Dear Diary...

This is the first entry in my sketchbook/journal from El Salvador. I was scribbling down notes for a forthcoming Wend Magazine piece. Stay tuned.

Conversation with a Drifter

Joe Conway, North American editor of Drift Magazine, drifted into Portland from Portland, Maine a couple days ago and we had the chance to drink some porters talk about surfing, writing and art, then actually go surfing Wednesday. As has been my fate lately, the surf at PC started out pretty junky and improved just as we had to hightail it home.

Joe wasn't too disappointed. Having lived in Portland (Oregon) from 1998-2006, he knew the drill. The valley curse is to surf when we get the window — not necessarily when the conditions are most favorable. We ended up switching off on the White Pony though and I think I made some breakthroughs...

The drive out and back in my stereo-less car gave us ample time to chat. It was pretty damn inspiring to talk to somebody who's pouring his energy into a passion, especially this salty one we're all so obsessed with. The guys at Drift are making it happen on little more than stoke and elbow grease. Here are a few of the subjects our conversation drifted to on the trip:

Stumptown Coffee (7:30 am)
Ken's Artisan Bakery (7:32 am)
Grain Surfboards (7:40 am)
Corduroy Art Gallery (8:14 am)
Korduroy TV (8:20 am)
Nat Russell (8:31 am)
Kyle Field (8:35 am)
Alberto Cuadros (8:40 am)
Mollusk (8:43 am)
Josh Hall (8:45 am)
Dear & Yonder (8:50 am)
Yasmina Dedijer-Small (9:02 am)
Mandala (9:04 am)
Santos Surf Art (9:08 am)
Mattson 2 (9:11 am)
Eric Mast (9:15 am)
Audio Dregs (9:15 am)

SURF BREAK!

Barry McGee (1:03 pm)
Margaret Kilgallen (1:10 pm)
Agnes B (1:17 pm)
Mission Burritos (1:21 pm)
Ty Williams (1:25 pm)
Ryan Tatar (1:27 pm)
Vice (1:35 pm)
The New Yorker (1:36 pm)
Salon (1:37 pm)
New York Surf Film Festival (1:39 pm)
Ed Fladung (1:44 pm)
Geoff McFetridge (1:50 pm)
Michael Leon (1:57 pm)
Fecal Face (1:59 pm)
Nike (2:07 pm)
Target (2:21 pm)
Red Bull (2:23 pm)
Hurricane Bill (2:24 pm)
Nau (2:30 pm)
Skinny Jeans (2:35 pm)
Black Diamond (2:37 pm)
Patagonia (2:46 pm)
Malloy Brothers (2:52 pm)
Malloy/G. Love Coke Commercial (2:57 pm)
180º South (3:01 pm)
Jeff Canham (3:02 pm)
University of Oregon Art School (3:04 pm)
Argyle Pinot Noir (3:10 pm)

Portland to Portland, sea to sea, artist to athlete, writer to designer, baker to shaper to clothesmaker. We're all pretty interrelated, when you look a little deeper at things. Catch my drift?

Subscribe to the free Drift newsletter HERE.

Borrowed from Steve McQueen

Woman: Je T'aime, Wave: Mois Non Plus

Size: 11" X 15"
Medium: Crayons, Water, Graphite, No. 2 Pencil
Price: $300 or trade for 6' Bonzer Egg

Translation of "Je T'aime, Mois Non Plus"
I love you, I love you, Oh yes I love you
Nor do I
Oh my love
Like the wave, irresolute
I go, I go and I come, Inside you my love
I go and I come, Inside you my love
And then I hold on...

I love you, I love you, Oh Yes I love you
Nor do I
You are the wave, And I the naked island
You go, you go and you come, inside me me love
you go and you come inside me my love
and then we are one...

I love you, I love you, Oh yes I love you
Nor do I
Oh my love
Like the wave, irresolute
I go, i go and I come, Inside you my love
I go and I come, Inside you my love
And then I hold on...

I love, I love you my love, Inside me my love
I love you my love, Deep inside me my love
And then we are one...

I love you, I love you, Oh yes I love
Nor do I
Oh my love
Physical love is a dead end
I go, I go and I come, Inside you my love
I go and I come
And I hold on...

No. Now ... Come.
— Serge Gainsbourg/Jane Birkin, 1968

My framed drawing on paper, along with the others pictured below (except for the Nat Russsel, which is now mine) are available for purchase at the Vancouver, BC stop of the Dear & Yonder movie tour August 6. If you're interested, talk to Andrea at the show, or contact me directly on this blog. A percentage of the profits go to financing the movie.

Dear & Yonder Movie, Music, Art and Tacos

Tonight! I'm really stoked to have my artwork included in a couple stops on the Dear & Yonder surf movie tour. Mine's the one on the left side of the flyer above (Nat Russell is on the right). The show takes place at Holocene, where good people will be chowing street tacos, checking out a great surf film, drinking cold beverages, and listening to the sweet sounds of Tara Jane O'neil. Rumor has it that Kassia Meador will be here to give away some stuff. Thanks to Alberto and Jeremy for making it happen and asking me to be involved.

The Details:

Tuesday August 4th

Holocene

1001 SE Morrison St.

Portland, OR 97214

Doors at 7pm

$10.00

21+

And another great poster by Alberto Cuadros...

And the official flyer (where my name is parked in the tube):

Sketchy

This one's called Pulse. I'm not sure if it's really done yet.

High School Surf Art

I've been hanging out in my hometown of Ashland, Oregon for the past week, celebrating the 4th and chilling with my family. It's been a great time. Tonight I uncovered some artwork from my freshman year in high school. As you can probably tell by who my heroes were — and the color of their wetsuits — this stuff's about 20 years old. Most everything I created that year were detailed reproductions of what I saw in surf mags. I studied each magazine meticulously and dreamed of the day when I could surf more often. I guess I haven't changed all that much.

MATTSON FAMILY ART BENEFIT FRIDAY

A few months ago I posted about this art show coming up to help the Mattson family with some heavy-duty medical bills. Well, the big night's finally here. I didn't really know who was going to be involved when Jair Bortoleto asked me to hook up with Jamie "Pinapple Luv" Watson to donate something, but because my family's been through similar circumstances, I really wanted to help out. Now I look at the list below and am totally blown away by all the cool people that gave a piece of their artwork to the cause.

Featured Artists:
Alberto Cuadros, Andrew Paynter, Andy Davis, Candace Anderson, Chivo, Ciro Bicudo, David Hanson, Droog79, Dustin Ortiz, Ed Fladung, Frank Cubillos, Heather Brown, Jair Bortoleto, Jamie Watson, Jay Watson, Jenny McGee Dougherty, Jessica Nichols, John Zane Zappas, Joseph Conway, Julie Goldstein, Justin Furniss, Kassia Meador, Katrine Hildebrandt, Kieron ‘Seamouse’ Lewis, Kim Nguyen, Kyle Lightner, Lindsay Preston, Liz Cockrum, Luke Taaffe, Maggie Marsek, Meegan Feori, Michael Singman-Aste, Peter Jackson Hussey, Peter McBride, Renata Morrone, Rick Albano, Ryan Tatar, Serena Mitnik-Miller, Scott Massey, Scott Szegeski, Ted ‘Clayfin’ Gallup, Theo Hetherington, Thomas Campbell, Tiffany Campbell, Todd Stewart, Troy Dockins, Ty Williams and Yusuke Hanai.

Mattson Family Art Benefit

Friday, June 26 - one night only!

Surfindian
4658 Mission Blvd., Pacific Beach, California
858.412.5334

Music by the Mattson 2

 with special guest Ray Barbee!

Silent Auction 7pm - 9pm

Art to be "in hand" to winning bidder by 9:30pm


100% of the proceeds will go to the Mattson family.

$5 suggested donation at the door





Surfindian is a constantly evolving art project and retail store focused on the art of surfing. Surfindian features surf-themed art, apparel, film, books, and jewelry, as well as fine hand-shaped surfboards, fins and other surfing accessories. Surfindian is located at 4658 Mission Boulevard, in the heart of Pacific Beach, California. The store phone number is 858.412.5334. For directions and other information, please visit www.surfindian.com, and follow the link to the blog.

Wanna see what I donated (and some more of my scribbles)?

R.A.D!

Painting for the Mattson Family Benefit Art Show

Here's my finished painting for the Mattson Family Benefit Art Show. It's a sign you can hang on your door, your cubicle, or the wall of your treehouse when you go surfing. I've always liked those corny signs and bumper stickers that say "Gone Surfin," "Gone Fishin," "Gone Rollerblading," or whatever and I've done a few here and here for fun, which friends have turned into screensavers.

This piece is painted in acrylic on wood, with some paint pen details. I drilled a couple holes in the top and threaded rope through to hang it. It comes with a big nail. If you're interested in purchasing this, it'll be available at the upcoming silent auction, details to follow. The money is going to a great cause. Read more about that here.

For those who don't know who the Mattson 2 are, here's a video of them doing their thang:

SECRET STUDIO

It's hidden in my basement. A few new projects have inspired me to spend some time down here again. I've been working on a computer so long I almost forgot how good it feels to make a mistake and not be able to delete it.

Went Surfin'

Finally went surfing again yesterday after a couple weeks in drydock. Thankfully, the conditions were cooperative. It was offshore and overhead on the sets with pretty long lulls, but if you were patient, the cold wait paid off. I parked myself on a left (of course) and got a couple that walled up and gave me some really memorable rides. I had enough time to draw out the bottom turn longer on each wave, dragging my hand along the surface, then coming off the top where the lip was feathering and cut back to the bottom, closer and closer to the foamball. Repeat. Repeat.

It was a blast.

The water was colder than I've felt it in a while and the wind was icy. But as I metioned before, this has been the best winter for surf I've ever experienced.

*The "sign" above is a sketch for something I'm working on for the Mattson Family benefit show. See the link in the previous sentence for details. If you're an artist, I encourage you to donate some work to the show. My freelancing wife and I have dealt with incredible medical bills as a result of cancer treatment and I cannot imagine how hard it must be to have two people battling the disease and the costs of care at the same time. C'mon Obama, let's fix the health care system in this country so self-employed people unfortunate enough to get sick aren't faced with the double-whammy of financial destitution as the result of their bad luck.

Santos SurfArt II

Top: The Surf Museum in Santos, Brazil. Bottom: My watercolors, alongside such great company as Joe Curren (left), Sandow Birk (top center), and Guilherme Tonelli (right).


I'm so honored to have participated in the Santos SurfArt show in Brazil this year. The photos on the website, curated by Jair Bortoleto, do a great job showing how awesome the event must've been, and also twist the dagger a little because I couldn't make it down there on a technicality (no visa).

But who knows? Maybe the show will happen again next year and I'll plan for it a little better -- or maybe it will travel to other exotic surf locations (Ed?)... What a great opportunity.

Thanks, Jair!

FETCH FRIENDS

imm O rtalized

My "o-face" was recently immortalized as part of Patchie's series of surf blogger illustrations. Posted the day before the election, I wonder if my expression was an omen for the O-man's victory.

You know, hanging out at Doug Fir the other night, one thing became crystal clear: Hope makes people horny. Seemed like everybody was either making out or trying to get some post-election action. Long live love.

Thanks, Patch...

New Drawings

Wednesday 9.28pm

Wednesday 9.42pm

Wednesday 10.10pm

Sissyfish in Brasil

I'm incredibly stoked to be a part of the upcoming Santos Surf Art II art festival on the beautiful coast of Sao Paulo, Brasil. This is a country I've always dreamed of visiting, and now at least my drawings will be making the pilgrimage to paradise... Lucky art!

My art is also lucky because it will be hanging near some of my heroes, who you can see by enlarging the Nat Russell-drawn poster above. Albe "Morning of the Earth" Falzon? Andrew "Litmus" Kidman? Jamie "We Approach Our Martinis With Such High Expectations" Brisick? Sea "The Guy Who Did My Blog Banner" Mouse? And that's just to name a few!

The event is taking place from January 20-26, and if you want to read more about it, head to the Santos Surf Art Blog, where I'm currently experiencing my 15 minutes of fame.

Special thanks to Jair, the super-cool, super-talented guy who's organizing the whole thing. Who knows, maybe I'll figure out a way to make the trip after all...

(If you want to see some examples of my artwork that's been featured on this blog, click HERE.)

Support Surfrider and Sissyfish!

A few months ago, Ian from Wend Magazine asked me if I had any artwork that I'd like to include in the Surfrider Foundation benefit art show at the Lizard Lounge in Portland's Pearl District. I was going to do some digital prints of Sissyfish surf art, but instead opted to frame up this original painting/drawing I did in Nicaragua. It's a picture I drew right after a session at the very hollow Playa Colorado beach break, done in Caran d' Ache watercolor crayons (with some sand from the beach there probably mixed in). I'm asking $300 for it, half of which goes to Surfrider. Also for sale there are the infamous "G*s Ch*mb*rs" tees that were the subject of much debate HERE. Those are hand-signed on the bottom hem. They are $20 with half going to Surfrider. The show opened tonight, and unfortunately I was out of town, but stop by and check out some cool surf art. If you're interested in the painting, I'll ship it. Just let me know. Happy 4th of July!

Overhead and Classy

Look up. Notice something different? I got a nice surprise in the comments section of my last post - a custom Pinniped version of the Sissyfish banner, courtesy of Seamouse! I love it, man. The Swallow Tail Society blog has featured some great original banner art since its inception, and now I'm thinking that all us "surf artistes" in blogland should start trading banners...
Check out the Pinniped Studios blog for more amazing surf-inspired art (like the knight above), straight outta da UK. Then go buy a tee-shirt at Uber.

Surf in Art: Bwana Spoons

I've been a fan of Bwana's since I met him at his little store/gallery Grass Hut here in Portland. His drawing style is really inspirational... I especially love looking through the little mini comic he makes called "Soft Smooth Brain" where beardy dudes like the artist himself reside. I don't know if he really surfs, but waves, surfers and sea life appear in much of his work.

He even did an art show called "Welcome to California" with Grass Hut co-proprietor Scrappers with a killer flyer where the artists are getting shacked in tandem. That's Bwana in the front. Nice.



If you're doing some Christmas shopping, stop by his website or the store and buy some art, or maybe even a pair of killer sneakers!

David Bowie - Kooks
(This weird Libertines shrine video is all I could find with Bowie's original Kooks.)