Monday, February 27, 2012

re: more little monsters......

hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

i'm still rocking away at the colouring book i've been working on the past week or so. it feels so fcuking good to get my hands back to pen, pencil, paint cans and just not staring at a monitor like i have the past 7 years. this all has happened rather serendipitously, my god, what a pompous sounding word, but anyways, i've been doing a series of graffiti workshops in kamloops with high school students and it has been greatly rewarding. not only that, it rocked my ass back to the walls, paper, pencil and paints!

then, i got the idea to do a colouring book because my kids always bug me to buy them colouring books. as well, i love character driven graffiti and so, i spent about a week drawing 6 - 10 hours a day, and drew over a 150 characters, and i'm still going strong. experimentation is great fun, and so i'll keep on until i figure out what to do next. which is travel the world doing graffiti murals, getting bigger and crazier exhibitions, hit paris, berlin, barcelona, milano, amsterdamn, then head to new zealand, wellington, and sydney australia, tokyo, japan, before heading to sao paolo, brazil, argentina, chile and so on......the world awaits, and i've been thinking small, when there is infinite potential and infinite possibilities.........

for now, here's some samples of the colouring book i've been working on, and i'll keep working on until it's ready. tonight, i drew a robot based hookah called 'Baked Bot."

nice.

until next time lovers,


cb
ps: music i've been listening to, lamb of god, slayer, bad religion and alexis on fire heavy music for heavy times.





order one from me now for your hipster friends, or kids if you have them.......

cb

Friday, February 24, 2012

re: little monsters.....

hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

i'm going to be posting a monster a day for 30 days. part of my new thing, as well as some images from the graffiti workshops, and other things going on in my life.

it's busy, not too busy, and still fun.

hope all is well in your world

and to start things off right, here's a disney-fied version of slipknot's song 'wait and bleed.'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG6G4XBnvLQ&feature=related


and here's my little monster for the day.


which really demonstrate, how little i've actually played with photoshop.

i need to re-evaluate things.


until next time lovers,

cb


Tuesday, February 21, 2012

re: colouring book coming up....

hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

well, this maybe a bit of a surprise, given that i have so much free time. not.

but i've decided to do a kids colouring book. i've got 4 or 5 kids, so, what the hell? why not have a cool colouring book? lately, i've been obsessed with drawing creatures, little monsters, and cute things, as most of my kids are girls, they're always asking me to draw them cute things. i do, cute half burnt marshmellow creatures smiling and holding a burnt stick, cyclops creatures, sasquatches, skull flowers, and the like.

for example:

cute sketch for my kids.


puking bear, alcoholic reject
from the carebears.

little monster.

kinda spooky drawing/sketch
weird innit?
totally unintentional, i just drew it out.
quickly.

i love this one, the eyeball tentacle creatures.
and the weird tiki monsters to the left.
fun! FUN! FUUUUUNN!

a really old chris bose painting
i did for my granny like nearly 20 years ago.
it was at her house, and i hadn't seen it in years.
a total surprise and flashback.

pss: by the way, i just realized i've already posted more than 30 times. i'm totally kicking this years ass.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

re: lego graffiti work!

hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

doing some research online, at www.upperplayground.com

i found this cool video!

check it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tr6uWYNPmbQ

here's a still from the film!


pretty sweet eh?

just when i feel overwhelmed and kind of exhausted. i find something to inspire me! haha!

outside it's snowing again, and i want to go do some art somewhere. sigh.




cheers,


cb

re: graffiti thoughts.....ideas/solutions......

i just wrote this letter to the kamloops graffiti task force: not in a hostile way, but offering thoughts/ideas/solutions.

yeah, kamloops needs some walls, criminalizing graffiti obviously doesn't work, painting over it doesn't work. if we have a few legal walls in town, that could be painted white every 3 or 4 months so kids could hit it again, would help. organize a couple annual community art exhibitions downtown and at the NSBIA house, i've shown there."organize a festival. celebrate it, encourage mural/big graffiti instead of just tags. tags are where we all start, and it either becomes something, or it doesn't and kids get older and stop.

i grew up extremely poor in kamloops, i got into bad situations, i did graffiti, i rebelled, i felt excluded from society. i felt like i wasn't heard. no one cared. luckily, i got into creativity, and it saved my life, and it's how i make a living now. i ain't rich, but i'm alive and happier than i was back then.

graffiti is a social problem in that it is poor, disenfranchised kids trying to be heard, to be seen, nothing is worse than growing up poor and hungry, with addicted parents, in a disgustingly imbalanced society where so much affluence is around you, and you feel like you'll never share in it. don't know how to, no role models, no guidance, it's not just kids bombing walls irresponsibly. sure, there are lots of middle class kids tagging and bombing, but they stick to the south shore, the rest hit the north shore.

a few weeks ago i was doing a workshop in a school where almost all the kids lived with their grandparents. last year i was at some school somewhere, and there was a presentation by someone talking about alcohol abuse and stuff, then a kid put up there hand and said, "yeah, but my parents don't drink, they do drugs." later i found out it was meth/crack. old school people drink, younger parents hit harder drugs. i've participated in reading programs at elementary schools, helping young kids learn to read, hearing their stories got me back into working with youth.

graffiti is a symptom of a larger societal problem.

and when a small group of people wage war against a movement that is global, they are always going to lose, and there are better things to do with the money in graffiti task forces. put that money towards something, instead of hundreds of thousands of cash and litres of ugly beige, grey or white paint. is that the kind of world people want to live in? one devoid of colour? everyone wearing beige? or grey? or white?

we need creative solutions to address actually "hearing" kids doing graffiti, instead of the usual, ignoring, painting over and criminalizing it.

we need to be innovative and design new programs, start turning kamloops into an arts and artist destination city. everyone i know who is a professional art, or wants to be a professional artist moves away. because there are no opportunities in kamloops. the same goes for authors, musicians and filmmakers. i stay here because i have kids, but moreover, with the internet, i can live anywhere now, and go to the cities i need to go for work and come home.

we need vitality and imagination, we need to give the youth something to do, or they are just gonna drink and get into trouble. especially kids who don't "fit in," i mean, sure there's lots to do if you have a strong social circle and have money. if you don't, then you find other ways to occupy your time. kids say the same thing to me, they're bored, there's nothing to do here. nowhere to go. i feel the same way, i go on tour, or go on the road for awhile, and when i get back, i'm bored as shit. where's our vital arts/community centre that's open until 9 pm? or even, dare i say it 10 pm?

you invest in a vital, imaginative arts/community centre, with cool modern programs, i'll be anything kids will go in droves. have a few jam rooms with real instruments, have a couple hip hop rooms with gear for kids to record in, have a couple art studios indoor, have a wall that kids can hit outside, have monthly concerts where kids can show their skills. have monthly art exhibitions. people will say "ooh that's too much money," but if we invest that money directly into kids, it'll pay off in the long run socially. i was in kelowna last year, and had to do a presentation to city council there, and found out the cops get over $20 million per year, that's a lot of scratch.

take 5 % of that and start a youth/arts/community centre that's in tune with youth, and you'll save 10% in the long run. probably even more.

these are some of my ideas/suggestions at creating a vital arts community in kamloops. feel free to share this all with the board, look forward to meeting in person.

cb

Saturday, February 18, 2012

re: 99 cent dreams

hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

here's a piece about graffiti that i did recently, something i've been working on, hope you dig it.

99 cent dreams everyone.

all the bets,

cb

Friday, February 17, 2012

re: the tribulations of duncan C. scott redux

hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

sometimes an image doesn't work, and it needs some reworking, revising, and revisions.

the image below is one such image.

what do you think?

all the bets,


cb


even still, i'm not sure if this one is done.

re: the tribulations of duncan C. scott

hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

working on a couple images right now, here's one of them.


i'm watching the director's cut of natural born killers. wow, that movie was and is ahead of it's time, yet present too. the fire scene, where mickey and mallory meet russell means in the desert, and he tries to exorcise their demons through some kind of ceremony, and we see what they went through as kids to mess them up. that reminds me of my childhood. so much symbolism and stuff in that movie. love it.

apparently, wood harrelson's real dad was some kind of contract killer.

anyways, later,


cb

Thursday, February 16, 2012

re: a cute note.

hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

i caught the bus yesterday and found this note. i thought it was cute, and funny, and a strange rebuttal to my affirmation of singledom and the annoyance of valentines day.

enjoy,

cb

some young lady with solid ideas. haha.



i found this strange art. 


Wednesday, February 15, 2012

re: post valentines......

hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

it's the day after valentines, and everyone in a relationship probably has a romance hangover. i, being single and loving it, do not and feel great!

i've been single for awhile now, and it really took some getting used to, especially since i spent the better part of 15 years in relationships. i was a serial monogamist. but that is over. haha!

now, i dedicate my life to my kids, and my creative endeavours, which are very consuming and very busy. suffice it to say, i was getting really sick of hearing about online dating, and tips for finding that "special someone," on cbc radio yesterday. i didn't get it. who cares? the older i get, the more i'm beginning to realize that getting there and finding absolution, finding the meaning of life, finding creative satisfaction, finding job satisfaction and all that, is dependent upon one thing. you.

well, not only that, but how much you dedicate to finding your way, and i can only stress to people, there's a ten thousand hour theory at work here. if you really want something to be the main focus in your life, it takes about ten thousand hours to get there. i had coffee yesterday with a friend who said, "i'm living the dream," which kind of made me laugh. i guess so, maybe, but to me, i'm just doing what i love, and have dedicated myself to pretty much my whole life. it's taken forever to get here, and now that i'm here, there is no excuses. i make art everyday, or write every day, or make music every day because that is what i do and am good at. relationships, friendships, family and supposed "real" work, i kinda suck at, because part of being an artist, a so-called "professional" artist requires complete dedication. that said, not everyone is going to "make it," and it really boils down to 1% actually being able to make a living off of their creative endeavours. in reality, i sell very little art, because people don't really give a shit about art, they care about the person behind the art, the story, and where they came from to be where they are today.

basically, i make my living from workshops, commissions, and fees from exhibitions, or projects. i think i've only sold about 6 - 10 works, well, maybe more, in the past couple years, and if i were to base my income solely on that, i'd be totally screwed. i've got 4 kids to support, and that's a tough thing to do in any job world, let alone creativity.

not that i'm bitching, i just wanted to share a different point of view, a different reality and what goes on behind the iron curtain of the art world.........

in the meantime, enjoy this new work about a girl standing on a skull.

all the bets,


cb

rad david choe book below. 
inspiring.
and funny as hell to read!


Tuesday, February 14, 2012

re: happy fcuking valentines.....

hello lovers,

and a fine how do you do, and happy valentines to you toooooooooooooo?!?!?!!!!!!!

there are many funderful things happening in the jesus coyote bose world and they are a secret.

or secretion. i'm not sure.

probably both.

in the meantime, i've realized it's valentines, i made some art, and am reading my david choe book i ordered two weeks ago, but saw this past friday when i was in vancity.

it's dope. we've got a lot in common. living life hard, making art every day, non-stop traveling, touring, workshops, mayhem, insanity, and pushing it and everyone around you to their absolute limits. unfortunately, some cave and are usspays, which is fine, better to weed out the weak than let them bring down the hungry.

sure, i've had "growing pains" the past couple years adjusting to the unbelievable freedom of being a 'professional artist,' but who wouldn't once you are allowed, able and ready to cast off the shackles thrust upon all of us once we reach the "allowable and legal working age," in our society? you would too.

anyways, life is good, it's always good, even when it's not. better being alive then dead.

and in that spirit, here's some valentines day art for you.

funny thing is, Rasputin looks an awful lot like my buddy AEM.......

it shall remain a secret.

until next time lovers, beware!


cb



and a personal valentine from me to you, and your special "someone"

hah!

re: new music, new art.....new writing......

hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

i hope you all are well, life is good, even when it's tough.....and i've been writing up a storm, not too much art, but more ideas, and brainstorming for future shows. i'm going to create a fully immersive art exhibition.
no more details, let's say i'm working with some people on both sides of the continent to create something very cool. and crazy for an exhibition, or multiple exhibitions. i cannot elaborate beyond that, sorry.

been listening to heavier and heavier music, i think listening to "alexisonfire" opened the door to screaming fcuking music, as i'm now listening to "in flames" and "lamb of god" and loving it. i can only take the screaming for so long though, 5 or 6 songs and it sounds the same. sort of. as well, hmmmm, i got my ticket for the Mastodon/Opeth/Ghost tour yesterday and was pretty stoked about that show. picked up a black gibson sg special, it's got 3 single coil pick ups,  that sound so fcuking heavy it's unbelievable, i played guitar for 2 hours yesterday, plugging in my amp and breaking out the les paul too. my playing is getting crazy fast.

as well, reading keith haring's journals, i picked up the book in kelowna, bc, at mosaic books for only 6 bucks! and it's been really a great read as it chronologically follows his starving artist beginnings in NYC right up to his insane fame, crazy busy lifestyle and world travels making art on location. like anyone else, he has self-doubt, can see through the lies of the art world, the drama, the business side, and the money/fame head game as well. then, his friends dropping dead around him from AIDS and other crazy deaths. his insight is really awesome, humble and i've been learning a lot from this book, as in the creative worlds, there is no "how-to" book. how to "break out" of a small town, how to "make it in the art world" or "how to make it in the music biz" or "how to get published."

over the years, all the work and minor success i've ever had has come through totally hard work, and being "present" at the right place, at the right time. i remember when i was younger and more naive, those "how to make it in the music business" books written by A&R insiders were surely tempting, but most of them were $30 to $50 a book. and in the end, common sense wins out. there are a series of steps one can follow to "make it" in the business, but more importantly, it always boils down to one thing. make great art/music or writing or films, and they'll eventually get noticed. and keep doing it, and keep sending it out there into the world. ben harper might have said it best when he said, "good music finds a way." and i think what he meant was, if you write good songs, they'll get heard, and an audience will develop and blah blah blah blah.

as for me, reading this journal has been fantastic, and reinforced what i'm doing, but also seeing the scope of keith haring's murals and art are inspiring, and his dedication. his total dedication to his art and to making art every single day is totally inspiring. let's face it, as authors, or artists, musicians or filmmakers, we have our doubts about what we are doing, and whether or not we are making an impact culturally or commercially. i also lucked upon a book recently in vancity, i was at the chapter's downtown and found this great artbook by Brad Klausen, "From a basement in Seattle." total fluke, i saw it, picked it up and was amazed at the poster art, and bought it immediately. i did not want to lose an opportunity for inspiration.

which was what nearly happened when i didn't write down the book by shaun tan, "lost and found," and the only way i found it again, was perseverance. i kept going back again and again until the books were there.

i'm learning opportunities are fleeting, and you have to seize the moment, and figure things out later! haha! i mean, i'm lucky i was able to buy these books, back in tha day i would have stolen them without a thought. currently all my money goes to my kids, my art, and beer. life is tight, but things are good, and will continue to be good. the days are getting longer, the weather is getting warmer, and i'm looking forward to kicking ass this year and next for that matter. getting back into greaffiti has breathed new life in my work, and stumbling upon new art and artists is also crucial.

i also found a comic store in vancity, one of my favourites, near main and broadway that had back issues of "Juxtapoz" and "Hi-Fructose" magazine. i would have bought the whole box, but prudently decided to save my money to get home. i'm getting too old to jump trains.

haha!

in the meantime lovers, i hope all is well in your world, and if not, make it so.........



cb
ps: i went into the "preferences" window on my mac, and turned it to inverted colours, so my screen is currently like a negative. i'm gonna see how long i last at it, but it's much easier on the eyes.

lamb of god
discography pack on jump drives
in a cigarette pack.
nifty idea, even though i quit smoking.

fucking amazing keith haring mural
looking at this work is a reminder
he's gone and none
will ever be created again.

good ol' rasputin. 


Monday, February 06, 2012

re: riots after the art show......

hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

sadly, there were SOME problems after the show, some of the more rabid "Jesus Coyote" fans lost it, and went on a bit of a rampage after he pulled a no show.

what would Jesus Coyote say?




Sunday, February 05, 2012

hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

another delicious treat for you. so much for the political work i figured i was going to do, instead, i'm into tentacles for some reason.

i'm exhausted, the art show was awesome, but it took a lot out of me, now it's time to cocoon up and get back to work. i'm about 30 odd pages into a new book of poetry, and want to share some of it with you, but i'll wait until the time is right.

in the meantime, enjoy some art.......




cheers,



cb

re: new stuff......

hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

last night was an unbelievable successful show at the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art.......standing room only, and people had so many good questions, as well, the kids from the kelowna friendship centre were there, and brought me gifts. we worked on a project together last year, and they brought me support and strength. i miss them dearly.

in the meantime, here's a new piece, and i've got more work to do.....

all the bets,



cb

Thursday, February 02, 2012

re: exhibition launch tomorrow!!!

hello lovers,

hope you are well, i've got good news, tomorrow the ULLUS collective is launching a group exhibition in Kelowna, BC at the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art. Come check it out, there's dope, solid work by Mariel Belanger, Cease Wyss, Bracken Corlett, and Tracey Kim Bonneau!!!!

and yours truly.

i'm doing some graffiti as well as have three prints up and a video installation. i know, i know, i didn't want to get ambitious, but this is what i'm good at!! haha!

here's a few photos from today and the installation we've got going on......

cheers,

cb





Wednesday, February 01, 2012

re: on a roll.....

hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

things are going well, i'm back to working on art and also been writing quite a lot new stuff that i can't quite share yet......feels good to be writing again......i'm at an age now, where, i can stop doing one thing creatively for awhile, and then pick it up again without getting doubtful or all self-loathing about it.

my philosophy, at the best of times is, "alright then, let's get on with it!" at the worst of times. wondering why i even bother to get at it?! haha, this is probably typical of many artists, and people in general.

currently, needs are making money, making art, and writing a new book.

for some reason, i've been doing a lot of research into our economic climate, mainly because rent is so unbelievably high where i live, and it wasn't that way in 2005. back then, you could find an entire house to rent for maybe $900 downtown kamloops. now, that same house is about $1500 if you're lucky. then listening to CBC radio yesterday, i heard some housing/economic "specialist" say the most ignorant thing, "housing prices should remain the same the next two years, and in a about 2 years, when wages catch up to costs, the prices won't seem as unreasonable as they do now." what a fucken asshole! how arrogant? so, the rest of us will have to suffer, starve, and scrimp for the wealthy? as per usual i suspect.

anyway, don't be surprised if my art takes a sharply political angle the next little while.

in the meantime lovers, enjoy!



also, i'm really going to get back in to street art, will keep you up to date on those events,

cheers,

cb