Somebody once told me that Marvin Gaye named an album the same as the title of this post, after a divorce.  The story I was told was that he recorded it so that he could pay alimony, thus the title “Here, My Dear”.  If it’s true, I think that’s pretty awesome.  I’m not going to do a search to try to verify the story.  Some things are better if left in the realm of myth.

So, this social life thing has been a bitch for my keeping up with updating.  No aplogies from me though.  It’s important to occasionally talk to women; not just paint them naked.  Both are pleasurable activities, sure.  Each have their own set of frustrations and pitfalls, but it is important to maintain balance.

I’ve been floating around the idea that in order to attract more visitors to my site, I may need to write about something other than myself.  This site sometimes get 5k spiders a day, so it’s being well indexed.  I think anyway.  So I need to type about more things of general interest to art folk.  Maybe the world at large.  Perhaps if I subtly work in keyword like “Michael Jackson autopsy results” or “Megan Fox nude” I’ll get a lot more traffic.  I’m not sure exactly why that’s a desirable thing, but it seems to be the thing to do if you have a website.

After a couple of weeks of doing shitty paintings, one finally came out decent.  There isn’t much resemblance between the model and the painting.  The model was actually really attractive and the painting is kinda puggish, but I think it has a mood.

I did a couple of drawings of my roommate’s dog.  I’m putting these up to prove to my friend Tiffanny that I do have a soul and can draw nice things.  Not everything I draw is demonically dark or has the foul stench of hetero-male sexual frustration.  Just everything but these two drawings of a dog.

So, I’m just gonna lay the rest of the stuff out here.  I’ve been doing some sci-fi sketches for a short comic book story I’m contemplating.  I also have a demonically dark photoshop painting to share.  So here it all is:

So it’s been a while since I’ve posted.  In between my last post and now I’ve taken a trip home and changed residences.  I’ve been busy and couldn’t find my camera for a while.  So I have a fair amount of stuff built up to post.  I’ve continued the acrylic paintings and drawing sessions.

So here it all is.  I’m just gonna lay it out here.

I was invited through the AFG to do live painting Saturday night on stage at the Art Erotica 2009.  I accepted.  I’d never painted in front of a crowd before.  But I was prepared.  I had made business cards so that I could participate in the most douchebag of activities: networking.

I knew that the paintings that I did would end up being auctioned.  The Art Erotica benefits AIDS Services of Austin’s Paul Kirby Fund and all proceeds from the sale of the paintings go to the charity.  Despite the philanthropic nature of the event, I participated.

The scene was pretty much what I expected; men dressed like Rob Halford, women dressed like Rob Halford, and giant penis statues.  The walls of the place were lined with erotic art that was being sold through silent auction.  The highest bids were being placed on a print of a painting by Jacques Louis David.  My guess is that due to the high quality of the print, people didn’t realize they were not bidding on an actual painting.  Either that, or they liked it and I’m a condescending asshole.

We set up on the stage, ringed around a black chair.  There were about 10 artists, some drawing in charcoal and some painting.  Because I was one of the last to arrive I set up front and center where my paintings would be the most visible to the audience.  We were doing four 15 minute poses.  This is a rather quick pace to produce a painting, especially in front of a crowd of a few hundred people, many of whom undoubtably had art hanging on the walls.  It’s easy to impress hippies, but other artists…

The first pose was the female.  I found my hands shaking while I was painting.  I didn’t realize that I was nervous until I couldn’t hold my brush steady.  Fortunately I was doing the drippy acrylic style  I’ve been doing for the last few weeks at the AFG.  It doesn’t exactly require the precise hands of a surgeon.  But it does require steady bowels. I was able to pull through and the painting turned out ok.  This gave me a boost of confidence, and my hands didn’t shake for the rest of the paintings.

The other three went well also.  I don’t think that I blew any of them.  They all sold in the auction afterward and in a clever display of douchebaggery I slipped a business card into the back of each painting.  People seemed to like the paintings.  Despite my general unapproachability I received several compliments.  The organizer of the event looked at my paintings, said they were beautiful, thanked me for participating and gave me a hug.  I could occasionally hear comments from the crowd such as, “Damn, he’s quick.”

I took a picture of the crowd from the stage, so people wouldn’t think I was lying when I said I was painting in front of a crowd of hundreds.

I didn’t take a lot of pictures of the costumes in the crowd, but here’s a couple of shots that I like.

Here are the paintings that I did on stage.  They were taken in a very adverse lighting condition, so the colors are all wonky, but these give a general idea.

Here are all the photos I took that night in a set on flickr.  In all, I consider the night a success.  I had a great time, people liked my art and I saw some of the finest penis sculptures south of the Mason-Dixon.

Submitted for your approval, the last of the 12 pack paintings.  These may not be the last, but I haven’t been buying beer since Thanksgiving.  Only because of the calories.  Nothing to do with the stigma of drinking alone in my apartment.  If I was a thin guy I’d have no problem with drinking alone.  It’s just the extra 700 or so calories a day catches up with me.  So, until I go on another drinking bender these are the last of the 12 pack paintings.

Not to worry though, I’m not going to start using real materials or anything.  I found that a gessoed plywood board makes a nice surface for painting.  Since I don’t mind some texture in my paintings, it’s perfectly good for cheap.  A nice big pricy canvas is for old lady hobbyists who make a painting every three months.  Not somebody who does six paintings every Monday night.

In other news, I’m painting Saturday night at the Art Erotica.  Should be interesting, I’m not sure what the setup is going to be.  I don’t know if it’s going to be one long pose or a bunch of short ones.  A long one would nice, since it’s in front of a crowd it would be nice to be pull off something decent.

Here’s the video from last year’s event:

Here’s Monday’s paintings: