Piece #10

Matthew 27:27-31 Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

I woke up in the morning with this great idea, I'd been talking to Fasm about a trick that he had done that makes the inline look like shiny gold. So first thing in the morning I drew the sketch and then in the afternoon bought some yellow and brown paint and a co-worker let me borrow thier car and I went to the wall. I prayed for the yellow to work and it didin't run much. While I was finishing up this group of kids were talking and one needed a ride back to the place I was going. This kid was tall, thin had a pair of converse shoes on and kept talking about punk rock bands and what it ment to be a real punk. It was like I ran into myself when I was his age full of lofty dreams and an attitude that the world was too stupid to see how wrong they were and it was my duty to inform them of this. Me and Derek (battle jr) had a good conversation about punk rock bands I used to listen to and what it ment to be a poser and a sell out. But then as we passed a church he put up his middle finger and shouted "F U JESUS" it drifted to more substantial topics of philosophy, his catholic upbringing, the church and Jesus. He really looked up to me and gave some thought to what I had to say. I thought "what did I need to hear back then". The answer 1) the church isn't Jesus and 2) that I didn't know as much as I thought. He agreed on those two points but we couldn't agree on whether "indistructable" was a good album.

The write advise

I talked to Fasm, a christian graff writer who runs Gospel Graffiti. It was really neat to get his perspective on my work and he had some useful suggestions on getting useful suggestions. As some of you may know I've been really working hard at getting better style and also painting better. It's been a little bit of an obsession of mine to critique my own work I guess because, Fasm said he's never met annother writer who does as much critique as I do. I really wanted to talk to him because his style is somewhat similar to mine and I really (in a way) wanted him to tell me everything I was doing wrong so I could work on it and get better. That didn't really happen we just talked about stuff, old types of paint, canada, freewalls, the upcoming auggust event in mexico, and little tricks he's done with paint. He told me just to do my own thing and not take too seriously other people's suggestions. Which is exactly what I needed to hear.

Sketches 17

Jaydedskateboards.com

Jesus

E=mcy

Said

Awww

I showed up at the flower place today where I did my "awesome" mural to talk to the owner. He said...

"I've got four comments on the mural and one of them was good. Everybody liked it but they didn't think the piece fit into the image of the store. In peticular the God is Awesome part I mean I'm a christian too everybody at this store is a christian it's just I've worked hard for this store and your mural will cost us business. People found God is Awesome offensive and they were christians too. I mean you expect to see that kind of thing in a church but not on a wall. So I gotta get that thing off the wall on saturday."

I get the whole thing but one thing I just can't understand is how God is Awesome is more offensive to christians than the swear words that were there before. Three people (some or all of which were christian) came off the street and complained that a generic message of God is Awesome was offensive. I didn't say Jesus is the only way and everybody else is going to hell. G-O-D is more offensive than *-*-*-*. That's a sign of the times and it's sad. We as christians gotta work hard at our public image and not just sit back and think everything's Ok because really, people hate us, they hate our message and they want to sterilize us... Only in the church they say...

Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. John 3:20

Piece #9

"You are awesome, O God, in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God!" Psalm 68:35

bits and pieces

I just thought I'd mention a few odds and ends and post up some painting. None of this stuff deserves it's own post so I threw it all together. I met with the owner of Anderson Flowers on Dundas today and he agreed to let me paint his wall and is going to pay for the paint. I got started on it and it's going well. I also met with Kathy McLaughlin from mainstreet london I showed her some of my work. She had herd of me from a few different people and she seemed hopefull of the future she also gave me a lead on annother owner who has been wanting to have his alley painted with a mural. The radio program aired a couple of nights ago on 106.9 at 11:00pm people who herd it said good things. I did a friend's room and was bored one night so I touched up a parking sign in exchange for some food. And last but not least Viceral and I went out painting the 150ft alley off of richmond and are pretty much done that entire alley that has taken months to do both sides of (phew). At one point I wondered how we were going to do it but now, it's done. Next time I do a wall that big I'm gonna plan it out better so that the message doesn't get confusing and there is enough congruent content to fill the wall.

Feild Trip

I go over to the free wall in grimsby and when I get there, there is this guy staring at one of the peices I did. So I start on annother free wall and while I'm painting this group of kids come by in this big group and they start staring (not just casually glancing) at some of the work I had done. So they make thier way over to the wall i was working on currently and it turns out they were on a field trip of sorts with thier teacher and came just to see my walls. I was quite flattered by that and it's neat occationally to see what the reaction is by the public to the art. I ussually just send it off and leave it there for people to look at without ever really knowing if anybody saw it or was affected by it.

gifts from the exchange

I've been doing some sketches on the gospel graffiti exchange. I write someones name and they write my name. Here are a few other writers who have blessed me with thier own artistic interpretation of my name. None of these are sketches done by me. by said

by quaker

by fasm

Piece #8

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light" matthew 11:28-30

A friend of mine (left) has been interested in spraypainting. He's been sketching out letters and I've been helping him with that. I took him out and we did a wall in grimsby. I showed him the basics and passed on some of the knowledge other writers have given to me. We did the fill together chilled in the sun and ate pizza. It was really quiet there and me and Evan just had a really relaxing day enjoying each others company, the art form, food and the weather before we went back to our jobs.

Sketches 16

Fasm for xchange

pencil turning into spraycan

God (weaves everything for his purpose)

J- One for the exchange at Gospel Graffiti