Gary Houston and Voodoo Catbox

Gary Houston is a graphic and poster artist located in Portland, Oregon who has been doing posters for many years. I saw his posters at a Waterfront Blues Festival in Portland and love his designs.

Anguished Prayer: Scratchboard Series on Prayer

Yesterday I finished another scratchboard in my series on prayer.

Ernst Fuchs: Visionary Artist

Ernst Fuchs is an Austrian visionary artist and one of the founders of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism (1948). He converted from Orthodox Judaism to Roman Catholicism in 1956. Christian themes can be found in many of his paintings. Fuchs is also a draftsman, printmaker, sculptor, architect, stage designer, poet, and singer. He was a friend of my favorite artist of all time, Salvador Dali.

Kre8: Airbrush Artist

Had Thanksgiving yesterday at my nephew's house in Scio, Oregon. He rebuilds old cars. Since I'm an artist he thought I might like to see the hood of a silver Chevy Impala he's working on. It was the artwork of Kre8 a 29 year old airbrush artist from Spokane, Washington. The detail was impressive. You can find his work at: http://www.kre8airbrushstudio.com/

No More Racism: Revelation 21 Series

Finished the 7th painting in my Revelation 21 series: No More Racism. The burning cross and the noose symbolize the darkest and most blatant elements of racism in US history. At the same time racism is a systemic issue, not just a matter of personal prejudice nor existing only in its most overt manifestations. Today racism is more hidden, denied, and embedded in our social, economic, political, and judicial systems.

No More Borders: Revelation 21 series

Just finished this painting of "no more borders" for my Revelation 21 series of paintings. Revelation 21, in the Bible, images a world liberated from hunger, death, pain, sorrow, etc. This is an extrapolation of the ideal vision of God's future world without borders.

Stanley Mouse: Lowbrow Artist of Monster T-Shirts and Psychedelic Posters

Growing up in Southern California in the 50s and 60s and I was early into Kustom Kar Culture, as were many other kids. I remember really getting into the airbrushed Monster hot rod t-shirts of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth and Stanley Mouse and sending for catalogs of their shirts, which I still own!

Some would attribute the origin of monster t-shirts to Roth, though while Roth worked in black and white Mouse was working in bright colors. They even met at a hot rod show and Roth told Mouse he could show him how to make $300 in a few hours, which he did. Roth took home his catalogs full of monsters and later came up with Rat Fink, his anti-Mickey Mouse character, that looked strangley like Mouse's monsters.

Mouse took his cheese, left Detroit and art school, and moved to San Francisco in 1965 right before the flowering of the hippie movement. With places like the Fillmore West and the Avalon Ballroom holding rock concerts posters became not only a form of advertisement but a psychedelic art form. Mouse, along with his partner Alton Kelley,created countless posters, including Art Nouveau style with a few, like the the skeleton and roses Grateful Dead poster, becoming an icon of the Dead and the times.

Though his work slowed after the poster years Mouse has continued to produce memorable artwork from album covers for Journey to "lowbrow" paintings. Mouse will always have a place in my early art history.