collaborative effort

another work in tandem with my son.

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

Andrew Wyeth

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

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

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

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)

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

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"