2013: The Year in Review at DREGstudios!

The past year brought me to lay eyes upon more than one milestone in my life.  The last three years have certainly been the most productive creatively and personally as I ride the waves of life out with you folks.  I've said more than once this week there is no need for new beginnings in 2014 because the path I've walked as of late is on a tremendous trajectory!  If you like what you've seen out of me, be ready for the same because there are BiG things coming for my art over the next twelve months!  As always, thank you very much for stopping by and I'll be looking forward to your eyes this year! Happy New Year!

Here are some of the highlights from my work here in 2013 at DREGstudios...


JANUARY kicked off the year with a Grand ReOpening exhibit at No Egrets Tattoo (showcasing local art in a newly renovated space.)  I also submitted a TOPSY-TURVY book to The Sketchbook Project which went on a nation-wide tour before finding it's permanent home in the Brooklyn Art Library!



FEBRUARY marked a massive land-mark for my wife Aurora and I as we purchased our first house together and have since made it our cozy home.  In the midst of remodeling our house, I did find time to get some work sent to Detroit for the annual Dirty Show!

The New Office

MARCH was a month of transitioning into our new home and still working full-time after an intense remodel.  I have to admit is was the first real break I've taken from making any serious art in years by laying low for a couple of months to realign my chi! We did however throw one helluva house warming party (click for pics) and if you dig through the dOOdle archive, you'll see I can't keep my hands idle even when "taking a break."

Yours truly making an infinity sign with a shovel full of coals courtesy of Ashley Fly's photography at our Housewarming Party.
Click HERE to let Dirty Twin teach you Step-By-Step How to Make a Rocket Barrel!

APRIL I started getting back into the swing of things creatively by hosting an Exquisite Corpses Party at the house and doing a really wicked collaborative painting, Monster in My Garden with the Wolfman!  It's so valuable to have creative friends I can work with to get the juices flowing!

Acrylics and Spray Paint on Wood (with Wolfman Bennett)
Click HERE to WATCH a TIME LAPSE VIDEO of the ENTIRE PAINTING!!!

MAY gave us some sunshine and really got the wheels turning this year.  Aurora and I had a lot of fun this summer but one of the highlights was our first Pig Roast (click HERE for a slew of sick pics!)  For Memorial Day I created a Purple Heart for Peace which was one of the first serious illustrations I did to get myself back at the drawing table again.  I was also involved in a three-man exhibit called Little Deaths, where the Woflman and myself threw down another epic live painting session which you can watch HERE!



JUNE brought another milestone this year with my illustration being used as the cover art for a novella called Fat Trapped which was published over the Summer.  Aside from working on my drawing projects, I hosted the first painting session at our new house, which evolved into Purple Reign (click HERE for the VIDEO!)

Acrylic and Spray Paint on Wood (with Wolfman Bennett and Jesse Shaw)
Click HERE to look at some process pictures!

JULY was a busy month and I spent some time helping out other artists with projects.  Click HERE to see a video I created for my friend Miranda Herrick of her illustration process!  Aurora got some pretty cool pics I shared of Rednecks Playing with Fireworks at our 4th of July party.  We had a mid-summer Yart Sale at Chad Spann's house where we massacred watermelon and melted in the sun.  I also started a new series of paintings for SOLUBLE FISH which was coming up in the Fall.

"Frizzle Fried Green Tomato" Inks on Bristol / 2013

AUGUST Aurora and I had a sweet Anniversary hovering in the mountains of Gatlinburg (click HERE for LOVE in the CLOUDS to see the pictures.)  Later that month our own home state of Tennessee hosted Traditional Marriage Day where we posed the question, "What is Traditional?" since interracial marriage is still technically illegal in our home state.  Aside from the topic of love, August also had Blue Moons, a commissioned portrait of a wire sculpture and new art for East Nashville's Annual Tomato Art Fest!

"The Fruits of Labor" inks on bristol / 2013

SEPTEMBER just before our vacation to Maryland, I shared some new art for Labor Day called The Fruits of Labor.  The following week I was blessed with a flood of inspiration from our whirlwind trip which included the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The National Gallery in Washington DC and the Baltimore Museum of Art.  I saw a three story tank full of sharks at The National Aquarium and saw horses running wild on the beaches of Assateague Island. Click HERE to watch the sun rise with us over Ocean City, which we visited to start our trip.  Click HERE for Postcards from Skyline Drive where we crisscrossed the Blue Ridge Mountains on our way home!  Oh, and I got a card from Alex Grey a couple of weeks later... I can easily say it was the best birthday ever courtesy of my sister Becca and my main man Paul!  Thanks guys!


OCTOBER began with a very rewarding experience at my solo exhibit Soluble Fish hosted by Space Gallery in Nashville!  This was the first solo outing for me to exclusively showcase just paintings (no markers allowed!)  I love the First Saturday Art Walk crowd- massive waves of folks got to see my paintings and I got an incredible amount of positive feedback about my work. Click HERE to see pictures from the opening reception!  I am certainly encouraged to pick up the paint brush more now!  Of course, Halloween is the highlight of every October- click HERE to see the pumpkin I carved this year!

"500" doodle marking my 500th blog post on 11/19/2013

NOVEMBER was a particularly productive month. Blackbird Tattoo hosted an exhibit entitled Haunted Nashville where I drew Nashville Under Siege from a wave of some fan-favorite sci-fi monsters!  This was probably the most intricate illustration I've made to date and am very proud of it which by all accounts seemed to be a show-stopper!  I hosted another Exquisite Corpses party early in the month- click HERE to see all the collaborative drawings with myself, Wolfman Bennett, Miranda Herrick and Nathan Parker!  Untitled Nashville had a bitter-sweet ending to their 20 plus year run with their final exhibit called Undone.  I displayed my crowd-pleasing Vagina Beard Chart for a night of mad fun with my cohort in art crashing, Chad Spann.  Later in the month, November 22nd marked the 50th anniversary of the assassination of JFK which I commemorated with a portrait. 

With Jesse Shaw and Wolfman Bennett at Southen Pop Surrealism INTERACTIVE!

DECEMBER proved their is no pinnacle to creative achievement.  After all the major accomplishments of this jam-packed year, our Southern Pop Surrealism exhibit really pushed the envelope of collaborative artistic vision.  The past two years, I've been sharing with you process pictures pictures and videos of the collaborative paintings I've done with Wolfman Bennett and Jesse Shaw.  All of this came full circle with an Interactive Exhibit where we displayed these works and incorporated the videos via QR codes on the titleblocks of each painting.  Not only could our audience see the paintings first hand, but also watch us painting them on the wireless devices!  Speaking on pinnacles and achievements, the end of the year also saw the passing of Nelson Mandela, who I commemorated with a new portrait.

Happy New Year- Visualize and Realize in 2014!!!

Click HERE for 2012: The Year in Review at DREGstudios!

Click HERE for 2011: The Year in Review at DREGstudios!