“For The Love Of Kettle”is an annual art show that is set up as a fundraiser of sorts for Kettle Art Gallery.
Over one hundred 9 x 12 inch boards were handed out to artists that were willing to support Kettle Art by producing a piece of artwork to be sold for only $50. All proceeds from sales went to benefit the gallery.
I was lucky enough to be involved again this years “Love”-fest,and produced a diptych entitled,“How Long Will You Hide”.
My work was on display along with the following artists:Michael Mattson,Brian Hamm,Rah Stitchez,Scott Mankoff,Saint Virus,April Miller,Monica Moody,Kevin Kunreuther,Anthony Harris Jr,KeLaine Kvale,Andy Murray,Michael Lagocki,Yessica Hernandez,Jason Lott,Mark Kimberlin,Adriane Mcmillon,Tanja Dugas,Moises Vega,Tom Carlton,Carolina Kile,Stephanie Wray,Todd Walthall,Gretchen Luedtke,Ashley Hansen,Heather Horton,Nicole Malloy,Alexis Reece,Sarah Titop,Sharon Hammih,Ricardo Velez,Denise Keeping,Michael Christopher,Cabe Booth,Jennifer Portz,Michelle McLaughlin,Micheal Theim,Melissa Wertz,Ryan Thies,Denise Keeping,Margo Miller,Amber Campagna,Alexandra Olivia,Megan Stephens,Nick C. Kirk,Mike Moffatt,Lisa Lindholm,Orlando Garcia,John Worley,Kimbery Bradshaw Meadows,Diana Almand,Brian Crawford,Susan Carson,Kim Cast,Kelly Jacobi,Tracy Madol,Natalie Glover,Christain Glover,Bruce Mulvihill,Mark Glover,Joe Biggs,Jeremy Biggers,Breonny Lee,Brian Aguire,Danny Rose,Kenny Smith,Doriam,Jessica Galaviz,Heather Shoulders,Fran Cartis,Michael Puttonan,Sarah Zamora,J. Zamora,Kris Swenson,Amy Phillips,Brad Albright and Frank Campagna.
That night both of my pieces found a good home. (Thank you,CaSandra)
(photo courtesy of George Wallace III) (photo courtesy of Susan Migdol)
Well,I found out last week that my Leadbelly mural in Deep Ellum is no more. The fine folks at Elm Street Bar spruced up their place,and apparently that meant painting the side of the building that had my mural. It’s a little bittersweet knowing he’s gone,but the mural was up on that wall three years longer than I was promised so I have nothing to complain about. As a matter of fact,I am so grateful that I got the chance to paint him (a big thanks to Frank Campagna who was instrumental in giving me the opportunity!) &I’m grateful that it stayed up on the wall as long as it did. I sure will miss seeing my Leadbelly mural when I’m down in Deep Ellum,but I do have plenty memories from the week I spent painting him in back in 2007 (&plenty of pictures).
The opening of “New Blood. Old Money.” at Kettle Art Gallery in Deep Ellum has come and gone. It was a lot of fun. The gallery was filled till closing with people ready to see great art and have a great time. I was honored to have my work hang alongside 13 other talented artists; most of whom call Dallas home.
And These Three Remain ... Faith,Hope &Love
If you didn’t get a chance to attend the opening,here is a link that details the experience in photos:
The fish are pretty much done. Just a bit of touch up left. A little pushing and pulling of values and they will be ready. Then it’s touch up and glazing on the rest of the painting;plus adding a couple more things to even everything out. I am so close to being finished.
And These Three Remain ...
I am SO ready to release these paintings for general consumption,but alas,I have a bit more to do and the show doesn’t open till Saturday!
New Blood Old Money - Kettle Art - Deep Ellum
I hope to see you at the official unveiling of these pieces @ Kettle Art in Deep Ellum this Saturday,Aug 20th,@ 7:00pm. There will be much fun to be had. I promise.
Well,tonight was another painting night. It had to be. I totally underestimated the time I would need to finish these paintings,so I am working on them tonight rather than going to see Captain America with my band of brothers. It’s somewhat of a bummer,because I really wanted to hang out with my friends,have dinner and see a movie. Luckily,I was missing the movie because I was painting. So,it’s not all that bad.
Anyway,I find myself that much closer to being finished. I have completed six of the nine fish in the paintings. After that,I will add a few other things,do some touch-up and glaze like a madman. I have to finish by Wednesday night,because drop-off for the show is on Thursday (it’s actually Wednesday and Thursday,but I’m pretty sure I will need the time!).
And There Three Remain ... Faith,Hope &Love
So,if you are out-and-about on Saturday night in Dallas,drop by Kettle Art in Deep Ellum for the opening of the show that is yet to be named. It will be a good time (as always),and you’ll get the chance to check out some great art. Seriously,drop by!
Wow. It has been such a long time since I have posted anything here on my blog. It’s hard to believe it’s been two years.
There have been many reasons for not posting. Life has a way of grabbing hold of you &taking you away from important little things like this blog. Here’s a brief rundown of some of the things that have happened in my life the last couple of years.
Since last I posted,I have changed jobs a couple of times. My contract was not renewed at Mary Kay at the end of 2009 due to outsourcing,so I took a position at Thomson Reuters. That position was outsourced to someone in India the first quarter of 2011. So,I have been contracting out at Capitial One since. Things have settled down it seems &I hope to remain at Capital One for a while now. I really like it there. It’s a good group of people with whom I find myself working.
To add to the stress of having to change jobs quite often lately,my family also built a new home in 2010. The sale of our last house went off without a hitch. We actually sold it to the first couple that looked at it. So we were very blessed. However,they ended up wanting to close the same weekend that my wife was to undergo a pretty major surgery. Again,more stress. Luckily,with the help of numerous friends from church,we were moved out in time &I was able to bring my wife home from the hospital to our “spacious”two bedroom apartment. That’s right,we spent the summer of 2010 in an apartment while our house was being built. We survived,but we were more than ready to get out of that apartment. There is something about not having space to yourself that drives you crazy!
Anyway,we moved into our new house in September of 2010. Things started to settle down,but in November of 2010 I was informed that my services at Thomson Reuters were no longer needed (along with quite a few other people) since they had decided to outsource a great deal of their work. Nothing like moving into a new house &finding out you were going to lose you job.
I was settling into the fact that I was going to have to find another job,when I received a phone call at work in February from my Mom. My brother had suffered an aortic aneuryism &was waiting to have surgery. I would like to say that it went off without a hitch as well,but it didn’t. The doctors in Phoenix repaired his heart,but shortly after surgery he suffered a stroke due to blood clots breaking loose. He was flown to the University of New Mexico to undergo brain surgery in an attempt to save his life. He survived that surgery. However,his troubles were far from over. He suffered several setbacks that following week including having his chest incision come open. Since his body was too weak to survive another surgery,he was really out of options. My brother passed away on February 26th,2011. I really miss him.
As you can see,a lot has happened since my last post. I have continued to create when the opportunity has presented itself,but for the most part,the opportunities have been few and far between. My life has undergone numerous changes. Luckily,my desire to create hasn’t changed. I have had several big ideas come to mind during this time period &I hope to start working on them in the near future. I also hope to write about them here on the blog &take you on a step by step journey as I work on each series.
You can track what I have been doing creatively for the past two years by following these links:
For time being,here is a pic of some works in progress. They are for a show at Kettle Art Gallery in Deep Ellum,Dallas,Texas. It opens in late August of 2011. I will be posting more pics after this weekend as I need to have the paintings finished by then.
Well,the month of July has come and gone &now we are almost half way through August! Time really does fly. It was originally my intention to have frequent postings of my mural painting progress,but that didn’t happen because it seems that I usually ended up being way too tired once I got home from painting each night to actually do anything. With that being said,I really enjoyed painting the mural!
Most every day that I was downtown painting was a time of absolute joy. It didn’t matter that the temperature outside was 105 degrees. It didn’t matter that the surface I was working on was giving me fits because it was so roughly textured. I was doing exactly what I was meant to do at that moment. The experience was joyful,and even therapeutic. It was just me,my paint,a wall &time alone with God. It was extremely spiritual in nature.
One of the really cool things about the mural project was all of the media coverage it received. I was even interviewed for a segment on Channel 33 news one Sunday night. Here is the clip:
While others were celebrating the fourth of July with cookouts &fireworks,I was in Deep Ellum starting work on my new mural. Even though it was a long brutal day in the sun,it was very enjoyable from creative standpoint.
When I arrived at the mural site at 8:00am,I quickly got to work. I prepared my roller,poured paint into the rolling pan and started painting. It was shorty thereafter that I realized a roller was not going to work on this wall. It is an old wall. The mortar is extremely recessed from the brickface,and the bricks themselves have lots of ridges &texture. It simply made rolling impossible.
I also made the realization that the gallon of primer I got to cover roughly 350 square feet was not going to be enough on this roughly 300 square foot wall for pretty much the same reason the roller wasn’t working. All the recesses &ridges made the actual surface area a lot larger than roughly 300 square feet.
I am also of the opinion that the brick just drank up the paint. Instead of using just a gallon of primer,I ended up using 2.5 gallons! The surface simply drank the paint up like a sponge! Ugh!
Since I ended up needing to make another run to Home Depot for additional primer,I felt that it was probably a good time to have lunch as well. So like I have done with every other mural project I have undertaken in Deep Ellum,I headed over to Cafe Brazil. This day I enjoyed their El Gordo Crepes,which are crepes filled with Melted Cheddar,Homemade Chorizo,Onions,Bacon,Tomatoes and Sliced Jalapenos,topped with their Spicy Cream Sauce. They were delicious. I highly recommend them!
With a full stomach and two additional gallons of primer,I headed back to the mural site and started the painting process again. This time,I ended up painting the remaining surface by hand by scrubbing the brush back and forth over the bricks to make sure all the nooks and crannies were filled. At points I was simply pounding the brush into the surface of the wall! Very time consuming &tiring.
I had originally planned on having the priming &initial layer of painting done in a few hours,but since I ended up doing it all by hand I was only able to complete the priming of the wall. It took me all day to get it done. I started the day early at about 8:00am,and I finished the day at 9:00pm!
To make a long story short,this project is just like any other project you might undertake. It is costing more than planned &taking longer than planned. So,everything is proceeding normally.
Although it seems I am complaining (&let’s face it,I am),I really enjoyed being out in the unbearble heat all day long creating. I am SO looking forward to see how this project comes together over the coming weeks. It should be good.
For those of you who were unable to attend the opening night of ‘To Be Scene’at Kettle Art,I have included this video &a few pictures for your enjoyment.
Now,I must go endure the Texas heat in order to paint a new mural at Swiss &Good-Latimer in Deep Ellum!
Recent Comments