Artistic Inspiration

April Showers

Hey there Sports Fans, Al here with the latest:

So, the beginning of April started off to a crazy start for me, as another of my pieces sold within the first week of being up. I've been pretty fortunate to have such a quick turnaround for the shows that I have been in.

All Pieces that sold at the Goodfoot Lounge.

Images from the sold pieces from the Goodfoot Lounge Show, January 2025.

That means that a lot of the money that I have collected has immediately been used to resupply art materials (more boards and etching tools, varnish, wood glue, and wooden frames).

Posing with my piece while in my work uniform - how mortifying.

Target Earth Add Ons 2 - placement. A photo taken about 20 minutes after piece left the show.

More large-scale prints have been made and are available to be shown at more shows in the future.

Large Scale Prints 18”x24” from Pearl Printing.

I am excited by this process because even though there has been a lot of movement in the work over the last couple of months, I know that the cost is still something that people bite their collective tongues on.

Ouch.

Also, there has been a huge increase in productivity for the work. Lots of new imagery and concepts are being explored. It's as if a dam had broken open and spilled out with wild out-of-this-world ideas.

T-shirts and magnets are the thing! Currently, I have been working with Stickermule.com to produce both. The new “Flick the Switch” tee and magnets (of the same image). The magnets are something new to the list of items that I have been working on.

Flick the Switch T-shirt design https://www.stickermule.com/dff417293639371/item/17510210

In Other News:

Possible job as a curator.

Now this is a concept for me that I had played around with. Over the years I have watched closely how art shows were and have been done in the past from several other places around the Portland metro area and a few other galleries in the Washington State area.

There are several common themes and then there are a few items that change depending on the curator.

Chris Haberman and Jason Brown had putting on group shows for years by the time I moved to Portland. All great group shows gave any artist the chance to present your creations.

Joey Mass was the first. He saw the potential in the work that I was doing for Habberman and Brown in the group shows. And based upon that drive gave me my first solo show.

But there was something else I wanted to do while creating. Curating.

So I started to take notice of other galleries that I had been to around town (Bite Studios or the Guardino Gallery, Verum Ultimum Art Gallery) I noticed the way shows have presented the work.

All this comes down to the choice of stepping onto the stage.

I am keeping a bunch of things close to the vest as I begin my pitch for doing something

AND NOW SOME OTHER SHOW NEWS:

Within this week (the 18th of April to be specific), I do have another show going up this week. The majority of the 18”x24” Pasquinade Project pieces, along with others that have been completed at the end of the Goodfoot Show run, will be going up at a new place here in Portland called Flattop and Salammander.

The outside of the Flattop and Salamander Cafe.

What’s unique about this place is that the show will be up for a couple of months. Unlike other shows that I have been in the time of place is open 7 days a week but from 8AM till 3PM. so most of my regular show attendees probably won’t be able to come to the show. Like me, most of them are 9-5 Monday through Friday with the weekends scheduled with their pets and /or kids.

But a different kind of crowd might be just thing that pushes the work forward.

Blue Dog Group

Hey there, sports fans, Al here with the latest;

It’s been a while since I have added a blog to the webpage but I figured I should probably do something because I’ve been so stuck doing artwork of recent times that I haven’t been able to spend a lot of time talking about our new productions on new material.

I don’t usually get into the politics game on anything with anybody because I think it’s a waste of time in my personal opinion - everybody gets so wrapped up in their opinions of who does what.

Makes me crazy.

But instead of falling on someone's sword I decided to throw my hat into the political ring, and state this - I want Blue the Bulldog to be my candidate, so it was with great fondness that I managed to get a great snapshot of him and turn it into a piece of artwork, along with a top hat that Uncle Sam would be proud of, and now lo and behold there is a T-shirt with that says "a Vote for Blue is a vote for you!".

I can’t do any better than that. I also have some pins made of the same thing (image) with just Blue's head on a couple of items. Blue Pin Finished is one item that just got placed up. I'm hoping to have these ready to sell here within the next couple of weeks at my store Alan Bennett on Stickermule. Hopefully, I’ll be able to link the link in and you’ll be able to go directly to Sticker Mule to buy your shirt there if you want. Anyway, there you go some new stuff as always and fun to design. I’ve got new artwork coming your way with some new 8" x 8" images that are gonna be hopefully ready for another show a little bit later this year when it happens I will give you the heads up.

The Blue the Bulldog pin. Swag that is being added to the t-shirt collection.

Thanks, Alan.