painting LIVE

okay, so besides what I typically do with my art business Revelatorart (selling my paintings, doing commission work, teaching lessons, doing art shows, illustrating books, etc.), and in leadership with the VineArts ministry (installing gallery exhibits, leading art groups, painting murals & backdrops,etc.)....God has been opening doors this year for me to do a bit of performance painting (creating a painting live in front of an audience to music) in various venues for various purposes. Some events have been small, other events have been quite large. Some events have been worship focused, other events have been for charity, and other events have been arts & community related. Performance painting has been something I've always been interested in doing (as part of how I like to express the creativity God has placed within me) and I have been enjoying these opportunities by embracing them with all I've got to give. I wanted you to know about the most recent opportunity coming up.

You have another chance to see me create a painting live...

I'm going to be painting at another cool event THIS COMING FRIDAY NIGHT!!!

This event will be FREE and open to ALL AGES...

WHAT IS THIS COOL EVENT?: JERRY FEE  CD RELEASE PARTY

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?: Jerry just finished making a new cd titled "Still Alive". He will be playing songs from that cd. And you can have the chance to be among the first to actually purchase the cd (he'll give you several ways you can do that...all very inexpensive and tailored to fit for your convenience) 

Get a sneek listen to Jerry's music at: <http://www.jerryfeemusic.com> 

WHEN IS THIS COOL EVENT?: Friday April 3

WHAT TIME IS THIS COOL EVENT?: 7:30pm to 9:30pm

WHERE IS THIS COOL EVENT?: The Record Exchange in downtown Boise ( <http://www.therecordexchange.com>)

[1105 W. Idaho St, Boise: <http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=+1105+W+Idaho+St%2C+Boise%2C+ID>]

{This is a place where you can buy new & used cds & dvds & other merchandise. They also have a COFFEE BAR!}

WHAT'S IT GONNA COST FOR THIS COOL EVENT?: It's FREE to come to the event!

WHO CAN COME TO THIS COOL EVENT?: ALL AGES are welcome! 

WHY SHOULD YOU COME TO THIS COOL EVENT?: This will be loads of fun to listen to some great music, watch me paint, and enjoy the atmosphere.

WILL THERE BE AN OPENING BAND AT THIS COOL EVENT?: Yes, Low-Fi will open with an acoustic set.

IS THERE A BONUS AT THIS COOL EVENT?: YES! You can watch me create a painting live to Jerry's entire set of music. 

There will be a raffle for the painting (raffle tickets will cost $2 each...you can buy as many as you want!) and YOU COULD WIN THE PAINTING I CREATE LIVE AT THIS COOL EVENT!!! 

Remember...this cool event that I'm painting at is....THIS COMING FRIDAY NIGHT. 

Tell your friends. Tell you family. Tell your neighbors. Tell your co-workers. Tell your postman. Tell your barista. Tell the kid who bags your groceries. Put a reminder on your frig, on your computer, on your Blackberry, on your dog, on your forehead. 

THIS FRIDAY APRIL 3. RECORD EXCHANGE. BOISE. 7:30PM. FREE. LIVE MUSIC. ME PAINTING. COFFEE. GOOD TIMES!

Hope to see you there!

Scraping Paint

today i got to do something i hadn't done since my days in Scotland (2000/2001/2002) when i helped to transform a hundred+ year old building into a coffeehouse/church in Glasgow.  being an artist...typically you can find me applying paint to things....but today i got to scrape paint off. 

i've been helping with a large mural project (details in the previous post) and part of that project has been to not only paint the walls and ceilings...but also all the doors. we ran into a bit of problem when we realized that the paint that was originally on all 12 doors was an oil based paint. the paint we are applying to do this project is a latex paint. this won't work. as you know, oil and water don't mix...so latex will just peel off once applied on top of the oil based paint. 

we tried sanding the doors...but didn't get very far. so a stripping solvent needed to be brushed on (it's purpose is to eat away at the paint and bubble it up to make it easier to scrape off). special gloves and masks were needed to protect us from the toxic fumes. then we set to scraping the paint off with scraping tools. it's a long, tedious, and muscle aching job. 

once the paint is completely scraped off we can apply a coat of primer that will allow us to use the latex paint we have to paint the murals with onto the doors (creating a continuous scene). 

so i had a bit of a nostalgic experience today...scraping paint, something i did A LOT of when i was in Scotland. you can read about my experiences in Glasgow at my blog: http://www.streetsofglasgow.blogspot.com

working together

part of what the VineArts Ministry does is make ourselves available to do art projects for the various ministries at Boise Vineyard Christian Fellowship. this time the project was so huge that we opened it up to not only the artists who are a part of VineArts, but also to anyone who wanted to join in and help out. 
the building that the children's ministry is located in was in need of an "extreme makeover". so the head of the ministry partnered with our VineArts director and came up with an amazing artistic concept...to paint the hallways that surround the gymnasium with vividly colorful and fun scenes from our world.
these scenes include the desert, the ocean, the mountains, the jungle, space, etc....and are filled with water, foliage, animals, and other things that would be found in each of the scenes (all things that children would enjoy looking at). each scene morphs into the next...and some even continue through doors and up onto ceilings. 
this is the week for the project to be completed...so over a 100 people have been contributing their time and efforts to work together to get the job done (yes, you read that right...over a 100 people!). our director has made it easy for everyone no matter what their skill level in painting is. first the pictures were traced onto the walls with chalk in simplified shapes and then a numbering system was created to paint by number (match the number on the wall in the shape with the number of paint in the paint cans at the paint table, pick up a cup with that paint in it, grab a brush, and go to work)...this way lots of people can work together side by side with as little instruction as possible and the job gets done quickly and easily. 
today i helped do some detail work...like these pink water roses in a cross section of a lake. it's a really cool experience to work on such a large scale project as this. it's a reminder that if we all work together we can accomplish big things much easier than if one person or a few people were to try and take it on. and it ends up being way more fun too! 

Dreams Really Do Come True

Tonight I was one of several artists that were featured at a special arts event in downtown Boise.

The Forerunner Cafe owned by my friend Lisa Johnson is a company that specializes in promoting local talent and inspiring others to take hold of their dreams and be who they are meant to be. This evening was the first of many more events like this to come. There were hip-hop dancers, an actor, a poet, a musician, and a ballroom dancer featured along with myself (a painter). We were the evenings' entertainment for a semi-formal dessert theatre. It was an amazing night of inspiring art, creative hearts, and passionate performances. I'm still flying high from such a amazing time!
I painted on stage to a medley song of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What A Wonderful World" by Israel Kamakawiwo'Ole. I used a 3ftx3ft gallery wrapped canvas. I had prepped the background beforehand...writing the lyrics of the songs, some Scriptures, and various phrases onto the canvas and then rubbed on oil paint, and then brushed on latex house paints (let them tack up and then rubbed them off in certain areas to give a weathered look). During the performance I glued on various images and words and bits of other paintings I had done, and then applied acrylic paints with my fingers and did a bit of splattering too. Oh my goodness I had so much fun with this painting! 
Here is the final piece. I call this painting "Dreams". People were able to purchase a raffle ticket and get the chance to win the painting at the end of the evening. The MC joked from the moment I had arrived with the painting that he was going to win it. Funny thing is...his wife's raffle ticket actually did win! They both commented that it was really cool to have such a artistic reminder of the event to place in their home. 

The painting is a reminder...that dreams really do come true. 

THE BOOK IS RELEASED!

Today is the day! The book that I illustrated, "Formation Generation" by Robert Michael Kurz, is OFFICIALLY RELEASED. You can find it in all Major bookstores, Christian bookstores, and on-line at Amazon.com and directly through the Publisher and the Author himself. 

Here is a little promotional video made for the book:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpbJ0qt-Hyg

Here is the Authors Official Website for the book:

http://www.formationgeneration.com/

Here is the Amazon.com page for the book:

http://www.amazon.com/Formation-Generation-Robert-Michael-Kurz/dp/1606965565/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233809712&sr=8-14

Here is the Tate Publishers page for the book:

http://tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-60696-556-6

You can read reviews on Amazon.com.