After a long day of webinars & work meetings, I was happy to end the day hanging out and painting with friends at Meeting of the Minds. That's where artists and non-artists meet up, are randomly paired, and paint a single canvas together. They're always a lot of fun and laid-back—a great way to end the night.

After a long day of working in front of the computer I got the urge to start painting a new canvas. I had one lying around that I'd been wanting to paint over. I got the hankering after Meeting of the Minds on Wednesday night. I really liked the way my canvas came out that night and I wanted to do it again but on my own.

After work today I met up with the Meeting of the Minds group for a fun painting session. It's a group of artists that get together once a month and are paired up at random and take turns painting a canvas. Tonight I was the odd man out, painting by myself until another artist arrived, Jessica. We both worked the canvas below.

I spent hours today looking for alternatives to the shirts I wasn't able to buy, either because they were out of stock or had to be bought by the case. Then I emailed  those alternatives to everyone whose custom orders were affected. Now I'm waiting on their replies. Today was also my install appointment for two new tires. The old tires, one had a big crack in the sidewall, both had tread that was pretty low. While I waited on my tires I started researching my first assignment from work, using CRM (customer relationship management) software. At night I went to Meeting of the Minds, where artists get together then partner up to paint a canvas. I wasn't going to paint, just hang out, but then a local artist Chuck invited me to work on the canvas he'd been painting by himself. Busy day!

My idea for the live outdoor art activation on June 26th has been approved so I'll be moving forward with it. Next on the agenda is getting the supplies and figuring out how I'm going to set up. It's going to be a small 4'x8' paint-by-number mini-mural where passerby's can jump in and paint. I was invited to do this by the amazing folks at Local Color, San Jose's own arts non-profit. That's all I have to share about the project & event for now. More details to come!

I was going through old pictures yesterday and today and found some cool process pictures from when I made my Cells MK2 painting. I completely built it out in Adobe Illustrator before painting the panel. I also had to take a headshot today and I worked a little more on my Sticker Monster collage. It's got fangs now.

I dropped off the skull this afternoon at Local Color for their fundraising event on the 31st. It was a little hard giving it up after working on it intently for the last two and a half weeks but only spending one day with it after completion. It was so tired after all that work that I went straight to bed when I got back home and took a nap. Now I gotta get back to all the stuff I'd been putting off these last few days, like my Inktober drawings. I've missed the last 3 days but I will make them up. I already have the sketches I just need to ink and upload them.

I did all the touch ups and gave it a matte clear coat today. This thing is pretty AF! I wish I could keep but instead I'll be dropping it off at Local Color for the 31 Skulls fundraiser event where a lucky winner will take this, or another skull painted by a local artist, home with them.

Buy tickets here. The event, and drawing, will be held virtually on October 31st

It took me all day Sunday, and well into Monday morning, but I finally painted the last set of colors on my Cells Skull. It's due later today but I still need to do some touch ups and give it a clear coat. I'm hoping I can spend some time with it when it's completely finished before handing it off to Local Color for the 31 Skulls Fundraising Event.

Tickets are available here for $10 each and the more tickets you buy the more chances you have to win my skull or one of the other 30 skulls painted by local San Jose artists.

The skull I'm painting looks creepy when it's all masked off and covered in paint and gets prettier & prettier every time I unwrap it. I have one more day and three more colors before I have to turn it in to Local Color for the 31 Skulls fundraising event where a lucky winner will take home my finished Cells-Skull piece. 

I spent most of the day working on the skull and a few hours on the drawing.

Today I prepped the ceramic skull by first spraying it with a clear fixative so the pencil lines don't fade or smudge from constantly handling and applying & removing masking tape. After the fixative dried I masked off everything except for cells I was painting and propped the skull on the wooden bar I'm using as a stand. When I set it down I heard a crack. After painting the first color then removing the masking tape I saw that a pieces had chipped off and stuck the tape. Luckily it only broke into 3 parts and not a million tiny pieces so I glued them back on. I also poured glue inside the skull and let it coat the inside where it broke. That was all for today. Tomorrow I'll sand it down and continue painting. Thank god I didn't totally fuck it up. My Inktober drawing for Day 6 is based on today's mishap. 

Today my friend Catrina hosted a paint party at Orange Moon Salon in San Jose. It was my first time and I've been wanting to do one for a while. Our buddy Joey also came to paint. Catrina did a great job, so did Ruth & Kenny, the owners of the salon, being awesome hosts. It was a lot of fun and it kinda made me want to paint canvases again.

Tonight I attended my first Meeting of the Minds session where artists are randomly paired to work together on a single canvas together. I was paired with local artist Al Preciado and we ended up with three canvases at the end. It was a lot of fun catching up with old friends and making new ones. It's a monthly thing and I look forward to doing it again in the future.

I took a bunch of photos while I was working on my first Cells painting years ago. I knew I wanted to make something with the photos afterwards so I made a time-lapse of the cells multiplying from the center out (starts at the 1:22 mark) Everything leading up to that is the painting process, cans I used, my workspace, feral kittens, and notes that I scrawled everywhere including the cans.

Here are a few details about the piece: The red can of MTN 94 is only used once as a 5 sided shape in the center. Everyone other color was used multiple times to make 5 & 6 sided shapes until they bled off the sides. I made sure no shape was touching, or too close to the same color shape, so they're all spread out evenly. The 2nd large scale Cells painting I made (Cells MK2) looks very similar but I used a completely different process. For the second one I mapped it all out on my computer first then painted one whole set of the same color at a time. 

I originally posted this on an old YouTube which is still up bit no longer active. Before using the alias Frankie Mcfly I used the handle I Draw Weird Stuff. The song I used is "Singing' In The Rain" by Mint Royale (used without permission) and it synced up almost too perfect.

I came up with the paintbrush holder (the M shaped one with the two feet) a few years ago when I was working on a canvas. I needed something to set my brush down and not get paint everywhere. I don't know how I got the idea to bend a paperclip but it worked out great. Recently, while working on Head Thing 2, I made another brush holder then came up a second design (triangle base) that was a little easier to make. Super simple and practical. I love that shit.

I recently posted these pictures on my Insta and said I might be revisiting & finishing them soon. The characters in the picture on the left were drawn with oil markers. The middle piece was done in spray paint and the canvases in the right picture are brushed on acrylics. Some are over 6 years old. I used to display them at my booth at Subzero but didn't sell any. They also kept getting damaged from always moving them around so I left them as-is. I might have an opportunity to display them all which means I need to finish them and maybe make more.

I went to check out a space today for a possible art show next year. Nothing's official, so I won't share any more details other than it's in downtown San Jose. This is really exciting. I'll share more as things progress. 

The pics below are from my last, and only, solo art show at my brother's old studio. I took the pics the night before, when I finished hanging everything. I forgot what year it was. It might have been 10 years ago now.

I didn't finish my drawing for day 9. I did one rough sketch (left) and redrew it (center) so I can ink it tomorrow. It's based on an old painting of mine. I gotta get up in 3 hours so I'm going to bed now...