How Dare I?

Paint on a Nick Drake record? Am I nuts? Well, it is a reissue, but still! It's my one reservation about what I do, rendering records unplayable, at least on one side. Especially when it's music I love. So how do I justify it? How can I say I love vinyl so much that I ruin it?

Well, I can buy another one on eBay for $25 since it's a reissue. But, more importantly, I like what I create. I'm repurposing something mass produced into a unique piece of art directly celebrating the original art of the album. To make the record collectors out there gasp, after all it is just a record. It's not like I'm depriving the world of Nick Drake's wonderfully wispy voice. Also, there's something cool about using a physical representation of the actual music, the record, to pay hommage to the creator of said music with another physical representation, the portrait.

This past week I've been prompted to rethink the idea of reproducing my work. Sort of paying hommage to my own creation? Seems egotistical a little. I'm still not 100% sure. I'm opening up to the idea of editions of prints limited in scope and number, on something other than vinyl, by a very reputable outfit. I wouldn't want it done on records. I know that. Not on random records, blank records, or records by the subject of the painting. Maybe on wood panel or metal? How would that even look, a record with grooves printed flat?

It would open up the possibilities for more sales, more quickly. But both of those aren't really my end goal though. My goal is to make individual meaningful connections that give people a way to share their music, their culture. More more more, faster faster faster isn't my style. Hmm, in the right context maybe, so it's different sales, with rigorous quality?

I'm just not sure. What do you think? Is it selling out in the short term or smart business in the long term? I'd really appreciate help here!

Peace.

SOLD - Nick Drake 01/13/09

Words Are Trouble, But Where Would We Be?

The Verve have become one of the biggest influences on my musical taste, especially since we saw them in London shortly before the release of this, their most recent album. Before my dad introduced me to music with The Beatles "Revolver" and his other albums, reading was the main form of human communication of which I availed myself. I have previously listed certain things pertinent to who I am as an artist and person. Here, then, are some of the more important influences on my literary and linguistic taste:

"Bloom County"
Edgar Allan Poe
Ray Bradbury
"Calvin & Hobbes"
"The Phantom Tollbooth"
"Peanuts"
Dr. Seuss
"Over Sea, Under Stone"
Mark Twain
Jim Kjelgaard
Robert Heinlein
"Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy"
Bill Cosby
"The Gnu And The Guru Go Behind The Beyond"

I've tried to keep this list restricted to those authors and works I discovered independently of school. For while "the classics" have their place, it's more of an academic one. These had lasting impact on my use of the English language, frought with peril as it is, for better or worse. Blame them for my ramblings. Blame my parents and childhood friends indirectly for providing me with such radical literature. I happen to thank them for it.

Peace.

SOLD - Richard Ashcroft 01/12/09

It Can't Just Be In The Background

Music has a way of getting inside you. It doesn't always demand direct, focussed attention, but while you may think it's just in the background, watch out. For instance, you can drive and listen to music, right? You can work your legs and arms to work the velocitator and deceleratrix. But has the music ever suddenly stopped unexpectedly? What happens?

I know for me, I realize that my driving has been subconsciously influenced by the music. The part of your brain that's processing the music has its impact on you and your actions. How else would music have the power it has? I just read about a study that showed people jamming to music they enjoy basically had a higher threshold for pain. Why is music played at sporting events?

So, I paint listening to music. What I listen to depends mostly on my mood and the time of day. It's all energetic and rhythmic, but early in the morning, I usually listen to lighter music like Fiona Apple, Beck, Bob Marley or Dave Matthews. Most of the time, however, it's what you'd probably call hard music. Eminem, Beastie Boys, Parliament, Infectious Grooves, Blind Melon, Black Sabbath, Disturbed, Oasis, Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian. Even Korn.

Surprised? Or not?

The main reason I listen to high energy music is because my painting technique is stippling, dabbing the paint onto the record repeatedly. The music, the beat flows through my wrist onto the record. I found over the holiday when I painted a couple pieces without music playing because of family, I painted much slower, more hesitantly.

Interestingly, even though most of that music could be called "angry music", I get more passionate than pissed off listening to it while painting. I think the reason is that I really like the music, so it doesn't anger me. Put on a jangly jam band and I'll probably break the record! ;) Don't wanna do that!

So what kind of music, what bands do you listen to while doing what you do all day? Have you thought about it's influence on you?

Peace.

This Is Totally Random (Or, Where's The Head Of The Twitterpillar?)

Totally. But I have to get it out there.

I woke up this morning half an hour early with this idea in my head. One of those cute, silly things that take advantage of a new technology for pure entertainment. The technology? Twitter.

See, I'd just found http://www.twitterforpeace.com/ yesterday through a re-tweet by John Cleese (@JohnCleese). Everytime somebody posts a tweet with "#peace" in it, it shows up on this webpage automatically in real-time. Neato. That's the specific technology I'm talking about using for laughs, the hashtag (#).

There's a kids' group drawing activity that my old art teacher is calling the "kangaroo" game, where each kid gets an 8.5x11 sheet of paper with two dots on each 8.5 edge kinda near the corners positioned so that if any 2 sheets are placed 8.5 edge to 8.5 edge, the dots line up. The kids then draw a wacky animal body that connects the dots the long ways. When done, all the pages are assembled end to end randomly creating a really funny looking long caterpillar-like animal. The birthday kid gets to do the head and tail.

That's the idea, with tweets. Each tweet will start with the end of a sentence, the verb-object part. The middle of the tweet will be some random narrative content. The end will be the start of a sentence, the subject. So a tweet will look like:

"#tp ...[verb phrase][object phrase]. [sentence or 2]. [subject]..."

Here's my first example: "#tp ... ran to the window. "Holy mackerel" John mumbled, almost knocking off the fishbowl. The fish..."

I want to call it Twitterpillar (#tp).

If you want to play, do your tweet first: http://www.twitter.com/. Then here's the link to read what's come before, or after as the case may be: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23tp. Don't read the stream first though, keep it random. Tweet before you peek!

A good trick to make sure it'll fit in with the idea is to read your tweet like a loop. If the first and last sentence fragments, well, last and first, go together grammatically, then you're good.

Peace.

We Now Return To Our Regularly Scheduled...

Before most of the holiday craziness, I'd started to paint the Kings of Leon. With a couple commissions and consignment replacements done, I wanted to get back to it. Painting the musicians that I both love and respect. Coming up will be the final member of KOL, Richard Ashcroft of The Verve, and Nick Drake to name a few.

It's nice to get back into the swing of things, especially since I love what I do. I feel so dang lucky that I get to these days.

The swing of things also means getting back to new episodes of TV shows. I'm not much on that form of entertainment these days, well, years, but there are some fun ones that make for a relaxing evening spending time with my wife. So, along with continuing to watch the DVDs of "Get Smart" she gave me for Christmas, she and I will get cozy and watch "Ugly Betty" and "Grey's Anatomy" tonight.

What shows are you glad to have back?

Peace.