I’m still putting the finishing touches on these paintings for the October show. Whatever finishing touches are.

Nothing has clicked so far where I’ve backed up and clapped my hands together and shouted “DONE!”

I’m going for a run.

I like to get out of the studio garage every now and again and go walk around anonymously with other people at the mall up the street. I pretty much just go into Borders and drink coffee and look at magazines, but sometimes I’ll do a lap around the food court or go into some place and try on jackets that I have no use for.

Today I picked up an issue of … crap. What’s it called. Rampant Decay? Urban Decay? Beautiful Decay. That’s it.

Beautiful Decay… and it had an interview with a great artist named Barnaby Whitfield.

Check his site out.

Barnaby Whitfield

His rendering is top notch. His colors are edible. (How artsy can my adjectives be today? I typed that with a beret on.) But I couldn’t stop laughing at his Lincoln piece. Lincoln’s piece. That’s why I like this guy. The humor that I find in the work.

The coolest part about the artist himself is how he chose his brush name. Barnaby was taken from the street he grew up on and Whitfield was taken from the singer of Ugly Kid Joe, Whitfield Crane. How cool is that?

Have fun and don’t let your boss creep up behind you at your cubicle while perusing.

I know we’re barely halfway through September, but I have to start talking about Halloween.

The past several years costumes read like this:

Wolverine (No pics)

Freddie Mercury (This was more like a gondolier from Venice or something. I had no time to prepare, which is why I’m making this post now instead of October 28th)

Then I was Cobra Commander which was probably the best costume I’ve ever ever ever put together. Alas, I have absolutely no photos of it and I lost the whole damn thing somehow. I fail.

I was also Captain Jack Sparrow which was fun even though I did absolutely nothing that year. Except lose my friend Sarah at a douchey college bar where she was trying desperately to avoid a touchy feely Kenyan dude’s courtship. The voicemail was hilarious. “Dude? You left me in here. Bullshit. That is bullshit. Y… You left me in here? Dude. I… Th….”

Last year I was Slash without really planning it. I don’t know what I was trying for but after I realized my wig was way more curly than I expected my roommate Corey stuck a top hat on my head and voila. Slash.

This year?

I’m thinking Prince. I’m about twice as big as him, but that’s the funny part. And though he’s light skinned, I look nothing like him. I’m way too neanderthal and he’s way too femme. I was initially thinking of the “Kiss” video, but then thought no one would get it and I’d just look like a horrendous tranny with no shirt. Charlotte has 51 weekends out of the year to see me like that at a bar. Halloween is special. I think the Purple Rain Prince would be better.

!!!!! What a great shot of the Purple Rain suit.

That just might seal the deal. Any better ideas? What are you going as, dear commentors?

UPDATE

Here’s some progress on one of the show pieces.

Anyone in Charlotte know what street this sign is on?

I’ve been holed up in the garastudioge for the past month working on paintings for my first gallery appearance in Charlotte coming up in October. I’ve been staying ahead of the game with these pieces and not slacking on work. I’ve been not answering phone calls and ignoring texts and being a hermit. I’ve been screwing up huge sections of paintings and washing over them and starting again. And again. I still don’t have the big “ahhh I did it” feeling as the end draws near though. I have to get all my pieces done and submitted before I leave for Boston on 9/25. I’m not sweating or anything but I wish I was a little more… excited about everything.

Maybe I’ve just been looking at these damn things too long. One large piece that I had ideas for hasn’t panned out either. I could be bummed out about that. Who knows. My senses are pretty dull at the moment.

To balance out the focused painting hours I’ve been doing routines in the gym that have most onlookers doing their preacher curls shaking their heads.

I’ve recently taken on the hurricane workout as described here. It’s enough to make you feel like you’re going to die at the end, but not too much teardown that you can’t get back in the gym two days later and do it all over again.

Enough about fitness. Look at the progress.

I’m still trying to get the big canvas hooked up how I want it. I’d really like to have another large piece in this show. It’s fate really comes down to technical know how. As a “I’ll figure it out as I go along” type of guy… I’m going to say it probably won’t make it.

To the easel. Oh wait.. here’s Beefy sleeping on a pile of clothes at the bottom of my closet because I stole his blanket because he kept eating the stuffing out of it and pooping ropes of white synthetic fiber.