Thursday, August 28, 2008

Live painting at Sunset Junction 2008 with Metromix

Ahhh Sunset Junction. My first time attending. It's a street fair with booze and music in hollywood/silverlake, and it's HOT, so you can imagine the atmosphere. Lots of girls showing their new hip dresses, lots of men showing their hairy chests. Food and art everywhere. Metromix hired me to come paint at their booth. Here are some nuggets from the Felini-esque experience.

Here's a view of the crowd from out booth.


I LOVE the shot with the snake guy. The story with that shot is I was sitting there painting when a guy came up and was talking to Aric, the other guy in the booth with me. I had my back to them, but I could hear them talking. After the guy had been there for longer than usual (it was in the morning when things were slower) I figured I should turn around and say hi. When I turned around I saw his snake and I said "Heyyy! This whole time you had a snake!?" He was a super cool guy. Laid back. He said "Yeah man." I wish I remembered the snake's name, but it was something like Bozo or something. Anyway, I asked if I could take his picture and without hesitation he said "Sure man.", like he's used to it. I turned around and got my camera and when I turned back around I saw that guy in the background walking towards us. I was thinking "Wait for it....wait for it" until he came into the frame and click, I got it. It was only later on when I looked at the picture again that I realized that the snake guy has a tattoo on his arm that says "Born to Rock". Gotta love it.


This is the BBQ guy that was stationed directly across from us. It was early on the first day that he broke out the megaphone and started yelling "BARRRR BEEEEE QUEEEEEE! Get your BBQ! Chicken wings! AIN'T NOTHIN BUT A CHICKEN WAAAAAAAANG!". Just as Aric and I were realising that we were going to have to listen to this guy the whole two days we were there, he approaches our booth, megaphone in hand. He spun the prize wheel and won a flask, announced it to the world , and then went back to hawking his body parts. He was a nice enough guy and ended up giving Aric some free ribs at the end of the event. The Pork Chop piece below was painted in response to his effect on me.



I was given this hat at a Warner Chappel company picnic just days before. It ended up really coming in handy.Possible Tshirt in the future?....

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Live Painting at Decadence for the OC Weekly

Earlier this month I was contacted by the OC Weekly and asked if I would paint for them at their annual food tasting event called Decadence that coincides with their annual restaurant Issue. The event was held at the Westin Hotel in Costa Mesa and 3000 people attended. Needless to say, I had a great time tasting good food and wine and hanging out with beautiful people.

I knew it was going to be an interesting night when just as I was about to get started, a good looking woman walked up to me, pulled open her blouse to reveal most of her left breast, and said "Does this inspire you?". I was speechless. She covered up and walked by. At that point I met eyes with the event photographer who was standing behind me and had witnessed the whole thing. He asked "Does that happen often?", and without missing a beat, I replied "All the time."

The thing is, it does happen often. I paint at art shows, and at some of these art shows there are naked women getting painted. These painted naked women sometimes come up to me and chat, with nothing between their nipples and my beer but a still drying coat of paint, about 12 inches of space, and my wedding ring shining like a bright beacon of trust. Sure, I chat with them. I don't want to be rude. But I don't give them any more attention than I give the usual patron.

The rest of the night was filled with many conversations with interesting people. I sold a ton of paintings and made a couple contacts for business propositions you may be hearing about in future issues of The Drop.

Jeni Carle referred me for the gig. She's a cool artist and you should check her out HERE


Here's some pics of the event. They really don't do it justice, but they will have to do.


Go Go dancers waiting for the Go Go. This was only phase one of their outfits. Phase two was not so modest.
It's hard to see, but that's my setup at the end of the pool. The whole night I was concerned I was going to take one step too many backwards and fall in. There was a second artist there named Ingrid Marrero and we were joking about guessing what time of night someone was going to fall in the pool. We guessed 10:30, and when 10:30 rolled around, Ingrid came over with a big smile on her face and pointed out that someone had just fallen in. Ingrid is a cool artist and it's a shame I did not get get any pictures of her. She does some great work with color and you should check her out here: http://www.zhibit.org/ingridmarrero



This is a piece I did on request. I often get asked to paint various animals, it's one of the things I do and I like doing it, but I was pleasantly surprised when Ryan Cox asked me to paint him Zombies! Ryan Cox is the guy that booked me for the event. He's a super nice guy and was a pleasure to work with.



Friday, August 15, 2008

Live Painting at the X Games 2008 for Metromix

Metromix gave me a call and asked if I could come paint at their booth for the X Games. I had a great time! It was my first time at the XGames and I have to say that I am thoroughly impressed with the athletes there. The motocross guys were just plain nuts, and watching the BMX guys on the vert ramp was super fun. It was not all play of course, I was there to work. I painted five paintings a day for Metromix to raffle off as prizes. We had quite a crowd going. I painted everything from Evel Knievel to Radioheads. Enjoy the pics!



Check out the huge line people were waiting in for a chance to win some art...



This is a custom painted skate board I was able to work on one afternoon. It's going to be in a show at Monkeyhouse Toys in Silverlake. The show is called All a Board and the opening is Saturday, August 23rd.