2012 the year of the Painted Dragon

This photo has nothing to do with anything other than it was a beautiful picture I am inspired by

For the remainder of the year I'm going to be looking back via blog at what an extraordinary year it was for me. It was Year of the Dragon and even from the get go I staked my claim on it as MY YEAR and from the very start this year delivered. I started January with a steady gig at a mural company where I was making money doing what I love- painting!

My first mural for DB Green Murals

I painted quite a few large scale murals that can be seen by Cedars Station

This lasted a good 5 months, money was great, place I worked for was great...it is what I look back on as the "high life times". It was all eat, drink and be merry...fun work and I was able to catch up on things I couldn't afford. Just as the job neared it's end an abcessed tooth caused me some dental procedures and a big bite of my saved up money was handed over to Mr. Dentist. OOF! Blow!

Then I was back out on my own wondering what I would do next to survive, luckily I still had my tiny graphic design gig. I create one cover and write one feature for this paper every month. It's a small chunk of change that takes care of a few bills. I decided now I was back to being my own boss I had better produce some art and what flowed out of me this year was pure magic. You see I had really built my chops up working for mural companies the past two years, tight lines, stamina to stand for a long time painting, new techniques and lots of new brushes I had to buy for work. Nothing was going to waste.

To keep motivated with my personal art I entered it into open calls, competitions and had a few gallery shows. I stepped out of my comfort zone and was part of a group collaborative show called Project  7 x 7 and I created 7 paintings with 6 other artists to be auctioned off at the event. So first show of the year was at RISING GALLERY. I then entered my work in a juried art competition called "Hecho En Dallas" and got not one piece accepted but 2! This was at LATINO CULTURAL CENTER and I didn't know it when I entered but it was juried by Peter Doroshenko of the Contemporary, Dr. Robert Tejada from SMU and Maria Teresa Pedroche from Dallas Museum of Art. I was pretty psyched my work was chosen and the show was easily the best I've been in all year, complete with a full color printed catalog. WIN!

I also painted 3 tiny little 3 inch by 3 inch canvases for the 3 x 3 show at EVOL society- met a whole crew of new artists and people. One of which was the very nice Cohn Drennan and his lovely wife Cathy, they gave me such wonderful advice for my art career and have been very supportive. Turns out my work had been seen by them at Latino Cultural Center and was well received. Now I want you to pay attention to all this because it's important to see how the tiniest threads weave the bigger picture.

Aside from all the new personal art I was creating I had to pay the rent and bills so it was RECORD PAINTING mania on the side. I don't know how many records I painted. I also started painting pet portraits and people portraits and started getting my chops up on that- this is how I have been surviving all year. PAINTING anything and everything that was asked of me. I was asked to be part of a David Bowie art show at Wine Therapist and decided on records for my format, I didn't know I was about to create something awesome. A record light!

I'm always trying to challenge myself. I figured I had painted quite enough records to know what I was doing and it was time to make things rough on myself and next level it. This went over very well at the Wine Therapist, sold the light and almost all my Bowie pieces in fact all my work was so well received... they asked me to do a SOLO show there. So I got into the studio and CRANKED every day on a Wine themed record series.

I did a good handful of these and still had a lot of space to fill at Wine Therapist, I decided to hang my personal paintings there. They were just sitting in my studio after all. I was a little cautious because some people said I should only show these in galleries and not a "bar". But I'm kinda a punk rocker at heart and don't care for what SHOULD BE done and stupid art rules. So I showed them there and lo and behold at the very end of the night right before I was about to leave...

This painting sold. For full price! And not only did it sell but almost all my records and small works were bought that night and I ended up making almost a grand in one evening. I was on cloud nine. And to think I almost didn't show my paintings at a "bar".

It gets better.  This painting was entered into a competition with a cash prize. I was thrilled to be asked to participate in the Latino Arts Fest in Bishop Arts District and even more thrilled to learn my little bat had been accepted in the juried competition and even MORE excited when...

I took home second place, a whopping $500 for the bat painting that already sold!

I was a little apprehensive about participating at first because I wasn't sure I qualified since I was asked to create a piece for the event. That in itself was a challenge. So I had mastered the record light and now I needed to create something amazing for the festival- something that had me written all over it. I decided to finally make something that had been floating around in my mind for awhile.

A vinyl record totem! I next leveled it and have never seen anything like this done.

Steve Cruz from Mighty Fine Arts who had asked me to create something for the event and participate -then asked me to put my work at Kessler. (Do you see how one thing is an opportunity for another is an opportunity for another?) It keeps going....

I was asked to be part of the CITY ARTS CAL catalog by the lovely Andrea Davis, my work was to be shot at a place called Orisons in McKinney Tx. Seemed like a long way to drive but I needed that particular piece shot professionally anyway, it was my Doodle Bug painting. Ponied up and made the drive and a short while after dropping off the piece I got a call from Orisons- they loved my work- would I please be in their Fall Gallery Walk? YES! Through Andrea Davis I was able to have my work shown at Orisons, featured in City Arts Cal calendar (beautiful, full color print!) and be in a Gallery at Midtown show. My work was hardly ever home all year-  it was in venues and galleries and constantly being asked for. I was on cloud nine. The fellow who collected my bat, collected another painting and another painting...he was officially a collector and by now a dear friend.

In the midst of all this I had remembered a vow I made this year. FIND A GALLERY. So once I had enough work that was professionally shot and I was proud of I sent emails to a handful of galleries to see if there was some interest. I was amazed to be contacted back by two! One was Cohn Drennan who pointed me in the direction of submitting my work to the 3 x 3 show and one was WAAS gallery who asked me to bring my work in for a look see! It was fuzzy vibes at first sight and the lovely owner Brandy Adams immediately took to my work. So much so that she bought that piece above "The World of Traceable Ghosts" but not before she didn't display it at NEIGHBORHOOD who in turn really loved my work and asked me to put more there. So that brings us back here to where you already know the rest of the story...my work is at Neighborhood and The Kessler, I'm in talks with WAAS gallery for a fabulous show in 2013. I've survived another year ON MY TERMS and doing what I LOVE! PAINTING! My new works are well received and loved and getting bought at a speedy rate. I hit a bump at the end of the year with my health which reminded me of the dentist snafu and my biggest weakness- saying yes to everyone else before taking care of myself. So I go into 2013 with the resolve that it's me and my health first and everything else will fall into place afterward.

But I hope this blog showed you a couple things that are very important when setting out on your own. YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT AN OPPORTUNITY WILL BRING YOU. If I had said No to doing the Bowie show at Wine Therapist I wouldn't have made the connection there with the venue to do my own show and had I thought I was too good to show at a "bar" I wouldnt have met a NEW COLLECTOR of mine. Things happen like dominoes, one decision is connected to the outcome of the next event. If you walk around with closed hands not embracing opportunities because you think they are beneath you or you don't want to invest the time in them and see what happens then you will come away with exactly what you started with...closed hands. Nothing in them.

If you approach things with open hands then you are able to catch any number of things that fall into them. Sometimes you just catch a lesson. Sometimes you catch good and magical things. Which is exactly what I caught this year. Lessons AND good and magical things, and they are both equally important. 

It was the year of doing things I didn't think I could do. Like running a 5k with bronchitis and NO TRAINING! JUST DO IT! 

2012 you were an amazing year, you took some friends from me, you gave me more friends, you took me to the top of mountains and threw me down. You tested my spirit and creativity but in the end made me a stronger person. I painted more this year than I have ever painted at any time in my life EVER. And I survived you with my PAINTBRUSH!!!