Vinyl Art

Woof!

2013-02-24T17:52:00.001-07:00

"Can't do it man. The master of funk descends on hartford at 7:30." - PCU

Awhile back I had the honor to gift a piece to Lou Reed (http://vinylart.blogspot.com/2009/12/full-bleed.html). Then, thanks to Stephen Tisdale (http://vinylshuffle.com), I got to give a piece to George Clinton for his birthday.

Yeah, THAT George Clinton.

Peace.

____________________________

creating art on the artifacts of creativity

http://danieledlen.com

Renewed

2013-01-01T12:03:00.001-07:00

To start the new year I'm trying something old anew. Etsy.

http://dedlen.etsy.com

I'm trying it because they made the iPhone app way better, social media has gotten so broadcasty, and I'm going to have far less time to promote my art now.

I'll certainly continue to create custom commissions but this'll be a hopefully good way to find good homes for available pieces. Please check out my store and share it with anyone you think might enjoy my work, or enjoy giving it as a gift.

Peace, and Happy New Year!

____________________________

creating art on the artifacts of creativity

http://danieledlen.com

Full Circle with @riozilla and @amoebamusic

2012-11-12T15:59:00.001-07:00

Back in high school, I was friends with Rio Caraeff. He introduced me to some great music, including The The's album "Dusk" which is one of my favorites still.

Today Rio is CEO of VEVO, the company presenting official music videos and live shows through YouTube in the one way acceptable to the major record labels. Recently he commissioned the 4 above pieces: Michael Jackson, Beyonce, 50 Cent and Adele. Almost 20 years later, full circle.

Back in school, too, I took a family trip to San Francisco. It was around the time I was starting to get into my dad's vinyl: Brubeck, Beatles, Khachaturian and Mangione. We went to the Haight and I was introduced to Amoeba Records. Woah.

Seeing that place got me seriously started hanging out in West L.A. record stores like Record Surplus, Moby Disc, Rhino Records and Penny Lane. I spent countless teenage hours crate digging. Some of the records became my first canvases.

Today, Amoeblog shared http://www.amoeba.com/blog/2012/11/jamoeblog/daniel-edlen-s-vinyl-art-creates-on-the-artifacts-of-creativity-.html about me. Another pretty cool full circle moment.

Nice day, today.

Peace.

____________________________

creating art on the artifacts of creativity

http://danieledlen.com

Seeing the Music

2012-10-25T14:47:00.000-07:00

"If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes." - Pablo Picasso

The way I conceive it, art only happens when we do what Picasso is talking about. When we flow in the moment without our brain filtering and simply allow whatever is supposed to come out to do so.

When you lose track of time, you've found your art. When you find what enables that loss, you've found your connection to your art.

For me, music is my connection. It's sort of like meditation, not thinking about each dab of the brush, simply seeing the light and dark. Seeing the music.

Peace.

____________________________

creating art on the artifacts of creativity

http://danieledlen.com

No Light Without Shadow

2012-10-20T10:00:00.001-07:00

I was standing next to my John Coltrane portrait at the Open Studios event at http://santamonicaartstudios.com last weekend and a thought struck me. Following that show I sold the above Freddie Mercury, which reminded me of that thought.

Both pieces have black on the label because they're white. It's a challenge to paint pieces like that with just white on the record and black on the label. I have to make sure the light on the record is balanced by the shadows on the label, otherwise the portrait is broken.

I've been sharing Zen and Taoist quotes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/dedlen recently. A lot of them are about recognizing the yin and yang of life, the two sides of things when distinction is made. I don't particularly like adjectives because they require and create categorization and differentiation, but they exist in our lives. So one has to find balance between the two sides, between the light and the dark.

Like I do when I paint shadows on the label and the light on the record.

Peace.

____________________________

creating art on the artifacts of creativity

http://danieledlen.com

Underwater Basket Weaving

2012-09-25T16:38:00.001-07:00

Underwater basket weaving is an idiom which refers to classes at university generally thought of as filler and not valuable in education. A lot of activity in online marketing feels like that. But it's not. It's a useful skill with cumulative results.

Years ago I connected with Robert Benson through this very blog. A wonderful fellow with a huge heart, he continues to this day to share news about my Vinyl Art.

Back then he wrote http://collectingvinylrecords.blogspot.com/2008/01/vinyl-art-new-canvas.html and published it in a way that sees it spread even still. Its content, and links, stand up today.

Robert told me marketing on the Internet is like weaving a basket. Since then I've tried to spread awareness of my handpainted portraits on records far and wide to all different audiences, interconnecting and interlacing strands of the web to build a network of support of my art. With the explosion of social media and mobile interaction I've embraced Twitter, Facebook and the like. It is definitely challenging to do this on my own without representation, but it is very rewarding to connect with customers directly, getting to follow the stories of my pieces.

I've got a couple very cool stories coming up to share, but in the meantime I've gotten to weave a couple more strong strands into my basket.

First is http://inhabitat.com/daniel-edlen-upcycles-records-into-detailed-portraits-of-rock-n-rolls-greatest/ on Inhabitat written by Lori Zimmer. I shared a couple double album pieces that hadn't seen much exposure before and Lori pulled great text from http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/daniel-edlen-famous-musician-portraits-vinyl written by Alice Yoo.

Second is http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/14/artist-daniel-edlen-paint_n_1885577.html on the Huffington Post. Kathleen Massara asked some great questions and included the Coltrane that will be one of those cool stories.

I list such posts on my http://vinylart.info/where.htm with active links to those still live, pliable strands of soaked willow rods to make my basket. I'm proud of that list and hopefully it's strong and able to support my art. I'll certainly continue to weave it with content on this blog and a myriad of other places online.

Not easy and not worthless.

Peace.

____________________________

creating art on the artifacts of creativity

http://danieledlen.com

Help Save Music Education, Really!

2012-08-31T11:06:00.001-07:00

Our goal of $25,000 will help launch our newest program, Online Instrument Drives, which is an easy to use donation platform that helps thousands of youth receive the instruments they need to participate in music education! Music teachers request the instruments their students need, instrument donors choose the requests they want to fulfill, financial donors contribute to the cost of shipping and repair, and students get instruments!

Nate Anderson and his Ear Candy Charity are brilliant. They're creating an adoption agency for musical instruments, for kids. It's a 'win' on so many levels it's crazy. The campaign is half over, but isn't halfway to its goal yet. So please check out the link below, give if you can and spread the word far and wide!

http://www.indiegogo.com/EarCandy

Peace.

____________________________

creating art on the artifacts of

http://danieledlen.com

Calling (Collect)ors

2012-07-22T10:34:00.001-07:00

Once a month I send out an email newsletter with Vinyl Art updates that you can sign up for on this blog or at http://vinylart.info/why.htm for free. http://vinylart.info/press.htm has some old excerpts.

Some people automatically send such info to previous customers, potential collectors. I don't. I figure that if someone is interested in following me after buying a piece that they'll get to it somehow. I just publicly share when I'm sending it out.

I mean, when you call collect, who pays? Who really pays?

Peace.

How To Get Your Share

2012-07-16T16:58:00.001-07:00

It's tough, this art marketing thing. My ultimate goal is to get to paint, to get to contribute what I can, to get to be of value to you and my family. To do that, I have to serve my art, like I talked about in my last post.

A major part of serving my art has become sharing it online in a myriad of ways. To make it a win-win, like the late Stephen Covey proposed, so I'm happy, the gallery site is happy and you're happy, I've discovered that I have to know what the sites and you want.

I think I understand what the sites want: my content. Perfect! I want them to have it. But along with that content comes the same responsibility to serve. Sites work best when I work them best, by sharing what I've shared through them, sending you to them so you see what you want there. Their hope is that you'll share what you want by sharing what they want.

Basically, I think Scott Belsky of Behance wants you to share my Vinyl Art by sharing http://www.behance.net/gallery/Vinyl-Art/4519517 because it shares my content in the best and easiest way it can. My job then is to use the site as best as I can, making the comment that the CEO left on my project most gratifying.

It is a wonderful site, on the whole and in detail. I'd encourage you to start with my project, the content of which should be somewhat familiar, and then see what else grabs you there.

To get your share.

Peace.

Serve Your Art

2012-07-06T15:18:00.001-07:00

There's an episode of The Cosby Show in which one of the daughters, I think Vanessa, has brought home a guy to dinner and sprung their plans for marriage on the family at dinner. Cos gives this brilliant analogy of a cook preparing an amazing dinner and plating it on the underside of a garbage can lid. For some reason, that analogy has stuck with me.

Also rattling around my head is the idea that one's art is distinct from one's self. The artist is not his art, the artist DOES his art, creating artifacts. In the best moments of painting, I feel like my art is flowing through me as a vessel. I just watch. You know, that zen-like-type moment when you're in harmony with the universe. I'm just the storyteller.

Both of these inform the phrase "serve your art". Different definitions of "serve". Both vital, to me, for the artist to keep in mind.

1) Presentation of one's art is pretty dang important to the success of the communication between artifact and audience. In and of themselves, a frame or a promotional flyer or a CD label or a website aren't important for their own sakes. They serve to serve. The concierge, the ambience, the tablecloth, the plate, the garnish all create the context and focus attention on the actual value in a restaurant, the food. When those are somehow out of sync, the moment is broken and what might be a masterful meal gets fed to the dogs behind the joint.

While this is probably obvious to state, it's difficult to do. Well, I should say it's been difficult for me to do, anyway. It goes beyond the concerted marketing effort. It requires a psychological understanding of one's art and the way its artifacts connect with others. I've been pretty good at understanding my relationship with my art, so there's that. But allowing the artifacts of that art to reach out into the world is hard. I probably get in its way and don't even really know it. Letting the artifact speak for itself is the challenge while at the same time providing that context for the world to consume it.

This isn't to say the presentation should disappear, but, as an errant brush stroke can break the illusion of the portrait, that context, that packaging can help or hinder the delivery of your art's message. Serve your art. Serve it well.

2) The best artists allow their art to happen, I think. So as the art is presented, it is also performed. Here it is the artist who becomes part of the context for the act of the art. I don't mean the artist serves their art as a master, but if the artist wants the artifacts of their art to be serveable, presentable, the act of the art itself must be served. By this I mean to point out the importance of understanding your relationship with your art, how the art acts through you. And how to best facilitate that process.

This might be less obvious to state, as well as difficult to do. Art is often taught as a process to be controlled, not communicated. Students are encouraged to bring out what they have to say, not to let out what they see. For a long time, I've struggled with my feeling that I'm a glorified copier because when I was little I WAS taught how to allow myself to see and communicate that, but later I ran into the more common thinking that an artist must HAVE a vision, something inside. Artists end up getting in the way of the art as well as the artifacts, in this sense.

Fortunate is the artist whose art has happened upon them, a vision from the universe that is expressed through the artist, if allowed. I was lucky that my art found me adequately taught to use tools and at a point in life without imposed boundaries. Rediscovering it years later as a so-called niche allows me to retain its initial form and idea with a well-defined concept for me to serve. Serve your art. Serve it well.

Hopefully I've served this play on words well, providing some glimmer of an internal idea you might have been trying to bring out and understand for yourself. I know I'm still trying to understand it, myself.

If you have any response, please don't hesitate to leave it here publicly or to privately tell me at vinylart@danieledlen.com.

Peace.

____________________________

creating art on the artifacts of creativity

http://danieledlen.com

fl(ashes)

2012-06-05T19:02:00.001-07:00

In a flash. He's gone.http://vinylart.blogspot.com/search/label/Jason

A blur, a teary-eyed blur of years follows. Ashes remain on the mantle. Paintings remain on the wall.

Clarity slowly returns. In fits, the blur lifts. Life goes on, death fades. The ashes no longer sit on the mantle. The paintings are rehung with others.

But every once in awhile. That flash returns. That moment when life turned to death hits again. Focus is lost as tears flood. The full memory replays.
But life goes on.

Peace.

____________________________

creating art on the artifacts of creativity

http://danieledlen.com

Dammit

2012-05-05T09:09:00.001-07:00

I'm trying to wrap my head around the event of Yauch's death.

Dammit.

When Cobain went, I was in school and his music connected with my life. I spent the rest of that day flat on my back in the dark with Nevermind blasting. Since, I think about that day whenever I hear their music.

I don't talk much about what I play while I paint. It happens to be largely the Beastie Boys. I hadn't gotten into their music back in the day, as I didn't appreciate rap as a teen. But after hearing Check Your Head and Ill Communication and then Paul's Boutique. Crap man, that is good music. It's really perfect music for me, for my art. The rhythm, the groove. And a lot of that was MCA. And now he's gone. And now I'll think about that whenever I play their music.

Even while I paint.

Dammit.

Rest In Peace, Yauch.

Moving. Again. Back.

2012-04-26T08:35:00.001-07:00

So after a year in CA we're heading back to AZ. Yep.

This'll be my new little room.

In the meantime, in Pacific Palisades I'm having a swan song solo show at the restaurant I sold a bunch at a year and a half ago.

http://www.prlog.org/11843755-restaurant-serves-up-tasty-vinyl-art.html

It'll be nice to have the 30 pieces safe while we move. During our move to CA they were on display at VH1 in NYNY.

Speaking of NYNY, my first commission after we move back will be for a really cool corporate client headquartered there. I can't share details yet but it'll be a great set of 4 pieces. Hopefully I'll get a shot of them hanging!

Until then, here's to a smooth move!

Peace.

Firsts

2012-02-29T10:44:00.000-07:00

So I've tried a couple traditional gallery group shows. Next, art fairs! Hadn't planned on doing this, but this March I'll be showing work in person in Laguna Beach for First Thursdays at the Blue Laguna and then in Las Vegas at Zappos First Fridays.

I painted a bunch of new pieces to fill out my collection so hopefully there'd be something for any music fan. A few are posted at http://vinylart.info/why.htm if you want to see them bigger than the photo above.

It'll be a couple late nights but should be worth it. I figured it was worth a shot to find that right audience in the right context.

It'd be a first.

Peace.

P(art)icipating

2012-01-21T12:42:00.001-07:00

On Feb.4 a music-inspired group art show called Pink Noise will open at Parlor Gallery in Asbury Park, New Jersey. These pieces of mine will be included! They contacted me late last year about participating so it's the first show for me of 2012. Woohoo! You can see work from other participating artists at http://www.parlor-gallery.com/?page_id=2426

Also coming up early this year, I'll hopefully be participating in First Fridays in Las Vegas! Close to the strip, a few blocks north of The Stratosphere they apparently have a growing monthly nighttime shindig. I'm planning on getting a booth in March. I'll certainly share details when everything's set.

Now I just need to paint more paintings!

Peace.

Yule (b)Log

2011-12-13T12:34:00.001-07:00

The weather in southern CA has been perfect for our 1st holiday season here. Just perfect.

We love the gloom.

We love feeling the need to be warm and cozy.

We love the warmth of family.

I was glad to be included in the 1st Holiday Sale at the Santa Monica Art Studios because my mother has her studio there.

And I sold the Louis Armstrong!

He went to a fellow who delighted in twice telling me how his father loves Louis, how he loves Louis, and how his 4 year old granddaughter now loves Louis. Beautiful.

I hope all the pieces that are being given as holiday gifts this year bring joy and delight. I know it's been a joy painting them.

Peace, and Happy Holidays!

On The Record Label

2011-11-16T10:48:00.002-07:00

Stark white. Lou Reed was the 1st piece I painted with white acrylic straight from the tube, no gray. It was on a demo record, which I thought was appropriate at the time. Demos usually have a white label.

I hadn't thought of sharing the importance of the label until I was commissioned to paint on this Matisyahu album which also has a white label. The art of the record label is wonderful. It has its size constraint like what I do does as well. And it seeks to both brand the album, connecting it to the record company, and unify the record with the album cover art.

Historically, usually, the record labels seem to simply be a connection to the record company like those shown at http://dj-spyder.blogspot.com/2008/11/text-less-record-label-artwork.html without any album text. I love these because they are often instantly recognizable and add that nostalgic element to my composition.

Ones like the Matisyahu though make for a unique composition and sometimes a more artistic piece. I just finished painting all five members of The Strokes, each on a different album, each with a unique label. The grouping, then, has a different feel than, say the Zeppelin grouping shown at the end of http://superhypeblog.com/?p=5758, all with the standard Atlantic label.

I try to work with the label when figuring out my composition. I like to draw attention to specific songs or the album artist with the placement and size of the portrait. In this Matisyahu, his name becomes part of his eyebrow. In this Zach de la Rocha, one of my favorite pieces, the label became the camera lens.

When the label is light, or white even, sometimes I need to use black paint instead of white. Usually it's for the eye, like in this piece and that Lou Reed. Mick Mars is another that ended up with a cool composition highlighting the album title and using black on the label.

A goal I have for my Vinyl Art is to celebrate the creativity that has gone into producing the artifact, the record. The design and content of the label is a big part of that. They are, after all, part of the record.

Peace.

Die By The Drop

2011-11-04T10:27:00.003-07:00

"the hardest decision you will ever have to make / lies underneath your fingers" - dead wax inscription

By L.Phelps

I've been thinking a lot lately about changes. About who I am. About what direction my life is going.

Fifteen years ago, I was a different person. I was young, idealistic, and thought that anything and everything was possible. I was half right. Anything and everything is possible. I was only half right about this because I made a gigantic miscalculation.

It's up to me to make it happen.

It's not that I am lazy. Far from it. I am a stubborn ass. If I set my mind on something, there is no stopping me.

The problem? I feel like my life is constantly being pulled in two directions. The life I am living. Safe, comfortable, predictable. And the life I could be living.

I am too scared to make the change.

Failing would be the death of me. The twist? Not trying will be the death of me too, just in a different way.

Showing Up

2011-10-11T20:53:00.001-07:00

This past month or so has been busy! I've had 30-some pieces in a solo show at a restaurant in Pacific Palisades (http://prlog.org/11636808) and now 21 of those pieces are up in Santa Monica near the airport for their upcoming Open Studios show.

Also, a Laguna Beach gallery, AR4T, is showing 4 pieces as part of a group show called Heaven's On Fire. The timing was perfect for me to find and contact this great gallery in a great location.

I was able to do this all because I've been working on showing myself and my art a bit more professionally. Since I'm trying to support my family with my art, it's been important to get organized.

To that end I wrote an actual artist's statement and bio and compiled my resume. I also reworked my website (http://vinylart.info) and created a video (http://tinyurl.com/VApainting) that shows a good bit of my technique.

I'm showing up.

Peace.

The Day After The Day After 10 Years Passed

2011-09-12T10:14:00.003-07:00

I was still too stunned yesterday.

Today I'm still too wiped out.

Memory is a funny fickle thing for us humans, isn't it? Part of me loathes the reflection and part of me loathes the absence. I think the grove of trees around the pools at the WTC plaza is good for people like me. The right balance of prospect and refuge, architecturally and emotionally.

Ten years ago today I somehow managed to drive to the BAC where I was to help hang the annual art show. On autopilot I suppose. It was both trying and comforting to make eye contact with others there. Even the Airforce trained sniper looked exhausted.

We somehow managed to hang the show. I somehow managed to create this piece.

Somehow we managed to get to 10 years after the day after.

Peace.

a(u)ction

2011-09-07T09:06:00.003-07:00

Shortly after we moved to southern California I got to help VH1 Save The Music Foundation by displaying the work which had been at their NY corporate gallery at the Billabong Design For Humanity event at Paramount Studios.

At that event the lovely people from VH1 told me about the Songwriter Music Series presented by Starburst coming up in Los Angeles with an accompanying online auction. I was delighted to contribute a couple pieces. The auction is now live!

The Dylan above is one of my favorite pieces I've ever done. Its listing is here. As of this posting, it's a good deal at well below what I usually ask for pieces. Please help it doGOOD, as charitybuzz says, who is running the auction.

The Colbie Caillat below is special because she is going to be the performer at the live event and will be signing the piece! It's part of a package for people who'd like to attend the event, travel and accomodations included, listed for auction here. The bidding for this ends tomorrow! It's also currently at well below what they've valued it. Go to this cool performance and liveWELL, also as charitybuzz says.

Please check out the auction listings, bid if you're so inclined, and share them with those you think might be interested. As with the DLF Music pieces, I want these to do as much good as they can for the charity. I know that if someone who enjoys my work were to win a piece this way, the story of the art would just be that much better. Thanks so much!

Peace.

Sharing The Passion

2011-07-20T15:27:00.007-07:00

Another project I was working on along with the pieces for the David Lynch Foundation during our move was a secret one. Until now.

45s.

Yep. I'd avoided doing pieces on 45s because of the limited space. And because of the sizeable cost of ones that people would dig having painted.

Then along came Norm. Norm is one of those guys who would make me nervous in my earlier Vinyl Art days. A record collector's collector. A dealer.

Many dealers have snarled at me, incredulous that I ruin things of such collectible value. Most however, thankfully, end up really really REALLY getting what I do and loving my work. Norm came to me already loving my work.

And he wanted me to ruin $100-500 dollar 45s. My hands literally trembled when I started these. I'm a closet collector too, so I get what these meant.

And that's why this project worked. Shared passion. I didn't know about the Northern Soul movement before this beyond the fact that the Verve was from the area and had an aptly named album. But I love records, the physical manifestation of music. I love the feel, the history, the design, the creativity that goes into every part of a pressing.

Norm does too, and he had an idea. A series of 4 pieces based on the dance scene at the Wigan Casino in the '70s. The 4 singles would be the "3 before 8" and the final song played at the venue as described in the Wikipedia entry. Very collectible 45s. VERY. People who know and collect these might've involuntarily cringed just now.

But the idea was seriously cool. 4 scenes characteristic of the place: the exterior, the circle skirt the women wore, the backdrop dance move and the dancefloor. With color.

I'd never done anything like it, but Norm trusted my artistic vision. Introducing these pieces recently during an interview I said, and meant, that I was honored he'd go through with an idea like this with me. He said that I was a pleasure to work with, which is good.

Because it took a long time.

The coolest thing was though, that because it took so long, I was actually able to hand-deliver the pieces. See, while I was working on them, we moved. A mile away from Norm.

So here they are, in the order of their final playing in 1981:

Peace.

Vinyl Art Goes Bicoastal for VH1, Sort Of

2011-07-07T10:24:00.008-07:00

Moving to CA has brought with it some really unexpected opportunities. Awhile back before the move I was contacted by a fellow at VH1 in NYNY. They have a corporate gallery that displays music-related art and photography. Pretty cool. 20some of my pieces were up for 3 months! Some friends were able to check out the exhibit and said it looked great. I wish we could've seen it, but we were moving!

Then we moved. I got the pieces back from VH1 at our new house and pretty much the next day, a lady from VH1's Save The Music Foundation there in NYNY contacted me asking for help. Every year Billabong puts on their Design for Humanity at Paramount Studios in Hollywood on the NYNY backlot that benefits a specific charity. This year it was benefitting them and they had been given a space to hold a silent auction for some autographed guitars. The space needed some dressing up to make it feel more music-related since it was basically an empty set made up like a New York diner, maybe. Anyway, it, they, needed help.

Since I had the pieces back it was pretty simple to take them to the event. That meant we got to go to the event! At Paramount Studios! Back to NYNY, sort of!

My wife went with me, while my in-laws, who were conveniently in town, watched the baby. She really helped coordinate and laid out all the pieces in the space they'd given us to hang them. The above shot shows the main wall at the back of the space. There were a few more pieces on the side walls as well. My pieces drew people in, past the autographed guitars. There were like 4,000 people there for this thing! It was incredible.

The best part was that at the end of the evening, 2 couples came in and did a deal to win all the remaining guitars! So all the pieces they brought had been bought. And the whole night brought in around $120,000 for the charity. It was funny because Billabong's people had given VH1's people cash. Cash! That much! They didn't quite know what to do with it all, and how they were going to take it back to New York.

For me, it was a great time. And next I'll get to give STMF a piece or two for an upcoming local songwriters' auction. Maybe even get the musicians to sign the pieces like with DLFM. Very cool, fitting in with my new mantra.

Push to give, Peace.

Pushing To Give

2011-07-01T10:48:00.006-07:00

My new mantra.

Usually people push to get. To get attention, to get money, to get love. But it can be a challenge to give too. To give attention, to give money, to give love. To get taken.

A lot of the metaphysical, philosophical, religious types from the East and West talk about our purpose in this Life here being tied to giving of ourselves, finding what we can contribute to humanity, loving as we would be loved. As I've pursued my Vinyl Art as a means to share my passion for music and art, it has developed into a means to give back as well as to gain financially.

During this past half-year, while my family was in the process of moving, a MAJOR opportunity to do so arose. I had quite awhile ago painted auteur David Lynch and was honored that he signed my piece as an eventual auction incentive for his foundation. He then set out to create a charity music label, DLFM, that would pull unique music tracks from various musicians whose online downloads would benefit the David Lynch Foundation.

I fortunately got in touch with that group and got to contribute pieces to the new venture. My goodness, indeed. Above you can see the photo of my paintings of Tom Waits, Iggy Pop, Moby and David Lynch signed and pledged for during the initial Pledgemusic drive by one fellow in France. Other pieces also were pledged for at that point and I have the rest ready to auction off on DLFM's website launching soon.

While there were challenges requiring that push, it has been an amazing chance to do good helping Mr. Lynch with his DOWNLOAD FOR GOOD campaign. My video on the link above about my pieces says it all for me.

I don't know where it will lead, as I've also gotten to give "thank you" pieces to Tom Waits, Iggy Pop and others whose pieces have benefitted the foundation, but pushing myself feels very gratifying. I only hope the Universe feels it too.

Peace.

Moving On

2011-05-24T08:23:00.004-07:00

Howdy! Been awhile hasn't it? Why?

Because WE MOVED!!! We actually did it. Moved to southern California. And LOTS happened during the time between my last post and today. Lots. I'll start to share it with you as I get posting again. Can't remember all of it right now, but it'll come back to me.

For now, though, interestingly, Hazel Dooney is ceasing her blog, Self vs. Self, of several years. Her reasoning is terrific. That blog which started out as a daily journal had become a prison for her, as her life had. With huge trauma in her art and personal lives, what she had written tied her too much to her past for her to start fresh. After a stint in hospital, bankruptcy, floods, and then her father passing quickly but painfully, she needs that fresh start. She needs the world and herself to be able to let go of her old self, to not fight it anymore. Moving on.

In much less dramatic fashion, my little family is doing sort of the same. I'm becoming the financial support with my art while my wife gets to spend daytime with our 15mo rapidly growing daughter. We've traded in land for cooler air. And I've gotten involved in a couple really cool projects.

Moving on.

Peace.