April Painting: "Griffin Captial"

Below is the latest painting fresh from the PONSHOP studio. Many of my friends and students have seen the progress over the past weeks and it's finally done. Mythological creatures have been a running theme of my work as of late, and I can only attribute the inspiration to growing up with a Dungeons and Dragons role playing set and then (as a college student) seeing the historic sculptures from Rome and Greece. Why a Griffin? honestly, the painting slowly developed into that form one night and after doing some research, I found that the creature (being half lion and half eagle) symbolizes intelligence, strength, and beauty.

"Griffin Capital" is currently on exhibit at Art First Gallery for the month of April.
If interested in purchasing, simply contact me via the PONSHOP website.

"Griffin Capital", Mixed Media on Canvas, 24"x24" $600
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"Griffin Capital" (detail)

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Despite Sluggish Economy, Local Artist Flourishes

I made some crazy cash on moving this painting-like hundreds at a time and plenty of one dollar bills for scratch tickets...

"Don't Believe the Hype" was what a wise young man named Flavor Flav said back in 1988 and these days I think that still rings true today. Sure our economy is hitting rock bottom, but that doesn't mean that folks stopped investing in some killer artwork. Check out the pics of my man Nick on a recent purchase of a painting of mine. He was worried that his account would be stone-cold frozen once Bear Stearns took a dive, so he pulled it all out and bought himself a stimulus package of his own....like visual stimulus!

"Cash Rules Everything Around Me": one satisfied patron more than willing to throw down some dead presidents on a living artist.

2009 Sales Down? No way - in fact, during the last "First Friday" art opening I sold $36 in t-shirts alone - not bad for only working four hours. Later that week, my online shop on RedBubble netted me a cool $25 in my PayPal account. I made money and I wasn't even awake. It's that kind of entrepreneurial spirit that will have us living on easy street.

PONSHOP in the Press

One of the writers for "It!" magazine, a weekly teen feature in the Freelance Star, met with me several weeks ago to talk about the trajectory that Street Art and Graffiti have had over the past few years. With artists like Banksy and Shephard Fairy becoming household names, does that mean that the public will be more receptive to having their streets adorned by anonymous artists? Click Here for the full story.

Intro To Street Art: March 2009

Below are some pics of the most recent student work from the "Intro To Street Art" Workshop. I've been getting some really great kids who are motivated and excited about learning something new. For a current PONSHOP class schedule (April thru June) Click Here.

Sarah sketched up her piece on 8.5x11 paper first before hitting the board with both acrylic and spray paint.

Making lines and carving out fills is a fundamental of working with spray paint.

Sarah incorporated a stencil to create the sneaker/leg detail (above).

Kelly emulated one of her favorite Manga artists "Bleach" by making a silhouette of a character. Both text and graphic are achieved with paper stencils.

Even a seemingly straight forward shape has to be translated into a stencil design for a successful application: the paper must hold itself together to retain the desired pattern.

Winter/Spring 2009

Below are some photos of the boys over the last months. I'm sure we'll look back on these photos next year and reminisce on how they've grown...

Baby Cairo at 3-1/2 months

Diego is now three years old and ready to take on (and defend) the universe...

Scarlett and Cairo (February 2009)
Don't sweat the technique (remote control to show scale)Scarlett and Diego pose with the stone guardian at Lolo's House.

Dinosaurs are alive and well just south of Winchester, Virginia.

Mommy and Cairo, March 2009.

New PONSHOP tees on RedBubble.com

Below are the latest t-shirt designs that I've put on my RedBubble Storefront. These designs are all derived from my latest paintings and can be found exclusively on RedBubble.com. Why aren't they in our "brick and mortar" shop? Because I'm able to design multi-colored graphics for wear without having to slave over silkscreen equipment for days on end. These designs are printed by RedBubble using a direct to garment color printer. I do the work designing them, you choose the shirt color and style, and RedBubble drops them on your doorstep.

"...Until The End of The World" Tee: Click Here to view shirt colors and sizes.

"MONO Octo (Duo)" Tee: Click Here to view shirt colors and sizes.

"Masks of Now" Tee: Click Here to view shirt colors and sizes.

Buttonscarves.com is Live

Scarlett is happy to announce that her "sister-site", Buttonscarves.com, has launched. Scarlett has been making these one of a kind button-up scarves for two seasons and (after an overwhelming response) decided to make them available to purchase online. Each scarf is hand knit with a wool and acrylic blend and includes two hand made ceramic buttons. Visit buttonscarves.com to see the wide array of styles and colors. Scarlett also has a Buttonscarves Storefront on Etsy.

Fashion and Function: Scarves stay formed to neck and compliment wardrobe...

Each scarf has its own personal touch of handmade, kiln-fired ceramic buttons.

Latest Painting: "My Baby Wants to Rock and Roll #3"

Below is the most recent painting completed: "My Baby Wants to Rock and Roll #3." Many have seen and/or worn this graphic over the years, and I've always wanted to keep pushing it and explore some new aspects. I did this by building a wood panel and using collage (made from newspaper and magazine scraps as well as printed song lyrics). This led to some interesting conditions between the pattern and text in the background and the stenciled figure on top.

"My Baby Wants To Rock and Roll #3", Mixed Media on Wood Panel, 30"x30" SOLD (click image to enlarge)

"My Baby Wants To Rock and Roll #3" detail

Winter Workshops: Skate to Create/Intro to Street Art

Bitter cold, strong winds, and darkness by 5:00 didn't stop my students from kicking out some creative designs this winter. Sure, there are challenges to spray painting outside in cold weather, but that's all part of it - adapt and overcome (and have some fun at it...)
Below are some snapshots from my "Skate to Create" and "Intro to Street Art" winter sessions. These guys worked hard and it shows in the finished product. Congratulations! and hopefully we'll see you again this spring....

Skate to Create: David's first skateboard is self-made. He drew and cut all is stencils and selected and sprayed his favorite colors (above and below). Click images to enlarge.

Intro to Street Art: (below) Brad had a 48"x24" board to attack with paint, spray paint, markers and paint pens. After learning the fundamentals of stencil-making, he went at it 110% - working non-stop until the end of the workshop. Good job Bradley, see you soon.

Josh (below) is a guitar rocker and took that energy to his board by carving up some letters with the fundamental outline and fill. He then made a two piece stencil to adorn the top of the "Kelly". Check his progress below...

For a current schedule of all PONSHOP classes, click here.