IFTTT

If this then that.

In my college course on artificial intelligence I learned how life can be modeled as sets of rules structured this way. Amidst the chaos it does seem that much of our existence can follow this structure.

It's just hard to follow, though. Like why Stevie Ray Vaughan ended up on that last minute fateful flight. Like why the piece I painted for Jason had to be of this portrait of Stevie Ray so that now I cry painting it because... well you know.

Anyway, IFTTT is easy to follow. And cool. It's a site/app/community thing that pulls together iOS functionality with lots of social media sites allowing one to create a 'recipe' taking the input from one 'channel' and generating output to another. It's very versatile and user friendly. I've scratched the surface with recipes to automatically spread posts to this blog on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. We'll see what else I might cook up.

Peace.

____________________________

creating art on the artifacts of creativity

http://danieledlen.com

We Need Music To Keep Us Sane

Yeah. Well said by Ann who commissioned this Neil Young. Here's how she explained why she wanted the piece:

"I would like Neil Young on the Rust Never Sleeps album. Also, if possible, I would like Neil's picture to be of him at about that time... so, younger than the one I saw of Neil on your website.

My brother died when he was 23 - very unexpectedly. He was a great fan of Neil (as am I). He had been learning to play "The Thrasher" on his acoustic guitar. About 2 months before his death, my brother and I went to see the Movie - Rust Never Sleeps.

Neil is my hero - but it would also be my own private reminder of a special memory of my brother, Mike."

That's why I create these.

Shortly after Jason died I wrote http://vinylart.blogspot.com/2008/05/music-keeps-me-together.html. It's long-winded and philosophical, as I was trying to get a handle on an unhandleable event.

Still trying.

Peace.

SOLD - Neil Young 08/04/09

On How Life Is

A great album to drive my painting, Macy Gray's debut is wonderful. It's one of those softly philosophical records, with a couple moments deep about Life's end. Gnarls Barkley's "St. Elsewhere" is another, beautiful and thoughtful with awesome music. If you watch the video, listen to the lyrics.

Anyway, my brain, I'll tell ya. This morning I practically jumped outta bed, with more energy than I've had for awhile. I tried Afrin yesterday and apparently it helped me sleep better. I got so excited about doing my art, about our possible move, and about two new possible projects involving my Vinyl Art I was pacing around the house talking to myself. Both projects involve publishing, one in print, the other digitally. These are thoughts with no substance yet. All potential. So we'll see.

Then, after painting this piece, my energy drained. My focus blurred. Angels and demons, the emotions with which I breathe Life into this body, messing with me. Ahh, the rollercoaster of Life. I'm still very excited about what's going on, but I just can't concentrate on it right now. So, if you want to read a more coherent blog post about direction in Life that is very inspiring, check this out. Please just read the whole thing. Ken's a really nice guy, and this is brilliant.

Peace.

Come Together (Yes, Think Beatles Too)

Listening to The Verve on my wife's iPod while painting Jared Followill of KOL this morning, I remembered seeing the London reunion show of Ashcroft and Co. We stood in front of bassist Simon Jones at that concert, front row. So awesome. Both Si and Jared are amazing, driving their bands' music, I think. KOL's recent release "Only By The Night" really shows Jared's talent.

But they're part of a band, a team. Each foursome combines their talents to create their magic. Richard Ashcroft wasn't as transcendent as a solo artist. Good, but not magic. There's something about McCabe's ethereal guitar layered on top of Si's bass, next to Richard's voice, punctuated by Salisbury's drums. Gives me chills. I know, it's long, but stick it out.

And don't get me started on KOL. Holy shit, they're amazing. Just watch the whole song.

My wife, my in-laws, and I made a very special Christmas gift for Jason's girls. We worked really well as a team. Each of us did our part: dad on construction, mom on sewing, my wife on design, me on artistic execution. It was so much more satisfying to have our energy focussed together. It makes one feel more human to work with many. I suppose that's what it's all about.

Especially this time of year.

Peace. And Merry Christmas.

Ignorance Or Bliss

This is for my neice, Jason's older daughter. Losing my brother-in-law is a pain, a knowledge, I could do without. Blissful ignorance. But this isn't about that.

I don't like being ignored. The reason isn't my ego. Well, partially it is. But not entirely.

The main reason is that I know people are missing out on something cool. If they ignore me, then they don't get to see my art. This probably sounds pretty arrogant, the self-important professional artist spouting off about how good his art is again. Maybe it is.

But I know what a kick people get out of seeing my art, maybe not bliss, but certainly a bit of enjoyment. I don't necessarily mean buying one for themselves or even giving one as a gift. I mean just seeing them. Taking the moment to get what it is, to remember their favorite music, to wonder what that would look like as a piece of Vinyl Art, and then maybe wanting one enough to tell somebody else about it.

So, I know I can't ask the people who ignore me why they do. But I can ask you, you who've been so kind as to read this, check out a few of those old posts, and give that bit of attention, that energy, that moment of your life to see my art. I can ask you, are you glad you know?

Also, like the above posts all from before, does anybody know how to get back blissful ignorance?

Anyone? Anyone? Anyone?

Peace.

SOLD - Billie Joe Armstrong 11/19/08

You Can Tell A Lot About A Person If They Like The Coen Brothers

My friend, Barbara, gave me this award. Finding its origin here, I'll follow its directions:

"You are never a burden.. don't ever think that. Friends need each other to pick them up when they are down and I would do nothing less."
Dawn Drover~ Twisted Sister

A Million Dollar Friend is the kind of person who instinctively knows what it means to be a good friend; this kind of person makes you look forward to the days ahead and fondly remember the days that have passed.
A Nice Place In The Sun

I had just started my contest when 4 days later Jason died suddenly (clicking on his name will bring up all the posts chronicalling my dealing with his loss). It still takes a lot to keep focussed on current tasks and I burst into tears at rather random triggers. For example, while researching this award, I ended up on a site that played Christmas music. Last holiday season we had Jason. That hit hard, thinking about this coming winter without him.

My contest took a back seat to all the family stuff during that first month, but I had one really good entry. Patrick submitted a story about a Grateful Dead concert experience. After I informed him he'd won, he sent me a heartfelt email that at once made me feel both reconnected to the world and painfully aware of how my view of the world had been shaken.

It was nice to feel support from someone online out there. I am so lucky to be part of my wife's family who are so close and open and supportive and wonderful, but Patrick was a "million dollar friend" when I needed it. He's got a fun blog, loves The Dead and Springsteen, and has great taste in humor, wishing Bill Murray would get more credit and listing "The Big Lebowski" as his top funny movie (can't wait to see "Burn After Reading"). Oh, and he's got some kick-ass ties.


Peace.

The Freedom In Discipline

In the wonderful yin-yang of life, if you think about it, aren't rules and boundaries freeing? My oldest lab whines and stresses until she knows for a fact what her physical boundaries are. As we grow up, we test social boundaries, stressing until we know with what we and those around us are comfortable. As adults, we delight in dancing over that line in Vegas or Mexico or on Spring Break.

Don't you worry at work if you don't know what is expected of you?

As a professional artist, I'm my own boss. Great in theory, but in practice, a big challenge. It is a big challenge to stay accountable to oneself. This past week after painting a piece a day for Primitive Kool, I've decided to set that as a goal for myself, my future self. I'm telling myself that I expect myself to paint a piece a day. I'm setting up my own guideline.

So now I can relax and follow my own rule. Pretty neat I think. Good way to keep focussed on my art too. I'll bet there are a LOT of posts out there about this very thing, but if you don't experiment yourself, then it isn't your experience yet, right?. I found that when I wasn't painting, doing my "work", I felt disheartened. Don't get me wrong, Jason's sudden death accounted for most of my heartache, but at least this way, with this rule in place, I'm free to do what I need to do for my business.

What's been your experience with the freedom rules provide?

Peace.

SOLD - Johnny Cash 05/19/08

Inclusion: Circus Mexicus Rocked!

My eyes are still a little blurry, bleary, whatever. Or is that the photo...

I tried to take a shot of the wristband, my new bottle opener keychain, and The Refreshment's early album, "Wheelie". That album was Jason's prize CD in his collection, having been on board with Roger Clyne when his group was just known locally here in Tempe. Now I know why he liked them so much, and why they've amassed such a strong fanbase.

Inclusion. Again, yes it's what it's about. My first time in Mexico and my first RCPM show, Circus Mexicus was seriously good. From "Mexico" to "Nada" it was amazing. Around 50 songs! Two mammoth sets. And does Clyne know how to interact with his tribe? Hell yes. From acknowledging those who've made it to all 16 concerts on the beach at Rocky Point to welcoming newcomers, he repeatedly thanked his people for coming together at his favorite thing. Making sure we were on board with the new album and playing requests for old obscure songs written on huge beach balls, he gave away what he wanted to receive. It's in his songs, after all.

They ROCKED! Damn good rock-n-roll. It's the one commercially successful rock band I've heard that sounds to me uniquely Arizonan. They put on a hell of a show too. His voice is wonderful; we couldn't believe he could sing for so long. Guitarist Steve Larson played some kick-ass solos too. We'd hoped that they would play Jason and my wife's favorite song, "Loco to Stay Sane", but they didn't. So'k.

So, revitalized, but at the same time saddened Jason couldn't be there but in spirit, I'm going to continue to reach out to those, like the RCPM fans, passionate about their music and their culture.

"Hello New Day", thank you, Jason.

Peace.

Politics Is The Art Of Controlling Your Environment

"That is one of the key things I learned in these years, and I learned it the hard way. Anybody who thinks that "it doesn't matter who's President" has never been Drafted and sent off to fight and die in a vicious, stupid War on the other side of the World -- or been beaten and gassed by Police for trespassing on public property -- or been hounded by the IRS for purely political reasons -- or locked up in the Cook County Jail with a broken nose and no phone access and twelve perverts wanting to stomp your ass in the shower. That is when it matters who is President or Governor or Police Chief. That is when you will wish you had voted."

-- HST (Jason's and my wife's favorite author)

Here's to your birthday, sweetheart!

Passion

Melanie is for a fellow passionate about his cause: getting her nominated and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He is the audience I am most trying to reach with my art: the people who believe so strongly in the music they love that they champion causes to get that music the attention and recognition they feel it deserves.

I feel fortunate to have a means to express my own passions for art and music. Passion, though, has several meanings to humanity. It can be warm, deep affection, but also can be intense agony and suffering. According to Biblical writings, the Passion describes the process of Christ's crucifixion. It signifies strong emotion and desire. Overwhelming.

So it happens that two of my favorites albums are related specifically to the Passion of Christ: St. Luke Passion by Penderecki and Passion: Music for The Last Temptation of Christ by Peter Gabriel.

The first is a contemporary oratorio composed in 1966 by a Polish composer who I was introduced to by my high school physics teacher. Playing for us "Utrenja", another composition about the entombment and resurrection of Christ which was used in the Soundtrack of Kubrick's "The Shining", over the huge speakers in his room that really projected the music's atonal wall of sound, Mr. Layton opened my mind to a whole new type of music. It's certainly not for everybody, but it demonstrates music's capacity for communicating raw emotion.

The second is the album created from Gabriel's soundtrack for Scorcese's controversial film based on the 1961 book by Kazantzakis. It too communicates powerful deep feelings, accomplished with Middle Eastern and African rhythms and harmonies. In a Q&A for the Florida Music Festival, I was asked who my favorite musician of all time is, and I responded with Peter Gabriel. His music has inspired me the most over the years, from his days with Genesis, to his innovative MTV videos, to his own passion for "world music". I was listening to his most recent album, "Up", while painting Melanie. The song "I Grieve" made me burst into tears, thinking about Jason.

I'm sorry to leave this post on a sad note, but I am this week powerfully, miserably sad. I miss Jas terribly. I had a dream with him in it, the first one I could clearly remember that he was in, and awoke hollering "Help!" because I was drowning. Sobbing, I couldn't go back to sleep for hours. Since that, I can very clearly hear his voice again in my head. Remembering that is good and bad, stirring up happy memories and heart-wrenching grief. I guess that's why "passion" applies to the range of intensely felt emotions of humanity.

Peace. Be well.

A Month And A Day

Tada! No glare streaks! Just a little bit at the edge. For $100, it works pretty dang well. I can mess with the positioning of the lights too, maybe to minimize even that fuzzy spot. For this one I only used one light on the left side. There's a second light too, both are slick with built in tripods. The backdrop in the box is a nice blue too, so the color balance didn't require any adjusting. I do still need to kick up the brightness and contrast a touch, as it came out a little dark, but the above picture has no adjustments other than sizing and cropping. I can also get the album basically vertical because the backdrop fabric continues underneath and becomes the bottom of the box too, and the little tripod positions the camera so I don't have to fix the proportions either. I used to have to widen the top and increase the height to get it square. It's really neat though, kind of bounces the light all around inside to diffuse it. Anyway, I'm excited.

So, a month and a day after the end of my contest, I'm ready to ship it to the winner! Pretty cool day too: sold three at a local gallery, got a commission on a referral, got offered free records including apparently a Beatles, and got an email from a 9th grader saying I had inspired part of her art project and that she was going to write an essay about me! Me! I've also been accepted to contribute work to the Florida Music Festival Rock Walk. The best thing is my brain is allowing me to focus today. My wife's too, which makes me feel the most positive of anything. I hope it lasts.

Peace. Be well.

GIFTED - Jerry Garcia 04/02/08

Reluctant Enthusiasm

More paradoxicalness. I don't think that's a word, but in any case, another pair of opposite feelings acting simultaneously. I'm getting great feedback on Flickr about my pieces for Art on Vinyl 3 and I am excited about the show in New York, but at the same time I'm still struggling with the demons brought on by Jason's death. So it's hard to really focus on my artwork while trying to find acceptance.

Maybe I can look to Dylan and Lennon. Both resisted being iconic figures in New York, but both continued doing what they did, figuring out a way to accept the unwanted role. I liked finding the new photo of Bob from a promo poster for his book, "Tarantula". Made for a nice pairing with the one of John. Maybe somebody'll buy both together at the P/Art Show. Like pretty much all the paintings you can see in this blog, they're also available on commission.

Speaking of commissions, I already got the New York Dolls album from Canada to paint for the guy I connected with in The Vinyl Engine Forum. Now I've got to find a good picture of the pre-punk rockers. I also found the Grateful Dead album to use for my contest winner's piece on eBay for cheap and it's on its way. So those are next.

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!