The Augblog

Scarecrow Tattoo

2009-12-17T14:01:00.000-08:00

I got a call last month from local tattoo artist, EGO. He mentioned that he saw a picture of my Scarecrow design tattooed on somebody's arm. I had to see this for myself. The pic was in last month's issue of Tattoo Energy, #61. I finally tracked down the issue, and sure enough, there it was. Someone in Budapest, Hungary, has my Scarecrow on their arm. Crazy! The ink was done by Zsolt Sarkozi at dark Art Tattoo. The colors are a bit changed up. You can see the original piece here.

I thought I'd post a page from the sketchbook I did for that OZ show. In the sketchbook, I also included a passage from the original Oz story that I came across, while doing research for the show. This scene is one of my favorites, because it makes out the Scarecrow to be a bit of a bad ass. It describes him , in detail, protecting the group from a murder of crows. He stands in a Jesus Christ type pose, waiting for the crows to swoop in, and then starts to violently rip their heads off. Love it! That's a scene I want to see on the big screen.

Anyway, that's all I got for now. I've heard rumors of a bus driver in Seattle, that has the Lion design I did on his forearm. If he, or anyone else comes across it, send me a pic if you can. I'd love to see it.

AMA Divers

2009-11-14T19:49:00.001-08:00

Last year I was asked to come up with a character for a local restaurant, called AMA AMA. The name of the restaurant is based on the traditional Japanese Ama divers that specialized in free- diving for oysters, shellfish, lobsters, sea urchins, and pearl diving. They would traditionally only wear a loincloth, without scuba gear or air tanks. (thank you wikipedia) The style of the restaurant was very retro. Late 50's early 60's. The owners wanted the character to reflect that look, as well.

The above image was the pose they liked. I scanned one of their business cards, added some texture behind the logo, and put it all behind the character to see if it all had the same vibe.

I remember one issue was using a nude character for a family restaurant. They asked to have her hold an oyster with a pearl over one breast, leaving the other one in profile. Is she less nude without an areola? I don't know. It was an interesting thing that came up that I didn't even think about. I'm just glad they wanted to stick with the traditional nude diver instead of asking for a top on her.

I had never heard of ama divers. It was pretty interesting reading up on them. These ladies had to be pretty hard core to be diving those deep waters. Here are some links with more info on ama divers, if you're intersted. Link01- Link02 There are also some amazing photos from photographer, Iwase Yoshiyki, here.

Jack Pumpkinhead Studies

2009-11-12T13:49:00.000-08:00

While sifting through old computer files recently, in an attempt to get more organizized, I found these old studies of Jack Pumpkinhead. They were for an Oz themed show I had back in 2006.
In hindsight, I should have gone for a less saturated purple background. If I get some spare time, I might have to take a crack at this one.

Fab Four Study

2009-10-30T14:43:00.000-07:00

I was sketching The Beatles last night while watching the new Monty Python documentary that just came out. While doing the sketch, a funny bit about the Beatles came up in the doc. Turns out they were huge Python fans. So much, that when the Pythons were trying to raise money for Life of Brian, George Harrison stepped up and said he was in for 5mill. When they asked him why he would take such a big risk, he merely answered, "I want to see the movie." Eric Idle said it had to be the most expensive movie ticket in history.

Moon Bride

2009-10-28T11:23:00.000-07:00

Recently finished this piece for an upcoming Day of the Dead group show. Kat Moya is putting on another Por Vida show, out in Columbus, Ohio. This piece is around 17"x 28". Acrylics on canvas.

Other than the usual Day of the Dead explanations, all I can tell you about this piece is this: Corpse brides are cool. Corpse brides with bloody knives = METAL. Lillies are symbolic with death, and Diego Rivera was an interesting cat that put them in a lot of his paintings. I have a"sister" painting to this that I didn't get to. Sun Bride. Hopefully I can get to that one soon.

The rough sketch above is was what came out as the first idea.

This is a first attempt at tightening up the rough.

Above is what finally came out from the rough stage. Below is the painting about mid way through. I think it's funny that I lost a lot of the turquoise in the scan (first pic), but the pic below from the iPhone, picked up those colors better than the scanner. Might be time for a new scanner. Anyone have any recommendations?

Anyway, the flier below has the info for the show. For those not familiar with Ohio, the show is at Junctionview Studios in Grandview, Ohio. Anyone interested in the piece can contact Kat Moya here: artfulf14@yahoo.com

In Mexico, the Dia de Los Muertos holiday takes place on Nov. 1st and 2nd. It's purpose is to celebrate the death of friends and family. Take some time next month, raise a glass, and remember those you've lost.

-Paz

Music Break

2009-10-27T03:07:00.000-07:00

Just some random sketches from last week. Messing around with some different coloring techniques in photoshop.

Leo Study

2009-10-17T11:54:00.000-07:00

Last week seemed to drag out with work. One frustrating thing about freelance is waiting for art to get approved. Sometimes it happens within a few hours from a client. Sometimes it takes a day, sometimes it takes two days, etc. The only problem with that, is that your deadline stays the same. Almost a "two steps forward, one step back" scenario, because it's still up to you to get out your work under the deadline no matter how long it takes your art to get approved.

In between waiting on approvals last week, I was noodling around with this old sketch from an old painting I never finished. Back in 2007 I did a Chinese Zodiac show with Bill McEvoy out at Kustom Culture Gallery. After that show, I wanted to do a new series of western astrological (astronomical?) zodiac pieces.

This unfinished painting above started out the series, but I never got around to the others. Sorry for the crappy pic. Didn't want to waste time scanning an unfinished piece. I think you can still make out the lion in the bottom right. I colored her blue in photoshop. Thought I'd try a different color scheme while I worked out light source issues. I think as the rain sets in this winter it'll be prime weather for locking one self in the studio to finish those half done paintings.

Wine Labels

2009-10-12T13:30:00.000-07:00

I think I need to set something straight in this post. You can read my original first paragraph in the comments section, as well as the comment about said paragraph from Mr/Mrs Anonymous. You can also read my reply in the comments section. I feel I need to reiterate my point though. I normally use this blog to write about art shows and personal work. I get asked a lot by people that want to know, what other kind of work do you do? I thought I might use this post to show the diversity, but I think my description of that came off the wrong way for Mr/Mrs Anonymous. I guess that happens when you don't get out too much and socialize. You use the wrong verbage. What I was trying to get across was that I get the opportunity to work on a lot of different and unique jobs that I love contributing to. All I meant from "random", is that I never know what the next job is going to be. That is the best part of the job to me. The randomness of not knowing. Always something different. That's why I chose this job. I don't take my jobs for granted and never have. I'm sorry I gave you the wrong impression Anonymous. Also, if you don't think I put any heart into my work, I don't know what to tell you, Anonymous. Maybe you're looking at another blog, because I bust my ass for every job and love it.

Like I said, before, I took the original paragraph and put it into the comments, if you want to know what this is all about. In other words I want people to know what this rant is about. I don't want to leave anything out, kind of like the way you left your name out, Anonymous.

In closing I just want to reiterate, I had a blast doing this job, as well as working with the advertising company, CKA, to do these wine labels. Reading the opening paragraph again, I guess I can kind of see why you might have thought what you did. Especially if you don't personally kow me. Maybe I just shouldn't post stuff like this anymore. I thought I should open up and add some more random, excuse me, different posts about my work here, but maybe not now. Maybe I should just shut up and not say anything on here if the only comments are going to be negative by anonymous people. Thoughts anyone???????

Here are some more images I did for the same ad agency that was working with the wine people. These were for another local wine company called Aviator wine. They were really hip on having a Vargas-esque type girl for one bottle. The type you might see on old airplane noses.
Here's another example of some more art for some different bottles. I'm not sure which airplane they ended up using below. The black and white planes were done that way so that they could do some kind of fancy embossing for that label.
I still haven't come across the other wine bottles. I bought the Fruit Bomb wine but haven't tried it yet. Still taking my time getting through Dan Aykroyd's new Crystal Head Vodka. By the way, yes, it is signed by Elwood Blues himself. He was in town promoting his vodka a few weeks back. You too will experience the "invisible world" after you get through a whole bottle in one sitting. Good stuff.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the checking out some of the other kind of art I get to do from time to time. I'll have to dig up some more stuff like that to put up on here. Maybe I can actually start getting more than one post a month again. Later on my fellow alcoholics!

R.I.P. Ismael Roldan

2009-09-29T20:24:00.001-07:00

I recently came across some really bad news. One of the artists that I met at the Sebastian Kruger workshop last year, passed away last week. Even though the workshop was only a week long, I really enjoyed getting to know Ismael. He was very knowledgeable when it came to talking about art, and his professionalism came through in spades. I kept in touch with Ismael for a bit after the class, and was looking forward to visiting him the next time I was out in NYC. I won't be able to visit him now, but I guess I can remember him through the art that he left behind. When you get a chance, go check out his website.

http://www.ismaelroldan.com/

The Wall Street Journal has a write up on him in their Life & Style section.

Tom Richmond has some nice things to say about him on his blog along with an interview.

Condolences to his familia. You'll be missed Ismael.

The Chimp Pool

2009-09-18T18:07:00.001-07:00

Well, here's how the final poster came out for the show. To see the original poster and all the details for Gallery 1988's "Now Playing" show, check the last post.

Ultimately, the concept for this collab poster turned into this: What if they did one more Dirty Harry movie, and ended up using Clyde, from 'Any Which Way But Loose', as Harry's partner? It would be the ultimate Cop/Buddy flick.

Also, not sure if you can see it, but in the credits I added a cheesy tag line that says, "This DIRTY HARRY just got HAIRIER!

Of course Scorpio, from the first Dirty Harry would come back from the dead and start killing chimps, instead of people. The writing scrawled next to his face in the above pic is taken right from the note he wrote in the first movie. I just added monkey names in the note in place of the people he was threatening to kill.

It seemed pretty fitting to jam on a movie poster that takes place in San Francisco, which is the same city, of the gallery, that is hosting the show tonight.

Anyway, this was a really fun group show to be a part of. They already have all the movie poster entries from the artists online. Here's the linkage.

San Francisco's Gallery 1988 Now Playing show

2009-09-11T10:59:00.000-07:00

Gallery 1988 in San Francisco has a pretty cool group show this month. Usually the artists in a group show will do a piece of art based on a theme. This time, the gallery picked out a bunch of movie posters for all the artists. They also hand picked and decided what artist got which poster, and then mailed them out. The artists were then asked to add something to the poster in their style, and then mail them back when they were done. They ended up sending me a poster from one of Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry movies. The Dead Pool was the last Dirty Harry movie that came out.

I was originally going to do a big homage to all the Dirt Harry movies and put a bunch of images and references from various movies on the poster.

I knew I wanted the Zodiac killer from the first Dirty Harry movie to be on the poster. Did a tiny sketch of him first and then painted him up on the target.

Here's the painted head below, pasted onto the poster. Like I said, I was originally going to put more images and references like this on the poster. Been watching all the Dirty Harry movies again, just to get more ideas.

I was having a discussion about old Clint movies with a buddy last week, and he mentioned Any Which Way But Loose. That's the one with the Orangutan. Needless to say, my approach to the poster has changed since that conversation and there will definitely be some simian references on this poster before it's done. Stay tuned to this blog to see the finished poster. Gallery 1988 in SF has also asked the artists in the show to post in progress work of their posters and you can check that out by clicking here.

Here are the details for the show below. Gotta love that MJ vs Raiders poster. Nice job. One last thing, regarding the last two posts. Bradford Bohonus has gone through the City Hostel Seattle, and taken pictures of all the rooms. The cool thing is that you can take virtual tours of the rooms on his site. Total 360 action. It's pretty cool. Check it out here. Also, check back soon to see the final poster for the show.

Room #208 Update

2009-08-28T16:46:00.003-07:00

Just wanted to post some last minute pics from the Seattle City Hostel opening. Scott Moore from Bellevue Fine Art Reproduction, had an awesome fish eye lens on his camera. Here are a few pics he took in my room.

Scott has a bunch of great pics on his Flickr site of the other rooms. You can check those out by clicking here.

Another guy that came through the room was Michael Rogers from Seattle Food Tours. Michael also has a bunch of shots of the other rooms on his Flickr page too. He was the guy that dropped all the knowledge about Belltown's Movie Row past (see last post). There's also an online article in the Seattle Times about the project at the Hostel as well as some history of the building.

I think this kid's mom is secretly whispering to him, "Look honey. That flaky artist was too lazy to paint that wall. Go kick him in the shin!" That wall actually has two back to back bunk beads that go there. If my schedule allowed me more than five days to work in the room, there would definitely be more tentacles and monkeys up there. Then we would see who kicks who in the shin.

These last shots, below, are from the guy that painted the room directly across from mine. I had to stop painting for a few minutes and take a few of Zak while he was working.

Zak had the genius idea of continuing his cloud, sky, and bee pattern that he painted in his room, and painted it on the wall of the building directly outside of his window.

Genius. Oh yeah, he's two floors up, if you couldn't tell. Inside his room he also has a similar flower on one of the walls.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the pics. Scott and Michael, thanks for the links and pictures.

Hostel Opening Reception

2009-08-16T10:58:00.001-07:00

Last Friday night was the opening reception for the Hostel Art Collective. It was an amazing night with a huge turn out. Huge shout out to Lee, Nancy, Jen, Weirdo, Brian and everyone else that put this together and made it happen. It's great to see a group of people do this for the local art scene, and long over due in this city if you ask me. The hostel will be having a rotating art gallery in the lobby for the downtown art walks, so keep an eye out for that. You can see some videos of the other artist's rooms on their site. There's also a huge list of websites for all the participating artists. Here's the link. http://hostelartcollective.wordpress.com/

Here's are some quick shots as I was finishing up the walls. What was really fun, was hearing people get in heated debates about the images. "She's shooting the evil monkeys!" "No, she's helping the monkeys. They have the same uniforms!" I did have a specific story in mind, but I think I'll let people decipher it on their own. Interpretive storytelling. I love it.

My time was pretty limited. I came on to the project late and had to do it in between side jobs. After sketching out the characters, I'd say it took three days to do the space chick, and two days to do the chimps. Lots of long hours and paint fumes. I pretty much used the same approach as I do with smaller paintings, just on a bigger scale. Still used acrylics for the finish, but for a lot of the big areas, spray cans came in handy for large coverage and loose sketching. After that it was just tightening everything up with brushes.

One thing that I wasn't expecting was that a lot of people that rolled through the room started taking pictures with the ray gun shooting chimp. Interactive art. Gotta love it. Thanks for the pic Gerrie!

I had to get a pic of this guy's shirt when he rolled through the room. Being a huge Clint fan, I was floored by this bad ass custom drawn shirt. Someone just went right on the shirt with a sharpie and sketched this out for him. I'm jealous Cameron. Very cool.

Another image in the room that people were taking pictures with was the slobbering eyeball. My not so subtle nod to the Star Wars trash compactor scene. Thanks for the pic Dani. All she needs is two hair buns on either side of her head and the scene is complete.

Anyway, really really great night. I'm hoping to get more links and pics to share. I'll throw those up on here when I get them. One interesting thing about the building, and the neighborhood it's in, is that it used to be a place for movie studios to distribute, market, and screen movies. Belltown used to be called movie row, and Pramount and MGM used to have offices in some of the buildings down there. That's why the bar across the street, the Reindvous, has that screening room. That's also why some of those buildings down there have the art deco style architecture, so that it echoes the Paramount and MGM studios. A guy that does tours in the neigborhood filled me in on that. The things you learn when you actually leave your house.

Sorry to side track, but I thought that was some intersting history. Thanks to everyone that stopped by to check out the room, and big thanks again for everyone that put this together. I'm hopeing to do a joint show with one of the other artists from the hostel in the future, so stay tuned for more info on that. Until then, keep an eye out for more future shows on their website.

http://hostelartcollective.wordpress.com/

Hostel Art Collective

2009-08-12T10:45:00.000-07:00

I was recently asked to be part of City Hostel Seattle's new project. They asked 47 local artists pick a room a paint it up however they want. I've been working on it on and off since last week. The reception is this Friday. All the details on the Hostel and the event are below. If you're in Belltown this Friday night come on down. My stuff will be on the 2nd floor. Room #208. There will be lots of cool art to see. Three floors worth! Hope you can make it down. Here are a few links and blogs with more info and pics of other artists.

belltownpeople.com
hostelartcollective.wordpress.com

LET THERE BE ART!:
47 of Seattle’s Finest Artists

OPENING RECEPTION on 2nd Friday Art Walk- August 14, 2009

Address: At 2nd and Battery in Belltown, next to Buckley’s, across from Roq La Rue.
Time: 5pm – 9pm
Ages: All Ages Encouraged!
Cost: Free
Live Music and Refreshments will be provided.
Gallery/Lobby: “Group Show” will be hanging from 8/14/09 – 9/16/09

City Hostel Seattle “Let There Be Art!” Hosts 47 Local Artists during Belltown’s Art Walk on Aug.14 2009.

City Hostel Seattle a new Hostel, in Seattle’s vibrant Belltown neighborhood, is featuring 47 Seattle Artists that will paint a wall mural in each room to showcase Seattle’s talented artists. The grand opening will be on Belltown’s Second Friday Artwalk August 14, 6pm-9pm, open and free to the public.

“LET THERE BE ART!” Is a project to give a collective voice to the Seattle artists whose talent is all too often unseen and unheard. City Hostel Seattle will be a platform for local Seattle artists to been seen on a local and international scale.

Android with Fidonacci

2009-08-09T09:29:00.000-07:00

Just did this piece for Distinction Gallery's Scientific Evolution show down in LA. If you're in or around LA this month stop by and check it out.

8"x24" Acrylics on masonite.

"Scientific Evolution": Group show, 10% of proceeds to benefit stem cell research
August 8, 2009 – September 5, 2009 | Reception: August 8, 6-11 pm

Geek Quota Fullfilled at San Diego Con

2009-07-29T11:58:00.000-07:00

After getting a new iDork phone, I thought I would be Mr. Fancy pants and post pics live from the San Diego Comic Con directly to the blog. Screw that. If I had spare time to do anything at that show, it wasn't going to be getting sucked into the iDork and blogging. Any spare time was spent catching up with old friends and looking at artwork. If it wasn't one of those two, I was probably crashed out trying to get my energy back. Fighting through a sea of fat Klingons and Jokers can take a lot out of you. Here are a bunch of random pics from the floor taken on the new iDork. One of my friends dubbed the above photo "Auglien vs Predator" I'm still not sure who has the worst hair, me or The Predator. Enjoy the pics.

Testing....testing...

2009-07-20T20:03:00.001-07:00

This "in progress" photo of the Jersey Warriors painting should have been in the last post, but I'm trying to figure
out how to send stuff from my phone.

So I guess the test worked. Just a quick update, too. If you haven't seen the rest of the art from the Crazy 4 Cult show, click here to see all the art. Lots of really cool stuff.

I'm currently trying to frantically finish up my current workload so that I can get down to the San Diego Comic con this week. Just wanted to make sure I got the phone-to-blog thing working so that I can hopefully post some pics from the con. I guess this internet thing isn't going away so I might as well take advantage of it. Anyway, if you can't make it to the show, check back here this weekend. Hopefully I'll have some decent pics to share. Stay tuned......

Jersey Warriors

2009-07-15T12:47:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in the last post, this Thursday is Gallery 1988's Crazy 4 Cult group show. I've been super excited to do something for this event. The above image is the final painting that I submitted for the show. For this group show, artists were asked to pick from a long list of cult movies, and asked to do their own take on the movie or movie characters . The only hard part was trying to figure out which movie to do.

I kept going back and forth between The Big Lebowski and Kevin Smith's Clerks movies. I also love the movie The Warriors, but I thought I had gotten that itched scratch when I did this piece for a Zodiac themed show (year of the dog vs The Warriors). For some reason though, when I came across the classic shot above, from the Warriors flick, the idea just clicked. It seemed like the perfect fit to have the cast from Clerks II, dressed up in Warriors fatigues, strutting down Coney Island (maybe it's just me). That last part of the movie is just too classic. Waaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrriors! etc etc. It would be cool to see a Warriors movie cast with the Clerks characters. Maybe Michael Mann will reconsider.

Anyway, the idea of only doing two characters (Jay and Silent Bob) immediately went out the window after that idea came into play. Now it was all about drawing and composing six characters into a scene. The following sketches are some of the early studies that came out of trying to compose the image.

I hope you guys enjoyed the tour of what went into this latest piece. I think only hardcore Smith fans will get the 37 reference. I'm not going to explain it here in case my mom might be reading the blog. By the way, if you're a Kevin Smith fan that lives here in the Northwest, go get your tix for his first Q&A here in Seattle. Should be fun. Also, as soon as Gallery 1988 posts the rest of the pieces from the show, I'll post the linkage for you guys. Can't wait to see the rest of the show. Stay tuned.....

Crazy 4 Cult

2009-07-13T15:40:00.000-07:00

This week, Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles is putting on their big Crazy 4 cult group show. Check out the flier for details. Also check out 1988's blog as they have been posting some of the pieces for the show. Some really amazing pieces so far. See the latest stuff by clicking here. Also check back in the next day or two to check out the piece I did for the show. Stay tuned..........

High School Art Flashbacks

2009-06-28T12:27:00.000-07:00

I thought I wouldn't get to take pics of this until I went back to Cali to visit the familia. However, a few weeks back, shortly after the previous post, I got a surprise email from my brother Adrian with the attached pics, and an email busting my chops saying the following:

"Hey Gonzo, your slacking! Check out the detail in your first rendering!! " End of email.

As mentioned in the previous post, I did this pencil rendering in my high school art class. Must have been junior or senior year in Mrs. Peter's art class. I don't know any guys in high school that didn't try and attempt to copy a Frazetta or a Derek Riggs EDDIE from Iron Maiden. It was almost a right of passage.

My uncle Art used to come back from his art classes and show me how to add shadows and volume to my dorky superhero drawings by shading them with pencils other than a 2B. They make different pencils other than a 2B for drawing?! (12 year old Augie's brain explodes)

My high school art classes were my chance to attempt what my uncles were doing on a scale that was bigger than my Pee-Chee covers. I remember that they had those big art-o-graph projectors in my high school class, so that you can blow up your image and trace it at any size you wanted (Man. I'm getting flashbacks of HUUUGE pastel renderings of Nagel women on black paper that were always being done by someone in class).

Anyways, I always thought it was cheating somehow to use the projectors, so my stubborn Puerto Rican side talked myself into not using the projectors and just copying it by hand by just eyeballing it. Seems like you would learn more that way, or not. Just took longer I guess.

Highschool art class was the only class I looked forward to. You had all the time in the world to work on stuff. Not like now. Now, as a "grown up" you need to make that time to do personal projects. If you don't, someone else will and you'll get left behind. Make the time kids. Don't be a Gonzo slacker! (Thanks for the pics bro!)

Dr Teeth vs Molly Hatchet

2009-05-25T10:43:00.000-07:00

Here's the painting I did for the 2nd Muppet Rawk show. I think like the last Muppet Rawk painting, I tend to lean towards the album covers that were painted by artists that influenced me as a kid. That was half the fun of buying vinyl back in the day. Being able to listen to your favorite band while staring at a huge cover of illustrated art. That was the best. It seems to be something that is lost today in a digital, downloadable world. Oh well. Time for the old man to shut up.

This painting was all acrylics on a 24"x 24" canvas. Title: "Flirting With Homages". If you're not familiar with the Molly Hatchet album that this cover was from (titled "Flirting With Disaster") you've probably seen it and just never knew it was from that album. If you had older sibs or cousins/uncles in the 70's-80's, you probably saw this image hanging on their wall, or you saw it airbrushed on the side of a van. If you're not familiar with the artist that painted said cover.........shame on you.

The artist that did the original painting that was used on the cover is the legendary artist Frank Frazetta. If you haven't heard of him, I'm not sure what to say. I can write up a storm on this blog and tell you all the reasons why he's one of the few artists you can attatch the words "legendary artist" to, or you can just check out the link and go do some homework. In fact, I would insist.

Anyway, had a blast painting this. It was actually fun to disect a Frazetta painting now that I know a little bit more about the process. On that same note, it also made me realize how much more there is to learn. As a kid I remembered there was so much detail in this painting. There totally is, but so much of it is implied with strategically placed shadows. The actual focal point of the painting has all the detail and you can see where he spent most of his time on this particular piece.

Like I said, I can talk all day about Frazetta's work, but I don't want to bore you with things that have already been written far better by others before me. I will confess that this was one of those paintings that I did copy of in high school art class. I went through a box of pencils trying to copy this thing and teach myself how to shade and learn value. I'll have to dig it up when I go back home and take a picture of it so I can post it.

One last thing. If you're in Seattle, don't forget that the Jim Henson exhibit starts this weekend at the EMP and runs through August 16th. Get the details here. Can't wait to check that out.

Muppet Rawk 2

2009-05-19T11:07:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago, Ouch My Eye in Seattle, hosted the opening night for the 2nd Muppet Rawk show. From the obligatory crowd shot above, you can get a sense of the crowd that was coming in and out all through the night. Muppet fans from all over came out and saw their favorite Muppets combined with some classic album covers.

First off, I have to apologize for some of the blurry pics. My camera chose that week to break, so I had to use my buddie's camera (thanks Dave!). Here are the pics that actually came out. Above is Aaron Jasinki's take on the famous Nirvana cover, Nevermind.

Memo Diaz does Statler and Waldorf vs the Crue's Theatre of pain.

Marsha Walinger does Blizzard of Fozz.

Jordan Kotzebue's take on the Clash.

James Ma's Electric Mayhem vs Queen.

Rob McDaniel's 3d entry of Bert vs Quiet Riot

Marc Palm did this awesome take on R. Crumb's Cheap Thrills cover. Make sure you check out his Flickr account for some of his pencil sketches of his Muppet rawk piece.

As you can see, the show was a blast. Still not sure what artists did what and who does and doesn't have websites. Ouch My Eye Gallery should have a complete list of artists and art up their site soon. If you want to see some shots of the rest of the Muppet Rawk2 pieces that were in the show, check out our friend Lara's Flickr account. Thanks much Lara!

I'll post some pics in the next day or two of the piece I did for the show. Managed to get a few in progress shots before my camera decided not to work. Anyway, enjoy.

Custom Skully Show

2009-05-15T02:56:00.001-07:00

This Saturday, Chuckwa Gallery, in Fullerton, CA., will have a custom toy and traditional art show inspired by Urban Warfair's Skully figure. The OC Register has a nice breakdown of what the show is all about

Here are a few,"work in progress" pics of the skate deck I entered into the show.

Muppet Rawk 2

2009-05-07T14:55:00.000-07:00

Muppet Rawk? "What's that?", you might ask? Just like the flyer says:

"A pop culture tribute to the imaginative world of Jim Henson and the art of rock album covers."

This Saturday will be the opening night for Muppet Rawk 2 at Ouch My Eye Gallery in Seattle, WA. If you want to check out the post from the last show with some photos from the opening night and the piece I did for that show, click here. This year's show is already getting some heat online. Here's an image of one of the pieces over at Boing Boing (in Borat voice: "Very nice!") There will also be prints for sale of most of the pieces the night of the opening.

This month, Seattle's EMP will also have a huuuuge Jim Henson exhibit. The exhibition features 100 original artworks, including drawings, cartoons and storyboards that illustrate Henson’s talent as a storyteller and visionary. That exhibit will be up from May 23rd-August 16th. That is a definite DO NOT MISS exhibit. Can't wait to check that out.

Well, I just handed you a double dosage of Muppets that you will be able to check out this month if you're in Seattle. I'll be posting my piece soon, and will hopefully have pics from the show to share, so, stay tuned.

Hope to see you this Saturday!

This post was brought to you by the letters, A-U-G.

MUPPET RAWK2 info:
Opening reception May 9th, 8pm, 21 plus
Gallery hours are Monday - Saturday, 12-5pm, First Thursday and by appointment.

Art Jam IV Leftovers

2009-05-04T09:32:00.000-07:00

I've gotten some more pics and links from friends over the past few weeks regarding Art Jam. Just wanted to do a quick follow up post and post some more pics.

Ok. I confess. This post was really just an excuse to post more Bob Ross photos.

I mean, c'mon! Chris came fully prepared with fan brushes and palette knives in his arsenal. Note the fancy palette. The real Bob Ross would be proud.

Here's a better shot of the final piece. Just so you know, Chris doesn't normally paint like this. He kicked it up a notch for Art Jam. You raised the bar brutha!

Here are some finished pieces laid out on the art table/ shuffle board. All these pieces here sold that night. People got some deals for sure.

Here are some better shots of the finished pieces from Angela179 (above) and the three artist collab (below) from Karin, LAW, and Suzzanne.

I also wanted to give Sean Quinn some props for coming all the way out from Boston to round out the DJ set. Seth, Dave, and Sean definitely throw down haaaaard with the jams. In my mind, they give the night a certain vibe that the artists and the crowd feed off of. Mucho importante.

"What kind of music do they play. Aug?" Well, the Boston Phoenix called Sean Quinn "-the guru of Boston’s rising funk tide." Take that Seattle. Thanks for coming out to the left coast to spin at Art Jam Sean!

Here's Shane finishing out his collab with Travis.

Here's another collab that I didn't get shots of. Luke and Ryan jammed out this killer piece. Always fun to see these two throwing down.

I finally got a chance to get up on the boards at the end of the night when things were a little less hectic.

I was also thrown off that night after almost slicing through my thumb. (cut AWAY from yourself kids!) My head has been in Muppet land lately (getting ready for this Saturday's Muppet rawk show), so, Dr. Teeth was the first thing that came to mind.

I guess this gives away what Muppet I'll be doing. What album is it? Hmmmm, stay tuned. Anyway, I hope this post wasn't redundant. just wanted to get in some last minute pics. Much thanks to Cecilia, Dave, and Karin for letting me use their pics. You can check out more of Cecilia's pics from that night on her Flickr account.

Anyway, I'll post the details for the Muppet Rawk show tonight. I've already seen a few pieces, and I think this show is going to blow out the last one.