Street Art in SF

I got back from San Francisco last night and got to see a lot of the city this trip.  I spent the weekend with my sister and I had an amazing time, could be a future home for myself, who knows though.  Part of the fun of this trip was as I walked around the various districts, I happened across 3 Banksy wall pieces all in the same spot.  My jaw dropped slightly as I have never seen his stuff in person.  The thrill wasn't so much in the pieces themselves, but more in the treasure hunting aspect of this.  When I was a younger gent, my Dad took me down to the beach on low tide days to hunt for shark's teeth in the rocks.  I became a nautral at finding these elusive objects which were sometime only a shard of a tooth.  Finding a whole one was rare, but that only stoked the fire.  I digress.  After spotting these pieces, I had my radar going all of the time.  So much so that I found another Banksy piece in Chinatown.  Although I didnt find any others by him, I did come across quite a bit of PEZ's work as well as a variety of street art in the Mission District.  Definitely going back again soon to do some more hunting.

X-Mas lights

This was the first time I have hung x-mas lights.  From what I gather, the weekend after Thanksgiving is when most peeps do this sort of thing.  I honestly can't see myself doing this sort of thing, but my friend Chris (pictured) thinks it will happen to me one day. 

"Just you wait and see", he says.

Hog wash, I'm gonna keep on being anti-decorative and be as minimal about this holiday as possible, not out of scroogyness, but mainly because I am more of a minimalist, which is how my pops raised me.

At any rate, Chris and I hung the shit out of those lights and I'm pretty sure people were impressed i.e. his wife and 1 year old. Boom.

Skeeter? Is that you?

Is this the Skeeter Jennings of modern folklore that this very blog is named after?

GOD NO.

This is the Skeeter from the mid-90's TV series, Doug.  He walked around a lot making honking noises but as a sidekick never gave intelligent feedback.  This Skeeter was worthless.  Why would you even begin to think this was the Legendary Skeeter Jennings? Because they have the same name? I didn't want to go here, but... you're stupid and you're insulting.

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This is a great piece.

I found a bunch of awesome stuff at Michael's when I went shopping for paint-by-numbers.  One of the things I found was engraving art projects.  This one is of three gold retrievers laying about in the grass after frolicking around with a ball.  The dogs look majestic and have a twinkle of youthfulness in their eyes.  The entire piece was already drawn on the sheet, then you take a cheap engraving tool and scrape off the drawn on parts to reveal... wait for it... GOLD!  I know what you're thinking.  Gold? For golden retrievers?  They thought of everything!  Anyhow, for $3.00, it was well worth it.  This little gem is being given to my sister as a surprise gift when I visit her in San Francisco next week.  She will be delighted.

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This is an art piece that was given to me by a person who I used to work with.  She was moving to Seattle and couldn't transport it as its about 4.5' by 4.5' and heavy drywall.  Not something you realy wanna lug around with you.  So she handed it over to me.  Its an art piece made by two artists from ASD.  I believe it's called "Race Car".  To me it looks like a robot slug that was attacked and all its vital fluids are being leaked out. Its true, robots do feel.

Genius

Whoa, here she comes.

I recently went to a yard sale down the street from my apartment and scored on some records.  These people were selling their stuff for next to nothing.  Ten records for $1.00!  I scored an original MJ - Thriller album, a variety of random 80's and two copies of Hall & Oates - Rock 'N Soul Part 1.  Ya, two.  so once i burn through the first record, i can do it all over again. 

Check that cover art. Two men arm wrestling, possibly over the maneater of which they sing.  Boy, I've been down that road, so I feel ya, fellas.  Personally, I think the guy on the right with the slick 'tache is in for the win.  Maybe its the rolled up sleeve, maybe its the slight lean towards him from the other guy, or maybe its the simple power of the 'tache.  It's like what Sun Tzu wrote in The Art of War: all battles are won before they are even started.

Or maybe its not an arm wrestle at all, maybe just some dudes bro-in' out.

You decide.

Hall & Oates - Maneater

Prices for lessons

So i thought it might be nice to have a reference point for folks if they were interested in lessons as to the cost and what i specialize in.  I have a strong focus in drawing and painting with an emphasis on figurative and line work.  I subscribe to the idea that in order to become a well-rounded artist its wise to learn all aspects  including the traditional ways of understanding how to draw naturalistically.  Some people are naturally talented and others require more time to draw this way, but no matter what, anyone can learn with time and practice.

My current rate for lessons is $20.00 per hour.  This applies to one on one instruction and for group lessons, it is $20.00 per person per hour.  Although a lot can be learned in one hour, it takes time to work and practice technique.  I recommend two hour sessions in order for me to critique and engage with you in practice.  I can also provide you with lessons or practice that you can take home and bring back for constructive positive critique.  

Email me through this blog if you are interested.  

"The Disintegration Loop" - William Basinski

This is a video frame grab from some footage taken about 10 or 11 years ago. Its of a spot in Laguna that broke, oh, about three times ever 10 or 11 years ago. I've never seen it do this again. Sure its not particularly impressive or mighty, but for a high school senior who hadn't really traveled around a lot, it would suffice. The quality of the image reminded me of the growing nostalgia for VHS and tape in general. This is a conversation I had with a practicing artist friend of mine, Ty Palmer (www.thelofiaesthetic.com) about how the nostalgic quality of VHS will never be in the same league as vinyl as vinyl as a quality and warmth to it that is based on sound and preference. I highly doubt anyone will be digging up there old VHS tapes and sit around commenting on the warmth of the scratchy footage.

This also reminded me of William Basinkski, a composer who took several pre-recorded symphonic sounds and looped the physical tapes together. He then let them play over and over allowing the tape reader to slowing eat away at the tape, thus disintegrating them. Nostalgic, calming and ultimately kind of sad and beautiful at the same time. There's an even eerier story behind some of these tapes, but I will let you discover that on your own if you like. Have some Jasmine Green Tea and kick back to the Disintegration Loops.

Unknown Pleasures

This is a painting I did of Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division.  Its acrylic paint on canvas, 18" x 26", made in 2007 and available for $250.00.  Its the first time i did a portrait using acrylic paint.  This painting is the only image i have on my computer at the moment of any of my work, but thought i should post it so people have a taste of my work.  I tend to work more with pencil and use line to express imagery rather than so much color.  I also gravitate more towards figurative work and the human body.  Like I mentioned in my previous post, landscapes and moods are themes i hope to develop and work on in my future work, using limited, possibly monochromatic, color palettes.  

James Blake - Limit To Your Love

James Blake is incredible. This video is a cover of Feist's original song. He normally doesn't sing free of various electronic distortion so its even more of a treat that his voice is amazing. I'm really excited about his music right now because in my opinion he explores landscapes and soundscapes through minimalism and purity of his various instruments and sounds. Prior to discovering James, my girlfriend and I talked a lot about how we wanted to create moods and utilize landscapes with our own art. Loved stumbling upon this.

Allow me to re-introduce myself, my name is HOVVVVVVVV.......

Actually it's Colin Carri.  

I'm a 28 year old man living in Long Beach, CA.  I spent the first 25 years of my life living and working in Laguna Beach, CA.  The OC at its most ridiculous.  Growing up in Laguna was a double-edged sword for me.  On the one side, its one of the most beautiful and surreal places I've ever experienced.  Near perfect weather 95% of the time, quirky and loving individuals sprinkled throughout the community, serene beaches with a coastline taken straight from any number of postcards or plein air paintings.  On the other side- crowded, expensive, and a virtual hub for snobbery thanks to a widely known MTV show bearing the same name.  Don't get me wrong, nine times out of ten, the former wins out allowing for one to bask in the perfection that the place is.  Its that rare occasion when the latter gets its grips in you.  I guess that coupled with not knowing how easy I had it lead me to make the move to Long Beach.  Despite being only 30 some odd miles away, Long Beach is culturally a huge jump from Laguna.  There's this thing called diversity here. 

There's also something called the Crips.  

Needless to say, it was a slightly bumpy transition.  


Currently, I am extremely happy up here.  I've been working at Arts & Services for Disabled, Inc. (www.artsandservices.org) for two and a half years and over the summer was promoted to Exhibits Coordinator.  Its a challenging and exciting position where I'm allowed a lot of creative flexibility but am forced to be something I naturally am not: organized.  I'm still very unorganized yet i'm getting it together slowly but surely.  I get to work with talented and creative people all day long, either with the artists themselves or with the staff collaborating on art lessons and show ideas.  You may be scratching your head at the title of this blog and hoping for an explanation as to who Skeeter Jennings is.  There's no easy answer here.  What I can tell you about Skeeter is that he's a creation of Chris Monroe and myself.  He will slowly reveal himself to you over time either through drawings, paintings, photos or drunken character descriptions.  So you may want to check back from time to time to see what develops.  One of the main reasons I started this blog is to provide an opportunity for people to contact me in regards to setting up art lessons (one on one or group), creating customized art pieces, as well as custom matting & framing.  Why, you ask? Cuz i needz ta get PAID.  Seriously.  I work for a non-profit.  So please pass this along to any and everyone you know who is curious about any of these services.  I don't have set prices as each job is customized to you and your needs, but I'm more than reasonable.  I will be posting select images from my student work as well as personal art pieces from my portfolio fairly soon. And if you are curious about the peculiar image, also, no easy answer other than its chinese and amazing.