June 25, 2015
I dropped Wallis off at the airport this morning. For our last day together yesterday, we went to the LaBagh Woods, rode the Ferris Wheel at Navy Pier, and walked through Millenium Park. I’m gonna miss her a lot. Writing this short blog post will probably be the most active I get all day today.
Here’s a picture from the ferris wheel.
June 15, 2015
Last week, Wallis and I got into an argument. It was nothing serious and we resolved it pretty quickly but it prompted us to consider parting ways. After all, life on the road is one thing for me but – for Wallis – it can kind of feel like putting “real life” on hold. She doesn’t have to work or deal with any kind of responsibility or – you know – anything. She’s kind of just along for the ride. So after traveling together for five months, it felt like maybe it was time for her to return home to Jacksonville and face off against reality and see if she can stay clean without me as a twenty-four hour baby sitter.
On Friday, I bought her a plane ticket for Monday afternoon (today). That’d give us a few more days to spend together, which is something we both wanted.
Over the course of these last few days, we’ve talked a lot about whether this is what we both really wanted. And it seems like our heads were pretty much in exactly the same place. We didn’t wanna let go of one another but agreed that it was probably time. Our feelings said “no” but we felt that, logically, this was the right move. Even still, I’ve felt sick to my stomach all day.
Just now, I took out my phone to check the flight information ’cause it’s time to go to the airport. I had a new email in my inbox: “Status change from Southwest Airlines. Your flight has been cancelled.”
There doesn’t seem to be any inclement weather anywhere between here and Jacksonville. I don’t know why the flight was cancelled but… it makes sense. It just sort of does. I don’t know where we go or what we do from here but… I guess we’ll figure that out.
On an unrelated/here’s-a-picture note, Wallis took this photo of me taking a break from painting (to brush my teeth) one night in the Iowa City downtown pedmall last week.
Okay, off to Milwaukee for Dummerfest.
May 24, 2015
I’m all done in Minneapolis and currently sitting in a coffee shop in Madison, Wisconsin. Tomorrow, I’ll try to make some money selling prints at [whatever they do in this city for Memorial Day] and then I’ll spend the next couple of days crashing galleries, trying to find a good match for a future exhibit. On Friday, I have court in Normal. I’m pretty sure, at that point, that I’ll get put on probation and have to return to Florida because that’s where I claim “residence.” I might be stuck down there, legally prohibited from traveling for a while. If not, I’ll flip right back up to the midwest for Dummerfest in Milwaukee, where I’m all set to sell prints while my favorite bands play the best music in the universe. After that, I’ll try my luck out with a few galleries in the city and then probably return to Chicago for a bit. If I’m stuck in Florida, I’ll start lining exhibits up down there, I guess.
NEWS… Let’s see… my minivan died and I bought a new full size van. It’s pretty excellent. It’s got a full size bed, a ton of storage space, and plenty of extra room in which to can actually stretch and breathe. I’m really, really excited about it. It makes life about twenty times more comfortable / less stressful. Here are a bunch of pictures from the last month or so.
That’s all for now! Hopefully I’ll have all my new pieces properly photographed and ready to add to the gallery soon! And … um… other stuff too…? I don’t know. Just read my Facebook; I update that all the time!
OH! And giant thanks are due to John Schuerman at Instinct for hosting my first proper midwest exhibit; Griffin Snyder and Zack Gontard for putting me and Wallis up while we were in Minneapolis; Justin Francis for all his help not just with getting the new van together but the old one as well; Jessie and Annie for letting me set up at One Last Party; and Chris Johnson and Kelly Lone for letting me use their basement for storage!
Justin runs a screenprinting shop in Minneapolis, Tee Squared; highly recommended to bands or anyone else that needs shirts printed!
March 22, 2015
Tomorrow I leave Minneapolis to go back to Normal for my fifth or sixth court appearance in connection with my September arrest. I really hope it’ll be the last and I really doubt that it will. After that (aside from the time I’ll spend in Jacksonville for One Spark) I’ll be back in Minneapolis consistently until mid-May when my show at Instinct Gallery ends. The opening for that show was last night and went pretty well. I’m looking forward to reading some reviews this week. All of the press for the show, that I saw leading up to the opening, featured one of my pieces – which is pretty cool since I’m just one of nine artists in the exhibit. Also, tomorrow, there’s going to be a spot about the show on Minnesota Public Radio, which (I believe) will include (at the very least) an excerpt from a brief interview I gave last week. So that’s kinda exciting…
I still haven’t finished writing the statements for the large pieces I made late last year but I added one of them to the Gallery page anyway; it’s one of the pieces being show at Instinct right now and it’s called “The Last Unfinished Work.”
At four by five feet, it’s also the biggest painting I’ve made to date.
Here are some more photos from my Instagram and Facebook in the last week or so:
I’m not good at writing lately. I think I’m gonna blame it on running out of my meds. Maybe I’ll get better about writing once I find a doctor here.
March 5, 2015
I left Jacksonville last Wednesday and went to Delray. A friend there commissioned me to paint him something. It took about 22 hours, spread across three days. I haven’t gotten it professionally photographed yet but here are some images he sent me.
Next, we went to Miami to visit Wallis’s family, then crossed over to the other coast to stop “home” before leaving Florida. Now we’re in Atlanta, visiting some friends including my buddy Caleb who’s using his mechanical expertise to ensure that the van doesn’t fall apart in the foreseeable future. From here, we’re gonna make our way up to Iowa City to hang out with the Rational Anthem kids for a few days, and then trek the rest of the way up to Minneapolis, where my next exhibit is being held.
In early April, we’re planning to run all the way back to Jacksonville for One Spark and then flip right back around back to Minneapolis for the duration of my show there. That ends in early May, at which point I’m not sure where we’ll be headed…
February 9, 2015
On Saturday night, I was selling prints in front of Rain Dogs. At the end of the night, as I was packing up, somebody rode by on a bike, grabbed my print case, and rode off into the night. I was at the van (parked just a few doors down from Rain Dogs) putting up my easel so I didn’t even see him. Wallis did though and called out to me. We jumped in the van and tried to chase after him but once he had turned the corner, he was gone into the night. We drove around the neighborhood for awhile, hoping to spot him but no luck. I don’t think the guy knew what he was stealing; after all, my prints aren’t exactly the kind of thing you can take to a pawn shop. So I figure he probably ditched the case once he opened it and saw what was inside. I spent a lot of yesterday driving and walking around the neighborhood, checking back alleys and dumpsters but… again – no luck.
There were about 120 prints in that case so I’m out a lot of money, time, and energy. Toward that end, I’m reposting the GoFundMe page that I created back when I got arrested.
So now – you know – if you wanna buy something from me online, you totally can! Every thing helps. These Florida winters are really brutal.
And here’s that link again for good measure. ; )
January 25, 2015
After a month of fucking every pretty girl who so much as smiled in my direction, and Tinder dates every night of the week, I have once again wound up in a “relationship.” We met three days ago and are already saying we love each other because we’re both out of our minds.
Right now, I’m on my way to face my charges in Illinois and I’ve got her along for the ride. Last night we stayed in Atlanta, where we had our first fight. (I couldn’t cum and she didn’t wanna lick my asshole). I adore her.
#cutestcouple
Before anybody flips out on me too hard, I should note that she’s not really all that drug-addled…
