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

Business Matters

Back in April of '07, Shelley at Wild About Music gave me a chance.

That chance has allowed me to do what I do today.

WAM had a location in Santa Monica, CA across the street from where my mom regularly eats breakfast. She'd been on the lookout for places that might be interested in my Vinyl Art. See I'd sold them only through word of mouth locally to people either my wife or my mother-in-law knew. The goal was to be able to pay my own health insurance for a year. If I could do that, then I'd be able to keep going.

I needed a more steady source of sales in order to follow my passion. Wild About Music was a perfect fit for my work. SXSW was coming up in Austin, so Shelley, after looking at a packet of inkjet prints of photos of my early work, decided to show several during the craziness in Texas. The Led Zeppelin Page and Plant and the Stevie Ray Vaughan I sent sold before the festival even started.

Since then, both the Zeppelin and the SRV pieces have done consistently well. B.B. King, Willie Nelson and others have sold occasionally. But thanks to the sales from WAM, I was able to pay my health insurance.

As the economy tanked, art sales predictably have dropped. Fortunately, my online presence has kept me afloat with sales here and there and now has led to more opportunities for wider and more focussed exposure.

But Shelley's still there, with a couple pieces of mine in the front window and a bunch more hanging on the wall as you go downstairs from the merch section to the gallery section. Last month the SRV sold again.

So I'm doing something special, for Shelley and hopefully for my art. I'm sending her the double portrait above. It'll be marked at $325, less than what 2 separate pieces would be, even though my costs, all told, are higher. I want to draw attention to her store, my art, and as a result our precious memories and culture. So go if you're in the neighborhood. Because business matters.

Peace.

ON CONSIGNMENT - 07/22/09

Up Front

Shelley has my work up front in the window at Wild About Music on 6th in Austin, TX. Very cool. Hendrix sold last month so I get to replace it with another piece on consignment.

She's been wonderful to work with from the start. The start is, after all, the important part in a relationship with a gallery, or really between any two parties.

Getting the issues squared away upfront sets up the guidelines and framework for the entire relationship, the whole tone. WAM's contract is stellar, and they even added a couple clauses on my request that clarified some additional points. I felt trusted. Even though they have an online presence, they don't yet sell my work online, but Shelley certainly wants to ensure that neither of us is undercutting the other. We even went through a price increase on her end successfully.

Now, I had the opposite happen with another gallery. I should've known, again, from the start as I was treated with suspicion and my integrity questioned based upon that gallery's experience with other artists. Among other things, they didn't want my last name to be associated with my work, and they wanted me to ultimately stop promoting myself online.

After some back and forth communication, we did initially arrive at an agreement and they signed the first contract they'd ever signed with an artist. Yep, they'd never made contracts before. I modelled the agreement after mine with WAM. So I was protected, if not insulated from their distrust. Eventually we ended our relationship as they couldn't understand me or look beyond their own hangups.

It's that communication that enables understanding. Yes, the structure of the relationship between artist and gallery, musician and record label, creator and distributor is changing, but if the issues are addressed at the outset, then both parties feel comfortable enough to readdress those issues and to consider new issues as they arise. Creatives and middlemen might live on different planets, but if Venusians (women) and Martians (men) can relate successfully, then we can too. Just be upfront.

Peace.

ON CONSIGNMENT - Jimi Hendrix 04/21/09

Do You Like Me? Will You Respect Me In The Morning?

Different questions.

There is a lot of creativity out there. A lot. I differentiate creativity by like vs. respect. Not mutually exclusive or inclusive. Picture one of those ven diagrams with the 2 circles overlapping somewhat.

I respect Willie Nelson. And he does have a hauntingly beautiful voice. But I don't particularly like his music.

Can you think of music that you like, would be ok waking up next to, but wouldn't introduce to your parents? Think: guilty pleasure.

Can you think of music that slaps you in the face, storms out and then outclasses you at the company suaree? Think: wouldn't look right next to the above guilty pleasure.

How about music that you both want to do dirty things to and to show off at the ball?

Finally, music that never should get out of bed?

Let's get a good list going here on this one! What do you say?

Peace

ON CONSIGNMENT - Willie Nelson 01/06/09

Front And Center

Even though I'm suffering a might bit of post-holiday lack of motivation, a bad thing for the self-employed, and a persisting upset stomach with accompanying joint aches, I need to keep painting.

I just found out over the weekend that a couple of my pieces, the Page/Plant Led Zeppelin and the ZZ Top, are in the front window of Wild About Music. In the center too! I know because my sister-in-law, the one who's just been visiting for 3 weeks lives near Austin and goes to 6th St. for Saturday night fun.

So I've gotta replace the Stevie Ray Vaughan and Willie Nelson they'd sold last November! Chop chop! A-listening to Rob & Big.

Peace.

SOLD - Stevie Ray Vaughan 01/05/09

Keeping It Fresh

They're hardly old hat. Yes, I've painted both of these a bunch of times. They aren't getting old or boring, or easier. Robert Plant is dang hard to paint. I'm not sure why, but I think I keep missing capturing him by a hair. Hey, maybe it's his hair. Blond curly backlit hair certainly is a challenge.

But I did switch it up for fun: putting Dylan on the left of the record and swapping Page and Plant. Oh so exciting!

I do love painting the iconic musicians because they're the ones that when people see them in the store the subject matter gets recognized right away and then the people can more quickly get to "Now what the heck is that?"

So Dylan is going to Raw Style in Santa Monica, CA and Zeppelin is going to Wild About Music in Austin, TX.

Peace.

ON CONSIGNMENT - Bob Dylan 06/25/08

Consignment Crazy

Willie's going to Wild About Music since they sold the last one I sent. They also sold Zeppelin and ZZ Top! Raw Style sold Dylan and Primitive Kool is putting on a School of Rock show at the end of August. So I've gotta get cracking!

Also coming up is the Waxploitation show. I'm starting to get some visitors who've searched for it. So the poster is ready just in time! Hope they get a good turn out.

Peace.

SOLD - Willie Nelson 06/23/08

The Observer And The Observed

Part of the Uncertainty Principle in Physics (yes, I hear "blah, blah, blah..." after the word Physics now too, even after 6 years of UCLA science courses, but stay with me) says that whenever a subject observes an object, the act of observing changes the object, making the observation always slightly different than the reality a moment before. In a way, listening to vinyl is like that: each time an album is played, the record is worn a bit. I know it's very slight, but sometimes I hesitate to play albums because of it. That's one reason why I'm so thrilled to be able to archive my records with the iRecord.

Some of my records were recorded from "reference discs", not master recordings, so they already bear the artifacts of repeated play. That was the case with the third album I recorded, "Strawberry Fields Forever" by The Beatles, another fan club release. It's got some great rare stuff on it, but the recording noise and extremely short track breaks led to both sides being recorded as one long track each. Oh well, so I got to try out Audacity, a free audio file editting program, to split the tracks. It worked like it was supposed to, even though it took awhile to load in the original uncut file. So, I think I can use the iRecord succesfully for all my records! I could've tried increasing the silence sensitivity setting to split the tracks, but I didn't want to have to play the whole record again. There already was a small skip from when I bought it. So, woohoo!

Oh, yeah, art...

I painted Stevie Ray Vaughan for Wild About Music in addition to the Dylan in my previous post. Today I'm going to frame, box and send those. Next I'm painting The Flaming Lips. The record is a dark, clear, red vinyl. This is the first time I'm using colored and clear vinyl. I'll see how it looks. I might end up spraying the backside with black to make the portraits show up more if the album cover is too distracting behind it. Or I could just create a backing out of black construction paper... I'll show ya both ways before deciding.

Peace.

The Art Of Vinyl Art

Choosing the image and creating the composition is the hardest and most important part of what I do. The first painting above is the first image of Dylan that I've used, the second is the second. I used the second primarily because it is very similar to the Lennon image I use. I figured the pair would look good together. However, the difference between these Dylans demonstrates how important the step of choosing the image is to my process. The first is a much softer photo, more sculptural. It shows the volume, the curve of his face more. The second is much harsher, higher contrast. It relies on shape and edges more delicately to create shading and depth. Both are beautiful photos. I'm not placing judgement on either in comparing the two, just pointing out the impact on the final piece of the choice. The first ends up being a more subtle, but perhaps more realistic portrait, while the second is certainly more dramatic and bold, with the expression captured in details of shape rather than tone.

I thought I'd share this comparison because I just painted both, one for the Florida Music Festival and one for Wild About Music. They reveal different sides of the man: the contemplative songwriter and the forceful poet.

Thoughts?

Peace.

The More Exposure, The More Exposed

I'm so excited about the exposure my work is getting online! I don't know what the consensus is on creating a list of links to blog posts about oneself, but Neatorama and Makezine are two recent additions to the list! It's certainly good for my Technorati Authority in any event since these two have rankings up in the 4000s and I'm in the 10s. I honestly don't know what the impact will be on the success of my artwork of all these social networking efforts, but the number of visitors to my gallery site has increased dramatically. I've had one person use the PayPal Buy Now buttons and two people follow through with commissions.

That said, the galleries where I've consigned my work are the steady sources of sales I have now. So BB King and Led Zeppelin are heading off to Wild About Music, and I'm painting a few this week for Primitive Kool. I'm trying hard to find a gallery/shop in the London area as I've gotten good feedback online from people in the UK. If you're one of those people, please let me know if you are aware of any locations I should contact about showing my work on consignment!

One post out there, http://cdnav.com/, was critical of my gallery site's front page (the blurb is 5 paragraphs down in the Jan 28th section). I'm glad to get feedback on it finally. They thought the graphical navigation was confusing with the OPEN sign not linking anywhere. From my website logs, though, it seems people aren't having a problem getting to the page where you can buy the pieces. So I don't know. Please,

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

and let me know if you have any site design suggestions! Peace.

SOLD - B.B. King 01/28/08

Giving The People What They Want

The final presentation of artwork is vital to its marketability. People want to receive something they will be happy to hang on their wall as is with no complications. It needs to be professional and showcase the piece effectively. It's also an issue a lot of people bring up, everybody has an opinion. I try to take them all in and see how I feel about it. I am constantly re-evaluating my framing options.

I want to keep the pieces "affordable and portable", a quote from the owner of Wild About Music. I want them to be dramatic and simple, focussing attention on my painting. I'm going to get a frame from Gary of http://www.rockartpictureshow.com/ to try out. When I initially was looking into options, his patented frame caught my attention. I couldn't afford it then, but since Robert over at http://www.collectingvinylrecords.com/ connected us, maybe it'll work out. The frames are endorsed by The Smithsonian and Rock'N'Roll Hall of Fame! Pretty cool. They even have space at the bottom if I wanted to make a little plaque.

I'm also still deciding about doing ones without frames, using clear-coat to protect the painting. They'd be much easier to ship, but not as professional looking. It does make for a dramatic presentation though. I did get great response at Vinyl Killers.

Another idea is framing the record alongside the album sleeve so both are fully visible, like they frame gold records with the original album sleeve next to it. This is a cool idea, especially when the album I've used has an iconic sleeve, like "Dark Side". This is the opposite of no frame though: more expensive, harder to ship, and less portable. So we'll see! I'm open to any ideas you might have. If you want to see a bunch of examples how the pieces look the way I frame them currently,

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

and let me know what you think about the issue of presentation in art.

Trying Out eBay Again

The Jerry is still available that I made the YouTube video of a couple weeks ago. So I decided during the holiday buying period to try out eBay again. I've put it up for auction. It's up through next weekend. I figured people might be checking things out during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. We'll see.

Bob Marley and the Jerry Garcia that Primitive Kool had in their show sold along with the Hendrix at Wild About Music. Also, I've gotten some great response from other blogs:

http://hippiesounds.com/vinyl-art-video/
http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/records-vinyl-art-by-daniel-edlen
http://www.curbly.com/DIY-Maven/posts/3061-Daniel-Edlen-s-LP-Canvases-

so I'm glad I made those videos! I'm excited to see what ripples spread from those posts. Maybe I'll get that swarm of wasps buzzing yet! To see other examples of my work, as always:

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

and scroll through the jukebox to find your memories! I'm off to do Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Some Like It Hot

I was amazed that I found an album of her recordings for her movies that was in bad enough shape to paint. I hope I did her justice. I wouldn't want to offend Joltin' Joe's memory of his Marilyn. What the American public has considered "beautiful" has sure changed over the years. I've considered many very different actresses to be gorgeous. I used to draw and sculpt the figure from live models, so I became aware of the subjectivity and individuality of beauty. Here is a group of publicly known women that helped shape my sense of feminine exquisiteness:

Audrey Hepburn
Lauren Bacall
Rita Hayworth
Marilyn Monroe
Barbara Feldon
Shannon and Tracy Tweed
Gillian Anderson
Michelle Pfeiffer
Anna Nicole Smith (as the Guess girl)

So American... oh well, that's where I grew up! And near Hollywood. I suppose, then, these really capture what I consider the beautiful celebrity, not feminine beauty in general. How shallow is that? This is, however, a part of who I am and of my pop culture, so it's definitely relevant to this blog.

Also relevant to this blog about my trials and tribulations as an artist, the glass of 2 of the 3 I sent to Wild About Music broke in transit. Blast! This is the third time. I am switching over to plexiglass for everybody now, for sure. It's just not worth the worry every time I send one with glass. Plex is lighter anyway. The practical issues of being an artist are trying. I just want to be able to paint and make people happy, not be bothered by packaging concerns. If you'd like to see the ones I sent to Austin even though they aren't displayed for sale yet, you can:

CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE AT: WWW.VINYLART.INFO

and look through the online gallery.

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