The first was 2nd Saturday in Sacramento. Any Sacramentoan (is that right??) should know about this. An abundance of art, music and local shops all open into the night as the people take to the streets enjoying the festivities and food. The first time I checked out 2nd Saturday was with Dyno. He had scored a showing at Havoc Boutique during the event and it was well received. You can probably find the video on his blog, but either way, I was greatly impressed by the amount of energy that was shared that night. Everyone out there for the arts, the music and the local establishments made it feel like a true, grass roots event. I made some friends there and tried to set up a chance for me to display some work there myself.

One of the employees at Havoc Boutique, Jimmy, acted as my contact at Havoc. We tried to set up something for February, but ended up settling for March due to my hectic schedule. It was probably for the best, mostly because the weather was probably better, but that’s neither here nor there. Annnyways, Jimmy was a great host, doing everything from communication between me and the owners of Havoc, to helping me set up shop, all the way to just letting me kick it and introducing me to all the people he knew. I had a great time, and if you’re reading this, Jimmy, big thanks m’man! Despite your age, you were a real professional. Next set of donuts are on me!

Everyone else at Havoc was awesome as well and made me feel right at home. Big thanks to Micky (don’t know if I spelled that right) and Mary, the owners for giving me the chance, and the other guy I met there, who’s name I can’t remember (sorry!) had some crazy ass stories of shit that’s gone on since he’s worked there. You guys definitely made my stay a blast.

I decided that 2nd Saturday was a great place to release my latest print, titled “The Noms” here it is below! (as always, click to biggie size)

Sharks like bacon, right??

For this month only, you can get yours at Havoc Boutique in Sacramento for the on sale price of $20. If I have any left after the month is up, I’ll release them to anyone who wants to buy them, and yes, I’ll ship! I only made 10 so this is a super limited quantity of bacon eating goodness, so gettem while they’re hot!

Below is a (not so) awesome shot of the piece I did live that night

hmm… that looks familiar… Apparently they like donuts too… who woulda thought I have so much in common with sharks?? Annnnyways… if you wanna see some more (really) awesome shots of the night, you can check out a couple of photographers interpretations of 2nd Saturday. The talented Dan Rowan and Ivan Jerick (Jordan, let me know when you get your set up and you, too shall have a linky [edit: Jordan's Set]). I ALWAYS forget to bring my camera, and when I do, I’m usually too busy painting or talking or a combination of the two, to take any shots. So click on the links and make sure you say some GREAT things in the comments box.

This post is getting waaaay to long… So to spare you the trouble, I’ll update next time about the Napa event on Sunday…. Ciao!

<3 Mynt

]]> http://myntcondition.com/2010/03/turbo-weekend/feed/ 2 http://myntcondition.com/2010/03/outta-the-blue/ http://myntcondition.com/2010/03/outta-the-blue/#comments Thu, 11 Mar 2010 07:24:11 +0000 Mynt http://myntcondition.com/?p=283 My show hiatus has ended with a bang. I can’t even remember the last non IC show I painted but all of a sudden, I got a full weekend lined up. First up I’ll have a bunch of pieces hung up at Havoc boutique for Sacramento’s 2nd Saturday this Saturday. I was there when Dyno had

Oh yeah...there's more

Ahhh the holiday season is upon us. It’s a time for self-refelection and a chance to look at everything that you have and be grateful for life. It’s a time for family, friends, good food, and better company. It’s a time to stretch out a hand and help those of us who are less fortunate than ourselves. In honor of the season, Individual Collective will be hosting a special Open Session Saturday titled “Relief Package”.

Vallejo, and the Bay Area in general, is home to a large population of Filipino families, some who have relatives back in the PI that have been affected by the typhoons this season. While coverage of the natural disasters has subsided over here stateside, there are still many people that still need help to rebuild. With that in mind, Individual Collective is hosting this week’s Open Session Saturday to hopefully come up with some funding that will be donated to the Bay Area Bayanihan for Typhoon Disaster Relief; a network of Bay Area Community Organizations working to send relief items back home to the Philippines.

We’re looking for artists willing to donate a piece of artwork that we can sell in the gallery and donate a majority of the proceeds to charity. If this sounds like something you’d like to participate in, get at me and I can get you more information. (nick@individualcollective.com)

For the rest of you. If there’s ever an OSS to be at, this is the one. We want to show that our generation can move in positive ways, and help out the country that many of us directly connected to. We are asking for a sliding scale of donations at the door from $1-$5 but we won’t turn anyone away for a lack of funds. But seriously… $1 for some amazing musical performances isn’t a huge price to pay, just dig between the couch cushions or maybe order a tall instead of a venti for today. No matter how you slice it, for the price of an iPhone app, you can help IC help others. Hope to see you Saturday! (Go here for more details)

My lazy color comp:

And here’s what it looks like now:

Most of the time, I’m content with leaving a live piece as it is when the event finishes. I almost view it like a performance: What you do live in front of people is what you’re left with. But this time the concept was too good for me to leave it as is. I won’t post this in my Traditional gallery till I work it over some more, so hopefully in the next few days I can share a more complete piece with you guys. All in all, I’m really happy with the work SO FAR, and JToddO gave me a great compliment saying it was the best thing he’s ever seen me paint. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

I didn’t get a chance to take a lot of photos since I was so engraved in the piece (Shit, I didn’t even drink that night!), but I do have a few snaps you can catch in my Photo section. If you got any photos, and wanna send em up to me so I can post them up (you’ll receive credit of course), get at me via electronic mail  <nick@individualcollective.com> and I’ll put them up ASAP.

<3 Mynt

That’s pretty much been my diet for the past 3 days. That cupcake on the floor isn’t real… It’s Mochi’s squeaky toy.

Anyways, Tomorrow (Thursday) November 19th. I’ll be live painting at the Blue Macaw (2565 Mission @22nd St, SF), for an event called Preconceived Notions: A winter fashion, music and art event. Doors go up at 9PM and closes down at 2AM. There’s an $8 cover charge so make sure you stop off at an ATM… cause if you’re anything like me, you don’t carry any cash . The show has an immense lineup (see flyer below). Including four of us from Individual Collective: Myself, Dyno, raw*ul & Albert Lam. Also in attendance are the homies from 3 eye elephant: J.Todd.O, Chris de Leon and Ichii Ohryin. The 7 of us make up only about half of the visual art field in attendance, so you know it’s gonna be nuts. Not only that, but there’ll be a fashion show, and live music as well. Peep the flyer!

I spent a lot of time today trying get a sketch together, but since I was still under the weather, I couldn’t come up with anything satisfactory. Sometimes, when the planets just won’t line up for you, you just gotta take a step back from whatever it is you’re working on and do something else for a while. That’s exactly what I did… I took a nap, watched some old ass anime, ate some soup, and pet my puppy… I came right back to the project and nailed down a great concept, a decent sketch, and a good color comp. All within about an hour. So now I’m even more excited about tomorrow’s event, especially since I’m at the tail end of my sickness. It’s lookin like all systems are a go. See you tomorrow!

<3 Mynt

First, in San Francisco, I’ll be doing an event called “1 for 2″ Hosted by Toms and Shoebiz. It’ll be at the Noe ShoeBiz located at 3810 24th St from 12PM-5PM… Myself, Kris Mestizo, Shwin, and Ichii Ohryin will be in attendance painting pairs of Toms shoes that are sold that day. Toms already donates 1 pair of shoes to children in need for every pair sold. On Saturday though, ShoeBiz will be matching that so TWO pairs will be donated for every pair sold! So make sure that you come out on Saturday and do your part for this great cause and get your pair customized by some of the freshest artists I know! Below are some great examples that Kris Mestizo and I painted in preparation. Enjoy! (Click to Enlarge)

These aren’t bargin bin games either… I’m talking about Madden, Fight Night 4, Spore, etc. 3 bucks for a game?? PLUS you’re benefitting a good cause? There’s no more excuses to not be there.

Well that’s it for the events this Saturday… I’m filling up my Karma Bar from all the good causes I’m doing art for this weekend! Maybe a Cintiq will fall from the sky into my lap.

Make sure you go here to pick up more details about what OSS is all about! Tell your friends!

I myself won’t get to be there cause I’ll be in Long Beach this weekend running my 1st half-marathon (which is 13.1 miles BTW). I’ve been training really hard with a few of my friends and my goal is to make sure I at least finish. I’m kinda nervous, but at the same time time confident as I’ve seen my ability as a long distance runner improve over the past few months.

I’m noticing a change going on amongst many of the artists that I’ve been working with in IC, and I’ve got to say it’s inspiring. A lot of progression, passion and fire have been thrown around the studio in the past few weeks and nothing brings me as much joy as seeing my friends’ excitement escalate when they find something worth working on. It truly pushes me to do more and I’m so grateful to be surrounded by so many passionate people.

Anyways, as always here’s my next Stump update… not much, but I’m really feeling the details in the leaves of the trees. It’s cool to see it all come together now and know that all the time and effort spent zoomed in to 600%+ is paying off. When I’m done I’m gonna make an animated gif of my updates.. I think that’ll be pretty rad. Anywhoo….Enjoy! (As always, click to enlarge)

Friday, as you all know, Aldrie, Marielle and myself went to SFSU, to do some live painting for an event called SPAM! (Showcasing Pilipino Artists and Musicians) The crowd was wild and it made me remember my college days, even though I didn’t go to a traditional college. Performances were great, and even though I didn’t know the headliner, the crowd apparently went crazy for him. Our setup was nice, but they turned the lights out on us about an hour in. Luckily a fellow artist, whose name escapes me now, lent us a lamp so we could continue our work. We couldn’t have done it without him. Anywho Here’s my piece that I painted live! (I took more shots, but Blogger is being yucky so you only get one!)

My piece was called: A Great Friend Can Help You Reach the Stars. It has our good friend Stump this time and is part of my Stars series. I haven’t named the girl yet, but I’m leaning towards Matsuri, the name of my late Great-Grandmother… Matsuri is about 7 years old and somehow meets stump while she’s alone. They become fast friends and travel together across the land, having adventures and learning about life.

This piece is a commentary about all the great friends I’ve been lucky enough to meet. Many of which helped me get to where I am today. Granted I still have a long way to go, but I am grateful for what I have now, and I haven’t ever forgotten the people who helped me get there.

It’s painted in acrylic, LIVE, in about 4 hours. The piece is painted on two canvases, that when placed together, create the whole piece. I wanted to make it so each piece could also stand on its own, but I really didn’t sketch too much out beforehand so I think the top one ends up being much stronger.

Saturday was much more chill. Live painting always takes a lot out of me, so I spent a lot of Saturday morning recovering, and trying to get my feet back under me. In the evening, I went to my Auntie’s house and celebrated many September birthdays, my nephew’s and my great-grandmother’s included. After that it was off to the studio to attempt to get some more work done…. but when I got there, I promptly fell asleep….

Eventually, I woke up, and got my lazy ass back to work. Here’s the newest evolution of Stump:

One of the most major changes I’ve made to the composition, was the addition of Matsuri sitting on Stump. She looks on at the moon as Stump rests from a long day of traveling. Hopefully, she’ll be able to sleep soon. I wonder what she’s thinking about…..

After looking at all the detail I added to other parts of the piece, it felt like a shame to leave the leaves in the condition they were in. SO…. I went in for more randomness and details… which, in turn, adds a few more days till it’s finished. I feel like I really want the piece to end, but I keep finding things that I can play with… so on and on it goes. Artists that I’ve spoken to about this (like Chris de Leon and Sherwin) have told me to take my time and step away if I need to. They know what it’s like to keep adding and adding and adding, and these are guys that I look up to, so I take their advice to heart. I’ve gotten great compliments on the progress shots I’ve been posting, so that tells me I’m at least doing something right. I promise though… I will have a print of this guy for sale eventually. So to everyone that’s been encouraging me, you will see it finished sooner or later!

Sunday, we went with Melissa, Phil and Michelle to the Oktoberfest in San Francisco and that was a blast… Lots of beer, polka, sausages and tomfoolery… I got thoroughly sloshed. Let’s just leave it at that. Here’s my beer…

I sold my Samus piece (pictured below) to a gentleman from San Francisco, who happened to see it in the window at the IC gallery. It was one of my favorites, so I was sad to see it go, but I’m always glad to share my art with others who would appreciate it. So if you’re reading this, thanks Rick! With all the excitement from OSS going on, I totally forgot that I wanted to get a picture with him, but in lieu of that, here’s a photo of the painting.

Also, here’s my latest update on Stump. Filled in more foliage, grass and background. Also did some minor detail work to the character in general. Like I said, this project was from a while ago, so the early stages were more about cleaning up the mistakes and refining the look, than making any drastic changes. Anyhoo… Enjoy! (Click to enlarge, of course!)

I’ve had the misfortune of attending two funerals within a span of a few weeks and amidst all the grieving and sadness, there’s a newfound respect for life. I think every human, at one time or another contemplates his or her own mortality. These recent deaths have reinstated the dialogue I sometimes have with myself with a renewed sense of urgency. As I pile on project after project and goal after goal, I can’t help but feel like this a drastic attempt to accomplish as much as possible in my infinitely small time on Earth. Not that I’m going through it, but maybe this is the true meaning behind midlife crisis… The struggle to leave a lasting legacy, something immortal, that will live on long after I’m gone. More marks made as proof of my existence.

As my horizons have grown, I’ve come to realize that the world is a huge immense place, with billions of people living their own lives, with their own beliefs, fears, hopes and dreams. Upon that realization, you realize how truly insignificant your part in this is. THAT was my realization that my life’s affect on a large scale was impossibly small, and that more important was the the impressions I make on a smaller scale and the lives I could affect that were directly in contact with my own. This was a few years ago. And I think it’s where most of us stand. We affect our own little worlds because that’s as far as we can reach. It’s kind of a microcosm of how we’d LIKE to affect the world. At least for those of us that think of it anyways.

I think, in some way, that by not being a spiritual person, I actually value life more than the pious. The religious folk I’ve had the pleasure of talking to, for the most part, believe in life after death. That there is a second life when they perish, which is what they are working towards. That is the life of true value for them. Their existence here is merely a means to that end, a test of their faith, to see that they gain access to whatever their religion promises. People such as myself, though, have it in their heads that this life is all that we get. When it’s done, it’s done, and that nothing will be left of us besides whatever memory we leave behind. When you realize that all you’re given is all you’ll get, I’d like to think that you value it more. Every second matters, not because its a chance to prove your faith, but because it’s a chance to prove you EXIST in the first place.

I think this is why I try to do so much, and try to affect every person I meet. The term “validating your existence” is usually taken with a negative connotation in humor. I believe that in fact, it is our true goal. Once we realize that our time is temporary, we realize the need for the memory of our existence to be preserved. That, in turn, is why the arts are necessary. Why creative endeavors are so important. And why we should never balk at a fellow human being seeking to validate their existence.

It’s the proof of our inner thoughts. It’s the proof that we were unique. It’s the proof we were here.

Here’s your cookie: