Vinyl Art News

So, for the past month I've been debating whether to start an email newsletter or not. What would be the point? I put most everything in this blog. Why would people want to read 2 things?

Then I realized a lot of people rely on email to stay connected, and I'd let a lot of them down by not reaching out that way. People who've bought pieces or been really supportive of my art had slipped through the cracks of my disorganized communication.

So, I'm setting out to remedy that. This is NOT going to replace this blog. I love this blog, both writing it and knowing you are reading it. It tells my stories, shows my art, and connects me with you on an almost daily basis. The newsletter is going to summarize the events relating to my Vinyl Art as a whole, where this blog presents daily goings on spontaneously. So the letter'll be great for those of you who want to catch up every once in awhile, but don't want to follow my day-to-day doings and read about specific pieces.

I pulled together an email list and sent out the first issue of my new newsletter. If you didn't get it and want it, please send me an email to let me know. It'll probably end up being like a monthly thing.

Then, after sending it off, I received an email from one of those somewhat lost contacts that is REALLY exciting. Something that'll definitely be in the next newsletter along with future related developments.

Roger Steffens let me know the plans for his Bob Marley ark-hives. The two pieces I painted along with the rest of his inCREDible collection of Bob Marley media and memorabilia will be installed and preserved at the Music Preservation Project (MPP) overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Santa Barbara, CA. WOW! He participated in establishing this non-profit organization with its relationship with USC to digitize and preserve media collections like his. My pieces, along with others, were hung last Saturday and will be seen by lots of people. So cool! The best connection that might come from this is the fact that Carlos Santana and John Densmore are honorary members of the advisory board! Hooboy.

So we'll see what happens! I hope you'll follow my ramblings about my art either by subscribing to this blog or by letting me know you want my email newsletter, or both.

Peace.

SOLD - Jim Morrison 04/28/09

The Execution

What happens when you're in the middle of a conversation with someone and they unintentionally mess up grammatically? The transfer of information falters, the communication breaks down. Focus transfers from message to medium when the tool of spoken language is misused.

The same thing happens when the tools of visual arts are misused. If you can see an errant artifact of the artist's chosen medium and tool employed, the illusion is broken and you see a painting instead of feeling the artist's intended expression.

In a pop cultural setting, think about when you see bad makeup.

So, it's all in the execution of the communication, in whatever form.

For me, internal consistency of brush strokes and paint density are key. If you look at my painting and think "that splotch looks out of place" or "he did something different with his brush there", and I didn't mean for you to think that, I've failed. Crap.

Peace.

SOLD - Bob Marley 07/29/08

Human Nature Tends To Good

I love the unexpected email. I received a message from a man in Lebanon. The opening line:

"Your talent,intelegent,knowledge makes you a once in a live time legend."

Wow.

Way to get my attention! The rest of the message was a gracious and humble request for a piece of me, something, anything, signed. How cool!

I sent a message back asking for confirmation of the mailing address and to find out where the impetus for this request was coming from. Turns out he's doing a project on culture and art. So, I'm sending him one of my new handpainted postal stickers, complete with autograph. Hope he likes it!

These are something I've been playing around with for a little while. Not to sell, but to give away.

Speaking of giving away things, last year I gave two pieces to Roger Steffens and his Bob Marley Ark-hives. He's included my work in the current issue of The Beat, Volume 27 No. 2 2008! I'm mentioned in the Forward and the article "Bob Marley: Art & Soul", which also has pictures of the pieces and of me! I'm published! I'm so honored to be included in this annual Bob Marley issue.

Unexpected generosity of spirit. Good deal.

Peace.

Roger, The Apostle, At Year's End

What a way to end this year. It's taken me this past week to wrap my head around our experience in California. I feel humbled and honored at the same time, everything and nothing. Great fodder for my internal philosopher.

Roger Steffens is remarkable. Incredibly giving, generous with his time and energy, sharing his stories about Life. As a kid, captivated by sci-fi comic strips, he wrote a letter to his favorite and ended up becoming lifelong friends with the creator and having his name used in the strip. As a teen, looking up to Alan Freed, he saw some of the first group shows of the birth of rock-n-roll, later to be called himself 'Alan Freed' by Little Richard. As a young adult in the time of the Vietnam War, he found reggae, so impressed with a Gonzo-writer's article in Rolling Stone. Since then he has become THE chronicler of Bob Marley and his contributions to the world. Collecting every scrap of audio, video, and printed material about Tuff Gong or even remotely related to Bob, Roger has created an archive that not only would reduce any superfan to drooling, but would make that fan want to add his collection to Roger's. There is a genuine sense of driven purpose to preserve the essence of Bob's life. Befriending Bob's family, The Wailers, and any photographer, musician, roadie connected to Bob, Roger continues to seek connections worldwide, spreading One Love. That's why I would characterize him as Marley's apostle. It is that deep of a love.

After throwing in stories about his friends Timothy Leary, Carlos Santana, and others, Roger connected me and my family to his collection. Looking back, it was very interesting, deliberate. Listening to Bob's solo jamming in the background, Roger asked us all about pieces of our stories, taking pictures with me and the paintings, learning that my wife's birthday was the day Bob died, hearing about my father-in-law's Vietnam enlistment rejection, and sharing his personal photos of Bob with me to see if I'd be interested in having any copies. Oh my! What beautiful shots he had, some he took, some Peter Simon took. I'll definitely paint more of them. Connecting me further. Such an honor. It was truly a moment of mutual respect, something very unique. Life reconnecting with Life. One Love.

I don't know if I'm portraying the experience well enough, but I think at least I've given a sense of it. Overwhelming would be the one word for sure. Also, more practically, overwhelming is the fact that I basically broke even financially this year, even with paying for my health insurance! Pretty cool for my first full year. I've also got several irons in the fire, as they say. Primitive Kool sold Hendrix and SRV, Wild About Music sold SRV, and I've got a few potential commissions. Also, http://www.notcot.org/, a very cool site, posted about me, leading to a couple other blogs asking for info to do their own posts. I've got many more contacts on Flickr as well. So, it's spreading! I'd better get painting, huh?

If you're coming to this blog unaware of my Vinyl Art, please, take a bit to read through more of my posts. They really do give a good sense of my background and what I'm doing with it. Then, you can also see other examples if you:

CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE AT: WWW.VINYLART.INFO

and please have a safe and happy New Year's. Peace.

Merry Holidays!

So here it is! Roger Steffens' own photo from the cover of "Soul Almighty", a collection on JAD Records. The gold of "Exodus" makes such a cool background. I hope it'll be good enough to go in the museum! I bought a piece of glass to use in the frame instead of the plex that comes with it, looks more professional that way. Doesn't scratch as easily as well.

Paul at Primitive Kool just sold the Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jim Morrison, but had to swap out one piece of plex. Shipping glass just scares me though. But, hey 2 more sold! I think he's doing a 20% off deal for the holidays. He has a few more of mine, listed at http://primitivekoolart.com/pages/DANIEL.html, and of course they are all available by commission! So read through my blog and then see more examples when you:

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

and have a safe and wonderful holiday! Peace.

GIFTED - Bob Marley 12/20/07

One Love

Watched "Scrooged" this week. Great Christmas movie. Love Bill Murray. Good message too.

Also saw "No Country For Old Men" in the theater. Wow. Probably won't watch it over and over like "The Big Lebowski", but it is a top-notch Coen Brothers film. Everything about it was brilliant, necessary, certainly fulfilling their roles as auteurs.

I made a video of the new Bob Marley: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05psVut4Ep4. I was nervous painting it, since it's for Roger Steffens, and, again I'm not sure if the clip turned out too dark. If you take a gander at it, let me know what you think! I also added the painting to my gallery that you can see if you:

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

Peace.

GIFTED - Bob Marley 12/14/07

1 For The Money, 2 For The Show, 3 To Get Ready

[EDIT - 5/15/08: To all who arrive at this post looking for information about the song, it's "Blue Suede Shoes", written by Carl Perkins. It was also performed by John Lennon (GREAT video!), so it ties in nicely to the rest of this post as well.]

I am so lucky to get to do what I'm passionate about and to share it with others. Getting to give back is amazing, a great feeling. A whole bunch of things are coming together to make me feel really good about what I'm doing. Just one of those confluence of events that seem to mean Life, the universe, karma, is on your side. John Lennon, George Clinton, and Joao Gilberto are for Free Art Seattle Exhibition, which, after a month on display, will be given away. "An opportunity to make someone's day." Indeed. I love it.

I saw Brad Pitt on Larry King, and along with MadeByGirl, I'm very impressed with his genuine caring for New Orleans and strong desire to give. And speaking of John Lennon, it's the anniversary of his death on 8 Dec and Yoko sent out an e-mail inviting people to Imagine Peace and remember we are all together... now. Then the planning of perhaps the coolest thing for my wife and I related to my artwork yet. As I mentioned a while back, Roger Steffens has invited me to paint Bob Marley for his archives as he prepares them to become the founding collection of the Bob Marley wing of the National Museum of Jamaican Music in Jamaica. Hoo boy. To have my art included as a contribution to the history of such a source of pure love and unity as Bob Marley will be amazing. SO wonderful. Just a good feeling.

Anyway, I do have a Bob Marley painting in my online gallery, so if you haven't:

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

and do remember John with love.

GIFTED - George Clinton, Joao Gilberto, John Lennon 12/07/07

Dylan On YouTube

This is making me nervous. I haven't done one before and I don't know how well it worked. I made a time-lapse movie of my painting of Dylan. There are some 20 slides as the painting develops. I'm not sure if it's too dark. On one computer it might be, but on another it looks the way I want it to be seen. I've also done one of Johnny Cash that I need to tweak and add music.

We're still planning on being at the Newport Nights show on Saturday. Hopefully the San Diego fires will be contained enough to allow traffic through. We don't know how many people'll show up, but maybe it'll be a nice welcome home for some locals if they had evacuated. Four pieces have already sold, but they're keeping them for the show. Pretty exciting.

I also am in contact with Roger Steffens who is interested in possibly adding one of my paintings of Bob Marley to what will be the founding collection of the National Museum of Jamaican Music in Jamaica! Whoa! I've got a pic of what it'll look like in my gallery online, so:

CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE AT: WWW.VINYLART.INFO

and please let me know what you think about the YouTube video here, by email, or on YouTube.