It's Yours Take It

Love that huge mouth of his. Aerosmith was one of the first heavier rock bands I got into as a teen when I started collecting vinyl. I loved the classic rock stations in Los Angeles and "Sweet Emotion" was one of my many favorites. This portrait of Steven Tyler is on "Toys In The Attic" with that song on side 2.

I did this piece for It's Yours Take It in Boston this summer. I got a kick out of sending 3 pieces to the Free Art Seattle Exhibition, which has its second installment soon too. I thought I'd participate in this global idea again. Check out the Flickr group if you want to join in too.

Nick hasn't set a date for it yet, but if you're around Harvard Square one hot day and see a bunch of art, make an artist happy and give a piece a home.

Peace.

GIFTED - Steven Tyler 06/10/08

Stephen Covey Would Be Proud

Painting Robert Plant is hard! Wild About Music sold two Zeppelins last month, though. It seems to be my most popular there, as one sells about every month. I guess people in Austin really love Zeppelin. Well, who doesn't! Primitive Kool also sold the Johnny Cash they had. I'm going to paint several blues-related musicians for them again now.

Speaking of Johnny Cash, I received a comment on my post about the YouTube clip: http://vinylart.blogspot.com/2007/10/man-in-black-on-his-ring-of-fire.html. I responded there but I thought I'd elaborate (read: ramble) a bit more here. It seems fitting because this post is also about the selling of art already. The gist of the comment was that art isn't free to create, so it shouldn't be free at all. I really appreciate the sentiment. The more money I make, the more I can paint, and I could reach a wider audience if I could afford marketing. So, money is definitely a means to an end. My purpose in creating Vinyl Art is to express my passion for music and art, and to show it with the world, connecting and building relationships with others who share my passions. So, yes, as the post at Brain Pickings, suggests, selling my pieces does support and spread my idea.

However, the money is just a means. In saying this, I don't intend to imply I don't want to sell them. The ultimate point is to sell them so people have them to share with others. That can also be directly achieved though, on occasion, by giving them away for an event, Free Art Seattle, or contest, http://vinylart.blogspot.com/2008/01/using-competition-to-create-community.html. (I need help with that, by the way, or it may move to the back burner). The return for giving may not be instantly monetary, but you get what you give, and giving builds relationships. Covey's "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" discusses how important creating and maintaining relationships is to success in life. Indirectly it does help business too. In my opinion, giving doesn't devalue the artwork. Quite the opposite, it adds value to the artwork as a symbol of the connection made. The recipient can look at it and remember how they got it, a plus. People can ask them how they got it, and they'll share the great story as well as their passion for music, another plus. And from a business perspective, the resulting cross-marketing that can happen benefits everybody, a win-win!

This is a great issue to discuss, so after you've looked at my idea for my contest, let me know also your thoughts on this issue. I've only stated my perspective which isn't the only one, and there is no "right" one. I like creative dialogue, so please share!

Meanwhile, I'm off to paint B.B. King! To see a couple previous B.B. Kings, you can read this post: http://vinylart.blogspot.com/2007/09/creative-repetition-top-8-musical.html, or you can:

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

Peace.

SOLD - Led Zeppelin 01/25/08

Using Competition To Create Community

I need your help.

I've got a very diverse, yet ephemeral audience. It is growing, which is terrific, but I want to engender communication and networking as well, creating long-term relationships. Basically, I'm going to try to encourage people to share, to be heard. I know a lot of people who hit this blog have their own way of sharing already: their own blog, a profile somewhere with a comment wall, or a forum they post to regularly. And there are those who comment on others blogs, profiles and forums, creating feedback and dialogue. And there are those who, as yet, do neither. I want to make everyone feel welcome to speak their minds, share what they want, and respond with their reactions here on my blog.

To that end, a contest. I know the prize will be a piece of Vinyl Art of the artist of the winner's choice, but I need help. Please help me create the contest. I'd like to start it in February and have it run for a month. I'm going to let all of my connections know about it, so I should get a fair amount of initial interest at least in knowing what the contest entails. That is the question, however.

Since my audience in general are music-lovers, I'm thinking about something along the lines of asking entrants to share their favorite personal experience related to music. Then I'd pick the top 10 in my opinion, with the winner a random one of those. Entrants would be able to share their story in any online manner: a post on their blog, a YouTube video, a photo set on Flickr, etc. They would just add a comment with a link to it on my blog post about the contest and every night I would moderate the posts, making sure the entries were suitable. Or they could just put their story in the comment. Then everybody could check out everybody's story and along with it, get introduced to a whole new network of people.

I want to keep the judging part simple for now, not including the entrants in the winner selection this time, but trying to just get people to communicate with each other, celebrating their passion for music. I've given my pieces away through radio station contests and free art shows, so I thought, why not give one away as a means to bring my audience together?

What do you think? Let me know your reactions to any part of my idea, good or bad. Give me suggestions to make it better, to make it so you would enter it yourself. That is, of course, the purpose. If you need to know more about Vinyl Art, read through this blog, even starting at the beginning. Also, watch my YouTube videos, and certainly,

CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE AT: WWW.VINYLART.INFO

and give me some feedback! Thanks for any help.

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

Woohoo! Paypal Works!

I used PayPal both to sell the already-painted Jerry that someone saw on YouTube and to accept payment upfront for a commission for Louis Armstrong! Worked beautifully. So, if you're interested in a commission, E-mail me and I can make a PayPal button all quick-like, post it for you only and then you can pay with your credit card. Pretty slick.

I'm going to paint 3 for the Free Art Seattle Exhibition after some unexpected finds today at the store. Also, I've got 2 of Bob Marley in the works, one that'll be part of that Bob Marley wing of the new music museum in Jamaica. Sweet. I still have time and frames for holiday orders too, so it's not too late if you've just found out about me. For more background and examples,

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

and see who you might want hanging on your wall!

SOLD - Louis Armstrong 12/05/07

Family And Friends

Stevie Ray for my brother-in-law in Austin and Lennon for our friend down in Tucson. I love giving gifts! I'm painting these for music-lovers who share our passion, so why not give them away too? Obviously I need to sell some, and the holiday season is the perfect time to get your commissions in, but sharing the love of music is what it's all about. This weekend I'm going to try to find the ones I'll do for Free Art Seattle. More giving. I'm looking forward to participating in other shows like it. If you know about art shows in your area that you think my work might fit into, please let me know!

I also created a profile at XING, kinda like LinkedIn. We'll see what connections I make there. Also, happened upon LiveVideo, so I created my channel there too. Basically, it's a duplicate of my YouTube channel, but it'll reach a whole new group of people. I'm tellin' ya, if I ever have to change E-mail addresses with the number of accounts I have... yikes. I just want people out there to know about what I'm doing and to give you all as many ways to find and connect with me as possible. I'm hoping to get more regular subscribers to this blog, but I'll take what I can get. Just give me feedback! Also, sorta important, if you haven't seen my online gallery, please:

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

and E-mail or even call me. Don't be shy, I won't bite.

GIFTED - Stevie Ray Vaughan and John Lennon 11/30/07

For The Love Of...

I was listening to The Verve's live recording of "Gravity Grave" on "No Come Down" while I was painting this Willie Nelson and something clicked inside reminding me of why I'm doing this artwork. The passion that true music-lovers share for the music that means so much is powerful; a raw emotional bond that you can see in someone when they "get it". Getting moved to tears by music is a gift for which I'll always be thankful.

So it made me all enthusiastic-like, which was good timing because Herbertos on Flickr found me and let me know about his Free Art Seattle Exhibition. Pretty cool idea, to have art up for a month in a cafe and then give the art away. The deadline is Jan. 5, so I'll probably do a couple for it, most likely with the clear coat and no frame like I did for Vinyl Killers 5.

I may also have gotten my first call from a visitor to the R.A.R.E. show earlier this year! I didn't expect anybody to contact me from there because most of the "Really Avid Record Enthusiasts" consider vinyl sacred, and even repurposing unplayable discs for art made them shudder. A few, though, had thought what I was doing was cool, certainly different than anything they'd seen at a vinyl collectors' show. We'll see if a commission comes out of it!

If you haven't seen the other commissions I've done, you can take a look at several if you:

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

and go to the online gallery. Plenty of time for holiday gift commissions!

SOLD - Willie Nelson 11/28/07