…Selamat Hari Natal, Boas Festas, and a Happy New Year!

Mele Kalikimaka, Feliz Navidad, Joyeux Noel…

We’re off for the Christmas holiday. I leave you with a couple days of Mr. Bean.

Ramona Falls – ‘I Say Fever’

This is a super cool video.

Alaskan Tow Surfing

Here’s something I’m surprised I haven’t seen more of yet, tow surfing in Alaska. One of the guys on the video comments that at first he didn’t believe Alaska had big surf. For real? The guy is from Brazil, and therefore english is his second language. I’m going to assume he meant good for surfing big waves and give him the benefit of the doubt. Anyways, it’s a fun video. Check it out.

Ghostland Observatory – Piano Man

This is a great song. I really get into Ghostland Observatory. This performance was at the Triple Door in Seattle for KEXP. If you get a chance drop by their website. I think they are the best radio station on the planet. I spent some years in Seattle going to art school and have an obvious fondness for this unique radio station.

Ghostland also covers a Prince classic, Darling Nikki at this performance. It’s pretty great. When I was a kid, my brother got two Prince ‘Purple Rain’ albums for Christmas one year, and he gave me one. I had to promise my mom that I wouldn’t listen to this song. Mom, I know you read this, so heres my confession. When you tell your child, “don’t listen to this”, there’s a good chance they probably will, and I did.

Julian Wilson Going Big

The term Julian Wilson going big may not be an uncommon term to the surf mags these days. Usually they are talking about his Sushi Roll airs or some other aerial feat he’s up to, not his abilities on a longboard. I just happened across this footage of him competing in a longboard contest at First Point, Noosa Heads. In an interview with him I once read that he has longboard roots from surfing those legendary logger preferred rights. I could see Thomas Campbell having a Julian Wilson section in one of his surf vids after watching this.

Noosa Heads holds a dear place in my heart. I lived there for two years and helped a bit at the local high school. I think Julian was attending that school when I was there. I actually painted a double-decker bus that was a mobile teen hang-out. That was probably 10 years ago now. Being a big critic of my own work, I would do a much better job on it these days.

Kauai Recap

Kauai was a great time. Lots of relaxing and catching up with old friends. Ryan and Lois Ann (friends from way back) had quite the Thanksgiving gathering that included a turkey cooked Kalua style. Another highlight was hiking into an incredible spot to view the Na Pali Coastline. We also surfed, snorkeled, and ate a lot of great food. Wow, it was a much needed time away.

The reason all this was possible was because I had an art show at A. Ell Atelier. Angelique is another old friend and I was honored to have a show at her establishment. It was a great turnout. Many islanders came out and showed their support. The photo above is of a fire-dancer named Lauren that performed for the event. My lovely wife took this photo.

Aloha!

We’re off to Kauai for a week of champagne wishes and caviar dreams. Econo style of course which would involve shaking up a Coors to make it bubbly, and umm…I have no clue what a substitute for caviar is.  I will have an art show at A. Ell Design on the 28th while I’m there. If you happen to be in that remote part of the world on that date, come by and say hi. Aloha, and happy turkey day.

Anutha fo yo muthas brutha

Here’s another one hopefully on it’s way to Kauai for my upcoming show. UPS thought that one of my boxes contained hazardous materials (it doesn’t) and I will be sorting that mess out today. The weird thing is, one package made it to the location and one didn’t. Same boxes with relatively the same content. WTF!

This is part of a piece of driftwood I found on a remote section of a beach near my house. I routed out part of it and painted some pretty back in. I love the aesthetic relationship between old and new. Lately, I’m getting more excited about these abstract paintings than my representational ones. So maybe that’s a sign of direction for me.

One aspect of my art that is a bit different than some is that my thought process is backward. I create art with little pre-thought and planning, then when it’s done I ask myself why I created that. I think it creates a venerability in my art where you can see my screw-ups and processes more transparently. So much art and design is about creating this perfect flawless thing to present to the world. Sometimes it lacks empathy for humanities imperfect nature. UPS is a perfect example of this. OOOWWW, you like how I worked that back in? BAM!

Noserider version 2

Here’s another small painting I just finished for my upcoming show on Kauai. If you pay attention to my blog or website you will notice I’ve painted this composition before. I don’t normally paint something twice, but I made an exception on this.

Just to remind everyone that up until December 18, 2009 if you spend over $50 on my website you can receive $10 off your purchase if you enter: Cha-Ching in the coupon code area.