The Struggle is Real
As an artist, I've spent a lot of time struggling to find a creative outlet that might pay some bills. I tried designing ads for Yellowbook as an advertising consultant (...so boring). I worked for my local newspaper hoping to take pictures, but ended up selling ads. Then, I had an offer as a court room artist, but declined feeling that would be super depressing. So, I went on to try my hand at tattooing, which was fun, but eventually the glitter wore off. It just didn't give me enough creative freedom. But at some point I stumbled onto designing artwork for skateboard decks with a small local shop. I was mainly paid in merchandise from the shop....it wasn't exactly what I was going after but I tell you what, as a die hard snowboarder since age 14, I always had the latest coolest gear on the slope! It was a lot of fun, no pressure or rules. Later, that company went under but I buddied up with another skate company called Eye Candy Skateboards, and have some works floating around with them.
Mother Nature, Pastel
Another version I of Mother Nature, Spraypaint, Marker, Pastel and Acrylic
The Band Pepper, Extremely Board, & Trilogy Arts
For a decent amount of time, I found myself designing skateboards decks for a company out of Washington State called "Extremely Board." One of my favorite designs was of a turtle, but there's lots of others floating around out there. At one point in time, I had befriended Kaleo, Yesod, and Bret from the band Pepper and somehow talked them into flying into town for a fundraiser for underprivileged kids @ Extremely Board. The event was a hit, we trucked in loads of snow from a near by Pass to build a skate and snowboard park in the lot in front of the shop. Kaleo, Yesod, and Bret signed boards and took pictures. It was great. As a 'thank you,' I had 5 custom snowboards made with my art through Trilogy Arts. The boards were numbered 1 - 5, I gifted one to each member, kept one myself and...I'm not sure where the 5th ended up.
My Original Painting
Back Stage with Kaleo, During Warp Tour @ The Gorge Amphitheatre, WA
My Style
Yeah, I don't really have one...and I like it that way. I like trying new things, new ways, new looks. My grandpa Errol once told me, "The only thing constant in the world is change." And by God, that's one comment I guess I took to heart. One day I'll be painting an acrylic mural, or drawing a realistic pencil portrait and the next spray painting a cartoon character on a skateboard deck. I mean, why not!? You may never see my works in a gallery...not because I don't want to be but because they don't feel artists are taken serious if all their pieces don't follow a matching suit...one of the oldest, lame standards in the art world. To me this is ludicrous, isn't the whole core meaning of creativity -uniqueness? How did it become a standard that in order to become a respected artist your pieces have to all look like "you" This is like the idea of liquid donuts...assuming people are too lazy to even chew their food...what they can't read my 4 letter name in the bottom right corner lol. Any-ways...I've got Steemit! lol
Acrylic paint, Maker, and Pen
Acrylic and Marker
Color Pencil, and Marker
