Here is a glimpse at the final paintings produced for this years Plein Air Festival hosted by the Golden Triangle Museum District. The show is juried, and will actually have two seperate juries determining the pieces to be displayed. One set for the main exhibition at the Denver Public Library on November 1oth, and a second set aimed seperately towards the pieces created at the Governor's Residence, which will be hosting it's own showing on February 8th. On location painting lends itself to so many different techniques and tools that can be applied in such diverse settings, from studio painting, to illustration, I implore any and all artists to get up and get out of the studio, and create from light. Look for more info as the jury deliberates and the show deadlines come closer.
I was at Twist and Shout today redeeming a gift certificate so graciously given to me for the auctioned live painting done for the Flobots Bowling Ballearlier this month and while I was exploring the vinyl, toys, and grand selection of music, I had to take some product shots of two projects I completed in 08, Ichiban's Psycle Analysis, and Atmospheres Sad Clown Bad Spring #12 seen here on the shelves, ready for you on Cd or vinyl(SCBD12 only) to feast upon. Go to Twist and Shout and grab one, because SCBD 12 is out of stock at Rhymesayers.com, and tell Ale at the counter I sent you. Get them while you still can, collectors items for your future!
Final update for the plein air festival. The overall crappy weather served to ruin the last few days of the paint out locations, making for a few less paintings. Here is a look at two of the final images from the works I completed during the paint outs. The first is from the Governor's Mansion, the second from the 16th St. Mall paint out. They are seen here with test frames I was perusing with my friend and fellow artist Darrell Anderson, from Manny's custom Framing. These may or may not end up in these mouldings, but I tend to think they're a good fit. The final images are being submitted to the jury on Sep.30th, and I should know which pieces were accepted to the show by the end of October. Opening reception is November 10th at the Denver Public Library. More info soon to come.
New custom graphic soon to go to print, but for now the final line drawing before I begin vector and final design. Look for the final graphic soon, and I know you'll probably want one of these on street level, excited to see the finish. Keep an eye out, and an ear down low.
Here is the current progress from the larger mural underway for the Gang Resource and Support Project, or G.R.A.S.P. I will keep it brief with the description and let the images tell the rest of the story. This particular wall has seen a few different images on its surface, but with the help of the local kids, graff writers, GRASP workers, my out of town friends, and myself this wall has recieved an entire makeover. The main image aimed at relinquishing gang life in its many forms, is accompanied by the Jaguar and Eagle, two symbols of power and strength within the community and throughout history, echoing the message of the entire image. Special thanks to Ever, Dimz, Rico, Jared, Johnny, Awer, Harrison Nealey, Sine, Johnny Williams, Juan Ortiz, anyone else who helped prep the wall, and Cisco for all the participation on this project. It is nearly finished, with a few touches to be added, and of course the unveiling! Look for info on that soon.
Here is a quick preview of the progress on a new graphic for a custom jersey graphic out of Texas. Look for more on this soon, in the meantime.......for some reason the Vikings look good. I know Denver will hate me for this but, Favre, and Adrian Peterson....always been partial to the kid, reminds me of Barry, and they smashed the niners.....final graphic to come.
New mural in West Denver, collaboration piece for the Barrio Unity Mural Project headed by the Gang Resource and Support Project. More beautification for the community and another project just around the corner on a larger scale. More on that soon.
Here is the world premiere video from 3 The Hardway, "Truth", featuring Rakaa Iriscience, and shot in LA, by Eric Heights. My trip to LA in late july coincided with this video shoot and the tribute mural created for Brian Caufield, is featured in the video, rest in power to DJ Spell. Much love to Brians family and friends, Eric Heights for breathing life into his memory, and 3 The Hardway for their continued dedication to creating incredible music, and representing Denver hip-hop at its best. The video is getting a great deal of publicity on forums such as OnSmash, YouTube, and the Soul Assassins website. Watch out for the Three!
Denver's 3rd Annual Plein Air Festival is underway and going great, here is a little sneak peak into one of the paint out pieces I completed on the 16th St. Mall in Downtown Denver. This was a color study done on location, with an accompanying final piece. More to come on this great event, some great pieces from the Governor's Mansion, Civic Center paint out is tomorrow, and the final paint out locale is at the Grant Humphrey's Mansion on the 21st, so keep your eyes out, more to come.
Recent commissioned portrait of "Ike", or Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme Allied commander during WWII, known for many other accomplishments. Aerosol on canvas, 20 x 24 inches. It is for a lawyer located here in Denver, and a great choice, inspiring man. Very pleased with the effect of light in this piece. Military attire is a challenge as well but despite the difficulty I am very happy with the results.
Having been involved with the creation of cover artwork for the music industry, I saw the commercial previewed on Rhapsody for the new album Blueprint 3, with the recreated cover art as the premise and thought it was unique and different. Then to top it off I saw Dan Tobin Smith's "making of" cover artwork video. The use of projector painted, found object still life is a really fresh look, and is inspiring in many ways. Also I think the new album is good, worth giving a listen to. Here is the info and insight provided by those at OnSmash.
Greg Burke, the creative director on the project at Atlantic Records had seen the Letter ‘E’ I had shot with the set designer Nicola Yeoman and I guess he had it in the back of his mind when he was thinking of ideas for Jay-Z’s new artwork for Blueprint 3. I think Greg and Jay-Z had lots of ideas about what the album meant and it seemed to be about taking it back to the source, in terms of the music itself and then subsequently the artwork. For the album and the idea was it was very much about the music and all the things that make music. The 3 is represented by 3 bars which is of course the old way of writing ‘3’ so that seemed to work really nicely with the idea behind the album and the set design that evolved. We all liked the idea that the installation was almost machine like, like all these things were interlinked. That’s why everything is packed and jumbled together. Like it had kind of grown out of this corner. I think it was a brave approach for Jay-Z as all his previous albums have had him on them. I love still life, and the way I shoot is quite old school. It took 3 days to shoot, was all shot on 10×8 inch film, so the quality in the whites is fantastic, so much subtle tone. We worked long and hard on the colour work on the post and even in a single page mag advert I can see that effort. You could blow the image up to the size of a building and it would still hold up. It seems the album is about that old school crafted production so its nice that that same method went into the shoot. The reaction has been really good. Kanye put it on his blog which was nice. I’m sure some people want to see Jay-Z on the cover but at least they will talk about it. I love the idea of this kind of still life photography being so looked at. When they see the rest of the shoot for the singles I think it will grow on some of the people who were maybe less enamoured with it. There has obviously been comparisons to the letter E, some people not realising it was me who shot it! It was great that we shot it and the whole experience was great, everybody worked together really well.
Here are the photos from the incredible "Bring It On, Bowling Ball", featuring the Flobots and the Fray versus Denver. The live painting was a portrait of Jonny 5 of the Flobots, the reference was provided by The Flobots.org to paint from. The event was a great success, and here are a few images of the painting being auctioned live to benefit the non-profit. The buyer of the piece is a great gentleman by the name of Roman, seen with his wife. Also the man himself came through and took some photos with the piece as well. Have to give a special thanks to the Flobots, the Fray, Laura at the flobots.org, Steve, and Musa Bailey. Recap of events here.
As you walk around Denver, and more specifically the Golden Triangle, you might happen upon some of the posters and banners for Denver's Plein Air Festival, the artist seen is myself, and there are a few variations of them. So if you see any take a picture, send it to me, or simply keep it in mind that the show goes from Sep 5- 21, and the accepted works will be on display from Nov.7, at the Denver Public Library.
I have been asked to live paint at the Bring It On Bowling Ball in which you Denver can play against Denver's own ....The Flobots and The Fray to benefit the Flobots non-profit organization Flobots.org. So come down throw some strikes and benefit a great cause, artwork created live will be auctioned at show!!! Show some love Denver!
Here are the images from the live painting I did for Progressive Veterans. Very pleased with the finished piece and the great show put on by Dan Conerd and Jessica Leebelt, and all the performers and other live painters. More photos to come from the event and the photographers shooting the event, but for now enjoy the portrait of Karma!
Truth and Rights Volume 2 is now online! Check out the incredible content from all walks of independent creativity and more! Log on to www.TruthandRights.com to have your palette satiated now!
Here is the final image from a recent commission completed for a private collector. Letter styles that spell "VILLAINS" and contain a coinciding villain for each letter. The next installment will be the Heroes piece. Here is a little description:
"V" for Venom, "I" for Ivy, or Poison Ivy, "L" for Lex Luthor, "L" for Loki, "A" for Aliens, "I" for Immortals, "N" for Nightwing, "S" for Spawn.
