time for an update

So I guess it’s time for an update. If not for you, for me. You know…to get my thoughts together and all?

Last time I left you, I had just done a shoot with Kaylee and was making a frame for a screen…for painting. Screen painting…. printing. Screen printing. Yeah. So that went well and I ended up painting Paul Reubens. I did 4 of them. It was my first time doing a screen printed piece and I really loved the entire process. I’ll do a full write-up in the Gallery section for it soon and go over all the details of how I went about putting it all together.

As I said, I really enjoyed the entire process and will be starting another set probably this week. I haven’t entore decided on a subject yet, but there are some in the works. I won’t keep the next one under as much wraps as I did this one. I just wanted to get through the entire process successfully before doing more and showing more as I go. The entire process wasn’t perfect. For example, I used up almost all my emulsion trying to get an image to burn properly. That took 3 tries. More on that in the Gallery at another time.

Getting the Paul Reubens paintings finished was a pretty big accomplishment for me - simply because it’s an entirely new process to me. Even though I had never done it before, I knew I could get it done…I had to. The drive for it was based on vision. I kept seeing it in my mind and with each and every day that passed, it drove me more and more to make it a reality. And there they are.

Now, before I put them up on my site for sale - obviously after I fire up the Store again for sales - I still have to make mounting frames and floating frames for them.

Moving along…

The other day I saw Arnold Schwarzenegger say something on a Reel that stuck with me. He said, “Work your ass off. And show people what you do.” That was basically his recipe for success. That’s been going through my mind a lot. Another one: The Universe creates what the mind believes. I could talk for a long time on just those subjects, but I think that as long as you chew on those yourself a bit, I don’t need to elaborate.

“Work your ass off.” Honey, I am.

I have a lot of projects going on at the same time, and it used to overwhelm me. As someone who usually likes to do one thing and stick with it until it’s done, having multiple projects going at the same time has been less stressful. I don’t feel so “under the gun” to get things done. Sometimes I like cutting magazines without making a collage. Or with my next set of paintings, even though I don’t have the subject 100% locked down yet, I can get the canvases and screen ready before. Basically, since I have such a variety in the things I “could be doing” for my art - whether it be actually creating or even just prepping materials - the variety keeps things interesting and new. That being said….

I shot with a new model I hadn’t worked with before last weekend. Her name is Makayla and her IG is https://www.instagram.com/modelingwkayla. She was very easy and fun to work with and we got a lot of really cool shots. We started when it was golden hour and ended after the sun was long gone - into the night night. Thankfully we did shoot that long, too, because I was able to get some shutter drag stuff done. That stuff always looks so cool.

Here’s a few preview shots from the shoot: