sleep, electricity and art

Monster amounts of new work coming to your trembling eyeballs

2012-01-07T21:51:00.000-08:00

Ok, Here is the thing. I have been bustin ass making soooo much new work, it is going to make your eyes bleed. I wont post anything totally yet but I will say that I am really happpy with what I have been making. I will show you this though:

andI have a ton more. I am now in the process of documenting and photographing images.Most of these are for St. Louis, Some are going to San Diego. I am also working on Screen print designs and letterpress images, More work for bands and shirt designs for Texas Prints. No rest for the wicked. Also gonna head over to Chicago for a little while to check out some galleries and hang with my buddies Sara Jean and Joey Potts later this month on my way to St. Louis. One more thing... I have some how gotten addicted to watching Ancient Aliens. WTF? How did this happen? I am kind of embarrassed but not really cause who cares. Shit is crazy and then it gets crazier. I am also going to learn how to do fancy tricks with a lasso. Get some.

No winter in the heart this year.

2011-12-03T14:20:00.001-08:00

Ok Here are a couple of things.As some may know I am going to be having a solo show in St. Louis at Aisle 1 Gallery the end of January.

http://aisle1gallery.com/events/cayetano-valenzuela/I am also going to be in a group a show in San Diego with Thumbprint Gallery

Also there was a wonderful student that made a video of a studio visit and here it is:Also I have a piece in a new small press publication put together by Le Style Moderne. Go pick this up because it is full of some really great artists including: Conrad Roset,Camilla d'Errico, Brian Ewing, Chamo San, Viet-My Bui and many many more.

A circle of warm embers

2011-10-27T19:19:00.000-07:00

It strikes me that we are living in times of upheaval and uncertainty. I can't help but have my work influenced by the tides of contemporary culture. I have been spending some time involved in the 99% movement. I am friends with many artists and find it a little unnerving the absence of a viewpoint. There are a few out there that are saying something ( Eric Fortune, Josh Keys...). And perhaps more making work about it that has as of yet not emerged. I wonder sometimes if I overstep my bounds by having it be at the forefront of my thought process. Yet I feel like as an artist I must speak about the overwhelmingly corrupt practices of our leadership and corporate entities. I guess that I must use my skill set in order to make such statements. I have been looking at the way the Police behave and the media twisting the views of Occupy Wall St and feel an utter sense of injustice. I have slept in Zuccotti park with the people and talked to folks and I have done, more than anything, a lot of listening. I previously believed I had my politics in check yet now in the past month I have learned so much. The thing is is that I love this country. I have known that since high school really, reading On The Road. I had wanted to know the True America, the America that lay beneath the commercial America. The soul of the nation is only as far as your city limits I found out. When Melissa and I set out with a 1000 dollars on a month and a half trip around the USA we had no idea if we could make it back. I would NEVER trade that experience for anything. Seeing the people, towns and oddities was revelatory and I showed me what this country looks like. I had spent years speculating about her, imagining her, but to actually see with clear eyes the vast fields, valleys, mountains and deserts. It was during that time that I really looked at the people that populated the places I saw and kind of fell in love with everyone. The wildness of the people in Asheville, the kindness of the folks in Mississippi, the pride in my home state of Texas and of course the diversity all along the way. Everyone we met had something to offer and share. Each place had a unique feel but there was a common thread that bound us all together. I think it was sort of summed up in New Orleans a city I deeply love.Some friends of our with whom we were staying took us to a tiny bar were some buddies where going to be playing music and there in the dark and smoke there were just every manner of person there from suits to migrant workers to dudes in throwbacks and dusty punks in suspenders. Everyone was drunk and happy and arm in arm. I loved it. These are the 99%. We are the 99%

Work, sunsets, work, beer, work, funny daughter, work...

2011-09-26T11:39:00.000-07:00

Oh, how time just slips through our fingers. I have been making a new body of work and clearing out the old. The studio has been my home for the last few weeks. I will post some of what I have been working on but not all. This summer has been a summer of close friends and change. Everything is changing and I think that is good. Sad on some accounts but generally good. I have been thinking a lot about politics to the point of being obsessed. I think I have to stop watching the news for a while and focus on things that make me happy rather than the constant unraveling of our society. However it is in this era of upheaval that I happen to be thinking very much about America and how the braided culture is woven. For the most part I have been focused on the subculture that I am part of because it is what I know. That is to say punk rock, DIY, and other artists. I often view these subjects through the filter of memory. I must say though that it is a short memory, like the last 16-17 years or so. I guess that is how long I have been going to shows and meeting people. Now I feel like I have to go outside my comfort zone in order to describe the larger picture of America. I mean the stuff I am making now is not necessarily people that I have personal connections with but they describe some aspect of the American image. Wether in pop culture or skirting the edges of society, people and places stitched together are the great and tumultuous story of our collected American consciousness.

2011-09-02T16:45:00.000-07:00

Here is some new stuff that I have been working on for the last month or so. I have been moving back to oil so it takes a little longer to create images. Art is lonely. I have been hiding in my studio and listening to Mayflower, Another Breath, Rvivr, Menzingers and Nothington. I was able to get out for a little bit and see Another Breath's final show at the Lost Horizon here in Syracuse. I seriously felt so amazed seeing my friends just go completely insane both on and off the stage. I get really inspired by the punk and hardcore community. There is no where else that I feel that sense of brotherhood and loyalty. I am sure the scene is not like that everywhere. But here... among my friends... I am always impacted by kids holding each other up. screaming along every word because it means something to us. Something that can never be replicated in mainstream society. If you have ever felt that bursting in your chest, that electric tremor in your spine that climbs your arms and lights your balled fists on fire when the guitars are buzzing and the drums are quaking you know what I mean. There are a hand full of bands past and present that give me that rush that is like a healing collision of bodies and sweat and fury. I am so so thankful that there is at least a small scene where we are because there have been times that I have needed a show just to release some of what I have sewn up in my head and there was Kelly or Shannon or Ted that put on a show at a house, in some basement or wherever. It was like we all sort of needed it. Let me tell you, this past weekend all of Syracuse seemed to need it and Another Breath gave it to us. Thank you gentlemen.

New Website coming soon!

2011-08-13T07:35:00.000-07:00

So I when I was in San Francisco hanging at the (short lived) Artifact Gallery I met some great fellas from Wix.com. Some super nice and smart dudes. Wix is a free website builder that I had already been messing around with. I just started really putting a site together on in and I should be ready to launch in the next few weeks:

In other news I have been busting out some freelance stuff and working on some new paintings that I am very happy with. I don't want to show them off just yet. I have my buddy Joey putting his eyeballs on it and giving me some feed back. Check out his site:
http://joeypotts.com/

Also Melissa and I have just had our portraits taken by the amazing Keliy Anderson-Staley. She makes tintypes and we just saw the show that our image was in. BLOWN AWAY! The show at Light Works Gallery here in Syracuse is beautiful. This is what it looks like. Go check out her site.

Cool site

2011-07-21T18:31:00.000-07:00

http://coatesandscarry.com/category/artists/

Just came across this cool site with some great interviews.

Walk through at Aisle 1 in St. Louis

2011-07-21T14:55:00.000-07:00

Back in Black

2011-07-11T16:01:00.000-07:00

Here is a little snippet of the image that I am sending out to San Fran on Friday. I am pretty psyched about this painting. I haven't worked with oils for a while and I found my self remembering a lot of little tricks and technique that I had forgotten about. I will be getting started on my next show in San Diego at Thumbprint Gallery. I have that image all worked out in my head. Lets see how it goes getting the paint to do what its told.
Also I have been reading this book called Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland. Those dudes seem to be inside my brain. And even though some of the info seems a little old fashioned they are able to articulate many of the frustrations and fears I have about being an artist. Does anyone else have any reading suggestions? Books about the art making process or art Theory?

Lower Branch at 111 Minna

2011-06-19T15:20:00.001-07:00

Check out this show if you happen to be on the left coast around July 22. I am going to be sending out a piece to these fellas in the next few weeks(teasers soon). This show is Is the one year anniversary blow out for my buddies over at Lower Branch out of San Francisco. They are also working with iampilrim.org bringing awareness to human trafficking.

FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE

Something wicked this way comes....

2011-06-12T15:00:00.000-07:00

SUPERHEROES SHOW

2011-05-27T20:29:00.000-07:00

Philly rain and New work in the pipe line

2011-05-23T09:20:00.000-07:00

So a few weekends ago I went to philly to the Art Star Craft Bazaar with my esteemed colleague Mr. Bidwell. It rained all ever our prints and we found out that the tent we where borrowing was NOT water proof. Luckily Mr. Bidwell had had the for thought to place everything under plexiglass as a way to showcase what we were selling. That pretty much saved the day. We also had the rescue efforts of Scotty Gilard our good pal that lives in Philly. That young man was a life saver. He plays in a few punk bands that you should check out: Mayflower and the Hilites. That fella also made us some awesome mixes for the ride home which was cluch because I had only one cd for the ride down. I no longer have a working ipod so. We listened to our other buddies band out of Boston called the Wolves in the Radio. We cycled through that album like forty times.
Even with the weather being crazy we still managed to do ok. We packed up with out being able to go to the Mutter Measeum or some circus I cant remember the name of.

Speaking of Circus Mr. Bidwell and I are planning our summer Circus show. Here is the process on one of the pieces in the show. comments, feedback.

Show at D-structure

2011-05-11T18:18:00.000-07:00

So SUPERHEROES Show at D-Structure apparently went well and a good time was had by all. Check out the collection of prints here
Pick up a print or three.

Big thanks to the dudes over at Society 6 for making such a cool event go down with such success. If you don't already know the site go now and check it out.

MY SOCIETY6 PROFILE

ALSO, I just picked up some new prints that I will be selling over at the ART STAR CRAFT BAZAAR! If you live in PHILLY come and say hi and buy some art work to make your house feel awesome.

Circus Brain

2011-05-04T06:28:00.000-07:00

I have been going crazy working on the Circus Show that is happening in July rather than working on the show in Philly that will be here in two weeks! Yikes. I mean I pretty much am all set for that show but still I should focus more. The cool think is that I will be able to hang with a bunch of my homies that live in Philly for the weekend.
The Circus Show should be AMAZING! I am SUPER psyched that we've got The Scarlet Ending to play an acoustic set for us at the opening!!!

If you don't already love this band GET INTO IT! For real.

Also if you are interested in buying prints check out my Society6 pg:

http://www.society6.com/Valenzuela

More later.

New drawings

2011-04-20T21:39:00.000-07:00

spells are cast and ground work is laid.

2011-04-12T18:05:00.000-07:00

So my show is nearly finished hanging over at C2 in Syracuse. I am pretty psyched about the new paintings. There is going to be a give away of a 12"x 12" print of this image at the opening:

I wish I had done a process video or something. I am going to do that soon. I guess I will instead post a few preview images.

Things and things and also (things)

2011-03-16T19:43:00.000-07:00

Welp folks I have been a little feverish today. Right now I feel ok but I had some crazy dreams about my folks going into a dark mental institution and me and my sisters had to go and retrieve them. ANYWAY, My show in Rochester is coming down soon and I am going to be getting ready for a Show at C2 In April after Isaac and I get back from his show In San Fran. Also I am going to be having Stufffffff at THE ART STAR CRAFT BAZAAR in May so be sure and check that out.
ALSO Isaac and I are going to be putting together a show at EVE GALLERIA a newish spot that opened up and get this:
It will be a VICTORIAN CIRCUS THEME!!!
15 brand new pieces each and print give aways. I have this idea that I will build a wheel with lights on it that folks can spin and it will go around like the wheel-o-fortune wheel sort of and folks will win a hearty handshake or a print or shirt or whatever.

Lots of work to do and not much time to do it. YIKES! (FUN)

later dorks!

GAWKER ARTISTS.

2011-03-11T22:09:00.000-08:00

check this out yall!

http://shopartists.gawker.com/product/97171/prints?cl=36

FOX FUR

2011-03-07T08:50:00.001-08:00

2011-03-05T20:07:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of drawings. I have been doing a lot of illustration lately.

SUPAKITCH & KORALIE - VÄRLDSKULTUR MUSEET GÖTEBORG

2011-02-26T14:04:00.000-08:00

Rainn Wilson has an ARTGASM.

2011-02-26T13:50:00.000-08:00

2011-02-25T11:51:00.000-08:00

So I have a show up at University of Rochester right now. I had about three weeks to prepare so there is a mix of old and new stuff. I have been looking a lot lately at
Sam Weber

Eric Fortune

and the sketches of James Jean

I mean these guys are amazing. Those slow built layers and smooth dreamlike fades are the kind of stuff that makes you fall in love with a piece of art. At least I do and I am sure a small army of art nerds. I think that I am learning about patients as an art making tool. Building layers of wash is a real meditation and can be both frustrating and calming. I tried for a while to have a small blow dryer on hand but I found that to be really distracting. So now in order to assuage my need to work in a way that flows like a river I work on many pieces at a time so I can really take my time building an image. More like a glacier. So I can have a continuous work flow with out losing momentum.

I also find my self moving in different directions as far as style. I know what I want my paintings to do. I want them to move toward darkness and build light out of the shadows. Yet, I have another world that I am working in and that is freelance illustration and design. my illustration aesthetic is completely different. That kind of work at times can be more structured and more freeing. I feel like I am being pulled in five directions with that stuff.

I love to draw. I love the feel of a pencil or pen or brush moving in perfect arches on a page. where as with painting it is like I am discovering the process as I make the painting. I have trouble articulating what I mean. I guess I feel like painting and illustration as two different lovers that I want to create into one being sometimes and keep as far away from each other at other times.

Illustration for a client has the advantage of having a start and end point. The idea is communicated in a single piece. When I paint I feel like it is a life long exploration of philosophical ideas. That is not to say that Illustration can't transcend the realm of commercial work to fine art. In fact I think that line is constantly blurred. That is just the way I think of my relationship with these two ways of creating.

For a while I tried to mix the two aesthetics but they are just so different I felt that in deescalated my paintings. I guess I feel like Illustration is the everyday me and my paintings are the serious real me, the me I don't share with my friends even my wife. The ideas I try to communicate are abstract even thought the imagery is literal. With Illustration the idea is literal and the image is literal. Yeah, that seem like a good way to describe the difference.

In any case I love both disciplines. Both provide challenges and reward.

Lots of stuff

2011-01-19T18:58:00.001-08:00

I have been a busy beaver. I have been doing freelance for a little while now and I really feel like the ball is rolling. I am working with an international merchandiser for one of their bands, I am designing some shoes for String Republic and working on an intense album cover for my buddies band. Lots of work and I am getting ready to show a new body of work at C2 in May. It was originally Scheduled for April but then I found out that my buddy Isaac Bidwell is going to be having an opening in San Fran the same weekend and I really want to fly out with him so we pushed it back a bit. I am super stoked because we have been Art conspirators for a number of years now and it seems like we are both falling into the right track. Good news all around.

New body under way

2011-01-05T21:31:00.001-08:00

So now that I have a nice studio to work in and we have painted the walls, got our coffee maker, maybe a fridge etc. It is time for the new body of work to start pumping blood. I have been working on the idea for about six months. perhaps longer. I just have been so swamped with freelance stuff and indie shows that I have had no time to work on personal stuff. I also know that I must update my website. I am thinking of just redoing it from scratch. I will have to talk to my geeks about that.

Anyway the new work will be about the psychological shift that occurs at night. I think dreams and sex and drunkenness will play a part.

I have been doing alot of ink drawing lately too. That is partly due to a clever fellow I met a while back named Andrew Zangerle. His ink drawings had me cracking up. They are funny as hell. The way he draws with ink really made me think about the medium again. So I went to the art store and picked up some ink and started playing with it.

Picking up steam now.

ALSO CHECK OUT THIS BAND!!!!!!!

RVIVR

Another snowy Monday

2010-12-13T10:10:00.000-08:00

There seems to be no end to the chaos. I am happy and busy making prints getting ready for some shows and planning for the new year. I am going to be at the Utica Indie Garage Sale this coming weekend and Hopefully you will be too. Let us pray that the snow goes away by then so folks can come and get some unique holiday gifts there(IE. my prints). I think 2011 is going to be a killer year for my art. I can feel it in my bones. Get ready for a killer album cover that I am working on for the boston band Larcenists. I just know it is going to KILL. Anyway her is the design for the new print.

Tonight we'll set fire to the sky

2010-11-26T18:02:00.000-08:00

Alright folks, back again. I have been somewhat busy. Firstly I just moved in to my new studio on W. Fayette St. in Syracuse. I am sharing it with my amazing sister/bookbinder/printmaker Amaranth Press and Bindery. Its Awesome and spacious. The only draw back is that is is on the far side of the building all by itself. That my be good for somethings and crappy for others.
I have been doing some more album covers and the odd tshirt design for the Deftones NBD.
I also have been getting down with some screen printing and it is going a ton better than it had been. I am so stoked about the newest image.
I have a couple of sweet gigs in the pipeline IE, more album covers and Shirt designs as well as actual shows. I have also been selling some giclee prints of paintings and I will be putting some more on the Etsy which you can click the link on the sidebar or here

Here are some good bands to listen to from Syracuse area

The Brilliant Light

The Scarlet Ending

Salt City 2010

2010-10-24T08:26:00.001-07:00

Salt City 2010
Originally uploaded by cayetanovalenzuela

Salt City 2010

2010-10-24T08:25:00.005-07:00

Salt City 2010
Originally uploaded by cayetanovalenzuela

Salt City 2010

2010-10-24T08:25:00.003-07:00

Salt City 2010
Originally uploaded by cayetanovalenzuela

Salt City 2010

2010-10-24T08:25:00.001-07:00

Salt City 2010
Originally uploaded by cayetanovalenzuela

Salt City Urban Craft Fair

2010-10-24T05:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was The Salt City Urban Craft Fair in Syracuse and it was Amazing. We did really well. Sold lots of prints. Sold lots of my wife's Mister Mustache pillows and fabric paper. Also Strong Hearts Cafe was there and they had THE best fake chicken chicken sandwich!! Also Recess Coffee and Roasting saving the day with D-lisious coffee as always.
Carrie was there too and she did really well too. Everyone said they did really well. I can't wait for next year.

forest fire painting

2010-07-07T08:55:00.001-07:00

forestfirepainting
Originally uploaded by cayetanovalenzuela

here is a small painting I did yesterday. I have been working small for the last few paintings but i fully intend to make work like this that is much larger.

night painting#3

2010-07-02T08:45:00.001-07:00

night painting#3
Originally uploaded by cayetanovalenzuela

here is on I made last night and finished up this morning. It is a small painting I am going to sell.

Summer in Abandon

2010-07-01T19:21:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that I have been a little scant on the amount of painting I have been doing. I have been doing a little commercial work and actually turning down jobs. I have reached a point where I can't just do every job that comes along at whatever the person wants to pay me. So I am saying no and that has been liberating. I have been trying to get back to a way of painting that is more or less like my earlier stuff ie painting light in nightscapes. I am sure of the direction I am headed in but I am not sure what the destination will be. I just know that I am going to create work that is extraordinary. That is my intent anyway. I have been thinking about my best paintings and they always seem to be the ones that I begin and think "I wont be able to paint this. The image in my head is better than I know how to paint". In the end the painting becomes real. So that is what I am aiming for now. Painting better than I think I can.
Here are a couple of paintings that are sketches really. They are very small and I want to make images in this way but fairly large.

I have also been painting over old images which is sort of cathartic. I had contemplated burning old paintings but I think I will just continue to paint over them. One I am working on now is an image of a family on the porch of a house and I painted over the mother and most of the house to make way for a sort of lake side image that the children only half inhabit. I really want the images to sink into a fluid and haunting space that works like memory, with overlaps and repetition and so on. I guess I want fluidity and strange light.

Here is the work in progress....

Spring painting and cleaning

2010-04-22T08:13:00.000-07:00

So I have been printing and running into a lot of snags with this skull image. I am hopeful that tomorrow will yield killer results. I have been invited to be in a group show in LA at Miss Scarlet in the Parlor. I am pretty stoked to be on the west coast finally. I was toying with the idea of flying out for the opening but money is a bit of an issue these days. I have to save up for the summer with the baby and all I am not sure how much extra we will need. Any way I know exactly what I am sending out there. I think a smattering of my best small pieces and a new large painting I am working on right now. I am still taking the MARK 10 class bust getting a little disillusioned with it. Class nears to a close I don't think I have really learned too much. A litter here and there about resources but ...I dunno. The people are great though, thats my favorite part. I have met some cool people. Any way, here is a painting on tea dyed paper I did for fun a few weeks ago.

Drink Up Buttercup Flyer/ soon to be screen print.

2010-04-11T21:04:00.001-07:00

Drink Up Buttercup Flyer/ soon to be screen print.
Originally uploaded by cayetanovalenzuela

Here is another flyer I did for the Indie Series. This will be a screen print that I am doing as part of Texas Prints. That is the name of the shop that Ted Casper I and have put together. We have been busy and plan to stay that way for the duration. So far we have printed some shirts for folks over at SUNY OSWEGO, the Highlights 7" cover and shirts for the wonderful Jeff Rowe. We will be printing the Mayflower record sleeves and abunch more posters. That includes the Skull image from the last post. At some point when I feel confident I will also print the Kingdom image, I promise. Get psyched for screen prints!

skull

2010-02-15T21:45:00.001-08:00

skull
Originally uploaded by cayetanovalenzuela

Ok this image is really close to being printed. I have the paper punched and everything. This will be one of the prints for Hat Factory and will be sold in the esty store as well as at C2 on N. Selana st. in SYR. as well as Midnight Sun here in Oswego.

detail

2010-02-15T21:39:00.003-08:00

detail
Originally uploaded by cayetanovalenzuela

JEFF ROWE Album art

2010-02-15T21:39:00.001-08:00

JEFF ROWE
Originally uploaded by cayetanovalenzuela

knockdown cover art

2010-02-15T21:38:00.001-08:00

knockdowncover
Originally uploaded by cayetanovalenzuela

A MIghty Ship for the Dreamers to Sail!!

2010-02-15T21:19:00.000-08:00

So It has been a while since I posted but let me tell you the last few months have been full of excitement. My Daughter is now just about six months old and just starting to say words. She is just awesome!!!!
In any event, here is the skinny: I got into a class put on by NYSFA all about the business of art. In this class we focus our energies in order to maximize our potential as artists. Sounds interesting right. I thought so too. My sister and I are taking it together. Apparently there are about 6 or seven other sites taking the same class all around the state. Each group will be working together and with the larger group to promote each others work.
The only hiccup is that I haven't really been painting as much lately. I have been doing more illustration work as you can see from my previous posts from my flickr page.
I am going to have an interview in a french canadian art and culture magazine called Baron. they will send me a copy when it comes out and even though it will be in french I am excited. I sent them some nice images of paintings. In the last few weeks MY stuff has been popping up on blogs left and right. I am not exactly sure why but I am not complaining. FFFFOund, Icon-ology, blog22 are a few places that my stuff is on as well as being featured on a number of other sites.
Also on top of making some sweet cover art for bands that I love I am going to be making a movie poster for an independent film called the Discoverers. The folks I have been talking to about this movie seem cool and the movie sounds awesome. I have a pretty good feeling that the movie will be great. I am stoked too because my buddy and I just finished setting up our screen printing studio and we will be the printers of said movie poster. The run will be anywhere from 100- 500. Doing a run that large with four colors will be fun and challenging. I've got to say I am excited about this.
I have some paintings that I have yet to post but I haven't gotten around to taking nice pictures of them. Like I said I have been doing more illustration stuff for the past few months. Be AWARE: I will be rolling out a new print in the next few weeks or so through Hat Factory. It is going to be the skull image that I posted earlier with a hand drawn font in the frame. I have a feeling these will go like HOT CAKES. I will also do a color variant. I am thinking a run of 30-HF prints and 20 of the color variant. Not sure on those numbers yet.
Other than that I have been getting in to primitive skills lately. I built a bow out of Hickory and Black Walnut wood. I am also excited to have an Heirloom garden this spring/sumer/fall. Some buddies of mine are getting into bee keeping and I am going to help them build a hive box!

Lots of art coming soon.

2010-01-22T07:56:00.000-08:00

I will be posting a bunch of art soon. I have been doing a lot of illustration. I have also been making a Bow. like y'know wooden bow. It is awesome. ALso I think I will start posting some music from my friends bands.

beard bristling in the autumnal winds

2009-10-21T22:35:00.000-07:00

Man things have been crazy lately. Hat Factory has been taking up a lot of my creative time. It has its moments. There is a big indie craft market in syracuse that we will be at, or rather I will be at. Isaac B. wont get there till 3pm. I will be hanging with Teddy Casper and my sister Carrie so at least I will have company for the day.
I have been doing screen printing with out direct access to facilities so it is kind of a pain in the ass to have to depend on someone else to be able to make the images I want. makes me want to paint more. In fact that is what I am going to do. I miss the process.
Also Josie, my daughter, is awesome. Must say though that I am still getting used to trying to make art with a baby to contend with. I must also mention that when she smiles nothing else matters so...theres that. I am going to do this project that is a sort of illustration scavenger hunt put on by these cats in NYC. apparently they are going to put together a book with all the contributing artists after they have the images. Sounds sort of like the Hat factory book but with actual funding. Sigh.
Any who come check out the indie market in the old Case Supply Warehouse on saturday if you are around the Central NY area. Come and say Hi.

screens

2009-10-10T08:12:00.000-07:00

Here are some screens I have been working on for Hat Factory and Indie Series. I was going to wait to post them but then I was all like 'why'. Then I was all 'I'll just do it'.
So here are just a few of the things I have been working on.

kingdom screen

2009-09-09T19:27:00.001-07:00

kingdom screen
Originally uploaded by cayetanovalenzuela

This design is one of the first ones I did for hat factory. I am sort of scared to print it. it is five colors and I want it to be perfect. I am going to enlist the help of some friends that are more skilled at screen printing than I am at it.

The charge of the Soul.

2009-09-09T18:59:00.000-07:00

So I have not been painting that much as of late however, I have been doing a lot of work with Hat Factory. Been drawing, designing and doing some free lance work. I have made some posters for the Indie Series which is an organization for putting on indie rock shows at Suny Oswego. I will post the ones I have done so far and you can see how they have progressed as I have progressed at making posters.

This last one will get screen printed to sell at the show.

NEW PROJECT out of our ashes!

2009-07-22T12:45:00.000-07:00

HAT FACTORY PUBLISHING on Facebook

soon to be screen print!

2009-07-09T19:14:00.000-07:00

I have been doing more illustration than painting lately but I did finish up some paintings that have been kicing around unfinished for about six months the other day. I was going to take pictures of them but the are off in a show already. Hopefully I get a chance to take a picture of them before they sell. The painting called the primes that everyone loved at the last show got sold before I could properly document it. O-well. I got some pics of it that I will post in a bit but they are not that good.

Here is a poster I did for a the Indie Series:

So its a little old but I wanted to put it up here cause I think its pretty cool. The guys from Good Old War seemed to like it too. Melissa and I got a chance to hang out with them and play catch at Brietbeck Park a week later when they came back through.

Here are a couple more random things I have been working on:

art show

2009-06-10T07:44:00.001-07:00

The Gear Factory and rEvolution are having a Group show. I will be showing some new work of which I have no pictures of right now other wise I would post them. Anyway there is going to be a strong Oswego crew representing: Ted Casper (screen prints), Sarah Sec(Photography/emulsion prints on fabric), Isaac Bidwell (screen prints/ digital prints), Glenn Prior (paintings/ drawings), The lovely and talented Melissa DeStevens-Valenzuela (square format photography) and Myself (Paintings on wood panels). There are many other artists showing in this massive show space and free beer!! See you there.

NEW WEBSITE AND NEW BOOK!!!!!!!!

2009-05-26T16:02:00.000-07:00

www.cayetanovalenzuela.com

YO CHECK IT OUT!!!

Whisper the Wo...

Travel, Punk Rock, ...

By Cayetano G. Valen...

Book Preview

Don't worry

2009-02-10T17:00:00.000-08:00

I am going to be posting some new work soon. hang in there yall. There has been alot going on. Namely my wife and I are having a baby! you can read about it on my other blog Team Valenzuela! I will soon be launching my website!! For real this time. I have the files and everything. If you want to take a sneek peek check out the sweet dude that designed it has a version of it up on his site till I get it all set up. let me know what yall think.

working on a fable Illustration

2009-01-10T06:16:00.000-08:00

This is a rough version of a series of fables prints that will become available on a different site.

this blog has not been working!!

2008-12-29T00:44:00.000-08:00

So I had to switch back to the old URL for this site because it has not been working with the new one even though i went and got my domain name all set up! urgh! Ok. now that we have that settled for now I will now tell you about Hat Factory Books which is were I have some of my comics for sale. Thats right for those of you that don't know I draw and write comics. Go ahead.. go check it out I will wait.MY COMICS

I have sold a few and I feel good about the next one in the series. It will be the third and I have about 15 pages thumbed out already. I have a feeling it is going to run about 36 pages or so. the last two where about 32 each including some short stories at the end. Here is a little peek at issue 2:

Wescott street fair!

2008-09-20T18:49:00.000-07:00

The Westcott Street Fair is tommorrowww! I will be there selling paintings, prints, comix, and giant stuffed mustaches!!! Come and check it out if you are around the Syracuse area.

New spot to see work in SYR.

2008-09-09T17:50:00.000-07:00

Some of my work is going to be selling at Modern Pop Culture which is a pretty rad store down the block from the sound garden and above Scarab tattoo shop. check it out.modern pop culture

2008-08-28T18:41:00.000-07:00

Fun tunes for yall! This is Eric Ayotte .

100 Drawings

2008-08-23T07:22:00.000-07:00

Hey folks in May of next year I will be showing some drawings at Gallery nucleus with a bunch of prolific artist from all over. Daniel Lim, Kim Hutchins and Mylan Nguyen are the organizers. Also a buddy of mine Ty Marshall is looking to open a gallery in Beacon NY, which sounds cool. He spoke to me about an art exchange kind of thing with the folks here in Syracuse. Also I have a show coming down in Oswego NY this week end so Just in case you didn't get a chance to see those images here are some of them that were there.
Also here is a myspace page of some cool dudes in Syracuse doing cool dude stuff:
http://www.myspace.com/vivaevolution

damn what a cool world!

2008-08-17T21:30:00.000-07:00

Ok so It has been a little bit I know but I will hopefully be making up for it very soon with lots of good things. For one Hat Factoryhas a Show up at the Art Ass here in Oswego. I keep going back and forth weather or not I want to get involved in all the shitty drama of that place. There is like two folks over there that just suck the life out of a real progressive art scene really happing here. I do think it is possible but having to deal with all the red tape is not really my thing. There are good things happening all over the place and I feel like I should just focus my attention on what I really want which is to get my art out there and make real connections with artists I respect. This past few weeks I have been doing just that. I went to see Matt and Kim play at the Bug Jar in Rochester and who was there selling their merch but Sucka Pants! He turned out to be this super sweet dude. Genuinely nice and cool.
Anyway I had heard about The Swimming Cities of the Switchback Sea going to Albany and sucka was to be on the fleet so Missy and I planned to meet up there. And damn it was so cool and unexpected. I kind of had an idea of what was going to go down because I saw the images from Miss Rockaway Armada going down the Mississippi. It was like a dream appered out of the ether. We brought the fleet some vegetables and watched the show which was sort of a mix of Dark Dark Dark playing amazing music and Storytelling and a play. Gosh. what a cool way to live and make art!! It made me want to throw my life away and start new. I mean I want to live like a river rat. what fun.
There is a river that runs beneath this river and my eyes are more than eyes anymore!!

new shows coming up.

2008-04-18T10:07:00.001-07:00

Hey folks if you are in the Syracuse area there are a couple spots you can see my work at right now. First is the visual arts showcase in the Link Gallery located at the Warehouse on West Fayette St. and second an perhaps more exciting is a new vegan cafe soon to be open at 719 Genesse st. called STONG HEARTS CAFE. Go check it out. It is going to be really fucking stellar.

a few more small ones

2008-03-21T22:46:00.000-07:00

I will be participating in the visual arts showcase #63 at the Warehouse Gallery in Syracuse. I think the opening will coincide with TH3 (Third Thursdays). Hope to see some familiar faces and new friends!

some more new stuff

2008-03-21T22:41:00.000-07:00

these are small images and most of them are already sold.

here is some new stuff

2008-03-21T22:37:00.000-07:00

Red House gallery show

2008-02-06T07:28:00.000-08:00

Well the show went well. I got a pretty sweet review in the New Times by Jon Dufort. He was both insightful and eloquent. I have plans for a hardcover book of paintings. I think it would be a good companion for shows and something I should have done a while ago.

Solo Show Syracuse

2007-11-26T08:42:00.000-08:00

Looks like I will be having a show in Syracuse in either January or March at The Red House. I guess they are turning over a new leaf and having shows with a younger audience in mind. It is like a breath of fresh air! I am really exited. The guy who is putting on the shows over there is younger and seems to have his shit together. He likes real art not just art that looks like art! There is so much of that around here.
These are some images that were in the DEC grant show with Missy's Photography. I am starting to make the work from the highway now and man do I fee free. I have been holding back for a while in order to make the grant work. Wish me luck ladies and gentlemen. Thanx

2007-10-28T17:24:00.001-07:00

This one is a little differnt but I think I like it

2007-10-16T08:59:00.000-07:00

This painting has been a real mystery to me. I have been working on it wanting to put some drawing elements into it but it just didn't seem right. So I went with a more solid look. There is a bit of athmosphere here that I hadn't thought of before. I quite like it. Melissa was my model but I changed her hair color. I thought red would add a more sinister aire.

some new paintings

2007-10-16T08:54:00.000-07:00

New work

2007-09-18T07:58:00.000-07:00

I will post some new work very soon. I have about a million different images that will be forthcoming in the form of paintings on wood panels. Most will be based on the giant trip around the country we just took. Also new work for my grant project will be here shortly.

America we want your soul!

2007-07-24T18:03:00.000-07:00

My wife and I are leaving on a very long cross country expedition tomorrow. We will be documenting our adventures on my other blog entitled the Mighty American Highway.

http://teamvalenzuela.blogspot.com

Upon our return we will have a body of work to develope and show perhaps at Spark Gallery or other syracuse venue.
Keep a look out for it in the Fall!

newish

2007-07-11T23:34:00.001-07:00

new images

2007-07-10T17:46:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the paintings I have been doing on wooden panels. The last one however is an illustration I did for a book due out next year sometime.

2007-05-17T07:12:00.000-07:00

Floating Galleries in Syracuse opening tonight!!! This is the show I am right now as a featured artist. These folks are great. click the image for an enlarged version. Also there is another show in the begining of June I am in I will post more on that soon.

cool stuff

2007-04-18T22:47:00.000-07:00

I sold half my solo show!! Very cool! Got some cash money to make more work with and get a new tat. Life is very sweet. I am struggling to keep on top of my comic book though. I will post a few pages on here soon. The new book or books will be available at Mocca in June. Thanks for my supporters!!
ALSO~
Syracuse Floating Galleries likes me. I am going to be not only in the first Floating gallery show but I will be one of the featured artists. Neat-o.
The show opening will be on May 17th to coincide with the syracuse third thursdays(TH3) gallery hop. I recently meet some of the folks putting this event together and some of the artists. Real cool folks. The lady who seems to be in charge of coordination is soft spoken and sweet. There was one guy however, this austrailian muralist, he was kind of lound and his breath stank real bad. You win some, you lose some and I think that guy lost.
I am so glad to have my wife with me in this. She is a really great photographer. I think that she needs a gentle push every once and a while to make new work but when she gets an image boy she really fucking gets it.

New work on PAPER!!

2007-03-08T21:25:00.000-08:00

I am having a solo show this weekend in Oswego NY. Here is a sneak peek at some of the work I will have framed and ready to buy!!

hey folks!! ~here are some new images.

2006-12-03T23:33:00.000-08:00

Here are some new images i have been working on. They are not in any sort of order.
~In other news I just got done putting together the biggest show I have ever done. I was held at the Oswego Art Association which I lovingly call the Art Ass. We had really rad artists from Baltimore/ DC/ Rochester/ Brooklyn/ Milwaulkee/ Chicago and our local artists. It was really pretty cool. We had a lot of good talk circulating. My wife and I Just started talking to all our friends around the Country to see if they would participate and shit they actually came through! We hung 76 pieces!! Our buddy Paul Jones Jr. (A fantastic Stencil artist) helped us hang it all in one night!

http://www.stencilrevolution.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=121837&perpage=12&sort=1

We are going to try to put togther more shows like that. a combination of local and nationwide emerging artists. It was a lot of work but totally worth it.
~Also I am going to start posting more work on here until my friend finishes building my site. It is taking a little longer than I thought it would. O-well, I am sure it is mostly my fault. I am sort of fussy. Lindsey Manley, she is a great lady. She is basically building my site for some T-shirts and Mexican food. How could I complain? I can't!!

magic

2006-09-13T21:56:00.000-07:00

Can anyone tell me why modern magicians/illusionist walk around the stage like fucking douche bags? Why can't they be cool with out all the flashing lights and glitter and bikini girls. They should dress in black and give ultra severe looks to the crowd. Why can't things like this last?

the rest of the world

2006-09-11T20:33:00.001-07:00

There is so much to say. I am working on another magazine. It is sort of entertaining. I really want to work on my own which I think I will do soon. I'll just quit everyone elses endeavor and concentrate on mine. It will be called "My Life As A Machine Gun". i just need to get some really talented people to contribute. I mean really talented. abnormaly talented. I know a bunch of artists and writers so it shoud be easy but i seems that you can't really count on people unless there is $$$$ involved. That my friend is depressing. But then again there is not much in this world that is not depressing.
People are dying. That is the realest thing I can say to you. People are dying. And there is no end in sight. I guess I would like to be cynical and say 'who fucking cares the world is going to end anyway', but I can't help but feel like I am dying too. I have to fight back tears just thinking about what is happening on the other side of the world. I don't sau that as in I feel badly. I mean my eyes water and my throat feels like it wieghs about twenty pounds. I see news clips of people covered in ash and bleeding, mothers screaming for thier crushed children and husbands. This happens at the hands of my country.
My country. Those two words mean so many things. It sounds foriegn on my tounge when I say it but I get a deep sense of place as well. There is a part of me that wants to race across the middle of America Sal Paradice style screaming I love you to every boney young girl and every hunkered old timer I see. At the same time I want to crash cars into one another and burn down buildings. Maybe take a machete and cut a seam in to the midwest like a river and watch the tissues bulge and burst out like
red and pink cobras.

I find life difficult to cope with.

But i do it. We all do it. We pretend and white wash and shift focus, anything to keep the truth from our eyes. do you know plato's cave? Well we sit at the fire and watch the shadows move. If we were to turn around we would see our selves engaged in bloody carnage. We are the destroyer.

yo folks guess what?!?!?

2006-07-09T16:53:00.000-07:00

I just got my first solo show out side of the ones at college!! cool huh?
This is going to rule on top of the show I am organizing with my sweet wife in November!
I am just about finished with the mural at the record shop and I found out my employer for that is actually going to pay me! wow!
good times.

New web site coming soon!

2006-07-04T08:16:00.000-07:00

My buddy Lindsey finally agreed to make me a web site or at least tweek the one I've got.
I really don' know any thing about web design so the one I've got sucks and I know this. The plan is to show her what I've got and she will be like " what the fuck is this?"
She will them be compelled to create a really sweet web site for me because she loves me and I of course love her. She agreed to host me if I make her some sweet tee shirts so really it is a symbiotic relationship. This is how artist must work we support each other because we know in our hearts that the paying puplic will not. Phooey!
Anyway~ i will be selling all my t~shirts on this web site as well as paintings, prints, and my wife will be selling her photographs.
We are a husband & wife team. We are Art Tigers!

I sell these

2006-06-22T18:24:00.000-07:00

hey everybody (yeah right).

2006-06-20T18:02:00.000-07:00

Well I am fantasticly tired and I must pull an all~niter tonite. Yup Camp Hollis not really looking forward to being there but I am looking forward to seeing my kids. for those of you who don't know I work at an after school program one of the only ones in the state that recieved funding for the current fiscal round.
Any way I am looking forward to silkscreening some shirts and selling them at the market, finishing my mural at a record shop (my buddy John Roll is opening with this dude Colin it's called AGAINST THE GRAIN RECORDS), kris(stoopid ass way to spell that shit) showed up through perils untold including driving the entire way from chicago with out the benifit of brakes, and my buddy Rich and his love~dude Mark are coming to town. On friday shawn is going to come back around and beers will insue.
I think I will update this more often.

dude check out these dudes

2006-06-20T17:52:00.000-07:00

hey folks

2006-04-01T12:22:00.000-08:00

when nothing is new it is under the surface seething

2006-03-23T08:52:00.000-08:00

I want everything. I want to see everything, I feel it like a piece of lightning snagged in my hair. glowing in my veins like a holy devil breaking my vision , splitting it apart while I am at work whistling along the door frames and window latches. and there is a word on the end of my tounge ready to spill like a clean blade against the throat.
when I was a child I remeber idly peering at a newspaper left on the table after breackfast. I Started reading a story of an old mexican woman seeing the whereabouts of her missing child in the swirls of her cafe con leche.
Now I am both the seer and the lost who stand gazing at eachother across a river where the ultra-sugar of life is pouring back and forth.

Some designs

2006-01-17T22:22:00.000-08:00

Here are some of my illustrations and designs. I may post some more at some point.
All images are copyrighted.

2006-01-17T22:08:00.000-08:00

2006-01-17T22:07:00.000-08:00

2006-01-17T22:03:00.000-08:00

Long time in the ward.

2006-01-17T21:43:00.000-08:00

Well i guess first of all I had a really great time with my wife today. I mean I always have pretty good time with her but tonight it was particlarly fun. We didn't do any thing of extrodinary glory but sometimes it just takes a good mood.
Also I have been making designs for t-shirts to hopefully begin selling. I mean a have a few orders already including a request from the band The Elected to design a shirt for them {hooray}. How exciting?!?!? They are a really cool band and the guy blakes senett seems to me {in brief interactions} to be a musical visionary. really I think he is a real bonafide musical genius. Well, who really knows?
Anyway what I would like to tell you is how I have been thinking about light recently. Flashlights in particular. Flashlights in the woods. I remeber not to long ago having a dream where I was walking in the woods at twilight. There were others in the woods too but I could not see them. I could hear thier voices and the sound of leaves moving under feet. The laughter was scattered far in to the depths of pine and ash. I had been walking with someone but I can not reacall with whom. The sun was getting very low now and the feeling was that which you may feel near the end of a relationship or the death of your bestfriends sister.
My companions and I paused to listen a while in the cool dusk with our toes curling into fresh soil. We had been bearfoot I should mention. as we stood still the voices faded but we could see the beams of light pass through the trees like a silent disco ball was roaming the night searching for lost dancers.

Give

2005-11-23T11:41:00.000-08:00

In the kitchen with my wife I stared down at the giant bird naked in my sink. Its body pale and pink seemed almost human. I had never cleaned a turkey before. My mother always prepared the thanks giving foul almost in secret in the early hours of the morning as her children and husband slept. We would wake up and she would be putting potato peelers and dishes in to our hands and telling us how we can help with all the side dishes. She would have coffee brewed and some small breads or fruit to help sustain us until dinner so we would be so starved it would feel like "un tripa esta comiando el otro" as she would tell us in Spanish, one intestine was eating the other.
So now after my mother and stepfather moved back down to Texas my sisters and I remain in New York like the shells from a wave that washed our family to this shore and has rolled back into the gulf of Mexico. The long distance calls, The blankness on my tongue for Spanish and the longing for family gather tighter in my chest.
I place my hand inside the animal and feel a sense of honesty. This bird is dead and I will eat it with my family in the sacred tradition. I am honestly thankful. For centuries people have been a part of the on going cycle of death and birth, violence and peace, feasting and starvation. We are all a part of it. Being in the kitchen with my wife and knowing we too will die made my organs shutter.
Later my mother called and told me about the chaos of trying to round up our Mexican family into my grandmothers house in Houston. I told her how much the kids miss her and I could her the sadness in her breathing. She asked if I would give them big hugs and kisses for her. Of course. As we spoke I could feel that there was something she wanted to ask of me but it came slow and near the end of our conversation.
Someone had made an offer on the house.
For a long time after my parents left New York I had this sort of lonely weight on my shoulders and slowly it lifted although never completely. The house being sold had always been in the back of my mind but now it lurched forward with startling clarity. I had been very passive when it came to the house. I wanted my folks to sell it. It was what they wanted. It was their house.
My mother asked me to check to make sure the gas heat was kicked on because they just ordered fuel from Malones the local gas and water delivery company. I said that I would have to get the key from Viktoria my sister and I would try to get over there today. It wasn't till after I hung up with her and I told my wife that someone made an offer that I understood the nature of a house.
Even as I said it the tears came. At first I wondered why I was crying, was it the fact that I was not going to see my parents on this holiday for the first time or that the house was the last thing that tied my parents to the area other than us children and grandchildren?
A house is rocks and lumber, rooms and doors. How does it happen that over years we lived there we tie our hearts so closely to the shape and land it is on. It was the first place that felt secure with out having to worry about moving out in the next months or who might be coming in the windows. That sense of place and belonging was the greatest thing our family has ever gotten and it was my step father who gave it to us. He came to our family and I have always believed that he saved our lives. I don't know how our family would have made it through some pretty rough times with out him. Soon after he started seeing my mother he came to our house and looked in our refrigerator. It was just about empty and with out hesitation he gathered us up and took us grocery shopping. That to me was the moment we fell in love with him too. Having gone to bed hungry and not having money for much of any thing in those days taught us a valuable lesson. It also brought us close as a family.
the house has been our comfort in moments of bliss, frustration, humor and sorrow. The rooms like chambers of the heart pump our memories deeper into our souls and gave us a place to rest our heads in the midst of the chaotic seasons of adolescence. The bones of our pets lay in the earth around that house. There are drawings in the attic of mine and secrets messages in the trees in the back yard. There are stories of every kind stitched in the walls and the floorboards of that place. The story in the soil in photographs in blankets and remembrance.
I hadn't realized a house can mean so much. Now that that piece of our family's life may soon be truly over it is a time of giving and the house will not be just a commodity to be bought and sold it will also be a gift of a home, of security and gift of love.

Embers

2005-11-16T20:29:00.000-08:00

Turning on the stove this morning I grazed my finger along the metal ring before placing the kettle and feeling it's heat set loose the press of an idea that sits on the surface of my brain like a coin. A seminal realization of the sensation of be alive. It is near the base of the neck, in the back and slowly it bloomed across my mind filling all the blood vessels with copper. How ever I try to tenderly lay it on the table the idea is cold and heavy by the time it touches the cedar. The hot sensation of something almost lost along the interior corridors of my skull gives an electric murmur that halos the day. Whispers of fact and fable in the backyard that can never match the reality of actual experience.
Some forgotten season we children would sleep long into the day like cubs on the fold out sofa. Waking up with the blankets twisted around our legs and the sent of the bonfire drifting through the house would lift us slowly to life. Behind the trees the men would smoke marijuana and drink from paper bags. Thick lavender plumes dissipating into the branches heavy with pecans. And on into the afternoon they would speak about work and Spanish T.V. while we asked for their loose change. After a while the Texas evening hangs down on the bright clouds turning the blue into pink and orange.
My sisters left me alone near the house when my father started doing the only trick he knows. We had been drawing on a piece of cardboard with a broken pencil and when I discovered we could use the inside of the sheetrock that had been leaning on the side of the house as chalk. When my father saw me breaking pieces off he took my arm tighter than he needed to and sat me down on the grass near the fire. I peered around to see if there was any thing I could play with. Anything would do. It was getting dark but my eyes adjusted if I blocked the light. I spotted a piece of the sheetrock in the gravel, white as bone. Just as my fingers curved around it I felt the heat but not until my hand ached and I smelled my own burning skin did my arm jerk as if by some invisible force. There was a moment of disorientation when I looked at the simmering blisters on my finger tips. I tried to grasp how chalk could do that to skin. Looking again I could see tiny threads of orange glow beneath the surface. Deep inside the ash a hidden thermal heat lurched forward.
A sudden recognition or brief feeling telling us that there is radiance and warmth stored deep in the tissues of our psyche and even a sent can recall a moment of vital proof of actual experience.

2005-11-15T21:24:00.000-08:00

Blankets

2005-11-15T10:09:00.000-08:00

Day two of staying home from work. This time my wife speaks quietly in the other room because she is sick too. She is under a mound of blankets that nearly hides her entire body. The thick quilt that is wrapped around me was made by my mother while I was in college. It is heavy and warm.
I feel like we are refugees which I guess may be a sentiment many folks can understand. Being sick is like a being in a different country. You need those things that comfort you to feel at home in your own body. A lot of the time I camp out in my living room and read or watch a film. No T.V. though. I can't stand the blaring voices. My wife and I decided in college to do away with T.V. We felt it had nothing to offer us in the way of intellectual stimulation or the furthering of any state of well being. So now we are happy to keep ours in the hall closet and roll it out when we feel like watching a film. Today I do feel like watching a film I happen to have one that looks interesting called Born into Brothels.
First I was to recount last Saturday's skill share or at least one part of it. There was a man with a really great beard and strawberry blond hair. He was a man of fairly large size that had a smile that seemed to say "It is so great to be talking to you right now". Generally I am weary of people who are very sure of their philosophies and that was the exact picture of this man. He was leading a discussion about autonomous housing and how it is really real, and we can live an "off the grid life style" right now.
That statement pissed me off. Not because I didn't believe him but because I really wanted to believe him. However I am a young man caught in the inner chambers of a capitalist society with out a penny with which t build a capitalist mini society. You just have to get about $5000 and "BOOM" you can live off the grid. This is what the bearded man was suggesting.
after about half an hour of listing to him go on about Building a house out a fuel tank and covering it with earth to cut down on the heating bill and about how anyone who wanted to could come over and eat some vegan pancakes with them I raised my hand. I was excited to me it sounded like they are actually doing this. Yes it is possible. I asked what are some applicable ways to enact this sort of philosophy. How can a broke just graduated college student find a path away from the capitalist system?
Here is the let down.
He completely avoided my question. He basically just went around in a logistic circle and ended up back at pancakes. Then I felt just in having been pissed off at first. I wished there had been at least one small way he could say to get me inspired to make a change but as of now it just seem that a change can't come unless I have money. It defeats the purpose.
It reminded me of reading Daniel Quinn's book Ishmael. All the problems are being pointed out but no applicable actions are given.
Although it was kind of a bust on that subject the rest of the skill share was great. I leaned how to repair a flat tire on a bike, how to silkscreen, and I learned about bio diesel fuel.
my hopes are not completely crushed or anything either. In fact I think that I may go a visit the bearded mans place and take a look around and perhaps be able to ask more specific questions.

2005-11-14T20:52:00.000-08:00

Drawing

2005-11-14T19:13:00.000-08:00

My name is Cayetano G. Valenzuela. My fathers name. Starting today I will document my thoughts as well as things I learn along the way as often as I can. I have realized just how veiled my experience of existence is. Maybe veiled is not the right word, perhaps simplified or flat. I guess this is something I have noticed before. Today, though, it seemed a particularly sad event. I want to try to understand the nature of memory and the phenomenon of creation in the context of art. This is an exploration. I can't know what will come of this and I guess that is part of it. I want know what is possible with a simple plan of action.
So today I stayed home from work due to coughing fits that left me sore and dizzy. I made some coffee and sat down in my living room. Normally I would have turned on some music but I felt like reading so I picked out a book of everyday philosophy. After a short while I felt compelled to just lay for a bit. I held out my hands and looked as close as I could at the tiny divisions of skin on my palm. My skin was marked with red ink from a marker and some pen. My nails are rough from biting them except the one I shined and buffed with my wife's nail filer earlier in the day. It has blue and olive under tones that seep through near the joints and life line. There are small cuts on my thumbs and a fading "x" from the rock show on Saturday. Laying on my living room sofa looking up at them I felt a sudden sense of loss. Like I have been in the process of losing something very dear to me for a long time. Downstairs a city bus cast reflections up through my windows. Log dusty bars of light swept across the ceiling behind my hands making them appear larger and darker. I was reminded briefly of riding the bus home from school in eleventh grade or so.
I remember sleeping a lot. Everyday the laughter and cussing was like a static wave of sound that would lull me into unconsciousness. Over the course of the long bus ride through the forests and hills of upstate New York my head would bob along the windowpane while pairs of siblings and only children where dropped at the end of each driveway. Often I would wish there was a way to draw and sleep at the same time. If only my hands could be awake while my eyes where closed and my mind bristling with visions. If I could some how translate the sensation of vinyl, the need to hold the straps of my backpack or the blink of sun through the stands of pine as observed in the half dream state with closed eyes. I would think of the yellow of the bus and the yellow of a pencil. The grey asphalt.
Today as I peered closely at my hands I imagined to be able to see the infinitesimal atomic static that coursed along the surface of each cell like a new small life form. A drawing in it self. Then I thought of life it self as sort of drawing and simultaneously wondering why there was a blankness in my understanding for it. The utter emptiness of knowing the shape of a person's timeline gave me the same indescribable yearning as wanting to draw while sleeping. Perhaps we are all sleeping in a way. Our waking selves are not conscious of the complexity of experiences nor are we aware of our own sleeping mind in the vast sea of our senses.