Sell Hard

Am I revealing too much? Am I dealing too much?
Am I revealing my dealings too much?
Three a day I must get paid, if supporting my family
with my art someday. So I sell hard.

Quite awhile back one told me I should
write like I paint, with music that is good
playing behind, driving my mind.
Letting it flow down my spine. So I sell hard.

Trivial pursuits in pursuit of being known,
man if it were that easy, to get shown. Alone
sitting in front of the box, taking hard knocks,
but persisting for little Abbey. So I sell hard.

Yep, the little one on the way, can't wait for
the day. She'll turn my life upside down, more-
over make it whole. But I gotta stay in control
of it to make a go of it. So I sell hard.

But do I hard sell?

Peace.

ON CONSIGNMENT - 08/25/09

Led Zeppelin Vinyl Art Timelapse

"So what can I say? It's all about the 'Immigrant Song'." - Icky on "Sarsippius' Ark" by Infectious Grooves.

Peace.

Looking Up, Or The Order Of Detail

These're a couple of the cellphone shots I took while painting Robert Plant and John Bonham, rounding out the 4 from Led Zeppelin I started yesterday. Next I've got to get more clear coat to protect them, and then I get to glue them together! Should turn out pretty cool.

I'm also going to try another timelapse YouTube clip, basically a slideshow stitched together. Then you'll get to see these 2 completed. Should turn out pretty cool.

If you've been checking out my cellphone shots you'll have noticed that I usually start at the bottom, the neck or chin, and work up, finishing with the eyes. This is entirely arbitrary, habit. The only reason the eyes usually come last is because I have to use a smaller brush to do the details, the highlights. Saves washing out brushes more than necessary, maybe laziness. But I decided to try starting with the eyes for Plant, just to see what it'll look like in the video piece. Gotta experiment! Should turn out pretty cool.

Peace.

Sweet Lullaby

I'm really dragging today. I got my teeth cleaned and almost fell asleep in the chair. It was the softest cleaning I've ever had, so that had something to do with it, but I'm really just tired.

I love sleeping. I wish I could take a siesta every day. We want to build a cabana out back by the pool so we can feel like we're down in Rocky Point on the beach.

When you wake up, do you have a song in your head? Like a brief chunk of music?

Just about every morning when I wake up, there's like one phrase of a song playing in my head, lyric and music. Wanna know what happens when I loop that chunk and focus on hearing it in my head?

I fall back asleep.

Peace.

Limited Time

Yesterday I talked about abundance of value. The counterpoint is time, its value in its uniqueness AND scarcity. Our time as individuals is limited. Attention is precious. Thus my overwhelming gratitude at your sharing yours with me, spending it on me.

So, to those paying attention, a return more than expected. I'm going to introduce framed double albums with a limited time offer. My framed single portraits go for $175 plus shipping ($10 US, $40 int'l) currently. For commissions paid for through the end of February, double portraits framed in the same type of frame, just a double-wide, will be $300 plus the same shipping.

I've done three examples. Sorry the picture above is a wee bit blurry. Here are closeups of the Kings Of Leon: Caleb and Jared and Matthew and Nathan. I also painted Smashing Pumpkins and Pink Floyd. The Kings Of Leon and Smashing Pumpkins do have 4 portraits, so they would be an additional $20 ($10 per added portrait).

A last detail: if you want 2 single albums each with a portrait, framed side-by-side, you can do that too for the same cost. So, for instance: Page and Plant of Led Zeppelin.

When you Email me I can send you a PayPal invoice or I do accept personal checks. Thank you so much for your time.

Peace.

Ambassadors Of Culture, Creation Of Go'd

Building on my previous post's connection between Zepp and Sigur Rós, in 1970, Led Zeppelin played Iceland and in so doing, created a connection between their music, their culture of England and the culture of the country which gave us Björk and Sigur Rós.

All three groups provide a pure expression of the culture of their countries. This is the power, the relative immediacy, of music and creativity. Creators, whether they be from the world of music, dance, cinema or other creative endeavor, can effect change, can communicate with humanity in a way that alters its course.

A pretty amazing thing.

Another pretty amazing thing is the organic nature of the effect. Nobody can predict or control it. It just happens. There is no direction, no comparison, no model of the impact. There is no better, or worse. There just is creation.

And it is good.

Peace.

Robert Plant 10/22/08

Keyword Conundrum

When people go into Wild About Music and see this painting of Page and Plant, they're already in the frame of mind to see music-related merch and art. When visitors land on my site and particularly my blog, I suspect they aren't as prepared for what they see.

Keywords are causing this to happen. For example, when E! reruns its 101 top moments of Saturday Night Live, my 2 posts about it get a bunch of hits from people looking for information about the show, not my list of favorite comedians or review of Knocked Up. I don't know if this is a problem to be resolved or just a normal occurence for blogs, but I'm always trying to fine tune my keywords.

How did you find me?

Now that you've found me, what words would you think to use to find me intentionally through a search?

Though artwork on record albums is becoming a bit more popular, I don't think most people would even think of the concept when looking for a gift for a music-lover or for cool unique things to add to their own collection of music-related stuff. I get a lot of people searching for "vinyl art", when they're really looking for vinyl art toys or vinyl window stickers, so I also get a lot of people not even remotely looking for what I do.

So can you help the right people find me?

Peace.

SOLD - Page and Plant 08/22/08

Best 3 Things About Austin, TX

1. My brother-in-law Jason lives near there.

2. http://www.keepaustinweird.com/

3. Wild About Music, the first gallery to show my work, has sold yet another Led Zeppelin! They took a chance on me and sold a Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix, Louis Armstrong, Willie Nelson, Stevie Ray Vaughan, B.B. King, and a bunch of Zeppelins. So if you're in the Austin area checking out 6th Street, drop in and say hello!

And, if you want to see more examples of pieces like Page and Plant:

CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE AT WWW.VINYLART.INFO

Now I can buy more records and frames!