Inspiration: Bacardi, Bats and Superheroes

Time to completion: 7 hours

After the huge success of the Embodiment 2010 Show back in February, I eagerly jumped on another opportunity to paint bodies. It kinda makes painting on canvas that much less exciting. This time, it was for a Bacardi launch party – to promote a horribly disgusting new rum called “Torched Cherry.” Fans of cough syrup unite! I chose to focus more on Bacardi’s bat logo, than the drink itself. Some quick history:

Moving from the experimental stage to a more commercial endeavor, Don Facundo and his brother José set up shop in a small distillery on February 4, 1862. Their first copper and cast iron still produced 35 barrels of fermented molasses a day. In the rafters of this building lived fruit bats. Hence, the Bacardi bat logo.

Paint brushes used: 2

Location: Native Lounge

Last time, some of us were lucky enough to paint up stairs at the bar in Native Lounge, which offered us more space than usual. We weren’t so lucky this time – they put us in the god damn basement (since they had customers). Gritty, slimy, dark, and strange pigeon noises everywhere. Fortunately, Chris loves taking control of a situation. So he ran home, grabbed his studio lights, and re-arranged the entire storage area to accomodate us. Seven hours later, he was ready for his liberty spikes and eye shadow. What a nut. Keep in mind that he hissed and howled at the audience multiple times. This was certainly not rehearsed.

Chris actually howled during the show

I didn't ask him to do any of this

By this time, Chris had already observed my painting process and actually began to predict my brushstrokes. He was also the only model who came up with the idea of slowly rotating as I painted him, so I could hit all sides equally. A few times, I had him hold a pose while I quitely ate french fries behind his back. Just wanted to test his stamina. He passed.

Date: July 2010

Theme: Bacardi Torched Cherry

Torched, as in torched aloe

BTC tastes like cough syrup

Super flowy acrylic ink

I usually pack too much.

Black Magic (Cool), Acrylic, 2010, Model: Chris Stehula

Immediately after I finished Logan, another model guilted me into painting him as well. Chris Stehula’s artist was still missing and he was desperate for help. Without time to think, I decided to replicate Logan’s design using a different palette. I think purple was all I had – not a color i would consciously choose. Along the way, a new design emerged. Since cow skulls are part of my comfort zone, thanks to Joe Koenig, that became one of the focal points. Now, Chris is my “go to” model and we’ve teamed up for the Bacardi Torched Cherry party at Native Lounge.

Inspiration: Panic and Stress

Time to completion: 3 hours

Paint brushes used: 2

Location: Native Lounge

Date: February 2010

Theme: Black Magic

Black Magic (Warm), Acrylic, 2010, Model: Logan Hunt

This was my first solo attempt at the Embodiment 2010 Show, during the 4th and last week of the event. The theme was “Black Magic” which inevitably lead me to my Heironymous Bosch books. Before I made that connection, I suffered through one misguided sketch after another. Although I was planning to paint a female model, the design worked beautifully on Logan Hunt, especially with the unplanned muscle contours and the winged back piece. Choosing a mono-chromatic palette allowed me to work relatively fast, so I could focus more on my brushstrokes and less on my lack of fundamental painting skills.

Inspiration: Heironymous Bosch

Time to completion: 4.5 hours

Quote: This is the closest a guy has been to my junk.

Location: Native Lounge

Date: February 2010

Theme: Black Magic

Ain't Sayin' She a Gold Digger, acrylic on panel, 10 x 8 in. (each), 2007

Detail 1

Detail 2

Piggyback Perversion is the art of taking an existing painting and recreating the subject matter, incorporating at least one element from the original into the new. This is the one and only rule, and the extent of the definition of Piggyback Perversion 2007. Twenty-three local artists participated in this group show on display from Sep 7 – Oct 3 at artMinds Studio.

Progress

Reference

I was randomly assigned a small painting we called “Digger.” What a beauty. Even before I had any particular ideas for this piece, I knew for certain it would involve making duplicates. The original art was on a canvas frame, but I decided to make wooden panels for mine. Since I don’t own a single power tool, I had someone at Home Depot make all of my cuts. That was before I realized each cut costs 50 cents. I must’ve racked up about 30-40 cuts, so I was screwed. I grumbled my way through the store, until I saw the “self checkout” lane. I figured I could play dumb and simply scan the barcode for the wood and hope the attendant was as dumb as I pretended to be. And what do you know, it worked.

In the end, 100% of the proceeds were donated to Achievement House, who provides services that encourage and support individuals with disabilities. Thanks Home Depot. View the entire show via flickr.

Neck Stretch, ink and digital, 70 x 34 in., 2005

What started as a spontaneous attempt of drawing my face upside down while riding in a car, turned into a massive 6′ wide illustration. Ink washes were applied to the original line drawing before it was scanned. From there, the illustration evolved digitially, incorporating photographic images of my face and hands, as well as the skeleton of a rat.

Original sketch, ink, 10 x 8 in., 2005

Source image

Source image