A few weeks ago, I had the surprise on-a-whim pleasure of being invited to contribute some graffiti artwork to one of the local brewpubs here in Albuquerque.  It's been a serious minute since I'd done any sort of large-scale work with, especially with spray paint (and I'm pretty sure that the majority of what was doing at the time was illegal), but that's neither here, nor there.  What matters is that IT WAS FREAKING AWESOME, and it gave me the bug to want to do more large public pieces. 

If ever you are in Northeast Albuquerque looking for a place to grab a bite and sip some suds, visit out Desert Valley Brewing Co. on the corner of Wyoming and Comanche and check out the progressing urban graffiti theme taking over the walls inside. 

It's been about a year and a half since my last blog post. My art has been ever-so-slowly been making progress, as I have majorly been working at my own leisure. What can I say? It tends to be the conditioned pace at which I find small windows of opportunity between work shifts, home maintenance, my relationship and other life aspects to dedicate to art. It seems my work is always in a perpetual, stagnant state of "in-progress" as it sits in my studio...

...that is until an opportunity presents itself that provides my work public exposure and me with a deadline. (Due dates and deadlines have always lit a fire under my ass; it was true at university, and it's true now.) I'm beyond excited that that opportunity comes in the form of one of my first public art shows since moving back to New Mexico. Not only that, but it worked out into a collaborative show with one of my very good friends from childhood, Eric Pullins. 

This Friday, August 3rd, is when we will both showing our latest works for all of Albuquerque to see. Held at the OT Circus gallery, this event will be a fraction of the goings-on around downtown as local businesses participate in First Friday's ABQArtwalk. I am so honored to be able to participate in this event, and I hope it to be the initial shove of the proverbial "ball" that desperately needs rolling.

Consider this an open invite to all! Not only is the event free and all ages, but it's a good reason to spend a summer evening among Albuquerque's creative talent as we transition into August! We hope to see you there!

2012 has been quite a rough year. Despite its many high notes (as grateful as I am for them), they have largely been overshadowed by the loss of two of my very good friends - Chad in June and Brad this December. The morning after I found out Brad had passed, I felt compelled to draw his portrait. I dedicate it to him and to those who knew him.

During the early impressionable years of high school, where kids just bumble about experimenting with and discovering talents, interests and peer groups, both Chad and Bradley came into my life and played integral roles in the development of my personality. Brad was an artist who loved music and skating - all common grounds that gave us a reason to hang out. Gradually, a crew accumulated and we all had many good times and got into a lot of good shit together.

Unfortunately, I hadn't seen Brad for about ten years since our crew grew apart and we went our separate ways...I ended up moving from Albuquerque to Portland.  I am truly heartbroken that he is no longer around. He was one of the individuals I just always assumed would be with us. I figured the least I could do to show my appreciation of his friendship was to honor his memory with a piece of art.

Thankfully, I was able to fly down home to Albuquerque and attend Brad's funeral ceremony in Rio Rancho. It was absolutely breathtaking to witness such a huge turnout of friends and family, all who showed to pay respects to this man. I started the drawing at home and carefully slipped it between the sheets of its parent tablet, ambling my way through three different airports to finally deliver it by hand to Brad's mother.

She was absolutely thrilled. I was absolutely humbled.

I thought it would be kind of nice to record the drawing process and create a time-lapsed video for Brad's friends and family to watch. Additionally, a few years ago, Bradley collaborated with Versatile Verse, an emcee from Albuquerque, for whom he sung the chorus on a song called "Every Morning." I couldn't think of a better song to score the video with. Check it all out below (preferably in HD).

Thanks for the good times, Brad. Merry Christmas.

This is, more or less, a short documentation of the developmental process for my skateboard deck piece "Panacea."  I made sure to take pictures as best I could along the way to show the progression of it to completion. I might start doing this for more of my pieces..maybe even some video. 

I really didn't know how to approach this project which, to be honest, was spurred solely by a call-to-artists post I found on craigslist for an all skateboard deck art show at a local coffee shop. I was juggling the potential mediums with which to start working and really had no idea what the hell I was going to do until I started doodling with my Prismacolor pencils.

Without any further delay, here is a glimpse from start to finish:

I obviously had to have a flat surface to work on, so I disassembled the hardware from the deck and started sanding off the graphics and grinding the nicks down with an orbital sander.  Meanwhile, the trucks, wheels, nuts, and bolts all aspired to a greater calling in life...

This is my usual method for referencing things like finger placement and muscle structure. There is no body that is better to study than your own..

This is how the preliminary sketch looked; I used a color that wasn't too bold for the outline and mapped out the overall composition. And, as in the photos above, I used my own wincing face for reference.

Adding brown tones for definition, shading and volume...

I started to add Rose to the cheeks and pads in the hands and fingers. I believe there are also touches of yellow, but it's hard to see in this picture.

Here is where I started working on the octopus and filling in the flesh, both blue and beige. The best thing about using Prismacolor pencils is the ability to blend the colors and push the pigments around when layered.

The development of the octopus' texture was achieved using small, painstakingly applied circles..

I wasn't sure how to treat the perimeter of the drawing, so I went ahead and started laying down some graffiti-style arrows and worked my way around, not too heavily, until I got to the top. To ensure that the weight of the border remained on the bottom, I merely shaded in some of the wood grain pattern above the shoulders that seemed to lift up toward the halo.

The tentacles hanging beneath the shoulders was an interesting way to close in the chest and give the figure a sort of rib cage.

The finished product!

"Panacea" 2012 Prismacolor on wood.