Portland Artists - Listen up!

There is a guy, nay, cool guy that lives out in fairview right on Blue Lake. I have been buying canvas from him for quite a while now. He hand builds and stretches canvas in his garage and I met him kind of when he was just starting out. His low prices and great canvas kept me coming back. Latley his canvases are getting tighter and cleaner. His stretcher bars are better every canvas I buy. Did I say his prices were far below any store in existance?

Anyway, the guys name is Jeph, and his business is called Custom Canvas Wholesale. There are many ways you can get a hold of him. You can check out Custom Canvas on myspace, or I can give you contact info directly. He works with some great artists around the Portland area, and if you are an artist that lives within 50 miles of the Rose City, you need to check this guy out.

The main reason for making Jeph the focus of this post is his innovative ideas. I am not at liberty to discuss some of them, as they are honestly revolutionary. He has so many amazing ideas, that while I want to horde them all I feel like he deserves to have his work all over the city.

Bottom line is this; if you are around Portland, and you are one of those artists that feels like they could be doing more with each and every painting or you feel your style is too big for just a flat conventional canvas, YOU NEED TO CALL JEPH.

Portland Music and Arts

Been a few since I posted to the empty void.

Changed some art around, and closed up some loose ends lately. I finished the Rondeau Records CD cover and other design work. Turned out good, they were satisfied and I made a little cash. Turns it I could make money, but it takes away a little bit of my freedom. I have found I don't have enough time for all I want to do so I'm cuttin back the art to just painting. That may not stick but I'm going with it for now.

I moved the Jimi, Dylan and Zappa over to this killer restaurant bar called "the East Burn." It's on 18 and E Burnside and it's unbelievable. You can go there to have an nice upscale meal, or party it up in their downstairs bar that has skee ball and electric race track cars. Great place.

Also, I met with this lady who runs art shows and the kingstad center in beaverton about a month ago. Had a little consultation and turns out she really liked the Color of Music Series and her next show is called something like Iconography. I already will have Jimi, Dylan and Zappa in that show and as it turns out I have 3 more nearly done. Stay tunes to see new pictures....

First Name Michael, the band I'm playing with currently, has some shows coming up end of Feb and a few in March. We are coming along consistently every week getting better, it's a fun experience. I get to write my guitar parts, with very few constraints, and just play what I think will better the song. Not to mention, the Singer/Songwriter is a good writer and sings great, bass player is killer and have local drum extrodenaire Scott Appleman on the drums. I couldn't have asked for a better group to be thrown into.

On to another monday....

New Year, New Music, New Art

2008 should be a great year. I'm getting married, I will be playing my first gigs as a semi-pro guitar slinger in Portland and likely will be getting tangled up into some good art shows.

Rock and Roll:

First Name Michael seems like a good start for me. I have most of my parts written, now it's just time to practice with the group. Kim and I checked out the drummers other band Noir City, they were incredible. The guitar player is kind of a good example of where I want to be in a few years. He is talented, funky, a little crazy and super creative. That's a good combo. Also, got to see Scott (The drummer) break loose on a mind melting solo. Holy crap he is unlike any drummer I have played with so far. Got an email from our fearless leader, he already seems to be gettin' gigs nearly lined up. Can't wait for the first stage! I'll make sure it's common knowledge when the first show is, if anyone wants to come.

Portland Art Scene:

Last weekend got a little crazy, and I ended up missing a window to try to get art into a new salon. I had a few peices in a show on friday night on east burside and 10th at a studio called the OM. Very cool space, one of the other artists named John Graeter, is an absolute incredible artist. I encourage you to check out his gallery. I also made contact with a high end real estate firm that stages homes for sales by putting furniture and art in the place. They had a craigslist post and I applied to help stage a 1.5 million dollar home in the west hills. I got a very quick response saying they LOVED the colors of music and want to put them in the media room possibly. They want to stick with one artist for the whole place and my color schemes don't work with the rest of the house but they said they'll keep me in mind if they break rooms up.

Here is the finished product of a painting I posted last week. It's called "warrior." I think it turned out nice. It's 4' long and about 2' wide.

This one is nearly done, however the right eye needs to be re-worked. It's a little lazy/cross eyed and doesn't convey the 'sexy' look like it needs to. Also, please note the brown lines are actually straight, I'm just an incapable photographer.

Here is a close up on the intersection. This painting is 6' long and 2' wide. It will be very cool once the lazy green eye is done.

Cheers Everyone!

New Year, New Art, New Band...

Happy New year to me! I think at this point nobody reads the blog. I just use it to voice my thoughts to myself. Ha.

I just finished up two new paintings. I did a 6' x 2' red painting, with green eyes on it. I think it's very cool, it's for the new salon in NE Portland. I also finished up the "two warriors" as the owner of the salon calls them. There is a midway to completion pic in the last post, but the finished canvas is WAY cooler! I'll post pictures soon.

Also, I joined a band called First Name Michael. They are a great core group of 3 guys. Singer-songwriter-rhythm guitar player is the leader of the group. We are kind of backing his direction, which is good because he has a solid compass. He has written some great songs, and he has a good voice with which he sings well. The drummer is a cool guy, has had national radio play on two of his albums (neither of which he said he made a dime on!) but he is solid as a drummer and is a cool guy. The Bass player has some mean grooves, and locks in tightly with the drummer. What a rhythm section these three are!! I showed up and played with them on sunday. Didn't really know much about their songs, but I shot from the hip and apparently made the cut. They seem to like the way I rock the wah pedal. I'm learning their songs, and writing lead parts... doing EXACTLY what I wanted to with a group. How fun!!!

The goal is to have the album recorded by the end of febuary then try to get out and play some gigs. The goal isn't to be millionares, but to have fun. I suppose if people end up giving us money we'll take it... but in the words of the wise bass player "free beer is always just as good."

Couldn't have said it better myself.