Moments of Surprise

This is the display including that Hendrix. It was installed at the Chandler Fashion Center the day before Thanksgiving. What timing! It'll be up indefinitely too, so we'll see what kind of attention and business it brings.

It came about because of the fellow who had me do http://vinylart.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-stones-project.html?m=0 awhile back. He saw my exhibit years ago in a restaurant in Pacific Palisades, CA where I grew up. He then referred a couple other people who work with him and then had me paint the Stones. He works for Macerich, the company that manages a lot of malls on the coasts and in the Phoenix metro area, having bought Westcor. It turns out they are trying to soften the advertising feel with moments of surprise. My moment of surprise was the national SVP head of marketing contacting me to ask if I'd be interested in having my work on display in a local mall. Holy smokes. 

And this is the result. What's up on top is a BIG TV with my new Timelapse video of the Hendrix that they bought for the display. http://youtu.be/_o7zdo8_Aw0 is that video. It shows the full piece from start to finish in under 3 minutes. I love how the video came out. I edited it in Windows Moviemaker, of all things.

Along with the painting are displayed 2 stills taken in a photo shoot by my friend Zane Ewton of http://zefflerphoto.wordpress.com/ that show stages of the piece. Zane really knows how to tell a story with his work and the shots help to tell the story of my work in the display. 

I don't know what will come of this at all. They might want to do more at other malls, and I'm hoping to do one at the Santa Monica Place, again where I grew up. We'll see. Whatever is supposed to happen always does.

And that's certainly something for which to be thankful. So Happy Thanksgiving!

Peace.

Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing is a term usually used literarily. However it's kind of perfect for my work too. The black of the vinyl is all foreshadowing in a sense, creating the depth out of which I bring the faces. It feels more like I'm sculpting the face with the white acrylic, not painting it. For whatever reason, this idea, this technique, this process makes sense to my brain, creating these reverse newspaper photographs.

This Jimi Hendrix is a piece that's particularly exciting because of where it will be displayed soon. I can't say yet because of where but I'm hoping it'll be big.

More #foreshadowing.

Direct

Things are happening! Just now 2 people stopped in front of our house to get flyers at the same time. We're going to sell it. I know it. We've finally decided on the general area we're looking at in southern California as well.

So my art is doing well too, which is good for the transition to supporting my family with it. Yep. And it's happening the way I like it, unexpectedly.

Neil Young for a repeat customer in Italy as a Christmas gift.

Jimi Hendrix for an upcoming super-cool exhibition in a corporate gallery in NYC of 24 of my pieces, replacing the Hendrix that just sold as a birthday gift to the bass player in an extremely big important prog-metal band who's friends with a waiter at the restaurant in Pacific Palisades displaying 20 other of my pieces through the holidays.

Frank Zappa for a surprise gift to my parents neighbor, a guitarist in another seriously cool important band.

I need to be direct because Abbey is about to wake up. And I need to be direct with my art, selling to the customer, to the music people. A unique method for a unique offering.

Peace.

Starting With The Best

This is the first of what I hope to be many guest posts from my friend, Zane Ewton. You'll see why.

------
by Zane Ewton

Deep into the swinging 1960s, an alien descended from some far off, R&B soul rock planet. He landed on London’s Carnaby Street and outfit himself in the latest fashions. He didn’t say, “Take me to your leader.” He assumed leadership.

Vinyl Art is an exceptional marriage of music and image. It is all about the music, of course. Why else are you here? But do not lie to yourself. These musicians, artists and performers that Daniel immortalizes within the grooves of their own creation are all iconic images in popular culture. Few are more iconic than Jimi Hendrix.

Jimi Hendrix is one of the elite rock and roll artists that everybody knows and loves. Children are born with an innate knowledge of Hendrix. Anyone more than 40 years old was in the field as he played “The Star Spangled Banner” at Woodstock. The rest of us carry him around like the Abe Lincoln penny in our pocket. Hendrix exists outside of time and space.

A simple image of his face conjures the revolution of his musicianship and showmanship. Guitars and afros blazing; the Experience in full flight. The grooves in the record deepen his soulful songwriting. Hendrix was the sizzle and the steak. Soul and bombast. The electric church.
------

See?

Peace.

On The Wing

So I'm shooting for at least one blog post a week, instead of once a day. Clearly my priorities and time have shifted. Which is a challenge in the sense that I can't promote my business as I did. I'm having to figure out what will be more efficient and effective, and before doing it.

The way I promoted my art before was rather haphazard. I've got fun stories about specific commissions and projects, like the one about these 5 pieces going to a guy in New Jersey for his new place who emailed me not only knowing who he wanted, but sending me the images he wanted as well. Yet selling pieces was hardly predictable or consistent. I'm hoping it can be. It feels like new territory for art though. Artists typically don't look at their work as a business in the typical sense, I don't think. Maybe I'm wrong. So I don't quite know what I'm doing, basically. It's a little scary.

I mean I want to be able to support a wife, a daughter, and 4 dogs with Vinyl Art. But I don't want to go the traditional gallery representation route. Nor is my art traditional in the first place. I've felt that way a lot in my life, in no man's land a bit. Not as grandiose as charting new territory or anything. Just not normal. But then what's normal?

I can't just wing it anymore though. Fumbling is unacceptable now.

I need to fly. I'm learning how, on the wing.

Peace.

On The Wall

Jon was kind enough to send me a shot of the 4 pieces he commissioned as they hang on his wall. This is a cool layout! It's a nice alternative to the square. Even though it was really hard to sell these, I'm so glad they've found a good home.

I love getting to catch up on the story of my pieces, following them where they go. I've talked about this before, missing out when I consign pieces because I don't know who buys them, or when pieces get bought at charity auctions. But I have been lucky enough to have several owners send me pictures of their Vinyl Art.

If you own one or gave one to someone, I'd love to know what people think, and a picture would be awesome. If you can send one, just email it to me!

Peace.

Preparation Prevents Perspiration

So yesterday I didn't do a post because I kind of overwhelmed myself. I got so excited the night before about my Bookmans news that I bit off more than I could chew with my to-do list and I ended up discouraging myself. When really I had done a lot.

I have to be careful with myself, because I tend to swing pendulums to extremes. From no change to let's change everything! But being prepared is a good thing. I'm learning that for sure. And I'm learning that shortcuts are long on cost, end up causing more work down the road.

My website is one example. What seems like ages ago, NOTCOT did a post about me. It's one of those 'what's cool' sites. I had a huge traffic spike to my website. But I hadn't really designed it well, procrastinating because I couldn't make it perfect. I was amazed that I had even one sale directly from that post. I got freaked out because I didn't have any kind of inventory control or note about variations in commissions or anything. Sweating bullets that morning. Frenzy.

Now, my site's in better shape, partially because I was preparing for this. So now I'm ready. Not sweating. Excitement.

I've gotta get painting!

Peace.

Hard To Sell

I knew if I hung these up I'd have a hard time taking them back off the wall and shipping them off. I knew it.

Peace.

Three For Thursday, Three Times!

Syd Barrett of early Pink Floyd is for our friend Doug's son's birthday. I'm giving it to him in exchange for an awesome collection of '60s and '70s albums. Doug, like my wife and I, is nuts about music. In fact, he and my wife met at a concert when she was following the Black Crowes during their early days. I'm not sure what I'll do with the albums he gives me, but it'll be special.


Mike Love of the Beach Boys is another one for the David Lynch Foundation! The Beach Boys are doing a benefit concert early next month for DLF and they decided to have me do another one to auction. So cool. Mike is going to not only see this, he's going to sign it! Hopefully I'll get a picture of him doing so, but at the very least I'll get the painting back signed to frame, so I can take a shot then. I'll keep you updated about the David Lynch and this piece as far as the actual auction.

This Hendrix is for the guy with stellar taste who also commissioned the Peter Gabriel, Roger Waters, and Jim Morrison I painted recently. They look so cool together, it's going to be hard to part with them. But I'll take a shot of them framed all together before boxing and shipping them.

Speaking of commissions, I also just got a commission this morning from another guy with awesome taste. He wants Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Thelonious Monk on albums with 'blue' in the title, IN BLUE! So cool. I've already bought the albums on eBay and am really looking forward to painting them. Another set of three.

Things are really getting exciting right now for whatever reason. A friend online noted that it seems I have something new going on every day. I hope it stays that way as I roll with more commissions, more exposure and more charity connections. My goal is to, sooner than later, be able to support our family with my art. And, since we're about to have a baby in January, I need to be working on probably at least 2 pieces a day. We'll see. I'm hopeful the Universe's plan heads in this direction. I'm trying to do what I can.

Along those lines, I've got over 50 fans on Facebook now! Pretty sweet. A bunch of people I don't even know yet. Even better. I really hope that page can be a gathering place for people who like what I do, and human creativity in general, getting some good discussions going. Make it about music trivia or deep philosophy, whatever, I'm game. I'll jump in when I have something to say and I'll post updates of relevant exciting stuff. So, if you're on Facebook and haven't yet, check it out!

Also, I'm still doing my monthly email newsletter with continuing stories of my life and art, presented in a little bit more organized fashion than this blog. If you'd like to subscribe, please email me and let me know!

And on a 3rd front, following the 3 paintings and commission of 3 pieces, for those out there reading regularly, please share this blog. At the bottom of every post, there's a button to share the individual post on pretty much every social site out there. The same button is in the sidebar if you want to share the whole blog. The more people who know, the more people who know! :)

Peace.

Someday We'll Move There, You'll See

2 paintings, clear-coating 4, wrapping and shipping all in one day! Whew. Well, I want to make the deadline!

See, I just found out about an invitation only, art on vinyl show in London next month. London! I was tagged recently on Facebook to do a list of concerts I've seen. Turned out most were British bands, Peter Gabriel, Arctic Monkeys, Verve, Oasis, Kasabian, Gomez, Stereophonics... Heck we even WENT to London to see the Verve. Best show my wife and I have seen, and she's seen over 50 bands!

I WISH I could've seen Pink Floyd. One of the few bands I've sought out live bootlegs on vinyl, to be engulfed by their show would've been incredible. Like Jeff, who entered my contest with his story about "Wish You Were Here", Floyd was the first prog rock band I got into.

So I've been waiting for a show in London. These are the pieces I sent today, having painted Page and Lennon this morning. Strummer I'd painted before, as well as Hendrix. It should be a cool show, with some artists I've met on Flickr. We'll see how it goes and I'll share any pictures I get of the event.

Peace.

David Gilmour 08/08/09

Ahh, Life

Santana is one of the honorary members of the advisory board of the MPP I talked about yesterday. It'd be amazing if he got to see my pieces of Bob Marley, or even better, one of himself, someday.

He's really one of my favorite guitarists. The passion that comes out of his instrument is overwhelming. Certainly not simply excellent technique. I feel like my work shows more than just technique, but only you can know if it does when you see it.

That's the beauty of human creativity, it has global, eternal meaning based upon individual, ephemeral connections. For example, among other events, Woodstock solidified Hendrix's unbelievable mass connection with our culture, but it truly relied upon the presence of all the people there. Such is Life, the Universe and Everything.

I continue to marvel at how Life works, things happening when they're supposed to, people playing their role in the grand scheme. This isn't to say there isn't free will, which I've talked about before, but things happen for a reason and people are in your lives for a reason. Lessons to be learned, your Life to live.

The trick is to be open to what Life has planned, and enjoy the ride and your part in it!

Peace.

Up Front

Shelley has my work up front in the window at Wild About Music on 6th in Austin, TX. Very cool. Hendrix sold last month so I get to replace it with another piece on consignment.

She's been wonderful to work with from the start. The start is, after all, the important part in a relationship with a gallery, or really between any two parties.

Getting the issues squared away upfront sets up the guidelines and framework for the entire relationship, the whole tone. WAM's contract is stellar, and they even added a couple clauses on my request that clarified some additional points. I felt trusted. Even though they have an online presence, they don't yet sell my work online, but Shelley certainly wants to ensure that neither of us is undercutting the other. We even went through a price increase on her end successfully.

Now, I had the opposite happen with another gallery. I should've known, again, from the start as I was treated with suspicion and my integrity questioned based upon that gallery's experience with other artists. Among other things, they didn't want my last name to be associated with my work, and they wanted me to ultimately stop promoting myself online.

After some back and forth communication, we did initially arrive at an agreement and they signed the first contract they'd ever signed with an artist. Yep, they'd never made contracts before. I modelled the agreement after mine with WAM. So I was protected, if not insulated from their distrust. Eventually we ended our relationship as they couldn't understand me or look beyond their own hangups.

It's that communication that enables understanding. Yes, the structure of the relationship between artist and gallery, musician and record label, creator and distributor is changing, but if the issues are addressed at the outset, then both parties feel comfortable enough to readdress those issues and to consider new issues as they arise. Creatives and middlemen might live on different planets, but if Venusians (women) and Martians (men) can relate successfully, then we can too. Just be upfront.

Peace.

ON CONSIGNMENT - Jimi Hendrix 04/21/09

On The Move

You don't want to see what's below this photo and the rest of the room. Yet, anyway. I'm workin' on it. It's taken the last couple days to get this far, having had to unearth parts of the room not seen since 2005.

See, I tend to layer. That's my organization scheme. It can't be understood at all because it's simply chronologically stacked. I only know where things are because I put them there, not because they belong where they are. Drives my wife nuts.

Now, we're moving towards moving. I need to make my art room functional yet navigable. It has to look like someone might be able to get something accomplished in the space. So the shelves had to be consolidated, organized and nicely displayed. The desk on which my mini painting easel rests is almost bare too, which make me a bit nervous, but I think I'll be ok. The room echoes a bit too.

I also didn't have any of my paintings up on the wall until today. The albums visible on the shelves are all my painted pieces. I had the ones from this show still framed so I hung 12 of them. I've added Buy Now buttons on the previous blog posts featuring those paintings that are still available. PayPal lets me track inventory now so I can create individual buttons that will only let one purchase occur. It'll be easier and faster for people visiting this blog to buy ones they like.

Brian Clark bought 4 that had been in that dead rocker show and just received them today. He picked up Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, and Kurt Cobain. I don't name people who buy my work often, but Brian's just been so cool. His site helped me early on with getting going on this blog and his sarcastic comments on this blog caught my attention. Now on Twitter he's been very supportive and has shown his awesome taste in music. He loves "Fight Club", Mitch Hedburg and a bunch of other bits of human creativity that rock as well.

I directly asked him for his marketing advice recently and his answer will be in the form of a post about me! He wanted to wait until he got his paintings. So I'm looking forward to learning publicly what he would say to a guy like me. Wait, I'm a guy like me! Hehe, cool. I'll link to it, rest assured.

Or don't rest. Keep moving! I gotta go work more on my artroom while maintaining my inner

peace.

Think Locally, Act Globally [EC]

When I look at the server logs from my main site and this blog, a large number of visitors are from outside the United States of America. It's really exciting to think of people who don't speak English getting to see my work. I wonder how my art is perceived through the eyes of other cultures.

A few blogs have done posts about my Vinyl Art in other countries:

Enrensenf (German video blog, I'm at 3 minutes in)
CHEWINGHOME (French blog)
wheeze (Ukranian LiveJournal)
bluevolvox (Italian blog)
Psicodelia Colectiva (Costa Rican blog)
APPUNTI NOVALIS (Italian blog)
winylowe.com (Polish blog)

Pretty cool. I also was featured in an Italian magazine called Match Music. They asked me some questions via email and put the Q&A in a half page addition to an article about the increased interest in vinyl.

A very interesting international connection is with a gentleman from Lebanon. He's collecting autographs and small pieces of art from all over the world to create a large show about world culture, and he was delighted to get one of mine.

Lebanon. Rough place. Beautiful, but not the best place to be at the moment. He's just told me that he had to postpone his exhibition until after the elections there because of the increased violence.

Wow. I certainly haven't had to do that, to change my plans due to fear for my life.

With all the craziness out there in the world, I think it's important to remember that we're all connected. We're all human. We all need understanding and love, and help. If we can expand our thought and hearts to try to change the world, to bring people together, we can make it better for all of us at home.

I'm trying to imagine if locally we had events occurring that restricted our freedoms that drastically. I'm trying to imagine how difficult it would be to carry on, especially if I felt that the rest of the world was an enemy. We need to act, to show people around the globe that we understand their local problems.

I know there are great charities out there with programs that act on a global scale. So, for this painting of Jimi in my EC series, how about giving the $100 to a group like the Peace Corps or Amnesty International or UNICEF that has that global perspective?

I would be honored if you wanted to own a piece of my art in memory of acting to help the world.

Peace.

It Feels Like The First Time

Here's the new Hendrix. I still really like the image I've used before, but there's something special about the first time I use a new image.

It's not that it becomes old hat, or boring, or routine, or anything like that when I paint the same image again. Each piece is unique. Each piece stands alone. Each piece is a piece of me. So, I take the same care with every one, even those like Led Zeppelin which I've done the most.

I'm taking a physical document, the concretion of music into plastic, and creating art anew. So each piece has that significance. This is music. This is what I'm passionate about. This is what I hope to reach people with who share my passion.

I won't say that when I've painted the same image multiple times that it is as exciting every time, especially those that are going to galleries for repeat consignments, but it's each record's first time being painted on. So, while the first time is special, I still end up wanting to keep every piece.

Like this Billy Idol being given as a birthday gift:



Peace.

SOLD - Jimi Hendrix, Billy Idol 09/23/08

Go Forth

I'm more than a bit envious of people who got to see Jimi perform live. I'm sitting here listening to The Verve's "Forth" that came out yesterday marvelling at the studio production. This is the first time I've gotten to hear new songs from an epic band live before they were released on a studio album. My wife and I got lucky enough to see them in London and Vegas. They played the first song on the album, "Sit and Wonder", at both shows and the second song in Vegas. There are differences, refinements, on the album, but I feel most privileged to have witnessed firsthand the evolution of great music.

I think that's the deal with stories. That's why legally you need 1st person accounts to consider an event fact. A human can only convey their interpretation of an experience in their life, pieces thereof really. To put stock in a story degraded by the filtering through a second human, forget about it.

So, "you had to be there" isn't poppycock. Being front row in London to see a band you thought was broken up for good is ineffable. The emotional connection I somehow feel to The Verve now is non-transferable. My spine tingles and tears obscure my sight listening to "Love Is Noise".

Yes that happens with other music, of course, but hearing this album makes me feel something all-encompassing. All senses have memories of this. You can recount in detail events of your life, but it is nigh impossible to cause another to feel what you felt.

That's why I tear up when narrator Emma Thompson says Will Ferrell "lived his life" in "Stranger Than Fiction".

I hope you live yours.

Peace.

Let The Dark Shine Through

I've got some good anger and sadness going on today, that's for sure.

But it somehow brought up something about my painting (in my head anyway. I don't know how it works). I use only white paint. Straight outta the tube.

The black, the shadows, the dark is the vinyl showing through. The density of the paint controls the amount of vinyl you see.

Hold the painting at an angle so a bright light reflects at you and the image looks like a negative.

Negatives can be positive. Everything and its godamned opposite.

Let it shine.

Peace.

SOLD - Jimi Hendrix 07/25/08

Not Destined To Make Old Bones

I was watching the VH1 rockDoc about The Who and heard it put that way about Keith Moon. Of course there are a lot of people who've listed musicians who've "lived fast and died hard" or however it's put. And of course there are more than those I've included in mine. But these are the creative souls whose art impacted my sense of my culture the most. They had a raw passion for living Life. I don't mean to glorify their behavior, just to note, to list, in no particular order, those brilliant fires that went out "early":

Keith Moon

Jim Morrison

Jimi Hendrix

Janis Joplin

Sid Vicious

Kurt Cobain

Shannon Hoon

John Bonham

Nick Drake

Bradley Nowell

Layne Staley

Gram Parsons

It's musicians like these and the fans thereof that make me want to do what I do.

Peace.

Creating Family

I apparently have quite a bit of nervous energy today. I get excited, ramble, and paint quickly. This one of Hendrix I just painted listening to Infectious Grooves "Groove Family Cyco". Perfect for freneticism (not sure if that's a word). How about "franticness"?

This piece will be on display in my mother-in-law's office. She's a school secretary at a local public school. Since I started this (ad)venture of selling my Vinyl Art, she and my wife have helped the most. They've been so dang supportive emotionally and practically. Both started any local word-of-mouth I have today, and both sold quite a few that first holiday season to friends and co-workers.

My whole family, both mine in California and my wife's here, in Utah, Texas, and Indiana have been wonderful. My mom found the first shop that continues to consistently sell my work on 6th St. in Austin. My dad has put me in contact with several family friends that have bought pieces. My aunts up in Utah have referred friends too.

It's really been the foundation upon which I've been able to build my self-confidence as a professional artist as well. Before doing this, I was quite unsure of myself and what I wanted to do. Now I create something I feel worthwhile for the whole world to know about. But it all comes back to family.

Now my wife and I are thinking about having children. In pondering the reasons to, I realized that procreating and raising offspring is about the most creative act Life can do. It is, after all, how more Life gets to experience individuality. Make a baby, fill it up with what you want. What an awesome responsiblity. It's what Denis Leary even got serious about briefly in his uproarious "No Cure For Cancer". Pretty big check in the "pro" column.

Still scared (you-know-what)less, though.

Peace.

Jimi Hendrix 07/14/08

Love For Humanity (Or Why "Swimming With Sharks" Killed)

Told ya.

This is in trade for that awesome collection of vinyl from the woman who found me on Craigslist that I mentioned last week.

Triggered by a desire to reach out for more connections like this one, I've been kind of randomly exploring more of the vast expanse of blogs. It's hard to get a handle on social media because it really is the uncategorizable, so it's a little scary to just look at what's out there. That's why most look to the homogenization and aggregation of what can be found.

But when the trails of breadcrumbs are followed to the fringes, the blogosphere is a marvelous place because the technology and what people do with it is evolving as we're using it. With no actualized boundaries and possiblities only judged socially, everything can be tried and everybody can comment. Attention is being scattered to the point of atomization. Everything is individual and timeless.

And even better, for those tolerant and persistent, there is inspiration for ruling the world and powerful bottom lines lived by individuals and communicated for all. There is art designed to connect and cultural creativity to be found in real life and found out about online. Humanity's flow is being captured in unfiltered moments, first person stories, and thoughtful criticisms.

I love it.

Peace.