Now I'm Not Saying I'm Robin Hood

My friend Rodney is having a hard go of it these days. "Soul-crushing" he says.

My friend Robert isn't doing great. Already on disability, he was foreclosed on and had to move. And he's going blind in his other eye.

The randomness of real Life, eh?

This is why I feel SO lucky to be alive and to be able to do what I do. I get to bring joy, to give love, to share passion. My art may simply hang on a wall or lean on a ledge, but make no mistake, it DOES something. I thank Life, G'od, for using me, for allowing me, for guiding me to serve in the way I do.

Besides creating the pieces, I also work my butt off trying to help others do what they do as I can. Being connected means I occasionally can reach the right people, and they can reach me. This Johnny Cash is now up for auction for 4 more days. Help Civia and Musicians On Call, through Country Music Television, help people recovering in hospitals with the power of music. It's only $55 framed as of the writing of this post, a steal for a good cause.

You have to take to give.

Peace.

Testify!

This Johnny Cash is a donation for a silent auction to be held at the 3rd annual charity golf tournament for the Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk teams "Simply The Breast" and "Team H.O.P.E.". The auction is being held on September 27th the Superstition Springs Golf Club in Mesa, AZ.

They saw my interview on the local morning news and simply asked me if I'd like to participate. I hope I come off as approachable and that I don't intimidate with my words. I'm continuing to add to this blog both to create a journal of my journey as a professional artist and to connect with creative and passionate people.

The connecting part relies on you to take the next step after reading a couple posts on this blog and maybe checking out the gallery. I just added a new page of testimonials, comments I've received from happy customers. The page has links for most of the people to their sites, my videos or related blog posts. So you can check that out too and get up the courage to leave that comment that popped into your head when I said "Johnny Cash... donation for... Breast Cancer... auction".

Peace.

DONATED - Johnny Cash 08/21/08

Right Time And Place

What a coupla days! Wow. I had posted a listing on Craigslist wanting old records that people might be preparing to throw away. A lady contacted me saying that she was moving in 2 weeks and couldn't take her collection with her. She had been impressed with my work, the reasonable price, and the obvious passion I had for music.

So I met her yesterday. Holy moly! What a collection, and what a great connection! This is why I'm doing what I'm doing. She had loved music so much she ended up working for the manager of Rage Against The Machine! Smart, smart, smart woman. Very enjoyable to talk to and share stories. Stories are what it's about.

I'm painting Van Halen for her in exchange for a vast collection including Zeppelin, Prince, Hendrix, the Beastie Boys, the Beatles, and some great 80s bands. I'll post a picture when I'm done.

Then, today. Hooboy! I awoke to an email from Dan Davis of the local morning news team on Channel 3, azfamily.com. He wanted to interview me and film me painting! I had sent him an email awhile ago and he had a last minute cancellation. I apparently responded in the nick of time before he told his producer that he nothing to shoot today. So I scrambled and cleaned up the house, tidied up my studio a bit, and got the above Johnny Cash started so they could see the good part when the painting pops. Hopefully the segment works well once they edit it down. Man, what an experience! I hope I didn't ramble too much.

It'll run next Thursday, the 17th, at around 7:45 am on Channel 3 in Phoenix.

So, hooray for being in the right place at the right time, and prepared for it!

Peace.

ON CONSIGNMENT - Johnny Cash 07/10/08

The Freedom In Discipline

In the wonderful yin-yang of life, if you think about it, aren't rules and boundaries freeing? My oldest lab whines and stresses until she knows for a fact what her physical boundaries are. As we grow up, we test social boundaries, stressing until we know with what we and those around us are comfortable. As adults, we delight in dancing over that line in Vegas or Mexico or on Spring Break.

Don't you worry at work if you don't know what is expected of you?

As a professional artist, I'm my own boss. Great in theory, but in practice, a big challenge. It is a big challenge to stay accountable to oneself. This past week after painting a piece a day for Primitive Kool, I've decided to set that as a goal for myself, my future self. I'm telling myself that I expect myself to paint a piece a day. I'm setting up my own guideline.

So now I can relax and follow my own rule. Pretty neat I think. Good way to keep focussed on my art too. I'll bet there are a LOT of posts out there about this very thing, but if you don't experiment yourself, then it isn't your experience yet, right?. I found that when I wasn't painting, doing my "work", I felt disheartened. Don't get me wrong, Jason's sudden death accounted for most of my heartache, but at least this way, with this rule in place, I'm free to do what I need to do for my business.

What's been your experience with the freedom rules provide?

Peace.

SOLD - Johnny Cash 05/19/08

FMF2008 Rock Walk: Music-Inspired Passion

So, these are the 7 I'm sending off to Florida. You can click on the photo to see it bigger. They laid out pretty nicely for this photo, I thought. Took it out on the pool deck.

I've gotten a couple commissions that I get to work on: Peter Frampton and Melanie Safka. Both are for people passionate about music that touched them growing up. The people I want to reach the most. Whomever your favorite is, I want to know. I want to create something for you to show off what that music means to you. Make people stop and think, "I know that face... isn't that...?" and then get to talk about why you love them so much. Connect.

Peace.

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

Jimi Hendrix Backed By Dylan On YouTube!

Well, I used the "Are You Experienced?" I found. Hope I did a good enough job for such an amazing album. It'd be like using "Revolver" or "Pepper". I created a YouTube video for it as well. I used "All Along the Watchtower" behind it and it turned out pretty nice. So maybe if it gets enough exposure, more people will get hip to what I'm doing and why. I know, just know, I'll have to explain again that I use albums a phonograph needle would run and hide from and that, yes, they are handpainted directly on the record, and no, you can't play them anymore. It's fun though, kind of an ice-breaker to a discussion about vinyl, music, recycling and so forth. That's why I'm creating these, to give people something positive and creative to talk about that adds to and celebrates our pop culture.

First Fridays attendees who visit Red Dog Gallery will see 8 pieces to talk about, compare and share. Who's your favorite? Dylan, Cash, or Hendrix? Nah, Ozzy! Sweetness.

I can still get commissions done for the holidays, so:

CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE AT: WWW.VINYLART.INFO

and let me know who the music-lover in your family would want!

The Man In Black On His Ring Of Fire

Dylan worked out alright, 40 some odd views so far. So here's Johnny!

Let me know what you think and if you like it, share the link from YouTube!

Heading out to SoCal on Saturday, but I'm tryin' to get two more done that they already sold. Anybody got a Hendrix record they don't want? Hehe, yea. So you can still see the ones for the show in San Diego if you:

CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE AT: WWW.VINYLART.INFO

and help me blow away the smoke and ash!

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.

Do Work!

The Man in Black is definitely giving Zep a run for their money in popularity, at least as far as my paintings go. A collector already bought the one I had done for Newport Nights at Primitive Kool before they even publicized them! They asked if I could do another one for the show so they could sell that one along with paintings of Johnny Cash from a couple other artists. So, I did work! This one is on the Pickwick release "Walk the Line". I had to reunite it with it's cover at the record store because it's a bit warped and they were going to sell just the sleeve. Doin' my part!

Speaking of my part, apparently Blog Action Day was a huge success. They took down most of their site so I had to put the banner image on my site. Makes sense, though, to streamline their site. They probably didn't want some 20,000 blogs hitting their site constantly for those banners. In any event, feel free to use my copy. You can find it in my previous post:

http://vinylart.blogspot.com/2007/10/blog-action-day-make-it-more-than-day.html

Also, if you want to see more examples of my work, you can go through the rest of this blog and:

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

and tell me how you found me!

Jammin' For Primitive Kool

Painting up a storm for the show. Don't have much to say today other than I'm curious why my blog ranking jumped so much yesterday. I wish readers would leave me comments. Let me know how you found me or start up a dialog. Something. Anything. Also, there are more examples in my online gallery if you want to:

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

For now back to painting! Woohoo!

What's Your Story?

I saw a few segments of the old HBO Taxicab Confessions the other night. Our schedule was a bit outta whack after the Arctic Monkeys concert, which was excellent. It reminded me how those early shows on cable that were more raw and more reality did a lot to make me more tolerant. While it also desensitized me a bit, it made me want to seek truth and individuality, to strip away preconceived notions and let people be who they are with no judgement. Everyone is worth listening to and showing love for simply that, who they are.

That's why with my portraits I try to be true to the individual, to celebrate their natural beauty. I want the person to come through with no filters, no externally imposed beliefs. To me, it makes them feel more personal, more connected, instead of homogenized and flat.

I get to do another Zep, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Johnny Cash for Wild About Music as they sold 3 last month! Roy Robbins also sold the Sammy Davis Jr. he had on display. Here come more frames! Keep an eye on my gallery for new ones when you:

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

Christmas is coming! Still plenty of time to commission pieces!

Marvin Gaye 09/24/07

Holy Jibbitz, I've Been Blogged!

Josh Spear saw fit to blurb me in his blog! David Vo wrote the concise, well-composed post:

http://www.joshspear.com/item/daniel-edlen

He used the Bob Dylan painting with the text, one of my favorites that I almost wish I hadn't sent off to hang at Raw Style in Santa Monica, CA. I've sent off the five blues greats, Howlin' Wolf, Billie Holiday, B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, and Ray Charles, to Primitive Kool in San Diego, CA as well. A fan who bought a Johnny Cash at Gasoline Gallery in El Segundo, CA is interested in Silverchair as well, and I actually found an album they pressed on vinyl! I've got a local record store interested in consigning some pieces as well, so I get to paint more! Off to decide who to do... oh, first, in case you'd like to see others like the one above:

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

and scroll through the jukebox!

Howlin' At The Trees

Here's a pic of the piece I painted yesterday. I also updated a whole bunch of images on my secondary site which I'll be using to sell through PayPal. They're in the "For Sale" section. Check 'em out and let me know what you think!

I also did another portrait of Johnny Cash flipping everyone off for Gasoline Gallery, which has sold several of those. I have a pic of another Johnny Cash I did on my MySpace profile page.

Here's a random piece of advice I picked up today: don't trim up evergreen trees like pine trees in the heat of the Arizona summer. Apparently it puts them into shock.

Just thought I'd share that with you as I try to get a large branch that broke off cleaned up and to get you to:

CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE AT: WWW.VINYLART.INFO

I'll post more pics here too, if you want to see more.