Torque Fest 2011

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

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

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

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