geekcore.

the art i've got up at the Lisk Gallery downtown has been extended for another month, so if you missed the chance to see any of it, rest easy. it'll be up until the end of may. i've got [high] hopes to finish up some new stuff and drop it off, but it's gonna be a busy month so we'll just play it by ear.
(i've since picked up the remnants of art i had hanging up at the Basement Gallery back in January&February. some of the pieces sold, but if you're interested in purchasing any of the art i've got left from that show for cheaper(buy it directly from me, the gallery commission isn't necessary)have a look on my flickr page and drop me a note inquiring about any pieces you may be interested in.)
as for future news, i've got another show at the Visual Arts Collective tentatively in the works for what's looking to be August & September. i've plans to work on some larger scale paintings for this one, but as sketches and themes are still being worked out, we'll see what happens and evolves. i'll attach photos of progress as we get closer to this date.
for now, it's monday and i can't think of anything better than working from home, energy drinks, and good music.

codependency & other human weaknesses.

'bout time for another update, right?
i'm currently on break from a spat of art in preparation for my next showing at Lisk Gallery in downtown Boise. it'll open First Thursday next month (that's April 2nd, kids).
the loose theme for this show at Lisk is "codependency and other human weaknesses" with a focus on mug shots of various no-name criminals from the early to mid 1900s. the new pieces have allowed me to work in a new media that i'm growing quite taken with. the mugs are time-consuming, but i feel these forgotten people deserve a resurrection. i'm fascinated by their forgotten lives. each mug is painstakingly rendered with a small exacto blade onto a masonite board. i've worked scratchboard before, but it's never been something i put into any of my shows. i like that i can get minute detail out of the blade. i can never get that small with a pencil. i've thrown in some hand-rendered typography to boot.
there will also be smaller works of various things i've been working on in the past month. so do come check it out.

until later.

i did complete some art this weekend, but i decided against rushing to get it into the basement gallery show for january. i'll have a handful of new art there for january, but i plan to stick the stuff i'm working on right now in the show in time for the february opening. i started working with colored pencils and it's progressing into... something. i want to follow it to see where it goes instead of selling the pieces right away. i need to just sit with them surrounding me, listening to them telling me where to take it..
i dread the return back to work in a day, but welcome the ritual. i only hope that i can shed this perpetual sleepiness and make some real painting progress on my last day off.
i spent a short new years eve with my family. i tried to rush home just after midnight to avoid the drunk driving masses and managed to make it home safely only to find i was locked out. once i finally got into the house, i was glad to spend it with my slumbering pups.
i thought about my grandmother today. another year past since her death. i was sitting in the hallway throwing my dog's frog toy to her, she's running back and forth with it and i just glanced in passing at the framed photo of gram's holding my mother as a baby hanging on the wall. we have the same hands, i thought, though my nails (chronic nailbiter) are shorter.
she died in '98. now over ten years ago. if i reach for it, i can vividly remember that winter she passed. i wonder what she would think of me now. i wonder how it is there was ever a time i knew her. it's been so long now that she seems like a made-up character in some epic tale. sometimes she feels close.. and sometimes her memory feels as far away as pluto.
when i watched distant fireworks over the city from my older sister's kitchen windows feeling stone-cold sober, i felt grateful to have seen another year. but it's painful to grow.
i hope for everyone that the new year brings some joy and love.
dan fogelberg - same old lang syne
the good life - album of the year or (acoustic demo)
david gray - this years love

wrap-up.

though past the technical deadline for the upcoming illustration group show at the basement gallery in january, i am still trying to crank out some last-minute art. it's a struggle since i told myself i would be done by this point, but it seems that with my regular-joe-job, i didn't have the free time i had hoped for this month to work on pursuits of the artistic variety, and the two ambitious painting projects (photos included with this post) i started took more than a week each to complete. so while i'm still rolling off the pressure and work schedule of last week, i'm going to make a final pull for new art this weekend.

the website that allowed me to post mixtapes is kaput, sadly, so now i will have to use my ftp site in order to share music with yous. among some of the music i've been listening tonight to work to:
empire of the sun
foals
mystery jets
what else?
for the holiday, i spent it with my pop's side of the family. we made the drive out to middleton, braving icy roads. my sister and i played with my nieces and their barbies after a christmas meal that wouldn't be complete without tamales. beth says i talk to my nieces like they're 20-- though 7 and 5, giving their barbies names like stacy (anastasia. a kleptomaniac, swedish exchange student and member of the illustrious ski team) and britney (best friend, then rapidly ex-best friend of stacy). i fixed 5 year old brooklyn's bottle feeding-peeing plastic dog which entertained the both of us for nearly an hour. then we chased my aunt's boston terrier, cowboy, around the room with a horse head on a broomstick that played william tell's overture. cowboy never really recovered, much to my aunt's annoyance, no doubt.
i'm a bad influence on the childrens.
i hope everyone's holiday was full of something worthwhile and good.

basement gallery work.

i've scanned in some of my recent arts for the upcoming basement gallery group show in january. i've decided to do a collection of holy men, akin to my collection of nuns in that were in the august show this summer at the VaC. so far i've completed five, but they all differ from one another-- as opposed to the nuns which were all done similarly. i don't know if i should continue to change them all up as i've done so far, or to start making them all in the same manner. thoughts? any comments would be appreciated.

birdhouse

f--- ABC.

sad news. Pushing Daisies has been cancelled due to an all-time viewer low last night of 4.86 million.
i like my shows with a bit of intelligence, witty dialogue, and unique storylines, but people aren't terribly shocked, saying no one was watching the show-- which as a side note, is just baffling to me. how are over 4 million people "no one"?!
i feel that it wasn't given a fair chance. they move shows around to different dates and times, or not run a show for two weeks and expect viewers to be able to follow the network's madness? where do you expect viewership to be if you don't run pushing daisies for weeks and suddenly show episodes again?
doesn't make sense to me. it'll just be added to my list of tv network shaftings alongside "my so-called life."

seriously.

read this article about each the CEO's of, as we've tagged it now, The Big Three flying to D.C. to beg for bailout money in.. drumroll.. their private jets!
i don't want to give any money to these asshats who promise to streamline their companies and cut-back jobs of hardworking individuals while these nerds waste money on travel that could have been done a hell of a lot cheaper. the "20,000" it costs to fly a jet to washington and back could be someone's salary for a year.
what's even more insulting is their diversion tactics in claiming taking those jets was a matter of "safety."
the article states, "Like many other major corporations, all three have policies requiring their CEOs to travel in private jets for safety reasons."
(i'm picturing the CEO of ford riding economy on a commercial flight here, casual conversation with other passengers turning to occupation.
"you work for who? you're who?? i work for mitsubishi, bitch and i'm gonna shank your ass!"
can the level of danger really be that high?)
here's an idea. instead of streamlining the company and cutting the jobs of the workers, streamline those wasteful company policies and you just saved three people's jobs for a year.