Stopped by Madrone Art Bar tonight to support my friend Willy Owens and his new art installation "Portrait of America".  His company Magnolia Photobooth Co. launched a Kickstarter back in 2011 to fix up an old Westfalia van and  customized it with a custom free photo booth inside. The project got backed and Willy drove for 101 days though out the United State stopping at tons of cities. The installation shows his route and a bunch of photos that were taken along the way. I'm so envious that he got to see all the states. Definetly worth stopping by during the day to check out.

You can also see the works of artist Brent Thorne in their front window installation. I'm not much of a photographer, but have always enjoyed the double exposure effect. This is my accidental attempt.

Not the best picture, but this is the main wall of "The Portrait of America" wall installation. There's a routed map of the USA with the route Willy took and all the places he stopped along the way. It definitely needs some closer inspection. Every photo tells a story. You can also help support the project by purchasing a book at the bar ($20) or here.

Revisiting an older project but this time working directly with the source image.

I ran into a guy I know the other day at the bar and was introduced to someone he was having drinks with. He introduced me as a friend, visual artist, maker, and wizard. I didn't feel it at that time, but the moment I saw this print come off the printer, I definitely felt like a wizard:)

A few new projects in the works and some other exciting news on the horizon. Keep your head down, stay busy, and remember to enjoy life.

Some routed out 1/4" wooden letters, revisiting an older project for a good cause.

There's something really great about using basic wood shop tools. Cutting in grooves for the side walls of a frame.

Big frame for a big print:)

I have to agree with Bobby Solomon of the fox is black.com that this might be the best mash up art project in recent history. A pair of artists James Harvey and Ryan Humphrey came up with the idea to combine the characters of the Simpsons and the epic Japanese graphic novel Akira! Their employing a ton of artists (468+) to help out with the project and hope to produce the entire 6 volume set. You can check out their tumblr on the project here.

Just one of my favorite artists to be working on the project so far. His name is Martyn Jasinski from Japan. Such a great idea, I hope they can get all the artists they need and get a kick starter going to produce a finished book. Loving it!

I see a ton of graphic signage being produced everyday at my shop without perking up much of my interest. But every once in a while we get something worth noting. Some folks were throwing their client a birthday party and needed a larger print to hang up at the party.

Not crazy about their type design, but the image itself is awesome. Easily one of the top 3 movies of my childhood.

A new piece for my "Public Reinforcements" series...

Part of the daily commute home. Been thinking about it for a while and it's nice to just follow through sometimes.

Now that the face is painted it can be joined with the backer piece which has the legs that will ultimately pierce into the cake.

Using some quick dry epoxy so dropping in these floaters just right is critical.

It's hard to document the finish of the acrylic because its a subtle matte finish, but so far so good.

She's all done and ready to be stuck on the cake. Chinese Banquet here I come:)

So it's coming down to the last week and Jen's sister Judy asked me to do a little cake topper for her wedding cake, so of course I jumped on the project. I had already set up a graphic that we made into decals so it was just a matter of making it into a 3D self standing object.

 A little laser cutting into some 1/8" matte clear acrylic. The other project on the left is something else for shits and giggles.

 The text is going to be reversed out of the heart shape so these letters wont be used.  But I might just keep these for something else down the road. Cut out letters always look cool. They could pretty much say anything and still be awesome.

No PMS matching here, just a bunch of tubes of paint and a growing pool of teal-ness.

Back painting the acrylic since I plan the face to have a non glare matte finish.

A few coats later and the back is finished with paint.

Got a chance to start laying down some stains on the wooden 'box' project. I initially thought the red wood was too dark with the dark walnut stain, but once more color was added things looked better.

These little swaps used to wipe down the print heads on the machines at work, did a great job of getting some stain into the thin cut outs.

A little varnish to seal her up and she'll be all ready to take home.

Congratulations Adobe Books. There's no way SF could let you go...

Couldn't make the festivities tonight but I'm sure I'll make it out there soon.

Sometimes I get caught up with life and it always makes me feel grounded to catch up with family. It was my Dad's birthday today and I'm happy I got a chance to catch up with him on the phone today. Time keeps moving as much as we want to keep it still sometimes.

My dad and his Harley as a young man taken back in El Salvador. Circa 1965(?)

 

 One of my favorite pictures of the series. You can almost make out the smile behind his moustache.  Happy Birthday Pop'

Success!

Dropped off the Whistle sign and it fit perfectly. Stop by and say Hi to Katie if you make it out to the Inner Sunset.

When it gets a little light behind it, you'll swear its illuminated:)

Went to check out Guerrero Gallery's 3rd year anniversary show last night. Some good work on hand. There was a big crowd but plenty of room to get around folks and spend time with the works.

 I was particularly drawn to this piece. I wasn't able to find a price list so I don't know which artist this was. There is a very subtle line drawing with what looks like acrylic washes over raw wood. It's very subtle and in areas a little muddy but I thought it really captured a sense of motion in the water, mood and the fragility of that fleeting moment. In a weird way it reminded me of a piece I did a while back (below).

Thanks for the documentation Felix.

While things were drying with the Whistle sign, I had to come back to this other project I had in the works.

Tried to use the Dremmel with a sanding attachment, but in the end good old human muscle is what it needed. Sanding down all the wood filler.

Finally putting the walls together on this thing. It was a slow moving project but I'm finally getting some traction on it.

She doesn't look like much now, but the staining is really gonna change it.

Now that I have all the pieces for the Whistle sign, I need to glue and stain. The sign will only be up for the hours that the store is open, but we get a lot of fog and moisture out here in the Inner Sunset so it's gotta be done right.

 

 Looks like an installation piece rite now with all the clamps on it.

Filling in the gaps.

Attaching the mounting bracket.

Used a combination of a brushed on Spar Urethane and a spray version. The sign is currently magnetized to the dumpster at work while I was spraying it. The magnets are working out great! This thing isn't going anywhere.

One of the coolest places to be on a Thursday night. Mission Comics had an art opening for a Dungeons & Dragons themed show.  Comics & Art, sounds like a no brainer.  The show will be up for a few weeks so pick up new comic and enjoy the show. 

While I was doing laundry the other day, I stumbled upon this awesome little retail shop Whistle on 16th near Irving.  I had an eye on that space and was wondering when it was going to open. It was cool to see it in the neighborhood because the owner Katie had just ordered some vinyl through my shop a few weeks ago.  I didn't know it at the time that she was opening up shop just a few blocks from my house. Of course I had to stop by and say Hi. We got to talking and I found out she was in need of a little extra custom signage. Se we came up with an idea for her new sign...

Lucky for me this was also there first day that they had opened.

Some quick specs on the project. Her landlord didn't want anything permanently attached to the building so we had to get a little creative on how we were going to mount the sign.

A little routing action on the CNC.

Katie has a bunch of Red Oak that make up the shelves at Whistle, so we decided the sign should use some of it as well.

The top bracket of the sign which will adhere to a metal box above her door. Picked these little magnets up at the local hardware store. They hold about 9lbs each so this should be plenty for the sign.

Most of the components that will be used for the sign.

Not quite glued together, but I had to see how this was gonna look. So far so good...

Been putting some projects off recently because my Dremmel got stolen somehow. Took me a moment to buy another one, but it's back to this wood working project.

Some of the fits were too snug and didn't allow the faces to fit properly, so I had to open up some areas.

 Good tunes playing in the background is a must for the wood shop. Just downloaded the new Kavinsky album OutRun. Great album for physical studio work. The Nightcall song will always be a favorite. Aside from the music, I really like the persona and story line that was created for the musician's alter ego.  You can't go wrong with naming the album after a classic Sega game either!

No nails or screws in this one. Everything was made for a snug wood glued joints. Had to figure the best placement for clamps though.

Getting past a labyrinth of clamps to make sure all my seams were tight.