The Original Blog

2013 Star of Texas Tattoo Revival

2013-01-21T20:33:00.003-06:00

Enjoyed the Annual Star of Texas Tattoo Revival this weekend at the Palmer Event Center in Austin Texas. The buzzing was constant and photo ops were plenty.

Work in Progress - August 2012

2012-08-25T11:03:00.000-05:00

Here's a bit of a teaser: the current state of one of three works in progress. It's 40 x 30 and will hopefully make a nice partner to Photosynthesis.

Click here to help bring you art to a higher level

Work In Progress

2012-08-10T15:20:00.001-05:00

Things are gearing up again in preparation of two upcoming shows. Call for entries for both the Georgetown Art Works Art Hop 2012 and the people's gallery at Austin City Hall showed up in my inbox in the last couple weeks and I'll be submitting new pieces to each of the events.

I have a few pictures already, but you'll have to stay tuned for the photo updates... :-)

Featured Artist: Gabriel Moreno

2012-07-14T13:28:00.000-05:00

I've tried several times to type up some clever introduction to introduce illustrator Gabriel Moreno from Madrid. After typing and deleting several attempts, I'm simply going to shut up and say, "Check out this guy's amazing work."

Visit him here and here.

Kindle Fire, Full Color 7" Multi-touch Display, Wi-Fi

New Work for WEST | 2012

2012-05-19T07:29:00.000-05:00

New work is now available through Fine Art America. You can view all my available pieces here, or click on the new paintings below to be taken directly to that piece.

West 2012 is finally here!

2012-05-19T07:14:00.000-05:00

Join me, Neil Ganucheau, Christopher St. Leger, Dawn Catagnus and Ryan Colket Saturday and Sunday from 11-6 for WEST 2012.

Being at the southern end of the Tour, we're at great place to start of end you daily WEST wandering. Also, we still have some maps and catalogues available for your planning needs.

Go WEST!

View Larger Map

WEST 2012 Information

2012-05-16T17:30:00.000-05:00

THE LONG WAIT IS OVER! THE WEST AUSTIN STUDIO TOUR IS THIS WEEKEND!

Big Medium is excited to announce the first annual West Austin Studio Tour! Just like its beloved and long-running counterpart, the East Austin Studio Tour, WEST will be a free, self-guided tour that champions the abundance of talent of Austin’s large and wildly diverse creative community. WEST will cover a wide geographical area, and just as non-homogenous as Austin itself, the broad range of work will reflect the eclectic breadth of artists working west of I35.

THE BASICS FOR THE TOUR ITSELF

WHEN: The weekend of 19 & 20 May 2012, 11am – 6pm

WHERE: The tour area is big! The tour encompasses the area west of I-35, east of Mopac, south of Hwy 183, and north of I-71/360. Pick up a map (see HERE for locations), or check out the online version HERE.

COST: Free & open to the public

WEST OPENING WEEKEND KICK-OFF AT THE PEOPLE’S GALLERY

WHEN: Friday, 18 May, 6 - 8pm

WHERE: Austin City Hall, 301 W. 2nd Street 78701

WHAT: Join us for a reception and open house to highlight the work of Austin artists included in the 2012 People’s Gallery exhibition hosted by The City of Austin Cultural Arts Division.

WEST GROUP SHOW & QUICK DRAW PHOTO BOOTH

WHEN: The show is up all this week, 10am - 5pm; Friday evening, 6 - 9pm; & this weekend, 11am - 6pm

WHERE: 241 W. 3rd Street 78701

Big Medium is hosting an ensemble of works from artists participating in the 2012 West Austin Studio Tour. This group show includes work in all media and will provide a wonderful glimpse into what the rest of the tour has in store for you. Aron Taylor of the Rude Mechs will join us with his Quick Draw Photo Booth for a few hours each afternoon of the tour. Come by to get your most-awesome-ever "photos" drawn by hand in this quirky, creative photo booth unlike any other.

WEST CATALOG

Click HERE for a full list of locations with the WEST catalog. Numbers are limited, and the catalogs go VERY fast, so hurry! You can also view the catalog online HERE.

WHO PRODUCES THE TOUR?

The West Austin Studio Tour is organized by Big Medium, the same folks who bring you the East Austin Studio Tour, the Texas Biennial, and innovative gallery programming throughout the year in the Big Medium Gallery and Project Space. Big Medium is an Austin-based non-profit organization dedicated to supporting visual arts and artists in Texas.

QUESTIONS?

westaustinstudiotour.com

colombo@bigmedium.org

512.939.6665

Austin City Limits: 35 Years in Photographs (Brad and Michele Moore Roots Music)

This Weekend: WEST | 2012

2012-05-14T17:45:00.000-05:00

The West Austin Studio Tour Participating Artists' sites are now online, so click on over to WEST and plan your routes for this Saturday and Sunday.

And don't forget to join me, Neil Ganucheau, Christopher St. Leger, Dawn Catagnus and Ryan Colket at Skyline Art Prints' exhibit at stop #10 of the Tour.

Steve Park

Neil Ganucheau

Christopher St. Leger

Dawn Catagnus

Ryan Colket

Skyline Printing

209 E. Ben White Blvd, Suite 211

Austin, TX 78704

View Larger Map

Official 2012 West Catalogs

2012-05-09T14:12:00.001-05:00

Big Medium has posted the inaugural West Austin Studio Tour catalog (pg. 17) and map (stope #10) on its website. Check it out, plan your weekend of May 19-20 and enjoy some great art from the thriving Austin Art scene.

Open publication - Free publishing - More art crawl

The West Austin Studio Tour is a self guided trek through Austin’s extraordinary creative culture. Artists open their doors, inviting the public to enjoy the rare experience of seeing the inner workings of an artist’s studio.

More Works in Progress

2012-05-04T18:38:00.000-05:00

Here's another piece I'm getting ready for the West Austin Studio Tour exhibit

at Skyline Art Prints.

RSVP if you like...

or check this out for more information: www.facebook.com/westaustinstudiotour

Work in Progress

2012-04-30T17:22:00.000-05:00

Getting ready for the West Austin Studio Tour exhibit at Skyline Art Prints, and looking forward to a great event.

RSVP if you like...

or check this out for more information: www.facebook.com/westaustinstudiotour

Friends of WEST Catalog Party

2012-04-18T18:00:00.000-05:00

Friends Wear Stripes

2012-04-16T19:00:00.000-05:00

"Friends Wear Stripes"

20 x 16 Acrylic on Wood

for the West Austin Studio Tour Group Show

Works in Progress

2012-03-07T17:47:00.000-06:00

Proof I'm still alive and painting these days. There's lots to do to get ready for the West Austin Studio Tour in May (19-20). I'm thrilled to be participating in this type of event for the very first time and will be among four artists at Skyline Printings exhibit.

Check out WEST Austin Studio Tour and Skyline Art Prints for more info.

"Rule of Thirds" Google+ Project 52 2012

2012-01-17T16:20:00.000-06:00

Rule of Thirds

Google+ Project 52 2012

10th Annual Star of Texas Tattoo Art Revival and Convention

2012-01-17T16:00:00.002-06:00

Some photos...

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Movie Tie-in Edition) (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)

Tattoo Johnny: 3,000 Tattoo Designs

Vintage Tattoos: The Book of Old-School Skin Art

2012-01-09T23:01:00.001-06:00

"Winter"

Google+ Project 52 2012

Featured Artist: Pete Fecteau

2012-01-03T17:46:00.000-06:00

The search for 2012's first featured artist didn't take long.

Usually, I discover artists through countless clicks through Google+, Facebook, Stumbleupon and blogs like Anna Likes or BOOOOOOM!

Not this time.

One click of the magic StumbleUpon button brought me to this... crazy cool? insane? genius? Dream Big installation of MLK, Jr. by artist/designer Pete Fecteau.

The project took a year and required 4,242 Rubik's Cubes. The piece won Top 50 Honors (out of 1,700 artists) at the 2010 ArtPrize Competition in Grand Rapids, MI. After the exhibit, the rented Rubik's Cubes were disassembled and returned when a buyer of the piece fell through.

All is not lost, however.

You can commission a Rubik's Cube portrait at Pete's website: petefecteau.com

Check out his design work: buttonpresser.com

Featured Artist of the Week: Amy Shackleton

2011-11-17T20:47:00.001-06:00

As a rule, I try not to regurgitate featured artists from other blogs - at least not so soon after seeing their respective posts. But when I saw the work of Toronto-based artist Amy Shackleton on Anna-likes.net, I figured it was time to break the rule.

The 25-year old York University graduate uses squeeze bottles to apply the paint. She then uses gravity and tilts & rotates her canvas to control the flow and provide for a bit of unpredictability. I've seen drip paintings before, but they were always solidly abstract in their subject matter. Never have I seen a technique like Amy's used with such precision to create mixed urban/natural landscapes that look like they melted onto the canvas.

Enjoy the video and pictures, then learn more about Amy on Aim Artistry. If after only three years out of college she's creating these great pieces, just imagine what the next 40-50-60 years holds for us!

To see how this painting was created, watch the video below

2011-10-23T21:46:00.004-05:00

It's Movember. Which means it's time to grow the manliest of facial hairstyles and join together to fight for men's health.

In 2010, over 64,500 Mo Bros and Mo Sistas helped in the fight and raised over $7.5 million dollars. Let's do even better this year!

Here's how you can help:

1) Join my team, The Mos Fantasticos at http://mobro.co/themosfantasticos

2) Help spread the word by sharing the above link with your friends on facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc.

3) Donate to support my mo, or to my team in general at https://www.movember.com/us/donate/your-details/member_id/1518804

Thanks! And keep an eye out for my evolving Mo starting 11/1/11.

-----

The Movember Effect: Awareness & Education, Survivorship, Research
The funds raised in the US support prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men. The funds raised are directed to programs run directly by Movember and our men’s health partners, the Prostate Cancer Foundation and LIVESTRONG, the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Together, the three channels work together to ensure that Movember funds are supporting a broad range of innovative, world-class programs in line with our strategic goals in the areas of awareness and education, survivorship and research.

For more information on the programs we are funding please visit the following:
Prostate Cancer Foundation
LIVESTRONG, The Lance Armstrong Foundation
Awareness & Education
Global Action Plan

The Life and Death of Vincent Van Gogh, Parts 1 & 2

2011-10-17T20:45:00.001-05:00

While we can't quite yet throw out everything we learned about Vincent Van Gogh in our art history classes, this 60 Minutes story is a pretty compelling argument that there is more to the story than we ever thought.

A great read/watch/listen about one of history's best artists.

Van Gogh: The Life

Art: A World History

Featured Artist of the Week: Simón Prades

2011-10-14T21:02:00.002-05:00

For this week's featured artist I stumbled upon this amazing illustration of an old-school typewriter that someone had posted on their Tumblr blog. I immediately planned on doing a Google image search to find out who the artist was and quickly discovered the artist was smart enough to include his whole name in the filename. And that is how I came to discover the pretty kick-ass art of Simón Prades, who studied (or studies) graphic design at the University of Applied Sciences in Trier, Germany.

His website shows an amazing consistency with dark, rough, edgy & finely detailed etchings and illustrations.

Check out his blog and buy his work at the behance network.

Great Goya Etchings: The Proverbs, The Tauromaquia and The Bulls of Bordeaux (Dover Books on Fine Art)

Intaglio: Acrylic-Resist Etching, Collagraphy, Engraving, Drypoint, Mezzotint

Featured Artist of the Week: Zsolt Zsigmond

2011-09-30T13:46:00.000-05:00

This week it's another photographer as my featured artist. And again I found him through the Google+ community.
Zsolt Zsigmond is a 29-year old photographer from Hungary whose HDR landscapes are among the best I've ever seen. In addition, his panoramic techniques and creative presentations are amazing - and art I plan on owning some day (hopefully soon).

He's got himself well distributed around the internet and can be found at the usual places like 500px, Google+, Fine Art America, and Facebook. His personal website is also well worth a visit. There, you can find some tutorials of his methods of panoramic HDR as well as his galleries and a video. Enjoy!

Become a Master with your DSLR. Click here!

Photomatix Pro (See all Photo Editing Software)

Photography thoughts on Google+

2011-09-30T00:05:00.000-05:00

After spending a couple months on Google+ and watching the initial wave of early adopters make a community of the place, I'm thrilled that the photography community in particular is so strong. It's members are also amazingly engaged from top to bottom. It's apparent that other photo sites like Shutterfly, 500px and eventually the grand daddy of all photo sites: Flickr, are going to have their hands full with this new competition.

One particularly cool feature is the Behind the Lens - Photo Critiquing Circle. It was started by professional photographer Colby Brown, and with the help of his 70k+ followers it quickly ballooned to be one of the biggest groups featured on the "circle database" website group.as. It's really cool to open up a Google "Stream" filled specifically with people looking to both give and receive critiques of photos.
The experience level runs the gamut from seasoned pros to complete newbs, but everyone is given a fair shake at getting some kind of advice on their work. The moderators Michael Bonocore, Brent Burzycki, Jason Dell, Angel Figueroa, Christina Lawrie, Lisa Lisa, Wes Lum, Anthony Procissi and Tamara Pruessner will even pitch in a re-post a critique request if they find someone isn't able to get feedback. They do a great job and it's actually a rewarding circle to be in.

Here are some links for photographers (at any level) wanting to getting started on Google+:

From Colby Brown:

- Google+: The Survival Guide to a Photographers Paradise

- Google+…What is it?

- But what about the TOS? I hear it is bad for photogs!

- How Do I Use Google+?

- Tips, Tricks and Cheat Sheets

- The Future of Google+

Featured Artist of the Week: Michael Oswald

2011-09-22T21:12:00.000-05:00

"Photo manipulations on steroids"

That is how Michael Oswald describes his process of extreme photo manipulation / digital painting and I think he nails it. Enjoy his amazing work...

Check out some cool Before/After examples here.

Buy his prints at theuntappedsource.com,

and drop by his Facebook page to learn what he's up to these days.

Adobe Photoshop CS5 Classroom in a Book