Cuts, Bruises, and Broken Bones

Exciting news blog world—blogorld? Yeah, that sounds right. I'm going to be in a gallery with several great local artists up in Salt Lake City on March 4th at 7 to 9 pm. It will be at The Hive Gallery in Trolley Square. Come support your local artists!

So when I heard the name of the show I thought it would be cool to do a few different pieces involving cuts, bruises, or broken bones. I decided to look up different movie scenes that had any of the three. The first one that came to mind was from The Royal Tenenbaums. There is an amazing scene where Richie—Luke Wilson's character—goes to the bathroom and cuts his hair and beard. He's depressed after finding out the love of his life—his adopted sister—is seeing another man. He decides to commit suicide. I know that the subject matter is really dark, but this is such a beautiful scene. Check out here.

I remember falling in love with the imagery of the scene along with the music playing in the background. The song is called Needle in the Hay  and it is by Elliot Smith—who I have drawn and talked about in a previous post. I hope you don't think that I'm suicidal in anyway because I'm not. I think that we've all had something terrible happen to us. Sometimes we want to escape it all, but we need to channel that grief into something else. Some of the most beautiful songs I've heard come from people who have had just passed through a difficult trial. I hope you enjoy this artwork for what it is, and don't misinterpret it. Peace out and hope to see you on Friday!

I Ain't Afraid Of No Ghosts

"Ghostbusters!!!" "No way" "Let me see it!" My brother had just torn open one of his presents for his birthday. Inside was a neatly packaged toy of Slimer, the ghost from the movie Ghostbusters, but more memorably—at least to me—from the cartoon show The Real Ghostbusters. The show and movie were incredibly popular to my older brothers and I. For Christmas they both received proton packs while I received a trap. They would run around shooting ghosts while I would throw my trap to capture them. We were a pretty good team. It goes without saying, but Ghostbusters had the BEST toys.

When I made this particular piece of art, I actually didn't intend to make Slimer. I just thought I was making some funny looking character. It wasn't until I started to add colors that I realized that I had accidentally drawn him. My childhood seemed to rush right back. So many incredible memories.

 

 A few fun facts for Ghostbuster fans: The cast and crew would call Slimer Onionhead on the set because of his terrible smell. When audiences saw him they came up with the name Slimer and it stuck. Venkman would call him "spud" in the cartoon, which might be a throw back to onion even thought spuds are potatoes. Also, Dan Aykroyd  would playfully call Slimer the ghost of John Belushi who had died two years previous. Belushi was also slated to be part of the film before his death. Slimer does kind of have some Belushi qualities. So now I'm feeling a little nostalgic...I think I'm going to check Amazon for DVDs of The Real Ghostbusters right now.

Mystery Date

Remember that old game Mystery Date? I only know it from The Simpsons—I swear—but it made me laugh how popular those games were in the eighties. I went to a party recently and they had a similar game called Heartthrob. It's where you would pick three random guys and than choose who you would like, go on a date with, and go steady with. It was pretty ridiculous. I remember when I was in high school picking up girls to go to date dances and being terrified of meeting the parents. I hated the show that was put on. The dads would always intimidate me. I'd feel much more comfortable as a bison. Also, don't be fooled, bison are a lot quicker than you think. Fact: Bison kill five times more than bears do....in Yellowstone.

What should I put in the frame?

Tastes like Chicken

I've always been confused by the phrase "tastes like chicken" because it usually doesn't. I'm not a vegetarian, but I do feel like we consume a little too much meat. I read the book Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer when it first came out and it turned me off to eating meat for awhile. I tried to talk to people about the meat industry and realized that they rather not talk about it. So....I'd rather not talk that much about it. Here's a picture: