Trayvon Martin

I, (like hopefully)all of you reading this, am greatly disburbed by the events that took placeon Feb. 26th involving Trayvon Martin. I am not going torecount the events, instead, the link below is an excellent source of detailed information and I invite all of you to pleasetake time to click on and read it.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/03/trayvon-martin-case-timeline-of-events

I will,however, share this... Over the weekend, I was with a few of my friends, and ofcourse, the topic was brought up, along with the photo that Lebron James tweetedof the Miami Heat paying  tribute to Trayvon. In his honor, weall took photo's of ourselves in hoodies and made them our profile photoson facebook.

Even though wetook that step, I felt like I wanted to do more. As an aspiring 'street artist'I obviously wanted to communicate publicly about such a socially relevant topic,and of course wanted to get it out there as soon as possible. This is thepiece I created and I hope you feel as strongly about it as I do. Pleaseshare this story and this image with everyone you know. This type of behaviorshould never be tolerated and It makes me sick to think that this child had todie, repeat DIE as the result of ignorance, and whats worse is the tackless slanderingof his name, being used as a cheap tactic to prove this childsomehow was 'bad', indicating that murdering him is somehowjustifiable....  It's pathetic! My heart, thoughts and prayers go out tohis family. RIP Trayvon Martin.Justice will be served.

Photo #1 Boynton Beach Arts District.  ActivistArtistA 


Photo# 2 Linton Blvd,
Delray Beach

Phot o # 3 Closer look 

 Photo # 4 LeBron James tweeted this photo ofMiami Heat Honoringon Friday, March 23, 2012. (Twitter.com/KingJames)

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/23/2710098/lebron-james-miami-heat-players.html#storylink=cpy

Day of the Dead

'Day of the Dead' is the theme of my new print. You may ask, well...How did I get here? (obscure Talking Heads reference) Ok, anyway, this is a little glimpse into my thought process (this time around anyway) So first off, I saw that Joan Jett is playing Sunfest in West Palm Beach this year (Can I get a HELL YEAH) and she happens to be playing on Cinco de Mayo... Now again, for those who don't know, Cinco de Mayo is one of my favorite holidays and I make sure to celebrate it every year... The reason for this is, I used to work in a Mexican Restaurant (for a really long time) and of course, ever since that experience, I feel like I am Mexican at heart. Perfectly normal. Ok, moving on - so this got me thinking about other Mexican holidays, culture and traditions, which led to the 'Day of the Dead' holiday... After doing the research this is what I found out. Day of the Dead is celebrated around the world and in many cultures. The holiday focuses on family and friends gathering to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. The celebration takes place on November 1–2, in connection with the Catholic holidays of All Saints' Day & All Soul's Day. The bright colors used in the images all have unique meanings. I chose the colors based on what I found about those meanings. Orange represents the sun, while the reds represent the blood of life and green can mean creation on earth all around you. The more I searched, the more apparent it was to me that I had to create this artwork...
Since deciding to participate in The Delray Affair and setting the goals of all these new paintings/prints each week, my creative mind has expanded expediently and I now realize that creativity only comes & goes in cycles if that's the kind of limiting mindset I am in...
I realize that is a big statement, but fuck it! I'm up to big things....

My hope in writing about this is to share with you the beauty of celebration in this holiday and what it stands for. Below are a series of photo's of my screen printing process, I hope you dig it.

Photo #1 setting up the screen, vinyl cut on plotter,

taping off the rest of the screen so ink doesn't  leak through

Photo #2 lining up screen and locking into position for multiple prints 

Photo #3 & 4  Screen printed on canvas sheets,

hanging on the line drying.

 Photo #5 final piece -

"Day of the Dead" 11"x14" Acrylic on Canvas 

And don't forget to come up and support Joan at Sunfest....

http://lineup.sunfest.com/band/joan-jett-the-blackhearts 

Embrace Whatever May Come

My newest print idea came to me after watching the show 'Inkmaster' on Spike TV... (ok ok, I know it's kinda random, but  (A) Dave Navarro is the host of the show and c'mon people, he is just hot... and (B) a local tattooist and fellow artist, Lea Vendetta was on the show, so I wanted to check it out. I did and it got my creative wheels turning… So I wanted to use some sort of old school traditional tattoo images that, of course, has symbolism that would closely intertwine with my style of work. After some research I decided on using the Swallow. (I found a lot of different meanings, but these are what I liked the most). A swallow was traditionally tattooed on the chest of a sailor as a milestone for traveling 5000 nautical miles, a second swallow would represent crossing 10,000 miles or also, for sailing all 7 sea's.

There is also claim that a swallow would represent crossing the equator, as a second swallow would represent  safety in crossing it again on his journey home. There is also a really cool legend that says if a sailor drowns at sea, the bird will fly down and lift his soul to heaven. (And just as a last little side note), Marianne  Faithfull has a swallow tattoo on her hand and well, that's pretty rad... So after finding all of the meaning and symbolism of the swallow,  I knew I definitely had to go with it. I saw a ton of tattoos during the research and came across one with the phrase “Embrace Whatever May Come”. I instantly fell in love with the saying and decided to incorporate it with a scripty letter style, as well as adding some traditional flowers and vines to keep the tattoo vibe going. I’m really stoked at the way it came out and was excited about putting it on the blog.

This is a limited edition print (only 10 available) and will be on display and for sale at The Delray Affair, April 13-15th on Atlantic Ave, Delray Beach.

Below is a photo of a few of them drying on the line at the paint factory…

and alittle bonus Mariann Faithfull for ya :)

Metallica Featuring Marianne Faithfull "The Memory Remains"

Evoca1 @ KeroWACKED

My good friend EVOCA1 was one of the artist on deck to paint live at the KeroWACKED show this past Sunday and to no one's surprised, hit it out of the park! If you don't know who he is, I strongly recommend finding out!

Here is a little bit about him... EVOCA1 is a artist/activist with the agenda to merge art and humanity together. He started the 'Sketches for Mankind' project to raise awareness of local and world wide issues through his art, all while raising funds to aid the needs of the homeless community in Miami. He is the founder of 3rd Sunday for Hunger, and as the name states, He and an ever-growing number of his friends feed & clothe over 100 homeless men, women & children in various neighborhoods throughout Miami the 3rd Sunday of every month without fail. Again, EVOCA1 is one of the most talented and compassionate people I know..
Check out his website and blog for info on how to donate to 3rd Sunday for Hunger - www.evoca1.com & http://www.facebook.com/Evoca1  - and check out the photo's from the KeroWACKED show below...

photo's taken by Jammal Clark •  http://visualistdesign.com