Sneak Peak

Friends, tonight is the night! Come check out the AS IS Sneak Peak + the Young Rapids album release show at The Dunes! Doors open at 8 PM for the Sneak Peak. Music, live painting and light projections start at 9 PM. Can't wait to see you there!

Friday, August 31st

8 PM

1402 Meridian Place 

(second floor venue)

NW, DC 20010

The portrait of this Georgetown resident measure roughly four by five feet.

Thank you to Shaun Courtney of the Georgetown Patch for the lovely article! You can read her story about AS IS by clicking the link below:

http://georgetown.patch.com/articles/impromptu-oil-portrait-project-features-georgetown-woman

I hope that this woman finds her portrait and that it brightens her day a bit!

Confirming suspicions that DC is in fact a small town, I have already received several e-mail from folks who either know or recognize the subject. Keep them coming! If you like, when the portraits are installed on the streets I will start posting your notes, stories and photos here for everyone to see.

What Is This?

My favorite public/street art projects are ones that are not over-explained. They delight you with their simplicity. That being said, I want AS IS to be a project that people can contribute to if they so chose. 

SO! I've decided to leave these little bins next to each portrait that I install on the streets of DC. Inside are cards explaining what the project is all about and how people can participate.

 

The cards look like this.

And when you open them up...

...they look like this.

AS IS is about sharing the gift of notice, so I thought it would be cool to create a community (albeit on-line) around the project. The idea is to give folks a (virtual) place to check out where all the portraits have been found in the city, a place to give shout-outs when one is spotted, and a place for those who have found their own portraits to share any reactions or thoughts.

  What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea? Think the paintings should speak for themselves, or do you think that offering a place to share is a good idea? I'd love to have your honest thoughts.

Happy Monday, Friends! Have you had a wonderful summer? I hope so. 

Mine finished on a high note with the completion of my eighth large-scale urban portrait! I am spending this week prepping for the Sneak Peak of my project, AS IS. The paintings hit the streets October 1st, but the Sneak Peak will be a way to share what I've been working on before the portraits are gone for good.

A few people have asked me about the possibility of the portraits being stolen and how I feel about it. Well, this project really grew out of my desire to give back. I do hope that the portraits brighten peoples' day. In a perfect world, every person that I have painted would find his or her portrait and be thrilled to have it. In reality though, some of the paintings will probably be taken by the wrong people, rained on or thrown away...and that's OK. Really. AS IS is my attempt to reach beyond the commodification of art, to give my talent and time away as a gift. I am trying to let go of the painting as this precious object that took me a month and loads of cash to make, and to just give notice without worry about the end result.

Photo via HFA

Last week at the Corcoran! Had a blast painting along side Jay Coleman at the Habitat For Artist Studios on 17th Street.

Visit Me at "My" Studio!

I hope that you had a perfect end-of-summer weekend, Friends! Habitat for Artists, the public art project sponsoring the creation of my eight urban portrait, will be coming to a close this Saturday, August 25th. 

It has been a blessing in many ways to have had the support of the project behind me, and it has influenced my creative process in unexpected ways. Usually my reference material for the AS IS portraits consists of the few photographs and maybe a quick sketch that I made when I introduced myself. Setting up my easel at the Corcoran and at the THEARC to paint rapid, loose sketches of passersby has allowed me to get to know a potential subject for the next big portrait in such a different way!

Want to see who I chose for the eight AS IS portrait? Stop by the Corcoran to find out!

I'll be painting in one of the studios out front Tuesday-Friday this week.

picture courtesy of the HFA blog

Meet Fitz

Fitz wandered past me at THEARC one day as I was packing up to go. I mentioned that I would be back the next morning about ten o'clock. When I arrived the next day, he was waiting to have his portrait painted in a crisp white shirt with his saxophone case in hand. 

Fitz is a musician in a military band and thinks that it is the best job in the word. He composes jazz songs with names like "People Makes the World" and "Springtime Bring the Rain. " He is starting a program that brings music to youth. 

It was so pleasant talking to you, Fitz. Thank you for the conversation and the gift of your songs!

(This portrait sketch is one of a series of quick little oil paintings that I have been making in preparation for the eighth large portrait in my project AS IS. You can learn more about the project by clicking here.)

Please join me for a sneak peak of my urban portrait project, AS IS, before the paintings hit the streets October 1st! Come see the portraits during their only showing, and stay for the album release concert and live painting of the amazing Young Rapids!

Friday, August 31st

8PM

The Dunes

1402 Meridian Place, NW

Washington, DC 20010

*AS IS images credit of Katarina Price Photography

Meet Don

Don makes his living servicing heating and air conditioning units, but he is really a photographer at heart. He shows me his new camera. It is the most recent in a long line of cameras and coin collections that have been stolen from his house over the years, and he hopes that this one won't share the same fate. He blames the crack epidemic of the '80s and the resulting prescription drug abuses today for the rash of thefts.

Originally Don's brother was going to sit for his portrait, but then Don slipped into his seat when he stepped inside for a minute. His brother stands behind me when he returns, joking and giving his brother grief for everything under the sun. The brother used to be a security guard at a DC art gallery, but was fired for answering honestly when one of the patrons asked him his opinion of a certain artist's work. Now he plays his sax for passersby.

Thanks for stopping and helping me pass the hot morning in company, Don!

(This portrait sketch is one of a series of quick little oil paintings that I have been making in preparation for the eighth large portrait in my project AS IS. You can learn more about the project by clicking here.)