Illustration Friday: Money for All

Acrylic and Spray Paint on Wood / 2007

"Swell" is our model for artistic outlet this week on Illustration Friday.  The term makes me think of our swollen greed here in America the beautiful.  When is your cup full?  When is enough enough? When will we squander all of our natural resources, leaving a desolate concrete jungle to be re-inhabited by nature when the lights finally go out?  Keep on driving, keep on buying, keep on living the dream and rocking in the free world because all that matters in Capitalism is today's dollar. 

"Did you find something
You were looking for
Freedom has its price now
Wanna buy some more...

Wipe your nation's shame from you
It's not where you're born
It's the things that you do."

-Nine Horses, Money for All

 Click HERE for a stream of all my Illustration Friday entries!

Southern Pop Surrealism: CLOSING

Southern Pop Surrealism will run through THIS Friday at Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center in New Orleans, LA.  Drop in for you last chance to see a slew of artwork from myself, Charles Bennett, Jeff Bertrand and Dustin Dirt!  Back on July 16th, we had our opening reception for our four-man exhibit at which we did a couple of live paintings.  Here's the video of us slinging some paint in The Big Easy (one some genuine NOLA wood found via scavenging..).

Click HERE for the OPENING reception of Southern Pop Surrealism!

Click HERE for more Live Painting for Southern Pop Surrealism!

Click HERE for our Heaven & Hell Paintings for Southern Pop Surrealism!

2011 Tomato Art Fest

A classic local East Nashville tradition continues this Saturday with Tomato Art Fest!  All day long, the Five Points area will host parades, artist booths, art shows and all sorts of tomato-related contests and fun for the whole family!  The best part is it's absolutely free!

Art & Invention Gallery (who hosts the Tomato Art Show annually) found homes for two of my illustrations last year in their exhibit.  I was also lucky enough to win an Audience Award for my Tomato Art!  This year, I've entered three works again for inclusion.  The main entry must be about tomatoes, which I'm previewing for you here today.  The other two works are fruit and vegetable inspired and you'll have to drop by the show Friday or Saturday to see what else I've put up (hint: one is from my Topsy-Turvy series!)

"Hear No, Speak No, See No Ketchup" Inks on Bristol Triptych / 2011

Here are some process pictures from my Tomato Art this year...

Getting my line work done after my initial sketch

Finished line work

Click HERE for the Facebook Event and how to get in on a special Preview Party of the Tomato Art Show at Art and Invention Gallery Friday evening!

Click HERE for a Sneak Peek on Art & Invention Gallery's website of the artwork which will be exhibited!

Click HERE for the Official Schedule of Tomato Art Fest including the lineup of musicians as well as the times and locations of all the tomato contests!

Click HERE for a slew of photos from the 2010 Tomato Art Festival to see what you're in for THIS year!


UPDATE 08/14/2011

The Tomato Art Fest was a terrific experience yesterday.  It was a perfect Tennessee day despite our humidity and tons of folks turned out for this East Nashville tradition.  The residents of the 5 Points neighborhood really have a community spirit and give back to their arts scene and local businesses.  We had the pleasure of picking up some really neat hand made jewelry and prints from local artists.  Even better news was finding out one of my works sold from the Tomato Art Show at Art and Invention Gallery.  I'd like to give a Special Thanks to Meg and her gallery for finding good homes for my work in last year AND this year's shows!



After sweating it out in East Nasty, we headed down to Dan and Colleen's house for some much needed R&R after the roller coaster of work the past few weeks.  While the artist lie low and caught up with friends, my wife Aurora got creative and if you are a constant reader, you already know she takes some wonderful pictures for me at my shows.  Here's what she got into last night with some friends of ours...

Tarot Reading

Lou

Zach

It looks like a light bulb going off over my head! 

The Glenlivet 21 Year Archive... giggidy

In Vino Veritas

Inspired times with inspired friends.  It's the productive summers that I'll never forget.  Dan and I are figuring out how to take over the world with my website one scotch tasting session at a time on the middle road between reminiscence and aspiration.... thanks again brother!  Any spirit brewed when we were in the 4th grade is fortune in a glass.  I came home this morning and rode the energy, writing my 9/11 article.

-B

A Touch of Grey: Jerry Garcia In Memoriam

Inks on Bristol / 2011

On today's date in 1995, the world lost a legend in rock history with Jerry Garcia, long time front-man for The Grateful Dead.  This week I worked out the portrait you see here in memorial.  Joebot is gonna tackle Jerry's legacy today at Rock Star Martyr as part of our ongoing series delving into the Cult of the Dead Star and finding the light and darkness in each and every one of their stories. 

Here's some process pictures I took while I was working on my psychedelic portrait...

My Initial Sketch in Pencil along side my reference photos

Linework

"For me, the lame part of the Sixties was the political part, the social part. The real part was the spiritual part."

-Jerry Garcia

"If we had any nerve at all, if we had any real balls as a society, or whatever you need, whatever quality you need, real character, we would make an effort to really address the wrongs in this society, righteously."

-Jerry Garcia

"Death comes at you no matter what you do in this life, and to equate drugs with death is a facile comparison."  

-Jerry Garcia

MASHED POTATOES and MANIC DEPRESSION: This Weekend with Dustin Dirt!

Dustin Dirt! is gonna take your mind, bend it backwards and sling some really funky jams out of it this Sunday night with his new body of looooowbrow paintings at Octane Gallery inside Kustom Thrills Tattoo in East Nashville.  Dustin has invaded that side of The Big Nasty and sells out shows like Prince so get by the gallery while he's there for the opening reception Sunday Night, August 7th from 8-11PM.  The exhibit will run for the month of August.  

Click HERE for the Facebook EVENT PAGE to RSVP!

A sneak peek Mr. Dirt let out of the bag tonight!

Just the tip of the iceberg of what you'll see!

Click HERE for Dustin Dirt's Website!

Dustin's wild creations are also appearing at Southern Pop Surrealism along with the work of myself, Jeff Bertrand, and Charles Bennett!

Illustration Friday: Southern Gothic

"Imperfect" is the theme for Illustration Friday today.  It's the tiny imperfections that can blow something up to and over the top of a perfect stratosphere- the crack of high note that sends your spine tingling and gives you gooseflesh all over.  A gravely breaking blues voice that makes blood-hot tears streak down the faces of grown men.  A bullet hole in a road sign.  The break of a guitar string.  The click of your tongue off your pallet at a moment of profound clarity.

"Southern Gothic" inks on bristol / 2010

Click HERE for a stream of my Illustration Friday posts!

Power to the Peaceful with Gikuyu

This past Sunday, I got to kick it with my long-time friend and fellow author/artist, Gikuyu in a little passing through party at Chad Spann's house as he headed down to The Big Easy.  I employed Chad to get a few shots of G's new ink which our buddy Lance Hale put on him Saturday.  It was a nice surprise for me since the tattoo was of a drawing I did a couple years back with the slogan "Power to the Peaceful."

Click HERE for the photography of Chad Spann!

Click HERE for Gikuyu's published work!

Click HERE to contact Lance Hale about your next tattoo!