The Bastard Image

oh hello

2011-09-28T09:16:00.002-05:00

news worthy things:

october 7, 2011 at the brick (1727 mcgee kc mo) from 7-9 there will be an opening reception for my new show SOON THERE WILL BE SLUMPING as well as the release of two of my books FILLED WITH BLUE RUIN and HOLDEN THE ELEPHANT.

getting back to it

2011-02-11T08:32:00.003-06:00

ritual. routine. whatever. i need to get back on track with the ...routine...

currently working on pieces for two shows.
the first one is March 4 @ the Living Room (1818 mcgee, kc, mo) with Chico San and Hector Cassanova-Cinderhouse. Both are incredible artists that i am honored to have become friends with. Show opens at 10pm with Robert Moore doing some DJ duties, a live painting/collaboration between the three of us and possibly a set by E.I.O (experimental instrument orchestra.)

the second show is april first at midwestern music (solo) and the bands are TBA. more on all of that later.

the following are some of the newest images i've been working on.

LOVE SONG POSTER

THE TWISTED TRUTH OF IT ALL

I'VE CUT OFF MY ARMS TO SPITE MY LIFE

other projects in the works:
for the kc fringe fest i'm working with bee's knees burlesque and kcsob on "grimm and bare it" a burlesque show based around grimms fairy tales.

a new live production of "the Wall"

andof course all of my other little "ideas."

so for the first time

2010-12-28T00:20:00.001-06:00

in a long time, i post.
and what do i post?
nothing but bile and anger and confusion.

i am so confused, suspicious, and over reaching my bounds.
just looking for a little honesty.

no wonder the world hates u.s..

2010-08-08T16:16:00.004-05:00

"we're americans and believe in religious and personal freedoms...as long as its christian...shit. (spit)(cough)(take swig from moonshine bottle)(throw empty bottle at emotionally and physically abused wife)"

no wonder we are hated around the world.

as a national presence, image, we are the dumbass, stupid, fucktards of the world wide stage. i think the terrorists and all the other countries that oppose our government and all of our sinful ways, our morally abject existence, just need to sit back and relax. they don't need to 'wage war' on us, we will, out of our own stupidity and arrogance destroy ourselves. seriously. we are too fat, too stupid, too financially irresponsible, ecologically irresponsible, and abstracted from humanity to survive much longer.

have we always been this fucking moronic?

shows and stuff

2010-08-07T12:18:00.003-05:00

last night's last minute first friday show at The Living Room (1818 McGee, kc,mo) was fantastic. lots of great conversations and new faces. thank you to all who took a moment to gander, ask a question or voice an opinion. extra special thanks to rusty and shawnna at The Living Room for hosting me, and to those of you who purchased works. i know they have gone to good homes.

up coming bits and pieces...

Aug 20th at the brick: the medicine theory (yes, the noise band still lives) with feral messiah.

Aug. 23rd -sept 4 at The Living Room: "this is how it goes" by neil labute, i did the poster image/design as well as the set designs.

Aug 29th at the Record Bar: roman numerals video for "this motion" debut. i created two paintings for the video and did a bit of acting in it. the paintings will be on display with performances by olympic size and roman numerals

Sept. 3rd at The Living Room: me, jodi brown and vaughn shultz will be displaying new pieces based around the idea of the story, the book, children's stories gone wrong, cautionary tales, original Grimms Tales...dark, funny, macabre works. if all goes well this will be the debut of some new sculptural, wall hanging books i've been working on. 7-10 first friday.

Sept. 7th at the riot room: the medicine theory, national rifle, and one other kc band i can't remember the name of right now. CHEAP SHOW!$5...

OCTOBER will have more of the same, i will be part of a group show at the 2631 Gallery.

so there you have it. more details about each of these show as they come about will be posted here.
cheers
tyson

roman numerals

2010-08-04T22:48:00.002-05:00

for the last two days i've been a part of the new music video for the roman numerals. tomorrow is going to be spent on pick up shots and a time lapse sequence of a live painting.

video debuts on august 29th.

i'm spent.

from the vaults

2010-07-31T14:24:00.002-05:00

ROMAN NUMERALS

2010-07-18T23:39:00.002-05:00

i am currently working on drawings and paintings for a new Roman Numerals video. i would love to post some pics and stuff, but i think i should wait till the video is done.
so instead.....

nothing.
cheers
tyson

unemployment

2010-07-16T08:27:00.001-05:00

currently the kansas unemployment office is winning. each call takes 5-6 minutes to get to the point they tell me that all lines are busy and to call back later.

i

2010-07-11T12:54:00.002-05:00

i am not the friend they take pictures with.
i am not the one seen and heard
i am not the one they clamor for.
i am i
and i sit
and i listen
and i watch
and i go home.
i am not the friend they take pictures with.

this

2010-07-11T09:42:00.000-05:00

tension
build
crease
fold
compound
twist
grind
toothnbone
scream
silent
fist
wall
sunday.

the next bit

2010-06-23T08:55:00.006-05:00

the sale last saturday went pretty well. good people, old friends, a few less pieces i have to haul around.

now to work on the list:
puppet shows
scripts for new oil boiler collective productions (there are currently no less than five concepts and partial scripts floating around. need to do some consolidating and editing.)
new paintings
and the big focus...the october salem show.

unfortunately the venue for this years show is in flux, we're looking for a new one. but, the art for the show is starting to come together. this year will be another book concept, but more of series. the show title will be ART OVER COMMERCE and will include 3-4 'books' as accordion styled wall hangings.

this is the start of the first one entitled "My Samurai Wears Blackness Eyes"

in puppet news, i will be performing tonight at Davey's Uptown Ramblers Club in kcmo between 7-9 as part of Amy Farrand's Weirdo Wednesday Nigh Supper Club show AND this saturday (june 26) at The Living Room 1818 Mcgee, kcmo as part of the Bee's Knees Burlesque Sweet Teaser show. doors at 9, show at 930.

cheers.
tyson

SATURDAY ART SALE

2010-06-18T08:35:00.004-05:00

yes its that time again. massive art 'clean out the studio sale'.

this saturday
12-6pm 9705 w. 96th street (map)

pieces ranging from $10-$500
bulk discounts of up to 25%
MAKE ME AN OFFER

there are literally hundreds of drawings, prints, watercolors, oils, and posters available. too many to show. here is just a sampling of what i've pulled out.

the three boxes on the right...are packed with more watercolors and drawings

i've already had some interest in a few pieces so come early to make sure the one you want isn't gone.
thanks
tyson

the lay off

2010-06-03T09:25:00.002-05:00

so my day job has an interesting quirk to it. a blessing and a curse.

every year i have a seasonal layoff, meaning there's not enough work to keep me on so they send me home with the promise of bringing me back later in the fall when the work returns.

my summer vacation has begun.

but, for me a vacation wouldn't be the same without trying to pack as much work into it as possible. so the quick list:

prepare The Oil Boiler for Chicago
prepare The Oil Boiler for a possible movie adaptation
work on three new play scripts
generate new pieces for annual show in salem, ma
update website with new work
send out hundreds of portfolios/querry letters in hope of generating enough freelance that i don't have to go back to the 'day job.'
band practice
band shows
paint as many goddamn paintings as i can
set up new shows for the fall and winter
do the family thing.

so now my updates will be more regular. i hope.
cheers

there's a time when all you can do...

2010-04-17T04:31:00.003-05:00

is dance.

a happy, happy, happy dance.

a new review of The Bastard Image show at the Moxie Gallery in Kansas city is now up, here.

The Oil Boiler is in full swing production mode. sets are being taped out, measured, and in want of building. lines are being memorized. and a very important aspect....TICKETS ARE SELLING! go to www.theoilboiler.com for your purchasing needs.

also, we are selling ads in our program. no we're not money hungry capitalists, we need money for the hard costs...like lights, sets, space, our own advertising, beer/wine/liquor (for the shows not us in general) so if you're interested in placing an ad in our program send me an email tschroeder@thegreatandsmall.com

the rates are:
full page $200
halfpage $125
quarter $75
or single line name/mentions $25

thanks and hopefully we'll see you at one of the shows
may 7,8,9 (showtimes 7/9 fri and sat, spec. service industry night sunday 7)

cheers

its in

2010-04-11T11:39:00.003-05:00

my first review of the show "The Bastard Image" at the Moxie Gallery.

pretty happy.

and just as a side note that image (used in the review) is the original cover illustration for jeanan verlee's debut book of poetry "Racing Hummingbirds", check it out, incredible work.

cheers

the clock is running

2010-03-27T21:36:00.003-05:00

so here it is a little less than a week away from my opening at the moxie gallery, all the paintings that will be framed are framed and the ones that won't ...aren't.

getting nervous. first solo show at a gallery in kansas city. bars sure, gallery no.

and not that selling is the end all be all definition of artistic satisfaction or anything, a long cry from it, but...i really hope i sell something, just to make the gallery's faith in me help them pay a bill.

so...recap the updates.

wed. march 31st at the record bar 930 (the) medicine theory

april 2nd at moxie gallery (1651 washington kc, mo) the bastard image: paintings by tyson schroeder 6-10pm opening.

april 28th live drawing with alacartoona @ californo's in kcmo. drawing will be auctioned off. proceeds going to an at this time undecided local charity.

may 7,8,9 THE OIL BOILER

may 12th the bastard puppet show opening for neil hamburger at the record bar kcmo (945pm)

after that i have no plans. email me if you have an idea.

here's a new one in progress
HOWL AT THE WIND, POUND AT THE MOUNTAIN

cheers.

shows update

2010-03-21T07:23:00.003-05:00

ok here's the rundown...in order...

March 26th at the Scion Lab, kc/mo 18th and oak behind grinders. 8pm. my bastardized puppets will be opening for Auternus. there will be murders, and improv, and the crucifying of christ. seriously, in cardboard effigy.

March 31st at The Record Bar, kc/mo (the) Medicine Theory is bringing the noise. lots of noise, and yelling, and loud drums, and words that don't quite make sense, and our livers. i'm told 930pm, so thats what i'm telling you.

April 2 i am opening my Bastard Image show at the Moxie Gallery (1651 washington, kc, mo) at 6pm. new paintings, rarely seen paintings. oils and watercolors and some watercoloroils. special performance by the Experimental Instrument Orchestra at 8pm.

now, go forth and come see me at one the shows.

proof

2010-03-04T05:26:00.005-06:00

occasionally i not only update this page, but am actually producing new work.

STASIS

LEON NESRAC: RAGE

live drawing event

2010-03-02T09:11:00.001-06:00

Hello everyone, just wanted to invite you to the Monster Drawing Rally
next Friday March 5, 2010 at the Arts Incubator Loft (115 W. 18th St.
KC, MO 64108.)

This is a live drawing event and auction. The drawings will all be 8.5
x11 with a general theme of Kansas City. All proceeds of this event will
be directly benefiting New House women's shelter, a non-profit domestic
violence prevention program in Kansas City.

www.newhouseshelter.org

The general time breakdown for the evening is as follows:

6:30 Happy Hour

7:00pm drawing begins (60 min drawing session to complete artwork)

7:30pm pre-silent auction begins for donated artwork

8:00pm drawing ends and silent auction begins

9:00pm silent auction closes & winners are announced (bidders must be
present to win!)

Just some of the artists involved are: Jenn Isom, Mason Hansen, Kevin
Berman, Chad Askew, Lacey Lewis, Tara Dean, Brianna George, Eva Olsson,
myself and Scribe (Donald Ross). For a complete list please visit:
http://www.widkc.org

the abandoned well...again..

2010-01-29T20:06:00.002-06:00

some of you (like there's more than me reading this) may be familiar with the abandoned well. and if you are skip to the link. if youre not...read on...

The Abandoned Well is a randomized story of Absinthe, Murder, and Sex. Each line of text is accompanied by a black and white pen and ink line drawing, the cards can be 'dealt' out to create a different story every time. Decks are signed and numbered with a strict limited edition of 50 decks. The original drawings were first shown at the Experimental Gallery of Salem, MA in October of 2009.

Part of the show was a contest to see who could decipher the original 26 line story hidden with in the cards. As of Jan. 28th, 2010...no one has solved it.

This Deck (no. 46 of 50) will include an original script with notes and handwritten edits.

ebay here.

neil gaiman/amanda palmer/the oil boiler

2010-01-22T06:01:00.004-06:00

i am trying to generate funds for a new play in kansas city called "the oil boiler" and to do so i am selling this...

go here to ebay.

it is the original painting for the NG/AFP poster in NYC.

whether you can bid or you forward this on to someone who can, all assistance will be greatly appreciated. the play involves a jazz band, a hit man with imaginary friends, puppets (YES!!! PUPPETS!!!), and a conversation with god (and god has a nasty vocabulary.)

quick note

2010-01-16T13:42:00.006-06:00

here are the images i just completed for jeanann verlee's upcoming book RACING HUMMINGBIRDS that will come out in march on WriteBloody press.

FRONT COVER

BACK COVER

too much going on to think straight

2010-01-05T05:52:00.003-06:00

quick quick update.

THE OIL BOILER is officially 200 times bigger than originally imagined. it started out as five people getting drunk and reading lines at some bars openmic night. and now, we're applying for grants, we have a 400seat space, a director, a musical director that has performed with The Blue Man Group, a jazz band with some of kansas city's best up and coming jazz performers, a set designer....its HUGE! look for it the first weekend in MAY.

RACING HUMMINGBIRDS

i am now doing the cover for author jeanann verlee's debut book for WriteBloody press called "Racing Hummingbirds". if you don't know her work, you should. its like being punched in the face for the first time, it hurts, but somehow very intriguing and you step into the next punch, and then the adrenaline gets going and then you're fighting back and when its all over you find yourself all exhilarated.

ok, maybe its just me.

but, go, look, read. http://jeanannverlee.com/

time to go to work.

i think i've forgotten something

2009-12-09T11:17:00.003-06:00

oh yes, to update this.
sometimes there are somethings that get so burried in the 'todo' list that they become lost and not done. unfortunately this blog is one of those things right now.

quick notes:
ZOEY VS. MT. FAMA is available now! new children's book available through lulu.com. go, preview, purchase, enjoy.

THE OIL BOILER

is an absurdist/surreal play i wrote recently that vaguely deals with free will vs. destiny, schizophrenia, puppets, hired killers with issues and jazz. we're currently in preproduction right now. script re-writes, set designing, casting etc. but its going to be incredible. working with some very talented people like: christian hankel, erin mccrane, jeff freling, shay estes, cody wyoming, and james pastine. more very talented people will be added to the list shortly. all of them eclipse me in the area of talent and i am honored they are taking the time to work on this with me.

HATTER M.
working on new pages for a new webisode. another webisode is already at the letterer, waiting on a proof.

sculptural book...more on that soon.
cheers.

trying to keep my head above water

2009-11-21T06:13:00.005-06:00

i don't know how many times i have started a new one of these and then have trashed it because i couldn't complete a thought. so, i'm going to make it easy, and just list all of the projects i am currently working on and what they're up to and then maybe sometime next month i will be able to collect my thoughts enough to sound halfway intelligent.

SEASON TO RISK 20 YEAR ANNIVERSARY: probably my favorite local band is getting back together for a short tour (and rumor has it, a new cd). here's the poster i illustrated for the tour.

ZOEY VS. MOUNT FAMA: a new children's book that i co-wrote and illustrated IS FINALLY AVAILABLE!!!! go here to see a preview and purchase.

THE OIL BOILER: this a new play that i have written and i am currently in the process of developing it with christian hankel and erin mccrane of Alacartoona fame. its odd, dark, makes very little sense on the surface, characters say "fuck" or "fucking" a lot, curse at god, god curses back, defile puppets, and shoot each other. its going to be wicked good.

HATTER M: yes, it is back. last year i did a 'webisode' that ties in to the graphic novel that ties in to the Looking Glass Wars trilogy. well, just completed another webisode and have started on the pages for a third. keep checking back for links once it is up, or just go to the LGW website.

SCULPTURAL BOOKS: not real sure what this is going to be, but i have an idea. it will involve drawing, paper, things coming off the wall and one of a kind books that people can display as artworks that are read off of the wall... and at least one of them will probably involve robots and/or someone saying "fuck" a couple of times. god i love that word.

(the)MEDICINE THEORY: we are trying to finish up a new cd. we had planned on having it out in august, but that didn't happen, then we added a bass player and decided to add his parts to the cd. so that is what we're doing. it will be out for many people to ignore very soon. hopefully.

DEVIL GOSSIP: julie m. tate is an author from chicago, or oklahoma, or...well, she's from where ever she happens to be at that moment but i think she refers to chicago as home. currently discussing cover concepts for her next chapbook of work.

i think thats it...for now. oh and if you think the world is coming to an end it might just be because i finally joined facebook. yes after years of talking down about it i finally succumbed. i think that was the 8th sign of the end of the world.

cheers
tyson

pththhpptt....

2009-11-11T05:52:00.004-06:00

i have been swamped.
burried in work.
i so enjoy being so busy with working on projects that i don't have the time to even think about updating this, which i haven't since the middle of october.

i think anne would have been happy for me too.

anne winter was, well i can't say she was a good, close, friend, i don't think i've spoken with her in five years, if not longer, but i can say she was a good and important friend. i met anne in the mid 90's (96 i think)and she became instrumental in my band poster portion of my career. and when i started 'art whore' in '97 she was a wealth of information on selfpublishing and contacts for questions she couldn't answer. probably without her support and occasional prodding, both of those endeavors would have been very short lived.

she succumbed to an illness, a disease, just a few short weeks ago, and although i had not spoken with her in such a long, long, time her presence is duly missed.

for more information, and how to help her two kids please go to:http://www.anniewinter.org/

THE PAST HAS SO MANY WORDS

2009-10-21T08:14:00.008-05:00

So much has happened over the last two weeks. The quick recap. this is long and wordy and filled with pictures, take your time.

SALEM

I arrived in Boston to a soppy, frigid evening and spent it indoors. There was wine and a great chicken crock-pot stew courtesy of Sara Ashodian, one of the gallery owners. We spent the evening talking shop and what not with co-owner Elise Mankes and Sara’s beau Peebadee. Not sure if that’s how you spell it but that’s it phonetically.

The Abandoned Well opening itself was great. Saw lots of new and old faces; sold a few pieces, sold some decks of cards, lots of good discussion. I had wanted T.A.W to be a sort of interactive piece. Something that made people do more than the cursory glances around the gallery and then drink the wine. And I would have to say it, so far, in that respect; it has been a huge success. Watching people go up and read each individual piece and then start associating which ones went with what, or trying to string together a story, it made me all warm and fuzzy on the inside. Maybe it was the wine but I don’t think so.

After the opening a few of us went to Mary Beth and Joe’s apartment for some delicious dinner. Not only is Joe a great filmmaker, but also he’s an awesome cook. Go here to see some of his work, to eat his food you will need to befriend him. Go here to see some of Mary Beth’s handiwork with the PEM (she assisted with this exhibition).

I am already planning out my next ‘book’ for the show next year. I gots me an idear. Trying to take the concept of a book to new levels of being a physical ‘work’ on its own, where it can either be displayed purely as ‘art’ or, while on the wall ‘read’ as a typical book. If the physics of what I want to do work themselves out there will be three books in all with additional ‘related works’.

THE MEDICINE THEORYMINI-MINI, MICRO-MINI TOUR

CHICAGO
Ok, one: bands and sports bars do not mix. Two: if you book said bar you may want to actually listen to the bands you’re booking and not get all offended and uppity when they don’t fit into a Jason Maraz/Dave Mathews Band/singer/songwriter/funk show to get the girls dancing and drinking-mold. For us, we played relatively quiet to begin with, but then Jeff was ‘asked’ to turn down about three songs in. And then we had our set cut short because there were time ‘issues’ for the third bands set. Said band then proceeded to do TWO sets of the aforementioned style of music, which included (back to back no less) the same song done twice. One of which the singer referred to as the “album” version, both sounded like crap to me. Aside from making the decision to drive partway to Columbia that night, the best thing of the evening was the Tealights from Atlanta. If you get the chance go see them or buy their record. Not something I would normally listen to but very good.

COLUMBIA
Columbia made up for all of the bad in Chicago. The Bluebird Music Fest treated us well, as did the venue itself (Eastside Tavern). The soundman, Ray, the bartenders, door guys, and the owner made us feel right at home. Although we were using a backline set up, I was uncomfortable playing someone else’s drums, we played well and from what I was told we sounded good too. Hopefully we’ll make it back there soon.

NIGHT IS THE MIRROR

Saturday night was the theatrical debut of Alacartoona’s movie NIGHT IS THE MIRROR. It is awesome. Brian Hicks, Phil Kinen, the crew, the band…the all did an incredible job with it. Go here to purchase; you will be glad you did. It truly transcends the idea of a “band movie” and is art unto itself. Also, there is a bit of animation I did for the beginning, so I’m a little biased.

OTHER STUFF
I am now back home working on the new book ideas, finishing up loose ends with the “Zoey” book I’ve been working on (it should be available very soon), started working on a new webisode for Frank Beddor’s HATTER M series (go here to see the first one I did for him), and trying to cram as much in before my layoff period ends and I have to go back to work at the yearbook plant.

Cheers
T

opening THE ABANDONED WELL

2009-09-30T12:18:00.001-05:00

THE ABANDONED WELL
A randomized story of absinthe, sex, murder, and other fun activities.

I wanted to remind all of you about my upcoming opening at the Experimental Gallery of Salem on Saturday October 10, 4-7pm.

All fifty-four original pen and ink drawings will be on display, as well as (available for the first time anywhere) signed and numbered, limited edition (50) decks of the show. Come on by, purchase a deck and see if you can figure out the original 26-line story within the randomness. The first person to figure it out, and have it verified by me will win an original drawing or painting. This contest will go on until there is a winner or I become a priest. That automatically puts the odds of winning in your favor.

Go here for a map to the gallery.

This is a potluck, community event so bring a snack or a beverage to share if you can. But if you can’t, or just don’t feel like it, don’t let that stop you from coming by.

There is a planned artist talk (6pm ish?) followed by a QandA. I will hopefully be able to explain the story, the process, and anything else that comes up in an insightful and tasteful manner. Then again, you might have better odds at winning the contest than of me being even remotely clear about the project.

As always, thank you for your time and support.

-Tyson

new sketches

2009-09-29T09:31:00.005-05:00

just to show i'm not sitting around doing nothing. here's some recent sketches.
don't forget THE ABANDONED WELL in salem, ma in 12 days.

KUNGFU ELEPHANT WITH SWINGING DICK AND CARROT TATTOO ADORNED FLIPPER ARM

BODIES AND FACES

less bile, more show promotion

2009-09-27T08:28:00.001-05:00

There was a totally unexpected, but much appreciated review of my new show of paintings at the Brick in Kansas City. http://artkc365.wordpress.com/page/4/ An interesting project. 365 reviews of art in and around Kansas City. One a day. If you click on the link and the article isn’t there, go through the “older entries” button on the bottom. Each day the pages get pushed back.

Now, for all of you east coast, Boston/Salem folks… I’m going to try not to bombard all of you with constant reminders, but if I do, its only cause I really want you to come to this show.

Saturday October 10, 4-7(ish) pm at the Experimental Gallery of Salem (in artists row, if you’re out of town, just ask and the townies will know what you’re talking about. It’s by the crab shack and the old town hall) this is the opening reception of my new show “The Abandoned Well.”

I’ve been trying different ways of describing the project, and none of them quite fit, so here it is as simply as possible, without any of the fancy adjectives to confuse the issue. THE ABANDONED WELL is a collection of 54 drawings, each with a line of text, that when placed in random order creates different stories. Some make sense, some do not. Hidden within the 54 lines is a singular 26-line story. The first person to correctly identify the 26-line story will receive a piece of original art for their trouble. Now, its not easy to figure this story out, so to allow you more time to play around with line orders I have had 50 decks of cards made up for you to take home. Each deck comes in a hand made, printed, signed and numbered box. There were 50 decks made, 3 artist proofs. I have given my parents one deck, I of course have kept one, and I have dispersed two of the artist proofs about. So that leaves 48 of the s/n versions available. THERE WILL BE NO MORE MADE. It almost drove me mad making those boxes. And if you were to compare two boxes/decks you will see that each one is truly an individual creation, I will be the first to admit the design flaws of the box. Seeing as how I had to make design changes on the fly while constructing them you will see I’m not hiding it either.

So, come to the show. Due to the economic times, it is a bit of a potluck show. Please bring either a dish or a beverage to share. This is as much about community as it is looking at (in my humble opinion) damn fine art. I will be doing an artist talk at some point in the evening and will hopefully be able to explain the project as well as its origin a little bit better.

now, on to other things...

2009-09-27T08:21:00.002-05:00

It may seem like I’m bitching, and I am, and if you feel like I am speaking of you, or a project we have worked on, I am not; at least, not directly. If I had a problem with you or the project, I would have confronted you directly. This is an observation in hindsight about a lot of things….

Collaboration is one of those artistic community concepts that people tend to glorify. They are held up to the public like shinny gold stars of “Look at us everyone! We’re so good individually that the only way to make ourselves better is by working with someone as great as myself!” It is the JUSTICE LEAGUE concept, the super group of music concept. And like those, usually doomed.

It very well may be me, my mother used to tell me that when I was little I preferred to play by myself because the other kids didn’t “know how to play right.” Or it could be simply that in these collaborations it was never really established who was ‘project leader’ or who had the final say, and in absence of this definition everyone involved privately decided THEY were the one. Myself included of course. Now, collaboration smells like low tide, all wet sand, seaweed, fish shit, and decay.

This lack of leadership, or open interpretation of leadership is a great thing when starting the creative end of a project. Everyone feels like they have an equal voice, that it is all about community, that this time it will be the shinning example of “one for all, all for one.” Really, though, the further you delve into the project this hands off, no one is the leader, kind of lack of direction only breeds contempt when someone steps up to take the role that has to be taken. Unfortunately it is usually someone who either has been relatively silent for a majority of the project, or is the one with the bankroll.

I mean I am all for collaboration. The idea that two or more people discuss an idea and much like a band jamming off a riff build that idea, each contributing their own strengths and leaving as much room as possible for the other instruments to move around. It is in these moments, pure freeform, that art, or music, becomes truly transcendent for all of those sharing the moment. Whether creator or observer, it’s a moment that no one can take away from you, or recreate.

It’s the other type of collaboration that makes me want to become more and more of an artistic hermit, a totalitarian leader of my own country of one: collaboration by control.

By choosing to step aside after the idea phase, taking no part in the creative phase, to me, dictates that you are negating any vote or voice you have in the completion phase. Now, if you see I misspelled a word, hey, we’ll change that. But if you want me to remove an element because it doesn’t fit your vision of the project, or takes it in a different direction than you envisioned. Too fucking bad. You should have stepped up and made you presence known earlier on.

This is particularly frustrating when 1) the collaboration is between two people that each one is doing what the other one can’t, i.e., there is a writer who can’t draw and an artist that can’t write. I don’t tell you how to write, don’t you dare tell me how to draw. And/or 2) one of the parties, usually the one who suggested the collaboration, is the one who is funding some portion of the project decides that in the end they are the director of the project and has final say of how it looks or is produced. I do not have a problem with this, I would be the same way if I were footing the bill, however, I would make sure it was known from the very beginning that this was anything but a true collaboration.

Because in the end, phrases like “That’s not what I was seeing.” Or “well that is nice, but I wanted it more THIS way.” Does nothing more than make me want to say, “Go fuck yourself.” Especially when up to that point all I was hearing or reading was how the art of it all is the most important thing, that collaboration among ‘artists’ is wonderful; Community! Community! Community! It is usually these people that are all for supporting each other as long as there is a clear, definable benefit to themselves. If there isn’t, then they’re oddly unavailable.

I would make a list of these people, but that would be petty.

So far in my life, there are only two people with whom I have not had this problem, and I will list them because they deserve it: Jim Dayton and Jeff Irvine. There are others but none that I have worked with quite as often with such appealing results. Every project that we have undertaken, without other people involved, has been a true collaboration; a true celebration of individual strengths to make a stronger whole.

I think from now on I am going to be more territorial when collaborative projects are proposed. Put forth the question of who is the director, if there is to be one; to ask if I may request changes to their contribution to more closely fit my vision of the project just as they feel they may ask of me; to demand either greater individual control, or greater pay.

When I first started doing band posters I had two rules of engagement. The first was that I had one price for sailors and one for senators. In other words if you had the money (senators) I was going make sure you paid for it, whereas if you were on the lower end of the financial scale (sailors) you would get a break. The second was: the more ‘say’ you wanted to have in the project, the more it was going to cost you. If you wanted to back up your admiration of my work by admitting I know what I’m doing and get out of the way and let me do what I do, then your financial cost was going to be minimal. I have gotten rather lax about these rules, and the more lax I’ve become the less work I’ve had and the less I’ve enjoyed the work that I have done. So maybe its time to once again be that tenacious about how I will work, reclaim a bit of the selfishness of art.

Or…

I just need to rebuild my wall, maintain communication and collaboration with those that have proven to be truly collaborative, and tell the rest to go hire the kid down street. I hear they’re cheaper and more willing to be told what to do.

picasso said something about stealing.

2009-09-08T12:20:00.006-05:00

Recently there was a prominent “lowbrow” artist that got called out for stealing/tracing/grabbing an image from a prominent illustrator and passing it off on his own. Naturally there were pages of discussions, apologies, accusations and other sorts of other “name calling.”

This has caused me to ponder some of my own work. Rather than having to deal with live models (personally and financially) I typically use photos as a place of reference. Whether that is for achieving certain perspectives, the way a hand is held, a smile or even in some cases it is because I like the composition, the balance of figure to space and I will try to emulate that feel. Referring to the photo as a litmus test of sorts, “did I get that right? If I put the arm here does the picture still hold up to the way this one works?”

Now my question to myself is…”is this plagiarism, theft?”

For instance, I found this picture and I don’t know who the model is and the photo is by someone "jesiel", but I like the poise of the model, the hair, the weight of the line.

And with this photo in my head I did this painting.

Fairly happy with the way it turned out, but the image was still on my mind. So I did this drawing to try and get a better feel of the way the figure “worked” in the photo.

And from that drawing, I am currently working on this painting.

So, have I become a dirty thief?

These are not questions I routinely find myself asking; it has seriously begun to bother me.

in case you were interested

2009-09-04T11:52:00.003-05:00

As it usually does, it started with a line, “The Abandoned Well.” This conjured up a few images, which spawned a couple of lines that made me laugh. These were all noted, jotted down, scratched on to small pads and scraps. Then, like a lot of ideas, forgotten.

January came around as it inevitably does and I began stressing about what I was going to do for my October show in Salem. I ran through a mental list of ideas, most of which will eventually come to light, but all seemed a little too “much” for this gallery. Subtlety is key for me with this gallery. It is a small cozy space and big pieces just seem BIG, they take up too much space and the viewer becomes overwhelmed by how BIG everything is. By chance I ran across one of my scratched about notes and the laughter returned.

So I wrote 26 lines, telling a story of sex, murder, money, and surreal creatures; I was quite content. The images almost made themselves. However, it wasn’t enough, there had to be more. I couldn’t just do another unpublished work as I had done with “The Family Curse” I needed a new twist.

So I wrote more.

Then came the idea of playing cards.

A choose your own adventure of sorts, only letting the randomness of chaos be the chooser.

Then a game arose. Deal out the cards and figure out the original story. But why? Oh, yes, a contest.

Now, I have 50 hand made boxes for 50 decks of cards just waiting for people to play the game.

Buy a deck, be the first one to discover the story (only hint is that it is 26 lines long) and win a piece of original art.

October 10, 2009 at the Experimental Gallery of Salem, MA will be your first chance.
Cheers.

if i had a dollar i would be one dollar richer

2009-08-30T04:53:00.010-05:00

I would think that with how busy I’ve been I would have more to show for it. It doesn’t feel like I do though.

THE ABANDONED WELL is at the printer, the originals are mounted and drying. I’m still debating whether or not to coat and tone them like I did with THE FAMILY CURSE. Either way I am definitely on schedule for shipping everything to Salem. For those with big questions in your eyes about what I’m referring to, here’s the quick run down…

THE ABANDONED WELL is an absurdist, surreal, randomized story about sex, love, betrayal, and not denying what you know best. 54 images in all, each with a single line of text, that when dealt out tells a different story. You can play hands, each person gets dealt 5 cards and the one with the story that makes the most sense (or doesn’t) is the winner. However, there is a twist. Within the seemingly random lines there is an actual story. 26 lines long in fact. So come to the opening (Saturday October 10, 4-7pm The Experimental Gallery of Salem, MA) buy a deck of cards and see if you can figure it out. The first person to correctly piece together the real story will receive a prize of original art.

Here are some images from the deck….

New paintings have been painted. Some for posters, some not.

SHARP WEAPONS

BAKE ON BIRD

ICARUS

September is going to be busy too.

Starting September 4, at the Brick in Kansas City (1727 mcgee, kcmo) I will have 18 new paintings on exhibit. Plus, September 19 (again at the Brick, Sheri is so kind to me) will be the unofficial release of (the) Medicine Theory’s second cd VERSIFICATOR. We will be playing with Ninja Academy and one TBA. I say unofficial, because, we’re down to the wire to get it all done, and if its not ready its not ready. But, from the mixes I heard the other night and checking the check list, we should be able to get it all there. Just have to stay on task. The art is done at least.

VERSIFICATOR COVER

So are the drums and the vocals, all of the “me” centric parts are done. If you like Unsane, Shellac, or anything along those lines, you might just like this cd. Samples will be available soon. {(the) medicine theory}

More soon…
Cheers
T

show updates

2009-08-18T14:25:00.002-05:00

Greetings!
If you're not on my mailing list this is what you're missing from your inbox. If you would like to be on the list, email me at tschroeder@thegreatandsmall.com with "Add me to your damn list" in the subject line.

Just a quick update to give a two month overview. There may be one or two more updates later, but this should cover September and October.

SEPTEMBER

Starting September 4, 2009 I will have a new show of paintings up at the Brick (1727 McGee) in Kansas City. The show is called UNFRAMED and features eighteen new watercolor, watercolor/oil, and oil paintings. These pieces are purposefully unframed to highlight the final state of the piece when I decided “it’s done.” This show will run through the end of September and is open to all whenever the bar is open.

Also on September 19th at the Brick (the) Medicine Theory is performing with Ninja Academy (and a TBA.) If all goes well this will be the unofficial release show for our new CD called “VERSIFICATOR” .

OCTOBER

Once again this October I will be in Salem, MA at the Experimental Gallery of Salem with a new show called “The Abandoned Well.” Fifty-Four brand new seemingly random drawings that, depending on the order, tell an absurdist story of woe, murder, and sex. There will be 50 limited edition, signed and numbered, ‘decks’ of the drawings available starting with the opening on October 10, 2009 (4-7pm.) There’s a catch however, within the random lines there is a 26 line central story. The first person to correctly ‘deal’ out the story will receive a special prize package. The winning result will be posted on my blog.

Of course this wouldn’t be complete without another (the) Medicine Theory notation, we have a tentative date of October 15th at Murphy's in Oak Park, IL. We are currently trying to fill in the before and after date in ST. Louis. Watch our myspace.com/themedicinetheory page for updates on this mini-outing.

Cheers

SUM OF PARTS (destroyed)

i am a creature of habit, interuptions cause brain fissures

2009-08-17T10:19:00.005-05:00

This is something of a travel log of my recent vacation/recharge time in Maine. Upon rereading it, it feels a little foggy. The same way I feel when I break from routine to spend a week routine-less.

Day one was pretty uneventful, planes were made in plenty of time, and they took off and landed with an Exlax like regularity. The hour and a half drive from Logan airport to the Misty Harbor hotel in Maine was the usual combination of road monotony and joy that accompanies road trips.

Going through Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine reminded me just how much, if I could afford it, would like to move back to this area. Get a secluded, dilapidated farm house, near a river or a bay; get a small boat for fishing or tourists; return painting and writing to a hobby that I enjoy rather than a compulsion that maddens even the most idyllic of times.

DRUNKEN RONIN (i'm in maine drinking beer so of course ronin come to mind)

But I am getting ahead of myself. This is only Wednesday; lets see what the remainder of the trip has in store. Especially after the “vacation veil” has been torn aside and replaced by the goggles of reality.

Wednesday night we ate in Ogunquit at a place called the Lobster Shack, or Crab Shack can’t quite remember which, I do remember the lobster was good, fresh, having just seen it squirming on the scale. As an added bonus they had pint sized cans of PBR, I am such a sucker for inexpensive American styled lagers. After the meal we walked the tourist trap for a bit, letting the kids eat ice cream and watched the starlings over the bay.

Day two, August 13, of the multi-family family vacation: This morning after some typical, multi-family family vacation confusion, pea cocking and planning we headed to the beach in Wells, about a mile or two down the road. Wells is the usual tourist Beast. Shacks along the shore, unattractive people in unattractive attire showing all of their unattractiveness in both manners and physicality; very un-Hollywood. The weather was slightly overcast and chilly, which I found I liked much better than glaring sun. The water was rather frigid, here in Maine, the kind of frigid that is brisk and refreshing when you first step in, but then your feet go all numb and you get lightheaded. The packed sand actually hurt the feet.

We returned, lunched, and swam in the hotel pool. I got to spend some time sketching and drinking beer while everyone else went shopping, hiking, and the boy watched a bad Disney movie.

OLD PILINGS, OGUNQUIT, ME

Got all dressed up for dinner and read “Heart of Darkness” for a bit to relax. I may need to start over and get rid of my “Apocalypse Now” bias.

Dinner was excellent. Swordfish with a tomato butter sauce and fried clams. We walked around the town for a bit doing the tourist things like watching the saltwater taffy machine. Most people standing watching with a jaw dropped awe, all I saw was another factory job put on display. I find it funny watching these people with the ‘life in a fishbowl’ public display job always look somewhat more unhappy than those I’ve known in windowless, soulless factories. It must be the “Good Christ! I can’t even hide the fact I have a shitty job!” factor, poor saps.

We walked on the beach for a bit. The beach at night is one of the things I miss the most about living near the ocean. Now I despise how sand gets everywhere, and the way salt water leaves a film on your skin really drives me nuts, but the beach, the ocean at night, the waves crashing out of the darkness in frothy white; the moon or the stars reflecting off distant rolls, the air cool and comforting blowing in across the sand…. I could lie down and sleep the sleep of the dead with that kind of set up. I’m sure the sun or some asshole with a plastic toy of some sort would ruin it for me by morning, but those 5-9 hours prior to that moment will probably be as close to heaven as I will ever get.

There was an old school arcade with SkeeBall on the boardwalk, nothing like SkeeBall to complete an evening. If I were looking for the American Dream I would probably say that it at least spent the night in a place like this. It was the feeling of freedom, just out of reach, but close enough to remind you it existed.

On the day of our return to Massachusetts we discussed moving out there. Run a B and B, or a fishing boat, or pirate tours. I could paint sailboats and light houses, maybe run a small gallery selling hand blown glass from Bali. It would be difficult to pull off though. The kids need to finish school and I am not that fond of either people or lighthouses.

Spent most of Saturday in Boston. Note to the city of Boston, although the vertigo inducing central tank at your aquarium is impressive with all of the sharks, rays, eels and other complacent seafood; plus the addition of the harbor seal exhibit, I cannot honestly agree that the whole thing is worth twenty bucks per adult and the thirteen fifty for kids 3-12. I expect a bit more bang for my buck. For those kinds of prices we should get a free penguin or a chance to try and club a seal, something, please.

Now it is back to Kansas City, the first day of school for the kids, and a return to looking for work. Maybe will move to Maine, the people I saw working didn’t really seam to be working at all. I think I could get used to that.

it exposes, not explains

2009-08-10T09:20:00.006-05:00

I am not like a lot of other artists. I am not financially successful, I maintain a day job; I am not socially or politically infamous; nor am I academically renowned. Although I go through fits of reclusive depressionism about my status I am, in the end, quite content.

I answer to no style, no subject, medium or master. I suffer no critic or critique. I, unlike so many I know and see, am artistically free.

I used to lament the concept of “The Bastard Image,” the concept that there really isn’t an original image or style anymore. That we’re all bastard children of those that came before. Now I embrace the idea. Now, I embrace letting all of that have influenced me shine through in every piece. The expressionistic surrealism and cartoon illustrative muse-whatever or whomever you wish to compare my work as a whole, or individually, to I am content. In the end, somewhere in your comment, you will have to mention my name.

Here are some new images that have yet to make it to my website.

STILL LIFE WITH IMAGINARY ROBOT NAMED BAMFO

FIGURE WORKING

A DALIPHANT

FUTURISTIC BIRD-MAN ROBOT WITH SMOKING JACKET

Jim Dayton and his family have long been supporters of my work. Not just my work, but my ideas and ideals. He has never been one to shy from calling me out when I’ve gone so far astray as to contradict my own statements. His written work, like none other out there, has inspired many pieces and at times my own drive to push myself further. He is brutally honest without being pretentious, and at the same time brutally humorous with out pandering to the lowest common denominator. You can find his work here, and you should read it, he gives it away for free.

Now, off to Maine for some family vacation time and a chance to do some landscape pieces. They are, like so many other images, just another element to my artistically bastard self.

even trying to be positive, i end up spitting bile

2009-07-30T09:35:00.004-05:00

Let me get a few important things out of the way.

printpop.com -I have poster prints of select images available there. Go to them, they’re good people. and yes, you have to say if you're old enough to look at art. there might be a naked person or two once in a while. its not porn, there are no money shots.

lulu.com-book books books. They’re available and want a home

October 10th is the opening for my show at the Experimental Gallery of Salem. The show is called “The Abandoned Well” and is basically an absurdist choose your own adventure story. Done as a pack of cards you can deal out a different story every time. However, within the deck is one central story. The first person to correctly figure out the real story will get an original piece as a prize. If all goes well there will be decks of cards available at the opening.

ZOEY VS. MT. FAMA, the children’s story I’ve been working on with Devin Walker of printpop is in its final editing stage. We’re checking all the spelling and punctuation to make sure there are very few mistakes when we go to print. Hopefully in the next month or so.

WIRED SHUT is my new book of poems, stories and drawings that I’m putting together and should be available next month. Check back here or at lulu.com for its availability.

There are new images up on THE GREAT AND SMALL

(the) medicine theory is almost done with our next EP called VERSIFICATOR. We’re aiming for September to release it AND debut our new bass player. Yes the days of two piece performance may be behind us.

I thought there was more but probably not.

I have always thought that Picasso was a better salesman and myth maker than he was a painter. In a recent biography that I am slogging through, painfully, this position is becoming solidified. The man double talked and lied and wove stories, just about one painting and its origin, than most salespeople do to get you to buy a car. What little respect I had for him as an artist has been diminished greatly. I still think his pen/ink drawings are better than just about anything done before or since, but his paintings, just look like shit to me.

My sister thinks I should use this space to do a bit of political ranting since I tend to like to do so at family gatherings. My excuse for not doing so is that then I would need to actually become informed about more things rather than just glean an opinion off of a few headlines. She says that’s what most of the talking heads do and they get paid for it. This revelation did nothing to help my recent depression.

Maybe I will, or maybe I will begin to rail against so called contemporary art. Which is a bunch of shit really when you get right down to it. The internet has done wonders for our world, making the global community an actual virtual community. But it has also paved the way for every jackhole who thinks they can draw or is half way decent at mimicking some other artists techniques and style to become ‘the next big thing.” Thppptsss… boo…hissss… no wonder galleries have some of the portfolio viewing policies that they do. They have to wade through all that crap on a daily basis, and even then they sometimes get taken by the second or third rate greedy little bastards while others of some sort of originality get passed over and ignored.

And I’m not even talking just about myself either.

Although even I can’t deny that it sounds like I am.

Once again, I have headed down some odd dark tangent and lost my way of what I wanted to talk about to begin with. So be it.

Time to go paint more, talk less.

GRABBING A FRAYED ROPE

2009-07-24T06:05:00.003-05:00

I have been doing freelance illustration since about 1995. this career has never really taken off to the point of being able to support myself or my family wholly by its income. Now I’ve had a couple of near misses, moments of glory, a light at the end of the tunnel; but as they say, sometimes that light is just an inbound train.

This past spring and summer I have come dangerously close to packing the whole thing in. pursue my blue collar, pay check to pay check, yearbook plant day job with a focus and zealotry that I have saved for my artwork and really try and to get ahead in the company. Advance up that corporate ladder. Make a difference in the world of yearbook publishing.

But in the end, the thought of doing such a thing made me want to puke. I became more depressed at the idea of doing something like that than I was when thinking about how my art career seems to have stalled. I was DEPRESSED. I mean crying myself to sleep, unable to create new work because “it just doesn’t matter anymore” kind of depressed.

So I began grasping for that frayed and well used rope to pull myself up and out. I think I may almost be there. A change, positive one, can be felt, just close enough I can tell its there; just can’t quite grab it.

A friend suggested, when asked for advice on agent/rep searching, that I send work directly to art directors. And to “network.” My first thought was ‘well duh, no shit! What do you think I’ve been trying to do for 15 years?!?!?!” Then I said to myself that that was the old negative self thinking. The new positive self stepped up and said “Well duh! But with whom do I do this networking? Will you be a part of my network? Will you drop my name while you’re in meetings with art directors and managers? Will you put my website on yours as a link your friends and fans should look up? Cause, I may not have a lot of pull anywhere, but I will do the same for you.”

See how positive that was, I left out the “no shit” part and wrote some other words that weren’t too whinny.

Positivity, its new to me, I’m trying so give me a little leeway.

So, on to some news/updates.

i was recently featured in INKmagazine's "office space" section. here's a link tothe photos and the indepth, soul bearing, interview. its really quite nice, remember, positivity is new to me. GO INK!

“the abandoned well” is coming along nicely and will be ready to ship to salem, ma by mid September. I am just about done with layout edits on the kids book “Zoey VS mt Fama”and then it will be going to print. Working on a new collection of poems and short stories called “wired shut” that will hopefully be up and ready (on lulu.com) by mid august.

New prints are available at PRINTPOP.

I just had a brain fart, a space in my thinking. Forgot what I was going to say.
Oh well. I’m going skateboarding with my son and my nephew. Wish me luck that I don’t break anything. Its been a long..long long time since I’ve skated with anykind of seriousness.
Cheers
t

quick, like butter

2009-07-20T15:46:00.005-05:00

just a short note.
updated my email list, if you want to be on it just email me at tschroeder@thegreatandsmall.com with ADD ME TO YOUR DAMN LIST in the subject and i will do so.

here's two new images i've been working on "space" and "laughter".

SPACE

LAUGHTER

also, the opening at the Experimental Gallery of Salem for "The Abandoned Well" is Saturday October 10, 2009 from 4-7pm. and its going to be kind of a pot luck opening, bring a beverage or some food to share.

cheers
tyson

off the tracks and running

2009-07-12T05:57:00.004-05:00

the problem with having a full-time job that puts you on seasonal layoff for up to four months a year, aside from the money factor, is the mind set. you spend 8-9 months in that 'i got to go to work, then after work i can do (fill in blank)'. but then you get on lay off and it doesn't take long before you're waking up on a sunday and you have to judge what day of the week it is by whether or not your spouse is getting up or sleeping in. it hasn't been a full week and i'm already waking up trying to fill each and every hour with painting or promotion or tracking down some lead for work. 15 hour days doing art...i'm in a blissful state of blissfulness. if it wasn't for sleep and spending time with the family i would be on a 24hr a day paint fest. and i might actually catch up a bit on my todo list.

anyway. three entries in four days...unheard of for me. but here are two new paintings, both are watercolor and oil.

WATCHING IT ALL FALL APART

NO VOICE

don't forget to head over to www.thegreatandsmall.com to check out the links to prints and books.
cheers
t

keeping up

2009-07-11T08:03:00.004-05:00

this is going to be short. too much to do.

i am really begining to wonder how people keep up. with all of the social media sites/blogs/tweets blah blah...how do people get anything done to actually write about? i feel somedays like all i do is try to keep updated on posts and what other people are doing and up to and emoticon-ing.

anyway...i am currently updating my newsletter list, so i can start putting out newsletters again. if you would like to be on this list please email me at

tschroeder@thegreatandsmall.com

don't worry, i am far to wrapped up in real world objects to be spamming you everyday about this or that product. once a month at most, probably once every couple of months. i spend more time working on projects than out doing stuff that you can go see too.

for instance right now i am working on...

THE ABANDONED WELL, a choose your own adventure/surreal/random story/absurdist card game for my solo show at the Experimental Gallery of Salem in October.

ZOEY VS MT.FAMA, a children's story about the evils of desiring fame.

I KILLED 10 GOBBLINS TODAY, a children's counting story

at least three comic concepts in various stages of development (need publisher, hint hint)

COW, a story about a haunted playground that no one will go to after dark, just before the street lights come on. the title will makes sense eventually.

paintings paintings paintings...i have more ideas than i have surfaces to paint them on...

FREELANCE, yup, eternally searching for new paying gigs. i'm on layoff from the dayjob right now so the financial stress is much higher. pass it on. hire me.

the email list, the mind numbing tedium of "first name, last name, email" that must be hand typed since yahoo (my old email list keeper) will import lists all day long but won't give 'em up fer nothing. i'm up to 250 done, haven't looked for doubles yet, so once the newsletters start coming and you get more than one...let me know so i can fix it please. or if you want off because you think i'm some sort of commie/pinko/freak and you have no idea how i got your email. (i probably got it cause you signed up once long long ago).

so as you can see, i'm a tad busy. now i might actually get some of this done (and replaced with new projects) if i can maintain the "stay at home" status. just need to get those books moving from lulu.com and the prints from printpop.com. the occasional painting sale wouldn't hurt either.

i can't tell am i begging or whining? i'm just trying to be encouraging.

ok, back to painting, working on a sweet new daner/ballerina/twisted form piece, that if i dont screw it up...is going to look gorgeous.

cheers
t

news and promotion

2009-07-09T08:32:00.004-05:00

so i've been a bit lax about promotion. why i don't know. it works when done well and consistently and doesn't when you're lazy. so for the mass blast of promotion....

i have books available for your purchase of a hardcopy or even download a version(cost effective). right now there are three available at

THE BASTARD IMAGE PRESS

filled with blue ruin: a collection of paintings and drawings, including three of my major series in their entirety.

the family curse: a children's story for adults.

holden the elephant: my first children's story about a boy and his elephant.

there is a selection of paintings available in poster print format available at
PRINTPOP
they're inexpensive and delivered right to your door

and last but not least...the band.
(the) medicine theory is a band i've been performing in for the last two years with a good friend, and artistic collaborator, jeff irvine. its arty, noisy, quirky, dark, heavy, odd, and in the end just makes us giggle like a pack of girlscouts.
music and videos are available here
http://myspace.com/themedicinetheory
and i just started a new blog for the band at
http://themedicinetheory.blogspot.com

there...promo done.
oh, one more thing. today INK magazine (a free weekly here in kansas city) is coming over to do a small "office space" feature. i will post when it comes out.

cheers
t

lets blow some shit up

2009-07-04T13:23:00.004-05:00

oh, fourth of july. what a truly american kind of day. booze and explosives and misplaced nationalism. yay.

don't take that the wrong way, i am actually quite patriotic and a huge believer in the constitution, even the parts that grant rights to people whose opinions i think are wrong. thats the beauty of it. the part about the fourth of july that just really puts my panties in a twist is the image we as a nation portray on this day. this day, above all others, we become the epitome of the 'obnoxious american'. what, with all the food, booze, rock show in sync with fireworks, and flags a' wavin', young children with sparklers lighting the wicks of barely legal explosives, that were bought with money that most families don't have an abundance of...for 24hours all of our capitalist, loud, fat, alcoholic, explosion crazy are on display for the world. and we wonder why a large portion of the world hates us. it wasn't all W's fault, although he didn't help matters any. as a nation we ARE the bully in the classroom that make sure everyone else sees what were doing and is the first to cry foul if our antics are returned to us.

anyway...

this week starts my seasonal layoff from the yearbook plant. need to try and fix this situation. the stress it creates in my household is unneeded and rather inconvenient.

(edited for pissy authorship)

so i've updated my website, fixed the broken link on the poster print section so people can actually go to my page there and purchase some postersprints. please enjoy and be safe, keep all of your fingers.
cheers
t

the gears are breaking teeth

2009-06-29T05:40:00.005-05:00

after fourdays off from "the job", and being able to really "work", it is disgustingly difficult to head back in to the "job".

i am finding it increasingly frustrating at the low/lack of/not in my favor responses to my querries...not only for freelance work but for representation. i know it has a bunch to do with the economy and the whole digital vs. print battle. but c'mon, i'm not looking to get rich. i just want to support my family comfortably. two to three freelance jobs totalling about 2-2500 a month would be plenty. i find it rather disheartening that someone can raise 19k in three days via twitter auctions, poorly drawn t-shirts, and a 2+hr private "pass the hat" show, and i still can't keep a steady stream of money coming in from illustration over 30 day periods...never mind i'm whining. and i so try to not be a whiner.

daughter #2 turns eleven this friday.

one of the cats just threwup in the studio somewhere, yay. the sound of the retching is sometimes worse than the discovery of the product.

here are some new paintings.

and

and

the medicine theory played sat. night, had a great time. loud and sweaty. i'm still sore though, unfortunate sign of not playing on a nightly basis. and, as my wife and my father and my mother and sister would probably point out...a sign of getting older.
bah...36 is the new 24...right?

cheers-t

four days off and 50 years of things to do

2009-06-25T06:13:00.006-05:00

These days are a tease. The days off from work that is.
I know my seasonal layoff is coming, and I need to find filler work, or get enough freelance in to make my life financially buoyant, but these four day weekends are a tease.

I get so into “not going to work” that the next round of “having to go to work” is soul wretchingly unbearable. I really shouldn’t complain, either about the days off or having a job, but I do. Complain that is. I complain to take away the sting that this might be what I end up doing for quite a while. I mean with the economy in the tank, and the publishing industry all a wobble with the digital vs print deal, nobody, and I mean almost nobody, is buying art (for home, office, love nest, or editorial publication) from anyone who isn’t “known”. Which really sucks for those of us “unknown” artists.

RANDOM NOTES

I am liking tea more than coffee. Sign of getting older I guess, when the stomach gets all clinchy after the second cup of coffee but can handle gallons of tea all day.

My son farted in my face last night and thought that was the best thing EVAR!

To this day, the sound of Jane’s Addiction’s first two records fills me with utter joy.

I have that bitter taste in my mouth when I watch/read/hear about the Iranian election/near revolution. That taste of “crap, this is where the end begins isn’t it?”

PHOTOS

Yes, photos.

Like the cast iron sink that has been sitting in my garage for over a year, and last weekend I finally manhandled (yes, manhandled) it down the stairs to my studio where it now sits on a dolly in the general place that it will be hooked up. Which is now going to be put off even more since we just spent almost $500 fixing our
airconditioner.

Art in progress…

Zoey art in progress…

New painting drying on the line. I like this one the best right now, because it’s the first one in a while that is “just because I want to”. I wasn’t trying some new technique or seeing how a new technique worked with this or that or doing some poster or illustrtion. Just, wanted to do it. Those are my favorite paintings.

Cheers.

notes, misspelled words, and fathers day

2009-06-22T06:13:00.001-05:00

I tried making notes this week. This is the best deciphering of them.

“Titainium Expose’” by Sonic Youth has always sounded like murder, high speed chases and the painic of everything just going wrong. One of my favorite SY songs

I try to throw you into the moment with out explainaiton. No before, no after, just the “wtf” of right now. This way, you have to decide what the story is. (beginning of new artist statement maybe?)

I;akldja;lkm., ia ai a;lk
(I don’t know what that was…)

It is somewhat funny how the hearing of an old favorite song can reignite , almost extingquished, fires of a younger day and inspire you to make new drives foreward. Knowing I you heart rather than head that today will not last forever.

Nobody’s in a hurry to finish much of anything, but wouldn’t dare be caught not working.

I enjoy listening to music that takes you to that point of sadness that you feel the need to stand up and scream and destroy and create and just exhaust your self physically just o keep from crying publis for absolutely no tangible reason.

(some notes for a new story called “The last words of Raymond Jones” which I’ll share later.)

good father’s day, hung out, did some painting; went swimming; started the boy on some graffiti/stencil work (he’s five, we’ll go slow.) we ate pizza and drank beer for dinner, I watched the X-Files sequel….wish I hadn’t, it was bad.

Speaking of bad movies, “equilibrium” with Christian Bale…horrible, shut it off after 20min., it was a really bad attempt at meshing 1984, Ferrinheight 451, Gatica, and Logans Run all into one movie.

All the inking for “zoey” is done, paint and scan next.

Will post some pics of a really big sink later this week.
-cheers.

monday morning blahs

2009-06-15T05:28:00.001-05:00

No landscape this week. Not even a sketch. I failed.
If it counts I thought about it, a couple times.

Rather, I worked on “zoey” a bit, getting closer. I can feel a big push coming on where I am going to rip right through it and be done. Did some other painting, experimenting more with the gel mediums and watercolor and oil. Just after I bought two big sheets of w/c paper I started to think about working smaller. Tiny 6x6 pieces. It was just a thought.

Wanting to get back into using my press and doing some block prints. Wanting to do a lot of things.

Wow, that Sunday night reflective mood, where I dissect an entire weeks worth of thoughts and emotions just doesn’t happen at 5:30 on a Monday morning.

I have started doing these little 1”x 1.5” comic books while I’m at work. Nasty little books about old men making out on park benches, robots killing elephant type creature how have fallen in love with them, robots killing a dirty diary-ist, and so on…

I was thinking of using them as a prize for figuring out “the Abandoned Well”, or I might keep them with me and leave them off in random places for people to pick up and pass on, or I might take them apaprt/scan them/reproduce them cause they’r e that awesome.

Or they might just land on that list that’s getting longer of good ideas that I never get to finish out.

Cheers.
T

it is sunday, in the evening...

2009-06-07T20:52:00.005-05:00

I know I’m supposed to have a landscape but I just couldn’t this week.

There’s this project I’ve been working on since November of last year, its been kind of touch and go, bits of productivity followed by long deserts of non creativity. When this project is done, it will be a children’s book, I think a fairly good one about family and home and doing whats right by fulfilling your promises. The concept was outlined by Devin Walker, I wrote a rough draft, he refined it a bit, and I’ve been illustrating it. Well the reason why there isn’t a landscape is because I’ve been KICKING ASS on this for the last four days and now “Zoey” is on her way down the mountain. Which is a good thing because this now means that the book is almost done, and I can do the layout and the cover and then finally take it off of my to do list.

It hasn’t been a chore or anything I should be complaining about. Devin has been quite gracious and has stood back and just let me do my thing. Even if it has meant months of no communication, or any other sign of work being done. “Zoey” has been exceedingly difficult at times though, she has taken me very far outside my comfort zone on several levels, and I am quite certain that I have fought back literally screaming with apprehension at the sketched out page. Also, it has just taken longer than I had expected it to, some of it due to creative dry spells and some to “life” just being too damn busy to do much more than hold on tight and hope the ride doesn’t end right at this moment.

I have, in the down times been attempting to try new things. Like sculpture. Here are some photos of my first attempt, that I am still working on.

It will hopefully eventually be some sort of moth/man/vagina face cedar totem. Right now it just looks like a big stump that someone has been hacking away like a mad one-armed and blind butcher.

I am okay with this, for even if in the end my totem of weirdness ends up as nothing more than a giant splintery toothpick I have learned an incredible amount of respect. Respect for those ancient sculptors of Easter Island, the tribal sculptors of the Northwest, the classical sculptors of Europe, actually anyone who has picked up a piece of wood or stone and has been able to craft it into their detailed imagination flawlessly. Especially those that have had to use the more archaic of tools.

I do have another new painting done though.
"The Wishing Well"

Cheers
tyson

at a loss for words

2009-06-01T05:19:00.007-05:00

all week i had been conjuring up variations on what i was going to put here today. i expanded on several subjects, opened new doors of conversation, and succintly established my position on a couple of world issues. that last one was more for my benefit than anyone else.

then i get here and i'm spent.

i used the last two days to clean/re-arrange/rewire my studio and finish a couple of paintings that were bugging me. sent out emails looking for illustration work. watched my son "graduate" from preschool to kindergarten, watched my oldest daughter play a really good game of soccer, and went swimming with the middle daughter and son.

like i said, i'm spent.

oh here is the landscape of the week. experimenting, playing, trying to not do my "thing" all the time.

and this is my new clean open spaced studio.

and this is the the painting i did for the neil gaiman/amanda palmer housing works benefit show in its final real stage. i am thankfully finally getting away from that digital tit.

these and others will be updated to the main site soon.

cheers
have a good week.

true to my word, its sunday

2009-05-24T16:13:00.007-05:00

and that means a landscape.
its in the drying stages,hence all the masking tape. its another watercolor/oil painting called "Beach Closed, Cape Cod winter 2003", taken from my internment on that island/cape.

also, another painting in the works. this started as an "alacartoona, mirror" illustration. then it went a bit awry, so i'm doing my oil enchancements to it. yes sometimes paintings need to be "enchanced".

go see alacartoona this week at crowncenter.

cheers,
tyson

sketches

2009-05-21T17:53:00.008-05:00

so this week is "try and finish ZOEY" week, and watch the entire series of AEON FLUX. AF is badass, i had forgotten how much i loved that show.

next week jeff and i are going to be a part of alacartoona's movie/show. i get killed by a mime. at the bottom of this will be the poster for the show. if you're in kansas city next friday may 29th go check out their show which will be filmed and be a part of the final movie.

i work in a yearbook plant as my dayjob. i look at pages of highschool yearbooks for 8 hours a day and fix fonts, relink pictures, flag inappropriate images or copyrighted images, sending pages back to their customer service reps to have the school fix a page beyond my job description (sometimes 3 or 4 times for the same problem), and basically try and find ways to keep from bashing my head into the monitor to put me out of my misery.

one of those ways is to sketch, or write the begin-ings of a couple hundred story ideas. i am only allowed to use red ink on all of my paperwork, so there's a lot of red pens laying around, and red stamp pads and stamps. i might start bringing in some of my own stamps and stamp the pages that go back to the schools. little devils with bat wings and dildos stuck in various orifices.

here are some of the sketches i've done this week. two of them will becoming paintings, one i've already started.
cheers

t

landscape sunday

2009-05-18T05:33:00.003-05:00

i received a call for artists for a landscape show here in kc. now, normally i would toss such a thing without much thought about the matter...i'm not much of a landscape artist, but it was with a gallery that i had shown with several times before and were usually pretty open to experimentation.

the call was open to any artist, any medium, and traditonal landscape (although an option) was not a requirement.

this was good except that i don't have any landscapes. i woke up sunday and decided that sundays felt like a landscape sort of day of the week. i'm going to try and keep to this "schedule" of a landscape every sunday. we'll see how long that lasts.

but this is my first "sunday landscape", simply titled LANDSCAPE. and who says oil and water don't mix. i'm on to something here i think.

once it dries i will get a direct scan but for now the photo will have to do.

watching movies

2009-05-17T09:37:00.004-05:00

in a rather bored disinterested kind of way while waiting for perry to come home from babysitting for the daytons, i draw. i sketch. i push ink or graphite around in an absentminded sort of way. and this is what i come up with sometimes.

Dante

2009-05-16T08:30:00.003-05:00

I have always been a fan of Dante. Even before I had read The Inferno. The illustrations by Dore were a favorite of mine whenever I could run across them in the school library. The Divine Comedy itself is plush and gorgeous, although Purgatory and Paradise seem like second rate movie sequels to The Inferno. Needless to say, but the work has inspired and spurred my own work on in many ways.

A few years ago I had the pleasure of viewing William Blakes unfinished watercolors on the Inferno, even bought the show catalog book. Recently I have been reading books that have some sort of Dante/Inferno tie in. The Dante Club and The Gargoyle. The later is by far the best, and is now on my list of “must read again.” I find it difficult to describe the book, it deals with everything from the agony of severe burns to moral reinvention, immortality and schizophrenia, so here’s a blurb taken from the random house catalog website-

“The narrator of The Gargoyle is a very contemporary cynic, physically beautiful and sexually adept, who dwells in the moral vacuum that is modern life. As the book opens, he is driving along a dark road when he is distracted by what seems to be a flight of arrows. He crashes into a ravine and suffers horrible burns over much of his body. As he recovers in a burn ward, undergoing the tortures of the damned, he awaits the day when he can leave the hospital and commit carefully planned suicide—for he is now a monster in appearance as well as in soul.

A beautiful and compelling, but clearly unhinged, sculptress of gargoyles by the name of Marianne Engel appears at the foot of his bed and insists that they were once lovers in medieval Germany. In her telling, he was a badly injured mercenary and she was a nun and scribe in the famed monastery of Engelthal who nursed him back to health. As she spins their tale in Scheherazade fashion and relates equally mesmerizing stories of deathless love in Japan, Iceland, Italy, and England, he finds himself drawn back to life—and, finally, in love. He is released into Marianne's care and takes up residence in her huge stone house. But all is not well. For one thing, the pull of his past sins becomes ever more powerful as the morphine he is prescribed becomes ever more addictive. For another, Marianne receives word from God that she has only twenty-seven sculptures left to complete—and her time on earth will be finished.”

brain exploding

2009-05-14T21:06:00.003-05:00

jeff irvine and myself have recently completed a poster to benefit Housing Works in NYC. the show is apparently sold out but the posters will be for sale. we're pretty proud of this one.
housing works check them out, good cause.
cheers

digital painting how i love and hate thee

2009-05-05T05:57:00.004-05:00

I resisted the whole introduction of digital elements to my work for years. Not even liking to have their photos touched up for scratches and stuff. It always bothered (and still does) that there isn't an "original" piece that you can hold in your hands that looks like the one on screen. Maybe I am a little to oldschool for thinking this way, but I like feeling the weight and grain of the paper things are painted on. And no matter what you try its not the same with a digital print.

Then jeff (my partner in Gravity-ink ) showed me how to do some brushes and textures in photoshop.

It has been downhill since then.

Lately I have been less than concerened about contrast and the weight of color used because “I’m going to play with it in photoshop”. This is going to stop right now. I’m in the process of developing a way for me to create the layers and textures that I’ve been doing in photosop live on the watercolor painting. Now most of you will probably be all “wha? Just use oil or acrylic” yeah, right. My attempts with both of those mediums has been ….lets just say, less than worthy of public consumption. Especially on the small scale that I do most of my illustration, large scale, it is no problem. Me an oils get along great. 12x18 inches…not so much.

Just as an experiment, there are two paintings on my website homepage (www.thegreatandsmall.com) that are watercolors with some digital painting done to them. I am now in the process of trying to recreate (and improve upon) them with this new process. Once its done, for good or ill, I will post comparison pics.

Things you should check out:

www.myspace.com/themedicinetheory
we have a new video up called “I killed Amanda” which was done with our friends from Alacartoona.
www.alacartoona.com
wonderful theater/cabaret/jazz/rock band. They’re working on filming a movie and need your support.
http://www.humanwine.org/
fucking awesome vaudville/folk/punk improv band from boston currently playing dates in Portland and Seattle this week before heading back to boston for the summer.

Cheers
Tyson

new things

2009-05-02T07:42:00.005-05:00

this is a poster done for alacartoon recently. a more indepth update will be coming soon.

go to myspace.com/themedicinetheory to see our new video called "i killed amanda"

t

confused

2009-04-21T05:55:00.003-05:00

i really don't know how or why people are able to keep up with these running accounts of their thoughts, and day to day...crap.
i constantly see "new blog posted" or "read the new blog at ...". are there really people out there that religously read these things? that care on a daily basis (or weekly or..)?

finishing out some planned projects. trying to clear out the plate before school starts in the fall. i need a clear way.
so on deck is:
finish "zoey"
finish "i beat 10 gobblins..."
finish "the abandoned well" (this last one needs to get done cause i need to find a printer and get sets of playing cards made before october)

waiting for jeff to finish the "ikilledamanda" video is starting to drive me batty.

there...an update.
t

good christ its easter

2009-04-12T08:07:00.002-05:00

the smell of eggs is filling up the house. I will be eating hard boiled eggs for at least a week. The kids will give up after two days.

I am in a bit of euphoric limbo right now. I was just accepted to the animation program at the Kansas City Art Institute. My brain is swimming with all sorts of “yes yes yes” but the kicker is I need to find the money now. And lots of it. Plus there is the whole “ now you actually have to do it.” Factor. Put your art where your mouth is buddy.

t

time time time

2009-03-20T19:02:00.004-05:00

so much i want to do. and right now i have time on my hands, but i find it difficult to pick ONE thing and start.

last weekend actually accomplished something. finished two videos for (the) medicine theory go to http://www.myspace.com/themedicinetheory to view them. i am very happy with Metropolis, since it features my first ever attempt at stop motion animation. TheFall is pretty cool on its own, and is good representation of "in the moment, no script, no storyboard" filming and editing.

lets recap a bit:
1. medicine theory starting to do shows again, new material in the works, new cd being recorded. we're playing april 17th at the brick in kc with novalus and one tba.
2. med theory video for "i killed amanda" is in the process of being edited.
3. jeff and i have been commissioned to do a mural that is 9feet by 15feet in....wait for it....athens,greece. i know where my wife and i are going on vacation next year.
4. trying to go back to school for animation. so of course i pick the most expensive school in kc to do it. working out funding.
5. still working on the "zoe vs. mt fama" childrens book. it is turning out to be harder than i thought. trying to illustrate in the style that i am. plus having written it.
6. realized today that one of my artistic idols, francis bacon, would hate my work.
7. missing one of the best shows in seattlle next month....the family curse and made out of babies. look them up. minds will be melted.
8. trying to convince NIN and Janes Addiction to let me do a poster for the kansas city show in exchange for tickets. art, its the only currency i truly have.
9. "singing" in a new band. current names up for consideration are "bitter", "wired shut", and "GIMMICK". vote for one.
10. i read a book called "the gargoyle". hands down one of the best books i've read in a long time. it now sits on my favorites list which includes:tropic of capricorn, fight club, treasure island, the inferno (if you read the book you'll see the irony), fear and loathing in las vegas, dr. jekyl and mr. hyde, lord of the flies, the catcher in the rye, and where the wild things are.

wow, i made a top ten list.

ok

2009-03-03T04:38:00.005-06:00

1. opening for martin bisi....kick ass. played well, had a blast.
2. watching season to risk the following night...even more kick ass.
3. video for "i killed amanda" is underway, with the assistance of alacartoona filling in for amanda and making it their own (see http://www.myspace.com/themedicinetheory for stills).
4. double disc of Pi, Requiem for a Dream arrived with Pans Labrinth and the graphic novel of The Fountain with illustrations by kent williams....geekdom has been achived and confirmed.
5. two art shows open this weekend. THE HUMAN FIGURE SHOW at the Hilliard Gallery in kansas city (404 E 18th St) i have one piece in and also "Gig posters: Teh art of music promotion" at the kentucky museum of art and craft (715 west main st., louisville, kentucky) jeff and i (as Gravity-ink) have three of our posters in.
6. new cafepress store of debauchery (http://www.cafepress.com/auntiechrist)...just go, it will make more sense once you see it.
carry on
t

the grind continues

2009-02-22T07:20:00.004-06:00

trying to get things off of my "to-do" list. trying.
not real successful though. i need spring. winter is no good for getting things done.

shooting final scenes of the "i killed amanda" video today. go to www.myspace.com/themedicinetheory to hear the song. friday playing the record bar with martin bisi.

be on the look out for a new cafepress store called "auntie christ" should be funny products about jesus.

friday the 13th

2009-02-15T08:09:00.002-06:00

the friday night art show/party my sister hosted for me went very well. got paintings infront of people that normally wouldn't have come to see one my shows. food was good, drinks were good, art purchases were minimal but very good.

i'm feeling the need though, to shut down a bit. crawl into the studio and just create for a while, not worry too much about showing/sales. i'm in artistic limbo right now.

the project list is getting to long for me to do that. i need to learn to say "no" once in a while.

back to work.

youtube

2009-02-08T21:52:00.009-06:00

i have recently added some videos to youtube. yes, i have succumbed.
one is the first (and only of any kind of personal quality) animation. i was learning so its not "good", but it is fair for a self taught endeavor.
the other two are portfolio movies of some of my paintings.
go to http://www.youtube.com/bastimag to view.
soon there will be the video for (the) medicine theory's song "i killed amanda" which we wrote and recorded for an amanda palmer tribute podcast. the song is up on our myspace page http://www.myspace.com/themedicinetheory and on the 22nd we will be filming the main parts of the video with the assitance of our friends in Alacartoona.

i'm 36 now, my birthday was this last week. starting anew i hope.

go. paint.

sculpture

2009-02-04T04:13:00.003-06:00

as if i dont' have enough to do already.
my neighbor had a tree cut down from the side of his house this last fall. in the process i became the owner of a 5 foot tall, 18in diameter, cedar trunk. what the fuck am i going to do with this?

around christmas i finally stripped the bark with a draw knife.

last weekend i finally bought the chisels to carve it. i wacked away at it for a good three hours and stopped after i had hit my hand with the mallet for the 5th time in a row.

i have a new respect for people who carved statues out of marble. this is wood, soft, relatively easy to cut and carve. that was marble.

i will be attacking the stump again soon, and either i'm going to make some sort of giant toothpick or some sort of abstracted human figure that will confound my neighbors when i put it in the yard.
t

i'm horrible

2009-01-28T05:45:00.003-06:00

at keeping this updated. either i'm too boring, or i forget. so i'll do the quick rundown of current projects, things on the horizon.

"zoey vs. mt.fama" a childrens book i'm illlustrating
"the tale of manchester gravy" a comic book/graphic novel i'm shopping around
(the) medicine theory is writing new songs, recording a new cd, preparing for austin and working up a new cover of tom waits "god's away on buisiness"
trying to overcome the fact that its so cold in my studio and actually do some painting.
and i think thats it. aside from the day to day domestic stuff, like saxlessonsballetlessonfencinglessonsswimlessonsschoolplayshomework
cleanthehousecleanthegaragecleanthe
studio ect.

dreams

2009-01-12T05:37:00.003-06:00

i've been having odd dreams as of late. last night i was observing a car chase/wreck that took place in a parking lot. one of the drivers, i only caught a glimpse of him, looked familiar but not quite. after the wreck, just before i woke up, i was helping check to make sure people were ok and i was comforting two kids that hadn't been buckled up but appeared to be ok. just very scared. trying not to let them move. their mother looked dead and was unresponsive.
thats when i woke up.

all i want for christmas

2008-12-23T05:55:00.002-06:00

i wish the list was that easy. one thing to make everything...alright. but it is obviously more complicated than that. i mean for starters i would like to grow a beard. i'm in my mid thirties and after three arduous weeks of growth i look like (most) 15yr olds. scraggly, and patchy. this is a sad situation, seeing as how i've wanted to grow a beard since i was 8 and my uncle, who looked like grizzly adams, had his beard burned off in a lawnmower/gas/cigarette/beer explosion. why that moment, i don't know, but it was a defining one. so here is the short list, rather, what i can think of right at this moment.

1.financial security
2.endless paints, papers, and canvases
3.a "new" mid '60's Slingerland drumset
4.college fullride scholarships for all my kids
5.to be able to work from home...painting, art making
6.warm winters
7.a home in B.V.I.
8.to be fluent in Spanish, French, and German
9.to own a francis bacon painting
10.a new government (one that has been purged of cronies of anysort)
11.1st ed. of 'treasure island'
12.the 'gorey house'....(really its gorgeous and should be a private residence)
13.10 hours a day of uninterrupted creativity and productivity
14.there's no such thing as world peace, so i'll settle for a status qou of small, nonleathal, skirmishes where all parties involved get remind the other parties just what badasses they are and how no one can tell them what to do.
15.and of course...to grow a beard.

the list should be longer shouldn't it?

one fine day

2008-12-07T21:45:00.002-06:00

i decided i needed a new computer. i mean the imac rev.jim gave was working fine, just a bit outdated. running a bit slow. and it was hard to see the window seemed so small. so i saved and i scrimped, begged, borrowed and even mugged an old lady last tuesday and now, i have my own very new computer. sigh. once i get photoshop working all will be right. i might even get used to this flat-assed keyboard that is all the rage these days.

creation through destruction

2008-10-30T10:07:00.003-05:00

i recently decided it was time for some paintings to go. not to sell not to cut up or give away, they needed to birth new works. their time here was done, they did what they needed to, now it is time for them to be a part of something new. 10 paintings in all. 1993-2006. now gesso'd over, and drying waiting for a fresh start. i love the blank canvas as much as i despise it. the possibilities make me giddy. the fear of starting feeds the need to start.

art archive sale

2008-09-10T13:03:00.000-05:00

sat. sept 13
> 9705 w. 96th street, overland park, ks
> 4-8pm
> prints $5 and up
> drawings and water color paintings $10-$100
> oil paintings $50 and up
> poster originals (1995 to present)$20 and up
> plus the special "make me an offer" pile.

dates

2008-08-30T06:44:00.001-05:00

i'm horrible with a calender, especially one where 'sunday' is the last day on a row, i've just grown to read that last block as 'saturday'. so now knowing that about my calender...my october opening is SATURDAY the 11th in artists row (salem, ma) at the Experimental Gallery.

still working on it

2008-08-26T09:24:00.002-05:00

trying this again. although, i'm going to attempt to host it on my website to make my whole updating news a little easier.
www.thegreatandsmall.com
i've got books, paintings, and prints available if you're interested.

test

2008-08-26T06:49:00.001-05:00

um...hello