A gloomy afternoon in the San Francisco Bay.

Here are a few photos at last week’s art show “DisMiss’d Connections”

Curators Nathan Vonk and Andi Garcia had an interesting idea for an art show: gather a group of artists to illustrate “Missed Connections” from Craigslist. After getting the invite to contribute a piece for the show, I perused Craigslist to find some inspiration. If you’re unfamiliar with that section of the site, it’s basically personal ads that people leave in hopes of connecting with someone they saw around town, but didn’t get a chance to introduce themselves to. Well… that’s the idea anyways. Most of the ads are rather creepy, if you ask me. But that’s what makes this art show so awsome. You get a little bit of everything. Proceeds from the art sales go to the Heart2Hand Youth Arts Fund.

The opening is this Friday (Oct 21) at Loft 48 in Santa Barbara, from 7:00 – 10:00pm. For More info on the show, visit the Santa Barbara Art Blog.

A few years back, a friend and I were walking on Market street in San Francisco and noticed a boarded up wall with a small square cut into it. It was as if the small window was begging for people passing by to take a peek inside. To our surprise, there was a bunch of interesting graffiti and a number of people camped out in there. (Peep the barbed wire clothesline!). What was most interesting though was how this scene was directly neighboring the sleek new building below. Such a contrast!

A moment to cool off in the summer heat.

Then, it’s time to record the guitar parts for a new song.

Playing the guitar, or piano without any intention of making “music” can be so enjoyable sometimes. Abandoning the expectation of creating something, you really get a chance to simply enjoy the sensations of your fingers on the keys, or feel the vibrations the guitar sends into your stomach as you pluck the strings. A few months ago, I was doing just this – simply making sounds to enjoy the process. Eventually, a sequence of notes emerged and I decided to record it.

After forgetting it ever happened, I stumbled upon the melody a couple of weeks later felt a surge of inspiration. In the midst of working on the song, notes began to echo into the next room over, where my brother was finishing up some final edits on his film, Way of the Ocean. He opened the door, excitedly saying how it matched up to the footage he was editing, so I stepped over to take a look. It was crazy how well the footage and song went together, especially considering I wasn’t even intending to write a song and that he had already finished the film.

Sometimes, it blows my mind how the creative process works. I’ll spend weeks writing songs that don’t make the cut, or painting canvases, only to realize that the images don’t look as nice as they did in my imagination. Then, out of the blue, a great idea comes when I’m least expecting it and everything flows with ease.

Last night, my neighbors from downstairs thought it would be a good idea to sing karaoke until the wee hours of the morning. As the sounds echoed up into my apartment, I desperately needed to escape the onslaught of 90′s hits being sung. So, what’s a guy to do in a situation like that?

Refuge was found by pulling out a canvas and some art supplies. An ipod full of great music and noise canceling headphones sealed the deal. As the music started and the paint began to splash across the canvas, I forgot about the karaoke madness going on downstairs. Ideas about the relationship between humanity and the natural world began to fill my head and make their way into this painting.

On a side note… If you’re ever looking for some nice songs to drown out the sound of noisy neighbors, here are a few to help you out. Haha.

Aoki Takamasa & Tujiko Noriko – “Fly” (Variation)
Louis Jordan – “Five Guys Named Moe”
IAMX – “Volatile Times”
The Weeknd –  ”House of Balloons/Glass Table Girls”
Greetings from Tuskan – “Lullabies for the Warriors”

The other day, I wandered around town, in hopes of feeling inspired. This tree caught my eye, with its vibrant leaves.

It’s so cold and rainy here today… Well, by California standards at least. It’s nice to have these days though. Knowing I’m not missing anything exciting that’s happening in the outside world, it’s easy to focus on whatever projects I have going on. Today, that entails working on a new song. Check out the video, to see how it’s coming along.