Steps Ahead (Or, In Front Of The Footsteps)

In the Table of Contents off to your right, the Introduction is called "Steps Back" also featuring a painting of all four Beatles like this one. This piece is for my first baby barterer, http://tinyurl.com/VAbaby.

Now I'm looking forward, setting my dreams down on paper, organizing my goals accordingly, and committing to what I really want.

It's empowering to see progress. I'm still seeking balance, as I do tend to go too far sometimes with change, but I like the feeling of accomplishment.

One challenge, a big one, to my Vinyl Art venture is creating a new trail in the world of art. Still unclear even really how to characterize what I do in traditional terms, I'm not sure where the right people are to connect, to share. I hope eventually to bring them to me through various means of exposure, but I have a lot of seeking to do. A lot of unanswered questions. How cool! I love not knowing things.

So, where do you think I could engage people in conversation about music, art, and/or human creativity in general who might also be intrigued by my work?

Peace.

BARTERED - The Beatles 09/28/09

The Best Of The Most Popular Vinyl Art Posts

I've been meaning to assemble a list of blog posts that have been popular and that I enjoy the most. I know that the prospect of not only keeping up with reading a post a day, but digging into the archive unguided is overwhelming. Your time is precious, and there're some posts that, beyond having a neat painting are, for different reasons, not worth that time and thought.

So I figured that I could at least share the posts that more people have checked out, those I think are worth your time.

The most trafficked posts are the one with JFK's famous line from his inauguration speech and the one with the discussion of my favorite funny people because of the reference to SNL's 101 top moments. These are found by searchers looking for something completely off-topic from my work. So I wouldn't count these, or point you to them.

After those, my introductory post with a painting of The Beatles is the most read. Good! That's the best post to get a handle on what I do, what I'm about and the point of this blog.

Next is one of my more philosophical posts with a painting of Tom Waits. I like this post a lot too, so I'm glad it gets seen. The painting is being used for the poster of this year's Vinyl Killers show, and Waits himself posted a tweet complimenting the piece. What I say in it is worth the read, I think, as well. About value and people.

Following that is my contest post with the painting of David Lynch that he then autographed to auction for his foundation. I received some amazing entries to that contest and this post shares my interest in stories, your stories. Stories persist, facts fade. It's still a good post, and hey, if you send me your story still, I'll send you a sticker.

Skipping a couple more posts popular only because of wayward searchers, my reproduction post with the painting of Santana that, along with John Lennon and Mariah Carey, eventually was reproduced for the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel is a good story. The result of my adventure certainly was positive. I do still have to frame the copies I got.

Next is another great story post with my philosophical and practical thoughts about the largest record collection in the world and how to find a buyer for it. It's always a matter of the value. Not monetary. Human.

That is indeed why I paint Vinyl Art, to celebrate and find value in humanity. The creativity that I bring together, from the album cover artist to the photographer of the photo I draw inspiration from to the musician and the production of the album to me is very cool. With a simple portrait, I hope to share the meaning of all that combined contribution to humanity.

Something meaning more than it simply is, by being simply what it is.

Do you have a favorite post of mine?

Peace.

One Man's Trash

I'm so excited I got to do this!

These records were beat, man. A couple had been shoved into the sleeves along with other Beatles records. This is why I love being able to do what I do. A friend had saved the other couple from the leftovers of a neighbor's garage sale, destined for the landfill. Beatles records. Nobody who didn't want to piss off their dads by playing crappy records on his fancy hi-fi would've played these, but they're Beatles records!

This is what I've been waiting to be able to do with my unframed pieces since I started clear-coating them. After painting and clear-coating these 4, I glued them together with Super Glue. I'm hoping I get to do other groups like Led Zeppelin this way, but I don't run across records without sleeves very often. The albums I get with sleeves, I'll normally do framed and won't throw the sleeves away just because. So I need your help. I need commissions of these.

Now, last week I said that the price for unframed single ones will go up to $150 at the end of the month, when my contest is over (which, by the way, only has 24 entries thus far). At that point I will begin offering pieces like this one of the Beatles for 10% less per portrait, plus shipping. So this one would be $540 instead of $600 individually. (I've got to find out what shipping will be, but it won't be too bad.)

I want to do them that much. I'm basically paying you to let me do a whole group and arrange the portraits myself. Plus, you'd only need 2 nails to hold up all 4 records :)!

Peace.

What Cost: Memory, Love?

I love these 3 images and this one of John. When I realized I had 4 Beatles records without sleeves from various sources, all with the rainbow Capitol label, I got excited to try something I've wanted to for awhile. I'll show you next week when I finish.

But first I need to tell you that I'm going to stop offering my pieces unframed for only $100 shipped. The price will be good on commissions requested before the end of this month, but then that's it. I've struggled with this decision since I started offering the pieces unframed at all, over a year ago.

Pricing in general is a tough one for me, not the fact that I make money from my art, but setting them so my work is accessible to even starving college students with the right priorities. I know my work has value, but what that value is eludes me. I started out selling framed pieces locally for $55 (the price of that Johnny Cash at auction currently) and raised them only when I realized that I needed to do so if I ever was going to be able to support our family eventually with my art. Even then, I've had people pay me more than I've asked at least twice and many people give me confounded looks when I tell them how much.

The thing is though, I feel comfortable with the $175 plus shipping price point for framed pieces. It feels good when anybody says "yes, I'll buy one". I don't want to raise that price unless I have so much work and I've already been able to hire my wife as my assistant, meaning when she can quit her job. I'll offer special things, like what I'm going to do with these unframed Beatles, that'll be at different, higher prices, but the standard piece, framed in front of the album sleeve will hopefully stay the same. When I do have that much work, I think I'll increase the price only when someone wants time priority placed on their piece.

But I don't feel good about the $100 shipped for the unframed. I feel a bit bad, like I'm going to be telling people not to buy my work by raising the price, but I don't want to hesitate when someone says they want it unframed instead of framed.

So, they're going up to $150. I feel like the quality and consistency of my work is worth that. Hopefully you'll feel your wall space, or someone else's, is worth that as well.

I don't know how else to value my connection to music, to art, to memory, to family & friends, to humanity. Do you?

Peace.

Seeing Faces Is Instinct, Hearing Music Is Primal

As our baby develops inside my wife, eyes are sealed shut while ears begin to function.

We hear before we see.

Peace.

Those Crazy Drummers

Drummers are cool because they represent organized chaos. Operating within the beat, they go crazy. Totally crazy.

Ringo, John Bonham, Keith Moon and a mess of others keep their bands rocking and rolling with wild eyes and lightening hands. Who's your fav drummer?

Peace.

P.S. I case you haven't noticed, I painted all 4 Beatles again. I wasn't going to sell the Lennon, but if you buy all 4, you'll convince me to part with it. And you'll get $25 off each, also only paying shipping for one, making a total of $610. But if someone buys one of them individually, the deal's off.

So here're the PayPal buttons for Ringo by himself and for The Beatles all together now:


Ringo Starr 04/23/09

The Beatles 04/09

Is As Does

George, he didn't talk much. His music was how he shared himself, his beliefs with the world. The power of his creative action added much to the force of humanity. Is as does.

Peace.

George Harrison 04/22/09

Record Store Day - Your Contribution

I bring up The Beatles' "Revolver" a lot. It's really important to me largely because it started me out on my journey into music and vinyl. So it was vital to leading me to do what I do today.

All the records in my collection that I bought after my dad introduced me to "Revolver" came from used record stores. I would still, today, rather wait until I find the record I want at a local independent used music store then to point and click on eBay for albums I want to add to my collection. I talked earlier this week about how much those stores in West L.A. meant to me.

Tomorrow is the second annual celebration of Record Store Day. Last year I posted this about it. I'm so glad that it's grown in strength and reach along with the dramatic increase in vinyl reissues. Those reissues are mostly stocked in those independent record stores.

So I need your support of RSD09 because I need those out-of-print hard-to-find albums to be reissued, so I can paint more pieces, connecting more people like you to your music, your culture. Basically, buying music at your local shop directly and indirectly makes the world better. You get the music you love and humanity gets the creativity it loves.

Go to the organizer's site if you don't know a local store, and tomorrow go buy your favorite album on vinyl or even buy that CD you just found out about. Feel good! You know you will.

Me, I'm buying Gomez's new album, along with maybe Tricky's "Knowle West Boy" and Gnarls Barkley's "The Odd Couple". At least.

Peace.

Two Of Us

Everyday, I'm lucky to be married. My wife supports my life, plain and simple. I wouldn't be doing what I am now if it weren't for her. I might've someday as I knew I was an artist, but not with the gusto I have currently.

Someday we'll ultimately move to London. We were lucky enough to get to see Abbey Road, taking each other's picture in the re-painted but still famous crosswalk. I'm hopeful my art will take us there to live.

See, while my public goal with my Vinyl Art is to change the world by solving the problem of how to connect you with your music, your culture and with humanity in a way more personal and deep, my private goal is to change my wife's world. Plain and simple.

I feel bad for Paul, losing Linda. Makes me cry if I think about it too much.

Peace.

Paul McCartney 04/15/09

What's The One Album?

Paul up in Canada bought this early last year. His feedback is also on my testimonial page. He recently bought a Billie Holiday as well. Billie's music and the man who introduced him to her helped Paul see his way out of his "hopelessly mixed up" teen years. I'll share more of that story when he sends me a photo of the Holiday displayed in his home.

It was, though, the New York Dolls and this album in particular that opened him up to the vast array of "new" music, including jazz. In fact, this album on which I painted was his actual album, played so much that it wouldn't play anymore. What a cool way to remember his music, with a piece of art created with that music! And here it is, on his mantle.

For me, that one album was "Revolver" by The Beatles which really opened my eyes to the possibilities in music.

What's your one album?

Peace.

Creative Liberation

Donovan and The Beatles and other musicians made more than their share of brilliant music during those glorious late '60s, having been creatively liberated by drugs, new technologies, alternative cultures, and political upheaval. It boggles my mind to think of all that was produced during that period. My friend Michael, who'd figured this out, at one point made it his goal to collect every psychedelic album from '67-'69 from anywhere. Lofty goal, to say the least. After he'd introduced me to "After Bathing At Baxter's" by Jefferson Airplane, I was pretty much set. But this isn't about that.

This is about being an artist. This comment from a couple days ago and a follow-up tweet today made me realize I haven't talked much about my artistic motivation to paint on records or my past adventures in art. I suppose I haven't because I don't specifically think about that stuff much. I guess it's true that artists don't talk about their art much, at least as far as their personal reasons for creating.

I think this is true in large part because the art is the expression of those reasons. To explain it is kind of like explaining why a joke is funny. It's not that I don't want to, but it'd sort of defeat the purpose of the art in a way. And I don't think I'd do it well to boot.

Artistically, creatively, what's going on in my mind can't really be captured in a moment by words. That's the art's purpose. My past art influences, ideas and projects have both formed and liberated my creativity as an artist. It's not like that's over and done with. I have tricks up my sleeves.

But for now, I love creating my Vinyl Art. It is so satisfying to paint the portraits and have the pieces and concept strike a chord with as many people as it has. I do, however, have to figure out how to sell more, how to reach more of my audience, and that might lead me to pull out a couple of those tricks. So certainly stay tuned.

And those that do, by way of a simple bookmark, an RSS feed subscription, or a Twitter follow, thank you thank you thank you. That you think enough of my art, the concept and creation, and of me, the person and artist, to set aside time in your own future to pay me attention blows me away.

Peace.

Donovan 01/15/09

Steps Back (Or, What Is Vinyl Art?)

The yang to the yin of progress is steps back.

We take steps back to see the bigger picture.
We take steps back to get perspective.
We take steps back to regain balance.
We take steps back to learn from mistakes.

My dad likes to say that our feet point forwards for a reason. True, but sometimes one needs to look back. Our heads do turn enough around to see.

You are reading the blog of Daniel Edlen. Me.

I handpaint portraits of musicians and entertainers on vinyl recordings of their performances.

I call it Vinyl Art. After filing the necessary paperwork, I discovered the existence of vinyl art toys. Oh well.

I came up with the idea as a teenager back around '92. My dad had turned me onto The Beatles on vinyl, and my mom volunteered at the library handling used book and record donations. I got first pick of the records, which didn't sell well. Amassing duplicates of my favorite albums, the idea hit me after a high school art project I did using white pencil on black paper. I did about 6 of them and lost interest.

I began selling them after work-friends suggested I see if people'd go for them as holiday gifts back in '06. Fortunately I could still paint, maybe a bit better than before, following years of sculpting people out of clay.

I use only white acrylic paint, dabbing it on with small brushes which wear out very quickly.

I show them at a few galleries, I participate in every show of artwork using vinyl records I find out about, and, yes, I do commissions. I love doing commissions the most. The best is when someone has the record they want me to paint on.

See, I do this to make the world a better place as I can. My story has become about connecting people with people, with their culture, with their memories, with their music. It makes people feel warm inside to think about their music. The troubles and destruction and negativity in the world quiet for a moment.

My story has also become about giving. Giving Vinyl Art as a gift works out well for all involved. And giving to charity through my art does too. I've done it enough that it warranted a category, which you can find in my table of contents to your right.

That brings me to this blog. I started it partly as a journal of my trials and tribulations as a self-employed self-promoting artist, and partly to expand the knowledge of my work. It's become a very important outlet for me, especially after my brother-in-law Jason died suddenly this past February. A kind of therapy. But also a way to connect myself to my art, to make it meaningful.

I know that the mere idea of portraits on vinyl might seem gimmicky or hokey and the pieces might not fit into typical art world categories, but it is the passion for music which motivates me. You can find many examples throughout this blog of how that expresses itself. Through stories about the musicians, about the galleries, about the people commissioning pieces, about the people getting them as gifts, about the charities, and about me.

I, Daniel Edlen, the artist, am in this blog.

So I continue.

Peace.

SOLD - The Beatles 12/12/08

Progress

How do you measure progress? Is it always judged by goals achieved, destinations reached, ends?

If life is a journey, then progress is inevitable, uncontrollable even. Whether you like it or not. All you can do is choose how to react. All you are really responsible for in this life is your actions. Again, I think that's why the Tao Te Ching is mostly about action.

So, I'm making progress on Twitter. To me, big progress. But then I don't have a frame of reference. I'm like a child who wanders into the middle of a movie...

All I know is a coupla guys I really respect have, in one way or other, become followers of my stream there. They didn't have to listen. They still might not, especially if I ramble too much there like I probably do here. They're certainly busy enough that they have time to complain about having too much to do. But for now, they're helping me spread knowledge of my art, genuinely. They really do like it!

That's progress, the bottom line, the goal. So people come back around and remember, oh yeah, that guy who paints portraits on records. Like the lady who commissioned the Marley and above Beatles pieces.

Speaking of The Beatles, you'll notice that the photo is a screenshot of TwitPic. I decided to try it for this piece so I could show the progress as I paint the multiple portrait piece. The site works really easily, connecting with a Twitter account so you can upload images and have a status update generated automatically with a link back to the image.

So you can watch me progress.

Peace.

NVUJ

Well, it looked better than HELP.

I love stories of why things happen like that. I love stories period. Attached to objects, they kind of carry with them the human intent captured by the object. My head spins when I think of all the stories attached to the albums on which I paint.

Like with these 4 albums of the Beatles. Robert sent them to me because they were too scratched to do anything with but throw them away. Two of them even had a second copy of the same album! I don't know exactly where they all came from, so maybe he'll leave a comment about that for me, but in any event, what happened to them? Why are they so trashed?

Records of the Beatles are by far the most plentiful in my playable collection. I went a wee bit nuts collecting bootlegs on vinyl when they were still available in West Los Angeles record stores. I've talked about some of them here, those that I've archived digitally with my iRecord. I couldn't imagine doing anything even to duplicates to leave them in the condition of these records I just used.

I love records because they are a physical manifestation of something ephemeral. Records were the first way sounds were preserved, captured "for the record", as it were. It's pretty cool when you think about it. Like the Internet and printing press and video, the invention and mass production of vinyl changed the way our culture works a great deal. Beatle bootlegs are great, like the story of the "Help!" album cover, because they show how the creation of the music fits into the greater story of humanity and our creativity. Marvelous.

Peace.

Ringo Starr 11/07/08

Vinyl Art Available At The Record Ranch

I've been given the opportunity to try out this new auction site, one devoted to music and music-related items. My friend Robert Benson, who gave me these seriously beat-up Beatles albums to use, introduced me to Chris, the guy running it. It's more down-home feeling than monsterous eBay, with free basic listings. Sellers only pay if the item sells. You can create a "store", and list items for much longer than on eBay. Another cool thing is that the site automatically extends auctions if someone tries to automatically outbid at the last second. Long have I been leery of participating in eBay auctions because items are usually "sniped" right at the end.

So we'll see! I put up 6 pieces to start. For those of you familiar with my pricing for framed pieces, they're listed at $25 less to start if you bid. The site also has a "*grab it!" price that's basically like "Buy It Now" on eBay, and I've put them at the same price as here in my gallery.

Hopefully it'll get some more exposure for my work, and maybe even referrals.

Peace.

George Harrison 11/06/08

The Currency Of Fear

Money "Can't Buy Me Love", but how about fear?

Stephen Colbert came up with a great metaphor on "The Report" last night: the fear market, instead of the stock market. Since 9/11, fear has been increasing in value. At least that's what the government and media have been selling us. We kept trading it higher and higher, giving up freedoms and privacy. Then, the fear bubble burst, and we did it. We elected Obama.

What do we do with all this fear, all this currency, that's now suddenly worthless?

Make change. "And that's the word."

Peace.

Paul McCartney 11/06/08

Yes We Can!

I'm not one to talk politics much, not nearly as much as John here. That's for sure. But I've gotta say that THAT was one heck of a speech last night from President-elect Obama. It was moving enough to see Jesse Jackson cry. Being a skinny, Jewish, white boy, I don't feel the enormity of the day in the depths of my soul the same as a black man. It's not ingrained in who I am. But I could certainly feel the passion from those there in Grant Park.

I wonder what he would say. Or him.

And now we can officially call W a "lame duck". ;)

The message from Barack that I most respect is that he wasn't counting on our belief in his ability to bring change to Washington, but ours. Most inspiring. I hope people realize that we get to work together to make a better tomorrow. Challenges, yes, but faced with hope.

Helped me get out of bed this morning.

Peace.

John Lennon 11/05/08

Man, I Sure Do Love Music

A friend said that to me when we were discussing the idea for my contest. It says how I feel pretty succinctly.

After my dad introduced me to The Beatles and to vinyl in general, I spent a LOT of time in used record stores in the West L.A. area. Moby Disc, Record Surplus, Rhino Records, Record Rover, and Penny Lane became regular haunts.

This was during the transition from cassette to CD, so I was resisting buying CDs at the time. I listened to tapes in my car and records at home. So my vinyl collection grew. I discovered the existence of Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab and virgin vinyl, half-speed mastered audiophile quality pressings. I've talked about the copy of "Revolver" I recorded with my iRecord.

Yesterday, still thinking about Michael and how much we loved sharing our passion for music, I decided to record the 2 albums involved in this amazing phenomenon. I have a decent copy of MFSL 1-017, Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side Of The Moon", and a mint condition copy of MFSL 1-100, The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". Such incredible musical creations.

These are albums that I like to listen to straight through. Having grown up listening to records, I've gotten used to hearing complete sides as units. I also listened to the radio and watched MTV a lot, so there are songs that I only know by themselves and don't know the rest of the band's music. Mostly though, if I heard a band on the radio with a song I liked, I'd find the album and listen to the whole thing, and even try to collect a group's entire recordings.

So, I recorded these albums and joined together all the songs using Audacity into one MP3 for each side. These are concept albums anyway, so like Dark Side's second side recorded as one track automatically. That's one thing I never understood with CDs is how they decided where track breaks were between songs with no real break.

In any event, this ramble, which I tend to do when talking about myself instead of my art, is to get you to remember how you listened to music growing up. How did the media, whether it be 8-track or MP3, you listened to impact your appreciation and love for music?

Peace.

An Introduction (Or Who's Out There?)

According to Feedburner, my subscriber base is growing steadily! I don't really know what that means but it feels good that the chart shows it's going up.

So I suppose one thing that means is that there are a handful of people getting my posts automatically sent to them in one form or another who might not totally get the full picture of what Vinyl Art is about. I recently redesigned my site and blog to hopefully provide more complete information that is easier to access. I also added the Table of Contents to my blog sidebar to make it easier to read back into my archive. This past half year has been a bit of a blur, but I think there's some good stuff back there.

The subscriber increase also means that there are more people lurking. I certainly don't mind, but I really encourage comments and questions. You can call, email, or post comments here. You can comment on my YouTube videos as well as on my Flickr photostream. I've made some great connections with people passionate about all things creative and about their favorite music, so join in the fun! You can even stay anonymous.

Let's start with a question all can relate to, I hope. What band or musician has had the most important impact on you?

For me, it's The Beatles because "Revolver" was the first album my dad played for me on his record player. It began my passion for music.

Peace.

Revolutionary Revelation

It's up! It's live! It's... well it's there anyway. The new site, I mean.

Yay!

So, I thought I'd take this auspicious occasion (two words that always look weird to me, by the way) to share something that is the stuff of urban legends. As far as I know, only a high school friend of mine and myself know. But I bet it shows up on YouTube now!

It's that big. Way bigger than my artwork or me. It's no less than a cultural cosmic revelation, if you ask me. Well, who knows. I'm sure some people'll dismiss it. But I think it's incredible.

I've not discussed it with anybody but my wife. So why now?

Dunno.

Just thought you'd like to know. And if Michael wants me to give him credit, I will for sure. He figured it out and then told me a couple years later I could share it. He was going to write an Ebook about it, but to my knowledge never did.

So what is it?

Ok, here goes. It's well known even in mainstream culture that Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of The Moon" can be considered a second soundtrack to The Wizard of Oz. It's been dubbed Dark Side of The Rainbow, even getting a well documented entry in Wikipedia. But the album ends before the end of the movie. It ends during the introduction of the Tin Man. That leaves a lot of movie left.

What other album could rival the importance of Dark Side in its own right and possibly synchronize with the rest of the movie?

*cue drum roll*

The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band".

At the end of Dark Side, pause the movie. It's right about when Tin Man has started to move. Start Pepper and resume the movie. The best part is during "Being For The Benefit Mr. Kite", but throughout the album, there are scene changes that match with song changes and many cues that when added up seem more than coincidence.

I wasn't even on anything and I was laughing quite maniacally. Try it.

I send this information out into the world naively, hoping it won't be used for evil. Don't really think it can be, but you never know.

Now, Pepper doesn't reach the end of the movie either. What comes after it?

Peace.