Dana Richard Smith

Mickey Hart at the Old Rock House

2012-02-01T17:55:00.000-08:00

I’ll admit it, I’m not much of a Grateful Dead fan. I was never introduced to them properly, I believe my first exposure to them was in 8th grade when “Touch of Grey” came out. That’s a fine pop song for radio or whatever, but it did not peak my interest in digging deeper which is kind of surprising because around the same time I was getting heavily into bands like The Beatles, Stones, Doors, etc and you’d think the Dead would be right up my alley but they never took hold. Around my senior year in high school I did acquire a book written by Mickey Hart called “Drumming at the Edge of Magic” and read it with great interest. The book kind of served a dual purpose, on the one hand it gave a brief history of Mickey’s involvement with the Grateful Dead but it also delved into the many ways to create beats and rhythm using methods that date back to ancient times. A very enjoyable book (and accompanying CD, "Planet Drum") but getting me excited about listening to the Grateful Dead, it did not.

In the mid-90s PBS put out a great series on the History of Rock and Roll, in the series there are interviews with Phil Lesh and Jerry Garcia. Their stories were incredible and interesting to hear but again, did not spark interest in getting to know the Dead’s music. By the end of the century I had pretty much given up on ever liking the Dead but I did have a respect and appreciation for what they accomplished and how they accomplished it.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago and I’m starting on a new painting for the Old Rock House of Mickey Hart. I had gone to the show and got some nice shots of Mickey playing. The music was more aligned with what was on the “Planet Drum” CD and it was really cool to see him play live. So, I tried again with the Dead and with internet sites like Grooveshark and Spotify it was so easy to cue up. I started at the beginning with the first album. The first few songs did not hold my attention so I moved on to the second album, “Anthem of the Sun”, and I haven’t been able to stop listening to it. Here’s a quick list of other great albums released in 1968 and I’d say “Anthem” is every bit as great as any of these.

“White Light/White Heat” The Velvet Underground
“The United States of America” The United States of America
“Dance to the Music” Sly & the Family Stone
“A Saucerful of Secrets” Pink Floyd
“Creedence Clearwater Revival” Creedence Clearwater Revival
“Waiting for the Sun” The Doors
“Music from Big Pink” The Band
“Sweetheart of the Rodeo” The Byrds
“Electric Ladyland” The Jimi Hendrix Experience
“the Beatles” The Beatles
“The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society” The Kinks
“Astral Weeks” Van Morrison
“Beggars Banquet” The Rolling Stones

OK, I could go on but you get the idea. So I’m late coming to the Dead table but based on just “Anthem of the Sun” I can finally see how they attained legendary status.

Last month I was very fortunate to get some kind press from the Riverfront Times and the St. Louis Magazine Blog for the show I had at Fort Gondo.

now playing - "Alligator"

New Year, Old Art

2012-01-01T08:59:00.000-08:00

It’s a new year but the first two shows I’m involved with this month are using old pieces that were completed years ago.

The first one, entitled “The Shape of Man”, is the brainchild of Amy VanDonsel and Chris King. This group show will bring together many artists I admire, including Kevin Belford, Jon Cournoyer, Robert Goetz, David Langley, B.J. Vogt and Eric Woods, to name a few. The show will explore the shape men are in. A companion show, “The Shape of Wo/Man”, is scheduled for sometime in 2013. I was surprised to be invited to this show but very honored as well, although I have nothing new to contribute. That doesn’t matter though, Chris has a drawing of Barack Obama I gave him back in 2008 and with my blessing he has submitted that as my contribution. The drawing was left over from a solo show I had at Fort Gondo in Aug of 2008. The show was about presidential politics and how money was at the root of all the problems in our political system. Drawings of both presidential candidates was on display. I ended up giving the drawing to Chris because he’s the only person I know who has ever talked to Barack Obama one on one.

“The Shape of a Man”
Art exhibit and chapbook release
Mad Art Gallery
2727 So. 12th Street, St. Louis

7-11 p.m. January 6, 2012

New work by Amy VanDonsel.
Poetry chapbook by Chris King.

Poetry performance with musical guests.
Additional manly art by:

Oscar Alvarez, Kevin Belford, Ron Buechele, Jon Cournoyer, George D. Davidson III Charles and Chalot Douglas-Book, Dr. Andrew Dykeman, Fred Friction, Matt Fuller, Robert Goetz, Kim Humphries, Chris King, Noah Kirby, David Langley, Sandra Marchewa, Hap Phillips, Stefene Russell, Dana Smith, B.J. Vogt, Eric Woods and the late Hunter Brumfield III.

Also, one exemplary man – Hap Phillips – will be exhibited.
Potluck provided by men who cook.

The second show, scheduled a week later will be a solo show at Fort Gondo.

Southtown Famous
Fort Gondo Compound for the Arts
3151 Cherokee St
Sat. Jan 14, 2012

Dana Smith’s second solo exhibition at Fort Gondo Compound for the Arts entitled "Southtown Famous" continues his longstanding interest in the underground music scene in Saint Louis. Starting off what will be Fort Gondo's 10th anniversary since opening, "Southtown Famous" will bring together a collection of acrylic paintings from the last seven years chronicling the often forgotten, exciting aspect of local bands painted in a simple and direct aesthetic that reflects an urgency the musicians inspire.

Live music by special guest .e
http://soundcloud.com/dottiegeorges

Dana Smith, a self-taught painter, was initially inspired by getting to know other artists while traveling the West Coast as a sponsored skateboarder in the early '90s. He has been a resident of Saint Louis since 1997, where he played in a variety of underground bands including Cloister, The Baysayboos and The Wormwood Scrubs. He has also contributed work to locally-based Internet radio station 3WK.com, daytrotter.com, 52ndcity.com and creativesaintlouis.com.

now playing - The Gourds

The Black Angels at the Old Rock House

2011-12-01T07:28:00.000-08:00

This year has been a busy one. It started off with a large painting for Union Electric's new 7 inch single "Tunnels". Then it was onto three pieces for the Royale and once those were completed in Aug it continued with paintings for the Old Rock House. So far two have been completed of Black Francis and St. Vincent. The one above is currently being worked on from the Black Angels show back in Oct. The show was really great but I wished I had wore ear plugs. It was a little difficult to get a good shot of the band but I think this will work out. Future paintings for the Old Rock House include Mike Doughty, Mickey Hart and Eric Johnson. Because of this activity not much of the usual pieces on local musicians or buildings have been accomplished. But that's just as well, it's good to keep busy.

A few weeks ago I ran into my friend Galen at the City Diner on N. Grand Blvd. Galen is a good friend who use to run Radio Cherokee along with David Early and he also operates Fort Gondo. While catching up over lunch he reminded me that 2012 will be the 10th anniversary of Fort Gondo being open and said he'd like to invite back artists who had shown there over the years. He then mentioned January was all mine if I was interested. I couldn't believe it, absolutely I was interested. The only thing though, I wouldn't have much time to complete any new paintings. I do have one piece started of J.J. Hamon from the band Magic City that I can have done by Jan. Add this to all the other paintings of musicians I've done over the last seven years and we have a show.

Southtown Famous
Fort Gondo Compound for the Arts
3151 Cherokee St
Sat. Jan 14, 2012

Dana Smith’s second solo exhibition at Fort Gondo Compound for the Arts entitled Southtown Famous continues his longstanding interest in the underground music scene in Saint Louis. Southtown Famous will bring together a collection of acrylic paintings from the last seven years chronicling the often forgotten, exciting aspect of local bands painted in a simple and direct aesthetic that reflects an urgency the musicians inspire.

Live music by .e
http://soundcloud.com/dottiegeorges

Dana Smith, a self-taught painter, was initially inspired by getting to know other artists while traveling the West Coast as a sponsored skateboarder in the early '90s. He has been a resident of Saint Louis since 1997, where he played in a variety of underground bands including Cloister, The Baysayboos and The Wormwood Scrubs. He has also contributed work to locally-based Internet radio station 3WK.com, daytrotter.com, 52ndcity.com and creativesaintlouis.com.

now playing - Bunnygrunt - "Southtown Famous"

Cow

2011-11-13T19:56:00.000-08:00

One Spring day in 1996 I was watching MTV. Rather routine for the time. MTV still played music videos during the day but it was quickly going downhill. In between the usual blandness of what was normally played on the channel, this video came on. At first I was confused because it had a touch of originality to it and it was being played during daylight hours. What the hell is “Sparklehorse”? As soon as the video was over, I turned the TV off and went to a music store. My options for places to purchase CDs was extremely limited but to my amazement I actually found the CD titled “Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot”. I rushed home and spent the next month listening to nothing but. During that month I painted this picture to go with the song “Cow”.

The painting was completed in May of 1996 and about a month later I flew to New Zealand for a four month sabbatical in paradise. During that time the painting was wrapped up and stored in my grandmother's basement. Upon my return to the states, I immediately moved to Northern California, Walnut Creek to be exact and the painting came with me. I was invited to share a house with my friend Marty who was working on the film "Sphere" and had space to spare. The painting took a prominent place in the living room above the four-track where many evenings were spent recording. "Cow" was so appreciated by its host that Marty purchased a beautiful gilded frame for it specifically. The one that's still on it today. We even attempted to see Sparklehorse live in San Francisco when they were slated to open for Mazzy Star at Slim’s. But Sparklehorse canceled at the last minute. Eventually it came time to move so I settled in Saint Louis, MO and the painting came along. For a few years it remained wrapped up and stored away. At some point it was loaned out to 3WK for their new office on Macklind Ave. Jim Atkinson, the owner, always had a fondness for cows and really liked the painting. When 3WK moved their studios I got the painting back and it was wrapped up and put in storage. Today the painting hangs in my parlor and is usually the first thing people notice when they visit me at my home. Usually people look at it nervously and pretend it's not there. When I look at it I’m always reminded of that Spring day in 1996 discovering Sparklehorse and Mark Linkous.

2011 Poetry Scores Art Invitational

2011-10-20T06:51:00.000-07:00

The annual Poetry Scores Invitational will be going on this year at Mad Art Gallery on Friday Nov 11 from 6pm - 9pm. Poetry Scores invites a number of artists to interpret lines from a poem for a visual medium and then the artwork is auctioned off to help pay for the projects Poetry Scores is producing. This year’s poem is titled “Incantata” and was written by Paul Muldoon. The piece above is my contribution for this show. The words I chose to interpret were “Paul
Muldoon”. Below is a list of all the participating artists.

Gena Brady Allen
Gina Alvarez
Jay Babcock
Jenna Bauer
Michael Behle
Kevin Belford
Deanna Chafin
Grace Chung
Heather Corley
Andrea Avery Durway
Greg Edmondson
Nancy Exarhu
Paul Hartman
Sue Hartman
Michael Hoffman
Alexa Hoyer
Kim Humphries
Claire Medol Hyman
Chris King
Dawn Majors
Julie Malone
Tim McAvin
John Minkoff
Michael Paradise
Meera Lee Patel
Hap Phillips
Jeremy Rabus
Tony Renner
Kim Keek Richardson
Cindy Royal
Stefene Russell
Janiece Senn
Daniel Shown
Derek Simmons
Dana Smith
Robin Street-Morris
Tunca Subasi
Nita Turnage
Robert Van Dillen
Amy VanDonsel
Eric Woods

now playing - Spinal Tap

Black Francis at the Old Rock House

2011-09-26T12:08:00.000-07:00

Here is the first of what I hope to be many more paintings to come for the Old Rock House. Located mere walking distance from my house, the Old Rock House is a rock club that caters to local and touring bands. Sometime last year I contacted them about doing paintings of musicians and bands who perform there and by this past summer we had worked out a deal to make such a thing happen. Black Francis performed there in July and he was the first assignment. The paintings are done from pictures that I personally photograph. This is hardly a stretch for me as I’ve been doing this sort of thing consistently for the last 7 years. The difference now is there’s a place to hang the work once it’s completed. Next pieces that have been requested will be of St. Vincent and The Black Angels.

I’m not ashamed to admit when I was 14 or 15 years old Black Francis was a musical hero of mine. I was given a dubbed off cassette of “Surfer Rosa and Come On Pilgrim” by my friend Tony. He had heard them somewhere and was floored. I wore that tape out, memorizing every lyric, note, beat, dialog, etc. Soon after that The Pixies “Doolittle” came out and we were off to the Fox Theatre in Saint Louis to see them open for Love and Rockets, ironic this show was my first at the Fox Theatre. During their performance, hardly anyone was in the theatre, it was almost like a private show that ended with the haunting “Into The White”. After the performance we noticed Black Francis (aka Frank Black) standing off to the side of the theatre so Tony and I went up to him. He pretty much ignored us but mentioned something about looking for someone who had the pot. I know a lot of people who can’t stand the Pixies and for good reason but to me they’ll always be a great band I discovered at the right time. A band that helped me get through those odd teenager years when you’re becoming an adult.

now playing - "Czar"

Absolute Arts

2011-09-17T10:38:00.000-07:00

About 4 years ago I signed up for one of those art websites that lists your paintings and info and is designed to help you sell artwork or interact with other artists. I signed up and promptly forgot about it. But ever so often someone will find me through this site and it's always turned into something cool. Recently this happened again so I thought I should update it with paintings like the one above. Most of the pieces on this site will be older and not available on my main website.

http://www.absolutearts.com/portfolios/r/recorduroy/

now playing - Canned Heat

The Royale #1

2011-08-14T09:01:00.000-07:00

Since December of 2010 I've been working on what has becoming three 36x36 in. canvases of the bar at the Royale. These pieces will be on display starting September 1 and we'll kick it off with an informal opening from 8pm-10pm. Also on display will be three older paintings of Mark Early, Steve Scariano and Typo Cafe (now home to STL-STYLE).

DJ Mark Early will also be spinning records throughout the night.

Thu Sept. 1, 2011
8pm-10pm
The Royale
3132 S. Kingshighway Blvd
Saint Louis, MO 63139

now playing - Magic City

The Royale #2

2011-07-17T11:25:00.000-07:00

Another peice from the Royale series, number 2. Really like how the glasses turned out in front. One more painting to complete then it's on to the Old Rock House project.

now playing - Albert King

The Royale #3

2011-07-03T08:01:00.000-07:00

Back in mid-March I started working on three 36x36 inches canvases of the bar at The Royale. This was after months of talking about, hanging out, drawing and painting small studies at and of The Royale. It was finally decided to paint the bar on three separate canvases that can be hung up directly across from the bar on the wall space next to the booths. The canvas above is the first one that's been completed and it's known as "Royale # 3". The other two will connect to this one on the left side and you'll be able to see the whole bar. The pieces have taken longer than I anticipated due to the fact that it's easy to get lost in minor details and just paint for hours and hours on one thing. But it's time to finish things up and make room for the next big project which will start at the end of this month.

Tonight at The Royale is the Cocktail Museum event where they focus on one type of drink and I think I'll take the piece down for Steve to see in person and hang out a bit.

now playing - Spiritualized

Do You Know Where You're Going?

2011-06-12T09:49:00.000-07:00

This past week my family and I had a wonderful time in Chicago, IL. We stayed downtown and used public transpertation or walked everywhere we went. At no time did we feel in danger or scared. The local news stations were all talking about the "Flash Mobs" that had taken over the city. There had been a couple isolated incidents where a group of teenagers would jump someone and take their iPod or iPhone or whatever. The News was making these incidents out to be a bigger deal than they were. Did a crime happen and was it unfortunate? Yes. Does that justify creating fear to a large television audience? No. Dispite the threat of a "Flash Mob", my family and I had a great time in many parts of the city. We took a train back to Saint Louis. At no time did we have to use a car, waste gas or worry about parking. It was great. On the train we met another family from England who were moving to Saint Louis. They had two kids alittle younger than ours but everyone got along great, espcially the two boys. The first thing the couple asked my wife and I was about the violence in Saint Louis. Of course they had heard Saint Louis was the most dangerous city in the United States, or something like that. I couldn't help but think of the news coverage in Chicago of the "Flash Mobs". We told the couple the violence is blown out of proportion in the media and while there are certain areas of town that are more prone to violence, for the most part the city is fine and a great place to live.

When we arrived at the train station downtown it was about 3:30 or 4pm and we began our walk home. We live very close to downtown and take the train/MetroLink alot and we always walk. That's something I noticed in Chicago, people walking all over the downtown area. In Saint Louis rarely do people walk to or in downtown. I guess people would rather drive their cars, spend money on gas and have to worry about paying to park. We encourage our children to walk when they can and make many walking trips to the train station, baseball games and downtown in general. So walking home from the train station isn't a big deal, we've done it many times. Across the street from the train station is a Sheraton Hotel and we have to walk past it to get to the 14th street bridge that takes us across the trainyard. My daughter is leading the way and we're well on the bridge. We hear a faint "Sir!, Sir!" being yelled at us and look behind us. A young man was yelling and walking quickly towards us. We all stop walking and say "What?". He finally gets close enough to speak to us and says "Do you know where you're going?". At first I was confused, then I realize he thinks we're tourist and are aimlessly wandering around. We tell him we do know where we're going and thank you and continue on our way. Walking across the bridge I begin thinking what if we didn't know where we were going, what was he going to say, "Don't go that way because..."? The whole thing kind of bothered me, is this how we welcome people to Saint Louis? I was a little shocked, especially after being in Chicago where everyone was walking, everyone had a bag or lugguage with them and no one batted an eye at anyone else. But by the time I was across the bridge I had forgotten about it.

At the end of the bridge is my favorite take out Chinese restaurant, Park Chop Suey, and my wife knew I was itching for some duck fried rice. She said to go ahead and order some food and she'll continue the 2 1/2 blocks with the kids to our house. I go in, order, and wait in the lobby area. I'm standing there looking out the window and I see a Mercedes pull into the parking lot. I think to myself, oh that's cool they're going to get some take out. The car had an older white couple in it and the lady got out of the car and hurried into the lobby area. She looked at me and said "Where are your kids?" and I was like "What?". At no time did she identify herself, tell me what she wanted or anything, just "Where are your kids?". She says, "Are you the one with the kids?". By this time I've very confused and the woman working the counter is looking at me very strangely. I tell the lady, "Yes, I have kids, why?". She says "We saw you walking and thought you had just gotten off the train and didn't know where you were going and you brought your kids here to eat." When she said "here" she looked around the place like it was some kind of drug den whorehouse, she said this in front of the employees and another man waiting for his food. After she said that I was shocked and blurted out, "I eat here all the time". I tried to wrap my head around what this lady was trying to do, she was obviously concerned, but was so fearful and scared that she didn't know exactly how to go about it. I told her we lived in the neighborhood and the kids are on their way home. She said again she thought we were lost and blah blah blah, walked out the door, said something to the guy in the car who I assumed was her husband and they quickly left the parking lot. The woman at the counter just gave me a confused looked and I shrugged my shoulders.

What is going on here? Is a white family walking home from the train station so out of place in downtown Saint Louis that two seperate people feel the need to make sure they're OK?

While I can appreciate their concern, what does this say about our community? Should a sign be posted at the train station for people arriving that says "Don't Walk That Way!".

This whole thing has really shaken my faith in the citizens of the city and surrounding area. As long as people live in fear, the city will never be great again.

Thoughts on Memorial Day

2011-05-31T16:55:00.000-07:00

Another long holiday weekend has passed by. Like most holidays, the extra time was spent with my family and painting. We enjoyed some time downtown at the City Garden, running through the water, climbing on the rabbits and getting ice cream from the wonderful people who operator the awesome Fire and Ice Cream Truck. We even took the kids to their first movie in a theater, walking out I asked my son if he enjoyed the movie, “no, but we can try again” was his reply. My debit card was not pleased. I was able to sneak down to The Tap Room and catch a nice set from Catholic Guilt along with Bunnygrunt and the always excellent N. Nomurai. A few hours each day was also spent painting. I was able to finish up a small commission and continue work on the Royale pieces. On Sunday we did some yard work and I removed and re-installed some landscape bricks on the side of my house. By Monday the heat had really set in and we decided to take the kids to another park in Soulard that sometimes has a fountain of water running for the kids to cool off. Unfortunately they didn’t have the fountain running and we were really feeling the heat. We decided to hoof it back home but not before my son slightly twisted his ankle while running and got a nice cut on his foot. He toughed it out though and walked all the way home. While walking home I got a sudden craving for duck fried rice and decided to just keep on walking up to Park Chop Suey and get a full order. When I got there they were closed for the holiday. Ugh. On the way home I noticed some guy had set up a trailer on the side of the street and was selling BBQ. I was tired, hot and hungry so I bought some rib tips and a hot dog for my wife. It was terrible food.

Memorial Day wasn’t going so well, we were all hot, tired and one of us was injured. After the kids were cleaned up and settled, I went back to working on the Royale pieces. By chance I was working on the Iwo Jima photo that hangs in the Royale. It dawned on me while listening to Dylan’s “Masters of War” that it was rather appropriate to be painting soldiers on Memorial Day. Right about that time my son wandered down to my studio and asked what I was doing. I thought that would be as good of a time as any to try and explain to him why he had a day off from school. He understood fighting and war but when he asked if we were currently fighting any war, I had trouble explaining what exactly the “The War on Terror” was. He did understand though that we currently have troops in multiple countries and fighting is no fun and he should be thankful for those who serve or have died or have been killed. Regardless of your political views, I think everyone can get behind supporting those who choose to serve their country in the military. It’s unfortunate our elected leaders don’t do more to ensure the soldiers don’t fight needlessly and are thoroughly taken care of after the fighting is over. But that’s neither here nor there. All you can really do is try to teach your children to be respectful of others. The long weekend ended with a viewing of Stanley Kubrick’s “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb”.

Tunnels

2011-05-24T12:36:00.000-07:00

Going down my “blog roll” I noticed an update by “Trashcanvas” which is Tim Rakel of the bands Union Electric and The May Day Orchestra. It appears Union Electric will be playing with Arrington de Dionyso on Friday Jun 3rd at a newish venue called Jefferson Warehouse. In addition to this being Arrington de Dionyso's first ever show in Saint Louis, Union Electric will also have advance copies of their new 7 inch on marbled purple vinyl for sale called “Tunnels”. Tim approached me a few months ago about painting a cover design and the above picture (taken by the awesomely talented Michael DeFilippo) is the result. Tim sent me lyrics to the song “Tunnels” and gave me some rough ideas to work with. I had a large piece of plywood laying around my studio and used that as the surface. Started out with spray paint, switched to oil, then acrylic and then back to oil to finish it. The process was completely different than what I usually do and gave me lots of ideas of how to approach painting in the future.

now playing – Tunnels

Graveyard

2011-05-13T11:01:00.000-07:00

A quick, small piece of an old graveyard down in Southeast Missouri. Some of the graves date back to the mid-1800's and even earlier. I have a few long lost relatives in this one.

now playing - Not Dark Yet

Long Day

2011-05-08T21:05:00.000-07:00

It's been a long day yet despite it's length, two hours was found for painting. Sometimes it reminds me of that Bowie song "Ashes to Ashes" when the lyrics go -

"Time and again I tell myself
I'll stay clean tonight
But the little green wheels are following me".

Of course he was talking about whatever drug he was on at the time, but this could be applied to just about any addiction and painting is very much an addiction. It's pretty much done daily and when not done everything is off kilter and unbalanced.

now playing - Bjork

Torque Fest 2011

2011-04-26T20:15:00.000-07:00

There's a big event happening in Iowa this weekend called Torque Fest. It involves hot rod cars, rock and roll music, hot rod art, food, movies, and a bunch of other stuff. It's all the brain child of John Wells. The piece above is what you could call the remains of the piece I contributed to the event. Tony (John will always be known as Tony to me) sent all the artists a "Surfers Cross" to do with what we like. I painted mine and mailed it back to him. All of the crosses will be auctioned off at the event. The image of the cross some how ended up on an old canvas so I filled in the blanks with left over paint and it turned out kind of interesting.

Torque Fest is a fund raiser for Hannah Wells, please contribute to the cause.

now playing - The Beastie Boys

Cityscape 2

2011-04-20T10:43:00.000-07:00

Taking a quick break from painting shot glasses and liquor bottles. A small oil of a familiar image in downtown Saint Louis.

Now playing – Spirits In The Material World

Rock Hands part 3

2011-04-10T19:23:00.000-07:00

Party Nate and Shiv, now of Guy Morgan and the FT Crew and ((Thorlock)), use to play together in the band Rock Solid. The piece above is from a show they did in Cape Girardeau at a bar called Players. I remembered this bar when I was in high school as a rough and tough biker bar but by this time it was a full on college hang out where local bands played. Rock Solid’s band members could be interchanged with many other region bands like Squad Car, Pizzasaurus Rex and The Dirty 30s but when they came together for Rock Solid there was an urgency and relevance those other bands never quite had. Sure the lyrics were a little silly and they mocked the audience with their rock star poses but the music was, well, Rock Solid. They had an unapologetic love for all things Heavy Metal and played the genre with taste, knowledge and sincerity. But most importantly, they were excellent players, young and good looking. This particular show had more young, pretty college women in attendance than any I’ve ever seen for a local band. And this was in Cape Girardeau. The place was packed and the crowd was crazy for the band, couldn’t get enough. It was like seeing a Beatles show or something, young women screaming everywhere. After the show there was a huge party at some frat house up the street and the night finally ended with the band at some truck stop diner for an early morning breakfast just south of Cape.

now playing - Black Sabbath

Saint Louis Flag

2011-04-03T09:55:00.000-07:00

A small fragment from The Royale paintings currently in progress. A slight reminder we go the polls on Tuesday. now playing - Radiohead

Rock Hands part 2

2011-03-26T11:28:00.000-07:00

Another piece in the series of close ups of people playing guitar. This one is of Pete DeLorenzo of the Atlanta band Gringo Star when they had a gig at CBGB. Their first gig in Saint Louis was at CBGB. I remember being at home about 7 or 8 years ago and Jim Atkinson from 3WK calling to tell me about this band who had shown up at the radio station. At the time they were known as A Fir-Ju Well and were in between gigs. Jim asked if I knew of some place they could play that night. I immediately got a hold of Eric Hall who was then the bartender/booker at CBGB and asked if it would be possible for the band to play. He was all for it. The band showed up later that night and played a phenomenal show. There was no sound tech or PA, but that didn't matter. The band was a well oiled machine who knew how to adjust to a room and make everything sound right. Everyone in attendance that night was blown away. Since then Gringo Star has played so many venues in Saint Louis, everything from Radio Cherokee to The Pageant and they're still on the road now. A feature film was also just released documenting a European tour they did.

now playing - Gringo Star

Bar Work

2011-03-06T14:02:00.000-08:00

These three blank canvases will soon be filled with images of the bar from The Royale. This project has been in the making for a few months but now it looks like everything is ready to go. Before I could start, a few things needed to be taken care of. First I had to finish up with the Union Electric seven inch cover which is being released by Rankoutsider Records. Then I completed a small piece for an April show at Odessa in Memphis. And now the only thing standing between me and these three blank canvases is a short trip to New Orleans.

now playing - Dr. John

asbestossister.com

2011-02-17T10:54:00.000-08:00

The other day I received a notice from the company that hosts my old website. The message read…

Your domain name(s) will expire in 60 days.

Act now to avoid any disruption to email or website services and avoid losing your chosen name(s).The name(s) due for renewal are:Domain Name, Expiry Dateasbestossister.com, 2011-04-16

I had forgotten all about that website and went back to check it out. The website was created 6 or so years ago as a place to keep track of all the artwork I was doing, the press and projects I was involved with and all the shows I participated in. It’s interesting to look at all that older stuff. Every so often someone will ask me what “asbestossister” means and I’m always tempted to give them the whole story but usually I’ll just say “It’s nonsense”. Back in the late 90’s when I had to decide what to call my yahoo email address I went with “asbestossister”. From there I used it to participate in chat rooms and egroups, primarily with people from Saint Louis, and so I became associated with that handle. When it came time to name a website, I wanted to get something that ended with “.com” and I figured no one had ever used http://www.asbestossister.com/. Plus, that’s how most people knew of me because of my yahoo email, so it seem to make sense to use it. And it worked well, but I won’t be renewing.

Looking at the website now it seems so primitive. It was designed by me and built by a friend named Rich Williams. Rich had played in a cool local band called Fly From August. Rich was a great help in building and maintaining the site. But Rich was extremely busy with his family, his music and a studio he built in Seattle. Eventually the website duties fell on another great friend, Ken Day who is, in every sense of the word, a Webmaster. He builds and maintains a number of websites including my current one.

By this point you may be asking, “Why are you writing all of this?”, for my own amusement.

Looking at all the old artwork, one painting in particular has caught my attention. The one pictured above, “The Black Keys at Mississippi Nights”. This painting means a lot to me. Not because I’m some big Black Keys fan, I can honestly take them or leave them, although I do love the story about them playing Lemmon’s sometime in 2004 to about 3 people. The next time they came through town they played the Pageant.

However, this painting represents the last show I saw at Mississippi Nights. It was December 2006 and my main purpose for attending the show was to see the opening band Dr. Dog. Earlier in the year I had attempted to book Dr. Dog at Radio Cherokee for a March show, but the deal fell through and my hopes of seeing them live were dashed. But then the band was picked up for the Black Keys tour and sure enough it arrived in Saint Louis on Dec 2 to a sold out crowd at Mississippi Nights.

Are you still reading?

My goal for the evening was to get a nice photograph of Dr. Dog for a future painting. At that time I knew Mississippi Nights would be closing in the near future but I had no idea that would be my last concert there. When the band started there was hardly anyone in front of the stage, I don’t think very many people had any idea who Dr. Dog were. Their set relied heavily on material from what I consider to be their best album, “Easy Beat”. I snapped as many photos as I could and did end up with a nice photo. After they played the keyboard player asked me about the photos and where I had heard of them. I told him I loved their album “Easy Beat” and I use the photos as reference for paintings. He then introduced me to the guitar player and said “He’s an artist”. The guitar player said “Oh, you should meet my friend Sean” and promptly introduced me to the guy standing next to him. Turns out Sean was Sean Moeller of daytrotter.com. Back then daytrotter wasn’t as well known as it is today but it was just as influential. So we start talking about music and photographs and paintings and Sean invites me to submit some stuff to daytrotter. Sure thing, why not? I ended up having two pieces used on the daytrotter site . At the time daytrotter was featuring many different artists with many different styles but they were about to transition into the powerhouse they are today and eventually decided to just have one main artist do all the artwork.

At some point in the evening a guy came up to me and asks me to take photos of The Black Keys. He told me he was running the lighting rig for the night and wanted to have photos of what it looked like. I said “sure”. By the time the Black Keys came on the place was packed and it took considerable effort to get some decent photos, the result is the painting above. I continued talking with the keyboard player of Dr. Dog (super nice guy) asking him about the tour and recording, especially about the “Easy Beat” album. He told me it was recorded in the basement of the house they all shared in Philadelphia. When he mentioned Philadelphia I asked him if he knew any of the Dead Milkmen, he said “no, but the house we’re sharing, where we recorded the album use to belong to the bass player of the Dead Milkmen”. I thought that was pretty cool.

Thinking about it now, Dr. Dog was my last show at Mississippi Nights and The Dead Milkmen was my first show.

Are you still reading?

Back when I was 14 or 15 years old I had some friends in college who began driving up to Saint Louis for shows at Mississippi Nights. This was around 1988 or 89. Being young and having no car, my time traveling to Saint Louis was limited but I did get up there on a regular basis, usually when an older friend drove up for skateboarding, however concerts were another story. The person responsible for my concerts at Mississippi Nights was my friend Tony. He collected the money, bought the tickets and drove. Tony and others had been going up for a while and then one day I was invited to tag along for a Dead Milkmen show. I was ecstatic. From then on out we went to as many shows as we could. I honestly can’t recall all the shows but some that stand out are the sold out Jane’s Addiction show, a couple Soundgarden shows (Tony got thrown out for climbing on the ceiling), Fishbone, Public Enemy, Ministry, The Screaming Trees etc. I did miss two important shows, Nirvana (Tony didn’t want to go) and Beastie Boys (everyone but me went, ugh). And I’ll always regret never seeing Uncle Tupelo. So around 93 or 94 everyone had moved away and I was traveling around so I didn’t get to visit Mississippi Nights too often. Then I moved to Saint Louis in 1997 and started up where I left off with The Black Crowes, The Strokes, Pavement, Willie Nelson, Cibo Matto, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Guided by Voices, etc and then finally The Black Keys and Dr. Dog.

Wow, amazing what an email notification can trigger.

Oh, I almost forgot. My friend Tony, he’s the one who came up with “asbestossister” in the first place. When he was a kid his father would have buddies over and when they’d get a little tipsy Tony would test them by telling them to say “Asbestos Sisters” three times. Of course it would come out all slurred and fuzzy and everyone would have a good laugh.

Now playing – Dr. Dog

Rock Hands

2011-02-12T10:53:00.001-08:00

My endless restlessness has gotten the better of me and I've started a new series of paintings focusing on hands playing the guitar. So far I have four pieces going and the one above is of Jason Hutto's hands from the last official show of his band The Phonocaptors. This was about 6 years ago or so? I lose track. I do remember it being at the now closed Hi-Pointe and the place was packed.

I had just come from the Tap Room where Milton Mapes (now known as Monahans) had played a great, short set and by the time I got to the Hi-Pointe there were maybe 300 people or something? I pushed my way to the front and waited on the side of the stage for the band to start. It was an exhilarating set and I just about got the whole thing on film. The Phonocaptors stopped playing partially due to their bass player joining The Bottle Rockets. The drummer went on to play in some bands and Hutto kept busy with bands (Warm Jets USA being his current), running a small studio and working with Jay Farrar on a number of projects.

now playing - AC/DC

JJ at the Sheldon

2011-01-30T08:21:00.000-08:00

I'm in-between a couple big projects waiting for some details to finalize but still itching to paint so I'm working on this in the mean time. It's gotten so bad around here with supplies that I'm reduced to connecting smaller canvases together to make one large piece. In this case I've taken three 12x36 canvases and made a nice 36x36, a triptych as it's known. I have two more sets of canvases like this that can be made into a larger canvas and then that will be about it. Except for the three larger canvases that I'm saving for The Royale project. After that I'm going to have to humble myself and make a visit to the new Dick Blick that just opened in The Loop. I'm going on two years now on not having to buy any art supplies, using what was left over from my failed business, but those days are coming to an end.

The pieces above are of JJ Hamon performing at the Sheldon Ballroom back in November during the May Day Orchestra album release show. JJ is a very talented and nice fellow who plays in a number of local bands including Theodore and Magic City. I honestly don't know him too well but he's always kind enough to say hello when I see him out and he can play just about any instrument you put in his hand.

I'm trying to keep things loose and easy and so far it's working but I suspect my heavy hand will show up sooner or later and weigh things down a bit. Started it off with spray paint, then switched to acrylic and now I'm on oil. Probably go back to acrylic before it's all done.

now playing - Prince

Wood and Oil

2011-01-11T07:24:00.000-08:00

Lately, when I have extra money, I've been buying Steve Keene paintings from Vintage Vinyl. They are nice acrylic pieces done quickly on thin plywood and sold for a reasonable price. Original reproductions of well known album covers from bands and artists like Motorhead, Public Enemy, Bob Dylan, Velvet Underground, etc.

They're pretty cool and all done on wood. Wood is a strange surface to paint on, it's rough and causes the paint to dry faster. I've had a large piece of plywood laying around for a couple of years and figured if I ever used it for something I'd work in oil so the paint wouldn't dry so fast. But I was never sure what to paint on it. Then an opportunity arose. Union Electric are working on a new 7 inch and are looking for some cover ideas. They sent over some lyrics from one of the new songs called “Tunnels” and I worked from that. So far, so good. Still have a lot of work to do but it’s coming along nicely.

Now playing – Pops Farrar

More Royale Studying

2011-01-01T11:56:00.000-08:00

A couple more recent studies of the interior of The Royale. Slowly starting to get an idea of what to do on a larger scale.

now playing - Uncle Tupelo

Royale Study

2010-12-11T12:00:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of sharing a lunch with Steven Smith and his incredible grandmother. As most people know, Steven is the proprietor of The Royale which is a cool tavern located on Kingshighway just a little south of the Arsenal intersection. Over the course of our meal the conversation turned to art and personalities in Saint Louis. We talked of an appreciation for past artists like Thomas Hart Benton and Joe Jones and how they incorporated people and places of their time into their art. While Steven and his grandmother shared a Caramel Nut Crunch milkshake a loose plan was hatched to do some paintings for The Royale in the spirit of those artists.

The first step would be to get a good feel for The Royale, easily accomplished by just hanging out there. I'm no stranger to The Royale but I wouldn't call myself a regular. Being married, having a full-time job, two young kids and an obsessive painting habit leaves me little time for hanging out. I can't tell you how many events and shows I've missed due to the reasons listed in the previous sentence but it's the life I've chosen so it's pointless to complain or rationalize it. The point is, it's tough to get out. Long gone are the days I can look at a listing of events going on and simply choose which one I want to go to. Time away from home or work must be planned out with all bases covered. One way around this is a schedule. My wife has things she does on a regular basis which gets her out of the house and some valuable time away to do the things she enjoys doing. So to hang out at The Royale more I tried to put a schedule together and so far it's worked pretty good. On Sunday nights usually from about 9pm - 11pm I'll go down there and have a few drinks and do some sketching. Nothing extensive so far, just something to get a nice feel for the room. Out of that experience small pieces like the one above have been created. As time moves forward the pieces will get larger and more extensive. For now I'm enjoying my Sunday evenings.

now playing - The Minutemen

Vintage Vinyl Dec 10

2010-12-05T12:34:00.000-08:00

On Friday Dec 10 Vintage Vinyl will be hosting an in-store performance by the bands Union Electric and Bunnygrunt. In addition to the performances, Vintage Vinyl has invited me to show paintings that have some connection to those or other local bands. I've done a number of pieces that have been used for covers of CDs or albums either by design or accident. A quick list would include Shed Shot, projects by Eric Hall, The Dirty 30's, Bad Folk, The May Day Orchestra and the bands playing on Friday. The piece above is of Matt Harnish from Bunnygrunt.

Vintage Vinyl
6610 Delmar
Saint Louis, MO 63130
Friday Dec 10
7pm

now playing - the Baysayboos

Cityscape

2010-11-14T08:08:00.000-08:00

I've started a few small cityscapes in oil and it's going, um, very slowly. The last time I painted in oil was back in 1997 when I painted this. Back then I lived in northern California and had a huge garage to work in so having mineral spirits and turpentine around wasn't a big deal. Incidentally the Mask piece was painted as a thank you gift to the director of the independent film Trans. Through a close friend I was allowed to hang out while the film was being shot in Fort Meyers, FL. That was probably the greatest creative experience I've ever had and still draw on lessons learned while witnessing an independent film being created.

Anyway, I've been wanting to get back into working in oil and now have finally found the time. I live close to downtown Saint Louis and will take many walks wandering around the city looking at all the buildings. A few weeks ago I shot a number of photos of cluster of buildings and decided to use those as models for the small oils I'd like to start. The images of all these buildings stuck on top of each other has always been appealing. They almost become abstract rectangles, squares and columns all bunched together. So far the result has been a practice in patience. After painting exclusively in acrylic for the last 14 + years I've grown accustom to what works and what doesn't but now all those lessons will have to be learned all over again. Just painting the color blue can be an intoxicating experience. The paint never dries and each stroke creates a new line or texture and then it's gone again and something new appears. I could spend hours just painting a pure color over and over again. I suspect this is going to take some time.

now playing - 3WK

2010 Poetry Scores Art Invitational

2010-11-11T07:56:00.000-08:00

The annual Poetry Scores Invitational will be going on this year at Mad Art Gallery on Friday Nov 12 from 7pm – 10pm. Poetry Scores invites a number of artists to interpret lines from a poem for a visual medium and then the artwork is auctioned off to help pay for the projects Poetry Scores is producing. Currently Poetry Scores is shooting a film that grew out of the excellent “Go South” CD which was produced 2 years ago. This year’s poem is titled “Jack Ruby’s America” and was written by Missouri’s current Poet Laureate David Clewell. The piece above is my contribution for this show. The words I chose to interpret were “David Clewell”. Below is a list of all the participating artists.

Gena Brady Allen
Gina Alvarez
Andrea Avery
Jay Babcock
Michael Behle
Kevin Belford
Keith Buchholz
Ron Buechele
Deanna Chafin
Heather Corley
Thom Fletcher
Trent Harris
Paul Hartman
Sue Hartman
Emily Hemeyer
Michael Hoffman
Alexa Hoyer
Claire Medol Hyman
Angela Khan
Alicia La Chance
Robert Longyear
Dianna Lucas
Dawn Majors
Julie Malone
Tim McAvin
John Minkoff
Michael Paradise
Melanie Persch
Hap Phillips
Jeremy Rabus
Tony Renner
Kim Richardson
Martha Rose
Cindy Royal
Stefene Russell
Janiece Senn
Becky Simmons / Lola van Ella
Dana Smith
Robin Street-Morris
Andrew Torch
Nita Turnage
Robert Van Dillen
Amy VanDonsel
Eric Woods / Firecracker Press

Now playing – Le Noise

Ota Benga

2010-11-06T17:50:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday Nov 10 The May Day Orchestra will release their new vinyl album with a concert at The Sheldon Concert Hall along with The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra and Theodore. The painting above is the cover of the new vinyl album painted by me at Tim Rakel's direction. Back in April Tim and I met at the now closed club called The Wedge to discuss his ideas for the record cover. The album is a "Folk Opera" about Ota Benga and the situation between The Congo in Africa and King Leopold II of Belgium. For more details on that story you can go here. Needless to say it's a very sad story about exploitation and the misery caused by those in the pursuit of power and wealth. Tim wanted specific images to be represented on the cover and he gave me loose directions to follow. It was quite a strange painting to do but I enjoyed the process very much. I'm not a graphic designer but welcomed the challenge of trying to make everything fit within the limitations of an album cover. The double vinyl record will be released by the Los Angeles record label Rankoutsider Records.

now playing - Liverpool Sound Collage

One Night Plays

2010-11-04T10:31:00.001-07:00

New acrylic paintings by Dana Smith
November 5th - 27th

Hoffman LaChance Contemporary

2713 Sutton Blvd
Saint Louis, MO 63143
Opening Reception Nov 5th 6pm-10pm

Since 2004 I have been using the people and places of Saint Louis as inspiration for my paintings. Particularly musicians and artists who perform in local clubs and spaces around the city. This 6 year effort has accumulated into the show 'One Night Plays'. The paintings for this show were mostly painted this year and have never been shown publicly but I've been working towards something like this for a long time. The images are painted from photographs that I took myself and this is very important to me. I decided who to photograph, when to photograph them, where to photograph them and also how the composition will be in the image. However, none of these images were planned or staged and in many cases the musician didn't even know I was photographing them. For 'One Night Plays' I looked at new photographs but also old photographs and selected the ones that were not only interesting visually but also ones that represented a musician whose contribution to the Saint Louis music scene continues to leave an indelible mark.

{one painting in this show - 'Bunnygrunt at CBGB'- was painted from a photograph taken by Jaime Lees upon request from the band which used the painting for the cover of their latest CD.}

now playing - Magic City

Galen Gondolfi at Cherokee and Compton

2010-09-26T14:02:00.000-07:00

On Friday Nov 5 I'll be having an opening of new acrylic paintings at Hoffman LaChance Contemporary in Maplewood, MO. The show, titled "One Night Plays", will be large and small scale paintings of musicians, most of whom live or perform in St. Louis. The work in progress above is the last painting I'll be doing for this series. It's of Galen Gondolfi playing the drums at an art show I put on back in March at a temporary gallery called Insurance. For as long as I've know him, Galen has always been a burst of energy. He's an artist always creating and always moving forward. The impact he's had on his community is immeasurable. In addition to Galen there will be paintings of Mark Stephens, Tony Renner, Lou Whitney, Darin Gray, Mark Early, Dottie Georges, Tim Rakel and William Morris. Plus a number of works from my small paper series, also of musicians, will all be on view for this show. Many of these works were painted this year and have never been shown publicly.

now playing - The National

James Weber Jr.

2010-09-04T07:18:00.000-07:00

This past Wed Euclid Records opened it's second store in New Orleans, LA. For the past 9 months James has been working along with a skeleton crew to bring this new Euclid Records into being. It's quite an accomplishment to say the least, not only did they literally build a record store from the ground up but they also opened a small business in New Orleans, which as we all know, needs as many small businesses as it can get.

I first met James when he fronted his band Julia Sets and I've admired him since.

now playing - Bob Dylan - live at Gaumont Theatre May 1966

Fred Friction

2010-08-21T07:27:00.000-07:00

Here's another work in progress for the small paper series. Surfing the net this morning I ran across this interview Fred did last year.

now playing - Dinosaur Jr. - "Bug"

Dave Stone

2010-07-25T09:03:00.000-07:00

This piece is small, painted on paper. I've completed a number of these of people like Adam Hesed, Jeb Stuart, James Weber and Benjamin West in preparation for a solo show in November at Hoffman Lachance Contemporary. These small paintings will accompany many large canvases for the show titled, One Night Plays. Many of the larger paintings can be viewed on my new website - www.danarichardsmith.com

now playing - Broken Arrow

Lou Whitney at Off Broadway

2010-06-28T10:16:00.000-07:00

I almost feel silly writing anything about Lou Whitney. He’s a giant among men. The first time I became aware of Lou was in 1995 when I was writing for Nightlife newspaper down in Carbondale, IL. The band Drench had sent in a CD for a review and it was good. While reading the production details I noticed the name of the producer and engineer – Lou Whitney. Now, in my defense, in 1995 I was 21 years old, so I was completely unaware of who exactly Lou Whitney was but I really dug the disk he produced and his name stuck with me.

Fast forward to 1999 and I’m living in South St. Louis, hanging out and meeting people involved with music. I slowly begin to learn how important and influential Lou Whitney is not only to St. Louis but the entire Mid-West. In addition to being in two awesome bands (The Morells and The Skeletons) he also runs his own studio in Springfield, MO which has seen the likes of Wilco, Bottle Rockets, Robbie Fulks, Blue Mountain, Exene Cervenka, Dexter Romwebber, Jonathan Richman, The Del-Lords, Eric Ambel, Joe Flood, Jono Manson, Domino Kings, Hadacol, Mary McBride, Syd Straw, Morrells, Skeletons, Redd Volkaert, Brian Capps, the Cowslingers, the Cropdusters, Bel-Airs, Big Smith, to name a few.

And the stories I’ve heard from various people about all the things he’s been a part of is truly astonishing.

So about 4 years ago I heard he was playing bass with a band called The Rugs who had a gig at Off Broadway. I went to the show and snapped some photos. I knew at some point I’d have to paint a picture of Lou.

Once this painting is completed it will be added to my new website. For the last 5 years I’ve been using asbestossister.com as a place to keep my artwork online, but all of that will be changing.

The new website, new projects and info on a solo show coming this fall will all be announced soon.

Now playing – Charles Mingus

Tim at The Tap Room

2010-05-27T10:41:00.000-07:00

The older I get the more time my conscous thought process takes to make a decision. Once a decision is made then work can proceed (usually quickly) but sometimes the process to decide what to paint can take years. There are many reasons for this - work, family, basically real life getting in the way of art, but I’ve discovered that you can’t rush these decisions because they have a life of their own which must develop at their own pace. There are many images I’d like to commit to canvas but it’s always a struggle to determine which one and at what time to start on a piece.

This particular image is from 3 or 4 years ago from a series of photographs taken of a band that no longer exists. I had always wanted to doing something with the image but real life and other projects kept getting in the way. For a multitude of reasons, now seemed like the right time to pull this image out and finally start a painting of it. Also in the works is another image of another person from 2006. Why are these old photographs hitting me now? I have no idea. I can only blame my thought process which takes forever to decide what I should focus my time on. When the decision is finally made on what to paint, how it’s painted is a completely different process.

Painting is just a series of decisions that can be made quickly or slowly. When painting I’ve found making those decisions quickly usually gives the best results. I don’t plan out paintings or sketch scenes or do preliminary drawings. I do all of that stuff while I’m actually painting and it all ends up as part of the finished piece. I do paint quickly and try to make a conscious effort to work unconsciously. The decisions I make while painting are my own but in most cases I’m not aware of them. Only when I’m unaware do I make the right decisions. I paint quickly cause life is short and there are always more paintings waiting to be painted.

now playing – exile on main street

Vandeventer

2010-04-20T19:03:00.000-07:00

A familiar scene for anyone who's driven on Vandeventer.

now playing - The May Day Orchestra

Record Store Day at Vintage Vinyl

2010-04-12T10:09:00.000-07:00

Vintage Vinyl is releasing a pink vinyl LP of tunes by their employees for Record Store Day and they've invited a number of artists to hand paint and draw pictures for the cover. Here's my contribution, I did 16 of these. You can find them at Vintage Vinyl on Saturday Apr 17, 2010.

Torque Fest

2010-03-04T10:57:00.000-08:00

So, I have this old friend who I know as Tony. The first time I met Tony we ended up causing some trouble in a small Southeast Missouri town. Since then we’ve been through a lot together, including playing in a band. But now we’re both older and wiser and we have our own families. I live in St. Louis MO and he lives in Davenport, IA and we rarely see each other. He does a lot of traveling for his job and I very seldom leave the city limits. However he invited me to participate in his latest endeavor called Torque Fest. I’m completely out of the loop when it comes to classic cars and things like that but Tony is all hip to them and travels to many shows. He also produces his own videos of shows from around the world called Vintage Torque. He’s pulling all of this together for a vintage car festival that I hope becomes a yearly thing in Iowa called Torque Fest.

What is Torque Fest? Well, I believe it’s going to be a cool thing where you can bring your vintage hot rod and show people what the vehicle can do on a dirt track. Apparently a lot of vintage car shows don’t have demonstrations, you just basically see the car sitting there or driving slowly, but at Torque Fest they’ll be, well, Torquing it up! In addition to the car show there will also be a slew of bands performing and an art show which is where I come in. Tony has selected a variety of artists (including skateboard legend Steve Caballero) to participate in the art show. He has sent all the artists a Malibu Surfer Hat (hard plastic replica of a World War I helmet) to paint on. These helmets will be displayed and auctioned off at the event. The photo above is the helmet I’m working on.

The point of all this? Very Important. To raise money for this little girl.

now playing - The Doors

Mark Stephens at The Firebird

2010-01-27T13:08:00.001-08:00

More and more I’m getting interested in effects caused by taking bad photographs. Over-exposures, blurry streaks, too much light, too little light, etc. It’s getting to the point where I’m more interested in recreating these effects than painting the subject of the photo.

That’s not to say the subject of this piece is unworthy of painting. Mark Stephens is someone who needs to be immortalized and by someone with more skill than me. I first saw him perform at Frederick’s Music Lounge. At the time he was in a band called The Highway Matrons. I was aware of this band but had not heard them yet. This particular night he was there alone sitting at the bar. There was an open mic thing going on and the MC was calling people up on stage. After a bit of small talk with him, his name was called and he went up. This was in Dec of 2000 and the open mic had an X-Mas theme. Mark got up and plowed through “We Three Kings”. I was floored. He did the most ragged, frayed and beautiful version of any X-Mas song I had ever heard. Since then I’ve always been in Awe of him.

About a year later I wandered into Frederick’s and Mark’s band Fred’s Variety Group was playing on stage. Mark’s surf tinged garage solos caused me to hallucinate and see a vast desert behind him. The wind was blowing sand everywhere and his guitar was the only sound you could hear. Back when I was in some bands I was lucky enough to play some gigs with him and got to know him fairly well but I still carried that Awe for him. Later I found out about his band from the 90s, The Boorays who opened for the likes of Big Star and other notables. Early days I completely missed out on.

I rarely see Mark now. The last band I saw him perform in was The Deserters about 2 or 3 years ago. Which was an awesome group but I don’t think they’re together anymore. The photo I’m working from for this piece is when he was performing with The Deserters at The Firebird. I was using my digital camera and had a few too many drinks. The photos turned out blurry but still interesting.

now playing – The Highway Matrons

Tony Renner at Mad Art

2009-12-30T12:54:00.000-08:00

I’m currently working on 3 large paintings. By large, I mean 4, 3 feet etc, so nothing huge but definitely larger than what I normally work on. The 3 pieces are “bill morris at white flag”, “mark stephens at the firebird” and this one, “tony renner at mad art”. The Tony Renner piece is from an old photo taken during an event Eric Hall put on called BioSonarOne and Tony’s band – Learn, Artist – performed. I’ve always like this photo and intended to do something with it.

It’s also the end of the year and I was thinking about the paintings I completed in 2009. Not as many as I’d like. Here’s the list with links to the image.

the official seal of the dirty 30s of missouri
old mckendree chapel
american folk art museum (nyc)
union electric
"freud's cobwebbed poem" (poetry scores)
view from talbot heirs room 2 (memphis, tn)
view from talbot heirs room 4 (memphis, tn)
dj kiki at rue 13
n. nomurai at the way out cluc (poetry scores)
bunnygrunt at cbgb
naoko at bullseye shooting range
darin gray at dunaway books
amy broadway on manchester
jim atkinson at 3wk
finn's motel at off broadway
mark early at typo

now playing - Wilco - "A. M."

Bill Morris at White Flag (part 2)

2009-12-10T10:10:00.000-08:00

Back in May I started this piece which I blogged about here. Last week I picked it back up and started to define it further. I’m always surprised by painting, sometimes things happen quickly and easily, other times every stroke is a struggle. So far the sessions on this piece have been going very smoothly and if they keep up, I may finish by the end of the month. I’ve switched to listening to Jazz for this one, Rock and Roll just wasn’t inspiring enough, the obvious stuff, Coltrane, Miles, Monk and even some Herbie Hancock. This is probably one of the largest paintings I’ve done to date (4x4 feet) and it’s quite the learning experience. When working on something this size or larger, you have so much space to fill and create. Colors and shapes take on new meaning and you must look at the piece in broader terms. I was recently looking (online) at some large paintings by William LaChance and was amazed at how much space he’s able to create. His larger paintings are 7, 8, 12 feet in size and have great detail on every inch. They give me ideas on future large scale paintings I’d like to do of photographs like this, this and this. The idea of painting digital effects caused by a camera is very appealing and would make interesting art.

By the way, if you want to check out some of Bill Morris’ video art, go here.

now playing – Miles Davis – “In a Silent Way”

memphis, tn

2009-11-24T09:06:00.001-08:00

The weather is turning cooler and my mind has been on the city of Memphis. My wife and I enjoy sneaking out of town for a few days and driving down to Memphis for a concert or art exhibit and staying at one of our favorite hotels, the Talbot Heirs. Here are some minor paintings of views from different rooms at Talbot that will be up on my website soon. Lazy days can be spent at Talbot, drinking beer, eating bbq or catfish, a great place to hide away from the world. Also finished up a commission but it can’t be publicly shown yet, not till the recipient receives it. Now my attention turns back to Mr. Mark Early.

now playing - jimi hendrix - "are you experienced"

Freud’s cobwebbed poem

2009-10-19T09:04:00.000-07:00

About 3 years ago I was invited to participate in a group show organized by 52nd City at Hartford Coffee. Thanks to the great Thomas Crone, I was introduced to one of the other artists, Chris King. While his young daughter played at a table at the coffee shop, Chris and I got to know each other. He gave me his musical background and talked about the tours he had done with his previous band. It was good to meet someone I had heard so much about face to face. Since then Chris and I will sporadically run into each other, usually at bars, we’ll quickly catch up and then be on our way. But we’re great friends online as he’s never shy about keeping you up to date with what he’s doing. Chris helps run an organization called Poetry Scores which takes poems and turns them into songs. To pay for the material issued by this organization, Chris puts on fund raisers and the next one is why this painting was painted.

On Nov 13 Poetry Scores will host the Sydney Highrise Variations Art Invitational at The Luminary Center for the Arts. 44 artists have been asked to read Les Murray's poem “Sydney Highrise Variations” and pick a line or a group of lines and create a piece of art based on those lines. Chris was kind enough to invite me to participate and the line I selected was “Freud’s cobwebbed poem”. Not sure why I picked that line other than it had the word “Freud” in it and I’ve always been a big fan. After a little research I realized this line was in reference to Sydney, Australia’s business district, so I did a little search online, found a photograph I liked and went to work. The painting will be up for auction, like all the work submitted and all money raised will go to producing a CD of the poem set to music. I own last year’s effort, “Go South for Animal Index”, and it’s a great CD and the main reason why I’m happy to participate in any way I can to help produce another CD.

So if you’re free on Friday Nov 13, stop by the Luminary, check out all the artwork and help out a cool organization making cool stuff.

now playing - Sparklehorse - "Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain"

blank canvas

2009-08-08T12:40:00.000-07:00

Here's a blank canvas measuring 39 1/2 x 48 inches. It's an old canvas I've painted over so I'd have something large to work on. On this canvas will go this image which is an old power plant located on the Mississippi River just north of downtown St. Louis. I was taking a riverboat ride with my family a few weeks ago and spotted this impressive building while we were slowly heading up river. I was stuck by the massiveness of the whole complex as well as it's beauty. In order to get the shot I had to stand on a small bridge close to the captains deck. I quickly got up there, snapped the picture and then scurried back to where my family was. When I got home and looked at the photograph I noticed it had the words "Union Electric" on the building. It is a power station that supplies electricity and it's still in use today. But the words caught my attention cause I have a friend who's in a band called Union Electric and I thought he might like the photo. After showing it to him and talking to him about it, he thought it would be a cool idea to have a painting of the picture for their up coming record. I was more than happy to agree with him. He said they'll need the painting by October so I'll be starting on it shortly.

While thinking about when and how I'd start the picture, I started thinking about the other paintings I've done that will be soon featured as album/CD art for upcoming releases.

The first being the new record by Bunnygrunt who sent me a photograph to paint taken by the wonderful Jaime Lees at one of their shows at CBGB. This one should be out next month.

The second is a conceptional piece I came up with for the Dirty 30s . As you can see it's a slight variation on the Missouri state seal. Normally you have an eagle, bear and half moon in the center but I substituted it with a guitar shaped like Missouri, a mud flap trucker girl and a possum. When the drummer contacted me about doing something I asked him what the songs were about and he said "drinking, women and Missouri" so I thought those things would fit well and he agrees. Not sure when this one will be out but probably by the end of the year.

The third and last one that's coming down the pipeline sometime soon is a new release by the great Finn's Motel whose upcoming record will feature this painting. This silo believe it or not is sitting smack dab in the middle of St. Louis city. I use to drive by it every day on my way to work heading north on Vandevender towards Forest Park Parkway. It's an incredible farm/country type building located just south of the Central West End. I was always mesmerized when driving by it and thought about painting it. It seems Joe Thebeau of Finn's Motel has a fascination with it as well and our interest in this structure coincided with each other. Not sure when this record will be ready.

Needless to say I've very honored and humbled to even be considered to make artwork for all of these bands. They're all really great and original in their own way and I'm more than happy to help out anyway I can.

now playing - The Cars - "since you're gone"

mark at typo

2009-07-11T19:26:00.000-07:00

It's been a long summer, for a number of reasons. For the last month I've been working on this for the Dirty 30s. After finishing that up I figured I'd get back to Jim at 3wk and I did make some progress for a day or two. But that painting is moving at a snails pace and I needed something a little more immediate.

This brings us to Mark at Typo. Mark is a musician who's in about 4 or so bands around town. I snapped this shot when Cherokee St was celebrating Cinco de Mayo back in May. I can already see some proportion problems that need to be fixed. I've been experimenting with gouache lately. Using it to make things stand out. Gouache has this bright, plastic quality to it that almost makes acrylic look dull. I've used it here for Mark's shirt and pants. The painting will go through many changes but those colors will still stand out regardless.

now playing - the beastie boys - paul revere

Stress

2009-06-10T09:12:00.000-07:00

Stress is great, I love it. That was a joke. I hate stress but it always seems to be around. People often ask me when I find time to paint and I tell them painting is the only thing that keeps me civil therefore I have to find time for it. I recall one month at my full-time job a few years ago was particularly stressful. I manage a call center for a ticket agency and if you’re ever tried to order tickets or had a problem with tickets then you can probably imagine the kind of conversations I have on a daily basis with those whose lives have been ruined because they didn’t get the first row of whatever show they were buying tickets for. On this particular month we had a number of high level on sales. Artists like Neil Young, Sammy Hagar, the Broadway musical Wicked, etc…It seemed like everyday there was another big on sale with more rules and regulations for the ticket buyers that I was responsible for enforcing. How did I get through it all? I painted this.

Well that was awhile ago and life goes on, things change, people come and go. I still work for the ticket agency but now I have two small children and I own an art supply store. Unfortunately because the store doesn’t quite make a profit, I still manage ticket sales and have an employee who works at the store. Last week the employee was violently attacked while working and robbed by 4 individuals. The employee is physically ok but understandably shaken by the whole ordeal. I’m shaken as well. I created an environment where someone was harmed. Talk about stress.

Crime is a fact of life in St. Louis, but honestly it’s a fact of life anywhere you live. Granted this did just happen to my car last week, but still no one is really safe from that kind of stuff. So what do you do? In a perfect world I’d be down at the store everyday but at this time that’s just not possible for a variety of reasons. So the stress builds. As it builds I’m slowly working on this piece for the Dirty 30s. Once again it’s painting that’s keeping me civil. As you can see the piece is a slight variation on the Missouri State Seal.

Lee Harvey O T-Shirts

2009-05-24T12:27:00.001-07:00

Lee Harvey O T-Shirts now available. This will be the first in a series of t-shirts I've designed and the fine folks at All Along Press have printed in limited quantities. Dark green shirts, 100% preshrunk cotton Hanes Heavyweight in small, medium, large and x-large. On the front you have the tragic Lee Harvey Oswald in white ink and on the back, "http://www.asbestossister.com/", the site where the original design can be found. Shirts are only $12.00 and that includes shipping to anywhere in the United States. Look for more designs in the near future featuring Albert Einstein, Mikhail Gorbachev, Gen. Douglas Macarthur and others.

If interested in ordering you can contact me at asbestossister@yahoo.com, or you can browse my Big Cartel site - http://danasmith.bigcartel.com/. Shirts are also available at City Art Supply on Cherokee St for $10.00.

now playing - The Bearded Clam Wonder - "Bullet 399"

Bill Morris at White Flag

2009-05-20T07:54:00.000-07:00

For a long time now I’ve been transitioning from small canvases to larger canvases. This process has a whole set of issues to deal with including composition, colors, amount of paint, types of brushes, space, etc, etc, etc… All of these things have to come together or the whole piece will just fall apart. There has to be a point where spontaneity and carefully laid plans will work with one another in a painting and trying to find that has been the main challenge. The subject for this challenge is my friend Bill Morris. He’s a talented musician and video artist who’s been working in St. Louis for a long time now. This picture is from a performance he did with Thomas Sleet and a cello player whose name escapes me right now at White Flag Projects about 3 or 4 years ago. The strange thing about all this is I’ve been thinking about painting this picture for about 4 months now and last night I finally got around to it. After I finished for the evening, I checked my email and Bill had sent me a note informing me he was performing with Thomas and Tony Patti at the Sci-Fi Lounge on Thursday night. Now since both Bill and I have busy personal lives we rarely see or talk to one another and I can’t remember the last time we emailed but the very day I start of painting of him (unbeknownst to him) I get a note from him…spooky.

Now playing – http://www.3wk.com/

darin gray at dunaway books

2009-04-10T07:45:00.000-07:00

About 4 or 5 years ago Eric Hall put a show together in the basement of Dunaway Books. It featured a piano extraordinaire from San Francisco named Thollem McDonas, Granite City’s mind bending bass player Darin Gray and Mr. Hall himself. The show was one of those things you feel lucky to have seen and heard. The basement of Dunaway is nothing but rows and rows of shelves with books, the trio set up where they could and went to work. I snapped a few photos and always liked the one of Darin sitting down playing his bass with a cymbal mallet. So I tucked it away and waited for the right time to start a painting of it. That time came on Monday Apr 6.

now playing - Grand Ulena

shooting guns

2009-03-03T11:36:00.000-08:00

Here’s something I just starting at the request of a good, reliable friend of mine. These back views are always fun and interesting to work on. The perspective in front of the girl will be challenging as well.

now playing – David Bowie – “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars”

jim atkinson at 3wk

2009-02-08T16:15:00.000-08:00

I've been working on this one on and off for about 4 years now. It's Jim Atkinson at the old 3WK studios. Jim knows more about rock and roll (old and new) than anyone else I've ever met. He has one of those great radio voices that makes anything he says sound like a radio announcement. When he's not working on the business end of his station he spends his days listening to records and new CDs. Between 2002-2005 I use to hang out with him listening to old vinyl from the late 60's/early 70's and new CDs from bands like Skeletons, Judah Johnson, Trail of Dead and Eels. The painting was from one day when the band Asobi Seksu was in the other room setting up for a recording session. We were quietly waiting for them to get ready. I looked up and saw Jim about to light a cigarette so I got the camera ready and snapped the shot. I knew it would make an interesting painting, hopefully I can finish it up soon.

now playing - Small Faces - "Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake"

collaborative effort

2009-01-22T20:06:00.000-08:00

another work in tandem with my son.

now playing - pavement - live record that came with Brighten The Corners: Nicene Creedence Ed.

Andrew Wyeth

2009-01-18T15:37:00.000-08:00

I was working at the shop today and noticed some free oil samples from Gamblin so I thought I'd try them out. I had brought some small canvases from home to mess around on so I pulled one out and thought about what I should paint. Sitting next to me was the New York Times and they had a picture of Andrew Wyeth standing in his father's studio that looked kind of funny so I decided to use that as my model. Here's the result.

now playing - David Byrne and Brian Eno - "Everything That Happens Will Happen Today"

Talbot Heirs in Memphis

2009-01-13T04:27:00.000-08:00

My wife and I just had a wonderful weekend in Memphis and we stayed at the Talbot Heirs. I cannot recommend this place enough, great, great place. When we got back home, I painted this little picture in preparation for a larger painting. I can still smell the catfish in the air and hear the blues on the radio. View of Memphis from our patio.

now playing - Albert King - disk 1 of box set

More Unused Paint

2008-12-28T18:33:00.000-08:00

Here's another one that came out this evening. Design by my son, painted in by me.

now playing - My Bloody Valentine - "loveless"

Unused Paint

2008-12-20T11:40:00.000-08:00

I usually paint every night depending on what's going on and I always have left over paint from each session and the idea of just letting it dry up is really aggravating to me. Instead of letting it go unused, I grab a small canvas that's laying around and I spread the left over paint randomly on the canvas. The canvases will eventually be used for something and it will be fun to incorporate the color, shapes and textures the extra paint creates.

american folk art museum (nyc)

2008-11-21T21:51:00.000-08:00

Back in 2005, about 3 months before my first child was born, my wife and I took a trip to New York City. She is a Monty Python fan and really wanted to see Spamalot on Broadway and I had the connection for good seats so away we went. After we checked into our hotel we wandered around the city. We walked everywhere and took in the sites. Before we knew it, we were in some kind of arts district with a lot of galleries. We strolled into a gallery (Plum Blossoms) and I read the written description of the show currently up. To my amazement I recognized the name of the curator – Tim Evans. The last time I saw Tim was about 10 years earlier in Oakland CA. Tim is from the same town in Missouri as me, Jackson. He’s a couple years older but every now and then he’d let a little skate punk like me hang out with him. Not only is he an accomplished and talented artist but also a great musician and has played in many bands over the years.

So we walk through the gallery and take a look at all the cool artwork. This show was mainly of Japanese artists and the work was so detailed and varied. A mix of design, video and representational, now that I think about it, the kind of stuff that’s pretty mainstream now but not so much back in 2005. Akino Kondoh and Keiji Ito work really stood out.

While walking around I notice Tim standing behind the gallery counter so I go up and say hi. Naturally he was surprised to see me and we talked about what the other had been up to. I asked him if I could snap a photograph of him and he was cool with that, later I did a painting of it. He suggested we go see the current show at the Japan Society which we dutifully did. After catching up we said goodbye, I couldn’t believe the chances of actually seeing someone I knew in New York City. My wife and I headed to a diner for some pie.

The next day we found the Japan Society and hung out there for the morning. They had a huge exhibit going on dedicated to Japanese Pop Art which included everything from pornographic comics to Godzilla.

Close by the Japan Society is the MOMA and we had to go see that although there’s no way to see it all in an afternoon or a lifetime. It was pretty amazing and cool to see all kinds of paintings I had only read about. After a few hours we walked out and I spotted a hot dog vender across the street. I got a hot dog and turned to look at the MOMA. I noticed right next to the MOMA was this incredible looking building, then I realized this was the American Folk Art Museum and my interest peaked even more. Needless to say I’m extremely interested in Folk Art primarily because it’s the art I practice. Not that I’ve studied Folk Art, although I have read a great deal about it, but just by being a self-taught painter and American to boot, I'm practicing American Folk Art. Unfortunately there was not time to visit the museum as the afternoon was turning to evening and the museum was closing. Not to be completely foiled in my ignorant discovery, I snapped a photograph for a future painting, finished my hot dog and off we went back to the hotel.

The rest of the trip was quite fun. Dinner at a Brazilian restaurant, late night pizza in Times Square, more gallery walking in SOHO, spotting John C. Reilly talking with people on the street (I so badly wanted to take his photograph but didn’t cause he noticed me and got that frighten celebrity look in his eye), seeing Billy Crystal push a fan back and yell at her for coming to close to him, watching Spamalot with the original Broadway cast, wandering around Central Park and seeing the spot where John Lennon was shot (although that part was not fun, very sad).

now playing - Air - "virgin suicides"

N. Nomurai at the Way Out Club

2008-10-12T05:02:00.000-07:00

Recently I had the opportunity to participate in an event put on by an organization called "Poetry Scores". This organization puts together poetry books, films and CDs. Periodically they hold events to raise funds for these projects and that brings us to why I'm painting this picture. Eric Hall nabbed the winning bid for the "Dana Smith paints your band performing live" at the 2008 Experiential Auction.

I've done a few paintings of Eric Hall and so it's a pleasure to do one more and for a good cause. Last week I made it out to the Way Out Club for a performance by Eric's latest band - N. Nomurai. I had yet to hear N. Nomurai live though I had listened to the tunes on myspace so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. When they started, one word came to my mind, Power. The group is powerful and I think this has to do with having 2 bass players, especially added with the drums.

I sat down in front on stage left and took some shots. When I'm shooting film, I have no idea how the pictures will turn out. I constantly change the settings and click away. The main thing I try to concentrate on is composition. If you get a good composition then everything else will fall into place.

The photograph I'm working with turned out pretty good. I like how the bass player on the right side anchors the painting. The drummer is caught in good action and Eric is ever in control with his hand guiding the chaos the group is producing. The background has been interesting to work with as well. So much black that will eventually be filled up with white writing. And I love the red wash that is over Eric and the other bass player, that will make for an interesting image.

This painting may take a while to complete.

now playing - Bob Dylan - "tell tale signs"

jesse irwin chainsawing a painting by steve smith of ben bernanke (study)

2008-09-09T06:14:00.000-07:00

Here's something I did in about 2 hours. It's just a quick study of a subject I plan on doing a large scale painting of once certain details are worked out. It depicts Jesse Irwin chainsawing a painting from an event last year called Art Attack held at the South Athletic Broadway Club. Last year was the first time this event was held as a fund raiser for SCOSAG and KDHX. The idea is for artists to submit paintings for a drunk, rowdy crowd to judge and if the crowd doesn't like the painting then it gets destroyed. The painting that's getting destroyed here was by Steven Smith and I suspect he wanted it destroyed because it's a picture of Ben Bernanke. It appears Art Attack is happening again this year and this study was done in preparation for what I'll submit once we receive our canvas. If a painting doesn't get destroyed then it's auctioned off to the highest bidder. Last year the painting I submitted was auctioned for 90 bucks. I spent a month painting it. I won't spend that much time on this year's painting.

now listening to - Radiohead - "In Rainbows"

2008-07-14T19:42:00.000-07:00

Old McKendree Chapel

Located in Jackson mo

Old McKendree Chapel is said to be the first Methodist church located west of the Mississippi river. It is a historical site. So I thought about it a lot and decided to do a painting of it. When I decided to do the painting I hadn’t been there in awhile, having lived in St. Louis for the last 10 years or so. I had rarely visited it since moving away from the area so I decided to go down and have a look and take some photos. When I got there, I didn’t realize they had built this shelter thing over it, like a roof to protect it from the weather, which I think is a good idea. However, it makes for one strange photo as far as this thing on top of it. The painting I was envisioning when I was thinking about it was this cabin out in the country with a blue sky above it, you know. But it’s not going to be like that. I guess I could do that if I wanted, however, it wouldn’t be as it is now, which is the whole point.

I had a lot of trouble painting those front logs, the black and white ones. There are many subtle changes in the black that you probably can’t even see but were done because they were driving me so crazy with how it looked; I want it to look as it is. To get each of those white lines right took a lot of time too, they’re not random, that’s how it is. There are many dwellings, houses, buildings built in this style that are still around but there’s only one McKendree Chapel so I want it to be as accurate as possible.

Not to say its being painted for religious reasons, so to speak. More historical, it’s a very old dwelling. It was built in 1819, so it’s rather old. It was used as a place for worship (and still is on Easter mornings) but I’m sure it was used for many other things as well like picnics, weddings, community gatherings, etc throughout its history. There are a couple other buildings on the grounds too that were used for various things.

My wife and I went down to visit and there’s a cemetery across the street which actually had some long lost relatives of mine, great, great grandfather and such. Then we drove across the street and wandered onto the church grounds. There weren’t any official people out there, just some other tourists. It’s just kind of out in the middle of nowhere with very few markers of any kind.

While we were there I saw a snake on the side of the church and it was eating a bird. I took a photo of this but I tried not to bother the snake. I thought about it and wondered is the snake there protecting the church or is the church surrounded by the snake? Does the snake represents evil or was it just something that happens on a daily basis out in the country? If the snake was protecting the church then maybe you need evil to fight against evil. But it was a strange thing to have happen while visiting a church.

now listening to - Bob Dylan - "tree with roots" bootleg from 1967

Eat Rite

2008-06-22T21:58:00.000-07:00

Eat Rite

Currently working on this painting of a restaurant, diner, greasy spoon as they say, called Eat Rite. Which is located on Chouteau and 7th, or is that Broadway? One of those.

Eat Rite is an all night diner type place where you can get a good cheeseburger at 4 in the morning for a good price, if you want. This piece will be part of a trilogy that includes paintings of The Buttery and Courtesy.

It's just, I don't know, something you paint cause it's cool and it's there, you know?

The painting still has a long way to go. It was started a few months back and I've been slowly adding to it, but lately it's been giving me some static. The photo I'm working from isn't that great so that probably has a little bit to do with it. It's got a lot of weird shadows in it, so I'm trying to figure those out and just kind of stumble through it. There are clearly things that need to be changed but it's too far along to go back now. I'll just continue and make due best I can.

now listening to - Kingsbury Manx - "Fast Rise and Fall of the South"