The Soon-To-Be-More-Famous Artist Named Nemo

Logos and No-gos

2012-01-30T09:09:00.000-08:00

One of the best parts of owning your own business (at least for me) is that you can pretty much do whatever you want advertising and marketing wise. From picking out your own logo to putting your face on everything you produce.

I spend a great deal of brain power thinking up crazy ideas I could put on a shirt or use on packaging or whatever. Most of the time I just have the idea and do nothing with it. Although every now and then I will actually draw up the idea and use it somewhere. I have had more bombs than I’d like to admit, but there lies the beauty in it, its my company and I can do whatever I want to do. So if I want to put “art by nemo” in the Harley Davidson logo, I can do that.

I have had a few of these logos, which I call no-gos, put on t-shirts or used as my avatars online. I have gotten a lot of crap for doing so. Like once I had my Starbucks logo (scroll down to see it on this blog) online and someone said I was confusing people and they would think I stopped selling art and started selling coffee. I for one don’t think people are that stupid, but I guess she was. Then the same logo on a t-shirt this time, I was walking around downtown Denver and a lady stops me, reads my shirt, starts laughing like a crazy lady as she walks off, come to think of it, she could have been a crazy lady. Also once at a restaurant I had on my G.I. Joe t-shirt and the cashier said he recognized the logo but didn’t know what “nemo” was. I’m sure he wished he did.

I was also told by a good twitter friend that she dared anyone to get more creative with their marketing. However, skateboard companies have been doing it for decades, which is where I got it from (a Facebook friend Michael Sieben already blogged about it). Its fun to do and I have to have a hobby right? Can't be drawing circles all day can I?

So have fun in your marketing and don’t worry too much about what people think, as long as you're having fun that should be all that matters.

What job could be better? We have no rules, no nothing telling us we should do something one way or another, there’s no right or wrong. Only thing is we gotta keep going, keep at it, keep planning and keep working hard.

10th Anniversary

2012-01-22T10:10:00.000-08:00

The Diamond Anniversary, well well well, haven’t we come a long way since that first time I took a brush to the base of an architectural model in a design class back in college. I got a job, got fired, worked freelance, tried to be an artist, went back to the company that fired me then quit to become a real artist. Wow, if only I could go back and tell that guy sitting in that cubicle listening to the audio book, Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, that it would all somehow work out.

Well, to start, since we had our first real art show in November, I guess our real anniversary isn’t till then, but we already lined up a solo show at Art SA which is our gallery in our home town. Out of the 10 years we have been making, showing and selling art about 7 of them have been there, so it only makes since to be there celebrating this.

So in honor of our 10th Anniversary of making art I am going to do a series of 10 pieces in which each one shows a different style I have experimented with along the way. I can already see them on the wall. Over the past 10 years I have done quite a bit of different styles in different looks. In a few of the early shows I’ve done I got comments about it, like once I had 7 pieces up at a video store and some guy asked if they were school works and if each piece was a different lesson. But it taught me about having a consistent and cohesive body of work. However, lucky for you, I went through that so I can share it with you. So now I gotta get on that and make em.

I know I’m still a baby in this art world, however, I know I am not promised another 10 years, so I want to take this opportunity to blow my 10th anniversary out of proportion. But it does make me wonder if any other artist has pulled something off like this or even cared about mile stones such as these?

Did you folks do anything special for your 1st year, 5 year, 10 year, 30 year anniversary? Did you even notice it was passing you by?

My Life With A Mercedes Benz

2012-01-10T10:40:00.000-08:00

our Mercedes Benz Sprinter

I have never been a person who thought of themselves as the type to want a fancy car.

When I was little I never looked at fancy cars and thought I wanted one. All I ever wanted a new skateboard and a beer (yes, I was that kid). When we were looking at vans to buy and how to deck them out we always googled “Dodge Sprinter”. We went to the “Dodge” site to see them and whenever we heard of a used one to look at it was always a Dodge.

Well, 2010 was the first year Mercedes sold Sprinters in the US. And if you have never seen the two vans next to each other you don’t know the true meaning and value of what “Branding” can do for you. I mean the two vans look the same, run on the same engine, use the same diesel and can be converted into an RV the same way, but you slap a "peace sign" Mercedes Benz logo on the front and you will get people running across the parking lot to say “nice rig” and ask you how much you spent.

A Dodge Sprinter

First of all, we went with a van because we felt it was going to be easier to park in outta the way places and we got it in a dark color to hide well at night. Well, well, well, that bright sliver logo squashed that notion.

You wouldn’t believe how many times I hear “oooo you must be doing good for yourself”.

Do people really believe FedEx and SunChips started doing better now that they drive Mercedes Sprinters around? Are plumbers all of a sudden doing better? Nope, same van and miraculously, same price.

I mean, I love our van but its nothing special, its just a big Dodge van with a Mercedes logo on it. But like I said, it is a great education in branding.

I now understand how branding makes someone think what they are seeing is valuable.

I was at a show and a guy came up to check out our van and was going on and on about it and I said something about "if it was a Dodge he wouldn’t have come over" and he said if it was a Dodge it wouldn’t have made it all the way there, what? Really? That is powerful right there.

As artists we also need that branding power, so when someone walks into somebody’s home and sees a piece of original art, you want them to make comments like that too. So how do we get there?

Familiar Vs. Different

2012-01-06T09:13:00.000-08:00

Could it be in order to be successful at art shows you need to have a familiar style? Could it be when your work is too different you suffer?

In order to become successful you must first become familiar.

Maybe Nike isn’t successful because they have the best shoe out there, maybe it's because they put a gazillion dollars into their marketing campaigns. They have some of the top athletes wearing their logos. They are familiar to millions of people.

People know when they are looking at an oil painting of sunflowers that it's good art. It has been hammered into them that great art has to be done in oil paint (and we all know famous paintings of sunflowers don’t we?) Don’t make me post my picture in Kansas with one. But when someone sees something completely new or so different they don’t know what to think, it makes things a little harder.

I know, I know, you folks out there reading my blog might not think this way and might even welcome new stuff into your life everyday. I’m talking about the masses out there who I come in contact with every weekend. I do meet about 1000 people every weekend, 40 to 50 weekends out of the year. I have seen some people really get turned off by some artists work, their prices and the way they act.

What is your take on this subject? Are you someone who likes the familiar? Do you go to the same restaurants? Order the same things? Buy the same shoes? Or is your goal to always do something new, and yes, Different?

Goals II

2012-01-02T07:29:00.000-08:00

We make resolutions and goals to strive for more, right? Shoot for the moon and if you miss at least you're among the stars type thing. Well here I go again. As 2011 comes to a close and I look towards a new year and a new chance to grow to became the greatest Nemo I can be and find even greater opportunities.

As most of you know I play the game of chance and often call what we do “gambling” so I cant really plan what happens to me and my career, but I can plan on being at the right place at the right time by being everywhere all the time. So with that I lay down my 1st goal for 2012, “to finish off this tour and hit every state we can drive to”. Sounds easy enough, right? Just keep doing what we are doing and in no time we will be round the US. Although another sub-goal of this is to draw a “circlescape” of each state and a few pieces from the cities we spent more time in. Then to find a high profile show to showcase them at, which might help reach goal #3 from yesterday.

However before all that with have to tie up all the loose ends from 2011, our children’s book still has a few months of work left but we need to finish that up before we hit the road again in April (1st show is booked in Austin on the 15th and 16th). We still have a few other things we need to get into play before hitting the road but I will save them for another blog since nothing is set in stone as of yet. Not to mention building a new body of work and a back up supply before we hit the road, but we already sat down and talked about the look of our booth and talked about how we are going to hang pieces and what products we are going to have and where. All we need to do is make it happen.

As most of the things we do we plan many months ahead of time so we have had most of our 2012 planned out and even in some cases mapped out since the summer. We have a big solo show planned for our 10 year anniversary in San Antonio and even may have a show booked in 2013. Art is much like a chess game and we look ahead many moves. So lets all get to work and make this year our year!

Goals I

2012-01-01T12:56:00.000-08:00

I guess its January again and I guess I need to be setting resolutions and goals for the year. First I should go back and read all my past goals to see where I stand today. I have posted quite a bit of them but I’m only going to highlight the best ones.

1. “Get into a gallery in every city that has a professional sports team“, blogged this one on November 29, 2010. Well 1st of all we haven’t even been to all the cities with professional sports teams but there’s plenty of time to work on this one. We really haven’t focused on getting into galleries or even visiting them much. Once we figure out where we do well we will plan on picking up more galleries.

2. Another goal I set right before we went on tour was to be well known from New York to LA. This one is right up there with the cities with sports teams, its just going to take a lot more time and a lot more road.

On September 23, 2009 I made a few good ones that I haven’t come close to meeting.

3. To have an art show where they put my name on the glass or wall with those black letters. Well well well, not even close, but I got my eye on one coming up in 2013 or so. But again this goes along with finding galleries and gallery shows which is something I am not really working on anymore.

4. Last one involving galleries was to get in 5 galleries outside of Texas. Even tho I’m in 2 almost 3, I wasn’t looking for them, it just happened, like much of what I do.

5. Talking about just happening, next goal was to learn about licensing and put it into play and get something going. Well, we picked up a little something-something while we have been on the road (its not all said and done but I will blog about it once its up and ready).

6. I wanted to host some kind of class or workshop, but living in a van on the road its kind of hard to do but we are always on the look out for something. We have spoken to kids and have chatted with many other artists about their art and their careers. So in a way, I guess I’m having a class.

7. The last one I had was something I actually did, to make a series that isn’t just pencil on paper, well more than half the art that’s coming out of the studio is now paint pen and markers on canvas. So there, I got one done.

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne

2011-12-31T10:50:00.000-08:00

I know I said I never really read non-fiction books, but at a show up in Minneapolis a guy was giving me a hard time about my name being nemo and not having read "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea".

And with it being so easy to get and read a book on my phone, I searched for it. Well I found a collection of 20 of Jules Verne books for only $3.99. Now how could I pass that up? Also it’s a lendable book so if anyone wants to read one just send me an e-mail and I would be more than happy to lend it to you. First of all it was really cool to read the name "Captain Nemo" on every other page. Though much of the book was just that dude calling out things he saw - red fish, blue fish, and some parts had me clicking over to find it on a map. The story itself was just ok for my taste, it did give me an insight to how a book about my touring could be done. But the idea that nothing else matters but his crew and the oceans are something I can see, however on land in a van it can't happen. But still the list after list after list kinda put me to sleep, but when the real action came, like when they were stuck in the ice or battling the different fish it was more than welcomed.

Having known very little about Verne, and most of that is thru the steam punk movements and the end of Back To The Future 3, I pictured in my mind what I could piece together from that. I didn’t really have any great visuals on my own, I’m not really as creative as people would think I am. After watching the movies both the 1916 one and the 1950’s one I’m even more mixed up about it all, I might have to read this book again. I did hear a new 3D movie was going to be coming out real soon, so who knows.

See Nemo Draw

2011-12-27T08:52:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

I wanted to share this video link with you. It shows me drawing a cow for a childrens' book we are currently working on. We would like to get the word out about Art by Nemo and the book, Goodnight Dog in the Duck Pond, to help build interest. Please share it through your email contacts, on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter, or what ever other social networks you use. It would be awesome if we could get this to go viral!!!

Enjoy & Thank you!

Why Art Festivals?

2011-12-26T06:58:00.000-08:00

As you folks know I have tried just about everything there is to try out here. But more and more I have been asked about Art Festivals and more about Why? So I wanted to share a little bit about why we put ourselves through the Festival Circuit and what kind of benefit it is to us. Remember kids, do not try this at home, we are highly skilled professionals.

Right now, for us, touring and spreading the love is the way we need to do it to build a following and to brand the art by nemo circle into the brains of the public. You hear over and over how you need to do marketing, how you need to build a brand. Most will tell you, you can do it from home and putting in the “right” key words or using SEOs, and of course by paying them to do if for you. Sure its nice to come out on top when someone Googles your name, but what’s gonna make them want to Google you in the 1st place?

Art festivals aren’t like any other way of selling art, they have everything working against them, they are hard to get into (well the ones you want to be in), they cost money to do (anywhere from $200 to $1000), they are miles and miles from each other, you need to spend as much time planning for one as you do planning a vacation but you never get to rest, they take a toll on your body as you set up your booth, then work the crowd, sometimes standing 2, 3, 4 days 10 to 12 hours a day (forget the week and month long shows), then good or bad, you have to tear everything down and drive home or to the next show. But if you love gambling this is as good as it gets, you can return a winner with big time sales, commissions and deals or come home a big fat loser with no money, no gas, no hope and even less will to continue.

See, I live for the roll of the dice, many different variables take place at art festivals and you can see just about everything. Since these types of shows are open to the public free of charge and often take place in areas with a nice bum population (we do realize we sometime set up in their living rooms when we are in parks and downtown areas) and we have seen it all, from homeless people walking in thinking everything is free, to fancy rich people buying up enough art to fill a new summer home. We have done shows where everyone is coming in the booth and ones where it seems like we are invisible. Shows where tons of people are around (like 300K) and no ones buying anything and shows where we only talk to a hand full of people and everyone buys something. Done shows where we were about running out of product and shows where it’s so slow I have time to draw and we leave with more art than when we came with. I have seen beautiful days, seen rained out shows and seen more tents blow away than I care to count.

But on the other hand, festivals are the best art experience you can have. What we do is a whole other way of living, it’s a sub-culture that is almost what I would image the circus life would be like. We RV, so we stay out in the parking lot with all the other RVers and campers, and when you do as many shows as we do you get to learn who people are and we have made some really great friends. Sometime we have dinner or drink wine over at other peoples RV’s, we have spent weeks with other artists in between shows we are both doing. It’s a real family feeling. Its really great to hear the older guys who have been doing it 30 years plus, they have such great stories about everyone. Though I would never repeat some of the things I have heard, but let me tell you if there was a reality show about artists on the road people would get into it.

All and all as an artist locked away in a studio most of my career, its exciting to run with a bunch of people who are in it for the long haul and who are more concerned with making expenses and making a living than satisfying the critics and what galleries have told us. The best part is you know pretty early on if your work is “good enough” since its put way out there. The public is pretty vocal out here and you can hear it all, the good, the bad and the down right ugly. We all feel for and look out for each other. We sympathize with loses and we cheer at the victories. We are all in it together. Show biz people might say “break a leg” but we have “flip a tent”.

Art Pride

2011-12-16T15:54:00.000-08:00

Pride? I have been thinking about this one a lot lately. What is it about the products we buy that makes us want to show them off? Is it the price? Do we need to spend a ton of money to feel good about what we own? Do we need to have people look at what we got and think “damn, they must have money to own one of those”? Most people I know will go into a store, walk up to something they like only to check the price and find it’s the most expensive one. I know most times it happens to me. I have seen it even happen in our booth.

But just spending an insane amount of money on something doesn’t mean you show pride in owning the product does it? it’s the whole experience behind owning something. When we hear about a product over and over, see people with it, even know people with it, soon we will also want it. I know the more something is out there the more and more it wants to get more out there (and double that if someone puts it into a song). I read something about it taking people 5 times to see something before they buy it, I don’t know how true that is but we are trying hard to get to that number 5 view.

I try not to be one of those pushy salesman type in real life or online. I just inform people of what I do and let them come to me. The whole idea behind going on tour was to build brand recognition and to grow a lager fan base. Some things like these just cant be done sitting in your studio dreaming and even if the internet can gain you views from halfway around the world, there’s nothing like going there and shaking hands and smiling with the public. You gotta get out there by being out there and we are out there. I think of myself much like a musician playing gig after gig, playing just one more venue, meeting one more person, making one more fan and building on it.

The most important part of my job is making sure the people who do come in contact with my art know I draw all the circles freehand. Most will walk by and think they are prints and done with a computer. Sometimes people don’t even notice the circles. So education is of the utmost importance. I show people I draw them freehand, I also talk a little about our touring and how we both work on the art and that that’s it, we have no “real” or “daytime” jobs. I want everyone to have a story behind the piece they buy, I want them to say they saw me drawing, they need to be able to look me in the eyes and shake my hand. Some even take pictures with me to put with the piece. That kind of one on one helps give the art value.

Then with a little luck they will share they experience with everyone who asks about the piece on their wall. With their excitement out there burning up city to city the fire will soon catch on. So buy original art with pride, show it off every chance you get. We all have homes, we all have walls, we all have the same things everyone else has, so set yourself apart with art and celebrate your difference. Go ahead and brag about your kid owning more original art than the neighbor’s kid. Invite people over to wittness the unpacking and hanging of an added piece to your collection, tell them the story of how you found it and how the artists made you laugh. So who rocks your walls?

Koi And Dragon Commissions

2011-12-13T08:57:00.000-08:00

Well once again I was BS-ing on Facebook with a girl I met a few years back at The Hope Ball with one of my favorite artists Laurie Maves. It was funny cuz I bumped into one of her boobs during the event but we got to talking about the piece I donated, she took a card, added me to Facebook and here I was bugging her since I take the comment "don’t forget me when your rich and famous" seriously (if you follow me on Facebook or Twitter you know what I mean). Well we were talking about tattoos and she sent me pictures of hers and asked me if I could make a piece inspired by her tattoos. So Hannah and I worked out some sketches and mocked it up for her and she fell in love with it and admitted she had a little "school girl art crush" on me now. Well here’s what we did:

Then she wanted a companion piece that was a little more like a detail piece:

As I posted pics on Facebook while as I was working on them I got a few more commissions for the same pieces, luckily for me my faithful fans give me the opportunity to change the colors and have a little bit of fun with them.

The story of the koi and dragon goes a little something like this: the koi has to fight his way up a waterfall and has to pass a wooden gate to turn into a dragon. Me being born in the year 1976, the year of the dragon, puts this piece close to my heart and I also feel like I’m fighting my way up that waterfall to become a dragon too.

Winter Vacation

2011-12-03T09:05:00.000-08:00

Vacation Holiday Weekend, Yeah Right, you know me and you know taking time off has nothing to do with not working and not planning. But what does a guy do who goes to the Grand Canyon and Mount Rushmore for work and who only works 2 or 3 days outta the week? Good question, I stay put and don’t do anything. Well I might do the same thing regular folks with regular jobs do. I will wake up with the sun, drink coffee, maybe take a little hike, then sit and draw and color, might even have a few late night drunken drawing sessions. I know, I know, that’s the same things I do everyday but this time we aren’t driving around like crazy and we are not setting up a booth. We are staying in Texas in the same spot for a while.

Its all gonna still be rush, rush, around the art offices of Hannah and Nemo but even when there’s tons of work to be done its nothing compared to running all over the nation doing shows. Besides we will be back to that in no time, 3 and a half months is nothing, its just a little winter break. We also need to clean our van and do a little maintenance on it and find a leak somewhere.

Our tour picks back up about Mid-March if everything goes according to plan. Its not up to us its up to the jury who lets us in or keeps us out. But we are looking at a few shows in Texas, Oklahoma, of course back up to Colorado and as many East Coast shows as we can find.

So don’t worry, just because we are taking a few months off its because we have even bigger plans in play that need to be played before we go back to doing what it is we set up to do. I’m just so happy that with each mile we put in we are presented with a new opportunity or some other way of coming closer to making our mark on this world.

Rio Grande Festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico

2011-11-30T07:22:00.000-08:00

Last show of the year, it has been one hell of a long year, racked up 38 shows, seen a lot of stuff, met a lot of people. Put about 27k miles on our van, shredded a belt, got a chip in the window and might need batteries and tries before we hit the road again. But other than that we are going strong and will be eager to take on more come March.

This one in Albuquerque seemed like a good place to stop since we had 2 more back to back shows with this one, but we couldn’t afford one (we weren’t doing so good in Minnesota when the fee had to be paid) and the other we didn’t get into. So instead of heading west we are content with staying in Texas and working. Sorry Arizona and SoCal you wont be seeing us this year.

Before heading out we had a pre-thanksgiving party, with a little less than 40 people at the ranch. Then we washed all our clothes, filled up all our tanks and hit the road. We drove all the way to Carlsbad, NM and stayed at a Wal-Mart then got into Albuquerque late afternoon Wednesday and did a little work.

Setup on Thanksgiving day was easy, we were parked about 50 feet from the door, which was where we stayed all weekend. We had power so that was great, although we had to fight a bit to get water but the sloppy spot worked well. All the organizers were so helpful and kind, it even seemed like they all knew my name and who I was (could be I wear t-shirts and a hat with my logo on them). Coffee and coffee cake was aplenty and the building looked great.

Black Friday or as I refer to it as "Nemo Friday" cuz black nemo just didn’t sound right - Well the lines of people were waiting by the door to get in, the rain held a few people back but people did show up on time. If felt like the early ones knew what they wanted and they were just looking for their artists. However a lot of people I talked to were looking to see new art and not the same ole same ole. Seems we fit that bill and even got a few sales. It did slow down a little after lunch but we did alright. Its cold outside but warm inside. We did our part by buying homemade bread, goat cheese and noodles from the food section of the show. How did you support the small businesses during Black Friday?

Black Saturday or what the online community is calling Small Business Saturday - We start off with frozen water in our van, I didn’t think it messed up anything, it just didn’t let the water run. Luckily no rain and the sun came up. We had a steady flow of people walking in and out of our booth, nothing exciting but nothing disappointing. The other artists all seemed to have mixed reviews of the show, some were banking it topping past shows and some weren’t doing as well, one lady left a day early since she was heading toward the worst show in her life.

Don’t call it a Black Sunday but we got more of the same action from Saturday - We did have a good sale late in the day and a great commission of the Leaning Tower Of Pisa which put us in a good place, still we could have always done better. Best part was load out was super easy and we were outta there before the sun went down.

When talking to other artists we got a lot of “you need to build a name” type talk. Which makes sense in general and when I see people walking in the door walking over to someone buying a piece then walking out it seems to really hit home. To become one of these artist who has a strong following and collectors who make sure to buy a piece or two from their favorite artist every year is mighty powerful. However that takes years and years of work so you might find us back at this show next year building on the foundation we laid out this weekend, plus a few other shows in New Mexico and Art Attacking Arizona (we will make the Southwest love us) is still pretty high on my list. So till next year, its back to Texas and back to working for now.

Fiesta Farm And Trail Rides

2011-11-20T08:16:00.000-08:00

As many of you already know we took on the task of drawing the illustrations for a children’s book one of my collectors wrote. Hannah came up with this beautiful lay out and sketches for the way each page is going to look. Then we went over to a good friend of ours who have the perfect little boy to use as the model for the boy in the book. We live on a cow and goat ranch so we have all the cows and goats to take pictures of all day all night. Down the road was a horse we stopped by to see but we needed more.

When we started looking at our pictures we found nothing was right and we started to think we should be taking more pictures and studying more about every animal we are using in the book. (you folks do know its about a boy on a farm right?). Then the best idea we have had since the beginning of this book, a petting zoo. How could we have overlooked this one?

So with a little help from Google, since I haven’t heard a word about MC Hammer’s search engine, Hannah found Fiesta Farm and we set sail to get the rest of the animals.

We showed up and the lady in charge tells us she was getting all prepared for all the kids to get outta such a big van, sorry but it was only us two. I was really surprised to see a llama just walking around but the little girl grew on me. I focused on the younger animals since I wanted them to be about the age the kids reading the book would be, about 2nd graders I hear, but art lovers of every age will be able to enjoy it as an art piece too. We spent about two hours going from space to space taking 100’s of pictures of pigs, chickens, horses and bunnies. Then we sat around making sure we got the shots we needed then we took even more pictures. We might have just gotten the whole thing done, wont be able to tell till we set them up after our last show for the year.

Ok well this book is on its way, can’t wait to see this sucker done. It has been put on the back burner all this leg of the tour, 4 months is a long time to be waiting to work on something. But its on now, so stay tuned!

Road Pages

2011-11-19T06:56:00.000-08:00

As you folks know I am always looking for ways to better myself and to make my time here in this world as productive as possible. Well today as I was sitting here in the passenger seat as Hannah drives and I thought to myself should I be doing something? Well? shouldn’t I? I can’t draw cuz my circles would come out all jacked up. I could whip out the sketch book or I could write by hand but I really don’t want to take my eyes off the road just in case, I really don’t want to miss the ride. The journey is what its all about, right? So I pulled out the computer to do a little free writing since for the most part I don’t need to look at what I’m typing, yup learned how to type in high school.

So as we barrel down the road I type out what “The Artist’s Way” would call “Morning Pages”. I let it all out what I see (which comes in handy with the blogs I write about getting to a place), what I’m thinking, oh man if I’m not listening to music or talking my brain will keep going a mile a minute and sometimes I have a good idea, most times not. But if I am able to catch a good idea I might have a better chance in turning it into a great idea.

After a few miles say about 1000 or so I tend to rack up quite a long document filled with all kinds of crap. Then I read back and put spaces in between thoughts and start deleting stupid stuff and organizing them by same thoughts and try to get them under headings, most headings come from somewhere in these writings. It really does come out to be mostly crap or me going on and on and on about the same things I went on and on and on about a few miles back. I take about an hour every morning and sift though it all. No plan, no nothing, just playing around with the words to see if anything good can come from it.

Then after all that is said and done I start reading all the bits and pieces and try to make them flow and make sense. A lot of the time when something sounds right to me Hannah has no idea what I’m talking about. But somehow it all comes together and it gets posted for your enjoyment.

So is this BSing about what’s going on really writing? Is this how great writing is made? I don’t know but sometimes I find gold in these BSings and sometimes quotes can come out where you least expect it. I’m just trying to give my mind a break from its self. Ok writers out there, how do you write? How do you overcome being blocked? Share with us how its done.

Boerne Market Days In Boerne, Texas

2011-11-15T07:21:00.000-08:00

We picked this show up last minute since we knew we couldn’t go too long with out having a show, after 2 weekends off we were a bit rusty. We had to relearn how to build our tent, we didn’t know what was going on, we got tired fast...nah we were fine. But it was good to be back in the game and meeting the public. I don’t know what we are gonna do after the longer break we are going to take in a few weeks.

This show being a “market” type show was a real "anything goes" but we knew that going into in so we didn’t bitch at all the crazy crap that was there. But just like people’s fair in Denver it had something for everybody. The crowd was pretty good on Saturday but we didn’t see much action. We were about ready to write this show off. The only good thing was that it was only 100 bucks to play and we broke even pretty quick.

However Sunday was a kicker, we had a collector come around and commission a ton of drawings, prints and Hannah’s can art. We sold another hand full of originals and a few necklaces which rounded this show off really nice. The weather warmed up a bit and had everyone out and about and loving every minute of it. The music was pretty good and not too loud so we could speak to the people that came in the booth.

So about the show, there were tons and tons and tons of vendors selling just about everything you could imagine. I was referred to as “the guy with the art” more than once by the other vendors. A few people who wanted to see art were pleased we were there too. The crowds seemed to have money and if they wanted something they got it. Set up and tear down was good, parking was great, all in all not that bad of a show, although we might not do it again but only cuz of timing not the style of the show.

On to Albuquerque to our last show of the year which puts us at 38 for the year. We checked the weather and its already cold over there, we might hit the snow, at least its an indoor show. We really racked up the commissions and we still need to work on our children’s book and I want to start thinking about what it is I want to do for 2012, its going to be our 10 year anniversary of art by nemo. I want to do something big but I haven’t got a clue what, would love any ideas if you good folks have any.

How Do You Keep Growing? How Do You Keep Getting Better?

2011-11-11T11:23:00.000-08:00

I am asked by a lot of artists about growth and pushing the envelope and am often "ragged on" for being the type of artist who would kick out koi drawing after koi drawing because they sell. But the truth is I am always pushing myself in one way or another.

First of all, I work crazy hours which would drive the regular artists insane (well if something else didn’t drive them there first) then on top of that I’m on tour, oh yeah, not just a “I’m going to do 5 shows this summer tour.” Nope, a full blown “rock star” type tour with tours dates every weekend coast to coast. Sure I appear to make koi fish and humming birds every other week since it pays the bills and lately more pet commissions to fill the biggest gallery in the world and 2 annexes.

But growth doesn’t always have to involve changing styles or subjects, it only means you have to do something new to you, and learn from it; grow from it. Ever since my days in an architecture firm I would always say “the day I don’t learn something is the day I quit” so I’m big into learning and trying new stuff. From trying new subjects to trying new media to trying to set up our booth in new ways to see how people flow within it, to hanging art up in different ways and places to see what’s the hot spot.

But you know me, and that’s not all this blog is about, we have tackled some pretty important other things one can do with art, such as labels and licensing. And giving our try into drawing children’s books. It is interesting to see how far my work has come. We went from drawing nothing but black, grey and white women on only paper which we would have to frame, to multiple colors on claybord and drawing mostly landscapes. In my long exploration into drawing circles I have added the dots in a circle (aboriginal borrowed style) which I learned to do while drawing a "drawing a day" many years ago. I went back to canvas and playing with markers and paints and switching between them all and having the most fun I have ever had making my art.

Even blogging here today is a push in a different direction, I have always wanted to be a writer and in some small way I am here writing my life away with out any restriction or hesitation. In my life I do exactly what I want to do, however I have to finish a sure selling humming bird before I try a new subject and if I want to do some crazy piece that I have no idea how its gonna come out it better have a koi in it so at least someone will love the fish enough to buy it. But that only means I have grown enough to be able to keep doing what we do and not have to go back to the daily grind of an 8 to 5 real day job. Sure we spend more time thinking about how the hell we are doing to pay this month's bills, but it never really seems like work.

The best growth for a successful art business is the kind that can’t be measured and happens organically without trying. The kind that you can only see after years and years of hard work looking back on how things used to be. We just work hard and we keep working no matter what, so if you wanna grow don’t actively try to grow like hanging from a bar so you can grow taller, wont happen, just do what you do and sure enough as your gonna get older your gonna get better. How do you do it? Do you set out to grow? Do you only notice growth after all the hard work is done? Do you even care?

How Much Can An Artist Do?

2011-11-07T09:53:00.000-08:00

How much can any one artist do before people start to say “I’m tired of hearing about them”? I have known a few artists who work their asses off to build a name, do some stuff, get people to know who they are, then outta nowhere you stop hearing about them.

What happens to them? Is it that they just fall off? Do they think they don’t have to work anymore? Do they change their minds about what it is they wanted to do? Did they get some bad press? Is it that once you become a big fish in a small pond and you can’t swim around you die?

How much can you do? Have a show once a month? Donate art and attend the events every chance you get. Paint murals on the sides of businesses? Come out a few times in the paper and on TV. Work with the kids and teach them how to become artists. Start helping out other artists by currating shows. Get a TV show or some type of popular platform to broadcast to a larger following. Get your work in a few galleries and shops around town, show in every other café. Hang art in hotel lobbies, airports. Sell t-shirts and have almost everyone and their moms wearing your brand. Take out a billboard?

I have been wondering how much is too much? I myself don’t ever see us being too much in one place since we move around so much, but do I need to keep going back to states and cities over and over? When have I blogged too much about what I’m doing? When are people online going to tire of hearing about my art and seeing the same pictures over and over? I mean is anyone tired of Hello Kitty or Paul Frank? How about Ed Hardy?

I’m not saying I’m anywhere near these guys who are everywhere doing everything. I’m asking - is there a point when too much is too much and is it possible for someone in this day and age to get there? I have asked a ton of questions and I want a ton of answers. Then maybe I can provide an answer blog where I can sum it all up. Thank you.

There’s No Place Like Home

2011-11-06T07:04:00.000-08:00

As you folks know I’m from Texas and so is Hannah, most of our family and friends all live in Texas, and yes of course all our exes live in Texas. I wanted to share with you all some of the places where we spend the most time while we are here. We are always on the look out for any place to park while on the road and a home away from home is always a nice find. I only blog about these things as a way to let you the blog readers and online peeps see if there’s anything in your life which might fit the bill.

First up is our “home home”. This is where we say we live if asked, we have a PO box here and we spend most of our down time here, it’s Comfort, Texas. Because of its ease and proximity to family, not to mention cool name, we choose Comfort as our residence. (I need to come up with a sticker using their slogan “I found Comfort in Texas”). Most of the farm/ranch type drawings I have been producing are in some way inspired by this place. Cows and goats roam freely around the camp grounds which are easy to photograph. There is just so much wild life around, trees, old farm equipment and as always the Texas Hill Country is lovely no matter what season your in, even drought. We try to get out and walk the 27 miles of trails as much as we can but there’s always something to do that involves the out doors.

Now on to our new home away from home away from home in Bastrop, Texas,

Bastrop is wonderful because of its closeness to Austin which is a city I have always been fond of and have always wanted to do more in but since our gallery closed we haven’t had much of a reason to go there, but now we do. The first time I had been to this area of Texas I fell in love with the tall pines and now we get to live among them. Looking up at tall pines when the wind blows is an amazing thing, however picking pine needles out of everything is not. If you heard about the Texas Wild Fires which just happened a few months ago you might have heard about Bastrop. It was hit pretty bad and it was sad to come down the highway and see all the burned up trees, then tragic to see all the left over’s of houses, trailers and cars that we remembered from before the fires. Many people lost everything and from what I saw around the area only a handful of houses were still there, although some untouched, I’m sure the emotional strain was at times unbearable.

We talked to a guy out there who was looking at our van and he said his wife and him lost everything and were thinking of getting an RV and hitting the road. I’m all up for the lifestyle change since we do the same thing as much as we can. The trees will grow back and people will build their homes again but wild fires are almost as common as wild flowers, its getting hotter and drier as the years go on. So here’s to some rain, but keep it to the week days cuz I don’t need another rained out show.

So in another attempt to put Texas on the map we bounce around to everything and anything we can find here, building our name and getting as many eye balls on my art as possible. When you see me in your town please ask where the most comfortable place in Texas is and I’ll tell you.

A 2 Week Vacation

2011-10-31T08:44:00.000-07:00

In the year and a half that we have been on this crazy tour of ours, we have never taken 2 weekends off. We have had a few 1 weekends off but only because we didn’t get into a show and we couldn’t find a pick-up show quick enough. On those weekends off we sit here in the van staring at each other wondering what the hell are we gonna do with ourselves. We often regret not having a show to do and wish we were showing somewhere, anywhere. We live off my art and sometimes live show to show so when there’s no show there’s no money coming in.

We did have a pretty good show last weekend and with all the commissions we racked up we should do fine taking this little break. Which brings me to the “real” vacation part, we lined up a whopping 9 commissions online and at our past 2 shows, which is a good thing since we didn’t know what we were going to do during this break. I had wanted to work on the children’s book but that is a whole other ball game and beast in itself.

The cooler weather coming in nicely. I know, I know, I’m from Colorado where they just got hit with 12 inches of snow, so how could this little wind be cood? Well it feels good to finally run the heater and to be in the van listening to the howling wind and making art.

We got to party a little bit for the Halloween Season, which I drank a little too much on Saturday, which lead to a nothing filled Sunday, which also lead to an almost nothing filled Monday. Although I did finish the “Owl” piece I was working on at the last two shows and its just scary enough to share on Halloween.

And now we are off to go check out our new home away from home (away from home I guess) but still always at home. This might actually make a great blog about the places we call home, and no folks its not "down by the river". Stay tuned...

The Shops At La Cantera Art Festival In San Antonio, Texas

2011-10-24T14:05:00.000-07:00

As always easy setup, easy tear down in what might be the most beautiful mall in San Antonio. We setup on Thursday, which as you all know I love setting up the day before the show, and we even sold a few pieces which was a great start to a wonderful weekend. I cart in and out everything on a little dolly so I get some much needed exercise. We stayed out a little bit longer which works as an extra night and in some cases can result in a few early sales.

Friday was pretty slow but for us, Fridays and Mondays at art fairs are always slow. We did chat with a lot of people and made some great connections and even sold a few pieces. We were open long hours from 9am to 10pm, but from about 3pm on there was a nice energy about the place that I liked, not to mention all the beautiful women in sexy heels. At some point it turned into a high paced show. We ended the night drinking wine with our friends in their bus in the parking lot.

Why more artists dont RV is beyond me. It’s the best way to cut out the overhead of doing these shows. Out of the 60 or so artists I think I only counted about 5 RV’s or trailers and 1 or 2 people just sleeping in their vans. I need to write a blog about the differences in all the different types of artists living on the “circuit”.

Saturday was even better, tons of people and tons of ordered commissions (yup that means you're gonna have to put up with my commissions for a few more weeks, well if you follow me on Twitter and Facebook). We ended up having one of our best days which we really needed. Although Sunday was slow the show turned out great. And even though the price to do the show is a little higher than we want to pay we just might be back at this one next year.

I talked to many other artists and people and it seemed like everyone was complaining about advertizing but many of the customers I talked to read about it somewhere and the people who were complaining weren’t buying, they were just complaining, which seems that even if they did know they would just be complaining about something else. Although the artist's success was up and down across the board, you can’t criticize the show for that, and you cant give up on what you're doing. We always question what we are doing on bad shows. But good show or bad show we do almost the exact same things, so you can never say what works and what doesn’t work. Its like waiting for lighting to strike. But if you're not out there you will never get hit.

So for our “Big Texas Shoot Out” we came out on top with the loving support of our home base of family and friends. We got to see a lot of old coworkers and had family members bring us meals and we took the time to catch up with everyone. Couldn’t ask for a better way to start a much needed break from the art shows. So after about a year and a half we finally get 2 back to back weekends with no shows, then one in the Hill Country in Texas then one in New Mexico then a much need rest from touring to work on my book (blogs about all this stuff to come later).

Georgetown Art in Square In Georgetown, Texas

2011-10-18T07:19:00.000-07:00

We didn’t make any new art for this show since I was so busy with commissions and not to mention we didn’t need any due to the rained out show last weekend. But you know what they say “when your tent gets full of rain and mud, you gotta hose it off and get back out there".

Best part about this show it was only about 2 and a half hours away from us and the setup time was later in the day so we could wake up at a normal time and drive there and not be rushing around like crazies. Setup up is easy if you go in early, dump your stuff off on the side walk and get the hell outta there, then all you have to do is wait and catch up with all the other artists and talk about the rained out show from the week before.

Once again this was a sort of slow show and everyone who I spoke to who did the show last year had a negative attitude towards the turn out and success of the show. It was having an effect on the newbies too, and even though I heard one guy say he had a 0 show and another guy said it was his worst show of the year, it seemed like most people had a pretty good show. I guess last year turned a few people off since the show was a bit smaller than before but we like the smaller show and love the women behind the show. Although a lot of the artists seemed iffy on coming back and we too are a bit iffy, but only cuz it’s one of the more expensive shows we have done this year.

As always the artists party was fun and we got to walk around the courthouse and check everything out. We drank way too much wine and had a hard time waking up the next morning but they kept us full of coffee and muffins. Hospitality is always good and I hear they might have tacos next year. However we spoke to a lot of new people who seemed like they could turn into our newest fans. We picked up a commission and almost sold out on our necklaces.

We did hear about a show in Galveston going on the same weekend and word on the street was it was jumping and a few of us felt we should have been over there. Once I get the low down, and of course once next year comes around, we will see. But who knows we might be on a book tour from book store to book store or be doing gallery shows from state to state, that’s the great thing about doing what you want to do.

Bunny Time

2011-10-13T16:56:00.000-07:00

I did this bunny a few weeks back as part of a series of pets I was doing for a girl we met in Boulder, CO a while back. As you may know I post regular updates on Twitter and Facebook of what I’m working on so everyone can enjoy the painfully slow process with me. Well this bunny got so much attention and I ended up doing another one for another girl and one with a different color in the background for another girl. How cool is that huh?

Commission Time

2011-10-12T07:06:00.000-07:00

So I have gotten a few more dog commissions and I wanted to share them with you. And as always, if you want to get your dog or cat or kids or yourself drawn up with circles, I am here - info@artbynemo.com. They also make great gifts and with the holidays coming up you can mark a few loved ones name's off your list with a drawing...and remember "a prefect circle makes the perfect gift".

Bayou City Art Festival Downtown In Houston, Texas

2011-10-10T18:31:00.000-07:00

After a nice little break, having our engine die while cruising down the road and getting Texas plates put on the van (the dieing and the plates have nothing to do with each other). We set sail to Houston for the start of our Fall Season and the start to our Texas shows.

Parking was great with a free site down a bike trail and a $10 a day site just a few blocks from our booth, we opted for the closer one. This was a huge show with over 200 artists and we were out in the corner in Sam Houston Park, many of the artists there were complaining about how people weren’t going to come see us and just stay in the streets and a few artists requested to move but people did manage to visit us.

The first day was pretty hot and sweaty but the tall buildings and clouds provided a bit of shade. We didn’t get out to walk much of the show to see our old friends we have met along the way and there were some good ones there too - (the banana boy) Dakota Pratt, (the gourd guy from Kansas) John Hernandez, (the bus people) Bill and Tony and the (planes made outta cans guy) Sompit Xia just to name a few.

The little party that we had to donate a piece to go to was crazy. They had a magician doing tricks at the tables, ladies dancing on stilts, nonstop drinks and appetisers. I drank a few too many salty dogs and had too many chocolate things in the shape of a top hat and bunny. My piece was picked up in the 2nd round and the 1st round only had 6 people on it.

Ok, on this tour with such a high volume of shows done in every type of climate you can imagine (that’s 52 shows so far), we have never had a rained out show. Sure we have been rained on but never rain all day. Although a few people did show up, since all of Texas is hurting for rain you couldn’t really complain and there was much to complain about. We packed up everything soaking wet and now we need to set up our tent again just to dry it out and the rain did hurt our sales but at least there’s a good reason not to have any sales. I mean we have pulled in some pretty low numbers on great days with great people walking around.

All in all it seems like I cant be too hard on this show since you cant stop the rain and everyone was so nice and helpful. From the other artists I heard a mix of reviews, from one guy making over $15k to a few pissed off $0 shows. One guy even got his truck broken into and woke up to a rainy glassy mess and the headache of having to get that fixed. One down two to go in the “Big 3 Of Texas Shootout”, Texas 1 nemo 0...

Back In Texas With A Weekend Off

2011-10-05T07:14:00.000-07:00

Well, we made it all the way back to Comfort, Texas and the rain followed us all the way here. Everyone told us that is had been hot in Texas but when we showed up it started hitting the low 50’s at night and in the mornings, so perfect timing. Its so good to be back around family and friends and around Grandma's cooking. We washed clothes and cleaned our van, then got settled in to our spot for our time spent in Texas. It has been too dry down here so the cows were moved to greener pastures, but we enjoy the company of a lone bull eating whatever left over green thing he can find, he’s happy though.

During our Melbourne show we hit our first year mark living in a van (yes, down by a river) and were really impressed by our numbers, about 22,000 miles were put on the van and we visited 21 states and had a record breaking 46 shows and only 3 nights were spent outside our van (2 when are pump froze and 1 when the belt tore). In that time we haven’t had a chance to rest, so when we didn’t get into a show in Dallas we decided to take it easy for a weekend. We didn’t have to drive, we didn’t have to show and we didn’t really need to work, well we worked a little bit, but making art is the easy part of what we do.

We still feel good about being on tour and will continue. I was talking to someone at the past show about how we have been on the road for a year already and they were surprised to hear we were still doing good and still willing to go for more. But its true we are here for the long haul. And no we don’t want to kill each other, and yes 96 square feet is enough room for 2 people to live in and carry everything they own.

But then it was right back to planning for the 3 big Texas shows we have coming up. As you folks know we are trying to get rid of all the frames and glass in our booth and going to Claybord. So everything must be done on canvas and boards but a week is way too short to fill up a booth. I also have had a steady stream of commissions coming in. But little by little our booth is taking on a new look.

We are trying real hard to put more focus in our art instead of drawing every random subject we could think of, we want to have a more cohesive look in our booth. We noticed that when we see someone who is successful at these shows they always have the same thing in common and its cohesiveness. Even us, we have seen better results when we have similar looks, frames, sizes and colors, and towards the last few shows of this leg of our tour while scrambling to fill our booth with older drawings and stuff we don’t really show as much it kind of started to look schizophrenic and mixed matched, could that have hurt? Who knows, but we want a very nice and professional looking booth, even if it is just for us and even if no one else cares. So we are looking to fill our booth with a new first string.

Life Without Limits

2011-10-01T06:33:00.000-07:00

Ok so I downloaded “Nook” on my phone in hopes of taking in a little reading here and there. We have gotten rid of all our books and the 2 or 3 I have I never really saw myself picking up. However I stare at my phone to great lengths waiting for a tweet, Facebook message or e-mail so I figure I should at least be reading while I’m waiting. I try to read a chapter or 2 every night and 1 in the middle of the night when I wake up and cant go back to sleep.

I am very big on self help books like “Steps to Success” and “Think and Grow Rich” kinds of books and since I have been thinking about turning my own blog into a book one day I picked a new book that I saw at the store and wanted to buy but didn’t since I didn’t think I would read it. But first book up on the nemo chopping block? Life Without Limits by Nick Vujicic. Let me start out be saying I’m not that much into the idea of believing there is a God who will make everything all better, there there put your head on my shoulder and cry type thing. Which turns out a lot of the types of books I read are. Don’t get me wrong I’m not a bad person, I have faith and I feel there is a higher power but when I believe, I believe in myself and have faith I make the right choices and listen to what my gut is telling me. However I can look past all the religious talk and praise, unlike some people who would say I’m wrong in my thinking, but I’m ok with it and if you're not something’s wrong with you.

Nick is a great little guy who was born without any arms and legs, he has been to hell and back, almost killed himself but found that God really did have a plan for him. His plan was to tour the world and tell people that anything that is going on with you from the bad to the worse you too have a plan and if he could do it with no arms no legs and a little toe to do just about everything we take for granted you too can overcome and live a ridiculously fun and exciting life. Through his words I feel somewhat overjoyed to know that such a guy with such bad luck for a situation could move many, many people.

In my own life I can take for granted almost everything I have. I am loved by an army of people who seem more than willing to stand up and take a bullet for me. And in this rush rush world of ours I know I never take the time to thank them much less see them sometimes. I know the love of a good and kind woman, I’m pretty healthy, strong, built for war. I run my own mom and pop shop just like I always wanted to. I get to see parts of the country most people only dream about and I have one hell of an amazing gift to draw a pretty damn good circle.

I often get caught up in the "how am I going to pay my bills" all too often and I stress almost every night about what it is I need to be doing to build a successful business, and I work and I work sometimes till my hands want to fall off then I put in a few more hours. I plan and replan and shoot for the moon. Most times I fall right back on my face but I’m up the next day trying to take another leap. I do wonder about this plan God has for me and why he would put up so many road blocks and make it so hard for someone like me, a some what good hearted person who only wants to see good in this world. I know life isn’t fair and bad things happen to good people. It just feels like sometimes this road I’m on isn’t working out.

Nick has taught me that no matter what comes your way, be it a death, getting hurt, or not making money, that as long as we are given another day, weather you believe it’s a gift from the heavens or something we must put up with, we have a chance to do some good, to make a little difference in someone’s life. So sing a little song dance, a little jig, but love those who love you and make the ones who don’t laugh a little, they’ll come around. And a big chin hug to Nick, maybe one day I'll see you out here on the road.

Once You Go Claybord You Never Go Back

2011-09-29T13:36:00.000-07:00

One day while trolling the online catalog of Dick Blick Hannah came across this product that said was perfect for pencil. I have always loved the freedom working on canvas gives me that paper can not. I mainly work on my lap and I need a clip board or something to hold the paper but the clipboard has the clip that always gets in the way and the side of the paper without the clip always catches the wind and blows the paper everywhere and if I hold it down with rubber bands they dirty the paper. Plus if I set it down for any reason it can easily get ruined any number of ways, and the canvas is just easier to work with. The claybords are built the same way as a canvas, easy to add a wire to hang, don’t really need to be framed, so it’s a natural choice. In the art that Hannah makes, like the pencil landscapes (where she glues down my old pencils to make what looks like a landscape) she likes to use boards and Claybords make it easy to jump on with the board idea for me. Its strong and smooth, its kinda like drawing on glass for me but I’m adjusting to it.

Well as most of you folks know we just had a lot of glass broken in our booth, well a few months ago. I also talk a lot about getting rid of the glass and not having to frame the pieces any more. I know I have mentioned this product before and since then we have been using it almost exclusively. Its been a good support and lets me get the pencil detail I want and looks pretty good on the wall. Best part about Claybord is that its easy on the pencil point which means I don’t have to sharpen as much and it doesn’t create much pencil dust and when you draw 8 hours 7 days a week pencil dust can get on everything.

Ok the only bad thing about Claybord is that we once dropped one about 6 inches from the window sill to the desk as we were driving over bumps and it chipped pretty bad, we did just put white paint on it and it looked ok but you might want to baby them a little bit but other than that, great support. I mean, come on you shouldn’t be throwing your art around anyway. If you’re a pencil artist go out and get yourself some, tell em nemo sent you.

Florida

2011-09-28T14:42:00.000-07:00

Well we didn’t really do anything on our way to Melbourne, Florida but on the way there just into Florida a guy started waving at us on the highway and after a lot of his whooping and hollering we finally pulled over and he said our tire was wobbling and that we needed to follow him to a place that has a jack. Well he drives off and I check to see if the lug nuts were loose, nothing. We drive off and stare at it out the window, nothing. Hannah’s all freaking out so we exit and go to a gas station, she drives around as I stand there staring, nothing. Then as we are about to leave the guy comes flying around the corner and says to follow him again. I say I didn’t see anything, I checked the nuts and he says it’s the berings and that the wobble is a sign they need to be fixed and we need to follow him, I say well we are just gonna drive it till the wheel falls off. So that’s the only thing worth typing about. So watch out for that highway scam, he was an old guy in an old beat up light blue and white pick-up somewhere between Atlanta and Jacksonville.

But we did stay at a nice RV park to charge up and wash clothes for a few days. The weather was super hot and sticky but lucky for us we had the power to run the AC.

Now for the show, it was hot hot hot with 100% chance of passion. I have never seen so many sweaty people. Now I’m a big guy who sweats all the time but there’s something to be said about young sexy ladies with sweat dripping down their bronzed cleavage. The show itself had a great mix of people and great looking art everywhere. I did see a few big sales going down but none of them happened in our booth. It was super hot and sweaty all day and all night long, which did nothing to help the show. The great high school volunteers had us in cold cold waters and joked around really well, most shows the teens seem scared and stick to themselves. The awards breakfast was good, even tho I didn’t win anything. I feel like most of the winners at all these shows are people everyone knows but that could just be me, I mean I only do a lot of shows and see a lot of stuff. Right at 5 we were packed and ready to go and I kept telling people to hurry up because it was gonna rain and we had a habit of pulling away from a show right before it rains. This time it happened right on que.

Then a quick bite to eat with an uncle of mine I haven’t seen since he moved to Florida some 25 years ago. Some quick catching up and some picking up a few good hugs for my mom (his sister) and we were off and out of Florida.

I’m torn about Florida on this one since we only did one show and most times we do about 3 in any one state. I keep thinking maybe if it was a bit cooler people would have been spending more. The look of the crowd was right and the interest was there, people just didn’t pull the trigger. Maybe next year we will take on more just to see if there’s anything more we can do there. There is another nemo there who everyone kept thinking was me, so I can either go there and build a name or leave Florida to him, I’m thinking the second would be better and not just cuz I’m a nice guy.

The Nemo Went Down To Georgia

2011-09-19T08:05:00.000-07:00

For a first time in a new city this wasn’t such a bad run. The Atlanta Arts Festival was located in a beautiful part of the city with wonderful trees and grass, tons of joggers and bikers and enough beautiful people to put even Denver to shame (well maybe not that many). We were able to stay right in the park which was great during the nights but early at 7am every morning the sounds of foot steps running woke us up.

Setup was on Thursday at 8am and as we checked in we were fed snacks and given coffee. Setup was very cool, we all lined up outside the park in a surface parking lot a few blocks away and were ushered in by 3 motorcycle cops which stopped traffic and let us run stop signs and lights. We were some of the first to setup so we didn’t have anything to do on Friday while the rest setup but we did get a lot of work done.

The show its self was pretty ok - we made a few sales and meet some great people. We might get a call from a couple who were waiting to buy a condo and might want one of the larger pieces, so if that comes through we are golden. I met a long time Twitter follower face to face and ran into a few people who read my blog. There was a ZAPP conference going on at the same time, so a lot of show promoters were walking the show and we got to speak to a few of them we had done shows with in the past from Kansas and California, talk about a small world. We also built one hell of an Atlanta e-mail list and I think we made quite a bit of new fans who seem like they are going to be following along on our journey.

Morning coffee and muffins were aplenty and the lunch was pretty good, but Saturday night had the dinner, oh man was the dinner buffet good and don’t get me started on how much beer I had. I read a tweet this morning I tweeted that night that read, “Drank too much free beer and ate too much free food”, that pretty much sums it up.

This show was run most excellently, these folks had it down. They were very nice to the artists and more than a few times I heard “thank you” for being a part of their wonderful show. Many of the artists and crafters I met seemed to have had a great show and most of them would be returning next year and we might be too. Atlanta might be one of those cities we can keep coming back to. Would be nice if we could meet someone with a nice place to park for in between shows. But till then its Wal-Mart hopping all the way. Next show is in Melbourne, Florida and I got a lot of work to do to get ready, then its back to Texas.

On To Hotlanta

2011-09-14T18:10:00.000-07:00

We woke up in a Denver Wal-Mart parking lot, cleaned up a bit, washed dishes, checked our mail box, stopped by our Denver gallery and said bye. Then it was off to Colby, KS to a rest stop about 4 hours away so I could work on a commission of a dog. I love the Kansas rest stops, all equipped with dump stations and beautiful trees to park under. Only bad thing is that the water sources there all say not to drink from them, I have no idea why they even would have them if you couldn’t use the water. But almost every gas station has a great place to stock up on water. So we dumped and filled up with gas and water.

We drove on another few hours to Salina, KS, site of the Smoky Hill Festival we did a while back. But we couldn’t figure out how to get hooked up with the hook ups at the park, so we just stayed at a Wal-Mart, there were a few other RVs and trailers already there. We like when there’s at least one other spending the night, safety in numbers right? I did get most of my commission done and woke up to work on it while Hannah did some other business stuff. Then a great breakfast, gas, more water and we hit the road again.

Then over to Bonner Springs, KS to another Wal-Mart where I finished my commission and another Koi piece I was working on at the last show. This parking lot was nice, with lots of tress and very few cars and great shade in the after noon and even in the morning. We got started on a group of 4 commissions. Its always hard to get real work done between traveling to a different state 1000 miles away but some how we are pulling it off. Although its keeping us away from seeing any roadside oddities and since we have no extra money for gas we didn’t want to stray too far off our route just to see the worlds biggest whatever.

Then a quick stop in Columbia, MO at yet another Wal-Mart. Started working on the first piece of the 4 commissions, a bunny to start things off right. Oh but the best part was Mickey D’s in the morning, then the first cool stop along the way, St Louis Arch…

Today was a big day with many a thing to do and see. First we drove into St. Louis to go to our first Dick Blick Art Store, we have always brought from them online but have never been to one in person. We loaded up on stuff to make a new big piece and some other stuff.

Then it was over to the Gateway Arch, what a wonderful structure, but everything about it was weird to me. The unkempt area? And what the hells up with letting people drive on those cobble stones? Our low rider van didn’t like it at all and all I could think was lets get outta here, lets get outta here.

Then we got into the little lady gaga egg pod to get you up there.

Then the little windows to look out of up there and it all felt so weird but kinda cool at the same time.

We were gonna check out an art fest but decided to just get on to the next Wal-Mart in O’Fallon, IL since I still had to put in a few hours of drawing.

Back on the road and over to Paducah, KY and to yet another Wal-Mart. There was an old guy with an old RV who kept running his old engine all night. The smell of gas was coming in one window and the smell of cigarettes in the other. However we did start the new 30 inch by 40 inch piece, its going to look great.

We did wake up early and worked a bit before heading on down the road but we stopped at a rest stop under a nice tree and put in a few more hours of work. I still have commissions to make and Hannah keeps setting up drawings for me like crazy, but I see some great looking owls coming up and everyone has been asking us if I do owls so lets see if they put their money in their mouth. We ended up in Nashville, TN at, yup, another Wal-Mart. And no we didn’t see Carrie Underwood.

Then to another Wal-Mart in Chattanooga, TN where we got a lot of work done, then a quick stop to dump and we made it all the way into Atlanta, GA. We are hoping to finish this leg of our tour in Georgia and Florida with 2 big shows. Then we head back to Texas for 3 shows and a show in New Mexico and lots and lots more drawing and I may even get to work on our children’s book too.

We have been hurting in the power department ever since Minnesota, my only guess is our battery is going dead on us and can't keep a charge. Now I’m not the most mechanical person or even know anything about cars, but even if we could order a battery where would we have it shipped? Its ok if we drive 100 miles or so everyday but during the shows when we are parked for 2 or 3 days it’s a no go. And we really needed it during Copper Mountain since a hot shower would have been really nice, a cold shower when its in the high 30’s isn’t fun. What would be nice is a solar panel - after that one big show, right? Well only 2 more shows left then we can go to Austin and get them checked out at Sportsmobile. But for now its back to work, hope you enjoyed our trip.

10 Year Anniversary Of 9/11

2011-09-10T06:49:00.000-07:00

With all the chatter about the 10 year anniversary, all the programs on TV, which you can’t turn off, I felt the need to throw in my 2 cents. I want to start by telling you folks where I was when it happened. I was in the Southside of San Antonio, Texas going to Palo Alto College sitting in a drawing class. I remember someone saying something about a plane hitting a building in New York but it didn’t really register with me since it sounded made up, and come on, this day and age the media hypes up everything to make it news worthy.

Then we were all told to go home, which in my mind sounded great. I BSed with the other students as we left and even went to grab breakfast with a guy from the class. Everyone in that taco shop was glued to the TV, I really didn’t pay much attention cuz I thought they were watching soccer or something. Then I caught a glimpse of the crash, it all seemed too fake, movie style, but I still didn’t think much about it because it was just a plane into the side of a building, I mean there’s worse stuff out there.

We left and I went home, got a call from my then girlfriend, now wife, Hannah, saying they got outta work early since we worked in the tallest building in SA at the time (I was off that day since it was a school day). I don’t think I saw or heard the whole story until night time on the news, it was all too unreal. I couldn’t believe such a thing could happen. Then came the pictures, oh man were bad, people hanging out windows, the ones jumping, everything covered with dust and debris.

I still get teary eyed listening to the Allen Jackson song about it. I was never one to chat with people on the bus but that got everyone talking, it made everyone pissed and scared, the worst combination anyone can have, then war, then random beatings of innocent people. What came next was even worse than just having 2 buildings fall. My family and I didn’t personally know anyone in the towers, I did hear a coworkers good friend having a son or something like that in one, but that he didn’t go to work that day (but he lost all his coworkers). I did meet an artist who was nearby when it happened who took off running towards it taking pictures. I had 2 cousins fighting in the war but they both made it back untouched.

Well whether you knew someone or were affected by this tragedy personally we all will never be the same. I still remember when the space shuttle fell outta the sky, I was at my aunts house eating BBQ by the pool. Stuff like this stays with us, good or bad. Michael Jackson, Balloon Boy, where were you when the iPhone came out? But we are a great nation of overcomers and adapters. We need to hang in there and this too well help us grow.

So where am I getting with all this? Free art, oh yeah free art is the only thing that can change our thoughts to good positive ones. We just had our own disaster and by no means as bad as anything you folks might be going though, but its one of those things we will never forget and will be talking about and learning from years from now. As some of you might have read, our tent flipped over a few weekends ago and a lot of art was damaged and even though we fixed up a lot of them we had one canvas piece which we could do nothing for. So as that amazing shot of the American Flag pulled from the rubble we also pulled out a piece from our rubble which we would love to offer to a faithful reader.

Believe in everything you do and believe there’s still some good out here in the world and maybe we all can heal a little, stay safe and live.

Everyone who makes a comment on this blog post will be in a drawing to win this art piece.

Colorado Here We Come, Right Back Where We Started From

2011-09-06T08:51:00.000-07:00

…We've been on the run, Driving in the sun, Looking out for number 1, Colorado here we come, Right back where we started from ~Phantom Planet (well sort of, but the video is exactly like what we do)…

As the last show in Colorado comes to an end and we head towards the South by Southeast, I wanted to say a few things about this leg of our tour. We were both a bit scared to head so far and for so long away from what we have adopted as our “home base” (which is a ranch out in Texas). Well this 4 month part of the tour is half way done and we have spent most of it in Colorado, mostly in Denver and Boulder with 10 shows. We had a hunch we were going to be fine since we knew so many people and most of the shows were repeats of good shows we did last year. Even the new shows we added were pretty good too.

Colorado People have a great mind set about what fine art is and they really appreciate good art, and not to mention my art. Our larger following gave us so much support in every area from hosting us at their houses, driveways and backyards to feeding us and buying plenty of art. There really is a big difference in who you know in a city vs. just showing up and trying to make stuff happen on your own (like we did in Arizona and California). Denver has so much to offer and we have a direct line to those who are offering and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Denver is our home away from home or second home. We feel like we belong no matter where we are in Colorado. And since we are from San Antonio that makes two places where we are really known and that we do good in. We know big time movers and shakers and we thrive. Hannah keeps talking about finding these pockets in the market where we could go to really make this tour great. We are working hard at finding them but there’s no tell tail signs to point the way, no road map or no website that can tell us where to go, we just have to go and find out.

In this next leg of our journey we are adding in about 5 new states, and yes each state will get a Circlescape of it too. I keep selling off all the new replacement ones I did from the first 7, so I don’t think there’s a show coming up any time soon unless its with prints and postcards. Remember what I said about landscapes? Well every bit of it is true and now my art is proof.

So I just want to say Thank You Colorado, we love you, your landscapes, your weather and most of all your people. However we might not be back next year. Here’s the plan - we will apply to Cherry Creek once again. If we get in we will come back and do all the same shows again but if we don’t get in we are going to Maine and working our way down to Florida hitting up every state on the east coast. How’s that for adventure?

Copper Country Art Fest In Copper Mountain, Colorado

2011-09-05T09:22:00.000-07:00

Last show in Colorado. We set up super early since a good friend of ours we met down in Arizona was setting up super early too. We took our time and tried not to cry as this was the first time seeing our tent since flipping over last weekend. A few pipes are bent and the roof has a lot of white duct tape on it, but it will last, crooked and all. There was still broken glass and mud everywhere.

We jacked up our tent about a foot to see if its more inviting for people. We are trying out a lot of new things at this show so hopefully everything works out. We chatted with Mike (our friend from AZ, here’s his site) and even had a few beers and dinner. What a great and relaxing set-up this was.

On Friday we opened up around 3 but not all the artists were set up and we didn’t even really have to be there but since we were just hanging out in the parking lot and a few people from a nearby homeowners party were walking around it just made sense to take the extra day and we even made a few sales and people got a preview of what my art looks like.

Saturday had a steady steam of sales, even though most of the people were there for the music they did make it out to look at art. The few people looking were very active and most were very educated. We didn’t get any stupid comments about how I couldn’t really be able to draw perfect circles even though I’m sitting right there doing it, or people walking away laughing as I try to speak to them. This was only about our second show in the mountains but I'm thinking we might do more soon.

Sunday was the same, big music acts and we got some of the over flow. We mostly try to stay away from music festivals since you have to yell at your clients over the loud bass thumps. Most of our action happened in between song sets. We took a risk and it somewhat paid off, however a few artists didn’t fare as well but some hit the jack pot.

Then over to an end of the season party some artists were having in Breckenridge, we showed up late since we had to tear down first but the 16 or so artists already at the party still had one more day left to go at their show. It was good to meet some new people and to see people we haven’t seen in a few months since we ran away from Colorado to do our Minnesota run. So I guess now everyone who comes up here to CO and rents places to stay for the summer to do the shows up here are back on their way south and so our we. So I’ll play along and say good bye to the summer season and hello to the fall season starting in Hotlanta then Florida and finally back to Texas completing our 4 month, fourth leg of this tour.

Minnesota Back To Colorado

2011-09-02T09:10:00.000-07:00

Well here we go again, back to Colorado for one last show. We went north from Duluth first to see The North Shore, Split Rock and Lake Superior. We got in a ton of hiking, which is something we forget to do while out here. But to get the pictures we got we had to (cant wait to start working on those landscapes).

Our first night was at a Wal-Mart but the next night we were in a beautiful spot with a 60 foot waterfall, too bad we paid 20 bucks for no power and they didn’t even have water for us, waste of money. We needed so badly to charge our batteries too.

But it all evens out when we start heading west and stop over in Blue Earth, Minnesota which has free campsites with power and water. You can only stay 48 hours for free but the next days are only 5 bucks each. We decided to stay a while to finish a commission piece I was working on since before we went to Duluth. It needed to be shipped by a certain day and there’s no way I was going to miss a deadline. The farther and farther we got from Lake Superior the hotter and hotter it got. Glad to have the power to run the AC all day while I worked.

Then over to Vermillion, South Dakota for another free campsite (which was 3 free nights) and a small show we picked up at the last minute at a winery. It was an early setup so we couldn’t sleep in and enjoy the cooler weather that the hurricane was bringing in. Even if the wind was too much for our tent.

I love all these free campsites, I don’t know why they had them but it seems like they are always packed, so people use them, but I wonder what everyone’s story is. I did talk to one guy who was tent camping and he said we was there to spend time with his kids and he didn’t want to spend money on hotel stays and since camping is a great thing to do with your kids and a free site is great. I did meet one of the little girls who was painting at the time. I gave them some magnets and told her to never stop painting.

Then over to Rapid City to stay in a Wal-Mart and even though there where about 30 RVs and Trailers they said the city didn’t allow overnight parking but down the street at Cabela's they did, which was a lot quieter and also had a dump station. We went to sleep to the sound of rain and woke up early to hit the art store before when got back on the road. We picked up some frames to frame some older pieces since our booth is looking a bit low these days and Hannah got some boards to work on some new reproduction pieces.

On to Mount Rushmore. Mount Rushmore has never really been on my must see list but we were around and we needed subject matter for the South Dakota Circlescape. It seems like one of those things a San Antonian would want to see since the artist lived in SA, and don’t get me wrong, it was pretty cool. But the best part was the ice cream shop. I keep thinking we should be getting a souvenir or something from each place we go, most times it’s a t-shirt or a shot glass. I was thinking of getting a pencil but didn’t want to go into the gift shop. Guess my drawings will have to suffice for now, anyway we don’t have money to be buying stuff like that or even the room to haul it around.

We busted into Wyoming without even realizing it, we had to go back to get a picture of the sign. We stopped at another free campsite in Wheatland which was pretty nice with big trees and lots of green grass. There was a skate park there too and I thought about checking it out but I’m so outta shape. Well then a quick 2 hours over to Denver, it’s good to be back home.

Great Dakota Wine Fest In Vermillion, SD

2011-09-01T12:55:00.000-07:00

We picked up this show at the last minute, we had no expectations, we just needed to do something to fill in a weekend between two shows and since Vermillion was about half way we said “why not”.

It was a 2 day thing with an early morning setup on Saturday but we had plenty of time since most people don’t drink wine early in the morning. We spoke to all the other artists and vendors about shows and stuff. Its funny to tell people we're from Texas and to hear them say “you drove all the way up here for this?” why yes we did, just for this small show with 7 booths and half of them are food, yup then we go back to Texas after this. LOL. I also got a “are you Spanish or Mexican?” I told them I was French-Indian, they didn’t blink an eye. We did make a few bucks for gas to help us along to Colorado but it was pretty slow.

However tons of people were there, the place was packed all weekend even though storms were in the forecast and both mornings it rained. They just mostly stayed inside and didn’t even wander out back to see us. Everybody we did meet were nice and the building was great, the grounds were very green and beautiful, plus we were able to park there overnight. Not to shabby for a show we just found online.

Ok so, you wanna hear the good news or the bad news first? I’m the type of person that wants the bad news first. The wind blew over our tent Sunday morning and tore a big ass hole in the roof, bent some pipes and messed up a few pieces of art. Everything had mud on it and my camera’s battery ran out so I didn’t even get good pictures of it. Good news is we won best of show and the winery is going to use one of our pieces on a label (I will blog about this when it comes out).

Minnesota

2011-08-29T14:54:00.000-07:00

Crossing the state line into Minnesota marks our 10th state on this tour and about 11 months living in a van. When we got here the heat was a major problem but as the weeks went on it got cooler and cooler and the more north we went, colder and colder. I love the way everything looks around here - the water, the trees, everything. I could easily see us coming up here once a year to spend some time. However, the bugs are crazy here, I've never seen so many bugs and so many different kinds. Lucky for us not everything bit, but damn did they like to sneak into our van during the day and come out to watch TV at night. I guess its all the standing water, which looks cool, but man oh man it makes for a crazy bug time. I don’t know if I could take the winters here, they just sound bad with way too much snow.

We stayed with some wonderful people in Minnesota and it all stemmed from a Facebook post an old co-worker made on our behalf. I am always surprised by how people are so open to the idea of us coming over and staying in their yards. Oh and he (our old co-worker) and his lovely wife just had twins!

The first place was with a girl he went to high school with (who also has twins - 7 year olds!) and had a nice spot cleared out under some tall trees which provided nice shade all day long. It was almost too perfect, like they knew we were coming years in advance. We got to speak to goats, ducks and chickens and best of all we parked right in the middle of the farm lands I have been drawing lately. And how appropriate was it to spend time with twins in Minnesota and talented twins too, these little kids were great, playing piano and cello...its always good to see kids picking up an art form, hope they stick with it and become famous (I want front seat tickets mind you) even if one kept pulling our plug outta the socket and that’s not good for the van.

Then we stayed with his parents which kept us full of wine and entertained. They had a great view of the Mighty Mississippi and had a beautiful yard with plenty of shade. They had a lot of bird feeders around so we got to see all kinds of birds. We had a great time there and got a lot of work done. Everyone kept telling us next year when you come back……..

With all the lakes, its people come off looking like coastal folks in their bathing suits and flip flops. Lots of runners too with great trails around the lakes and through many great looking forests. As much as I wouldn’t want to be here during the snowy times I would love to see how everything looks with snow around. Well, maybe not since all the half naked girls would be bundled up.

It seemed like every Wal-Mart we pulled into was under construction or had too many people walking around. We prefer to be hidden or tucked away in the corner of the parking lot were no one goes, but Sam’s Club to the rescue, seemed like all the Sam’s were in the prefect locations with the prefect spots.

The shows we did were just alright, nothing spectacular, we did think we would have done a little better and I wish we had. Everything would have fallen into place had the show in Minneapolis and the one in Duluth been better. There is still a strong chance we might come back for more since both places have more shows to do but as you know everything is up in the air right now.

Art In Bayfront Park In Duluth, Minnesota

2011-08-27T18:32:00.000-07:00

Strike 3 you're out - this picturesque city was spoiled by one hideous show. The Art in Bayfront Park festival was really the show that coined the term “Farts And Crap Fair”. Don’t call in the big guns till you're ready, this was a second year show which seemed to have no jury. It was a real "anything goes". I don’t know what to tell you folks, I really did think Minnesota was our new home away from home but time after time we felt invisible. Southern California comes to mind.

However, the town of Duluth is a really beautiful place and if you're looking for some great boat watching they got it. We met some really nice locals and got to walk around everyday after the show. I can see why so many people come here to vacation. If we didn’t need to make any money to live this would have been the best show ever. Weather was great, parking was good and there was a beauty pageant and the winner could go on to be Miss Minnesota, which would be pretty cool if she went on to win Miss America.

The show itself wasn’t good for fine art, if you wanted henna, there were 2 places to get it, if you wanted tie die, there were 3 places to get it, and if you wanted a golf game that looked like a lawn game you could get at any Wal-Mart or Target, well it was there and the guy said he banked too, don’t complain to me about only making 3 grand, there was even 2 kettle corn vendors.

We did get some of the coldest beers Duluth has to offer at Bowery Bros after tweeting with them a bit. We got some really good pictures of boats and ships so any day now we can see some drawings of those. And for the first time ever we sold a drawing as soon as I finished it and hung it on the wall. But we wouldn’t come back to this show until they get rid of all the buy/sell and lower the amount of craft.

How Long Will You Be Touring?

2011-08-19T07:04:00.000-07:00

I get asked all the time about how long we plan to stay on the road living in an RV. There really is no time limit or schedule we are sticking to. We want to at least hit every state to see when and where is a good time to be at any one city or venue. Once we have made art pieces of all the states, well all 49 we can drive to, I don’t know what we are going to do about Hawaii, I want to get all the images out there in anyway possible. Postcards have been working out really great for us but with only 7 images they are lacking. In my mind before we even got our van I was thinking about 5 years. That seemed like the right amount of time to run around and see everything. I met a lady who had almost seen it all in 3 years, but 5 still sounds reasonable. Although I do joke with Hannah that I’ll stay on this ship till my knees wont let me up into it and when I can bend over to reach all the tanks.

Ever since the beginning I have been saying that I want to be well known from New York to LA. The same way I’m known in my home town of San Antonio, I can go to any show, any venue, and someone there will know me or my work. Chances are good I will know them too. I want to grow this feeling of home no matter where I go. How long will this take? I haven’t a clue. Will it work? It might. But you need to have goals and I set some pretty high ones.

Would You Ever Settle Down?

We sometimes talk about building a studio in TX out on the ranch. Like getting a few of those big shipping containers and converting them to a live/work studio. I have seen some pretty cool ones and learning to live in 96 square feet it would be more than enough room to do everything we could ever think of. Having a studio where we could do open studios at is the only thing I miss about being on the road (although I’m working on a plan to fix that part, blog coming soon).

When we are in a really nice small town we think how it would be to set up a gallery or something. With UPS going everywhere, it wouldn’t be any harder than it is now to run our business. I think this in every small quiet town we go through and I see a for sale sign on a cute little building. It must be nice to live in a town like that and be known as the big shot artists there. Maybe set up a little school to show people how to do whatever little craft they are doing for money. Talk to kids about following their dream. There’s just so much one can do and so many different routes you can take.

That’s the best part about this crazy life we all live. There is no right or wrong way to do anything, there’s no how to book big enough to cover all the whys and hows to do everything and there’s no road map to making them work. It is as free as the wind and as powerful as water flowing down a stream and they both can take you as far or keep you as near as you want to be. We try to stay open to any and every opportunity that comes along and we put all our faith into believing we are making the right decisions and stand tall and except the outcomes.

But for now its living life as it comes, traveling from state to state, from show to show. Who knows what the future will hold, but chances are we will be there standing on our own, building our name, and producing the best products we can.

The Bluzilla

2011-08-18T08:23:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well, today we got Mr. Blu. Blu is a bad ass artist tearing up the San Antonio art scene. I went to school with this dude back when I was learning how to make websites and graphic stuff. In an attempt to learn more and more about live painting I want to pick Blu’s brain about it and about his art.

nemo: Ok sir, tell me what you have been doing all these years since we last sat next to each other in that damn flash class?

Blu: Well I since our classes together, I finished both Print and Web associates tracks, worked in the sign industry for about a year and a half, and now in the screenprint industry for about two years. Beyond the norm of academics and dayjobs, I've been hard @ work on my own art doing freelance work, a few gallery shows, and a ton of live art.

nemo: You know we were talking about live art and you know I have to ask, how did you get into doing all these live art shows?

Blu: I started out by watching a favorite artist online, Jim Mahfood aka Food One. he was doing a lot of live art which was dope as he was doing a lot of comics before. fate would have it, a local art battle sponsored by ArtSlam and Blue Moon showed up on Facebook so I just jumped in hed first into it and got in. @ the time I was showing @ Gallery 11 on First Fridays and Craig Patterson started incorporating live art, so I painted there a lot too.

nemo: This isn’t a question but I gotta say that picture with you with that model you painted on was hot. Have you noticed anything about your art since doing it live? Have you gotten more confidence or gotten faster?

Blu: Wait, which model?? haha!! yeah man speed is the definite thing I noticed first. and then confidence. those two grew very quickly. I also noticed I was creating a buzz as I was always painting with my hedphones and gettin down, being really animated. I just have a ton of energy when I paint live and it draws crowds I guess.

nemo: What has been your favorite thing about painting live?

Blu: My favorite thing about painting live would be the looks on peoples' faces as I work. initially they look perplexed and when they come back an hour later, they're really blown away how the painting comes together. another thing I like is opportunity. I've had many doors open in the local art scene just from people seeing me work live. body art being the most notable.

nemo: What’s it like painting in a group like you do and have you ever been the only one on display? What’s the difference?

Blu: Painting in a group is mad fun. I paint with a ton of different people but my two solids are Sabrina Rabbit and Aesop Cardenas. we have a nice flow together and work well as we put our egos aside, paint over each others pieces or add to them, and just get a long great while we work. we have fun yo, always. I've yet to do a solo show but it is something I would like to do later--i don't mind pressure, I welcome it.

nemo: So painting or drawing? Which one would you rather be doing and why?

Blu: Man thats a tough one!! but I think I would choose drawing over painting. I've always felt more of an illustrator than a painter. year of comic books I guess.

nemo: What subject can we see in the future from you? Any new mediums or supports?

Blu: Expect any and all subjects @ any time. I would love to try some political works like Banksy. and some conscious/spiritual work like Alex Grey. as for media, Im always lookin to explore new elements, oils are probably the one I want to try next tho.

nemo: Any new projects coming up?

Blu: New projects, I have the second volume of my mini artbook/zine "Delayed. Sleep. Phaze." in the works, maybe some of that domino jewelry you turned me on to, I want to get some shirts going, and also find some good writers to practice some storyboarding. I also got a few other projects I can't talk about just yet but they're gonna be stellar.

nemo: What would be your ideal show?

Blu: My ideal show would be a dope gallery-style spot, with a fresh dj like my homie Chacho spinning great hip hop and funk music, a place for people to dance, some live artists, and overall just a fun time.

nemo: Any words of advice to someone looking into painting live?

Blu: I would advise anyone wanting to get into painting live to start goin to see it firsthand if possible. talk to promoters and other live artists. once your in, leave your ego @ home, stay loose, and have fun! remain open minded and talk to everyone.

nemo: Anything else you wanna add?

Blu: Live art can be really dope for an artist and their career if you go in with the right mindstate. it can open lots of doors and can improve your work immensely. also if there are any of your readers wanting more info on the subject they can contact me thru Facebook or Twitter or e-mail. also check out my main site and my weekly art blog. and also thanks for a dope interview Nemo.

nemo: Thanks man for taking the time to e-mail back and forth to get this interview done!

Woodland Hill Winery Art Festival In Delano, Minnesota

2011-08-16T07:48:00.000-07:00

The winery grounds were as beautiful as can be when we pulled up to the site. Everything was so green and they had these cool red barns. As usual we showed up way too early but we were able to set up way before the other artists even showed up.

Since we couldn’t park there we stayed at the closest Wal-Mart which as about 10 miles down a dirt road. Sad thing is they had some really nice places to park and plugs everywhere, oh well. The owners didn’t really seem to want to have anything to do with us, could be cuz we were new. It hurts a bit when there’s only a handful of artists and they never stopped in to check out the work.

This show was mostly crafty stuff with very few art and even less fine art. I did get a chance to meet a really cool oil painter who might do the show we are going to try for next year so hopefully we will be next to each other. However our new friend who told us about this show was next to us so we got the scoop on all the nearby shows. The only good thing about a slow show is you build great relationships with the artists around you.

So the show was sucking bad all weekend, no one was even giving us a chance. Now we really know how it feels to be invisible. Even the cool looking people who seem to have good taste weren’t giving us a try. But right at the last minute a group of good looking girls came in and snatched up 2 originals which made it all worth it and who knows if that could lead to more action later on.

Tear down did come with free cookies and the girls were too cute so I had to give them magnets for all their hard work. Its pretty sad when you do a show at a winery and you don’t make enough to buy a glass of wine. But you folks need to remember this is all one big game and we gamble every time we step out here and just like the lottery you can’t win if you don’t play.

Uptown Art Fair In Minneapolis, Minnesota

2011-08-15T10:53:00.000-07:00

The few days we spent running around Minnesota before the show gave me a good impression about what the state has to offer. I really love the diversity in its people and I was hoping to meet a lot of them at the Uptown Art Fair. Which no doubt had tons of people, they say about 375k people walk the show every year. However, walking the show and stopping into a booth is a very different thing, but it made for some great people watching. This show had nothing I like in a show, from the "you must do this and cant do that" to its lack of hospitality towards its outta state folks, to a tear down that was the worst I had ever seen.

Set up was pretty easy since they had us come in at different times and were only given 2 hours to set up then we had to move our vehicles, which was more than enough time for us. Everyone around us was a 1st timer at this show and I only spoke to a few people who had done the show twice. I’m guessing everyone on the “mall” part were the newbie’s and the ones on the street may have been the vets.

First day of this 3 day show was hot and it seemed like it was affecting the crowds too. It was painfully slow and the few people that were walking around were all sweaty and seemed to not want to stop walking since that was the only wind out. Although we knew Fridays are always kinda slow for us since our buyers are most likely at work unless it’s a holiday. I did get to walk the show to see some old friends we have met on the road and there were a few. Its funny to see what circle of shows people do and its crazy to know we jump them all.

Second day came with the only good thing about this show, a breakfast at Chino Latino. And this wasn’t just a honey bun in a plastic bag and a juice box breakfast, it had pans and pans of eggs, bacon, French toast and fruit. You folks know how much I love the food at these shows and this was some of the best. But the day was long and hot and very few sales were going down.

I just love getting pictures when no ones paying attention to me

The last day started off a bit cold and we had a nice breeze going and people were actually coming in and picking up pieces. This show had strict rules about the number of prints and products we could show so we didn’t have any necklaces out but on the last day we busted out our little guns in hopes of making gas money. What were they gonna do? Not let us back next year? We did mange somehow to make a little bit of money but for all the hype and the price of the show we felt it needed to be better.

We were set up on a grassy sidewalk about 5 feet over from the street which made it hard for people to want to step up just to step in so they went over to the booths that where on the street. We also paid 45 bucks to park which they failed to inform us that we couldn’t park overnight. We did stay one night there since there was another trailer there. I hate when these shows leave the RVers out in the cold on overnight parking. And would it kill you to provide cold waters for the artists? I would understand if we paid 200 bucks or less to be there, but it was one of the more expensive shows we have done and we kinda felt left out in the heat to pay for $3 waters and $6 smoothies. It seemed like everyone’s sales were down but that’s been the situation all over no matter where we go, even though we didn’t do all that bad this weekend, we expected more.

guess what I'm drawing soon

Tear down was crazy, since there were no cops directing traffic or keeping the non-artists out, they were trying to use the streets while we were trying to get all our stuff in our vans and get outta there. So all the people who had no idea what was going on were all mad cuz they couldn’t get through and were just honking and honking and giving all of us ugly stares. What a headache, it took a lot longer to get outta there than it did to set up. Worst tear down ever in the history of tear downs.

We did get to meet some local artists and we did hear about a show to do to in between the 2 we are already doing here. The worst part was that I only met one person this weekend that would say Minnesota the way everyone thinks they say Minnesota. But still, we are glad we did this one and although we wouldn’t do it again there are 2 other shows going on the same weekend not to far from this one, so who knows.

best art piece all weekend was stuck to a poll infront of our booth

Colorado To Minnesota

2011-08-04T06:11:00.000-07:00

Well, we checked the mail one last time in Denver to get in an order of dominos that Hannah’s mom sent us. She drills holes in the top and puts eyelets in them for us while we are on the road. We have been thinking about getting a small drill press to have here in the van, but haven’t been able to make the jump and get one.

Then we headed over to the grand opening of IKEA just to hang out, yup just to hand out, we were looking for AC and maybe a chair or two. Rockbottom gave us free beer coupons and since the IKEA was way to packed and the AC couldn’t keep up with all the people we went for lunch at Rockbottom. Then over to the nearest Wal-Mart for supplies so we could hit the road. This trip was going to be easy since we didn’t need to be in Minnesota for about a week and it was only about 1000 miles so we only drove about 3 hours each day. We did take in many of the sights and I got a lot of work done, which I will share througout out this blog.

First day we went to Sydney, Nebraska and just stayed at a Wal-Mart since most of the rest stops in Nebraska are too small to allow good parking. The state is in the middle of re-doing them all to add more parking spots but we only saw a few on this trip. 18-wheelers are at every place you could think to park and there must have been about 30 at the Wal-mart we stayed at. We were kinda hidden amongst them. The weather was pretty good, although we weren’t ready for the humidity. Best part was we were able to fill up with water at the Wal-mart garden section, which was great since we were already down to half a tank. We got 0 channels so no So You Think You Can Dance and no Lady Gaga.

Next day it was on to Carhenge in Alliance, Nebraska, which is a replica of Stonehenge in cars. We had a great little lunch there and walked around a bit and talked to the nice people in the gift shop. Then over to North Platte to stay at another Wal-Mart. Here we were able to pick up a few TV stations and watched a little Shark Tank (I wondered if I would be able to plea my case to get an investment from them, pretty cool show). It was very hot and it seem like we couldn’t drink enough cold water to stay cool. Sure would be nice to be able to stay at campgrounds and RV parks during these hot times.

Then off to Grand Island to the fourth Wal-Mart of the trip and the second time we parked too close to the sprinklers and woke to a spray in the face around midnight (it sprayed the water right through the window near our bed!) Sad thing is that it was so hot it was not only welcomed but embraced. Although the 3 o’clock waking by some guys with a loud paint spaying thing repainting the stripes in the parking lot were not. Once again it sure would be nice to be able to stay at a campground or RV park during these hot times.

Then off to Omaha to see some sites. We tried to walk around the river and downtown but it was way too hot and sweaty. We did make it out to see the “HI” tree but then it was back in the van and in the AC to Des Moines and this time at a Sam’s. We stopped by to see a cute little town with a Danish windmill and we noticed there was a beautiful little RV park with full hooks ups, cable and everything we could use for only $20.33 a night however we couldn’t afford that. Living the dream right…

Then all the way into Minneapolis and our first taste of cooler air. Since the show isn’t for a few more days we hoped around Wal-Mart to Wal-Mart during the nights and from libraries and parks during the day looking for wifi and shade. As far as I can tell Minnesota has a good mix of people and I like that, so here’s to a good time and a great show (cuz we really need a great show). If you're in or around Minneapolis you can find me at Up Town Artfair August 5th - 7th and get your free dog or cat magnet.

What Would You Be Doing If You Weren’t An Artist?

2011-08-01T05:56:00.000-07:00

I want to step this backwards to see what I would be doing if at any point in my life something would have changed and put me on a different course. As it stands right now, I’m a professional artist touring the nation in a van trying to build my name and my brand. If I wasn’t living and working as a professional artist I think I would still be making some kind of art, maybe not drawings or paintings, but something. Ever since I can remember I was using my free time to do some kind of make believe project. I have a strong desire to create and an even stronger desire to sell what I create.

So what if Hannah didn’t quit her job to hit the road with me? I know even though the economy is crap and that a few of her coworkers got caned, she would still have a job and chances are just the way they relocated us to Denver we would have been relocated somewhere else and I would be out there everyday meeting the people of that new place and setting up little shows and slowly building a name in that area. Since her old company was world wide who knows where we could have ended up.

If I wasn’t an artist trying to get more out there we might have never moved to Denver in the first place and would still be living in the house we bought to grow old together in. We would have gotten through most of the renovations and would probably have a beautiful garden with bamboo all around. Really cool little walkways to different pockets in the yard to do different things in. Although I do know how freelancing architectural needs would be working for us, I’m sure we would make something work. Also we might not have bought that house since we only wanted to be in that area cuz we believed it was the next great art district and we wanted to be a part of it. We might have bought the house we were in before that which we were renting. We did drive by it when we 1st got back into Texas and it was all boarded up and had a for sale sign on it. I did love that house.

I know I would still be skateboarding and I might have built a ramp in the backyard since I would have so much free time on my hands. Since I have always wanted to be a writer since I left my mom’s house and started living my own life I might be doing that. I did start writing a novel about the same time I started painting and who knows where that would have taken me. It was a story kinda like how "Lost" was, but instead of being on an island it took place in an office building. I did trash the notebook I was writing in once the art thing took off but I think it would have made a great movie.

Before all of that I had a business where I made architectural models and I was slowly building a client base all over south Texas. I might have still been doing that. I worked for a lot of big firms and one-man firms in San Antonio, The Hill Country and even out towards Corpus. I could have still been building on that. I have always wanted to work in wood and during these slow times where I might not have kept busy I might have started to make furniture or even do movie sets or something cool like that. Ever since I was little I have always wanted to make something and make a living off it, so if I couldn’t make models I would be making something. Plus Hannah has always wanted to own a business (any business), so in time we would have come up with a product and would be pushing it out in the world.

For a moment while going to school I was learning the notes on a guitar, who knows if I would have kept that up. I do know one thing, if I do something I want to be the best at it that I can be, so in the 5 years or so since that I might have been pretty good by now. Being that Hannah has a drummer and a singer in the family and that we once played a song with some co-workers for a company talent show (we won by the way) I might have been able to talk a few people into starting a band. I think marketing a band is a little bit easier than marketing art. And if I could write a song half as good as I draw a circle, hell even an 1/8th as good, we might have gone far (this idea still isn’t off the boards though, just gotta give this art thing one hell of a great try.)

I still don’t think we would have had any kids but we would have an alarming amount of cats. I would hope we would still be as happy as we are now with no matter what we would have ended up doing. We both have that kind of mindset and I do believe we wouldn’t be wasting away in a dead end job hating every minute of life. But who knows if things were any different I could still be living at my mom’s house smoking pot in the backyard doing odd jobs for little old ladies in the neighborhood.

A Plant Named Cat

2011-07-30T07:50:00.000-07:00

While we were staying up in the mountains a few weeks ago at a friend's house we were given sort of a “house warming” present. A very nice little ivy plant in a glass pot. We have been toying with the idea of getting a cat or a little dog but every time we talk to other RVers it seems like it would just be better not to get one. Plus our space is so small that all the hair would add up fast. I do like the fact that you can meet more people while walking a dog. But I don’t know what we would do during the shows, we cant leave them in the van all day cooking and I wouldn’t want to have to tie them up at our tent. So these are the types of things we think about and voice often when asked. So our friend Becky suggested a plant, we have also thought about getting plants and stuff and even looked at them. Well on our last day staying with her, she shows up with this ivy. She called it “Cat” since she knows we really wanted a cat in here. So far so good, it stays still as we roll down the highway, doesn’t mind the heat and even has started to get new growth. Meow.

Rocky Mountain Dream For A Cure Summer Fest And The Docent Dinner #7

2011-07-25T08:04:00.000-07:00

What an artful weekend for us. If I remember correctly this is the first time we have done 2 show on the same weekend. We had done a show during the week and one that same weekend, but this is new.

The first show was a first year fundraiser for RSD/CRPS which on our side means we should have never been there. No one came out and the few people who were there didn’t care about art. There were more volunteers than shoppers and they didn’t even share their waters with us.

Oh well, back to the important part, we didn’t even know about this disease and I suspect most people out there don’t either. Unless you know someone personally or suffer from it yourself you would think its made up and most people with it even have to fight just to be diagnosed with it in the first place. I got the privledge of speaking to a few people with it and it made me so sad to hear their stories and stories about their kids. They say its like being on fire all the time and there’s really nothing they can do about it. So we need to raise awareness for all these people in pain.

Dinner time at Dazzle was also slow with only 6 of us but we had a great time. I felt bad that the couple there seemed like they had to buy art. They did pick out great pieces. We drank and ate way too much but it was a very fun happy hour. We did get this a nice little write up in the Westword and last time we were here we had this nice interview . We love Eric aka “The Art Pimp” and try to work with him every chance we get, can't wait till next year to see what he cooks up for us when we roll back into town.

Now off to Minnesota for 2 shows then back here for the last Colorado show this year. Its been a great run and I now need to bust my butt to make more art to finish out the summer strong. See ya out there.

What if someone stole your style and marketed it better?

2011-07-19T08:36:00.000-07:00

We were sitting around the other day talking about how we like to post super huge files on here and on our site and thought about how easily someone could come in and steal an image. Use it in their blogs, print them out and sell prints and even worse, say they drew them themselves. As I spoke to a few artists out there on Facebook and Twitter it has come to my attention that many artists out there are really scared someone is going to come along and do just that and make millions. I was talking to a guy about how he saw his work on a blog and he was pissed that it happened, he had watermarks and everything on his pictures. Then another girl shared a story about how someone took one of her images and made the exact same thing and sold it, she also copied every subject she did and when she did something new the other lady did it too. She went as far as deleting her profile on Facebook so this lady wouldn’t be able to see her new pieces.

I am reminded of a story I once heard about Grand Funk Railroad, I think it was, could be another band but I’m not about to spend my day looking it up, and how they would let and even welcome the people who came to their concerts to record them to share their music with more people and how it helped them get their music more out there and how old tapes are being found with lost concerts out there.

I myself have also seen a few of my images on other peoples blogs, which make no reference to me or my site. These were real images I drew, not just look alike work. I do get tons of links sent to me every day with stuff that looks sort of like what I do, does it bother me? Nope. Do I get mad about it? Nope. I love that someone would like my art enough that they feel they need to use it.

The way I feel about my art is that its very hard to make, even for me, and I have a natural ability to draw these circles. Its so hard that half the time I don’t even want to do it, so if someone wants to come along and try to do what I do, I say bring it on. I would love to hear how much pain your hands are in and how much practice it would take to even come close to what I do. I live on competition and I’m sure it would only push me to market better and to create even more and interesting art.

So what do you folks think? Would love to hear stories about your experiences or anything you have seen. And if it hasn’t happened to you, what would you do if it did?

Open Arts Fest 2011

2011-07-18T18:09:00.000-07:00

To start things off they had a little party at Boulder Museum Of Contemporary Arts, and even though there was no wine, the food was good and plenty. They said that this show, being a first year show, was also a re-imagining of the Downtown Boulder ArtFair we did last year. They also said that they really wanted this show to be focused more on the “fine” art and that the other show was becoming too “crafty”. Before anyone could say what we were all thinking, they said they didn’t want to give Cherry Creek a run for its money. However Cherry Creek didn’t let us in this year and they did. They also had some of the local’s art (and I use the word local as loosely as I can with us) at the Canyon Gallery which is located in a library a few blocks away.

Saturday started off at 4:30 am and a drive over to Pearl Street Mall to set up. The coffee had to be strong and there had to be tons of it. Once we were all set up and ready to go, so were the people. Its been a while since I've seen boothfulls of people non stop all day. I couldn’t even begin to tell you how many people we spoke to this weekend, it could be in the 50K’s. I should get one of those counters and click every time someone comes in the booth, that would be a good way to show sponsors what kind of pull we have. Those of you who follow me on Facebook will be happy to know that all those hummingbirds I drew are all gone. We were so pleased with the outcome of the first day that we didn’t care how we did on the second day.

However Sunday was even faster and had even more non stop people. This was the fastest show we have done all year, at a few times we had lines out the booth of people wanting to buy art. Everything was perfect about this show, they treated the artists good, came around with waters, they had a room in a hotel with fruits and sodas. It seemed like every time I turned around there was a volunteer willing to help. If this Boulder Open Arts Fest is really going after Cherry Creek, whatch out cuz in its first year it was almost as good.

Best part about this show was all the high quality street performers. Even though if you were to sit there for 8 to 10 hours they all repeat themselves over and over, but the first time seeing what they do and hearing the songs they sing were great. We even chatted with one musician, Anson Krekeler, who was on his way to Seattle and living in his van, he give us a CD and we have been listening to it a lot. I also chatted with one of the many balloon guys; when I was little I always wanted to make those balloon animals.

What a great town and like I said last year, if I had to do it all over again I would move to Boulder. Oh and we were in front of this store who had a swamp cooler with its doors open and every now and then we got a great blast of cool air, not that it was that hot, but it had its moments that even I felt hot.

For the most part the weather was great, no rain, no wind and plenty of exciting things to see. I love running into old friends and making new ones, I’m always surprised to hear people are following my blog and really know what we are up to. I just want to thank Boulder, Colorado for all the good times, hope to see you next year. Now it’s a quick one day show and a dinner with the artist type thing in Denver and we head to Minnesota.

Living At The Speed Of Life

2011-07-14T07:13:00.000-07:00

...please tell me what keeps you thriving throughout your days knowing that we are all moving at the speed of life...

I was asked about the speed of life and how I move along with it on Facebook the other day, so I wanted to take the time and blog about my speed of life. Like most things I didn’t even know what it meant, I googled it, you know like any person would do these days. It got me thinking about how fast information can come to us and how easy it is for us to do anything we want. Then it made me think about how much time we really have here on this planet. We each are given 24 hours a day and that is chopped by 1/3 cuz we need our 8 hours of sleep. Then you have eating and all the daily stuff you could never get rid of. So we really don’t have much time a day to do anything but this is where the sweet spot is. This is the place where dreams come true, that is the place where anything can happen. The speed of life will come and go everyday with or without you. Some people let it pass them by doing nothing everyday, I used to be that way, smoking pot, living on a skateboard, asking for change from everyone so I could go buy a beer. Some people are trying hard not to let the speed of life catch them, I knew living in the street doing the things we did you only end up in jail or dead. Facebook has also taught me that a lot of the people I grew up with are both. Some people are more right along with it, going to work, working a boring job, coming home then repeating, waiting for the weekend to have a little fun before returning back to that same job, I was also there working my 9 to 5. Then some people have the privilege of having the idea that this shouldn’t be. Why work hard to make someone else look good. We were meant to live free and enjoy the little time we have here.

I am the first to admit I work way too much and expect way too much to come of all this work. But I was given a gift and I feel if I do not share this gift with the world it will forever be lost. I only started sharing this gift about 7 or so years ago and I’m already 35, and an unhealthy 35, so I might not have much time left to do it. So I live faster than the speed of life, I feel I have to. I want to be one of these artists your kid’s kids are going to have to study about and write reports on.

In contrast, we live on the road peddling our wares everywhere we go, we don’t make much money, but we have a lot of fun and get to see everything the world has to offer. Which is the complete opposite of all the work we do and in turn we live a lot slower then the speed of life and we get to enjoy a lot of things people never do. Most people take vacations, they pack up everything and come stay with us for a few days but when they go back home and to work, we move on to the next beautiful place where other people want to vacation. Granted, we are working very hard in each spot, but I did enjoy the grand canyon even though I was there to get pictures to make drawings and I did spend the night at the camp ground drawing.

By listening to your own speed you too can live the life you always wanted to. I know I have inspired a few people to quit their jobs and start up their own businesses or went to free lance after learning the skills needed in a 9 to 5. I feel bad when I see people rushing to work on the highways getting all mad at us cuz we are doing the speed limit and enjoying the view with the jams turned up. Everyone should be living this way. Stop and smell not just the roses but everything around you. There’s a whole world out there and it wants to say hi. Step outta the grid and take a deep breath cuz that breath will be the sweetest most delicious breath you will ever take.

The Simple Joys Of Being On The Road Really Are Simple

2011-07-13T13:33:00.000-07:00

As you know from my blog about having a good spot to park, not running around like chickens with out heads is a good thing. But there are a few more things we do that make us feel at home, not at home “home” since we always have our home with us. More like safe and comforting. Yup, its food, comfort food and it’s called comfort food for a reason. For me it’s a sausage biscuit with egg from McDonalds and for Hannah it’s eating at a Chili’s. I'm not saying Mickey D's or Chili's are our all time favorites and we want to eat it everyday, I just mean that its like a constant in our always changing world. Being in so many new and random places, its nice to just eat something familiar that we can count on.

I joke about a New York trip we once took around the holidays while we both had 9 to 5’s and how it was cold, rainy and we were both sick and how all I remember about that trip is that we were sick, running for a cab in the rain and a McDonalds breakfast we ate one morning that made me feel like I could take on the world. Although we did see all the major galleries, the statue of liberty, the empire state and the thanksgiving parade, it was that breakfast that I remember.

I remember as a kid going to work with my dad and eating one in the parking lot right before pulling into the construction site. I guess it grounds me in a time when things were simple. Sunshine and hard work. These days its not so simple, but to just pull in and grab one on the road miles away from anything remotely close to something we would call home and some how at the same time right at home, a breakfast like this is just what we need.

A few weeks ago we got to a really nice rest stop near Goodland, Kansas. It was about 3pm and we were planning on staying the night there and we watched TV for the rest of the day and even though we had only 2 channels it was a nice break after a long show. I even commented on how it seemed like we had been there forever. We even had time to clean our moon roof and just in time to enjoy a beautiful sunset and a late night rain. Then the next morning we woke up and grabbed some McDonalds breakfast. Now that’s living the good life to me.

Art on the Rockies

2011-07-12T14:47:00.000-07:00

The Thursday before the Friday we had to set-up, we stayed at a rest stop which was right behind the school about a block over. The rest stop had a dump station and a good source of water. There were signs all over the place that said “no overnight camping” and after looking online a bit it seems like overnight camping and parking is a real problem up here in the mountains. There are little RV parks and the only one we found was like 60 bucks a night, we don’t have that kind of money. We risked it and well we didn’t get kicked out.

Friday, set-up was easy and we wondered around talking to old friends, Hannah played with a dog while I helped move heavy things for a nice looking lady we meet last year in Denver. I told her had she been ugly I would have walked away a long time ago, just kidding. Since the show didn’t start till Saturday and our set-up was at 8am we went back to the van to work. The Artists Reception was at Crazy Mountain Brewery and we had tacos and sandwiches. We closed the place down talking to the guys who set up all the big tents in most of the Denver shows and a few other artists.

Saturday, much like the Boulder show a few weeks ago this show didn’t have many people walking around. Could have been cuz it was a first year show, could have been the weather, who knows. We did sell quite a bit of originals and it seemed like we were going to make a killing. Over the weekend it rained about 13 times and after each time it put the few people there in a buying mood. It was a very strange experience to have the temperature change every 20 to 30 minutes. We got pizza delivered to our van for dinner which was a first for us.

Sunday was very slow. It seemed like the air was taken outta the place. It may have bit the heat or something. I think even the food vendors were feeling it cuz a few of them didn’t return and we wanted to try out the sandwiches they had. It did pick up a bit right when we felt like packing up and calling it quits. We sold off the last of the CircleScapes and even sold the first replacement one right as I started it. So now I have to make all 7 again and add a few more before we are back down in Texas for part 2 of that show.

At this show, more than any other, I had other artists criticize the size of my pieces. It seemed like everyone was asking me if I made bigger pieces. I don’t know why, they didn’t seem like they were going to buy any. I use to show several lager piece in my days. We use to lug them around everywhere. But with my career I make what sells and my larger pieces never sold so I never made anymore. The only reason I only make and show smaller pieces is cuz that’s what I sell and that’s what I have to replace.

I feel that maybe these artists and I have different buyers and that they are a bit confused about that. They talk about these people with huge houses that need larger pieces but I tend to sell to couples who may be renting their first apartment or home together. Their buyers are older empty nesters who may be retired and my buyers seem to be mostly broke and are pulling what little money they have to own one of my pieces.

I really don’t think size is the issue and come on, doesn’t it say in the bible “size doesn’t matter” and “its not the size of the boat but the motion of the ocean” and other cool sayings like that? (I know its not from the bible, just said it for effect). I did try a few pieces that were a bit bigger this show and guess what, yup, I kept selling the same smaller piece I always sell and guess what I have to replace before the next show. I have no idea what to make of this and even if I wanted to make a huge 5 foot by 6 foot piece I wouldn't be able to fit it in our van and chances are if I could I would be hauling it around for a year or so till I dropped it off at one of my galleries to store it or would have to sell it wholesale.

Ok more about the show in Edwards, Colorado. We would totally come back if we are in the area again. Everyone working the show was great and I heard the college we were at signed on to hold 20 more years of these shows and the potential is great. Its happening every weekend after the 4th of July so keep your calendars marked so you can make your mountain trip up to Vail and enjoy some of the greatest weather on the planet. Bring your flip-flops and your snow shoes and carry an umbrella with you at all times and come have some fun in the sun.

Pushing Myself More

2011-07-09T07:25:00.000-07:00

And you thought we were on a “vacation”. We were, but I like to call them workcations, see we just didn’t have shows to do but we were working harder while on vacation then most people work the whole year. We had a long to-do list and needed to crank out new ideas, work on other projects for the future all while kicking out new art for shows. We are almost all booked for the rest of the year and almost have another solo show planned for November down in Texas. Now for the new art we came up with.

At the Kansas show I was chatting with one of the many artists who I love to bounce ideas off and who has helped me along the way, cheap plug for Michael Swearngin one of the best artists out here. Check him out.

For a few months now Mike has been telling me, “you need to get rid of your glass”. And we talked about how doing what we do sometimes a piece or two can get damaged here and there. You know loading art in your car every weekend for 50 shows can place wear and tear on them. He hits his pieces with sandpaper and gives them a Shabby Chic feel and which hides the fact that a piece could get dinged up in the process of setting up and tearing down or make it to where if it did get a scratch on it somewhere it would only add to the piece. Well whatever it is that we do we are trying to make a few pieces without glass.

I have been struggling with this one since we framed our first pencil piece under glass. I have been told by countless people we needed to drop the glass and in our line of work we have had messed up many frames and broken a few pieces of glass. Hannah even spilled a red snow cone on one and it rolled down the glass and up the white mat oh so fast. With frames you always run the risk of the client not liking it and not buying because of that and most times they don’t speak up and tell you that’s the reason why. We had even gotten some people who want to swap out frames and that turns us into a frame shop, which we are not.

I have been doing the canvas pieces in markers and paint pens but they don’t have the same feel as the pencil drawings. I did hit a piece or two with the sandpaper. We also tried out Claybord, which was the only thing we could find with a super smooth finish that’s a lot like the paper I use, maybe too smooth, its like what I imagine drawing on glass would be like.

I really like how the Claybord piece came out and I can see myself switching over to nothing but that. There’s still a matter of what to do with the left over white part since it can get dirty real fast and what to do with the edges, to paint them black or leave them wood color. But that wont be too hard to figure out once I start getting eyes on them.

On Vacation I Say

2011-07-07T08:46:00.000-07:00

We have had 2 near back to back weekends off but we really shoot for this to never happen but sometimes it just works out that way. However, I did take this time to work on some of my other projects I have going on that don’t get much mention here on my blog. As my Twitter and Facebook followers know, I’m doing the illustrations for a children’s book so I was able to do a few more drawings for that. Its no where near being done and the earliest time it might come out is in 2 Christmases from now, but you can like it on Facebook so you wont miss a thing.

our spot in Brighton, CO

First we stayed in Brighton, Colorado in the back of a friends house. The weather was great and we used our awning when the sun was too much for us. We were able to plug in and get water anytime we needed some. We mainly just worked and got a lot done, Hannah made necklaces and I kicked out 10 new little paintings of koi fish. The people we stayed with were really cool and even though we didn’t use it we had free range of their house. They give us a key and said to use or do whatever. Cool thing is that I met her on Twitter; after moving to Denver I made it a point to add local businesses and such. And when I got a tweet about her cafe's grand opening I just had to walk over and get breakfast. I was in there so much that we became pretty good friends.

our spot in Denver, CO

Another friend's house that we like to stay at is right downtown Denver. We stayed here before our Kasas trip and a couple of days between being in Brighton and Breckenridge. We met her when we first moved to Denver, through Twitter, and she attended many of our Open Studio nights. We became fast friends and she has a great convienient parking space for us behind her house. She even has two cats for Hannah to play with.

our spot in Breckenridge, CO

The next weekend we were in Breckenridge, Colorado (or Broken Fridge as the people we stayed with like to say) where the temperatures stayed well under 90 and went down in the 40’s at night. The young lady we stayed with wasn’t going to let us just stay in our van and work the days away. She had us hop on the bus and showed us the downtown, told us a little history about the place and showed us all the hot spots. We also walked around an art show that was going on which had we known about we probably would have been in. It was pretty cool since we knew every other artist there, maybe next year. Then she drove us around to see all the fancy houses up in the mountains. We got in a few hikes and enjoyed the snow a bit, yup I said snow. We saw the 4th of July fireworks from a great party in a really great house. We did however get a lot of work done, I tried out a new support called clay board (which I will talk about in another blog) which might be the big new thing around here.

What great hosts we have had on our little “breaks” from the grind of doing a show. Its always nice to kick back and let the world pass us by every now and then. Its hard out here jumping from place to place like we are artists on the run. Wal-Mart to rest stop to Wal-Mart gets old after a few weeks. So its always good when we can find these pockets of time when we feel like we belong or are welcomed to park in a quiet out of the way spot. But now its time to move on and have a show.

Boulder Festival of the Arts on 29th Street

2011-06-28T06:47:00.000-07:00

Last year we did the Boulder ArtFair on Pearl Street and even though it started out slow and we splurged on a fancy Bed and Breakfast, we more than broke even, not to mention we love Boulder. We did sign up for the same show this year, now called the Open Arts Festival, but we saw this one on 29th Street on the list. We were shooting for a show in Utah the same weekend but got wait listed and as the deadline for the show got closer and there were no signs of getting into the Utah show which our good friends Bill and Toni in the school bus were going to do, so we jumped at this Boulder show.

It’s a Howard Allen show and we have never done a Howard Allen show before. Some would say when talking about a Cadillac "it’s the Howard Allen of cars" and that "Jordan was the Howard Allen of basketball". So we had to check these out.

There was little direction in what to do or where to go but we are professionals and didn’t need the direction. I could see how this would have been a hard show for a beginner. The show's main concern seemed to be parking, and parking was great, we were close by our tent, even if the rest of the RVs had their generators going on all night. And as all you Colorado folks know, even though its hot during the day you can always count on a nice cool night and morning.

The show was pretty slow with not many people walking around but the few people who were walking around were active. It seem like everyone was buying a piece of art. Everywhere I looked artists were making sales. For us it might have been our best show so far this year, which isn’t hard when you consider our $27 show in Palm Springs. All in all this was a good feeling show, the location was great, the people are beautiful and they like art.

We were set up outside a Starbucks and a Victoria’s Secret and it seemed like they had people going in and out of them all day. I myself wouldn’t let a 12 old year go into either place but that’s just me. We actually did treat ourselves to some Starbucks and Hannah picked up some Secret.

We had a weekend off before this show and we will have a weekend off after. I have been creating a lot of new stuff and I need to blog about them. It seems like I am having less and less blogging time, but I need to get back to reporting on our travels. Thanks for hanging in there with us.

When Art Becomes A Drug

2011-06-17T07:21:00.000-07:00

I use to be able to make a painting or two a month to get my artist's high. I felt good, I was in control, I was making art and I had a full time job and had all the money I needed to do whatever I wanted to do. I use to buy one 3 foot by 3 foot canvas every two weeks when I got paid, I would start it that same day. Some paintings had styles that would take months to finish and some only days. I worked nights and weekends between a day job. So I understand when someone tells me they painted all weekend with no sleep and they are tired at work the next Monday. I use to do that too. Since I had a job and didn’t need money I could do whatever the hell I wanted to do. Sure I would have art shows but not to sell art, more to have a party and to show off. We did manage to sell a few pieces here and there but nothing exciting. I was just happy if all the food was eaten.

But I needed more of the high, I needed to be producing more art, I needed more shows. I needed to have more parties and I needed to be the center of attention. It got to a point when I spent 8 hours at work, 8 hours painting and I tried to get 8 hours of sleep, although I didn’t want to sleep cuz I needed to paint more. Then I also started drawing at work and it slowly became more and more hours spent drawing at the desk when no one was watching. It got to a point where I was drawing 8 hours at work doing my circles on paper and I would go home and paint several other styles at home and I still tried to get my 8 hours of sleep although once again I wouldn’t get that much. I still wasn’t selling much but I was getting pretty well known as an artist and really getting into the art scene. I still needed more.

All I thought about was art. I read all I could about art and artists when someone would say something about one I hadn’t heard of. I read about theories and movements, about practices and religions. I tried to fill my head with as much as I could. I drew and painted all hours of the night and day. I had quit my job, I stopped going out unless it was to an art show or to meet with someone about a show. I wouldn’t do anything that didn’t involve art and most importantly my art. I feel I may have burned myself out a bit cuz I really no longer enjoy looking at other peoples art. I still go to tons of museums and galleries but I go to museums to look at the architecture and I go to galleries to meet the owners and introduce myself to everyone and anyone who will talk to me. I pick the brains of everyone I can, all to learn more about what other people are doing.

Once I quit my job I really pushed myself to work some 16 to 18 hours a day which hurt my hands really bad. I used to never provide reproductions and only had originals to sell. These days I try to only work about 5 hours a day and most of that is marketing and PR. We added our necklaces to the mix and provide open end reproductions of some of the better pieces. I don’t say yes to everything that comes my way any more, although I still say yes to more than I should. However, I do show a lot more with about 40 to 50 shows a year. Now, to get my art high, making the art and having a show isn’t working any more. Now to get my high I need to be known, I need to have my art seen around the world. And I’m always looking for more and more ways to get as excited as I was to make my 1st paining, that 1st show and that 1st sale. I still remember it like it was yesterday. It was my old boss and he paid 100 bucks cash for the 3rd painting I ever made. He still has it and has added a few pencil pieces to his ever growing art collection.

I make so much art and have so many shows and meet so many people and sell so much art its all become a blur, sort of what a drunken binge must feel like. When I saw that famous interview with Charlie Sheen I can kinda see similarities with what we do. If you're just making art you're just drinking beer in your mom’s basement, you need to get out to the club and have yourself some hookers and sex and get yourself some coke and ecstasy...you know, in a metaphoric way.

How do you get your art binge on? Or are you satisfied with where you are?

Smoky Hill River Festival

2011-06-15T07:23:00.000-07:00

the t-shirt

Toto, I think we really are still in Kansas, The 35th Smokey Hill River Festival in Salina, KS was one of these show we wanted to try out in between Downtown Denver Arts Fest and the Open Arts Fest in Boulder, which were both good ones last year. Looking at the artists line-up we noticed a few bigger names and a few names of people we have met while on the road. Which is always a good sign.

food at artist reception

This show’s set up was kind of crazy since it had been going on a day before we even showed up so tons of people were walking around. I didn’t like having to walk around people while carting all our stuff to the site. Then while laying out our tent people were still crossing right where our booth went. So extra caution was needed while swinging poles around since you never knew when a little kid was going to come running at you. After set up there was a little artists reception downtown at a really cool looking café. They did feed us good and the beer and wine was flowing.

my name in program

First day of the show was great, great weather and everyone seemed to have come out to enjoy all the art. We had a nonstop flow of people in and out of our booth all day. It was a long day from 9 to 8 but it wasn’t as hot as it could be. People kept remarking about how nice the weather was, even in the sun with little breeze. George Clinton was the night headliner so the parking lot where we stayed was full of loud people till late but I was able to sleep when it died down. However I woke to a rocking of the van from strong winds and rain. All I could think about was all the booths flying up into the trees like Charlie Brown’s kite in that one tree.

booth set up day 1

booth set up day 2

Second day of the two day show was a bit slower but we got a nice little breakfast and were able to chat with some of the other artists. The rain washed the tent off and we tried to hang the art up a little differently. Instead of perfect rows of art with all the same frames we mixed them all up to see what people thought, not sure if anyone noticed. It did look like a few people were stocking up on art they had picked out the day before. We saw many people with big art under both arms and bags of smaller art in their hands.

panorama of show

As you folks know I love to draw at these shows to show people I really can draw a circle freehand. I drew 2 koi fish in 2 days and sold them both right as Hannah hung them on the wall. The weather stayed nice all weekend long but if it had gotten as hot as it could be the parking lot had plugs for us to use so we could have ran the AC at night. This show had everything a great show needs and in it’s 35 years they have built one hell of a reputation and their art patrons program is one of the best I have ever seen. Each patron grantees a certain amount of purchases. Then we all donated small pieces for their "first treasures" program which encourages kids to buy art and later seek out the artist and chat with them.

Salina, Kansas has got it going on in the art department. From its great art minded people with all their welcoming attitudes, huge amounts of public art on display everywhere you look, to its very clean streets and beautiful buildings. Salina loves its art and us artists love Salina; if they will have us again we will be back next year. Only con? No Wifi, our Cricket didn’t work and it seemed like there was no where we could park to get online, so no work got done, Oh Well!

Denver, CO To Salina, KS

2011-06-14T18:15:00.000-07:00

At the Giant Van Gogh Painting in Goodland, KS

We stayed at Wazee Union on Tuesday, where we were able to plug in all night and get one hell of a great charge. We were gently rocked to sleep by passing trains (I would have gotten a picture but our camera took its last fall and is now buried in a shallow grave in Castle Rock, CO). There were tons of nails in the parking lot and as you know nails love our tires, although I think we managed to get outta there without any. Several of the other artists working there seemed to drive carelessly over them but we kept a keen eye open and picked up all we could and put them in the trash.

Our view from the WalMart parking lot (courtesy of newly purchased camera)

Then on to Castle Rock, home of the closest free dump station to Denver. We stayed at a really nice Wal-Mart with a great view of the mountains and Pikes Peak. We picked up a great dinner and some drinks and saw “Black Swan” which was a great movie that actually captured how it really is to be a professional artist. While at the Wal-Mart we got a notice saying we had to check-in with customer service every time we park there and we could only stay 3 nights. Now we know, I do feel like we are going to spend a lot of time there.

On from Castle Rock was a quick hop over the boarder to Kansas. Once in Kansas all the rest stops had dump stations and great looking places to park. I-70 is home of the dump station. We found it was also somewhat easy to pick up water at truck stops. Everyone we spoke to about coming to Kansas downed it, some even said they did anything to avoid driving though Kansas, but I find the landscape to be very beautiful. Everything was so green and the amber waved at us every chance it got. I loved all the pockets of trees everywhere and even enjoyed a few by parking under them to eat our lunches. I guess the good thing about people avoiding Kansas is that it made the highways a bit more open and free flowing.

Booth zipped up after set up on Friday

Last day on the road. All I can think about is “I’m going to Kansas City, Kansas City here I come” although we are stopping short of Kansas City the feeling is still the same. Set up for the Smoky Hill River Festival in Salina, KS was pretty easy but the festival had already been going on for a day so it seemed like we were late for the party. It seemed like tons of people were walking around, a bit too many little kids for my taste but I hope they all like my necklaces. Lets see how this goes, oh and there is an Artists' Reception!

People's Fair

2011-06-06T14:25:00.000-07:00

What a fast paced two days it has been. People's Fair is one of those shows were anything goes, much like the Tucson show we did back in the winter. There was more “stuff” there than just art, with palm reading, acupuncture and more tie-die than you could shake a stick at(oh and Hannah gave in and bought one). Oh and you could have also gotten that stick there too, with a skull on the end and the skull had a mohawk. There were beer booths and loud music with about 6 or 7 stages (my head is still ringing), also don’t forget the big bouncy castle and the rock climbing wall, it was truly a “people's” fair.

In the two years of living in Denver we have only walked around the outside of this fair so I didn’t really know what to expect. I gotta tell you, if you want to really see what makes Denver a happening place you need to come see this crowd. There’s such a wide mix of flavors of people here, you can see everything from the super sexy to the down right crazy. At this show more than any other, we had so many people coming into our booth asking for business cards without even looking at the art, then getting all mad cuz we tell them to sign up for our newsletter.....why the hell did they want the card in the first place? One lady in a wheel chair wanted my phone number to call me about a business that wanted to give artists $99K, I kept asking what’s the name of the business and she kept saying they had 3 names but wouldn't give me one! Sure they will, I‘ll start holding my breath right now.

We planned ahead and had over 100 necklaces to sell, we thought it might have been an under $20 crowd and we hit the nail on the head and sold a ton of them. We even had a few new images which seemed to work out nicely. Which reminds me, we really need to make more. We did mange to sell an original too, we put up all my older pieces to strike up a deal with buyers but only one jumped.

Load in and load out was pretty easy if you were quick in the beginning and if you took your time at the end. We meet a lot of great people and added them all to Facebook and/or Twitter. They had the RV parking all jacked up but we found a great place to park during the show near by for only 5 bucks. There was even another guy living outta his car in the parking lot too. It was nice to wake up to the view of the Denver Art Museums.

Only regret is that I didn’t get a picture with the fairy selling books next to us, but I did find her publisher on Facebook. It wasn’t a bad show and if we are around next year we will surely hop aboard and do it again. Now its time to head over to Kansas for the Smoky Hill River Festival in Salina. Hope to see you out there real soon.

An Interview With Laurie Maves

2011-06-01T14:45:00.000-07:00

I met Laurie at a really fancy art dinner fundraiser a few years back, her and her husband sat next to us during the sit down dinner part. She told me about how she does a little thing on YouTube and how she wanted me to come chat with her. Right way I knew this was a match made in the art heavens. I did hang out in her studio as much as I could while living in Denver. I love talking with Laurie because every time I do its like one great idea after another comes out. So even though I’m on the road, I try to speak with her as much as I can and in an attempt to hold her down I decided to interview her.

nemo: First of all you’re crazy for tearing up that huge painting to make art cards, can you tell us a little about that and how it came to be?

Laurie: Well, my pal Nemo, I met a woman, Angela Taylor, online who works primarily with ACEO’s, artist cards editions and orginials, and she runs an online magazine on Facebook. This is where I was truly introduced to these petite works. Then I met another artist in Ft. Myers, Florida at a shop called Green –n – Groovy, and she was also working with ACEO’s so I thought this was a sign from the universe (you know how I roll with that) that I should too consider making some 2 ½” x 3 ½” pieces. I have made paintings and broke them down before when I made the Red Beast piece (you were in my studio then, remember)? But the pieces were more like 5”x7”. When I have a number of larger paintings on tar paper or on canvas that sit around my studio for months or for a couple years and nothing happens to them, they don’t find homes of their own, I feel the need to paint them or reshape them and that’s how I came to ripping up. Paintings can use a new life every once in awhile. And now I have a constant stream to post on eBay as well (where you can find many of these ACEO’s)

nemo: How’s all that live painting going? I know I down it a lot in my blogs, but it seems to really be working for you and others like Eric Matelski, how did you get into it?

Laurie: Live painting is something natural and flowing in my blood. I began performance painting at the Denver Chalk Festival a number of years ago by creating large temporary chalk pieces alongside many other Denver Chalk artists. I met Eric Matelski either at this event or because he was curating. As we got to know each other, he would ask me if I wanted to live paint along side him and a couple of other artists at concerts. I couldn’t refuse, as Eric always has amazing creative ideas. He even invited me to paint at Red Rocks Amphitheater for a concert in 2007 when we painted live in front of a crowd of almost 10,000. After I did that, and experienced that creative force in front of a ginormous audience, I was hooked. Now I am regularly booked to paint live at concerts, by fans or by musicians, as well as at special events and benefits, and the non-profit usually live auctions the painting I make to raise additional funds for their programs.

nemo: Do you have tips on how my readers can go about starting to live paint? I’m also looking to get into it too, so help us out a little.

Laurie: Well, there are a couple of ways to get started. You can google your local live painting community and see if you could tag along at any of their events. You could contact your local galleries to see if / when they host their art walks if you could set up an easel and just get to work. Live painting is most often fascinating to onlookers and as long as you engage your audience and are willing to talk about your subject or your process, then I think you would be a big hit. Working with fast drying paint/acrylics seems to work best. And in dark venues, a small spotlight is a must.

Do go with the flow

Do be spontaneous

Do know how your paint dries

Do know your subject

Do know your splashability … venues do NOT like to support live painters who get paint on everything, or anything for that matter.

Do keep your paint on your canvas

Do have a tarp

Be willing to talk to your peeps

Have fun and smile lots

nemo: You do a lot of live painting with musicians. So, what band or musician are you dying to paint with?

Laurie: Like on my life list? I have a lot of musicians on that list: U2, Jason Mraz, Matt Morris, Indigo Girls, Annie Lennox. I am wanting to work on a very LARGE scale at some point, so now I’m just waiting for that large touring celebrated band to hire me to create live painted sets as they sing

nemo: And what happens to the live art you make?

Laurie: Most of it is pre-sold, so I have already been hired to live paint, and the client buys the painting as part of the hiring process.

nemo: It seems like you’re always so busy with making art, what do you do when you find time to do other things and how do you keep every thing balanced?

Laurie: I have a family and I have my yoga. These are the two other things that truly ground me in my life that could be seriously filled with art alone as I love it so much. But I love being a mama and I love my yoga practice. It’s good to be bendy when making large paintings on a daily basis

nemo: Who are some of the artists out there you admire?

Laurie: Nemo, I admire you for reals…how you go out into the world with your traveling art show on wheels and all the marketing you do is fascinating to me. The Guerilla Girls and Banksy for their constant work against the man, for spoofing and for taking on the larger than life issues. And the dead artists I admire are Frida Kahlo, VanGogh and Picasso

nemo: You're making me blush. What new projects are you cooking up? Let us in on something no one knows about yet.

Laurie: Hmmm…what no one knows about is ridiculous because my artist life is very public. How about the next great collaboration would be between Christo and me. He will hang large sheets across some meadows and I will paint them – wouldn’t that be awesome????

nemo: Yeah “Laurie and Christo”, I like the sound of that. Anything you want to add?

Laurie: Oh Nemo, thanks for asking. Keep rocking the free world.

Downtown Denver Arts Festival, Year 2

2011-05-30T19:28:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh, back where it all started, living downtown, doing downtown stuff. I really love downtown Denver, only this time we are about 2 bocks from where we used to live, in a parking lot, and we are here all on business. We showed up on Thursday night and got settled in for a 6 o’clock am set up. The weather was much cooler than we remembered, but it felt good after being in the 100’s in Texas.

On the first day we sold 3 originals and 5 necklaces before the show even started. But once the show started it really slowed down for us. Makes me wonder how those who set up then zipped up their tents until 4pm did.

Second day was crazy, it started off slow but when it picked up it picked up. We even had a girl come in and buy a piece of art I was working on iit. Mid- circle mind you.

Day three went right back to being slow. If one out of every 20 people who said they loved the art and would be back to buy a piece actually did come back we might have done way better. We did treat our selves to a nice dinner since the artist got 25% off.

The last day was miserable, we did nothing. Just more we love your work and if we had money we would buy all of them. I sure do hope all these people without jobs and money find work, get houses and buy up all my work. Last year Monday was crap and this year Monday was crap, sounds like somebody’s got a case of the Mondays. The show ended with high winds and many of the artists losing postcards, pieces of art and even a few tents went up in the air. Our own tent moved about 6 inches but we were fine.

and the best art piece of the weekend goes to this

Now its time to crank out necklaces for next weekend's show which is more of a craft/buy-sell type show. I’m sure people will be selling noodles and butterfly wings. We need to be prepared with our $10 items to compete. We might have done a little better this weekend if we put out stuff like this but we felt it was much more of a fine art show, not much crap at this one.

From Comfort To Denver

2011-05-26T19:46:00.000-07:00

Monday started off just like any other Monday with a quick fill up of one tank and an emptying of another tank. It's been so long since we had gone a month without a “home base”, so to say, and this time its going to be four months. We are really going to be pushing what we can do on this trip. We went from Comfort, TX to Snyder, TX and hung out at a beautiful park which had ducks and geese and these really cool exercise machines on a jogging trail. The internet came and went but I got a lot of drawing done. We spent the night at a very small 24 hour Wal-Mart and picked up a few movies, Country Strong and Alice In Wonderland. Aside from being woken up at 4 in the morning by a gun shot sound, our first night sleeping wherever we can went good. It was a very hot day with temperatures hitting in the 100’s but once the sun went away it cooled down nicely.

Windy, oh McWindy, it was so windy on our second day of travel. Head winds suck, suck the diesel that is, glad we filled up on $3.69 a gallon stuff. It’s been just under $4 at most places. We stopped in Amarillo, TX at another Wal-Mart since it was the biggest city around and we felt we needed it so we could pick up FOX to see Idol. It was so windy and dusty that when we opened the windows my desk quickly filled with a fine layer of dirt. I felt like I shouldn’t be working on a drawing in those conditions so I took the night off.

Third day was cooler but still some of the same wind. We flew though a few dust storms and more then a few times did the wind almost push us off the road. Our ESP (electronic stability program) must have gotten dirty or something cuz it went off and the engine stopped producing power. We stopped at a rest stop and googled it and called roadside assistance about it. It was ok to drive without it, we just have to be more careful and take it in to the dealer as soon as we could. However the light didn’t come back on when we got back on the road and once we hit the mountains the winds died down a bit. We did make it all the way to Colorado Springs to a good twitter friend's house for dinner, wine, ice cream and Idol. I think we found a nice driveway to spend some time at.

latest commission, completed on the road

We went for a nice drive though the garden of the gods then found a dump station, the station we will be at a lot while staying in Denver. There’s not many places to dump for free around here. We picked up mail, we dropped off art at a gallery for a show we are part of and we grabbed a nice spot to park for the weekend's show.

Last Day In Texas!

2011-05-22T10:47:00.000-07:00

Here we go again, this time to Colorado to start our summer all over again. Be sure to pick up your Art By Nemo Tour Shirt to show off your support. If you're in Denver you can find us at Downtown Denver Art Fest next weekend. Can’t wait to see everyone in Colorado again, it seems like its been so long since we been around.

Well our last show in Comfort, Texas wasn’t as good as we would have liked it to be. It was slow, it was hot and we had music blaring in our faces all day. We did mange to make a few bucks but we spent it all on the yummy food that they were selling. We were hoping to make our gas money on this one but it didn’t happen. Please help out with a donation, anything well help, its at the bottom of the page. Please share my story so others can know what we are up too.

Well now it's time to wash clothes and put everything away in here so it wont end up on the floor as we barrel down the road. I’m going to miss being here in my home town with my home town people but the show must go on and we must get more out there. We will be back in Texas before we know it. But I cant wait to see all the new sites and meet all the new people.

Tees By Nemo (Tour Shirt)

2011-05-18T08:21:00.000-07:00

“Breaking The Art Barrier” is the first t-shirt in the Tees By Nemo series, I wanted to go with a “Tour T-Shirt” as my kick off tee. It has been a whole year since we jumped back in the art festival life. We started in Denver with the Downtown Denver Arts Festival and in a few days we will be participating in our second Downtown Denver Art Festival. Its been one hell of a long year, we have done about 35 shows and been to 7 states, we have had a real learning experience with maintenance and car care, with a pump going out and a belt getting shredded, we had a nail in the tire scare and a Blu DEF introduction. We have seen shows where no one comes out and we lose money and seen unbelievable money makers, we have also learned there are no tale tell signs to let you know which one is which. We have met so many cool people out and about who have really wanted to and have helped us out that it is so amazing to see.

Well I wanted to share my tour shirt 2010-2011 with you all and I hope people buy them and wear them proudly in support of what we are doing cuz its you out there who make all of what we do worth it and even possible.

The image is of our van with a sonic boom cloud around it. It came about from a conversation I was having about how the Seattle SuperSonics were relocated and became the Oklahoma City Thunder which got me thinking of how planes look when they break the sound barrier, then it doesn’t take long for my little brain to put that cloud on our van and call it the art barrier. It took a little too long to put it all together, but I love the final piece and I think it makes a great first tour t-shirt.

On the back we put the classic list of shows:

Downtown Denver Arts Fair Colorado + Strawberry Days Festival Glenwood Springs Colorado + Cherry Creek Arts Fair Denver Colorado + Boulder ArtFair Colorado + Oklahoma City Arts Festival + Art SA San Antonio Texas + October Art Fest Cloudcroft New Mexico + The Lobby Denver Colorado + Georgetown Art in Square Texas + The Shops at La Cantera Art Festival San Antonio Texas + Sky Lounge at The ARK San Antonio Texas + Carefree Fine Art & Wine Festival Arizona + Artisan Markets Scottsdale Arizona + ArtFest of Scottsdale Arizona + Art At AJ’s Scottsdale Arizona + Festive Fridays Phoenix Arizona + 4th Avenue Winter Street Fair Tuscon Arizona + San Pedro Springs Gallery San Antonio Texas + Serendipity Art Space San Antonio Texas + Palm Springs Arts Festival California + Southwest Arts Festival Indio California + Desert Street Fair College Of The Desert Palm Desert + Art At The Jalapeno San Antonio Texas + Say Si Small Scale San Antonio Texas + Career Day At Woodridge San Antonio Texas + Tobin Hill Arts Fest San Antonio Texas + Festival Of The Arts Corpus Christi Texas + Fiesta Truck Show And Sale San Antonio Texas + Spring Spree High’s Café & Store Comfort Texas + King William Fair San Antonio Texas + CircleScapes: 7 States In 7 Months San Antonio Texas + Art At The Village Café Bryan Texas + Mother’s Day Market San Antonio Texas + Trade Days Comfort Texas

Ok now to answer the question everyone is thinking, “why no circles?” And all I have to say is I’m not all circles. There is way more to me, I am a very complex person and graphic design is this other thing I really love to do. Playing with Photoshop and learning things on it is one of the ways I supplement my brain with the nutrients it doesn’t get with all the systematic circle drawing I do. So enjoy the other side!

Summer Planning, Happened So Fast

2011-05-08T15:05:00.000-07:00

As we ready our selves for what comes next I feel I should say a few words about what’s going on and how we are doing and how we are getting it all done. So far as we know, we head back up to Denver for the Downtown Denver Art Festival. Since we won an award last year we were asked back. We might change our address from Colorado to Texas so this might be our last time at this show since it’s a Colorado only show. Hope they will let us slide since we feel are key players to their art scene, but who knows. We are also doing the Boulder ArtFest again only they changed the name to Open ArtFest this year. These are the only two fairs we are repeating in Colorado this year. We added People’s Fair in Denver, another few up in the mountains and a private diner thing with the Art Pimp and will still be doing as much as we can with him, Vain Salon, Studio 12 Gallery and the Pop-up Store. Well, if they want to work with me that is. I’m also looking to do another solo show displaying my CircleScapes, we sold 4 so I‘m gonna have to make more. But I’m up for it.

This time being fully moble we don’t have to stick around one place or the other so we also added shows in Minnesota and we're trying for one in Utah. These are the first two new states we will be adding this summer. I’m kinda really excited to be adding to my CircleScapes series. Cant wait to see what my impression is of these places and I can't wait to add to my map piece. We will be spending a little more time in Minnesota so I might try to invade their art scene a little. Maybe find some smaller art shows or a gallery or something. We are also hitting up Kansas for a show and I have been talking to a lot of cool artists there and it will be cool to go visit with them and see what the locals do.

For the most part we will be spending our time in Colorado with quick sprints to near by states for any weekend shows we can find. We still have no plan on where we are going to be staying but have found a few people who have graciously given up their driveways and parking lots for a few days, but we still need more. So if any one knows or has land and/or RV hook-ups we can use I would gladly be your new best friend if we could use them.

Well, can’t wait to hit the road and see all our old friends back in Colorado and I’m sure make many more. Not to mention I cant wait to get outta this hot, humid weather even if its only for a bit. I really miss the dry air. Since its been about a year since we got back into the art fair circuit I’m working on a “Tour T-Shirt” which will be online soon at Zazzle. Hope you folks have enjoyed the ride and I hope you're ready for more. Thank You!

Art At The Village Café In Bryan Texas

2011-05-04T13:29:00.000-07:00

We set up at a cafe in Bryan/College Station for the weekend between two of the café’s shows. We meet the owner a few years back when we did our first tent show in College Station, she was our first sale too. She had been telling us we needed to show our work at the café gallery called Art 979. As you know we like to do something every weekend and we didn’t have anything so we drove out to Aggieland for a little show. Somehow we were able to fill up this huge space, we did have to un-retire a few pieces and frame them to fill out the show with 42 pieces and it looked good.

We were there from Thursday at 3pm to Tuesday at 2pm, 6 days and 5 nights of hanging out at a café and church parking lot and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Once we got there and started hanging the work we got a chance to chat with a few of the locals and a few art students who were discussing the art. The owner introduced us to a hand full of the regulars and everyone was very nice.

this was the gate to our little yard all weekend

Downtown Bryan is a beautiful place with some of the coolest buildings and many, many beautiful people. It seemed very safe and very ,very clean. I love a clean city. The parking lot we stayed in was very nice, well lit and flat. Most nights started off hot but cooled down nicely with the morning being chilly. The crowds were out and about till 2 am most days but they were filled with mostly good mannered folks.

the radio station we had a little interview at

The café itself is the place you wanna be when you come to Bryan, Texas. The food was so wonderful. We tried out most of the menu but I gotta say the breakfast burrito was to die for. It had scrambled eggs, spinach, red pepper and goat cheese, yummy. The place was filled with what seemed to be students working on homework during the weekdays but once the weekend rolled around it was go time. The party people came out for live music and late night salsa dancing.

We sold a few originals and a few necklaces, can't wait till we can go back and do a First Friday - if a normal weekend is this good I bet a First Friday would be crazy. They also have an Art Fair during parents weekend that sounds very profitable, this year it was at the same time as King William Fair but hopefully it all works out next year. Easter jacked with a few things this year too.

we stayed at lake bryan for a nite

Parting Is Sweet Sorrow (Natalie's Part)

2011-04-30T08:31:00.000-07:00

art work by Natalie

I was taking with Natalie Abrams on Facebook about this one day and she is one of the artists I talked about who find it hard to let go of their work. I also asked her to write a few words about it so you folks can hear both sides and not just mine. The following is from Natalie:

"It starts with one to two days of mixing the base paint, the background colour which will be maintained through the entire painting. then there’s a day of prep’ing the board, one to two weeks of putting down the layers of alternating wax and oils. longer if i’m leveling the layers as i go. then comes the long haul of anywhere from one to six months of carving and digging the pattern out again. sometimes tedious, sometimes thrilling; like a kid opening up Christmas presents, you never know what you’re going to find.

a quick piece takes a month. the average piece can take two or three. during that time, i get to know every gassy spot in the board, every burn mark, each layer of colour, every defect which adds character or gives me a headache. i see pinholes as a sign of sloppy work, and will take hours of cautious fusing to remove them. I’ll uncover gorgeous veins of oil in the wrong place. they must be sacrificed for the overall piece to work, but it takes an act of courage. what if another band like that doesn’t come along? will the viewer even notice if it’s left?

in the month or more this painting is on my table, i become intimately acquainted with it. every nuance, every feature, every defect. i know what was in a way no one else can ever know. I’ve tried to document the carving, but i don’t think anyone can really see what i’m seeing looking so closely.

and there are the psychological stages as well. i love it, i hate it, it’s awful and i think i’ll scrap it, then it’s not so bad, then it’s really bad and i should really go back to work because I’m just sitting here wasting time and i could be actually making real money to support myself. then, it’s done and it’s stunning.

when looking upon what I’ve created which no one else could have done, when it has personal meaning and beauty and significance; separating is like saying goodbye forever to a family member or close friend. i think for most people, when so much time and effort is extended toward the act of creation, it can be difficult to emotionally divest oneself from the piece. i know I’ve had to work hard at it, and feeling all the while those pieces suffer for that emotional distance.

there is something really special experiencing the joy a buyer goes through when picking up or purchasing a new piece. some are reserved and with some there is a lot of crying and hugging. getting the opportunity to share in that other person’s excitement and happiness makes it easier. knowing it’s going to a good home where it will be cherished and knowing it won’t eventually end up in a closet or storage room somewhere, neglected and forgotten."

There you go folks, two accounts from two very different kinds of artists, which one are you and how do you think about letting go of all your hard work?

Parting Is Just Sweet Hold The Sorrow (nemo part 1)

2011-04-29T10:33:00.000-07:00

Someone once asked me “How am I able to part with so much art?” and “Don’t you ever want to keep them all?” and it has come to my attention that many of the newbie artists out there have this problem. When I started out painting I did many abstract pieces which I would spend anywhere from hours to months on. I painted on nights and weekends. I was an architectural draftsman and I needed to do something that wasn’t lines and boxes. I was only doing it for fun, I had no idea it could take me to so many different places and that I would meet so many great people. For about the first 100 or so paintings I didn’t even think I was any good. I had sold a few and was doing little shows here and there. I also had many friends and family members buying my pieces and telling me they were great but I still didn’t really like them. I just needed that release. I was glad people found some joy in looking at them and wanted them in their homes.

Now that making art has become the biggest part of my life and everything takes a back seat to it, I still feel like that guy just trying to release some thing inside me. Right now, and as its been for the 8 to 9 years I have been an artist, I am still only interested in the making of my art. I haven’t got a care about the final product, I know it sounds bad, but its true. I’m in love with the process of making art. Even tho I complain about it I really do love sitting here drawing circle after circle the way I did in grade school. To me that’s the best feeling. Drawing is what gives me the high. And when I’m done with a piece I don’t think twice about it and I get started on another, chasing another high.

Don’t get me wrong, I can still enjoy a brand new show of mine like the “CircleScapes” I just did. Walking around a room filled with your art in a beautiful gallery is a very satisfying feeling. Knowing that people from all over the city are going to see all your hard work is an amazing feeling, but in the back of my mind I really just wish I was back in my van drawing.

I guess it's cuz I never set out to make a painting, I only set out to play with color. I never set out to make a piece of art, I only set out to have a little fun and to do something different. These days it’s a little more complicated cuz there’s so much more I need to think about but I really don't set out to make a master piece, I’m only drawing the same circles I drew while I was a kid and having fun, and what’s wrong if people like them and want to buy them? And that, my friends, is a better feeling than thinking I want to keep a piece. To some artists art is like a baby that they can’t part with, to me its like a litter of puppies I need to find homes for.

So the main reason I can let go of my work is because I feel the more I can sell the more I will have to do what I love and make more. What a shame right, having to do more of the stuff you love. As for individual pieces, there have been a few that when I’m done I just know it’s a good one but I feel the need to put it out there so the world can see it and hopefully someone wants to take it home with them.