Victory is Certain

Victory Is Certain (aerosol on wood, 2011)

(detail)

What's good?! I'm back really quick with a positive message - if you want it go get it. I was in my hometown of Calgary over the weekend kickin it with my brother, who's also on his grind doing what he loves, hence the message. Shout out to my lil' sis who's killin' it doin' her damn thing too! Let's get it fam!!!

The Gas Pump

(Make sure to click on the photo above to check out the full size!

All Photos: the lovely & talented Diana Duzbaeyeva)

(I cut a stencil for the Gas Pump logo, but it took me forever to paint the Wiserhood crest with a couple tiny brushes! I used a metallic powder finish to make the bling serious)

Yo! I just got the photos back from the Gas Pump mural I did earlier this summer. This wall was one of the longest I've painted so far - 36 feet across - and included a lot of small detail, including hand painted logos, which took a ton of time. The mural was commissioned by The Gas Pump, a bar/nightclub up here in Edmonton that wanted to update its image as new owners were taking over and the whole place was being given a makeover. My good friend Diana Duzbaeyeva and I were hired to create a new logo (which you can see at the top of the second photo), menu, business cards, flyers, and a mural along with photography. We co-designed all of the print media, which ended up coming out really well, and I took care of the mural while Di took photos. The bright colours blasting out of the DJ booth (which is actually straight in real life, but the lens of the camera skewed it for the photo, which is actually a composite of 3 photos since the mural is so long) and out from behind the bar represent the life of the party, provided in this case by music and great drinks. Everyone was thankfully ecstatic over the end results, which made all those hours before the bar opened in the mornings spent with my face 8 inches from that wall totally worth it. If you're in the area (it's on 101st ave and 114th st) stop by, have a drink, and check it out!

Hand Painted Dresser

Ayo, turn it up!

(before)

Whattup! Check out a couple photos of a project I just finished - remember Domino's mural from a few posts back? He had some cowboy-themed furniture in his room (above) that wasn't making the cut. No worries. I hand painted his drawers with speakers, sliders, and volume and effects knobs so that it would go along with the other fly stuff in his room. NBD. Awesomest bedroom ever. 'Nuff said.

Kaleido Festival 2011

What it do? Today I have the photos from the Kaleido festival on 118th ave which was put on partially by the Nina Haggerty, which is an art gallery and community center here in Edmonton. I was part of a collaborative event - 4 artists including myself created 4 ink paintings in the 'Exquisite Corpse' method. Basically, each artist painted 1 horizontal slice of one board every hour, without being able to see what the artist before them painted other than about an inch, and at the end we had 4 paintings that each of us had done 1/4 of. It was fun, and the results (3/4 of which are above) ended up being pretty interesting! I am somehow missing photos of one of the pieces, but if I can wrangle some I'll update this post, because it ended up being a funny painting. I was painting pretty slowly and kept chatting with people who were wondering what was going on, so I didn't get as much filled in on the sections as I would have wanted, and I know at least one of the other artists felt the same way, but the time limit also kept you from thinking about what you were going to paint too much, which we found led to some cool improvisations...

(detail shot)

(detail shot)

(detail shot)

So the Kaleido festival this year went super well, there was actually some really dope live music, tons of street stages everywhere with people swinging things wildly or preforming weird hoop dances, lots of local artisans with food and carvings and soap for sale, and a lot of artwork displayed or created live, including a pretty intense decorate-a-lightpole contest that I was in to much awe of to take pictures. Also there were these dudes (above) who walked around on the side of the building and took notes on everything. Pretty suspicious, actually.

No Guts No Glory

No guts, no glory! I'm here with a quick update and a couple detail shots of some work I did on the open wall up here in Edmonton yesterday. The piece was meant to turn out gory (hence the text 'Cannibal System' and (not pictured) 'Sick of Bablyon') but somehow ended up looking like skulls eating florescent spaghetti. That's actually way better anyways. I've got a busy couple weeks ahead of me - school just started again and I'm in the middle of designing three more new murals, as well as getting ready to paint at the Kaleido festival on Saturday. The Kaleido event should be dope, 3 other artists and I have been provided with supplies and honorariums and will be collaborating on four canvases in the 'Exquisite Corpse' method, which basically entails each artist painting one section of each canvas - the other artists are talented and have been painting for a while, so I'm excited to see the results. I'll be back with photos!!

No Photoshop Required! YWCA Camp.

(Photo credit: Leah Erickson)

Whaaat!! Trippy photo right? It came out of the camera like this, no photoshop required!

The finished piece.

What's percolatin?? Here are some photos of a piece I painted yesterday at the YoWoChAs camp in Fallis, Alberta. I've had a great summer so far, and as part of giving back I donated some time to create a mural for the kid's camp. They wanted something painted on the netting in their archery range to liven it up a little, as well as to inform and remind people that the camp is YWCA sponsored. It took quite a bit of paint because the netting really soaked it up, but in the end with enough coats the colours really started to pop, and my lovely and talented girlfriend Leah took some crazy looking photos of the sun shining through the netting. Terry and the other fine folks at the camp, who were in the middle of leadership training, were mega hospitable, and say the kids will be super pumped when they show up for camp next week. Yeah!! On to the next one!

Domino's Room

Bienvenue! Here are a few shots of my nearly finished latest mural - it's for a cool 7 year old whose nickname is 'Domino' - check it out! I'll be back soonish with photos of the furniture I'm custom painting for his room, it's gonna be so ill!! Thanks for stopping by!