Mind Expansion (Or What Turns You On?)

Steve Winwood and Traffic participated in that magical time of the late '60s/early '70s, that explosion of human creativity and cultural upheaval.

I've talked before about expanding my horizons and motivating myself as an artist. Beyond that, I'm feeling the need to broaden my horizons in general, not just with regards to art. I'm talking about inspiration from humanity.

My wife, my in-laws, our new puppy and I are driving to Austin this weekend to visit Jenn and the girls for a week. We're going to see the Menil Collection/Rothko Chapel down in Houston again and other fun stuff, so that'll be inspiring in a lot of ways. We're also going to be there during the first week of SXSW. I don't know if we're going to attend any events, but the city will be teeming with creativity and culture. So that'll be cool too.

Also, I'm in contact with a local guy who is connected with cool people in worlds very different from mine, but who're also interested in human creativity and culture. We'll see what comes of it fairly quickly, I'm thinking. Should be fun, breaking out of my comfort zone.

Beyond that, I'd like to ask something of you. Will you tell me one online source of inspiration for you? Like your favorite blog or a cool set of photos on Flickr or whatever. Really? You will? Thank you so much!

Peace.

Steve Winwood 03/03/09

Family And Friends

Stevie Ray for my brother-in-law in Austin and Lennon for our friend down in Tucson. I love giving gifts! I'm painting these for music-lovers who share our passion, so why not give them away too? Obviously I need to sell some, and the holiday season is the perfect time to get your commissions in, but sharing the love of music is what it's all about. This weekend I'm going to try to find the ones I'll do for Free Art Seattle. More giving. I'm looking forward to participating in other shows like it. If you know about art shows in your area that you think my work might fit into, please let me know!

I also created a profile at XING, kinda like LinkedIn. We'll see what connections I make there. Also, happened upon LiveVideo, so I created my channel there too. Basically, it's a duplicate of my YouTube channel, but it'll reach a whole new group of people. I'm tellin' ya, if I ever have to change E-mail addresses with the number of accounts I have... yikes. I just want people out there to know about what I'm doing and to give you all as many ways to find and connect with me as possible. I'm hoping to get more regular subscribers to this blog, but I'll take what I can get. Just give me feedback! Also, sorta important, if you haven't seen my online gallery, please:

CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE AT: http://www.vinylart.info/

and E-mail or even call me. Don't be shy, I won't bite.

GIFTED - Stevie Ray Vaughan and John Lennon 11/30/07

Best 3 Things About Austin, TX

1. My brother-in-law Jason lives near there.

2. http://www.keepaustinweird.com/

3. Wild About Music, the first gallery to show my work, has sold yet another Led Zeppelin! They took a chance on me and sold a Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix, Louis Armstrong, Willie Nelson, Stevie Ray Vaughan, B.B. King, and a bunch of Zeppelins. So if you're in the Austin area checking out 6th Street, drop in and say hello!

And, if you want to see more examples of pieces like Page and Plant:

CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE AT WWW.VINYLART.INFO

Now I can buy more records and frames!