gallery 211

tomorrow (saturday) night, august 16th, is the opening reception for "portraits of john abrams" at gallery 211. i blogged about john abrams earlier (see below). that portrait and 18 other portraits of john will be on display at the gallery....some photographs, some sculptures, some drawings and paintings. i heard that one of the pieces depicts john as a seahorse. i'm curious to see all of the other work and plan to be there saturday night. so, if you're looking for something to do, you should come out! it ought to be interesting. the address is on the flyer above. it's located somewhere between deep ellum and fair park. just let me know if you have any questions...

harper happiness

if you know me, or have even read my "favorite books" section on my profile, you might recall me mentioning charley harper. i only recently discovered his work, but i am overcome by it! truly. i have seen a lot of good art in my day, but something about charley's work speaks differently to me. it inspires me in ways that few pieces have. and i am so happy to announce that i am now the owner of charley harper: an illustrated life, thanks to my very special friends, becca and casey. 

yes, those are the same two friends that i stood up a few weeks ago at the bath house. and they still took me out to scalini's for a belated birthday dinner last night and then presented me with this book (as if scalini's weren't enough...as if just hanging out with them weren't enough)! these two know me well. i spent several life changing months with them back in 1999, crammed in a 500 square foot london flat. we didn't know each other beforehand. and we didn't know anyone else in all of london either. 

we made some pretty stupid decisions back then, too. this was the time before cell phones were common enough for us to carry around on an overseas stint....so we didn't bother with things like letting anyone else know that we'd decided to fly to switzerland for a weekend in december and hike up a snowy mountain at night in our GAP jackets and tennis shoes to stay in a sketchy-filled hostel with no food or drink, or place to buy food or drink. we didn't seem to mind though. someone gave us a loaf of hard bread. my time with these two could have turned out horribly. but, it was quite the opposite. i lived a lot with them in a short period of time and i'm so thankful. and i will miss you, becca, when you make your move to chicago in a few days!

finale

well, i never did post the completed piece. after i finished last thursday i suddenly became unmotivated to blog about it anymore. so there he is! i think i'm finished, anyway. i'm contemplating touching it up in a few spots. we'll see...

lots of you have asked me to tell you the backstory on mister abrams...why i am painting him. i actually do not know him. i do know his first name is john, and that he is an artist. i was given a photograph to work from. he is sitting in front of an old crusty, rusted wall that has some sort of written logo flaking off of it. i think the writing might read "weatherking". but, that is just my guess. the reason that i'm painting this is for an opening show at a new gallery called "gallery 211". each artist is creating a portrait of john to their liking, using different photographs. those are the only details i know thus far. i'll fill you in when i know more!

almost...

almost there. i had hoped to finish today, but the canvas got too wet to keep layering. i should be able to finish it up tomorrow. until then...

little mister.

hanging out with michael last night on the front stoop...

mister abrams

meet mister abrams. 

i started working on this piece earlier today. it's oil on canvas and measures around 24"x36". he still has some miles to go before completion, but he's getting there. i have some ideas on how to finish him out (color, background, detail, etc.), but not set on a direction just yet.  hopefully i'll finish him up by wednesday, so check back soon to see the mister morph!

the commish

because a good bit of my work is commissioned, i find myself experimenting with lots of different subjects and painting styles. some clients come to me with little vision in mind and prefer that i come up with whatever i feel for their space. while other clients come to me with more specifics. some projects have very personal meaning, while some projects are fun, and then some, just funny! i'll let you be the judge....

 start with this:

and blend it with this:

(but with a cigar instead of a cigarette)

then maybe add this:

and this:

to yield something like this?:

**ps: this piece actually WAS created to be "funny". i certainly hope he thought so, too.