hardgrave over on Fecal Face the other day..I like alot of what he says about making art and especially in the context of his brush with mortality....
And then recently I discovered this great music blog put together by five women-their blog's called "So This Is What The Volume Knob's For" (http://volume-knob.blogspot.com/), and they in turn have shown me Los Campesinos, a rather exuberant collection of young Welsh musicians that make very youthful and exuberant...hmmm, I'd almost call it "glee-club punk-pop", but since that's silly I'll just say that right now, in the middle of winter, and just having had that big 5-0 birthday, and therefor feeling a little old-ish...these peeps are giving me some much-needed energy. Check 'em out-(Lisa and I have been saying that we need to be writing more lists this year, so this seems appropriate) "My Year In Lists"
And there's just no f'n way you can feel old listening to this one-"You! Me! Dancing!" (the video's pretty cool too, though it doesn't really have anything to do with the song)(wasn't that fun? I feel younger already) I also found this video again (I saw it a year ago or so, but forgot about it)-it's San Francisco's own The Dodos-nice drumming and strumming! "Fools"And just to get a bit nostalgic, I saw this great Camper Van Beethoven classic over at Boingboing today, which I will leave you with...from 1985, when I started working in the paper department at Amsterdam Art in Berkeley (Hi Amy!). Enjoy!

"When It Rains" & "Changes"

2009-01-09T02:52:00.001-08:00

These are the two pieces I'm entering in the Petaluma Art Center show called "Weather Report". The photos--as always it seems--are a bit washed out and perhaps too yellow in the first one. Still.

I Feel Like Celebrating Nick Cave Tonight...

2008-12-30T02:21:00.000-08:00

I just bought "Abbittoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus" yesterday. Oh my freakin' god! Truely amazing. This is from the Abbittoir c/d--"There She Goes, My Beautiful World" (live)"Jesus Of The Moon" from his latest"Thirsty Dog" 1994, also live on Jools Holland"Into My Arms", from The Boatman's Call
"Love Letter"-performed on Letterman a few years back-
A nice version of "The Carny", from the c/d "Your Funeral...My Trial"
Finally, one more from his latest-"Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!

One More Painting About The Weather...

2008-12-30T02:08:00.000-08:00

I just started this a few days ago (even though I'm supposed to be working on a few commission pieces...y'know, the holidays just aren't the best time to do serious work...)--I blocked in my basic colors tonight, sometime after the first I hope to start really mixing it up a bit and give it some more texture and juice. I think I'm maybe amping up the "anime" thing a tad too much, but as always, I'm trying to have a little fun here. It's obviously a take-off on "the Morton-salt girl".
I'll also be adding stuff to the circle and box, plus--instead of rain-drops they'll be some flowers.

"Changes" and a few more drawings

2008-12-19T01:00:00.000-08:00

A new small painting for an upcoming show about the weather--it's almost done, I'll have to see what it looks like in daylight (hopefully not quite so greenish),
Oh, and I still gotta blog some shots from last weekend's gallery hopping I did in the city with Bob. Lotta fun, and some cool art...coming soon.

More Drawings and A Little Hip-Hop

2008-12-10T15:50:00.000-08:00

Music/Video Break

2008-12-09T12:28:00.000-08:00

I was surfing over at BoingBoing and found a list of top 50 Drug-Trips-in-Movies.
This came in at #8

Lunch Time!

2008-12-06T16:36:00.000-08:00

Wondering Violin Mantis Catching A Fly

"Harvest" Almost Done

2008-12-04T02:42:00.001-08:00

Another small painting--still a bit muddy, but should be done by tomorrow...

Now how 'bout a little Eagles Of Death Metal-

Last Weekend's Drawings

2008-12-02T02:38:00.000-08:00

Having some fun. I gotta take up life-drawing again though. The antler-girl is from a catalogue we got yesterday.

You can't afford her--I checked.

A Few Tunes (And Videos)

2008-11-27T13:46:00.002-08:00

Not too early to think about the 'ol year-end-favorite-music lists. Here's a few that stick with me. (As is usually the case-the videos are never as good as the music itself. I wish Michel Gondry would make more videos! Speaking of-here's a cool commercial of his for Levi's)
Ok-first up-M83, from their great c/d "Saturdays=Youth". This one is "Graveyard Girl"
Next-Nick Cave, and "Dig, Lazarus, Dig!"

And somewhat in the same vein as last year's c/d by Midlake, I really liked a lot of the Fleet Foxes c/d, in that early seventies kinda way...
How about a little Vampire Weekend--"Oxford Comma" ?

Ok-I sure wish Broken Social Scene would release a new c/d, but until they do, these "BSS Presents" c/ds (first with Kevin Drew, now with Brendan Canning) not only will have to do, but they're pretty darn close to the full deal anyway--especially when both co-founders are on the same track. This is from Canning's "Something For The Rest Of Us" c/d, called "Churches Under The Stairs"-Drew starts things off, then Canning comes in...
Man, that was good. How about another? This is "Hit The Wall". OK-a pretty dumb video-but a killer song-Another fave from this year is one MC turned me on to (hmm-also the Brendan Canning c/d now that I think about it, and the Nick Cave one too...oh, and Vampire Weekend. Man, I'm behind!), -Thao, from her c/d "We Brave Bee Stings And All", this is "Swimming Pools".Ok-that's it for tonight...I'll think of a few more later.

Drawings...

2008-11-26T15:10:00.001-08:00

I've been trying to keep up the drawing, to be added to future "Art Farm" pieces, and might as well post a few now and then.
Here's a few for now-

Om for Mom

2008-11-26T14:35:00.000-08:00

My mom asked me to paint her a small painting with the "om" symbol a while back, and this is what I came up with. It's probably a bit more psychedelic than she had in mind, but I had fun.

Progress Shots of New Small Painting

2008-11-26T12:09:00.000-08:00

It's called "In The Season Of The Old Me" -which I borrowed from a Grandaddy song.
I started this a bit ago, and it's almost finished (maybe there's another flower or two to add up at the top-? plus just a little more paint here and there...) It starts with my original rough sketch, then on to tracing paper laid over the primed panel, which is transfered with graphite paper to the panel, and then the successive blocking in of color, line work, etc. (The first pictures are way off in color; the background should be the same throughout)

Finally Some New Work...

2008-11-18T01:12:00.001-08:00

I think "Lucky Lady" is about done (what took me so long?), and a new solo Art Farm piece that's also been in progress forever is getting there. Not great photos yet of either, but you get the idea.

Theresa Andersson Rockin' The Loops In Her Kitchen

2008-11-17T20:13:00.000-08:00

Song is "Na Na Na" off her most recent c/d. Lisa introduced me to her...what d'ya think?

Hot Day In The Mission

2008-11-16T02:21:00.000-08:00

Lisa and I headed over to the City today, to the Mission, looking for a little bit of inspiration. Hot today!
Lisa, at a brief stop at Olompoli State Park.
(As always-click to enlarge)
Three sidewalk Fridas
Some nice collage work on this billboard
Two girls wearing two cool shirts. They didn't know one another. (looks good enlarged)
Lots of great murals...
Here's another...
Man, that was fast--Sainthood already? (click to enlarge)
This is a quick collage I made later from photos Lisa and I took of some graphic moments on our walk in the Mission-maybe I'll see about painting it (?)

OK-One More Video From Last Week...

2008-11-13T00:35:00.000-08:00

From Seattle, pulled from shaumiquakardinal's flickr page. Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" never sounded so good.-

Oh God. It's True.

2008-11-10T03:28:00.000-08:00

Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

Oh, and while I'm at it...

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Still Swimming In ThIs Moment In History

2008-11-08T02:51:00.000-08:00

From The Daily Kos. Nice.

And from Will.i.am-

How About A Little Chocolate This Time

2008-11-07T12:53:00.000-08:00

Don't get me wrong, I love vanilla. But after 43 servings, isn't it nice to be offered something different?(Great illustration by Patrick Moberg)

You Thought You Were AT A Good Party...

2008-11-06T03:59:00.001-08:00

Students in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Obama Wins!

Hey This Is Happy...

2008-11-06T03:09:00.000-08:00

Artist is Japanese--Shugo Tokumaru. This is from his newest c/d--"Exit". This song is called-"Parachute".

Late Night Viewing

2008-11-06T01:43:00.000-08:00

Wow! Just saw this over at Crooks and Liars. Way too good. Faye Dunaway rocks!
Peter Finch is God.

More Pictures From Around The Country And The World

2008-11-05T17:15:00.002-08:00

In Brooklyn
In Kenya
In New Delhi
Moscow
In Paris
In a village in northern India
In Hong Kong
In Canada
In Harlem
In Maryland
In Texas
North Carolina
New York
In Israel
In Sydney, Australia
In San Francisco, California
In Obama, Japan
Athens, Greece
maybe in your town

OBAMA!!!

2008-11-05T04:48:00.000-08:00

Wow. Very cool.
this is from today's New York Times-it's a screen shot. Amazing. I like how on the right it says "next".

Go Obama!

2008-11-04T02:41:00.000-08:00

a last-minute painting
I love this picture. She was at a recent Obama rally. It's like her tears are saying, "You're gonna be my president!"
I cry every time I see this...

ArtTrails-- one weekend more!

2008-10-15T11:32:00.000-07:00

Here's a scene from last week's ArTrails Open Studio-- we're also open this Saturday & Sunday, October 18 & 19.
Below: the latest, in progress.
....and lots of photos of the collaborative projects by Art Farm Motel (originally done for Burning Man) over at www.artfarmmotel.blogspot.com

A New Crop Of Pictures

2008-06-10T15:29:00.000-07:00

"Circus Magic"
"Homegrown" (sold...thanks HolLynn!)
"Masquerade" (not a great shot of this one yet)
"Spanish Techno" (also not a great shot, plus...maybe I'm still working on it)

A New Little Painting

2008-05-13T19:07:00.001-07:00

"Cherry Graffiti" 12"x18"

Time for a Song

2008-02-02T13:07:00.000-08:00

Open Studios-Coming Up!

2007-10-11T13:11:00.000-07:00

Lisa took this shot of me whipping up art in the studio in preparation for The Big Weekend. Shown here a few days ago, reworking an older piece starring "Hot Stuff" called "Noi-Zee Boy", and with the project I made for Graton Day's beanbag toss on the right. It will be up and running in the yard on Saturday. In addition, I've been working on a slew of paintings we affectionately call my 'Little Losers'. Who doesn't love a Little Loser? (click on image to enlarge it!)

Graton-Day Project

2007-09-17T01:19:00.001-07:00

Hey, it was my hometown's little celebration (and Lisa and my 6th anniversary here)-so I let myself get talked in to doing a fun beanbag toss gameboard...

R.I.P. Pavarotti

2007-09-06T13:02:00.002-07:00

Ok-I'm not a huge opera fan, but I always liked this U2 song-"Miss Sarajevo", a beautiful song about peace and beauty in a time of war. Gratsi Luciano.

Finished shots of recent work

2007-08-07T19:04:00.000-07:00

I'm noticing that the colors here look alittle washed out, but you get the idea...
"The Fox And The Hare"
"Cowboy-Up"
"Legionnaire"
maybe a better shot of "Let's Do Lunch"

One More New Painting For My Show

2007-07-24T01:37:00.000-07:00

The last painting started for my show this Saturday in Santa Rosa turns out to be the first one finished. OK-I still have a few days, I might tweak it a little.

Weekend Music

2007-07-22T02:21:00.000-07:00

I'll post some art work soon, but for now...
Wilco-the title track to their great new cd. Hey, is Jeff Tweedy looking more like Neil Young each day?

Beirut-I forget, did I already post this? It's still good...

Peter, Bjorn, And John's "Young Folks"-

Ok-time to call it a day. Here's some music NOT to fall asleep to. The Archie Bronson Outfit.

Late Night listening...

2007-07-21T03:59:00.000-07:00

I'm really loving Midlake's latest (thanks MC). Here's a video for their song, "Young Bride".

Three New Works In Progress...

2007-07-03T16:50:00.001-07:00

Yup, getting ready for a show-this one opening up on the 28th in Santa Rosa. More info to follow..
"The Fox And The Hare""Cowboy-Up"
"Lucky Lady"

I've blocked in my basic colors-and I'm just beginning to work the paint...(that and the bad lighting explains their dull, washed-out look). Stay tuned for updates...

Show up at the Willow Wood

2007-06-09T10:45:00.000-07:00

Here are some shots of my show installed at our favorite local eatery, the Willowwood Market & Cafe in 'downtown' Graton.
Please contact me at Fallguy@sonic.net with any questions or comments!

This Moment update

2007-05-21T16:49:00.000-07:00

Well I finally tweaked this painting some, spending several more days than I thought I'd need to-- but now, I think, I can finally say it's done. It, and about a dozen other paintings are now up for a couple of month's at our local fave-- The Willow Wood.
Check 'em out next time you stop by Graton.

Progress Shot of "Legionnaire"

2007-04-25T02:01:00.000-07:00

This guy's been almost done for awhile-thought if I posted it it might spur me on to that last little bit...

"Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl"

2007-04-20T17:20:00.001-07:00

Goaded by Gary and Claire, I just might start blogging again-though in a very limited fashion. Anyway-this is an "almost finished" shot of a piece obviously inspired by the large-scale Art Farm collaborative Burning Man pieces--in the works for a year and a half. I stole the title from a song by Broken Social Scene.
Oh, here-I just found their video-

A Few New Ones and A Few Re-worked Ones

2007-02-24T12:01:00.000-08:00

Four of my recent "Ad-Women" put together as a set. It's up at the Cultural Art's Council membership show in Santa Rosa
This and the next two are in the "Over-Hung" show at Boontling Gallery in Oakland-on Telegraph near 42nd. The opening is this Friday, during the Art Murrmer 1st Friday set of openings. Erik Friedman and Chris Hattaway and Mike Terry are in it as well. You should go. This is last year's painting that used to be called "Happy Day", now changed to "Lucky Boy".
"Alka-Loser" 24x24"
"Spring" also 24x24" All priced at $975.00, except the "Four Women"-I forget, maybe that's $850.00

"This Moment" Is Lasting A Long Time

2007-01-31T00:26:00.000-08:00

Slow but steady progress on "This Moment". Have I mentioned how there seems to be at least three types of paintings for me?
Well, there are those that get roughed in and sketched out, and right from the get-go, they are what they will become--they just go from rough to polished to done. Man do I usually love these paintings. Then there are those that I struggle with-either formally in the composition, or more common for me-I lose sight of the color and it's like I paint by process of elimination (Hmm, what about a green background...nope. How about yellow...nope. Orange? Pink?)
Anyway, this is one of those. Of course, at least it's not the third type-which I usually classify as "What on earth was I thinking?!"
Hey, how about alittle old-school Radiohead?
And now for something completely different...
Oh-Happy >late< Birthday to Paul! Sorry L and I couldn't make it down last weekend-busy times, but hope it was/is a great one!

Quick Progress Shots

2007-01-26T01:13:00.000-08:00

First is "Lunch", (which is now at the Graton Gallery--Lisa and moi are part of their "alumni" show happening now-opening next Sunday. Not This Sunday!) --Colors are abit off in photo-and to tell the truth--I'm still not sure about the "hair" on the spider-guys. (could this be just 'cuz I don't have any?)

the very slow progress on the next nine "Losres"

And the next painting has been a bit of trouble--but it's finally starting to turn a corner. It's still only about half-way done.

And then these last shots are from "the thirty women in three days" series. I realize some are fairly embarassing-(I need to tighten up my mouths for one)-but this is where I'm at so far.

Another New Painting Begun

2007-01-08T04:28:00.000-08:00

still has at least a day or two to go-as do most of the lot pictured here

Today's Painting

2007-01-04T16:04:00.000-08:00

#3 in the series of "Ad Women"

Two More Little Losers

2007-01-02T23:51:00.000-08:00

Hey, Happy New Year!
Alright, well between these little losers (that I finally finished), and the "ad-women" I've also got going, it sorta seems like I'm attempting a daily little painting-so I'll see if I can keep at it.

Ok, time for a few more videos representing--well, not entirely representing my favorite music of 2006-like the Yo La Tengo song is years old-same with The Shins' song-but I did listen to them alot last year...
First up, a few from Bright Eyes

Here's The Shins. Not my fave video, but I love this song-
Pretty cool video here from Arcade Fire-and another one from them cool Canadians-
Joanna Newsom is definitely an aquired taste-but I've aquired it. Though, um..."I killed my dinner with karote"-???the thing is-she's not like us, nope. Here's a little 5 minute documentary with her-
More sad news this year-Grandaddy broke up, dang! Here's a trio in honor-I love the cat chorus on this one-both this and the last one from their great 2006 cdlast year before Christmas, a troubled guy I've known forever finally got in more trouble than he could handle. Anyway, I kept thinking of him every time I played this next song. It's a sad song...
Ok-did'nt mean to bring you down. How about that Yo La Tengo song I promised. Not from their excellent new cd-but I love both this song and silly video. Enjoy!
Hey, here's one from a group that Lisa turned me on to-Tilly And The Wall. It's a really good cd (I hear their first one is even better). Fun fact; they don't have a drummer. They have a tap dancer. Seriously.
Alright-again-Happy New Year! I'll leave you with this little gem that I found when I was doing some, um...research. I was looking at youtube under "air guitar" and I found a master...rock on! And yeah, whatever he's wearing, that is Hello Kitty.

A New Painting In Progress

2006-12-29T23:53:00.000-08:00

Started this a few weeks ago-maybe it's almost getting there...? Or do I still need to mess with it?

Another Project For My Short Attention-Span Theater

2006-12-29T19:06:00.000-08:00

Well, y'know--the holidays, short daylight hours, the cold, too many gifts of fine spirits (thanks especially Wendy!)---anyway, I needed to start something I could finish quickly. These are the same size as most of my new "Loser" paintings-maybe 9"x10 and a half inches.

I'm planning on doing thirty of these, with the goal being that I want to finish all in a total of 72 hours or less-so almost 2 and a half hours tops per. So far so good.

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-26T18:55:00.000-08:00

And for my Jewish friends...

Another Friday In The City

2006-12-18T00:41:00.000-08:00

We always see something inspiring whenever we go to the city. This time, we started at The Donna Seager Gallery in San Rafael (see Lisa's blog for pictures)-then found ourselves passing by Nest on Fillmore (Lisa loves places like this. They've got some cool stuff), and then to 5024SF and Upper Playground in the lower Haight. Felt pretty lucky to see the Blaine Fontana show. (click to enlarge)

This last one was, hmm-how long was it Lisa?--anyway, he was selling it in segments...
Check out some of his vids-this first one shows his studio and the large painting I just mentioned

some art on the street

Hi Lisa

Oh, got a cool Jeremy Fish t at Upper Playground, then saw some really fine art over at After Modern on Bryant at 3rd, but I can't show you anything here 'cuz they don't allow pictures.
Luckily they were very friendly about that over at White Walls and theShooting Gallery. First off-Sam Flores at White Walls. Some very nice pictures, and his installation was pretty spectacular. Live Siamese fighting fish in the glass balls, and two love birds, well, were supposed to be in the cage within her belly. Only they got out and were perched on the ledge above the mural.

Then next door at The Shooting Gallery, maybe my favorite of the day-a show by Anne Faith Nichols

And finally, across our favorite bridge home.

And I'll leave you with this...

Late Nite Video

2006-12-12T18:20:00.000-08:00

Another cool video--oh, and Happy Birthday Lois!

Playing Catch-up...

2006-12-12T14:31:00.000-08:00

Who's the blogger in this household? Well of course, that would be Lisa-I say check her blogs out first 'cuz that girl knows how to keep up a blog. Me? Hardly. Still-for some reason (today it's called P-R-O-C-R-A-S-T-I-N-A-T-I-O-N-try it sometime!) I'm gonna play alittle catch-up.
So up first-alittle of what's going on over in the studiostudio mess
mess-o-"losers" in progress
current painting in it's "awkward teenage" phase...

Ok, so two weeks ago, went to the Oakland Art Murmer again-with Erik and Bob and later met up with Paul and Tara (Lisa was home sick with the cold I gave her...). Not as good as last month's, but some nice art was still on display-

some paintings from Michael Cutlip over at Swarm Gallery.
Next up, a few from Esteban Sabar's gallery by Diego Rios

Saw this one over at Mama Buzz-

Then after checking out several other galleries, Bob and Erik and I went over to Pacific Coast Brewery and met up with Lois for a few cold ones...
Well that was a "first Friday". Less than a week later, Micheal Coy and I found ourselves attempting to go to the "first Thursday" slew of openings in S.F. but due to traffic and poor planning-we missed all the major gallery openings. So we walked down to see what was happening at 111 Minna. Well it was a huge "111 at 111"show!
One hundred and eleven works by 111 artists displaying mostly 20"x20" pieces. Blurry pictures, I know-but here's a few faves...

Next up, a visit to Varnish, just a block or so away...below by Jason D'Aquino
by Michael Page

by Beth Bojarski
by Reuben Rude.
I'll try to i.d. some of the others as well in a day or so. Oh, before the weekend was out, Lisa and I went and murdered a poor, helpless tree-

And here's a little film not so much meant to inspire as meant to tell you to just give up now...

Late-night fun...

2006-12-01T04:09:00.000-08:00

Have you checked out Fecal Face's website? There's always some fun, great, or amusing stuff going on over there. Check out their "Beta Barn" series of videos. (warning-may contain so-called adult marterial)
Here's my favorite--it's from a Japanese talent show

Finally Finished "Happy/Lucky/Fun"

2006-11-30T15:43:00.000-08:00

Or is it "Happy/Fun/Lucky"?

Either way, Paul and Tara will just be happy (or lucky?) that I finally finished. Speaking of-here's a shot of the my other painting over at Paul's. I had never shot it before, and it's kinda fun seeing it fresh again.

Thanks again you two for the great Thanksgiving feast-definitely a good time!

No pictures from the great crab feed at my mom's house the next night, but trust me-that was tasty too.

Hope Everyone Had A Good Thanksgiving!

2006-11-27T19:57:00.000-08:00

Another cool video! Pulled from the Fecalface site-made by Kristofer Strom for the group Minilogue-

Check out these two cool videos...very inspiring!

2006-11-23T02:10:00.000-08:00

Great videos from Japan from a group of artists called "rinpa eshidan" that mix street art with hip-hop, that Lisa turned me on to. Very cool!..."1 Week Of Art Works"
"Puzzle"

Another arty weekend...

2006-11-21T01:44:00.000-08:00

Another new painting idea and beginning...

I'm still more in an idea-hunt/start-up mode than true-painting mode, so-- another start-up.

And then, more "good times" this weekend. Lisa did such a good job blogging (as usual) that I'll just lift her entry, with a few of my own edits...

A Street's Winterfest

'A Street' in Santa Rosa continues to become an ever more happening little arts district, and this weekend they hosted the third annual "Winterfest" but only the first one we made it to. Sort of felt like the local version of Oakland's 'Art Murmur', if you read our post about that...
1) Laura Hoffman with me in her studio in front of 2 new great paintings.
2) With Bee, out in front of Mario Uribe's studios, where Bee was selling goodies from the new Cafe Saint Rose.

3) Andrea Speer Hibbard, of the great A Street Gallery, looking festive.

4 & 5) Two shots from Mary Vaughan's studio, but you simply have to click over to her studio to see her beautiful work properly!

These guys were playing up the alley--we would really like to hire them for a party one day. We also heard them once at Mosaic (the restaurant in Forestville.) Gin, I think is their name....

Painting by Frank Ryan, up & coming young artist!

Don Bishop, whose work we've always liked... also has a whole show over at the Petaluma SRJC campus

...and then there was this odd fashion show. "Extreme Hair" was the theme-- held in a hair salon. When we first arrived, we just thought we were woefully underdressed (or over-dressed).Ace photographer Bob Stender (he shoots alot of our work) finds the view pretty good from the cat-walk.

Finally, Lisa and I quaff an Ale in Graton's Underwood on the way home. Good Times!

Then the next day we headed out to the East Bay to an early afternoon birthday gathering at Claire Cotts' studio in Berkeley-which was fun, though we did'nt take any pictures to prove it. We did take a few of Erik Friedman and Emma Harris-Sintamarian"s mind boggling installation piece (called "Storm") at Swarm Gallery in Jack London Sq., Oakland (right next to Pro Arts Gallery). Holy moly you guys! These photos are pretty lame & don't come close to show the scale, depth, and insane amount of work-but, well-- that's what you get for looking at art on blogs.
(seriously-the amount of intricate cutting on this makes my fingers hurt.)
Then, on our way to some serious art-store retail therapy, we quickly revisited the Mercury 20 Gallery-but alas, closed. We still got another look at one of our new favorite painters, Tarra Lyons.-love this painting...We ended up bopping around on 4th street in Berkeley-which, by night-fall, was looking alot like you-know-what...and then, on our way outta town, over to Patti's for a quick visit and a late-nite snack (yum!-that was good Patti)-then back home to the shire.

Going in a few different directions...

2006-11-15T12:34:00.000-08:00

Howdy once again. So what's this? I'll get back to you in a minute.
First-- what happened to my "drawing-a-day" project? Short attention span-theater, I guess.
I'll get back to it-- but I'm more in an idea-hunting, sketch-phase just now.
But I have a few drawings I didn't post before-- so let's get those out of the way first.

Some of these look like they might one day "star" in their own painting-- who knows?
So I have been trying to hunt for some new ideas to paint-- I finally bought a new sketchbook-- and, I'm not going to bore anyone with ALL my mental meanderings, but here's a few that I think show promise...
.

(these are supposed to form one composition...the "target" at the far right of the left sketch is the same as the one that surrounds the girl in the right sketch)
(yeah, I been thinking about circus side-show banners...)

This is an idea that's been kicking around for a bit. It's based on an old toy box (the fox magician and rabbit, only I found another rabbit I wanted to use-- Disney's Oswald-- "the lucky rabbit"-- who actually pre-dates Mickey.) Anyway, it continues my circus-themed exploration. I transfered the drawing onto a 4'x4' panel,
but before I could dive in and start painting, I got another idea...

and began tranfering it to another 4'x4' panel, this time first laying down a thin base color-which always helps, but sometimes I get impatient and lazy and transfer my drawing just onto the white-primed panel, creating more work for me later on...
So-- what are these pictures about? I'm not telling.
No, they are continuing my idea to combine several commercial and "popular" forms of art (poster art, label and advertising art, children's book illustrations, comics and toys, etc.) mixed with some cross-cultural fertilization (Chinese New Year's posters, in the case of this second set) to tell a story. What's the story? I'll get back to you on that-- but I'm aware that I am trying to lighten up some.
OK-- well, you'd think I had plenty of starts here, but then I got another idea... remember this painting I did last year...?

I've been thinking about diptychs (and triptychs) again lately. I've also been thinking about the idea of expressing a sense of spirituality with paint and painting. So I've been thinking of India and that brought me back to the bottom half of this painting. Then I found this picture in one of our books...
here's a detail...
and so, that got me to this point last night...
It's also 4' tall, by about 3'. Where does it go from here? I'll get back to you.

Guess I've been distracted...

2006-11-09T18:00:00.000-08:00

The people that follow this blog (all three or four of you) know I've been more than alittle obsessed lately. My next series of paintings? A new sketchbook with new ideas?
No. It was the election-and now, finally, that is over and I can get back to the pursuit of my calling. And I can do so with a renewed sense of hope.
Ok-so. I do have some new paintings about to be begun and some are actually from some of the new ideas I've put down in a new sketchbook, so I'll try to post some quick pics soon. Tomorrow Lisa and I head up north to Sea Ranch to hang with her dad and sister Karen's family-so that'll be fun. For now, I'll copy Lisa's post about our fun and art-filled trip to Oakland last Friday. We'd been hearing about this...a collection of new, young galleries concentrated in a formerly (?) sketchy neighborhood in Oakland-- who collectively have opening receptions on the first Friday of each month. It's called the Art Murmur. Here's a SF Chronicle article about the whole thing... and here's an interesting, longer article, that focuses on some of the potentially more controversial aspects: East Bay Express article. Anyways, we met up with friends Pati, Tara & Paul and hit the street, and it was more fun than we might have even imagined. Aside from the actual artwork displayed inside the galleries, there is a large component of block party, street theater, & performance art.
There was a dixieland jazz-style band playing; people were designing hats out of old sweaters and sewing them right on people's heads.
Many of our favorite actual pieces of art were at the Mercury 20 Gallery (formerly Robert Tomlinson's Studio & Gallery . He is someone both Lisa & I knew Way Back, when he showed art at his then store, 'Plate & Pallette'. (He sold one of my large paintings of my favorite model, Merav).
We also, completely by chance, ran into friends Elisa & Travis, who recently moved from Santa Rosa to Oakland. Elisa said they're about to write up a small business plan, and open a gallery/frame shop in this district. (Travis is the framer, Elisa a painter.) Excellent idea!

This is a nice guy I met, Eric. He said he was security (-'cuz you know how outta control those artists and their crowd can get)
This was one of our favorite artists: Tarra Lyons (she just e-mailed us with her name. We visited her website , and now we like her work even more! (click to enlarge any image)

& here's 2 more from the Mercury 20 Gallery--
Margaret Chavigny & Sheila Metcalf-Tobin.

We were fascinated by these people designing hats on the street. I bet next time both Pati & Tara manage to get one made for them.

Two from the many rooms at Esteban Sabar.

... even stuffed bears need cigarette breaks.

that's Elisa & Travis on the left. (Elisa is gorgeous, and this photo doesn't do her justice! Also, apparently Travis has been seeing my barber.)

Kinetic sculture using... inflatable condoms, what else?

Another busy week-soon I will paint again!

2006-10-23T21:50:00.000-07:00

last year's "Art Farm" piece, "Head Games", temporarily installed in our drive-way, and this year's piece, below. (we're going back to calling the whole thing "This Game Of Life"-with the boy panel called "His Future (Hope or Fear) and the girl's panel called "Her Future..." and the middle called "The Game of Hope or Fear")

Yep. Been a few weeks since my last post. So I quess it's time for a re-cap.
The two ARTrails Open Studio weekends came and went. Lisa did really well-her best in sales yet! I did alright considering I only had 6 paintings for sale. (I decided earlier in the summer that the Burning Man piece was all I was going to have time for). And I think (hope) I made a good impression with most folks with the Burning Man piece and talk of the collaborative process. Because the piece is too crowded in the studio-I find myself really looking forward to giving it the show it really deserves.
Anyway-tons of people. (next time-we hire a photographer, 'cuz we were just too busy to take hardly any shots during the event).Besides the sales, the highlight was definitely meeting some great people-and probably the most fun was the first weekend when our friend Eve came up with her friend Richard and we met two "Burners" that Eve met at B.M.-Susan and Tim, who in turn brought two of their friends-Matt and Michael.
All I can say is "Hey, you guys know how to celebrate life!"
After intros and great wine (mmm...thanks!)-we all went out to the Underwood (restaurant) and just had the best. The best meal and wine and oysters and wine and time. Maybe I'll get some photos from Susan-but anyway-thanks again to you all for that great night.
So-after a slamming Open Studios first weekend...we got outta town.Lisa near Geyserville, at Grandma's Pumpkin Patch
mmm...nice lookin' grapes
Lisa likes the gardens...

this is out in back of the Jimtown Store, where Lisa buy's me some great and bizarre calendar pages and we have a snack.

scene on our way to Cloverdale...

detail from a great Circus poster spotted in a Cloverdale antique store
Anyway, a nice day with my sweetie...

Then on Friday, we hosted many of our fine neighbors (and special guests Barbara and Susan-just outside the photo) for the bi-monthly Graton pot-luck. Really fun-especially loved Susan's quietly magical Burning Man slide show.

And then this last blurry weekend. A great ARTrails-thanks again to all at the Cultural Art's Council and to ARTrails, and to all the great people we met. My head's still spinning.

In fact, today, it was time for a little country bike ride...(sorry for the cheesy imac "special" effects)
hmmm, nice lookin' applesand nice pumpkins (again)
and saw some good yellows too

back to the barn

A Full Weekend...

2006-10-10T10:39:00.000-07:00

Went to the Burning Man Decompression Street party this weekend with Phyxx. Was'nt really planning on going until my "art liason", Bettie June, e-mailed me a pretty-please last week to bring at least part of our piece to the party. I can't say no to that woman apparently. It was a great party-and lots of people had fun in and around our piece...(click to enlarge)

Of course it would have been more fun if Lisa had been able to go-but she was busy hanging her show at the Willow Wood Cafe here in Graton...
Lisa has lots more paintings than I'm showing here-the show's up for at least a month-maybe two-check it out if you can.
(this last one, of course, is the piece that the owners, Mathew and Lulu, bought. I knew it'd look good here.)

2 more drawings...

2006-10-04T14:21:00.000-07:00

a few more drawings...some of these are being used as last-minute "fill" for areas in the Art Farm piece that I always thought needed a bit more-mostly the "girl" panel. I think they'll also form the basis for the next Art Farm pieces-which I hope to get under way after Open Studios.
Here's a detail of the "girl" panel...
and here's Lisa outside our studio on a rather misty October day-I don't think she's happy about getting her picture taken just now...

after a few days off...

2006-10-01T12:08:00.000-07:00

today's drawing

2006-09-26T23:44:00.000-07:00

I was looking at Walt (Disney) again. I changed a few things.

back at it (Lisa Guest Blogs)

2006-09-25T22:33:00.000-07:00

The whole game project is largely re-installled in Tony's side of the studio, and tonight found Tony putting on some of those last touches we didn't have time for, pre-Burning Man.
--L

Two More...

2006-09-25T16:03:00.000-07:00

Here's yesterday's drawing and today's. As always, click to enlarge

Drawing A Day project

2006-09-24T18:31:00.000-07:00

Well, the Burning Man project has got me thinking that I don't do enough drawing-so I'm going to attempt to do one little, modest drawing a day. I'm doing this with the idea that I'd like to continue, concurrently with my own paintings, large-scale pieces with Art Farm Motel-which might be just a handful of artist-collaborators, or might be alot. Anyway, this idea is still percalating. But here's my first new drawings-

More Burning Man Pics

2006-09-19T22:31:00.000-07:00

(from "Malcolm In The Middle". Most of the pictures were pulled from Flickr-let me know if you took it and I'll credit you)Center Camp during the day-this is the cafe' where people relax or get coffee or watch performances
or try to escape Tuesday's dust storm. (Good luck)one of our favorite art-carsanother one-this one ran on solarthis is the giant bra I saw with Michael and Frederick at the C.T. party. My friend Amy worked on it-and in fact-is this her? Mark or Lois-do you know?Marie Antoinette was obviously also at the C.T. ride-we saw her at the Temple burn Sunday night. She even had what sounded like a French accent. Amazing.the "Hope" and "Fear" flowers that squared off against one another at the "Waffle" burn on Sunday. There were tapeze artists dangling from these that night as wellthe "Hope" flower"I.T." by Michael Christian. Night of the burn several of our party climbed up inside-with Frederick (You're a madman Fred!) hanging upside-down by his ankles on the outside while the whole top part of this cool sculpture slowly spun. And he lived to tell the tale!another one of my favorite art-cars this year. The jackels' feet moved very convincingly, like they were really walking!our camp's own!-This is Rhody's car, with Phyxx there off to the sidethis was definitely a great crowd pleaser-the "Big Round Cubatron". But you'd really have to see the thing in motion to appeciate it. Here's another shot...
this year's temple. Alot of people said things like, "too bad it was dwarfed by the Uchronia and Conexus cathedral...", as if it's size were the important thing. 'Cuz by week's end, when you ride on out and read the sad and heart-felt goodbyes and witness the amazing humanity and embrace someone who is so filled with mourning, yeah-it's not about size.but if you're looking for size...The Conexus Cathedral, and of course...
The "Waffle"! Someone said "This is the largest thing I ever want to see on fire." Um, yeh, I guess me too.

BACK!

2006-09-06T16:48:00.000-07:00

(Amazing photo of the Burn, pulled from Flickr)

Wow, I was only out of it for a week-not bad for Burning Man.
Well, the piece went up and it looked much better than these photos could show. If you were there you know. People really seemed to like the piece-and I know some that loved it. It was fun meeting them all. And our camp was great this year-really good times. And good energy (when we had some). And if you are one of the artists that contributed drawings for the piece and you were there-first, I hope I did right by your work-I tried my best to honor all the great contributions and hope you liked the piece-so yeah, again and always-thank you tons for helping to make it. (When I collect myself further I'll post all the names of the artists that participated in the piece as well as info on up-coming showings of it.) Also-sorry for not organizing an artist get-together at the piece-by Wednesday there I was pretty out-of-it tired and then Lisa finally showed up-and the rest is a blur...)

So- Burning Man was great. It's always great-just sometimes better. This baby here-"The Uchronia", or, and no disrespect to the amazing Belgians-"The Waffle"-rocked! One of the best clubs on the playa at night. Ounce for ounce, inspired more awe than anything else out there (not counting the stamina of one of our camp-mates).

These two great art/vehicle pieces were among my favorites.
The Starry Mandala -made of bamboo. Very cool.

Definitely one of my faves-the Flaming Lotus Girl's best piece ever-The Serpent Mother and her egg.and at night, she really came to life!

More fotos of the event and camp and mates to follow-but here's some pics of "The Game of Hope or Fear" as installed in The Pavilion in Black Rock City.
(click for detail)
from outside the Pavilion (a glimpse of Alex Grey's back-entrance installaton "suite"-more pics on that later)
then through to our piece (with some from above on the deck beneath the Man).

THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO HELPED, AND EVERYONE THAT LIKED THE PIECE AND SMILED AND MAYBE EVEN SAID THANKS TO US. WE DID IT ESPECIALLY FOR YOU!

AND... check out these amazing panoramic shots, sent to us by Gene Cooper, who was involved with the project next to us in the 'pavilion'. Click on "Full Screen", and use your mouse to navigate. Our 'Game' piece appears in the photo third from the bottom...

360 Burning Man Views

going, going, gone

2006-08-27T10:53:00.000-07:00

...as of 11:30pm last night they were in Sparks Nevada, so I have every reason to believe they arrived on the playa near 2am.
Today will be a busy day of installation...

soon, soon...

2006-08-24T01:19:00.000-07:00

all this will be leaving for the playa.
In the meantime, added glazes push these pieces along, and stamps add lettering to the game wheels... (click to enlarge)

Two Days Left!!

2006-08-22T09:35:00.000-07:00

Well, ok, now we're finally getting there. Lisa kicked some ass yesterday in her glazing-and our hero Lori came by once again to finish drawing in the snakes on the "girl" panel-who should be looking like the "boy" by late tonight."You should not have come back...hmmm, the force is strong in this one...oh well."

Sunday Night at the Art Farm

2006-08-20T23:41:00.000-07:00

The Game Board. Lisa spent the weekend working up a beautiful set of warm color washes (or "glazes") for the game board. My late-night, low-light photo does'nt do it justice.
The "Girl" panel (minus the right side of her face-which is across the room). She's almost ready for the final varnish-just a bit more drawing and collaging to do. Gary Amaro spent the whole day and evening here working his magic on the birds, with Lisa adding alittle assist at the end. (We may wait until the girl and background gets started in color before finishing up the birds here.)
The "Boy" panel (sorry again for poor quality fotos!)-I'll be beginning my glazing of color onto this panel somewhere around midnight-and hope to finish most of it by late tomorrow. And it's hard to see them clearly-but Gary's ravens are looking really great-hopefully I won't mess 'em up in the final stretch! Again-thanks a ton Gary-and it was really great talkin' shop and music with you. Hope you and Claire have a fabulous weekend up this-a-way.
And speaking of thanks-I've just been too busy to blog my incredible thanks to everyone who has contributed to this monster of a project-and I suppose it's a bit premature to be talking about the project as if it's done (still several long days and nights to go)-but the hard part really is done-and that was done by the over 60 artists and cutters and gluers and other helpers that are the soul of this project and piece. Especially Suzanna and Lori-and again, Gary. And I finally got some great, almost late drawings from Wendy Addison, Lauren Ari, & Michael Coy last week that just barely made the deadline, anyway-thank you for being part of this! Oh, and thanks so much to Jason D'Aquino for the scans-they were all so amazing! Thank you!
Of course, biggest, most loving thanks to my partner in all this, who really in pretty much all ways has been a part-a huge part-in the struggle of bringing this beast to fruition, thanks Lisa.
OK-back to it-the project and i leave in 4 days! And there's still 7 days of work to do.

Two Art Farmers

2006-08-17T20:10:00.000-07:00

...discussing the crop

Michael Coy, artist extraordinaire & one of our partners from Arches Gallery, makes some creative links on the piece. Michael is our latest Burning Man recruit (we think)-- he will go for the first time this year-- right?