Can I Paint Again Yet?

Whew! What a week!

I got it done though. My new gallery!

http://www.vinylart.info/why.htm

This is just in time, because that video I talked about a little bit ago is done too! It turned out amazingly! I'm so proud of it. Ryan at http://rhynomarketing.com did such a good job.

I've embedded it on my "About Me/An Introduction" page. If you want to see it in high quality, you can go straight to YouTube. Then if it doesn't start in HQ, you can click the HQ button in the bottom right of the video box. It'll take a bit longer to load, but the paintings look way better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjagBX3VFug

I also sent out my email newsletter this morning. Baby and Bookmans news were the main topics. Good stuff. If you'd like to be included in my mailing list, just email me and let me know!

http://www.vinylart.info/press.htm

Have a good weekend! I'll be back to painting next week. Some cool commissions.

Peace.

The Glue

My wife's brother, Dustin was in town last week to visit. Such fun. He and my wife have a very similar sense of humor, the same as their dad. I love having family over. Makes our home feel even homey-er. Family is what makes us all stick.

Those of you who get my email newsletter knew we were possibly thinking of moving to Indiana pretty much just to be closer to her brother living there. We won't be doing that, at least until our baby's born early next January. So I get to paint the John Lennon animals in the nursery.

As with my wife and I, music has meant a heck of lot to Dustin too. A guitar player, he's an obvious huge fan of Zeppelin. I was working on the above piece, which I glued together with Super Glue this morning, so he loved getting to watch me paint a couple that ended up in this:

http://current.com/items/90575098_led-zeppelin-vinyl-art-timelapse.htm

He had on his iPod the Great White covers of Zeppelin. Holy smokes! Couldn't tell the difference right off. Watch this with your eyes closed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOV7kAGt1vs

By the way, if you don't get my newsletter, I just sent one out this morning. If you'd like me to add you to my mailing list, email at the address at the top of this page and let me know! I'll send you the new one.

Peace.

Another Man's Treasure

He signed it! As my contest draws to a close at the end of the month, at the beginning of which I first showed you this piece, I received my painting back from Mr. Lynch, signed and ready to be framed and sent to his foundation.

Hopefully this will become someone's treasured possession, acquired at auction for a good cause. Right now this is my biggest hope, that I can bring in funds for various charities with my art. Those who get my newsletter know of one coming up in the Fall. (If you want my newsletter, just shoot me an email.)

From the very beginning, when I started thinking big with promoting my Vinyl Art, I of course had my Oprah fantasy. Mine was to somehow give a painting of Bono, tinted red, to Oprah, have Bono autograph the record on the show, and then auction it off for (red). It hasn't happened yet, but I still have the painting.

This unexpected connection with David Lynch has got me goofy. He is seriously one of my favorite auteur directors ever, and to get to help him out is amazing. We'll see what can come of it!

Peace.

Storied Past

[EDIT - 7/27/09: The below contest over, I've painted Alice Cooper for Zane, the winner with this entry. I received 10 entries this time! I've posted them here with the painting of Alice.]

Brian Clark's post using me as an example suggested I look to music trivia, giving it to my audience to put you in a nostalgic mood in which you might be more inclined to buy a piece. It might work. The problem is that it wouldn't be me. My gut rejects what I find manipulative. I'd rather know about you. Stories persist, facts fade.

I know I've asked a bunch about your stories, but I'm going to make good on an idea I had before Jason died and run another contest. The rules will be the same: you somehow convey a story about your past as it relates to music, I'll pick my 10 favorites (assuming there are 10+), and then randomly choose the winner (or if there are a LOT of entries, I'll put my top 10 up for a vote by all entrants). I'm hoping to get more than a couple entries this time, but Paticus's story was so awesome last time that it was well worth it anyway.

See, that's me. I'm looking for quality. I know I ask a lot of you to read these rambles, to pay me and my art attention. But I like stories. It's one main reason why I like movies by David Lynch as much as I do.

So for the month of June, I'll accept entries in pretty much any form. The winner gets a framed piece of Vinyl Art of their choice. The top 10 will be featured in my blog sidebar. And all entrants who want one can have an oval VA sticker.

And the really REALLY cool news about this David Lynch piece will be in my newsletter, which you can get if you email me.

Peace.

Baby News(letter)

We're pregnant!

I had to just blurt it out. Couldn't think of anything else to say! Woohoo!

We went to California this past weekend to get some stuff my parents had been keeping for me in storage and the timing was perfect to tell them we're expecting. We'd just had the 1st ultrasound last Thursday:
Heehee! So cool. We got to see the heart beat for a couple seconds. It's amazing on SO many levels. Wow, I'm telling you.

So, I'll tell you a little more about it and about the deal with Rob Dyrdek in my newsletter this week. Again, if you want to get my newletter in which I'll ramble in more detail about stuff going on, send me an email. I won't use the list to sell you my art, it's just for the newsletter. I do enough selling here.

I will say, though, that because my wife's an amazing planner, we're already registered at Babies''R''Us and I'm open to barter, ;)

Peace.

John Lennon 05/26/09

The Story Of My Life

Last night on "House", Wilson asked House how he wanted the story of his life to go. It is in your control how you act, how you live. That is the free will we beings have. I've pondered before about whether we truly have free will or not, but it really came down to semantics, as philosophical ramblings usually do.

The bottom line is that we live as we live. Is as does, and it is by our actions that we are judged. The title of this post was just quoted by a friend and it, and something else big, got me thinking again about responsibility and how the story of our lives fit into the tapestry of humanity.

The Summit is so iconic, such a known part of our culture, because of their stories, their lives. I am sooooo humbled to have become a teency part of those stories as I shared in my first email newsletter. (If you haven't gotten that newsletter and want it, please email me and I'll send it to you.) I'm humbled because Frankie and Sammy are more than just entertainers in our culture. The way they lived changed our culture and did their part to change the way Americans live.

For me, big news is coming at the end of this month. Big. Life changing.


So please stay tuned.

Peace.

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