Chet Loggins' Bloggin's

Chewy Van Gogh No. 3

2012-01-27T17:02:00.013-05:00

"Chewy Van Gogh No. 3", 2012

20" x 24", oil on canvas

It's another Chewbacca portrait painted once again against some of Van Gogh's wallpaper. And again this background is from one of Vincent's portraits of his favorite mailman, Joseph Roulin. This time I painted the background first. It seemed to go smoother that way. After all, even though I am painting Chewy a little more expressionistically than I am used to painting these days, it's only the background that I'm copying from Van Gogh's portrait of Joseph Roulin. Therfore I get the tediousness of copying from another painting out of the way first. Below is a photo of moi in front of the mostly completed background.

And here is the portrait of Roulin I used:

I thought I had given up on this series. I wonder how many more of these Chewy portraits I can do.

The I Love St. Pete Show

2012-01-12T14:38:00.008-05:00

I will once again be a part of one of Artpool Gallery's shows. This Saturday at 7pm kicks off Artpool's "I Love St. Pete" - Art/Music/Fashion ART pARTy. I am really gonna try to at least make an appearance at this show.

And I do, love St. Petersburg, that is. Nevermind that sunny St. Petersburg was recently found to be the saddest of 100 American cities in a Men's Health magazine survey. St. Pete even beat out Detroit! Tampa was rated 4th most depressing city to live in, and Men's Health said, "Florida in general seems to be a depressing place to live." What can I say? Hot, flat and crowed. Florida's your future folks.

Crafty Fest 2011

2011-12-16T15:10:00.004-05:00

I will have a booth at this year's "Crafty Fest" in St. Petersburg. Crafty Fest is a Indie Holiday Market run by Artpool Gallery that takes place the weekend before Christmas. This year there will be over 30 booths full of local people selling all kinds of handmade goods. I will be there selling a lot of my smaller paintings and a few of my larger older ones. Crafty Fest takes place tomorrow the 17th and Sunday the 18th from 11am to 4pm each day. See you there!

Wicked Winter Wonderland Show

2011-12-09T15:46:00.004-05:00

I have three pieces in Artpool Gallery's "Wicked Winter Wonderland" show. It is at Artpool's brand new location at 2030 Central Avenue, St. Petersburg, FL, right across from Haslam's Books". The opening reception is tomorrow night, Saturday from 8pm to 12am.

Chewy Van Gogh No. 2

2011-11-22T16:03:00.005-05:00

Here's another portrait of Chewbacca based on a Van Gogh painting:

Chewy Van Gogh No. 2, 2011

24" x 30", oil on canvas

The background and posture of Chewy in the painting come from one the several portraits Van Gogh did of his friend and mailman, Joseph Roulin. I tried to paint the table, chair and background as it was in Van Gogh's original painting, but Chewy's fur wound up looking more stylized than expressive. Below is the portrait of Joseph Roulin I was using for inspiration.

I was going to do a whole series of portraits of Chewbacca based on Van Gogh's six paintings of Joseph Roulin, but I think I'm done with this idea. No more Wookies!

How Bad Do You Want It?

2011-11-05T23:32:00.004-04:00

This is a great inspirational video that makes me realize I probably don't want it all that bad.

Chewy Van Gogh

2011-10-23T17:54:00.010-04:00

Chewbacca is the star of my latest painting:

"Chewy Van Gogh", 2011

20" x 24", oil on canvas

I based this portrait of Star Wars' Chewbacca on Van Gogh's "Portrait of the Postman Joseph Roulin". At least the background of flowery wallpaper is based on one of Van Gogh's many portraits of his beloved postman. It would've been too much for me to try to paint the whole painting like Van Gogh, but I did try to loosen up and paint in a more expressive style. I painted quickly, and the whole effect for me is a painting that is "unfinished". But I am resisting the urge to embellish it any further. Below is the portrait of Joseph Roulin that inspired my Wookiee portrait.

Abnormal Art Show

2011-10-19T22:33:00.004-04:00

I took some work up to St. Petersburg yesterday for an art show. The Art Pool Gallery is having an art show celebrating scary or dark art this month. The reception for the "Abnormal Formal" is this Saturday, the 22nd, from 8pm to 12pm. There is also a fashion show there that goes along with the art show at 10pm the same night. Should be interesting.

Sarasota Punk Fest '99

2011-10-01T01:19:00.005-04:00

I recently purchased a video capture device and, I've been capturing some old VHS tapes for myself and friends. I captured some footage of Sarasota Punk Fest 1999 for my friend Hal at Forever Escaping Boredom Records, and I posted the sets to Vimeo.

Reversal of Man:

Jiyuna:

Neuman Portentium:

Portrait:

Spirit of Versailles:

Popped Culture Mention

2011-09-29T14:38:00.006-04:00

Well, well, looks like one of my paintings actually got posted on a popular website. Popped Culture is a new one to me, but they do have a Technorati authority of 486. That's 485 points better than me, so I guess it can't hurt. Maybe it's time to make those Matlock t shirts now.

Snooki and Her Pet Unicorn

2011-09-22T17:50:00.006-04:00

"Young Lady with Unicorn", 2011

24" x 26", oil on wood

I finally finished my copy of Raphael's "Young Lady with Unicorn" with its more contemporary young "lady". I always liked Raphael's teary-eyed baby unicorn, and I've had it in the back of my mind to try and do a copy of his painting for a while.

Contact Forms Part 1

2011-09-22T17:14:00.012-04:00

Well, I've been fooling around with my website this week. I added a cute little redirect page from my old domain at clogginsart.com to my new one at chetloggins.com. I had both domains pointing to the same webfolder, but I want to phase out the clogginsart.com domain. For now the old domain still has a higher search engine ranking, so that's why I have the redirect page.

I also finally made a contact form for my site. Making a "simple" contact page has turned into the hardest thing I've ever done in building my new site. Since I have a Microsoft package with my hosting company, I had to try using ASP to send the completed email form. I had no experience with ASP, and I couldn't even get the script my hosting company provided me to work and neither could technical support. So it appears if I want a real functioning contact form I'm going to have to move my site to a Linux server and use PHP. That means my site will probably be down for a few days.

In the meantime, I have a simple html email form with a very simple mailto: function, which defeats the point of having a contact form in the first place (hiding your email address). This "simpler" version also doesn't work properly. As I have it now, people fill out the form fields, click send, and the form opens up their email client (if they even have one) and sends me a blank email. I tried both the "get" and "post" methods. With "post" it would show the completed form fields in the email client, and then it looks like it sent it. But I get nothing. At least with "get" I get a blank email with the sender's address.

The Blob From Brno

2011-09-09T00:56:00.011-04:00

I just found out that Czech architect Jan Kaplicky's radical blob design for the Czech National Library in Prague will finally be built after all. But it won't be a library. It will be a bus stop. I wrote about Kaplicky's struggle to get his design built a couple years ago on this blog, so I was very interested when I heard that his blob design was finally going to see the light of day.

Apparently Pepsi sponsored some kind of design competition for public art in the Czech Republic, and the winner adapted Kaplicky's controversial design for a new national library into a simple bus stop. Petty bureaucrats in Prague may not have liked the design for the library, but it's alright with Pepsi. The Blob is the "choice of a new generation"!

The bus stop blob is supposed to be completed by the end of the month, and what makes it so interesting for me is that the new bus stop will be in an area I am personally very familiar with. The Blob will be among the blocks of apartment buildings in the Lesna suburb of Brno. I lived on Sramkova in Lesna for six months back in the winter and spring of 2005, and my wife still keeps her apartment there.

Below are pictures of the proposed Czech National Library, and the proposed new bus stop in Brno's Lesna estate:

And here is a map of Lesna with my wife Jasa's place marked, the walking route I always took to go buy groceries at Billa and the new home for the Blob:

JCopia Review

2011-09-01T13:47:00.017-04:00

I recently received a request via email to do a product review on my blog. I did one of these software reviews last year: http://clogginsart.blogspot.com/2010/10/snapit-review.html, so I decided to try my hand at another one. This one is for Jiteco's JCopia 4.7.5466. JCopia 4.7 captures streaming video or audio and saves it as a file to your hard-drive.

I downloaded the program from the link in the email I got, and right off the bat, I was a little miffed. After the initial download of a very small (1.5Mb) file, JCopia required an additional download of .NET Framework 4.0 (48Mb) before it would install itself. Once I had allowed the .NET Framework download and JCopia had installed itself, I clicked on the icon to open it, and a little dialogue box came up and instructed me that I must now download the WinPCap library. What!

At this point I gave up. It always makes me a little suspicious when a new program keeps asking me to download more large files before it will operate. I know that JCopia probably runs on the .NET Framework, and it probably just needs a packet capture application like WinPCap to capture that audio and video streaming over a network, but WinPCap can also be used to gather and analyze all network traffic. I just don't know enough about Jiteco, the creators of JCopia, to give their little application anymore powerful controls over my system or network, and their official video doesn't give me anymore confidence. Who's narrating this? Borat?

Okay, this guy obviously has a heavy Russian accent. I'm sorry to be prejudiced, but Russia still has a terrible reputation for malware, spam and botnets. I'm always wary of anything on the web that looks like it originates from Russia. They still have a ways to go to live down their cybercrime image.

Besides, when it comes to capturing streaming video, I already have a great application, and it's free. RealPlayer. Since RealPlayer 11 they have added the ability to capture streaming video from tube sites and the like. If you have version 11 or later (I think 14 is the latest), you automatically have a free streaming video downloader as an addon to your browser. I know it works well in IE and Firefox. When I recently upgraded to Firefox 6.0 Firefox said the RealPlayer Downloader addon would no longer work, but it does. When a streaming video loads in my browser a "download this video" option pops up in the corner of the video, and if I want I can click on it.

RealPlayer has worked great for me so far. And there are many other free options. Youtube even gives you the option to download any of their non-protected videos. You just type save in front of the youtube address of the video you are watching and youtube gives you the option to save the streaming content as an .flv or an .Mp4. For instance: http://www.saveyoutube.com/watch?v=nr-SZXIVvuo lets you download a cool video of singing kittens. Actually, on second thought, I don't think saveyoutube.com is affiliated with Youtube, but even though it doesn't supply identity info, it appears to be safe.

I Won a MacBook Pro!

2011-08-29T15:34:00.021-04:00

Uh, not really, but I did receive the following email from the "CEO" of Craigslist, Jim Carre:

Attention Recovered Wingback Chair,

My name is Jim, Chief executive officer of Craigslist. We have recently partnered up with The apple company regarding a one-time promotional event today, we are giving away complimentary MacBook Pro to randomly selected people who have submitted an advert that use Cl. You've been selected as one of our most recent winners for today. We randomly choose numbers to match up with ads on C-list and your advertisement matched with our latest drawing.

We have now joined up with Apple to market their most popular product yet, the Apple MacBook Pro. Once again, we have been operating this promotion for one-day only. All you need to do is CLICK HERE to check out our website created for this promotion and type in your email to get yours for free. Just be sure to enter your email so we may locate our records to ensure that we have reserved one for you. That is it!

Congrats on winning a free Apple MacBook Pro (valued at $2,499.00). In case you've got any query or considerations, feel free to email me back. However, you need to claim your free MacBook Pro first to make certain one will be set-aside for you prior to the deadline ends. We do understand that you may not receive this e-mail until after the deadline, however, we suggest you check out the website and enter your email to see if we still have got yours on hold, which we often-times do because others haven't claimed theirs in time.

Jim

CEO, Craigslist

Well, this email had me going for about a second. I must be getting sloppy in spotting these scams. When I moused over the "CLICK HERE", I could see the link's address in the bottom of my browser window, and for a minute it looked like the official apple website. But it was apple-promo.org not apple.com. Also, a quick google search reveals that the actual CEO of Craigslist is Jim Buckmaster and not Jim Carre, as it said in the from portion of the email. And of course I found it very strange that the CEO of Craigslist would use a hotmail account. The email was from takakorrhv@hotmail.com. Nice try asshole! Obviously this is just another phishing scam. You can read more about it here:

http://www.fightthescams.com/2011/04/24/ceo-of-craigslist-scam/.

It always surprises me how stupid these scammers must think people are. A little research by this guy on the actual name of the CEO of Craigslist, and a more legitimate sounding email address might have made the difference here.

I Used To Be Like You...

2011-08-28T23:19:00.005-04:00

When you're young people look at you and think how wonderful your future will be. Maybe you'll be a doctor or a lawyer. Or maybe all you'll ever be is a hobo with a shotgun! With today's wintry economic climate the later is becoming increasingly more probable.

Those Grizzlies

2011-08-26T13:55:00.006-04:00

I finally saw Werner Herzog's excellent film, "Stroszek", the other night. It had been on my list for a long time, especially since I heard that Roger Ebert said it was "possibly the best movie ever made". It was very good, but not "best ever" good. The scene below got me a little nostalgic for that old park they used to have here in Florida when I was a kid. They had to shut it down in 1980 after all those kids got mauled. You know the one. The one that had those grizzlies...

Ay Kay Fowty Sem!

2011-08-14T13:44:00.014-04:00

I live in a manufactured home community (trailer park), and I see a lot of tacky garden statuary. I think I've finally found the lawn ornament I need outside my place. Check out this machine gun welding gnome I saw on Etsy:

And then to be completely obnoxious, once I've filled my front yard with all this menacing kitsch, I can blast this song all day long:

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On the Subject of Me

2011-08-14T13:02:00.010-04:00

Reading some of my friends' status updates on Facebook lately makes me think of these old Kids in the Hall sketches about a trivial, self-absorbed man:

Recently there was a study of Facebook users. The results weren't surprising. You can read about it here: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/social.media/08/30/facebook.narcissism.mashable/index.html

The Commissar Vanishes

2011-08-10T18:56:00.033-04:00

Okay, here's another book review that's vaguely art-related. It's for David King's The Commissar Vanishes: The Falsification of Photographs and Art in Stalin's Russia. This picture book tells the history of the Stalin era in the Soviet Union with a chronological collection of doctored photos and artwork. These are photos the author collected himself, many of which were never published before. We get to see the original photos alongside the photos that are were manipulated according to Stalin's wishes, either to put the dictator in a better light, or to remove a person or groups of people who fell out of favor with him and suddenly "disappeared".

This is way before Photoshop and the photo doctoring is all done with scalpel and airbrush, usually very poorly. The resulting images are both chilling and sadly humorous. In the photos below Stalin stands with three other party members celebrating the destruction of Zinoviev's anti-Stalinist opposition, then with two members, then just one, and finally the "Red Tsar" is alone in an obsequious portrait painted from the original photograph.

Below is another example. Now you see him. Now you don't. Watch NKVD chief Nikolai Yezhov disappear.

And Stalin didn't like this humble worker, who is helpfully pointing the way for the "Boss", in the same photo with him, so he had the poor fellow airbrushed out in the official published version.

There was also something called "Personal Responsibility", which meant that not only could Soviet citizens not be caught mentioning the names of people who had suddenly "disappeared", but they could not keep books or publications of any kind with photos of "enemies" of Stalin's regime. Citizens had to black out offending photos and names themselves on any piece of property they had. Below a dutiful citizen has violently removed Trotsky's face. Stalin tried to have the revolutionary's name and image removed from history. So many photos and paintings of Trotsky were destroyed or unpublished that the author of "The Commissar Vanishes" dedicated a whole new book, which is again filled with images that David King personally collected, called "Trotsky: A Photographic Biography" to the maligned leader of the October Revolution.

Below is one of the saddest images from the book. A propaganda photo of Stalin with a six year old girl, who is cheerfully presenting the dictator with a bouquet of flowers. The photo became an icon. Stalin later had the girl's father and mother murdered. In the original photo there was also a smiling man present at the ceremony in the background. He was airbrushed out after Stalin had him murdered.

Also in the book are many examples of Soviet Social Realism meant to glorify Stalin or distort history. Stalin is painted taking part in key moments of the October Revolution he did not actually take part in and among the common folk, whom he despised being around. Here we see a painting of Lenin being cheered as he rolls into Petrograd on April 16, 1917. Even though he left no trace and was never remembered being a part of the historic event, Stalin can be seen in the doorway behind him.

My favorite painting from the book is below. Why not let "Uncle Joe" and First Deputy Premier Molotov take the kids out for a stroll in the countryside? Lol.

"The Commissar Vanishes" is an incredible collection of images that illustrate better than any text could the surreal horror of one psychopathic leader's complete control of a nation and its people. To bad Stalin didn't have Photoshop. Distorting history nowadays is a lot easier. Alles klar herr kommissar...

Trotsky in Mexico

2011-07-23T19:04:00.037-04:00

I recently finished reading Trotsky: Downfall of a Revolutionary by Bertrand M. Patenaude. The book is about Trotsky's final years in exile. Patenaude concentrates mainly on Trotsky's time in Mexico from January 1937 until his assassination in August of 1940.

Leon Trosky's assassination with an ice axe by NKVD agent Ramon Mercader is one of the most famous in history. We've all heard the jokes about Trotsky in Mexico and his death by "ice pick", but I for one never knew the whole story. Like, what was he doing in Mexico in the first place.? So when I saw Patenaude's "Trotsky" at the bookstore I felt compelled to read it. It describes his life in exile after being kicked out of the Soviet Union by Josef Stalin in 1929, his subsequent life on the run from Turkey to France to Norway and finally to Mexico, the only country left that would accept the man whom Winston Churchill once called "the ogre of international subversion".

"Trotsky: Downfall of a Revolutionary" is packed with almost every detail of Trotsky and his wife Natalia's stay in Coyoacan, at the time a small town on the outskirts of Mexico City, now one of the capital's 16 boroughs. But what could have been a boring tome crammed full of trivial minutia only academics and fanatics would be interested in is instead a fascinating book that reads like a spy novel. Trotsky and his retinue of bodyguards and secretaries must be ever vigilant against Stalin's agents. The once revered leader of the October Revolution is a marked man. He survives a raid on his home that leaves 70 bullet holes in he and his wife's bedroom and has to be wary of things like poisoned food, and even exploding potted plants and exploding boxes of chocolates.

But Trotsky doesn't just try to stay alive. He spends every waking hour trying to defend his name and his reputation against people who don't just want to kill him but to vilify him and erase him from history. He is the star defendant in absentia of the Moscow show trials, which accuse him and others of terrorism and sabotage, and which Stalin uses to blame all of the young Soviet Union's many problems on Trotskyist subversion. Trotsky writes and writes and with the help of Trotskyists in New York and Paris continues to publish his "Bulletin of the Opposition", which he uses to defend himself, pointing out the many lies and inconsistencies in the insanity of the show trials and to stoke the flames of the real international revolution he is sure will come.

So what the hell has this got to do with art? Surprisingly, a lot. Most people have heard about Trotsky's affair with Frida Kahlo. It was her husband, the legendary muralist Diego Rivera, who begged President Cardenas to grant the embattled revolutionary asylum. Frida went to meet Trotsky and Natalia when their ship arrived in Tampico from Norway and rode with them on the train to Mexico City.

Natalia, Frida and Leon

Here is a rare video of Trotsky giving his thanks to President Cardenas and the Mexican people soon after he arrived.

"Before the cock crows twice Stalin will have disowned him three times"

Anyway, I was on the subject of Trotsky's brushes with famous artists during his time in Mexico. Besides Frida Kahlo, with whom he had a very brief affair and Diego Rivera, who arranged for his asylum in Mexico and even gave him a house to live in, it was David Alfaro Siqueiros, another famous muralist, who along with a gang of thugs sprayed Trotsky's bedroom with machine gun fire. And when surrealist writer/poet Andre Breton came to Mexico to visit Frida and Diego it was Trotsky that helped Breton write the "Surrealist Manifesto".

"Between the Curtains", a painting Frida dedicated to Trotsky, and which hung over his desk during his stay at the "Casa Azul"

Trotsky featured along with Engels and Marx in one of Diego's murals

Siqueiros' "Portrait of the Bourgeoisie"

some more of Siqueiros' fine work

Rivera, Trotsky and Breton

By 1939 the last of the Moscow show trials was over, and so was Trotsky's usefulness as a scapegoat for the Soviet Union's problems. Stalin was done playing games, and he instructed Sudoplatov, the deputy head of foreign intelligence, to begin operation "Duck". Sudoplatov was to arrange a special task force for the "liquidation of duck".

"Duck" deep sea fishing in the Gulf of Mexico

During the late 1930's Mexico was flooded with veterans of the Spanish Civil war, many of who were loyal to Stalin and had been recruited by the NKVD while in Spain. It wasn't long before Spanish Civil war veteran Ramon Mercader joined "Operation Duck" and after seducing a young American Trotskyist named Sylvia Ageloff, whose sister had been one of Trotsky's secretaries, became its most valuable asset. Mercader used Ageloff's connection to gain access to Trotsky's compound, and eventually he gained the "Old Man's" trust enough to be left alone with him. And the rest, as they say, is history.

You can see the author of "Trotsky: Downfall of a Revolutionary" speak in a lecture about the book and the myths of Trotsky's time in Mexico below.

And finally here is Frida Kahlo's portrait of Leon Trotsky. He is painted in front of his beloved cactus garden.

"Frida Kahlo's Portrait of Leon Trotsky", 2011

20" x 16", oil on canvas

Who do you sell a painting like this to these days? Christopher Hitchens?

Travis Bickle Wins Wimbledon!

2011-07-03T13:06:00.010-04:00

I just watched Novak Djokovic rout Raphael Nadal for the Wimbledon title, and throughout the whole match I couldn't get over how much Djokovic reminded me of a young Robert De Niro. Give him some Ray-bans and an olive drab jacket, and Djovokic would be the spitting image of De Niro's classic anti-hero character, Travis Bickle from the movie "Taxi Driver". Maybe for the U.S. Open Djokovic should sport a mohawk.

SWFL Lives! Number 3

2011-06-30T14:35:00.009-04:00

I'm excited to once again be part of Howl Gallery's "Southwest Florida Lives!" show in downtown Fort Myers. This is the 3rd Annual one, and the third one I've been a part of. Reception is tomorrow night from 6pm to 10pm. See you there!

My 100th Post!

2011-06-25T00:18:00.003-04:00

Well, gentle reader I can't believe it! It's my 100th post already! Wow, two and half years of blogging and it really snuck up on me. I just wanna say thank you to all my followers. I couldn't have stuck it out this long without your support and kind emails and comments. It really is a friendly, friendly world!

My Kiss Army

2011-06-24T23:11:00.011-04:00

Well, I finished another Kiss portrait earlier this week to round out my quad of portraits based on the four members of the hard rock slash glam band. Behold, my "Kiss Army"...

I tried to be as faithful as possible to the way that Paul, Gene, Ace and Peter were portrayed on their respective solo LPs. This was supposed to be me and a few of my friends in ironic portraits, but as time went by, it was proving hard to pin down anyone I knew to be the final member, drummer Peter Criss. So representing Criss' solo album we have uh, Ben Matlock, Andy Griffith's character from the long running legal drama, Matlock. I don't know. Sometimes I get an idea in my head, and well, this time I saw it through. Right after I finished with the "Matlock" painting, Peter Falk died, so I guess maybe I should have done "Columbo". Besides, Columbo is more widely known than Matlock, and where do you hang a painting of TV's Ben Matlock? Well in a "Matlock" apartment, I guess.

Anyway, I'm not really huge Matlock fan, and I'm certainly not a Kiss fan, although I love their whole concept. It's Kiss people not Insane Clown Posse! There would be no ICP without Kiss. I keep hearing younger folks referring to the above portraits as a take off on ICP, as if me and my friends (and Matlock as well, I guess) are rabid Juggalos (What is the deal with Faygo btw?).

As I was saying, I was never a Kiss fan. The main thing I'll always remember about the band is the 1978 made for television movie, "Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park", an absurd movie where the four band members have to use their "special powers" to save a small California amusement park from destruction by an evil inventor. I distinctly remember a baby sitter I had at the time telling my parents that my siblings and I shouldn't be allowed to watch the Saturday Night Movie, because she said that "Kiss" stood for "Knights in Satan's Service" or some such nonsense. The only thing the "satanic" movie did was bore the shit out of everyone and make the band look like outlandish clowns.

Rock Out With Your Matlock Out!

2011-06-21T18:06:00.011-04:00

For my latest painting I gave America's favorite endlessly syndicated legal drama "Matlock" a Kiss makeover. Cantankerous, homespun attorney Ben Matlock gets the power of the cat, a la Kiss drummer Peter Criss.

"Matlock (Catlock)", 2011

18" x18", oil on cradled panel

It's been more than 15 years since the show's final season on ABC, and Matlock can still be seen almost every morning in every city in America. You can usually see two reruns a morning if you try hard enough. I catch an episode from time to time and always wonder how I manage to make it all the way through such a mediocre Perry Mason ripoff. The show's appeal relies heavily on Andy Griffith's down home charisma. He's likeable even as a crotchety, hotdog munching, cheapskate defense attorney, who insists on a $100,000.00 retainer fee before he takes a case.

I always liked the "Andy Griffith Show", so I guess that's why I occasionally sit through a Matlock episode. Andy Griffith is great, but my favorite North Carolinian has to be Shelby, North Carolina's own Robert Elmore, aka "Uncle Goddamn" from the cult favorite Uncle Goddamn videos. It's not exactly like Mayberry in this small North Carolina town.

Brobee Portrait

2011-06-07T18:55:00.009-04:00

"Brobee (Black as Thunder)", 2011

14" x 11", oil on canvasboard

So I decided to do another painting of a Yo Gabba Gabba character. Brobee is the emotional one. He has a lot of trouble hiding his sadness and frustration. He wears his heart on his sleeve, but he always pulls it together for the team when things get tough.

For instance, I remember seeing Yo Gabba play Pittsburg, or was it Cleveland a couple years ago. The band was only halfway through a set, and Brobee was on the mic doin' "There's a Party in my Tummy", when his fucking mouth starts to fall off. Stage hands rushed in to help, and the band hesitated like they wanted to stop for minute, but Brobee was all like, "I don't give a fuck if my mouths falls off." Then he just waves the stage hands away and finishes the song all punk rock with his fucking mouth just hanging there. You gotta love the Brobster! Check it out, my friend caught part of it on his cellphone...

The Washing Machine Drummer

2011-05-18T17:48:00.008-04:00

Here's another post about a drummer. This time it's a washing machine. This video went viral almost a year ago, but I just saw it, and I had to post it here.

Synthgear hosted a remix contest last August. The best mixer got a copy of Ableton Live.

Here's Rodney Anonymous of the Dead Milkmen's remix...

Possessed washing machine by rodney-1

And here is the winner's entry...

The Washer - Zware Shag d&b mix by maarteh

I don't know why, but I got a kick outta this. I must have too much time on my hands. If you do, here's the sequel...

Dale Crover on Howard Stern

2011-05-16T14:28:00.019-04:00

The "King of all Media" gave a little press to one of my favorite bands last week when he interviewed Melvins' drummer Dale Crover. Crover also made the cover of Modern Drummer this month. May '11 has been pretty good for Dale so far, but I'm sure Howard only decided to interview Crover after having Dave Grohl on the week before and finding out Grohl was Kurt Cobain's second choice as drummer for Nirvana. Stern just had to get the guy on the phone who turned down a chance to be Nirvana's full-time drummer.

Howard thinks that Crover should be agonizing over his missed opportunity at fortune and fame, but I really believe him when he says he's happy with his decision not to join Nirvana. Howard doesn't understand that for the Melvins it's about the love not the money. I think even Kurt might have been happier as a side project of his favorite band, the Melvins. Below is an old clip of Dale with Kurt and Krist circa 1988.

Speaking of side projects, there was Melvana, a brief collaboration between members of the Melvins and Nirvana that produced one 7".

You can download it here.

Skeletor Portrait

2011-04-27T11:08:00.011-04:00

"Skeletor (with Paisley and Love)", 2011

14" x 11", oil on canvasboard

It's Masters of the Universe arch villain Skeletor. I found a good pic of a Motuc Skeletor action figure online, so I couldn't resist trying to do the "Evil Lord of Destruction's" portrait. I was never a big fan of the cartoon. I was a little too old to be watching it, but I still remember it being a big part of mid '80's television. I especially remember Skeletor, and his laugh, and although he was supposed to be menacing, he had the most ridiculous whiney voice. He would always spend way too much time cursing everyone and belittling his own minions. How could Skeletor's evil horde possibly defeat He-Man when they had their self-esteem crushed by Skeletor's constant insults.

Yo Gabba Gabba Hey!

2011-04-26T15:26:00.015-04:00

My nephew's favorite thing to say for a while seemed to be "Yo Gabba Gabba". I've watched the show a couple times with him, and have been struck by its bizarreness (however, for me the creepiest and most surreal childrens show still has to be the BBC's "Teletubbies"). Of the six main characters on "Yo Gabba Gabba" the one that strikes me as the oddest is Muno. He looks like a giant one-eyed sex toy. I've run across blog posts on the internet that try to prove that the whole show has a sex toy theme. The phallic Muno is the most glaringly obvious example, but some say Muno's buddy Foofa is nothing more than a giant buttplug with a flower and eyes.

Anyway, kids still love the show and when DJ Lance Rock spins the music everybody loves to dance...

Yes, by day Muno dances his dance for the suits at Nickelodeon, but he hunts the night...

"Moono", 2011

14" x 11", oil on canvasboard

I shouldn't say it, but I'm not overly thrilled with the outcome of this one. My painting enviroment wasn't the best, and when I started this piece I was using a new "green" paint thinner I bought at Home Cheapo. Kleen Strip's new "green" paint thinner was the cheapest, and sometimes you get what you pay for. It's supposed to be non-toxic and safer for the enviroment, but it is not safe for oil painting. It will ruin your brushes and slow your drying times considerably. I threw it out after I noticed my brushes fraying and losing their shape and my paint taking forever to dry. I don't know what it's made from but Kleen Strip Green Paint Thinner looks like milk and should not be considered a substitute for real good olde-fashioned toxic paint thinner. It's nice to be green when you can, but if you care about your brushes or your craft stay away from this shit!

There's a New Sheriff in Town

2011-04-22T11:50:00.005-04:00

Actually, he's a U.S. Marshall, Marshall Chris Monsanto, and he's out for justice and to punch people so hard they explode in Adult Swim's new show "Eagleheart". It's nice to see funnyman Chris Elliot finally get a new series after almost 20 years. I'm a huge fan, and in "Eagleheart" Elliot plays essentially the same clueless, naive and insensitive character he played in "Get a Life" 20 years ago. Although this time he does it in only 12 minutes episodes and with lots of cheesy violence, blood and gore.

Finally, My New Site is Here!

2011-04-07T13:13:00.010-04:00

I finally completed and uploaded my new website. It was designed by and created by your's truly using only notepad!

This must be what I want

2011-03-26T11:36:00.012-04:00

The "Belief Validation Principle" says that you create your life based on what you believe about yourself. Your beliefs make you or break you. Then there is the "Law of Attraction", which was so famously portrayed in the runaway bestseller "The Secret". It says that "you attract into your life that which you think about". Your dominant thoughts manifest in your life. "The Secret" claims that people have the ability to attract what they want in life by controlling their thoughts and beliefs. Even Buddha supposedly said, "The mind is everything. What you think you become." Hmmm..., I'd better start trying to think more positive. But I don't even know what I want to happen anymore. Maybe that's why things are on hold, and I'm living in limbo. Somehow, subconsciously, this must be what I want.

Whenever I think about all this "Belief Validation, Law of Attraction" stuff, I somehow always remember the scene in Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" when Peter Boyle, as "The Wizard", is trying to give De Niro's character, "Bickle" some helpful advice. The philosophical "Wizard" seems to understand that "what we think we become" and that we sometimes make our subconscious desires and beliefs about our selves our reality when he says, "I've been a cabbie for 17 years, and I still don't own my own cab. Why? Cuz this must be what I want, to be stuck on the night shift driving someone else's cab." It's depressing, but a great movie. I must have have seen it more times than John Hinckley Jr.

Btw, I'm glad to see they are finally releasing "Taxi Driver" on Blu-ray. I'm surprised at the films that still haven't been released on Blu-ray.

Why Does God Hate the Melvins?

2011-03-18T12:45:00.009-04:00

I just read this the other day and could hardly believe it. One of my favorite bands, the Melvins, had the incredible luck to experience the horror of two earthquakes on their 2011 tour this winter. They were waiting to catch their flight out of Christchurch, New Zealand when the country was hit by a 7.1 quake in February and were then left running for their lives, as frontman King Buzzo said "like dumb chickens", last Friday in Toyko when that country was hit by the massive 9.0 quake. Once safe they posted the following on facebook, "Another big earthquake in Tokyo! Melvins' members and crew are fine." Buzz couldn't believe the band's bad luck, "What are the odds of us being in TWO major earthquakes on TWO continents in about TWO weeks? In the billions?" Looks like this fact will wind up being another odd bit of trivia about a band that's had a long and often strange career.

I dunno, you guys could've played Florida instead. We've been waiting for years. All we've gotten in five years is a short set at the Lake Buena Vista Hard Rock when you opened for Down. You should come to Tampa Bay this fall. I should be back in FLA by then and it would be great to see you live again. No wait a minute, fall is hurricane season in Florida. No thanks, we don't need the hurricanes guys!

No One Was Like Vermeer

2011-03-18T11:38:00.010-04:00

"Back in the days of Rembrandt, back in the days of old Jan Steen," back in the 17th century in what is now called the Netherlands to be exact, there lived and worked a painter named Johannes or Jan Vermeer. He was another "Dutch Golden Age" genre painter who recreated exquisite scenes of domestic middle class life. Vermeer lived out his whole life in the city of Delft. He worked slowly and meticulously, creating as few as 34 paintings in his lifetime, most of which are very small. "Girl with a Pearl Earring", perhaps his most famous work, is only 17.5" x 15".

"The Art of Painting" is the other Vermeer I think of. It was one of the larger ones at 51" x 43".

Okay, what made me think of Vermeer again recently was seeing Jonathan Richman last month, and hearing him perform one of his newer songs, "No One Was Like Vermeer". Little was known about Jan Vermeer and his life, which is why some art historians refer to him as the "Sphinx of Delft", but I think Richman's song somes up the man and his career nicely. It's a thoughtful and humorous song, and it begs the question, "Why aren't there more catchy pop songs about 17th century Dutch genre painters?" Once again I had to make a video. Nothing fancy this time, just a slide show of Vermeer's work.

I tried to upload the video I made to my Youtube channel, but WMG immediately DMCA'd it. I didn't realize Vapor Records was a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. I could find nothing on the web that said they were. So I uploaded my video to Dailymotion instead. This is "fair use" people. You just have to put up with Dailymotion's fucking ads...

Richman- Vermeer by techamanap

And from Youtube, Richman performing the above song live...

Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole

2011-03-10T22:42:00.021-05:00

A couple weeks ago I went to see Jonathan Richman at The Local 506 in Chapel Hill. I wanted to see someone play at the legendary Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, which even though the address says Carrboro and not Chapel Hill, is still just down the street from The 506, but I guess I'm getting too old to know who the hell all these bands lined up to play there for the next three months are (who the fuck is "Los Amigos Invisibles"?). The only artist I knew and was remotely interested in, who was scheduled to play for the UNC crowd, was the singer, songwriter and acoustic guitarist Jonathan Richman. I only knew about Richman from the Farrelly Brothers' movies, "Kingpin" and "There's Something About Mary". He was the singing narrator in "There's Something About Mary" and he sang in the background in a couple scenes in "Kingpin".

I've seen Kingpin countless times (it's my favorite Farrelly Brothers' movie) and for some reason Richman's brief performance of "Corner Store" and the other song that was played in the background of another scene (I think it was "That Summer Feeling") always made an impression on me. Enough of an impression that I was willing to drive the hour and a half from Winston-Salem to see him live after years of not thinking anything about him or buying any of his albums. I did a little research before the show, so I would at least know a few of the songs he would play. Most of his songs are filled with honest emotions about simple things like missing his "Corner Store" or remembering "That Summer Feeling". He is known for his "wide-eyed and childlike innocence", and some have called his lyrics simplistic and naive. How else can I put it? This is the kind of guy who gets choked up when he reads a poem like "The Lamb" by Romantic Age painter/poet William Blake. No, really...

Yeah, if you described this guy to me, I would say, "Not my cup of tea", but somehow his style works for me. Go figure. I mean there's still a lot of humor in some of his songs. He's not John Denver. And somehow he still has a real "rock" or even "punk" aesthetic even when he's singing about his old "Corner Store". Back in the seventies he was in the protopunk band "The Modern Lovers". Yeah, protopunk. The Sex Pistols covered "Roadrunner", and "I'm Straight" sounds like it could be the anthem for straight edge.

Six of the songs on The Modern Lovers' debut album were produced by John Cale, and the Lovers have kind of a Velvet Underground sound, but the songs are sung with Richman's "wide-eyed innocence" instead of Lou Reed's world weariness. The songs are about growing up in Massachusetts, love of life and dating awkwardness. Besides "Roadrunner" the most popular and oft covered song from the album is a song about Picasso. "Pablo Picasso" is a simple and sarcastic song all about how your petty problems were not those of the great artist. "Some people try to pick up girls and get called asshole. This never happened to Pablo Picasso," sings Richman. "Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole," is repeated several times throughout the song, which implies to me at least that he should have been, even if no one dared.

Even if he was only five foot three, if I had to live an important artist's life it would be Picasso's. He was rich and famous long before he died. He seems to have lived much of his life as a celebrity, and had countless mistresses and lovers, all while being one of the most prolific artists in history. I found this website, "Picasso's Women", which lists Picasso's eight "major" relationships. Several of these women have claimed that he was abusive, and I've read that he often teased and belittled his long time friend Jean Cocteau. Whether these things are true or not, everyone knows if you've got power you can get away with being an asshole.

Anyway, Jonathan Richman and his drummer Tommy Larkins put on a great show at The Local 506. I hope that it was smallest place these guys played, because The 506 is only the second smallest venue I've ever seen anyone play. Someone at the show said Richman was originally scheduled to play the Cat's Cradle, but was moved to The Local 506 to accommodate "Los Amigos Invisibles". I think that's a shame. I was inspired enough by the show and what I've subsequently read about Jonathan Richman to make the following video...

Speaking of Picasso, about twenty years ago I painted these two Picasso knockoffs for my own use:

"Still-life with Candle", 1990

"Bullfight", 1992

Like Me!

2011-03-06T23:41:00.003-05:00

I finally took the plunge and set up a Facebook Fan Page for my artwork. I even added a convenient little like button to the left side of this blog. It's right there above my new Etsy store ad. Wow, a new Etsy store and a new Facebook Page all in one day!

My New Etsy Shop

2011-03-06T19:17:00.005-05:00

Ixnay on the Ebay, I'm going to try Etsy for selling my original art for awhile. My shop is called ChetsArt for lack of a better name. For the moment I'm only trying to sell my small canvas board paintings, which should be easy to ship. I even added a little Etsy widget for my shop over there on the left side of this blog. Happy shopping!

Urban Artware Show!

2011-02-05T17:55:00.004-05:00

Here are a couple pics from last nights art-walk here in Winston-Salem.

Artwalk Tomorrow!

2011-02-03T17:58:00.006-05:00

This time I mean Winston-Salem's downtown art-walk. I have six pieces that will be hanging in Urban Artware at 207 West Sixth St. starting tomorrow through the end of the month. Be there!

The Art-O-Mat

2011-01-15T17:14:00.007-05:00

Look what I bought today. An original piece of handmade art for only $5.00.

This "Bearded Bunny" is by artist William Hessian, and the coolest thing is that I bought it from a vending machine. An organization called Artomat or "The Artists in Cellophane" has been turning old banned cigarette vending machines into dispensers of extremely affordable handmade art since 1997 and the whole thing started right here in Winston-Salem, NC, the town I recently moved to. There are seven machines right here in Winston-Salem and over 90 throughout the country. They are also in many other countries worldwide.

I bought my "Bearded Bunny" from the machine at Secca, the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, which currently features an exhibit talking about the history of Artomat and showcasing some of the best Artomat art from its permanent collection. I think the refurbished old cigarette vending machines are works of art themselves.

Another Animated Gif

2010-12-20T00:15:00.003-05:00

Now that I know how, why not? Sit up close and warm yourself up with this one.

Animated Gifs with Adobe ImageReady

2010-12-19T22:47:00.005-05:00

I made these simple but cool animated .gifs of the making of two of my recent paintings with Adobe ImageReady 7.0! Don't stare too long, or you will go insane!!

Now wouldn't these make nice profile pics for Phil and John's Myspace pages. It's too bad the fascists at Facebook clamp down on our freedom of expression by flattening animated .gifs. Below is a video that shows you how to make your own. I'm sure there are a lot of ways and cool apps you can use to make animated .gifs, but I already had ImageReady on my computer.

An Ambiguous Report About the End of My Painting

2010-12-15T19:44:00.028-05:00

"An Ambiguous Painting About the End of the World", 2010

24" x 20", oil on wood

Finally finished it! I could work on some pieces forever, and even though there is a lot that bugs me about this painting, I'm sick of working on it. This was to be my homage to Giorgio de Chirico, but I don't think I'm going to be painting any more arches any time soon. I also went with De Chirico's color palette for the most part: ochre ground and blue-green sky. These are colors I wouldn't have naturally used. I don't know if it's what I took from De Chirico that bothers me about this piece, or if it's just that nagging regret I often have just after finishing a painting. Oh well, it was an experiment.

The other experiment here was posting a photo after each painting session to show my progress. This is another experiment I don't care to repeat any time soon. I referred to this piece as "New Painting" for each of these updates, as I had no working title. Absolutely nothing came to mind until one night when I was browsing the web for "end of the world films". You see from the outset I had the vague idea that this painting was about the end of the world. Anyway, while browsing the web I came across a Slovakian film called "An Ambiguous Report About the End of the World". It didn't matter to me at that moment whether I would ever see the film or if it was any good. I knew I had a name for my painting!

"An Ambiguous Report About the End of the World" is certainly a provocative name for a movie. I decided I had to see it after all, but even though the film was released only 13 years ago, it seemed it was already completely out of print. Thank god for filesharing sites! I found and downloaded the .rar files below and with the help of Winrar put the film together.

http://rapidshare.com/files/35896915/NejasnaZpravaOKonciSvetaCD1.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/35896878/NejasnaZpravaOKonciSvetaCD1.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/35896792/NejasnaZpravaOKonciSvetaCD1.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/35896798/NejasnaZpravaOKonciSvetaCD1.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/35896985/NejasnaZpravaOKonciSvetaCD1.part5.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/35896883/NejasnaZpravaOKonciSvetaCD1.part6.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/35896812/NejasnaZpravaOKonciSvetaCD1.part7.rar

http://rapidshare.com/files/35897380/NejasnaZpravaOKonciSvetaCD2.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/35897286/NejasnaZpravaOKonciSvetaCD2.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/35897363/NejasnaZpravaOKonciSvetaCD2.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/35897317/NejasnaZpravaOKonciSvetaCD2.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/35897393/NejasnaZpravaOKonciSvetaCD2.part5.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/35897346/NejasnaZpravaOKonciSvetaCD2.part6.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/35897269/NejasnaZpravaOKonciSvetaCD2.part7.rar

http://www.opensubtitles.org/en/search/sublanguageid-all/idmovie-10170

The movie begins with a double death slash suicide. A heroic-looking man carries a dead woman in his arms through the snow to the edge of a cliff, shoots himself and they both fall into the void. We are then transported back in time to the events that proceeded this tragedy. We begin two decades earlier at a joyful folk wedding in a quaint village high in the mountains. Everyone is enjoying themselves and then some wolves are spotted. The men take off after them, guns blazing, in a show of drunken bravado, but while they are gone, chasing after only two wolves, the rest of the pack descends upon the remaining villagers, mostly women and children. This scene is very well done. It has a surreal horror movie quality. The wolves just keep coming, bursting through padlocked doors and shattering windows. The clip below has no subtitles, but you don't really need them.

The bride who loses her bridegroom to the wolves gives birth later that same evening, and she promises her daughter to the 10 year old boy who saved her life. The bride Verona and the boy Goran are the two tragic lovers who die at the beginning of the film. I'm not going to go over the whole film here, but I'll hit the highlights. There is basically just disruption after tragic disruption in life of the little village. There is a traveling circus who get tricked into staying in the village and they soon corrupt the villagers. They give up honest farming, start growing poppy and hemp and turn into smugglers. Earthquakes rock the villages and houses sick into the ground. Some of the sheep smuggled in from across the border (Poland?) are later found to carry a disease that kills off most of the children. A military unit flies in some doctors to help the sick, but they can save no one. Instead they seem more interested in the "hemp" being dried to make marijuana and begin making arrests and threats. In one of my favorite lines from the movie, one of the military "medics" tells the mayor of the little village, "This is a free country now, and you are under surveillance". Later the military attack the fields, burning the illegal crops and as a consequence what's left of the sad little village.

Amidst all this there is a surreal cast of characters that includes a horny dwarf, a giantess, a chimpanzee named "Madonna" and a village idiot who turns into a prophet after reading Nostradamus. He quotes Nostradamus throughout the later part of the film and many of the tragedies that befall the village are supposedly taken from the seer's prognostications. Caught up in the middle of all this is the sad love story of Goran and Verona, who die at the beginning and end of the film. This an epic movie that never gets boring even at 140 minutes. The scenery alone is spectacular. There's a lot of symbolism throughout and I guess we are to see this tiny Slovakian village "at the end of the world" as a microcosm of the whole world. A tag-line for the movie says its "A film about the world not being round and love always being sinful, or about the wolves inside us".

It's too bad that this great film by Juraj Jakubisko is out of print or at least not available here. But at least I got to watch a decent .avi. I downloaded the english subtitles from opensubtitles.org, but I at first I didn't know how the .srt file could be added to the .avi so I could watch it in english. Media Player Classic, which is a free video player has the ability to load subtitles or .srt files. And if you want to burn these .avis to a dvd to watch on your television DVDFlick is great free dvd authoring app. It's especially great for foreign films, because allows you to load your own subtitles. You can even chose the typeface, color and position of them on the screen. As far as I can tell, DVDFlick does everything any other DVD authoring software can do and more. It even gives you the option to play Tetris while your files are being encoded. The only downside to DVDFlick as far as I can see is that is doesn't make fancy menus. Your menu screens won't have moving pictures or fancy options, not that you need any of that shit.

By the way if you've downloaded "An Ambiguous Report About the End of the World" and the english subs available online, you know that the subs for "Nejasna Sprava O Konci Sveta CD2" or the second disc are way wrong. It was so frustrating that there were no other english subs available for what the download calls CD2 of the movie that I wrote a new .srt file for the second half of the film with the help of my wife, who's Czech. I uploaded the corrected .srt for the second half of the film today. You can download it here.

I should also mention that the director of "An Ambiguous Report About the End of the World", Juraj Jakubisko recently directed a film called "Bathory", about the life of Elizabeth Bathory, that looks like it could be interesting. You know who she was, right? The Blood Witch of Cachtice, the Countess Dracula, the most murderous woman in history! Well I've written enough with this post, so I'm gonna let "Hot Fact Babe" Damianne fill you in on all the gory details...

New Painting- Day 18

2010-12-13T21:10:00.003-05:00

I'm still not ready to declare this painting finished. Maybe tomorrow.

New Painting- Day 17

2010-12-11T22:20:00.003-05:00

It isn't like watching paint dry, it is. Hopefully it will be finished in a couple days.

New Painting- Day 16

2010-12-08T22:34:00.000-05:00

New Painting- Day 15

2010-12-07T00:04:00.001-05:00

I basically just need to finish the necklace and earring and sharpen everything up. Hopefully I'll be finished in two or three more sessions.

New Painting- Day 14

2010-12-03T23:02:00.001-05:00

New Painting- Day 13

2010-12-02T22:17:00.016-05:00

Still trudging along. The closer I get to the "end" the more I realize how much still needs to be fixed. This posting after every painting session was an experiment that I don't think I'm gonna put myself through again. As you can see there is no magic to this. Its just drudgery to keep at it most of the time.

Anyway, last post I gave a little review or summary of my favorite post-apocalyptic film of all time, "A Boy & His Dog". With this post I thought I'd review my second favorite post-apocalyptic movie, "The Quiet Earth". It's from 1985 and was made in New Zealand. The movie opens with Zac Hobson (Bruno Lawrence) waking up to a city that seems completely deserted and very quiet. Not only does it seem that all the people have disappeared, but we hear no birds and see nothing moving about except for our hero Zac. In the distance there is a fire. Investigating, Zac finds a huge airliner has crashed, but there are no bodies. It seems every other sentient being has simply vanished without a trace.

Zac then heads to his workplace, where we find he's a scientist who has been working on a top secret project. "Project Flashlight", as it is called, has nothing to do with Parliament Funkadelic, but was an experiment to create a global energy grid. Zac speaks into his pocket recorder, "Zac Hobson, July 5th. One: there has been a malfunction in Project Flashlight with devastating results. Two: it seems I am the only person left on Earth." He then goes to a nearby radio station and records a message to play in a loop with his name, address and phone number, asking anyone who hears it to contact him.

The first thirty minutes of this film are the best. There must be something primal about this last man on earth idea. Zac soon "moves up in the world" and takes over a recently vacated mansion. He enjoys the good life for awhile, but soon puts on women's underclothes, goes mad and declares himself president. See the clip below. I never understood where he got all those life size cardboard effigies of famous people from history.

Soon after this, Zac finally meets a another human being. Its a pretty redhead named Joanne. Just when they start hitting it off, and you think that this film might take a romantic turn, there is another twist. A tall Maori named Api enters the picture, creating tension with a sort of love triangle, but it's obvious from the beginning that Joanne prefers Api. Zac soon confesses to them that he may have been partly responsible for the "Effect" that left them all alone, and this only alienates him more from the two "newcomers". We find out that Zac felt so guilty about working on such potentially devastating project as "Project Flashlight", that he tried to commit suicide the evening before the "Effect" happened.

It seems all three of the survivors "died" the moment the "Effect" took place, and that may be why they "survived", if they aren't already dead, and if this isn't all a dream. It gets more ambiguous the more we learn. Finally Zac is convinced that the "Effect" will soon happen again, and that the only way to stop it is to destroy the huge satellite dish at his former workplace. I won't give away the ending, partly because I'm not really sure I understand what happened, but the skyline just before the closing credits was sure interesting.

Now this has to be one of the best "last man on earth" movies there is and maybe one the best films from New Zealand. You know what the best New Zealand film is, don't you? We're you gonna say the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which is partly an American film? No, that's not it. The film I'm thinking of is a horror movie only the folks in New Zealand could think of...

New Painting- Day 12

2010-12-01T22:36:00.019-05:00

Well this thing is really starting to drag again. Today I added the stars and crescent moon in a kind of "A Starry Night" way, the arcade shadows yet again, and the military helicopter, which will be the only "life" here so far. What I really need at this point is a few good long painting sessions to push this to completion. I'm not feeling that inspired lately. Maybe I need to watch few good post-apocalyptic movies to get me in the mood.

I mentioned in a couple earlier posts that I was going for a post-apocalyptic feel with this piece. And what is my favorite post-apocalyptic film of all time? Its the 1975 low-budget movie, "A Boy & His Dog". It stars a very young Don Johnson as Vic, a scrappy post-nuclear survivor, who together with his faithful companion Blood, a telepathic dog, scavenges for food and women in the wasteland of Phoenix, Arizona in 2024. Vic is always horny, and Blood is always hungry. The arrangement is that Vic hustles up dinner, and Blood sniffs out the babes. The movie never explains why Blood is telepathic, but for some reason you never really worry about it. You do find out that only Blood and Vic can communicate this way. Vic tells one nosy person in the film that the reason only he can "hear" his dog is because the two of them "think alike". Whatever the reason, I think that the dim-witted Vic's relationship with the highly intelligent canine saves this sometimes overly slow, low-budget movie. Witness the scene below for an example.

Blood and Vic subsist in the bleak desert for the better part of the film, robbing and raping the other desperate survivors, but soon Vic meets Quilla June. She is "the cheese" sent out by some folks who have been watching Vic and want to entrap him. The randy Vic falls for the bait, and soon he is following the girl underground. Blood is suspicious, and after warning Vic, refuses to go. This is where the movie really gets weird. Some of the post-nuclear survivors still stubbornly keep small town American values alive underground. Everyone paints their faces like happy mimes, and they live for parades and picnics. The "grass" is green even though there is no sunlight in subterranean "Topeka", and the citizens' stifled lives are strictly regulated by "The Committee".

"The Committee", headed by actor Jason Robards, decides they need some new sperm for their now hopelessly shallow gene pool, and that the virile Vic will supply it. But unfortunately not in the way he would like, for he is soon hooked up to a machine and milked. Finally Quilla, "the cheese" that lured him into the trap, rebels against "The Committee" and helps Vic escape. She wants him to help her take control underground, but he would rather go back above. He's gotta see Blood again. He's "gotta get back in the dirt" so he can "feel clean". I won't give away the touching and disturbing ending, but ultimately this is, as director L. Q. Jones says, "just a story about a boy and his dog".

This movie obviously influenced the Mad Max series, and I think the idea of a dog for end of the world companionship was set with this film as well. Mad Max had an Australian Cattle Dog and Will Smith drove around post-apocalyptic New York with a German Shepherd in "I Am Legend". If the mongrel in "A Boy and His Dog" looks familiar, its because he played the family pet "Tiger" in "The Brady Bunch".

The director of "A Boy and His Dog", L. Q. Jones, never directed another film, but his adaption of Harlan Ellison's novella, was purported to be the author's favorite movie version of any of his stories. L. Q. Jones is known for his acting career, which included many westerns. Most recently he starred in "A Prairie Home Companion". He was also in Scorsese's 1995 film "Casino". Here he is giving giving Robert De Niro's character Sam Rothstein the business for firing his brother in-law.

New Painting- Day 11

2010-11-29T21:04:00.002-05:00

I had planned a big long post, but its been a rough day and I have a headache. I was lucky to paint at all. Tomorrow I need to finish working out the arcade and the rest of the middle ground.

New Painting- Day 10

2010-11-27T22:08:00.002-05:00

New Painting- Day 9

2010-11-24T21:27:00.004-05:00

I'm finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

New Painting- Day 8

2010-11-23T20:24:00.001-05:00

New Painting- Day 7

2010-11-22T23:19:00.012-05:00

I had a lot of distractions over the weekend, and after not seeing this painting for almost three whole days, I'm struggling with a new perspective, literally. I realized the perspective for the arcade or row of arches is way wrong, so I had to finally define a vanishing point and will have to redo the background quite a bit. The "correct" way makes the arcade seem shorter and my column way tall. Honestly, I don't really like this version with its correct one point perspective any better than the original eyeballed version where the real horizon line would have had to be much higher. I should have planned this out from the get go, but I'm used to just eyeballing everything on the fly without sketches and it working out. Instead I had to spend most of this painting session drawing pencil lines with different vanishing points, trying to figure out which made the arcade look best.

When I started this painting I mentioned that the background idea was inspired by De Chirico's metaphysical series. He certainly never worried about correct perspective in his architectural representations. He always had multiple vanishing points, which had the effect of disorienting the viewer, and of course this was what he wanted. But with only one architectural element in the background of my painting from which to gauge perspective, it just looks like I made a mistake if I get it wrong. There were usually many buildings in De Chirico's paintings from which to gauge perspective. In the painting below, "Gare Montparnasse (The Melancholy of Departure)", there are, count 'em, six vanishing points. There are also his ubiquitous bunch of bananas and train on the horizon.

Twisted Toys Reception

2010-11-21T12:39:00.006-05:00

Here's some pics from the opening of the "Twisted Toys" show in St. Pete. I sold one already!

The Twisted Toy Show

2010-11-19T10:51:00.009-05:00

Just like the flier says tomorrow night 7 to 10pm 645 Central Ave. St. Petersburg. Its an art show about toys just in time for the holidays. There will be paintings of toys and toys and toy-like 3D art Bay area people like me have made. This show was made for moi. Below is video I made a couple years ago featuring my paintings of toys. Some of these will be in this show.

The music in the above video is by the alternative metal band the Melvins, one of my favorite bands. Below is a cool stop-action video made for a song off their latest album "The Bride Screamed Murder". I think its funny that the director of this video must have also thought that the Melvins and toys go together somehow.

For most people the most famous thing about the Melvins is that they were Kurt Cobain's favorite band. They must also be one of Greg Gutfeld's favorites, because Melvins' frontman Buzz Osbourne has been on his show "Red Eye" countless times. In the clip below Buzz talks a little about Kurt Cobain, rock festivals and how rock concerts are just too long these days.

New Painting- Day 6

2010-11-18T21:48:00.007-05:00

Not that much progress today. Worked on the shell and flowers mostly and started to add what will be crumbling buildings on the horizon. These ruins will be similar to ones I placed on the horizon in another post-apocalyptic painting I did a couple years ago, "Girl in Landscape".

I don't know if I'm going to also include the military helicopter seen here on the horizon just above the ruined buildings in my latest painting. I'll have to think about it. I'm considering putting one living thing in it (even the yellow roses are dead and dried) to make it more poignant, but I will have to wait til it progresses more before I make that decision. Meanwhile, as I said, the painting directly above also has a post-apocalyptic theme. The piece was named after and inspired by a science fiction novel by Jonathan Lethem.

"Girl in Landscape" is set in the near future when a young girl and her family must leave an uninhabitable earth for a new planet. In the story Pella Marsh must adjust not only to a strange new world, but also to the changes in herself, as she goes through puberty on the ocean-less planet with its weird inhabitants. I never read the book. I got all this from the description on the back. So the painting was actually only inspired by a blurb, but I still think the image I made somehow fits the idea of the novel. The assembled still-life in the foreground can be taken as objects salvaged from the desolate background, and the Barbie doll can represent both a girl's toy and the girl herself lost in the bleak surroundings. Anyway, I didn't read "Girl in Landscape", but I have read three of Lethem's other novels: Gun, with Occasional Music, As She Climbed Across the Table, and Motherless Brooklyn.

New Painting- Day 5

2010-11-17T20:47:00.003-05:00

Shit day. I hate this painting already.

New Painting- Day 4

2010-11-16T20:03:00.003-05:00

After a day off, I'm back. Here's what I did today. Got more cadmium yellow, so I was able to work on the sky this session. These painting sessions have been a little short so far, only about 2 hours each. I plan to spend at least 3 hours a day on the painting from here on out.

New Painting- Day 3

2010-11-14T20:35:00.003-05:00

Another day, more paint. I ran out of cadmium yellow, so I wasn't able to do much with the sky. I have the idea to paint one of De Chirico's blue-green twilights with a fading yellow sunset. Maybe I'll change my mind, but I still need more cadmium yellow.

New Painting- Day 2

2010-11-13T21:17:00.007-05:00

After waiting a couple days for the first thin layer to dry, I continue to keep filling in blank spots on the canvas and applying more layers.

There's no point in dragging the painting outside for photos until it's finished. I might as well photograph it on the easel.

My New Painting- Day 1

2010-11-11T17:30:00.007-05:00

When I start a new painting, I try my best to cover the whole canvas with paint right away. I don't care if it's sloppy, just so long as it isn't applied too thick. I paint with oils, so I will have to wait a couple days for this coat to dry a little before I can continue. Otherwise the surface is too gummy and tacky, and the new layers don't go on smoothly. Anyway, this is what I did today. For this new piece I am going to try to post photos after every painting session, something new to try. I've taken photos after individual painting sessions before and made cool time-lapse videos with the pics, but I've never posted a painting's progress on my blog before. I don't have a name for this piece yet, so I will continue to refer to it as "new painting" here until I can think of at least a working title.

A Primed Canvas + A Rough Sketch + A Photograph = A New Painting

2010-11-10T14:30:00.024-05:00

I found a nice piece of cabinet-grade plywood (my "canvases" are usually plywood or masonite panels) left over from trimming a larger piece down for a previous painting, so I primed it to get it ready for a new one. I'm limited by the dimensions, which are 24" x 20", but I sketched out an idea that I think will fit here. Looks like it's time to breakout the old mannequin head and conch shell again. I love this mannequin head with its exaggerated neck and upturned head. I think it was made for displaying jewelry.

This painting will be primarily a still-life, as most of my paintings are, and as usual I will makeup a background. This time the background idea came from pre-surrealist/surrealist painter Giorgio de Chirico's metaphysical town square series. A couple people have told me that some of my paintings remind them of De Chirico's work, so I decided to reacquaint myself with this influential artist. De Chirico's metaphysical period from 1909-1919 is what he is best known for. These are melancholy, dreamlike paintings concerned with myth, nostagia and desolation. The earliest of these were primarily haunting cityscapes inspired by the architecture of Turin. I decided the background of my new painting will be a De Chirico town square in ruins, crumbling arcades and pillars, a post-apocalyptic town square even more desolate than De Chirico's lonely cityscapes. Below are some examples of De Chirico's metaphysical towns.

This one is the one most people know from art history books:

"Mystery and Melancholy of a Street", 1914

"Piazza d'Italia", 1913

"The Soothsayer's Recompense", 1913

"Torino printanière", 1914

"L'Angoisse du départ", 1914

"Love Song", 1914

And My Kiss Army Continues to Grow...

2010-11-09T13:26:00.021-05:00

Here's the latest recruit to my Kiss Army, Mr. Philip "Space Ace" Bloom.

"Philip (Space Ace) Bloom", 2010

18"x18", oil on cradled panel

With Philip as Ace Frehley, I now have 3 of the four original members of Kiss represented in fine portraiture. Here's a collage of what I have so far. I just need Peter Criss, the original drummer. Hal if you're reading this, the Kiss Army needs you asap.

These portraits are inspired by the Kiss solo albums all released on the same day back in September 18, 1978. The cover of each album featured a painting of the Kiss member on the respective record. Ace Frehley's effort did the best commercially and was also considered the best by music critics. Ace was the lead guitarist of the band. He was the most consummate musician in the group and his guitar playing inspired many to become axe-men back the band's heyday. And just as Gene Simmons' onstage character spewed fire and blood, Ace Frehley had his own performance trick: The smoking guitar. He put smoke bombs in the compartment of his Les Paul and lit them causing smoke to come out through the pickups. Sometimes the smoke would gum up the volume and tone controls and Ace's custom Gibson would stop working. He needed someone to save him from "Spinal Tap" moments like this: Enter John Robison.

In Robison's 2007 memoir "Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's", he devotes a whole chapter, called "The First Smoking Guitar", which details how, as pyrotechnics wizard on the road with Kiss, he helped Ace Frehley create a smoking guitar that was still safe to play. Robison had the idea to put the smokebombs in an insulated box inside the guitar, rather than just dropping them lit into a hole carved in the guitar, as Ace had planned. Bright lights were also added to the custom Gibson, and sometimes there was a wire attached for it to be sent "rocketing" away.

Ace Frehley left Kiss in 1982, finally getting back together with them for their 1996 reunion tour. Over the years he released several solo albums besides the one he did as a member of Kiss. He latest "Anomaly" came out last year. Its his first effort in twenty years. Supposedly Ace gave a concert down here in Venice, FL a few years ago, and almost no one showed, but I couldn't find out anything about it on the web. I was never a Kiss fan, so these portraits are done mostly for their ironic, if not iconic, appeal. Although I did learn a lot about the band over the course of researching and planning this portrait series. For instance, I didn't even know Ace was the lead guitarist, or that he was famous for his smoking axe, or that he is a drugged racist pig with low self-esteem who did nothing...

Good ol' Gene, always the moral compass of the band.

Dead Silence

2010-10-31T19:33:00.014-04:00

"Beware the stare of Mary Shaw she had no children only dolls. If you see her in your dreams, be sure you never, ever scream, or she'll rip your tongue out at the seam". Happy Halloween! I spent part of my afternoon watching the horror film "Dead Silence", a 2007 schlock-fest by the creators of the "Saw" series. It about a mad ventriloquist named Mary Shaw who was buried with her collection of vaudeville dolls and whose ghost terrorizes the small town of Ravens Fair. In the decades since the old woman's death the dolls have been mysteriously reappearing in the sleepy town, and soon after they are seen whole families are gruesomely murdered with their tongues carved out. The story begins with a young couple who have left Ravens Fair and moved to the big city. But it seems they can't escape the curse of their little town, for they soon receive one of old Mary Shaw's dummies in a package.

When I first saw the dummy I thought this movie was going to be about a homicidal doll like Chucky in the cult horror series "Child's Play". That would have been a better idea, because this stinker of a film isn't even "bad" enough to become some kind of ironic cult favorite. Its just bad. In the end one of the dolls does finally speak, possessed by the spirit of Mary Shaw, and actually this doll does kind of resemble Chucky. But mostly this a slow moving ghost story with bad acting and a contrived "twist" at the end. My favorite bad actor in this movie is former "New Kid on the Block" Donnie Wahlberg. Donnie gives an almost endearingly cliched portrayal of a detective. Ostensibly Detective Lipton is out to solve the mystery of the murders, but he mostly just plays with his electric razor...

"Beware the stare of Chet Loggins. He has no children only dolls..." I only struggled through this rotten tomato, because someone once told me that my paintings of dolls reminded them of "Dead Silence". I don't know about that, but creepy is a word I hear a little too often. I think these four paintings were the ones they were talking about...

A long time ago I did actually do a painting with a ventriloquist's dummy in it. I think this a Charlie McCarthy doll, but I'm not sure. My painting skills were not as keen back in '96 when the painting below was done. Charlie McCarthy was the doll used by famous ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, Candice Bergen's pop.

Snapit Review

2010-10-21T00:43:00.028-04:00

Speaking of emails, as I was last post, I recently received a request via email to do a product review for Digeus. Digeus is a software manufacturer and the software they want me to test and review is Snapit Screen Capture 3.7. I downloaded the trial version, which except for its 15 day time limit has all the features of the regular version, and had a look at it.

Most everyone knows that if they press the "Prt Scr" (Print Screen) button on their keyboard that a snapshot of what ever is on their monitor gets saved to their clipboard. Then you have to paste it into a Word document and save it that way. If you didn't want the whole the whole screen, and you almost never do, you have to bring the saved document into an graphics program like Photoshop and crop out what you want. When you have Snapit 3.7 you don't have to go to all this trouble.

When you double click on the Snapit icon, which is a little camera, an even tinier camera appears in your system tray. If you press the "Prt Scr" button while the little camera is in your system tray your cursor turns into cross-hairs and you can drag it over whatever you want to copy to the clipboard.

Not only can you drag and select exactly what you want from whatever happens to be on your screen and copy it to your clipboard, but you have the option to automatically save these "clippings" as image files to any folder you chose. You simply right click on the Snapit icon in your system tray and then click on "Properties" to set up the autosave feature. You have the option to choose where to save the images, what prefix to use in the autonaming of the files and a choice of five different file types to save them as. You can also right click and point to "Save As" on the dropdown menu if don't want use the autosave feature.

All the pics used in this post where captured with Snapit 3.7. This is a lightweight but very handy little utility for anyone from bloggers who want quickly capture images for a post to business people doing a presentation. Its a great little tool, and I'm glad to be part of their viral marketing campaign.

Btw, if you want to receive a free copy of Snapit 3.7 just download the free trial here, post a review on your blog or website and contact julia.taylor@digeus.com with a link to your review for a free registration of the software.

Ye Olde Overpayment Scam

2010-10-17T19:38:00.009-04:00

When I first started my clunky, outdated website back in January 2008 I had some hope that by putting my artwork on display for anyone to see I might be “discovered” by someone important. Boy was I naive! I have been discovered not by any important galleries or wealthy patrons of the arts, but by every scam artist cruising the web for suckers. My in-box is regularly filled with notices that I’ve won foreign lotteries (I’ve “won” the Netherlands lottery three times), requests for help cashing overseas checks or depositing large sums of money or even to pose as a next of kin to collect and share some huge inheritance. My website itself has even been hijacked and used as an attack site.

But the most dastardly of the e-mails I've gotten is one I received a few weeks ago. It seemed someone had come across my website by chance and wanted to purchase one of my paintings. The e-mail was very brief and business-like. The person said nothing of themselves except that they traveled a lot. Meaning what, possibly that they would be in my area and would swing by pick up the painting? I was suspicious right away, but this person did have a particular painting in mind “as a present for his wife”, so I figured it couldn’t do any harm to tell him my asking price and mailing address. He wrote back the next day from the same e-mail address but this time he called himself Frank Ray instead of Frank Lee. I mean if you’re going to con someone can’t you at least keep your name straight. I was certain now that this was a scam, but up to now I couldn’t figure out how. Identity theft crossed my mind anxiously, as I had given the bastard my name and home address, although I didn’t really think he could do much with just that. But under the new surname the body of the e-mail said that he would be sending me a check for the painting. He went on to explain that this check would be for more than the price I’d asked for the piece, and that I should immediately deposit it and give the amount left over after my asking price in cash to his “shipper”, who would come by and collect the painting. He said this was to “pay his shipper”. Uh-huh, sure. I wrote back, “Nice try. Find another sucker asshole!"

I laughed and tried to forget about the incident, but a few days later a large white envelope arrived by UPS. It said, “Extremely Urgent”, and it was addressed to me from the “Montana State Library 1515 E. 6th Avenue Helena, MT 59601”, but I instantly knew what it was. It was the phony check from that asshole Frank Ray or Lee. Yep, inside was a check for $2200.00 more than I had asked for “Girl in a Landscape”. The faux check was from Amonix Inc., drawn on their “account” at the Bank of the West, and signed by a Desmond Michel. Now the bizarre part is that there really is an Amonix Inc. They design and manufacture solar power systems out in Seal Beach California. And the Bank of the West is also a real bank out west. Along with the Montana State Library, which is also a real library, I wonder if these companies and organizations know their good names are being used in a scheme to defraud poor schmucks. This type of scam is officially called the Overpayment Scam and is encountered very often by anyone selling anything online today from Craigslist to simple websites like mine. I took the check to my bank to show them and the branch manager said they see 3 or 4 of these phony checks a month. Pretty sad.

I wasn’t even obviously selling anything and I got one of these criminals trying to run his game on me. I mean it’s pretty low to pick on starving artists like me. Every artist dreams of being discovered and some anonymous collector snatching up his work. I’ve received two more e-mails like the one I described here in the last two weeks. I’m pretty paranoid now, so if you do happen to be seriously interested you’d better explain yourself and keep your name straight. There is even a website Artscams.com that talks about scams that potentially target fine artists. So watch your back fellow artists!

Mechagodzilla Portrait

2010-10-14T22:03:00.005-04:00

Here is my portrait of Godzilla's popular nemesis Mechagodzilla.

"Mechagodzilla Twilight", 2010

14" x 11", oil on canvasboard

I painted this from the Bandai 6.5 Inch Classic Figure Mechagodzilla. But if you travel to Japan and have about ¥84,000 to blow maybe you can still pick up the limited edition 20" tall radio controlled Mechagodzilla also made by Bandai.

I'm the one infected, twisted animator

2010-10-13T23:20:00.007-04:00

I did a portrait of a friend of mine awhile back in Gene Simmons' Kiss makeup. After each painting session I took a photo of the progress. I wound up with a dozen pictures. I had the idea to do a time-lapse video showing the making of the painting. After about five months I finally got around to it. I used Photostory 3, which is as the name suggests a slide-show maker app. Its available for free from Microsoft. I also used Photoshop to make things a little more interesting. I wanted to do a longer video to go the length of the song I chose, but Photostory has a limit to the number images it can use, and whenever I've tried splicing together videos made with Photostory in Moviemaker there is considerable image quality loss. Moviemaker doesn't seem to like stills. There is a guy who calls himself PapaJohn who has a site with all the info you could want about Photostory and Moviemaker. He even has custom widescreen profiles you can download and add to Photostory's list of profiles. I used one of his custom profiles for my video. Photostory doesn't come with a widescreen profile, and I wanted to create mine as a widescreen video. This meant I had to compress the width of my photos from a 100 to 75 percent in Photoshop before I imported them into Photostory and then save the movie I made in Photostory as one of PapaJohn's custom widescreen profiles, which then stretches the video back out. Other than the limitations I just spoke of Photostory a great and versatile slide-show maker.

The song I chose is Gene Simmons cover of Prodigy's "Firestarter" off Gene's 2004 album "Asshole". Below is the painting and the video.

The Albin Polasek Museum

2010-10-11T20:21:00.017-04:00

Saturday I took a day trip over to Winter Park just northeast of Orlando to visit the Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens. Albin Polasek (1879 - 1965) was a Czech-American sculptor, heralded as one of the foremost American sculptors of the twentieth century. He worked in a classical style similar to Rodin or Michelangelo. In 1950 at the age of 70 he retired from the Art Institute of Chicago, where he was head of the sculpture department, to Winter Park Florida where he built the home that became the Museum that now houses and displays 200 of his more than 400 works.

A guided tour takes you through the home and private chapel. There is also a gallery with exhibitions by other well-known local and international artists. On display while I was there was the modernist woodcuts and paintings of Charles Turzak. Turzak was the son of Czechoslovakian immigrants, and also retired from Chicago to subtropical Winter Park. I don't think you have to be of Czechoslovakian ancestry to be represented at the Albin Polasek Museum, but it obviously doesn't hurt. Plus the two men, Albin and Charles, knew each other in life.

Anyway, the best part of the museum and gardens for me was the three acre sculpture and botanical garden overlooking Lake Osceola.

Most of the sculptures in the gardens have either a Christian or mythological theme. Albin Polasek was a devout Roman-Catholic, but he obviously still had affection for the Slavic folklore he grew up with as a boy in Moravia. The mythological sculptures were my favorites.

Svantovit, the Slavic god of war, fertility and abundance.
He is represented here with his four faces facing each direction of the compass.

Triglav has three heads representing the unity of three gods,
or the sky, earth and underworld.

Perun is the Zeus of Slavic mythology

A vesna representing youth and springtime.

And then there are a couple of non-Slavic mythological figures:

The Greek god Pan

And the Wasserman from German folklore

There are also metal plaques along the garden path that commemorate Polasek's famous quotes.

My 50th Post!

2010-09-21T22:56:00.004-04:00

I want bongos. Bongos! Bongos!!

Vader Portrait

2010-09-21T19:02:00.005-04:00

"Darth Shithead", 2010

14" x 11", oil on canvasboard

"I saw the little birdy sing
He sang with glee and everything
He sang for spring and sang for me
And everything was so happy"

"I don't know why I want to fly
Try to sigh, try to fly, made a tie
And then it tried to get me down
I want to buy make me fly
Get me high, so I can try
And then I try
The little birdy start to cry so happy
Little birdy why so happy
Little birdy why so happy

Can I touch your birdy wing?
And fly and hop and everything
Can the sun reach down on us
And through the heavens only we would sing

I want the birdy make me laugh
See the birdy make me laugh
Take a little birdy bath
I don't know why he got me high
I don't know why, I don't know why
It cannot die, it sang too high
And all the birds on the wing sang so together "

Gamera Portrait

2010-09-06T19:29:00.005-04:00

And now ladies and gentlemen, here's Gamera!

"Gamerainbow", 2010

14" x 11", oil on canvasboard

Gamera! Gamera!

Gamera is really neat!

Gamera is filled with meat!

We've been eating Gamera!

"Whatcha got here some artwork or sumpin?"

2010-08-28T17:14:00.003-04:00

Well the turn out for my reception this afternoon wasn't so great. Must of been the timing or maybe I over-saturated with publicity.

Reception at Jacaranda Library

2010-08-25T17:26:00.001-04:00

I think this covers all the pertinent info.

Devil Portrait

2010-08-23T17:54:00.004-04:00

Continuing my series of portraits of toys, here's the El Diablo bobblehead.

"Have a Nice Day!", 2010

14" x 11", oil on canvasboard

Stormtrooper Portrait

2010-08-20T18:30:00.004-04:00

Thinking about U driving me crazy
My friends all say it's just a phase, but ooh-ooh
Every day is a yellow day

I'm blinded by the daisies in your yard

"Daisytrooper", 2010

14" x 11", oil on canvasboard

Alien Portrait

2010-08-17T19:18:00.004-04:00

An alien head piggy bank makes a fine subject for a painting.

"The Green Hawaiian", 2010

14" x 11", oil on canvasboard

Godzilla Portrait

2010-08-15T18:36:00.008-04:00

Here is my latest painting fresh off the easel. The first in a series of "portraits" of toys. This is the Bandai '68 Godzilla featured in another of my paintings. I even gave it the same title.

"Godzilla Pink", 2010

14" x 11", oil on canvasboard

Art at the Library, Again!

2010-08-01T21:50:00.005-04:00

I am taking over the meeting space at the Jacaranda Library in Venice, FL with my paintings. They will be on display there through the end of the month.

Fancy Girl Sally

2010-07-04T19:36:00.004-04:00

Here is collaborative painting done today with my 7 year old niece Sophia. It was done alla prima in less than 30 minutes.

"Fancy Girl Sally", 2010

11" X 14", oil on canvasboard

Southwest Florida Lives! Again!

2010-07-01T20:11:00.004-04:00

Once again I'm proud to be one of the artists featured in Howl Gallery's 2nd Annual Southwest Florida Lives! show. Opening reception is tomorrow night 6 - 10pm with live music on the back patio by Cosmic Mountain. The show runs through July 31.

God of Thunder

2010-06-29T21:36:00.008-04:00

Another Kiss inspired portrait. This time of my friend John Liner. Will I ever actually get paid for this commissioned portrait. The law of averages is on my side, but past experience with "commissions" makes me doubtful. Note to self: NO MORE COMMISSIONS WITHOUT MONEY UP FRONT!!!

"John (the daemon) Liner", 2010

18" X 18", oil on panel

Uh-oh, Facebook!

2010-05-24T20:55:00.005-04:00

Okay, okay, I give up. I'm finally on Facebook. I think George Clooney and I were the last holdouts. I mean Mark Zuckerberg's girlfriend dumps him and now the whole world has to play his stupid game.

But anyway, I'm on Facebook! I'm on Facebook! Things are going to start happening to me now...

So join the Chet Army now!

Chet Loggins

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Welcome to Hell...

2010-05-12T20:33:00.021-04:00

...And the three-headed hound Cerberus that guards the gates of the underworld, preventing your escape is the subject of my latest painting.

"Cerberus Pugnacious", 2010

30" x 30", oil on cradled panel

I got the inspiration for this painting from my friend's pug. Camus (Yes, he's named after the French existentialist philosopher and author Albert Camus.) is a gentle and friendly dog, but with his jet black fur and wicked under-bite he always reminded of a "devil" dog.

When I was searching for pics and videos of Cerberus I came across this clip from the original "Clash of the Titans" movie, circa 1981...

A two-headed Cerberus? Supposedly the reason there were only two heads instead of three, was simply that Ray Harryhausen didn't feel like animating the extra head. Although he did manage to animate most of the snakes on the gorgon Medusa's head in the scene immediately following the above one. Its one of the most suspenseful in the movie. The stop action animation makes this clip especially creepy for me. Stop action rules! That 3-D CGI shit will ruin your eyes.

I turn to stone

When you are gone

I turn to stone

Turn to stone

When you comin' home

I can't go on...

Eye For Art Show

2010-04-23T20:50:00.005-04:00

Sarasota Art and Frame is sponsoring and hosting a juried exhibition from April 24th 'til May 24th. I have two pieces in this show. Opening reception and awards ceremony is tomorrow evening beginning at 5pm. I mean its early, but still not early enough to catch the early bird special at a local restaurant afterwards. Sorry Sarasotans.

I Was Made For Loving You

2010-04-20T21:38:00.005-04:00

My latest painting is a self-portrait. I took the idea from Paul Stanley's solo Kiss album, obviously. I was never a big Kiss fan, but I dig the concept. Paul Stanley is also a painter. You can view his art here. By the way, the song, "I Was Made For Loving You" is not on Paul's solo album, but I was ..., made for loving you, that is. I mean I was, but not any more.

"Starchild (self-portrait)", 2010

18" x 18", oil on panel

Godzilla Yellow

2010-03-09T21:50:00.013-05:00

Here's my latest painting: A still-life featuring Bandai's 1954 Godzilla.

"Godzilla Yellow", 2010

20" x 16", oil on cradled panel

I must have gotten the idea for this painting from watching Roseanne on TV Land. I never cared for the show when it originally aired, but seeing it now, I have to say it was a well-written "realistic" portrayal of the American family. And the Conners always had a Godzilla on the table shelf behind their couch. The Godzilla featured there changed from season to season. Sometimes there were even two or three. If you look closely you'll see the toys were even featured in other parts of the house, like Deejay's bedroom. I wasn't able to find out much about the Godzillas used in the show online. I couldn't even find any decent pics. Below is the only photo I found of the Conners' couch. If you squint hard you can make out the Imperial toys version of the monster gracing the table behind them.

Advice for Future Artists

2010-03-06T00:29:00.004-05:00

I didn't go to an art school, but I do have a degree in art. And I wish I had this guy giving this speech at my graduation from Florida State so many years ago.

Windsor Art Show Cont'd

2010-01-25T22:38:00.005-05:00

I won third place at the 3rd Annual Windsor of Lakewood Ranch Art Show.

The show is open to the public from 10am to 4pm thru the 30th.

Windsor Art Show

2010-01-21T00:02:00.006-05:00

Tonight is the reception for the 3rd Annual Windsor of Lakewood Ranch Art Show. The date isn't even on the invitation, because you don't need to know that. You see, this reception is for the artists only. You, the general public can come look at the artwork beginning Friday the 22nd.

Godzilla Pink

2010-01-16T13:36:00.008-05:00

Here is my latest painting: a still-life of a conch shell and an orchid with Bandai's 1968 Godzilla.

"Godzilla Pink", 2010

20" x 16", oil on cradled panel

I take the photos I use for my paintings outside. This time I painted the objects with the sky as it was behind them, instead of inventing my own background. I live near the airport, so there's a good chance of catching a big passenger jet leaving from SRQ in any photos I take outdoors, and if its a cool clear day you can often see contrails formed by the exhast of the jet engines. But are all these trails simply condensed water vapour or is the government secretly spraying us with biological agents for purposes undisclosed to us. 80's popstar and conspiracy theorist Prince weighs in on the controversy in a recent interview...

35 Degrees in Tampa

2009-12-29T17:15:00.005-05:00

Tampa residents had to deal with a wind chill of 35 degrees this morning. Northern parts of the Bay area had temps hovering around 30. Here in Sarasota it was 41 degrees when I woke up. I freaked out! I was completely insane by the time I got to work. I put cheese in my coffee, and I don't even drink coffee!

Art After Hours Reception Pics

2009-12-13T22:10:00.006-05:00

There are some photos posted from last weeks "Art After Hours" reception on Sarasota County Libraries' Flickr account. Hey, I sold 2 paintings there!

Art After Hours

2009-12-02T22:52:00.003-05:00

Wow, I just found out the official reception for the quarterly artshow at the Fruitville library here in Sarasota is this Friday night. I'll try to be there.

On and Off the Wall

2009-11-14T19:16:00.002-05:00

"On and Off the Wall" is the name of the current juried show at the Manatee Art Center. Last night was the opening reception. I won a Merit Award. The show runs through December 4th.

We Reach

2009-10-26T21:07:00.004-04:00

My goal was to take photos of my last painting after every session. I did for the most part. I think I missed only four or five sessions out of about twenty. My idea was that by documenting my painting process I could learn where things go wrong or where I kept going when I should have left well enough alone and called it finished. I didn't really learn anything, but with the help of Photostory 3 the pics set to music make a neat time lapse video.