So at the beginning of last March, I was at Freshy's in West Seattle taking down the remaining pieces of my first art show, when a woman by the name of Krystal asked me, "Do you have any birds?" I assumed that she was talking about the artwork, so I answered with, "Not yet, but I could if you wanted me to." She said something like "Great" and preceded to tell me that she was running a "bird themed" art show in may and she would love to feature my work. Of course I said I'm down, and then I inquired about whether or not she needed someone to design a flyer for the exhibit, and that I had a bunch of experience in flyer-design from skatebarn. I got her email and sent her some of my previous work, and she replied with what she wanted on the flyer :) Here's the finished piece.
It's going to be during the Artwalk on May 10th at 6pm in the Admiral District of West Seattle. Here's two of the bird boards that I just finished for it:
Not only am I going to be in this show, but I'm also going to be the "Featured Artist" of a skate/bike shop that's down the street from it called "Alki Bike and Board" that's also involved with this Artwalk on the 10th. Come check it out if your in the area, there's like 35 artists involved with this Artwalk so your bound to see something that strikes yo' fancy.
IN OTHER NEWS, the gig I got with Nomadic is going pretty well. So far, I got boards into Snowboard Connection in Seattle, Snowboard Connection in Bellevue, Alki Bike and Board, and 35th North. Now I gotta get boards into the rest of 'em. I'm currently designing a new deck graphic series, I'm collecting the final clips for a little street edit that will be released in a few days, and earlier this week, I finished a fun little animation that shows off the Chief deck. It goes like this:
I also took on the responsibility of becoming the Team Manager of the skateteam. I knew that would be tough, but like most everything in my life, it's turning out to be a lot harder then I thought it would be. I won't get into specifics in respect of the riders involved, but I can share that I'm definitely starting a Flow team in hopes of finding skateboarders that will actually contribute something to the company. Stay tuned for more details. In the meantime, check out this photo that Nomadic just released!
Nocompin' Jersey in Marseille. Watch the make here:
ON THE MUSICIANY FRONT, I made a new song. Peep game friends.
I also tested out this idea that I had a while back. I just used my phone to film this one before I threw it into Premiere, but in the final video I hope to have 3-5 cameras set up, and instead of me just playing 3 instruments, I'll be playing 6 or 7. Check it out.
I can't wait to get started! I already have a song in mind that I'm workin on. It'll be dope trust me.
Well that's about it as of now. I got a whole bunch more music, art, and skateboardin' brewin that's just about ready to share so check back in a week or two it you want to see more. I'll hopefully have the MUK 3d modeled by then and will be ready to take the steps to get that ball rollin with the Y.
Thanks for taking the time to check my blog out, and have an amazing day.
Sup Dudes and Dudets?
Welcome to my blog. Been here before? Thanks for coming back. What an awesome taste of summer we had in Seattle. It was so beautiful out. Perfect skate weather. Not too hot but still super sunny. Juuuuuust the way I like it. So excited for summer. It has been most definitely been a productive week for me. I've been workin hard on chasin my 3 passions simultaneously and couldn't be happier. However, I could definitely be a little more financially stable. Haha, I suppose most of us feel the same way. This new job with Nomadic is helping out a tiny little bit but I knew when I took it that it wouldn't be enough. That's why I finely set up "Jason's Creations" on ETSY.com. Now anyone can buy my artwork online!!! CLICK HERE to check it out in a new window. I put all of my remaining BoardsIDot on it as well as some stencil work that I've done. I'm looking forward to adding more paintings and stencils on the regular. I want to build up a whole stencil library to kick the interweb's ass with. Grip tape stencil section coming soon!!!
Got some new decks to share. So there's this Bird show that's coming up that imma be in, and for it I had this idea of making a 3 part piece. Last week I posted the first part, the middle of the bird. Here's the second part, the birds head. Next week it should be totally completed.
I think im about 40% done :)
......aaaaaaand here's another bird.
My sister said she wanted the first one i did but i promised it to a friend of mine so i hope she likes this one just as much.
I like it way better cause of the clouds, but when I did it I wasn't looking at the original so the bird got a lot smaller. Oh well I think it turned out alright. I'm working on a few more that Im stoked to finish so Ill keep yall posty posted :)
In the Music realm, I got my tunes on soundcloud ninja!!! Free to download if you would like :)
It's about gosh darn time. Ill have more tracks posted every week or so, so keep checking back or just follow meh!!! I got one I'm making now that I'm super excited about called "Coastin", so stay tuned.
Grindline still has not gotten back to me about the plans. However, my buddy Paul told about me his friend Micha who works for them. I hit him up on facebook and no joke, while I was posting this blog 10 minutes ago, he hit me back. HE FOUND THE PLANS!!! Hes gonna email me them within the next couple of days. SOOOOOO STOKED.
Alright lets hear it for bi-monthly posts!!! I should be posting AT LEAST once a week but life gets in the way of that sometimes. This time around I got good news, some music, some art, some photos, and an interesting reflection to share. First off lets start with a board that I dotted, followed by another board that I'm currently dotting/skating. I'm happy to announce that I've been asked to be in an art show coming up in May that happens to be bird-themed so these ones, and some more to come, have to do with our feathered friends.
This ones called "Snaggin one"
This is the middle of a 3 part piece. On the next board I skate imma dot the head of the bird and display it on the right of this one, then on the board after imma dot the tail of the bird and display it on the left. All three will fit together to form one awsome bird above some flowers. I've never done a 3 parter but I'm givin it a shot. I think itll be dope!!! Check it out in action:
I was at marginal the other day when my buddy Tim snapped a photo of a kickflip that I was flickin and I noticed you can totally see my grip graphic! I gotta get more deck-displayin photos like this.
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MUK ROOF PROGRESS - I've emailed grindline, the maker of the muk park, to get the plans of the finished park so I can make a 3d model of it and put together a convincing video to pitch to potential investors through kickstarter. Grindline has not gotten back to me quite yet. Other than that, I've come into contact with my buddy Mark Wojton, who built the roof over the hood river park. He says that the roof will be around $300,000 for the Muk, and will get me a more accurate estimate with an explanation about what exactly the funding will be contributed towards as soon as he can. Getting a roof over the muk is gonna be tedious and difficult, but it's totally possible. All we gotta do is find the right steps to manifest that reality. Next up is gettin those plans, researching, 3d modeling, interviewing, more researching, video editing, posting, picthing, funding, organizing, building, completing, and about a billion steps in between. Ill keep ya posted.
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SOOOOOOO my last post had to do with my new job as being the Northwest Nomadic Rep/Team Manager. It took a little longer than expected to get the tools for this endeavor, but now that I have em I have finely gotten started. Check it out!
Got the postcards and the catalogue that I've designed to get this ball rollin. If you want to see the postcards, just scroll down to my last blog, and if you want to see the catalogue, click here.
Imma be rollin' through every skateshop in the northwest to drop this stuff off and to talk to the buyers about Nomadic. I'm a little nervous, but I got a great outlet that I can tap into for advice, and I've already made my few sales!!! Three shops down, 23,845 shops to go. Wish me luck!
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Been JAMIN' lately! Playin lots of music by myself and with the homies this last month, especially this last weekend. My favorite person in the world to jam with was in town for a couple of days and we cranked out some pretty tasty tunes. It felt soooo good! At one point we had 6 people playin instruments and a few people freestylin' all at once! Love it when that happens. Got in a late flatground skate sesh too that night. SUPER FUN. Shoulda recorded the whole thing. Most importantly the jams. Oh well there's always next time right?
I thought that March would be the month that I was able to release a full legnth album from my musician alias Beatzlogic, but I feel like before I do, I gotta have an absolutely BANGIN song to end it with. A "gamechanger" if you will. I thought that this one was it, but in my heart I heard "...nooooot quiiiite". It's still a dope track and I love how it turned out, definitely one of my best in my opinion, but iono it didnt feel like it shoulda been the last song that I add to this cd. I even sampled a book on tape that I'm currently listening to. Bill Bryson's "A short history of nearly everything". Never really done that before. Anyway, I'll stop talkin your ears off now so you can peep the track already.
Ill keep the world posted about when the actual album release will happen, but until that rolls around I'll just keep enjoyin playin and producin to my hearts content.
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LASTLY, I wanted to share a thought I had on the way up to Mt Baker yesterday with my brothers. Jonas was driving his red Explorer, Tim and Tyler were in the back, and I was rollin shotgun. We hadn't even started to see snow yet when I started thinking about a decision I made earlier. I thought that I should leave my backpack with my sketchbook in it at Jonas' apartment right as we left for the mountain instead of bringing it along. This is because I thought that I probably wont do any sketching anyway and I could use the extra legroom. But now that I didn't have it, I wanted it. Bad. This was the perfect time to sketch! I started thinking "Man I regret not bringing my backpack...tottally shoulda brought it". Then I thought about the whole concept of regret, and what else that I regret in my life. My mind was instantly filled with shouldawouldacouldas.
But then I realized, once again, that there is no possibility of changing the actual decisions that I have made in the past, and the only thing to do from here is to accept it and use the knowledge Ive gained from the experiance to benefit the present and future. Somebody call Obviousman quick, we got a doosey. But really though, feeling regret is natural of course, when you make a decision that in hindsight doesn't seem to be the right one, but it is also pointless to dwell in. Instead of getting stuck in the shitty regretful feeling of a past decision, acknowledge it, and move on to have it serve you and those around you in the present to create a better future. I mighta forgot my sketchbook, but there was no changing that now, and besides, it was BEAUTIFUL out! This turned into a great opportunity to soak up some nature, listen to some amazing music, and chat with my bros.
One of my buddies once told me once that, "When one door closes, another door opens". I'm pretty sure he didn't make that one up, but it's very true nonetheless. It's pointless to kick it in upset about that door closing, when the only thing that will actually benefit your life is finding that other door to walk through, that be it an actual door, oppertunity, or a new way of looking at things.
Anyways, that's just my philosophical side talkin. I know I'm only currently 23 years old, got A LOT to learn, and not really in a position to be "spittin knowledge" and all that, but iono this might help someone feel better about something someday, or just look at something differently from a more insightful perspective.
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Thanks for tuning in y'all. Ill get back you you in a week with more...i hope :)
This rain is bummin me out. I had a 7 hour shift today that got cancelled due to the wet weather. I really need to figure out a way to get a roof over that amazing skatepark so it doesn't feel like im gettin cold jacked by mister winter. It's really startin to hurt my pocketbook. Oh well. Marginal way is right down the street and always dry so I stopped by this morning and learned a few tricks. Maybe I could just get the city of Mukilteo to build a freeway over the Muk!!! If only if only...
I bet I could make a 3d model of the Muk in Maya with a roof over it and pitch the idea to big companies like red bull. Then I could start a kickstarter for it and BOOM! We got ourselves a LincolnCity!! It's totally possible!!! By golly I think I have a new project on my hands. Oooosh that'll be sick. Jebus i shoulda thought of that months ago!!!!
HANYWAY. So uhhhhhhh i start my new job this week. Say hello to the new Northwest Rep/Team manager of NOMADIC SKATEBOARDS. I've been riding for this company for years now and have helping them out with video editing and graphic design too so this seems like this is the next step. Plus nomadic needs someone to kick ass in that department. I'm really excited to start gettin at it. All I need is for the promo materials to arrive at my house and I'll be on my way stoppin shop to shop showin the world what's up. Here's one of the promo pieces that I put together. It's a postcard-size piece that'll be in every northwest shop within this month.
Friggidy Front
Biggidy Back
The photo on the front was shot by my buddy Sawyer Purman in Amsterdam. Damn that was a fun trip.
On the flipside of thangs, heres the latest boards ive dotted. Checkemoot!
"WanderChina"
This is a dotted version of one of the five boards in the "Hobo Series" that I just pitched to Nomadic. I really hope they get printed on the other side of the deck someday...
"DeeduhBird"
This is the one I'm skating now. Whats that under his left wing? Those are 2 paint pens and a metallic green marker. Why? Because that's what I used to dot him. Well, I think it's a dude. Could be a chick though iono.
Lastly, I got a new vid for y'all. Just some fun that went down in Tacoma at a super rad spot. Filmed and edited by my buddy Paul Bond. Peep!
Well that's all for now folks! Thanks for tuning in! Ill leave ya with an awesome song that inspired the title of this post.
Ello Interwebs!
GREAT NEWS. I met a nice lady who's really into the boards ive dotted and she wants to put my work in an upcoming "bird-themed" show!!! Stoked. Im thinking about doing a owl, eagle, raven, and maybe a sparrow too. Iono. I'll figure it out and keep 'erbody posted. The show's in May in west seattle and there should be a flier all about it soon so stay tuned. In the meantime, Ive dotted a couple of more decks that I'd like to share. Peep game friends:
"Elephace"
"Wobbly Legs 2"
(I accidently double-sold the first one so i had to bang out another)
ANNYYYYWAAAYSSSS I spent hella time on these two animations for an old sponsor of mine called Forevergreen Apparel that used to give me a tee shirt occasionally. I basically rotoscoped myself and a fellow team rider skateboarding, and then i turn us into animals. I didn't get paid for this or nothin, nor was i expecting to, I just kinda did it after talking to the company owner about the idea. I needed to beef up my demo reel anyway. They didn't have a youtube channel at the time, so I made one for them and uploaded the ads. That was about a year ago. Since then, I've tried to contact them to catch up and see what's happening with the company, but never have heard back. Honestly I dont even know if they're a company anymore, which is a damn shame because it really had potential. Oh well.
So I took the ads I made and put em up on my channel. Check em oot!
This ones me. Filmed at a demo in AZ.
This ones Isaiah Lele'a. Filmed in Kent I think.
Just wanted to show the world, that's all :)
Lastly, I was skating Marginal Way till the sun slept about a month ago with my homie Tyler, when we noticed that the Jersey barrier in front of the park had been worked on. It was still janky as fuck but that just made it more fun to skate. So we parked our cars in front of it, beamed it with our headlights and skated it for about 45 minutes. My buddy Paul was there with his camera and got it all on tape so we made a little edit of us havin fun. Check it out!
That all for this week folks, thanks for tuning in!!!
So here I am at Freshy's about to take down the rest of my art from the walls. Feelin good, but sad, but content with the way things went. This show was such an important thing in my life to have happen. A big part of me still can't believe people have actually paid good money to own the used decks I've skated and dotted. I feel like now the ball is rolling in the right direction and I can't wait for the next one! I've learned so much from this experance that will make my 2nd art show twice as fantastic. How did this show go? Well, so far I've sold 9 pieces for a total of $620!!! Boo-yah I'm almost caught up on rent!!! Man my landlords rad. I'm going to keep dotting my decks and producing art in any way I can, in hopes to get better in that field and progress my ability to make cool shit. Why? Because there's no good reason not to! Aaaand it's super fun. THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANK Thank you so much Freshy's and to whomever came though and checked out my show while it was up. I really appreciate it :)
Here's some more photos of the show after the opening that my buddy Sawyer shot:
And that's that.
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Got a few more boards that I've dotted since my last post, check it:"Swimaphant""Marc II""Upright"
And lastly, I finnaly posted for Barnteam Blackout!!! Watch iiiiiiittttttttttt.
Thats about it. Well, most of it. Theres a lot more coming trust me.
MARCH MADDNESS - Imma be postin:
Nomadic Street Clip
Nomadic Minute!!!
Mo' dotted decks
Mo' of my tunes!!!
And its about sweet time to release MY FULL LEGNTH ALBUM!!!
ooooooo shit march is gonna rock.
Thanks for tuning in folks, here's a jam to play me out:
THANK YOU to everyone that helped out and showed up to my artshow grand opening and blackout video premiere. I had a great time and I hope everyone else did too. I even sold one of my pieces right off the bat for 50 bucks!!! This was a great experience for me and I definately learned alot from it. I can't wait till the next one :)
My buddy Jesse took some amazing photos of the event. Check em out!
The video turned out well. I worked very hard on it. I couldn't of made it any better. Ill be releasing the video on wednesday online, but untill then, check out these flash frames that i grabbed from all the footage. They look really cool!!! Thanks Daniel "ZEN MEDIA" Hager for taking so many amazing photos :)
That's about it for now. Stay tuned for the BLACKOUT vid and some other cool stuff later this week
