New painting in progress

     I am picking up an old idea that I had for a painting. A long time ago when my life was tumultuous and nothing seemed certain, I used to have vivid dreams of things happening day to day that bothered me. This painting came out of a dream where I was falling from a tall building. This particular dream was of the variety where it was so vivid that I had to wake to realize it wasn't real. In these dreams I could feel myself being pushed off the edge of an enormous skyscraper by force, and I remember not waking even after hitting the ground. The last sensations in the dream were of myself pointing up at my assailant, and life fading. 

     Initially I would be seeing this from an out of body perspective. Then the dream would shift to where The viewpoint was looking through my own eyes as my vision was blurring, ears were ringing, the taste of blood in my mouth, and the cold wet feel of it on the ground beneath me spread slowly. After this slow darkening. I would wake up in a jolt where my body would jerk up from the bed some. Please don't think me crazy as these dreams were many years ago. Looking back I think that the dream was a symbol of my bad self triumphing over the person inside who desired to have a stable normal life. Maybe I was the one pushing myself off of the building. 

     I know that a year or so after being plagued by bad dreams and the chaos in my life I decided I needed to be baptized and saved. Maybe when I was young I did not fully understand what it was to give up the old and be born again. I am by no means close to perfect, but I have gotten to a place where I know I am forgiven and that I am loved by God who sent his son to die for me and other sinners like me. Sorry for the rambling and ranting. I was writing this blog entry as I would a journal entry with the filter off.

Art Is Resistance

     I decided to dust off the old military surplus black jacket I had hanging up in my closet and use it for my latest bit of inspiration. A few years back when I was living with my roommates Daniel and Richard we all were super amped that Nine Inch Nails had released 5 new albums and other new projects when prior to that Trent Reznor and the band had been silent for many years. When the albums Year Zero and The Slip launched they came with an onslaught of political backstory, fictitious characters, and stories set in a future, post-apocalyptic totalitarian time period. 

     Daniel, Richard and myself all became highly interested in the way that the story harkened at warnings of what could happen in real life with war, terrorism, and big brother. As a symbol of support I fashioned an arm band for my coat with a DIY method of stencil screen printing to show off the Art is Resistance logo. In the Year Zero universe members of this front are similar to our current street artist Banksy, Space Invader, and Shepard Farley. They use urban guerrilla propaganda art, graffiti, poster/flyering, and viral media to spread the news of the uprising against a corrupt dictatorship. 

     I thought it would be cool to see what I could create using only my phone camera, along with the apps Sketchbook Mobile, and Photoshop Express Mobile. I wanted to design posters that looked similarly to what one would see at a Levi jeans department store or that would be close to the OBEY clothing line. Simple text and a raw unrefined feel. I really enjoyed this project and hope you do too feel free to comment and give feedback as well.

Adventures in moleskine sketch journaling

     Recently I have decided to take up journaling, but as an artist of course this task could not simply include writing. For the last three days I have been writing personal entries as well as logging pen sketches/illustrations to suite the writing, to match my mood, style, or simply amusing page filler. I have seen that there are many illustrators out there keeping up with their thoughts and creative juices on the go this way. 

     For my journal I chose a small format hard-bound sketchbook with a canvas cover rather than a traditional moleskine brand to avoid the cost as this is a new venture for me. More than anything I hope to blend the water color sketching as week as other mediums into a single place so I can inspire myself to strive for better skill and increased work output. Hopefully beyond theses exercises, new projects will come to light all while letting me get my thoughts out as well. I am also uploading some teasers of the artwork so far.