Fundraising and Awareness through Art

Last month, I wrote about a new illustration, "Geisha for a Cure" which I created for Visual AIDS, a nonprofit organization who raises money and awareness for AIDS research through artists and their creations!  [Click HERE for my blog entry if you missed out.] This weekend, Postcards from the Edge opens at Cheim & Read Gallery in New York City at 547 W 25th Street.  If you are in the area, drop by to view and purchase postcard-sized artworks donated from artists across the globe!

A little closer to home here in Clarksville, you can pick up some autographed prints at another fundraiser entitled Lupus Sucks! This one-night event will be held at The Coup at 819 Crossland Avenue.  I've donated 10 different reproductions of my work and proceeds will got to The Lupus Foundation.  The artwork will be sold in a silent auction open to the public with LIVE Music and Entertainment.  The event starts at 8PM and you can Click HERE for the Facebook Event Page to RSVP!  Here are a few of the prints you can take home from the benefit...
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Top 10 Movie Picks of 2011

If you couldn’t tell already by being here, I love art in all of its forms as channels for human expression.  Film is one of the highest arts, taking teamwork, planning and of course months of execution to create.  For years I’ve loved talking about film with my friends and debating who would be worthy of our own praise.  Last year, I decided to begin a tradition of posting my own Top 10 Movies of the Year (Click here for my 2010 Picks!)  

inks on bristol / 2011

2011 was a great year for cinema and there were some tough cuts I had to make from a list which was constantly being revised throughout the year.  Some genuinely good movies with huge production value such as Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Limitless, and Water for Elephants (one of my wife’s favorites, based on a novel she loves) made my list initially but got bumped in the end.  Acting doesn’t always carry a film to the finish line with me either.  Look for Woody Harrelson to get an Oscar nod for his balls-out psychological portrayal of an anti-hero dirty LAPD officer in Rampart, a movie worthy of note that could only be carried so far by some really nice acting.  But hey, you don’t want to hear about who didn’t make the cut, right?  Let’s get to the films which did make my list this year…

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Gifts from a Family Who Know Me...

I'm delighted that this past holiday was one of the better ones in recent memory getting to see all of my family happy and moving toward better times.  The Christmas / New Years rush is one of the craziest times of the year and we're all still recovering from it this week even with the fevered atmosphere about us leading these American lives.  I'm blessed to have your audience and blessed to have my friends and family.  Most importantly, I'm thankful for people who know and understand the teetering insanity driving the pulsating urge to create- the lighting in the bottle in my brain.  My family followed through in style in feeding the beast.  First, my Sister and Bro-in-Lawz got me a gift card to Snobby Lobby which will come in handy very soon I'm certain.

My wife Aurora got me this awesome mini MUNNY!  I get to paint him sometime this year when things calm down a bit.  Each one of these dudes from kidrobot comes with a MUNNY shaped sticker to color and a MYSTERY Item- mine is an AXE!  I'll post some process pictures later on when I get to him.

My wife also got me art in another form with a few graphic novels I wanted included an awesome Elseworlds Superman... the Elseworlds DC series are a weakness of mine!  In these books, alternate realities and time periods are created to show what these superheros would be like in another time and space.

Every year I take a portion of my Christmas Bonus from my top secret day job as a Marketing Manager and I spend it re-upping my marker supply.  Here's what I got in the mail today from Cheap Joe's... they don't call him Cheap for nuttin'- you can't beat $1.99 Prismacolors with a stick... or a MUNNY Axe for that matter.  I even snagged a few NEW colors I've never had before!

Another neato parting holiday fact: The Incredible Hulk painting I posted from New Year's Day is on a canvas my father got me for Christmas this year!  Click HERE to see the painting! 

Have a prosperous 2012 dear viewer- I hope you find the encouragement you need to see your own dreams through.  I wouldn't be creating without the belief of those around me.

Hulk Smash on New Year's Day

Kablam!  I'm kicking off 2012 on the right foot today after a five hour painting session at The Wolfman's house where we were working on new eye goodies for My Hero / My Villain, our next art exhibit at No Egrets Tattoo Studio and curated by Joe Melanson.  This one night exhibit takes place Saturday, January 28th!  Check out the Facebook Event page and RSVP when you Click HERE!

Here's my Transformation of the Incredible Hulk which I pounded out today as my first piece which will be displayed!  

Check out the process pictures below from start to finish of the Big Green Nasty...

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2011: The Year in Review at DREGstudios!

Your Host

When January rolled around 12 months ago, I hadn't thought much about what I wanted to do with my artwork this year.  I had been blogging seriously for just a few months and had fallen in love with the open forum which it provided me to fuse both my voice and my art.  The past few years I had focused on exhibiting  anywhere and everywhere in the world I was accepted, placing my art in over 100 shows across the country and world.  For 2011, I wanted to focus on building an audience here in the digital world.  At the turn of the year, I made the decision to dump my static website which housed galleries for my art and focus solely on turning my blog INTO my site.  I found quickly that it was a learning process and looking back I can see the wonderful evolution of the DREGstudios! site over the past 12 months, which has grown from several hundred viewers a month to 15-20K viewers per month since June!  Falling in love with blogging was the best creative decision I've ever made.

2011 was the most inspiring year of my life so far for my work and passion.  I'm still on the upswing and haven't managed to find a way to make a living doing what I love quite yet but you can go back through my archive of blog posts and see the fruits of my labor.  Here's a look back at just a few of the major highlights of this incredible year...

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Top 10 Comments of 2011 on DREGstudios.com!

Inks and Typewriter on Paper / 2006

One of the main motivations for turning my entire website over to my blog this past January was the idea of an open forum where my viewing (and reading) audience could give me feedback and comment on my work.  I opted to allow Anonymous commenting whereas many sites do not.  The only comments I remove are those that are blatantly spam and off-topic.  Other than that, this site is free of censorship for my viewers just as I do not expect any entity of government or person to censor me.  If you’ve seen my political art, you understand that the First Amendment is sacred to me as a creator. 

Today we honor ten of those people who proactively voiced themselves here on DREGstudios.com in 2011.  I painstakingly relived each and every low blow and gob of spit in the face which was thrown my way this year as well as those words which made me laugh and inspired me!  From the hundreds of comments posted, I narrowed down for you my Top 10 Comments of 2011…

[10]  ” Buy a lot of toilet paper...now.” 

-Anonymous on Living in a Society of Fear: Ten Years after 9/11

[09]  “I shall remain anonymous for the simple fact that I don't want my name associated with a blog that is so filled with infantile inaccuracies, false accusations, misquotes, and animosity towards others that is inexcusable. I also find it inexcusable to use this senseless tragedy and it is senseless for your own personal gain. Shameless, egotistical and rabid hyperbole at the expense of others.” 

- Anonymous on Sarah Palin Made Me Do It

[08]  “F*ck the "inner-city". If those lazy idiots can't make it in a free society, with a free education, a free house, free food, and a free cell phone, then they're too stupid to make it, period.

Your "outreach" programs are just another tax on an overburdened society who is already paying the price for the lower classes inability to function at any perceptible level.

The better use of our funds is to imprison, (or better yet, execute) these street criminals and get them out of society altogether.

Then there would be plenty of money to help treat the truly disadvantaged and needy people, who really do need it.

Liberals are unable to grasp these simple facts and always seek to blame society as a whole for an individuals problems.

When one of YOUR children is raped and beaten nearly to death by one of the "poor disadvantaged people" as my daughter was, you will have a different perspective.

Fortunately, they have pictures of the black bastard that did it ( he was at a hospital getting some free health care when he started stalking her). Unfortunately, considering he will be tried by a jury of his peers- more drug addicted sexual predators- he will probably walk. The good news for you Liberals is that he will be free to rape again. Hooray. Next time, I hope it's one of your kids!”

-Anonymous on Happy 100^th Gipper!

[07]  “Hopefully all you dope smoking hippie morons take a hit of some bad weed and it will speed up your Alzheimer, if your not there yet maybe the vegetative state will come real soon”

-Anonymous on Vote Teapot: PASS IT!

[06]  “The Whore of Babylon always comes to mind when her name comes up. Draped in gold, leading "sheep to slaughter", proud of it... Using the names of saints and God to her own ends...

17:4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

17:9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sat.

17:15 And he said unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sat, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.”

-Anonymous on The Ecstasy of Sarah Palin

[05]  “I hate to say this... but I was really hoping her boobs would be in the drawing.. she had a nice set.. I still appreciate it as well as you! Good job!! You did get her smile.. it's like I can hear her laugh! :D” 

-Melanie McIntyre Owenby on Janis

[04]  “In conjunction with the "Teach Creationism as a Science" law and "Stop Protecting LGBTQ from Discrimination" law, this governor has really put Tennessee on the road to complete ignorance. Art can only offend a person insofar as he or she is willing to participate in the artist/observer paradigm. Isn't it a cliche by now--if you don't like the commercial, change the channel. Don't like gay marriage? Don't get one. And so on. People who come to this page for the explicit purpose of hating on Free Speech are, ironically, taking that very freedom for granted. An artistic depiction of misogyny for the purposes of political satire is, by definition, in defense of women's rights. I would suggest that certain anonymous individuals read Jonathan Swift's classic satire, "A Modest Proposal," in which he advocates eating babies to ease the Irish famine. But knowledge does tend to spoil fallacy, so fair warning! Haslam's legislation has seriously harmed innumerable good citizens and will continue to do so into the foreseeable future. If the good governor can dish it out, certainly he can take it in stride. And personally, this doesn't offend my sensibilities in the slightest, as an artist, a patriot, a feminist, an occasional peruser of dildos... So does that mean I should be legally banned from viewing it? If you have to trample on someone else's rights to gain your own, youhaven't accomplished anything... Good work as usual Brandt. Keep 'em thinking!”

-Zach on POTENTIALLY OFFENSIVE: A Portrait of Governor Bill Haslam and his Wife Crissy

[03]  “You do realize that harvest festivals are celebrations of greed and gluttony, right? The whole giving thanks thing comes from Americans patting themselves on the back for making friendly with some natives before starting the genocide. Black Friday is a better method of celebrating the harvest than is Thanksgiving.

Of course, you're just one of those people who just want to blame Big Business/commercialization/video games/rock music/foreigners/Catholics for ruining society. Yes, I'm lumping you in with the bigots. You're just as self-important, smug, judgmental, and deluded as they are. Congrats on not being as violent, though. That's a plus”

-Anonymous on Wishing You and Yours a Bountiful Harvest…

[02]  “Nice Work Here Dreg / One picture is worth a thousand words + ONE
From Cleveland, Ohio

"ICEALITY"
(Noun) Pronunciation: i·ce·al·i·tee

1 a : to describe the phenomena of arts and culture integrating with social issues.
2 : “Assist in understanding of the relationship between Humans and their Environment through the Arts ultimately promoting a sustainable global Culture of Peace”.

Source; URBAN DICTIONARY”

-Ambassador Renate on Propaganda for the Occupy Movement

[1]  “they are going to shoot you like 2 pac” 

-W.L. on POTENTIALLY OFFENSIVE: A Portrait of Governor Bill Haslam and his Wife Crissy

If my art and words move you, don't be afraid to tell me.  If my art and words scare you, don't be afraid to tell me.  If my art and words piss you the fuck off, don't be afraid to tell me.  I'm looking forward to all your wonderful input in 2012!

-B

All in the Family: A Portrait of My Father and Aunts

Every year for Christmas, I create a new work of art for my Grandmother as she says there is no better gift which I can give.  In 2009, I showed you the portrait of my Grandfather Tom which she received (Click HERE if you didn't get the chance) and last year I illustrated her parents, Paul and Clemmie Frye (Click HERE for my special Christmas Post from 2010!)  For her gift this year, I decided to make something even closer to my own heart with drawing of her three children, which I had framed together.  Here are my Aunt Naomi, my Father (Joe Hardin) and my Aunt Liz...

(3) 5in x 7in panels / inks on bristol / 2011

You can Click HERE to see more of my Portraiture and Commissions!

Here's a process picture of my finished line work for the three drawings.

 Merry Christmas Grandma!