The Country Cow, NH and living homeless

So here I am. Made it to New Hampshire. I found a job within two days. Not too bad. Working as a line cook at the Country Cow. Not my preferred employment, but at least it's employment. Better pay rate than driving the beer van though. But "a man and his fry pan" doesn't sound nearly as cool as "a man and his beer van".

Anyway I am at Beth's parents house, no scanner, so I guess I'll be putting up some old stuff for the time being. Although I do have one new piece that has been color corrected, so everyone can check out Michael Boston's new piece:


I do have a lot of new work that is going on in my sketchbook and my journal, however, so when I do have a scanner and my internet connection set up at my new place, I will have a whole bunch of stuff to put up. Until then, be well. And if you are in Seattle, run to Latona and buy up the rest of the paintings there so I don't have to have them sent to NH.

Peace

Friends....

It's funny when you decide to move. Funny peculiar not funny haha at all. you find yourself talking to people and realize that you are completely on the same page, and for some reason when you have just a little bit of time left to hang out, you find yourself paying even more attention to a person than you were before.

So here is something that my buddy Paul and I were talking about tonight. American society. The leaders are no longer the people that lead a group necessarily but the people that think for themselves, and don't let precedent or television or the internet tell them what to do....
I'll miss you Paul, as unmanly as it may sound.

Getting Ready to Move and hanging in there...

I've been getting really into smoke coming out of machinery. I really want to do a series of machines with different smoke pouring out all of them, but the more I start with construction equipment and smoke the more I keep adding things; super pleasant things like leveled forests and whatnot...

The only thing that I really don't like about this series idea is the tendency to put the machinery in the lower left and right corners. Perhaps I will start to push myself to put the machinery in the upper left and right. Who knows what I will become obsessed with really. Composition is something that kind of runs in cycles with me. I'll do one thing with a bunch of different imagery and then I will look at it all and it will kind of fit a pattern.

I also had this idea for a Dia De los Muertos skull coming out in the smoke. My grandfather was a grater operator, and I guess that is what I always think of when I think of him. So when I was asked to do a DDLM piece, it kind of seemed fitting.


So here's one of the pieces that I have up at Latona now. I'm pretty excited about it. It's about five feet high, and I cut the stereos out in about two hours one night when I was totally exhausted and probably hallucinating. The birds I was awake for.
Here's an idea for a poem that my friend Mattie was working on. He mentions the sky with a tear. I started to think about it as a tear like in fabric despite the fact that I knew very well that he meant the watery kind of tear.

Slowly but Surely

A couple things to post today. I hope everybody loves Telly Savalas as much as I do. How can you dislike Kojak?


Originally I told my uncle that it would take me two weeks to finish two small paintings for him. Here it is two months later and I just finished the first. The second is nearly done as well. Almost. Only a month and a half tardy. I feel like deadlines were a lot easier to meet when I was still in school. Must be all of the stoner music I listen to.....

Does anyone remember that Tim O'brien cover art for Time, that had Dick Cheney on the cover, with the top half of his head cut off and a bunch of gears inside. I want to do a piece like that that actually exposes Vice president Cheney's brains. Amidst all of the folds I want to paint a bunch of these little tank heads though. It's loosely based on a cross between Kelly Savalas' character in Kelly's Heroes and the Cloud Constructors.

think...
and
Someone give that man a lollipop!
That one is for you dad.

until next time....

Latona, the art sale, and the glorious bucky sinister

So I just hung a little show at Latona, a bar on 65th and Latona. It actually looks pretty good. I was worried. There are so many holes in the walls there, but I covered up enough of them that I think it looks pretty good.

Everything there is priced really well, so hop on in and get it while the prices are hot!

My friend Jill already has dibs on this one, but I completed it just in time to put it up at Latona. I was very pleased with it. Notice that the birds actually look 3d.

I think this might be the first time that I have ever done a piece with just one t.v. in it. At least one t.v. without anything being done to it that is.

And this last image I came up with while thinking about a new poetry book I got yesterday. Bucky Sinister's "Whiskey and Robots".

"...I've seen angels
in public toilets
tying off with their own halos..."

Big Art Sale, Moving, and the Smoke Series

So, this thursday for first thursday I intend to be in Occidental Park selling my paintings for an incredibly reduced rate. I'll be there starting at like five thirty and going until it starts to get dark. Everything would be a deal at twice the price except the snake oil.

Anyway here are a couple of examples of the pieces I will have there.

This piece is titled "Rockem' Sockem' " after the game that prompted so many after it, like hungry hungry hippos and trouble. Actually I have no idea about trouble. The pop-o-matic bubble may very well have been it's own brainchild.

This one is called "Brighter than the Others". This may be the happiest I have ever been with my colors. Hope you like it too.

"The Wind Machine" was part of the Cloud Constructors series. I always kind of envisioned this rock forming out of the middle of the ocean off the coast of Florida, with the machine on top directing all of the hurricanes that run through Florida.



So I am also planning out a series paying incredible attention to the smoke pouring out of smoke stacks. I figure this is a good thing to be thinking about with a huge move across the country coming up again. Only thing you can think of in Gary, Indiana.

Anyway, anyone who is looking for some original work, get in touch with me. It is all incredibly reduced for the next month, and I would rather not have to move any of it with me.

peace

mike@lewisacrylics.com

August

So if you didn't know me, you'd probably think that I've been being totally lazy this whole month, and perhaps that wouldn't be completely out of line. I've been fishing as much as I can make it, and I've been going to a lot of coffee shops lately, but believe it or not I've just been in the thinking process on a couple big projects.

First off I am working on a project with my bro Mattie from San Fran. Once it has been more completed, I will fill you in more. Suffice it to say for now that it is poetry and painting marrying and having a tumultuous relationship.

Second I've been working on a label for a new type of beer that Baron Brewing Company is putting out in November.


Third I've been working on a book cover for the Microscopic Giant a zine that will be coming out shortly. When I am finished with the cover I will throw it up here.

Fourth I finished a painting for a show at the Hive in California in the month of September.

And here's a random sketch for a character in the Naked Lunch.

Let me know what you think.

Until then.

During my visit home...

I learned that one of my dad's very good friends has been very ill. It is rough knowing that people that you remember being so healthy and energetic, are now for lack of better words, old. Every time I go home to see my parents, I can see a difference. But apparently, "the pirate", the nickname we use for my dad's friend, is really not doing so well. so this drawing is what I came up with while thinking about "the pirate".

Hope you feel better soon, Dave.

Who Wants to Skip work and go fishing?

So last night was a pretty productive night. I worked two paintings from the beginning to halfway. I also went to fred meyer and got fishing lures. (Mepp's Anglias) It's going to be a good night tonight. I am going fishing as soon as I finish work. If you need me I will be on the pier at Golden Gardens.

But I suppose if people come here, they are not looking for my news on fishing, though if I catch something you can bet there will be a picture of it up here. In the meantime, here are a couple more pieces for your viewing pleasure.

The television ideas have been coming to me again. In fact I think for one I am going to do a bunch of pieces that are just single tvs, so that everyone can by a new tv for their house. I feel like everyone always wants a new tv, and I assure you all of my tvs allow you to view in HD.

Hopefully this doesn't happen for a while, but you can't deny that someday it will, and the only people happy about it will be trekkies.

lata

My New York Trip

So I went home, got to draw in my sketch book a whole bunch, picked up a book of Tu Fu's poetry, a bunch of fly fishing books and a Remington Country belt buckle. My parents were doing well and I even saw a couple of my aunts.

Some big changes were going on at home. On Tug Hill there are now several hundred windmills that look super ugly. Well other than that there weren't really any big changes, but that was pretty big. I'm also attempting to get a piece into a show in Sacket's Harbor now. If my piece gets in I will be tickled pink, seeing that Sackett's is where all the artists that seem to do paintings of mallards their entire career seem to make all of their money. We'll see.

But for now I've got a couple sketchbook pages and the painting that I am sending into that show....

So this is what the windmills look like on Tug Hill. I was shocked to see them when I was riding home. Tug Hill was always just picturesque farm fields and whatnot.

I had animal crackers in the Airport. It struck me funny that none of the animals really looked like what they were supposed to be. I remember them being more accurate. Shame on Barnum's and Bailey's.

I was having a cup of coffee before I left on Wednesday, and this girl was in there talking about pea soup. She wanted to leave Seattle because everything reminds her of pea soup. I want to leave Seattle because of people that compare it to pea soup.


This is a small painting that I am sending into Sacket's Harbor. You may remember the sketch. The painting is a response to a Jack Kerouac haiku.

Dusk-the bird
on the fence,
a contemporary of mine

Hope everyone's day goes well. I on the other hand am late. peace.

I am Flying Home Tonight!

I don't have to deliver beer for four whole days. That is awesome! I also get to reflect on life for a while as I fly. Flying puts me more at peace than pretty much anything on earth. I always think of good ideas while flying. Or, at least I think of ways to link together things that I have been working on previously, so as to come to a larger overall understanding of what I am doing.

I have two drawings and a quick painting for you today. ( for some reason I just felt like I was speaking like Mr. Rogers in my head there. Everybody lets change into our indoor shoes and come along with me to the land of make believe. Now I know I need that vacation. )

So this is another journal entry. As you can see, I've pretty much started thinking of myself as Bruce Banner turning into the incredible hulk while delivering kegs. although I am really more akin to the "incredible bulk" or perhaps even the "incredible sulk".

What if robots were tiny? Jonathan Swift would have a field day. And I wouldn't have to clean out my own ear wax. O.k., that is disgusting, and on that note, I'm going on vacation.

Grad School or no Grad School

If I can just get organized....Applying to grad school is all of the same preparation as applying to galleries. If a school would accept me, wouldn't a gallery. I'm stuck in the middle again.

Fly fishing this summer has definitely led me to work on some fish pieces. I'm thinking an entire maze of mines that fish outfitted like world war two vets have created, while fishermen outside of the water look completely clueless.....Let me know what you think.

Very soon I will be back in New Hampshire, and when that happens the full winter walking series will be coming out. I think it will be really cool. The figures are pretty much going to lose some of their shape, because of the huddle effect. It's almost like walking in the winter in New England is like running into the Blob face to face over and over again......

Long live snow suits.

Does anyone want to write me an artist's statement?!

So I spent the night working on an artist's statement that should have technically been done approximately a year and a half ago, but this is generally the speed that I end up working. In other news camping proved fruitless this weekend, and I didn't get to go fishing either, but I did a couple cool sketches down.....

I've already started a painting of this one. It's going pretty well, though I don't think I am going to include the text in the painting.

This second one is actually two separate journal entries. They are both supposed to be visual poems in their own right, though I am more pleased with the completion of the first. It's simple like a haiku. (and that was a joke!)

and one more picture today......

This is beth looking good on the Astoria trip last weekend. That bluff was super cool too. Beth is standing about four hundred feet above a little cave that went into the rock ledge that was filled with water. You know that's going to be incorporated into a piece later.

Just a Couple Ramblings from my Journal

Last night I watched Finding Neverland. I found it especially interesting for JM Barrie's wife to be reading his journal. It made me think a little bit about how detached you can so easily become from the people around you, and how little they really know about what you are thinking by what you write in your journal. Most of what I write are notes or random poetry, or things to jog my memory, or perhaps a specific thought for a specific time......

I thought I'd show a couple excerpts though.


I've been reading a lot of Kerouac again lately. He always makes me draw people hitch-hiking or camping or on a mountain.

And here is an example of how I end up compartmentalizing my thoughts. I like to think of it as the comic of mike. Anyway, maybe I will put more of my journal entries up in the future. Hopefully you like seeing these.

New Paintings in Astoria

So this weekend Beth and I went camping at Ft Stevens in Oregon, then drove down the coast and took lots of cool pictures of the ocean, saw a tv show being filmed, and a bunch of starfish. We also dropped several bird paintings at Lunar Boy Gallery. I dropped off a disk with digital images as well, so you should be able to see all of the paintings up on the website soon too.


This one is called "Good Day Mr. Bird", and yes it has been up on the blog before, but I revised the bird. Now it actually looks like a red winged black bird which makes me very happy. Next we have "Just Push Play", a not so good example of what Aerosmith can do and a pretty good example of what I can do.


Last but not least. Bird on a wire is going to be a series all its own. I think more birds on more spread out wires though. I'm also kind of picturing the wires making up a patchwork like that in a mondrian. More from the end of his career though. The whole idea comes from this rad photo that I got from my buddy Billy in Portland, ME. So if you like it send props to Billy.

Response to Mockingbird

Here is a sketch of one possible way to take My friend Steve's poem "Mockingbird". I'm still working on this one though, so it may get a little more crazy, and for that matter even if I keep the same idea, I might try to work some newspaper heading fonts into the piece, and I think it should look cut and pasted. But it's just a quick sketch right?

Day 2: Laziness VS. Productiveness. the final battle

Bachelor still. But a productive bachelor at least. Rocking out to some Aphex Twin remix of tetris. Heck yeah. who isn't fired up about that? Anyway. there are some cool things coming up.

First off, I am going to be working with my buddy Camwyn on some poetry art response. His poetry totally kicks tookus, so you should check it out. (here)

Second off, a trip that was just going to clear some inventory and get some paintings out of my way is getting me totally psyched. I am loving the bird motif. I've gotten two new bird books in the past couple months and I am slowly trying to replicate more and more actual bird breeds as opposed to making generic cartoon bird. Scary huh.

So here's a golden eagle.

Let me know what you think.


I have a couple more pieces that should be done by weeks' end so I'll keep y'all updated.

hasta manana

Day 1 with no Beth

Extremely productive aaaand I watched baseball with my roommate. More importantly though I finally finished my wedding present for Joe Palmer and Maria Costanzo; two totally rocking individuals who I believe are in Chicago as we speak.

Here is their present. God I hope they like it.


The computer wasn't really stoked on the colors, so they might be a little bit off this time. I also finished up this little bluebird piece for Lunar Boy, which I didn't end up going to this weekend. Beth wants to go to, so I will be going next weekend when she is back.


Tomorrow, I think I will be able to get up the bird on the wire piece from yesterday. It is actually coming really fast, which makes me totally happy.

Until then.....rock on.

Home alone for three days.....

Lots of art to come, I would assume. Either that or I sit around and watch baseball with my roommate for three days straight. Both are likely. Oh that the mets don't experience a june-like month again.




Any way you probably don't care about my baseball preferences so here are a couple new bird pieces. Well one is a complete piece and the other is a drawing for a piece I intend to flesh out tonight. I'll keep you updated.



later

Lunar Boy Road Trip

Nothing like a robot on a wire to get me going. This drawing reminded me of so many lame paperback science fiction books from the sixties and seventies that my dad used to read, and at the same time underground comics. I very much want to do more with these. Let me know what you think of them, and also let me know what your favorite science fiction book covers are. Mine is the old school cover to "I,Robot".
Here are a couple of the birds that I am thinking of using in the helmet and head phone series. I saw a lady downtown who was doing these huge oils on canvas that basically looked like these vignettes on a massive canvans. The branches took up the whole surface, but the birds were tiny, and low and behold placed in the golden mean.........Hmm. I bet that woman went to art school.

This weekend I am driving down to Astoria to trade out some of the images that are hanging there with some of the newer bird paintings. Trading out the paintings will be cool. I think the bird paintings are the creme of my work so far, and hopefully others will agree, but the best thing about going to Astoria is that I get to go on a sweet drive through the country and I will not be in city limits for two whole days. Now that is a beautiful thing.

I'm going to take down a disk with jpgs of everything I am taking too, so I will let you all know when Lunar Boy's website is updated and you can buy some new paintings.

Until then Rock out with your Asimov Out.
Be well.