Can I Paint Again Yet?

Whew! What a week!

I got it done though. My new gallery!

http://www.vinylart.info/why.htm

This is just in time, because that video I talked about a little bit ago is done too! It turned out amazingly! I'm so proud of it. Ryan at http://rhynomarketing.com did such a good job.

I've embedded it on my "About Me/An Introduction" page. If you want to see it in high quality, you can go straight to YouTube. Then if it doesn't start in HQ, you can click the HQ button in the bottom right of the video box. It'll take a bit longer to load, but the paintings look way better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjagBX3VFug

I also sent out my email newsletter this morning. Baby and Bookmans news were the main topics. Good stuff. If you'd like to be included in my mailing list, just email me and let me know!

http://www.vinylart.info/press.htm

Have a good weekend! I'll be back to painting next week. Some cool commissions.

Peace.

Redemption Sung

[EDIT: 1/05/09 - For some reason, even though my friend says they shouldn't've, YouTube forced me to choose between changing the music, muting the music, or deleting the video. I've muted it for now. This is the case with the Jimi Hendrix video as well. I'm not sure what to do, as reuploading the files won't change anything, and probably won't even succeed. Drat. Any suggestions?]

So I checked my email this morning to find that YouTube had blocked the public display of this video of my painting of Bob Marley due to a claim by "a copyright owner" and a "music rights issue". The music backing the timelapse video is "Redemption Song" by Bob Marley and The Wailers. The record label is Island Recordings. Island is owned by Universal Music Group.

Guess who knows the EVP of the digital media side of the business at UMG?

Me. We went to high school together. How cool is that?

So, I went to the dispute page at YouTube and claimed fair use as I didn't use the entire song, it doesn't infringe upon the market for the recording, and the video is educational in that it shows my process, not directly selling anything. Voila! It's back up!

I got an email back from my friend at UMG and he said that they expressly allow this type of usage and they certainly hadn't put in the claim. Apparently YouTube has an automatic filter to flag user generated content that also uses something copyrighted.

Phew! I was glad to find out I hadn't rubbed the label the wrong way. In my thinking big, I hope at some point to work with the label promotionally, so thank goodness I didn't piss anybody off.

I get all anxious when legal issues pop up. You know that feeling in the pit of your stomach when you've been accused of doing something wrong you know you didn't do, or you know isn't wrong? Man, that sucks. Fortunately I seem to have gotten rapid resolution, redemption if you will, to this deal and don't have to worry about getting personally sued. Also, I'm glad that my response automatically dropped the block on the video.

So now you can see it!

Peace.

An Introduction (Or Who's Out There?)

According to Feedburner, my subscriber base is growing steadily! I don't really know what that means but it feels good that the chart shows it's going up.

So I suppose one thing that means is that there are a handful of people getting my posts automatically sent to them in one form or another who might not totally get the full picture of what Vinyl Art is about. I recently redesigned my site and blog to hopefully provide more complete information that is easier to access. I also added the Table of Contents to my blog sidebar to make it easier to read back into my archive. This past half year has been a bit of a blur, but I think there's some good stuff back there.

The subscriber increase also means that there are more people lurking. I certainly don't mind, but I really encourage comments and questions. You can call, email, or post comments here. You can comment on my YouTube videos as well as on my Flickr photostream. I've made some great connections with people passionate about all things creative and about their favorite music, so join in the fun! You can even stay anonymous.

Let's start with a question all can relate to, I hope. What band or musician has had the most important impact on you?

For me, it's The Beatles because "Revolver" was the first album my dad played for me on his record player. It began my passion for music.

Peace.

Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You

When all is said and done, what will humanity be remembered for, what will the ages say about you?

[EDIT - 5/15/08: To all those finding this post while on a quest for information regarding JFK's inaugural address and his famous quote, I found out that it was inspired by a line written by Khalil Gibran, the author of "The Prophet". The line can be found in "The New Frontier". It's the 7th paragraph. This isn't to take away from JFK's rephrasing it into a monster of an directive to a nation, though.

Also, the contest described below is over, but I'm hoping I get to do another one! I need your help. I need enough subscribers either by RSS feed or email so that I'll get enough entries. So make it easier on yourself to keep up with my oh-so-neat little blog, and subscribe!]

"No man is an island, he's a peninsula," said Jefferson Airplane. We are all connected and we're the better for embracing that: "Men often hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don't know each other; they don't know each other because they can not communicate; they can not communicate because they are separated," said MLK. I guess my main purpose in creating and promoting Vinyl Art at all is to contribute as I can, seeking my way of bringing people together. So, I'm taking King's first step even though I definitely can't see the rest of the staircase, and starting my contest. Woohoo!

Your Grand Prize: one (1) piece of Vinyl Art of the recording artist of your (reasonable) choice, framed and delivered

The 9 Second Prizes: your entry featured on the sidebar of this blog

Everybody's Deadline: February 29th, 2008

How You Enter: I want to know your story (you feel comfortable enough to share) of when music had the biggest impact on your life, like a concert, or a song you danced to with your future mate, or an important moment in human history that changed you in large part due to music involved. It's gotta be true and about you. The entry can be in any form: you can write the story in a comment here, you can post an image on Flickr and send me a FlickrMail about it, you can make a video to upload to YouTube and send me a message there with it attached, you can create a post on your own blog with a trackback to here, or you can even use regular ol' snail mail (address available on request). Basically, any format, online or off, is acceptable as long as it's your creation and your story. Every entry will be moderated for appropriateness (my blog isn't "adult", ;) ) and listed in the comments to this post for all to see.

How You Become A Winner: On March 1, 2008, I'll start going through all the entries and pick the 10 top ones. By "top", I mean the most successful at communicating your story. I want to really "get" why you've chosen that particular story to tell. I'm not going to judge it based on comparisons of content. I'm going to judge the entries based on the whole package, kind of like how dogs are judged in Best of Show competitions. I know there aren't "breed standards", but I mean I'm going to look at the facts of the story and judge the entry on how well I think it conveys your experience of those facts and the impact it had on you. Then I'll pick one of the top 10 randomly as the Grand Prize winner!

I thought about putting the top 10 up for voting by you to pick the winner, but for this first contest, I want to keep it simple. I don't really know how big my audience is and how many hoops you'd be willing to jump through to win a painting at this point. Also, I'll see how many entries I get before committing to when I'll announce the winners. I'm going to do my best with this, but everybody has told me that contests can go haywire, so let's just make it a good one! You can always ask me questions to clarify before submitting your entry, I'll make important ones public. I don't care if I get all the entries on the last day of this month if you want to keep refining or if you just procrastinate, but if you want more people to see your entries, get them submitted!

If you want inspiration, or if you don't understand the Grand Prize:

CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE AT: WWW.VINYLART.INFO

and also the more entries, the better a contest will result for us all, so tell your friends! Peace.

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.

Happy New Year! Welcome To Vinyl Art By Daniel Edlen!

Self-promotion is hard. Very hard. But it really helps when people connect, share, and then spread the love. Two completely separate connections have greatly increased the number of people who at least know about my artwork.

The first came after I commented at Robert Benson's blog about collecting vinyl. I was looking to grow my audience and I cautiously introduced myself. Cautiously because I never know how collectors will react. But he flipped! The YouTube videos gave him chills, he said. Pretty cool. So it turns out he is connected to Jerry Osborne and also writes articles that he posts for a very wide audience. He interviewed me on the phone, my first one! Then he actually let me check over the draft of his article and make sure the quotes were accurate! He's posted it in several places now.

The second came through, I believe, the post at NOTCOT.org. I was scanning through my website log yesterday morning and saw a hit from an administrative account at getTRIO.com, a cable network owned by NBC. Figuring they would contact me first, I didn't do anything. Then, about 30 minutes later I got an E-mail from PayPal saying that the Hendrix had sold! Looking at my logs to see where the person might've come from I found tons of traffic from getTRIO. They had put up a post about me! Me! Great little blurb with an excellently cropped pic of my Miles Davis. Holy mackerel. So we'll see what happens with that!

Today, after finishing organizing my records, or at least trying to, I'm going to paint, paint, paint. I made a change on my website, putting PayPal Buy Now buttons for all the paintings I've done that I think are my best and people might want again. Some of them are still available immediately, but all are available by commission. Also, my wife was concerned that people might get the idea that those listed are the only ones I'll do. And some online contacts have asked that. So, to clarify, I'll do anybody for whom I can find both a picture and an album released on vinyl. Anybody.

I'm hoping with this new exposure, people will read through this blog, even going back to the beginning. I really like how it's turned out, and enjoy reading through the posts in sequence. I started it with the intention of using it like a journal of my art doings, as well as to provide more information about my past background and how it impacts my present work. It's meant as a companion to my main website, answering questions and expanding upon the content found there. I've also since added my YouTube channel with several time-lapse videos of the creation of my artwork. So, hopefully these different ways of finding me will bring in more people and give them, well, you, enough of a sense of who I am and what my art is about. If not, please, please don't hesitate to leave comments, E-mail me, or even call me. I'm very open and appreciate any feedback, positive or critical.

At the start of a new year that I hope has found you well, if you are interested in reading, seeing or watching more about me, first:

CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE AT: WWW.VINYLART.INFO

and then come on back here to scan through my ramblings or head over to YouTube to view my videos. Peace.

SOLD - Miles Davis 01/10/08

One Love

Watched "Scrooged" this week. Great Christmas movie. Love Bill Murray. Good message too.

Also saw "No Country For Old Men" in the theater. Wow. Probably won't watch it over and over like "The Big Lebowski", but it is a top-notch Coen Brothers film. Everything about it was brilliant, necessary, certainly fulfilling their roles as auteurs.

I made a video of the new Bob Marley: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05psVut4Ep4. I was nervous painting it, since it's for Roger Steffens, and, again I'm not sure if the clip turned out too dark. If you take a gander at it, let me know what you think! I also added the painting to my gallery that you can see if you:

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

Peace.

GIFTED - Bob Marley 12/14/07

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

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.

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!

Top 9 Things To See In London?

Now live on YouTube! Click on the photo to see my new movie.

I've got some done with still much to do. Today, besides putting the video together, I did Damian Marley and Warren Zevon for commissions from Newport Nights. I've got a Jerry Garcia and Miles Davis to go, so far. I'm hoping for more interest after Primitive Kool puts those 16 up on their website. It looks like the Otis Redding sold too! We're going to London next week so I won't be posting here or able to paint, so I've got to get a lot done this week. I've got to get the ones done and framed for First Fridays, which'll be next week too. Feelin' the crunch!

Speaking of our trip to London, these are the things I'm most excited to see:

The Verve concert
Stonehenge
Westminster Abbey
Abbey Road
Tate Modern
St. Paul's Cathedral
London Bridge
Mary Poppins
Hyde Park

Please let me know what else we should hit! Otherwise:

CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE AT: WWW.VINYLART.INFO

and comment on my videos on YouTube too.

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.