CATALINA GIFT
I went to Catalina and painted murals with a crew of amazing artists at the school. This is my story.
The only way to get there is by ferry. Here we are in line. Tim and Beth, Jai, Chris, Geoff, Hi-Dutch all wondering where are we going to eat.
Here is excellent artist Geoff McFettridge explaining the correct angle
It is not a lie, Catalina is quite beautiful at dusk. Look: it’s a personal submarine, even.
fast forward to the next morning when I had some coffee and met this bird.
These letters and numbers are outrageous and some of the most beautiful forms i’ve seen in my long life so far.
This is the wall I am to paint. I have a plan and it is real. It’s really something lovely and wonderful to be on site early in the morning, drinking coffee and getting things in order before you start. I like that feeling and it’s one I hold on to and remember every time. It’s something I’ll put in the book.
Yes, I am working but I am still spot checking. I don’t think California people really understand how different it is here. I never even saw a bank to ledge until I was in my 20s. When I saw this I immediately texted my friend Andy, who I have skate with since I was 15, and his response was the same as mine. You don’t know how good you got it.
I started. It’s the crack that get you. You may have heard of the banality of evil ,but what do you know about the banality of big image making? sometimes it is just painting the same color over and over and getting into all the cracks. But that is still fun and better than digging a ditch.
Just up the way was Chis Johanson, a brilliant artist and nice person, just getting started. What a gift to be among these wonderful folks just doing their thing.
These signs were all over the place for the last week of school and I really appreciated them. Sometimes I think I need to get a job as an elementary school librarian and just do sneaky cool shit from time to time. It would be a relief, honestly.
Catalina taco report: guacamole is just standard?!?! I am a fan.
Geoff is a real master. He camped out at the school and did this whole thing in a day. A real mensch. What a gift.
Ah yes, Lookout & Wonderland. Some of my favorite people and my favorite artists. I love them and they are great. We got to walk around the island at night and see drunk grandmothers and every kind of fool you could imagine. Buy their art and give them all your money.
It’s called margarita time and now you know.
CJ taking form
Catalina burrito report. Foot shown for scale.
Hi-Dutch: busted. What a good dude. He once drove me around in Tokyo and took me to some cool art shows. Now it is his time in California to eat tacos and paint fruit for the children.
Ed Templeton: busted. Ed has been a part of my brain since his Pro Spotlight in ‘91 Transworld and it was kind of funny getting used to him just being some guy hanging around, but that’s my problem. Here he is with Clint who was being very funny painting a face on Chris’s wall.
There is Ed’s face and there is my face very close by. I guess this means we are best friends now.
Jeff Canham and I brought the same 15 year old tote bag to Catalina, unbeknownst to each other. What a bag, what a shop, what a guy.
this is my mural almost done but not totally done. It is hard to photograph from this angle but you get it.
almost like a face. or a tailor the whale. or a door into forever. who knows?!
The ferry home. Tired guys.
The next day in Paramount, it was time for rocking. What a gift!
If this isn’t freaking, I don’t know what is.
and then I got a beer with Louis. What a trip! Thank you Operation Creative Freedom, thank you artists, thank you helpers, thank you Catalina. I am glad I get to do things like this. PEACE.
AGNES FOR PEACE
I’ve been doing drawings of Agnes again. Some years ago I was reading up on the Old West and Buffalo Bill in particular. I was drawn to the name of his wife, Agnes Lake, and the story of her life as a circus performer and woman of the Wild West. I did several drawings (collected in a zine) inspired by her life and paired with text cribbed from a translation of The Odyssey by Homer. Heady, I know, but it worked, I think. The drawing above is based on a poster of Arthur Russell I have on my studio wall.
It feels good to make these fast drawings with a permanent marker and not think too much, see what comes up. I like it when my brain, and others’ brains, fill in the blanks.
My hope is to make a book with these drawings and some text in time for the San Francisco Art Book Fair in July. I bet we can do it. Agnes for president, Agnes for Peace.
TODAY’S LISTENING:
I went to some cool garage sales and got 5 cd’s for a dollar. Kris Krisofferson and John Prine for the car.
At home, after breakfast for dinner, this new Gene Clark home demos LP my friends at Everything Nice in Ellenville, NY sent me.
and an assortment of these old country blues 78s compilations, and my recent new favorite: Connie Converse.
BIRD AND FLOWER
birds. what is it about birds. and flowers. I keep drawing them and making them different sizes and newer ways. I made this bird and this flower after making a flower and a bird in Munich (as seen below). the experience was so good for me I thought it only right that a few prints were made.
these were printed by my friend Dominic at Cat Head Press in Indianapolis on some very nice French recycled paper. It’s a nice thing to make a picture of a memory and an idea when you can. These are probably not the last bird and flower I will make but they are themselves, at least.
What are you into right now? I’ll tell you mine:
-I just finished the Dan Nadel biography of Robert Crumb. It’s really great and a joy to read.
-listening to lots of NTS, mostly the In Focus series. Sterolab, Michael Hurley, Cindy Lee. All great.
-I watched The Godfather 2 on the plane the other day and it was intense. It might be my favorite DeNiro role? he barely speaks and that’s how I like it.
I also left the book I was reading on the plane. I hope somebody finds the Richard Thompson memoir and gets into Fairport Convention by accident.
MOSTLY FEET
There is not many feelings on earth like playing music with other humans and being fully present and inside of it, even if just for that one moment, and most of the time it is just for a moment. But I will take it when I can! The only thing I have learned is that you have to let it happen and crack open the egg of self. It’s not that easy for some of us but it’s worth it, I promise.
Here is a video (by Enid Valu) and some photos of playing music last month in Munich. I didn’t take many photos during my time there but that’s fine. I had such a natural and easy time playing songs with Markus, Micha, Haruka and Enid. Sousaphones are great shapes.
I SEE A NEW WORLD
Last month, April, I did a very cool thing: I went to Munich, Germany to participate in I SEE A NEW WORLD, a weeklong art and music event at Villa Stuck. I was one of several artists who was assigned a room in the temporary museum in which to make an art installation and take part in a music/sound performance at the end of the week. What a thing! I initially thought I would make a lot of things out of cardboard but when I arrived I found out I could paint on the walls so I changed everything around and decided to do some big painting on the walls.
I will often feel a space out and not stick to previous plans when I do something like this. It feels important to go with how it feels rather than stick to some idea from a month ago. It keeps it fresh, and like Jonathan Richmond says, it’s like bread: even a day is too old. So I kept the colors simple and started thinking while I was painting about how a room could suggest a story, how big shapes and lines (or no lines) can fill up our eyes.
I started thinking about the windows and the door (in this former accounting office) as portals, as gates to walk through or fly in and out.
I liked making the shapes touch, but just a little bit.
this was the only corner that didn’t cross over. I thought of that as beginning and end, or an entry and an exit. It wasn’t an endless loop, it was more of a story. I have now invented a new genre: SHAPE FABLE. also a great band name. It was (and continues to be sometimes) important to me to not draw lines. al the white parts are negative space, so in a way I was making a line by painting everything around it. I find that really thrilling!
I needed something to bring the room together. I felt like the set dressing was finished but I needed the actors for the play to start. I started by making this quite rickety and janky table out of cardboard and house paint. Shout out to Villa Stuck for hanging that fishing line for me. I made birds. I made a parade.
While I was working on this I was listening to a lot of Michael Hurley songs. He has one called OH MY STARS and I thought about those words a lot. It made me think about wonder, possession (both kinds) and the absurdity, joy, and sadness of the whole deal here. So I called this room OH MY STARS in tribute to and in honor of the song and the person who sings the song.
There is much more to tell about my trip, the music part and the new friends part, and that will come soon.
FOURTEEN GUITAR PLAYERS AND TWO DRUMMERS
This morning after breakfast I sat down with a cup of coffee and some remaining smoothie (what a morning!) and drew sixteen small drawings with a dip pen, brush and ink. There was a little music in the background, people were walking in and out and there was really no plan except to make sixteen small drawings. To quote KV, if this isn’t nice I don’t know what is. I made these drawings for a purpose, though. They are to be included in a box holding a record weight that LUNA music made for this year’s Record Store Day. It’s such a nice day at the shop: good energies, old pals, people playing music and lots of things to look at.
Anyway, it was great to just start drawing with the ink. I like making the fingers thin then fat. Boots then toes. All with hats, of course, because that seemed important at the time. Then at the end it was all humans playing guitar except for the two that were not. Even though this was with an end goal it felt natural and there were a few reminders how nice it is to draw the same things in different ways. It’s nice to sing songs again in a different way. Why don’t I do this everyday and have a hundred drawings a week? I suppose quantity should not be a motivation but it is somehow satisfying to think about. It’s nice to have a pile.
here’s my favorite one and a couple others:
and here’s the thing they will be inside:
and a little video:
I’ll try to make a hundred of something soon.
Peace! -NR
Listen Here, Buddy
I was invited to participate in the FINDING THE WORDS podcast hosted by Ken Kinsley. I had a good time talking with Ken, and I’m so grateful to be able to have conversations like this from time to time. There were some ideas presented to me that I had not thought of before and some insights from Ken that I found interesting! If you’re like me, hearing a recording of yourself talking is both embarrassing and irresistible, deep down aren’t we all little naval gazers sometimes? Come and gaze at the naval with me: listen to the episode here or wherever else you find these things.
INTER-DIMENSIONAL TRAVEL AGENCY
Some years ago I was commissioned by a Technology Corporation to make a series of prints for some kind of hotel rooms or dormitories or co-work space, I can’t remember the exact wording, honestly. This was long enough ago that it didn’t feel like the tech companies were obviously going to damage the earth and us earth dwellers as much as it does now, and the money was good so why not, right? Anyway my pitch was inter-dimensional travel posters or cosmic souvenir prints, because that’s what was interesting to me at the time and it felt like a smooth and easy adjustment. My buddy Nat Swope printed them up, we both got paid, and who knows where these things are now. 12x18 inches. did they actually get put up? do people look at them and have any thoughts or impressions? Did I make motel art for the Death Star Guest Residencies? you never know with these things, really.
I forgot all about them. Then I found them, a stack in the dank recesses of my third flat file cabinet. Some of them are ideas I mess around with still. Could it be I found a theme in my own work? Am I repeating myself? If so, is that a bad thing? It’s really all the things at once and does not matter. None of it matters unless it DOES matter to the viewer, the beholder, the looker. Personal perspective and reaction is all in the receiving and processing of art of any kind. Whatever the case, I am so happy I got to make a SPACE EGG and somebody has to see it when they wake up in the morning in a strange place and wonder what they are doing that got them here. Thank you for stickpin with me. And one by one, here they are:
FEELINGS DOG
Did you know the Neil Young song “Bad Fog Of Loneliness” was originally about a neighbor’s pet who was feeling down and it was called “Sad Dog Of Loneliness”? That may not be true but that’s what I hear in my head every time I hear that song. And why shouldn’t I? Why should there not be? And this is the flier for the show where the person who writes that song will perform it for the first time tonight. Let’s all go and support them. Doors at 5pm because they serve food and it’s a school night.
call in
I try to draw something every day. Usually it’s on a note for my kids’ lunch boxes or a quick idea on a scrap of paper. More words than anything these days. I think there’s a difference between “making a drawing” and the simple act of drawing. I like doing both but sometimes just drawing with no plan feels best. These may not be the best ones, technically or conceptually, but usually they have a surprise or two in there and grab a hold of something in spite of themselves. Drawing out ideas quickly is important for record keeping but also to keep my hand and eye connected. I don’t keep a regular sketchbook anymore and I wonder why that is. It’s now mostly bits and pieces here and there, half filled notebooks in different pockets of coats and pants.
Anyway, I woke up today and I wanted to call in mad and sad. To take a day off from tasks, thoughts, input, everything. The inner boss was ok with it but their supervisor was less sympathetic. So do a drawing about it and then back to business! Or go for a walk at least.
this year's model
I have been thinking about a bird again. Specifically about how to make a bird, a certain bird, so I made a couple models out of cardboard and hot glue. It seems pretty simple, and I probably saw something like this someplace that I can’t remember, but it felt like a revelation. A revelation in scrap material. It deserves to be made many times out of wood, maybe someday out of scrap metal or cast from a melted-down-something-else. I had to resist adding lines. I’d like to paint the wood one. I’d like to make 100 of these out of wood and hang them from a ceiling along with flying people, UFOs, airplanes, and some kind of air (also made of wood).
Have you listened to This Year’s Model by Elvis Costello lately? It’s still pretty good. I go back and forth on the work of Elvis. Sometimes it feels like all too much, too many words too many chords. Other times it feels exquisite and crafted beyond my understanding. There are no foods that you want to eat every day and that’s how I feel about music. Whatever I am hungry for that is what I need, so the body tells me. As far as This Year’s Model, do you know about the designer Barney Bubbles? He did a lot of stellar mind-blowing design work for the early EC records among many others (Hawkwind, Ian Dury, and my favorite: The Sutherland Brothers debut album) the kind of design that shows you how graphic design can be True Art and visionary. Do yourself a favor and do a quick dive and you will not be disappointed. And perhaps listen to Armed Forces or the self-titled Sutherland Brothers record and tell me humans cannot transcend this earthly realm for just one moment.
look what I found
I found a pile of these prints in my flat files. I have a lot of flat files and I don’t go through them as often as I should. I find the state of my studio is an accurate reflection of my mind and that means the past few/several/all years it’s been a real mess. So that’s how it is that I can have a stash of prints hiding under the rubble.
I made this original image (SKATEBOARD PEOPLE) some years ago, I can’t really remember. Sometime when I was doing a lot of gestural ink drawings. No wait! Now I remember: I made them for an art show I had at 35th North Skateshop in Seattle around 2014 or 2015. It was all ink drawings of skateboarding skateboarders. Now it all makes sense. That was a fun and hectic time: I had a young son and we were traveling for the first time as a family unit and we would drive around Green Lake in the middle of the night to get him to sleep. I was so tired.
This print was popular with people it seemed and that always feels good. I printed it a couple times and it always went away quickly. In 2020 my friend and fellow artist Thomas Campbell brought up the idea of making this print into a board graphic and reprinting the image in a two-color version to match as part of his Um Yeah Arts project which published books, made movies, skateboards, records and whatever else he felt like at the time. So that’s what we did! There were two different colorways: the one above (yellow/maroon) and a blue/maroon. Both went quick and brought joy and peace to many (I can only hope).
So I found this hidden pile of prints: proofs, extras from the original edition. Nat Swope printed them in Oakland, California and must have sent me the over-run. It seemed like these want to be in the world and not in my flat files. I have signed and numbered this AP edition and put them in my online store in the hopes that people who missed out before can get one and maybe I can fund some other projects I have simmering. I’m donating a portion of the proceeds from print sales to a local organization that provides programming and support to LGBTQ+ youth. (if you are interested I the organization or want to see some receipts, feel free to reach out) T
I’m going to start digging through my files more often, who knows what I may find. Or maybe I will leave that for my old age or for somebody else to do. I am always more interested in what it is happening right now and what is new but now and then I am pleasantly surprised by a discovery of some older work that still may resonate with other people and myself. who knows how these things work? My advice is let it do its thing and see what you see.
this is it
This is it. This is place where I will be sharing new work, old work, sketches, ideas, photos, updates, announcements, musings, recommendations, and whatever else comes up. I used to do a blog pretty regularly back in the old days and I have long been meaning to ease back in. This is me easing. This is me starting. Again. I don’t know what it will look like or if it will be interesting but here we are.
I’ll start with a simple one: A month or so ago I made a poster/admat/image for the band Phish. It was fun to work on this and very cool to see the response online and elsewhere. I even saw a picture on instagram of it on a billboard. (If you are in LA and see this billboard and take a photo and want to send it to me that would be wonderful)
What is it about flowers? I like drawing the shapes of the leaves and the winding of the stems. Flowers are symbols of lots of things: life, growth, beauty, fragility, strength, love, hope, and death even. I like to keep these things mysterious to myself and see where they might fit. I don’t think i’m interested in solutions or final answers for many things related to art and music. But drawing flowers and making prints of flowers and looking at flowers: let’s hope it stays interesting and fun and meaningful in some nebulous way. Maybe I will see you in the pit at the Phish show?