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.