Some shots from Ka’s most recent show this past Friday at Legion in Williamsburg. If you haven’t heard them play live here’s the next best thing.

I just realized that I never showed these to anyone. I got the message today that its about time that they see the light of day. These are some diagram illustrations that I created to teach people what being a personal photo organizer is all about. Apparently there’s a lot to know.

I’ve recently been experimenting with a lot of long exposure shots. Its a fairly new medium for me so I’m trying to learn exactly what I can do with it. I’ve always loved drawing and light so I saw this as a great opportunity to combine the two. This is the beginning of a series of photos but probably not from this angle seeing how a police car drove up to me while I was taking these and told me that I was trespassing and that I would be arrested if I didn’t leave the area. I’m on the lookout for some better/legal locations around the city. The shots are around 20 seconds and there is only so much that one guy can scribble with a bike light in 20 seconds so I imagine that I’ll be working with more people soon to create more elaborate shots. Till then enjoy these pieces. They’re made as intentions to send love and healing to the city in addition to declaring my own love for this city. After coming back from my trip to Mexico it made me really appreciate how awesome it is to live here. It may not be the easiest place to live but there is so much to take advantage of and so many resources that we probably overlook as New Yorkers caught up in our own lives. I still plan on traveling much more in the future but I’m glad to know that the city is my home.

This is from a series of photos that I took while I was on my recent trip to Mexico. I was taking long exposure photos of the stars which were crystal clear almost every night. Having that view is a privilege I was truly grateful to have. My partner Brooke was taking pictures with her camera as well. I decided to turn the camera away from the heavens to see what she might look like in the starlight. She was viewing photos on her camera and the light illuminated her in a really special way as the stars displayed themselves perfectly behind her. We did a lot of variations until coming to these two shots. They’re about 15 seconds exposure. As the shutter was open I counted out the time as Brooke raised her hands up and down like she was making a snow angel. I really enjoyed the way that it blends her into the rest of the shadows and makes it all the more etherial. Below is another shot from the same series. Many more shots from the trip on the way.

I’m really happy to be able to share this with everyone. This has been a really good lesson in persistence and discipline for me. When I started this piece I don’t think I really understood what I was getting myself into. Just incase you’re thinking about doing anything remotely like this in watercolor I have to recommend that you reconsider some other medium. I tried to convince myself of the same thing early on in the process of this piece but had gone too far along to do anything about it. I have come to realize that there is something in me that just loves doing things the hard way. This painting became so overwhelming that I just gave up and put it aside and thought that I would just move onto some other things. It seemed like the easier solution at the time but recently I realized how much of a block this piece had created in my own personal work. It was really unhealthy to have this unborn piece waiting under a pile of papers. In a way it was blocking me from moving forward creatively. So I decided to put it back on my table and work on it till it was finished. So after many hours here she is. Today is also a special day because it is also the birth of my niece, Sloane. Happy Birthday to her!

The piece was the first painting that I started after getting back from the Amazon and working in my own studio. Its based on the anatomy of my own eye except I’ve taken away the edge of the iris to represent a removal of limitations that I have created for my own life. At the same time it becomes the eclipse with the moon in front of the sun with light radiating outward. Looking back it was a time in my life where the elements were aligning to set the stage for where I am today. Its funny how much my aesthetic has changes in the past 3 years. As I was completing this piece I thought about how this looks nothing like my current style of work. Its not that I don’t like it, its just different. I’m happy to have incorporated more color and vibrancy into my work. I consider this a new slate. Now I understand that in order to get to this point I needed to take the time to clean it.

Here’s the latest project for the Dream Love event coming up on the 11th at the Meeker Street Market. Another nice unfolding process from this one. I got wicked sick in the middle of its creation which it made it an extra bit of a challenge but challenges are always a welcome experience in my book. It was funny how the original style wound up getting resurrected after I thought it was completely shot down during the first round of revisions. It just goes to show that you never really know how things will turn out. Enjoy!

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For those of you who have been checking things out with Golden Drum, you might have noticed some posters that I’ve been creating. Its a nice quick turn around type of thing for an organization that’s obviously near and dear to my heart. It makes it a lot more like fun and a lot less like work. These two are posters for our community events that we host once a month. We invite the most talented chefs, musicians, yogis, speakers, and artists to create some really special events. I’ll be shifting gears to create more posters for dream collective as things get started up again. For now enjoy these! Here’s the invite to the facebook event page.

We’d love to see you! Peace.

“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 1929 -1968