2012: The Year in Review at DREGstudios!

Zombie Self Portrait (inks on bristol / 2012)

This year was a whirlwind of wild creativity for me.  My career as an artist is both a triumph and a tragedy- a catch-22 within itself.  By not relying on my works of art to generate a living wage, I have complete freedom with my content.  On the other hand, I'm still striving to turn an annual profit which I've yet to do since declaring myself the artist I wanted to be seven long years ago.  I try not to make a big deal about it and accept my role as a vessel for the universal creative spirit. I spend more money than I make just to fuel my compulsion to create (and it's worth every red cent.)  Of course dear viewer, all of your constant encouragement also greases the wheels so thank you again and again!  Check out the highlights of the past year here at DREGstudios...

Top 10 Comments of 2012 on DREGstudios.com!

“People can tell you to keep your mouth shut, but that doesn't stop you from having your own opinion.”

 -Anne Frank

I take delight in folks voicing their opinions here on my site.  Whether slander or praise, blind acceptance or nitpickery, we take all comers.  Here are the Top 10 Rants and Raves visitors have posted here on DREGstudios! in 2012...

“The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.”

-William Blake

Shoot 'Em Up [Hanging on a dOOdle and a Prayer]

Red & Blue Pen on Sticky Note / 2012

Guns have been glamorized since the inception of our country and Johnny came marching.  The enchantment of the firearm was intensified by folklore of the Old West where law and outlaw, hero and anti-hero alike served as endorsers of the pistol and shotgun.  We don't need to reform gun laws in the United States, we need to reform our minds where murder is glamorous and I'm as guilty as anyone...

Click HERE for ALL the dOOdles!

The MERRIMENT of Christmas!

My brand-spanking new MUNNY to paint (which came with an assortment of toys including a TV and a Banana!  This was one of the coolest gifts I got this year, courtesy of my Ultimate Art Wife!  (Click HERE to see what I got LAST year!)

 In turn, I wanted to give my wife some unique gifts this year, which included Mikey the Motherfuckin' Monkey!

And So This is Christmas...

Click HERE to see one Turkey's Revenge on Christmas!

The SUN Also RISES (at APSU)

  Today some post-apocalyptic painting took place involving myself, Charles Bennett and Jesse Shaw here in Clarksville at APSU.  School is out for Christmas and we've been fortunate enough to have their art building pretty much to ourselves these past two Sundays.  Click HERE if you missed out on WAR and PEACE which we painted last week!  As per our usual routine, we filmed the entire process so keep your third eye peeled later in the week for yet another time lapse journey where you can see hours of painting in minutes!

For now, you can see all fashions of LIVE PAINTING on the DREGstudios! YouTube Page!

Click HERE for the Southern Pop Surrealism FEED!

sunSPOT

Doodle December continues...

Actual Size: 3in x 3in [red ink on cardboard]

CLICK here for the whole DoodLAGE!

WAR and PEACE [LIVE at APSU]

Click HERE for MUCH MORE Southern Pop Surrealism!

Click HERE and SUBSCRIBE to the DREGstudios! YouTube Page!

GAWKER dOOdle (Lightning in a Bottle)

Gawker dOOdle (Pen and Highlighter on Cardboard)

"Did ya find a directing sign 

On the straight and narrow highway? 

Would you mind a reflecting sign 

Just let it shine, within your mind 

And show you the colours that are real.  

Someone is waitin' just for you 

Spinnin' wheel spinnin' to 

Drop all your troubles by the river side 

Catch a painted pony 

On the spinnin' wheel ride...HUH!"

-Blood, Sweat & Tears, Painted Pony

Click HERE for MORE TOPSY-TURVY

Click HERE for ALL the dOOdles!

STICKY STICKY BAD ART

I took a quick nod to all which is POP in PhotoShop tonight when I scanned a doodle off my desk...

Digital Arrangement of my Bad Sticky Note Art

Bad Sticky Note Art (Red Sharpie, Highlighter, White Out and Blue Pen on Sticky Note / 2012)

Click HERE for ALL of the terrible DooDLES!

WAR & PEACE at APSU

Today we did a little something different for our Southern Pop Surrealism Sunday as Jesse Shaw invited Charles Bennett and myself to visit Austin Peay State University where he teaches printmaking and illustration locally.  As per our usual process, we started the day out laying down some spray-painted backgrounds outside of the Art Department.  We moved operations indoors to the illustration studio and filmed our painting session, which I'll be working to create a new time lapse video of this coming week.  (Click HERE to see some of our previous work in video form at the DREGstudios! YouTube Page!)  Here are some pictures of what turned into delightfully surreal WAR & PEACE...

ZOMBIE BABY STEPS...

...toward the ZOMBIE WALK of FAME book...

dAndy dUnce dOOdle

“How much a dunce that has been sent to roam, excels a dunce that has been kept at home.”

-William Cowper

Click HERE for ALL the DOODLES!

DOODLE CROWNED KING

Red Felt Pen on Cardboard / 2012

“There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands.” 

-Plato

"We are either kings or pawns of men."

-Napoleon Bonaparte

Click HERE for MORE in the DOODLE ARCHIVE

TOPSY-TURVY X-MAS Cards have LANDED

TOPSY-TURVY: Psycho Santa 2012 Christmas Cards

~ I'm compelled to give the folks at GOT PRINT a plug for an unbelievable turnaround time of less than a week this close to Christmas! ~

Click HERE for MORE TOPSY-TURVY!

Third Eye ACTIVATE!

"The concept that there is part of you that transcends your ordinary conscious mind may seem questionable; but scientific evidence suggests we do indeed have access to a source of unlimited intelligence we can tap into through our own super-conscious mind and an open third eye."

-Dr. Jill Ammon-Wexler

Third Eye Doodle

Click HERE for MORE about The Third Eye and the Role it Plays in My ART!

Click HERE for the Doodle Archive!

Actual Size

Meme for THE CAUSE

CLICK HERE for my Portrait of Willy Nelson as Uncle Sam for the TEAPOT PARTY!

FIREFIREFIREFIREFIREFIREFIREFIREFIR

What sets YOU on fire?

"The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled."

-Plutarch (Circa 1st Century)

Click HERE for MORE Doodles

"The spread of civilization may be likened to a fire; first, a feeble spark, next a flickering flame, then a mighty blaze, ever increasing in speed and power."  

-Nikola Tesla




"Fire is the most tolerable third party. " 
-Henry David Thoreau

Rock Star Martyr ENCORE [Line Work]

A few weeks back, I gave you a preview of the final 12 portraits I'm working on for the Rock Star Martyr project.  Last January, author Joseph Allen and myself embarked on a macabre journey to confront the deaths of all the dearly departed Gods of Rock.  Next year, we'll have a book full of prose and art immortalizing over 30 icons from the music industry who left our world all too soon.  I have all of my line work finished up amidst the holiday madness and am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for our epic series.  Here's a few more final previews of what is to come...

Click HERE for the OFFICIAL ROCK STAR MARTYR WEBSITE!

Elliott Smith

Click HERE for MORE ROCK STAR MARTYR PORTRAITS! 

Keith Moon (Drummer for The Who)

 Click HERE for a STREAM of ROCK STAR MARTYR related POSTS here on DREGstudios.com!

Notorious BIG

PSYCHO SANTA is Coming to Town!

I sat down to illustrate my 2012 DREGstudios! Christmas Card this week and ended up whirling about a Topsy-Turvy design from what started as jussssst a Psycho Santa!  I'll be finishing him up for a brand-spanking-new card which will be send out to my mailing list of collectors, friends and loved ones.  If you want on my List, send your snail mail address to dregstudios@gmail.com.  Once you're on my X-mas list, you're always on BUT if you've MOVED since last year and need to update your address with me, drop a line also because Return to Sender Custom Christmas Cards make Baby Jesus sad.  Here's the progress on this year's swag...

"Topsy-Turvy: Psycho Santa"

  Click HERE for more on my TOPSY-TURVY series!