Against the Grain: The Skateboard Deck as Art

Here's my latest...a skatedeck for Steve Caballero's upcoming gallery show at Gasoline in El Segundo, CA!

I was honored to invited to take part in the show alongside greats like The Pizz, Damian Fulton, Johnny Ace & Kali, Doug Dorr, Jason "3- Sheets" Janes, Ghost, Makoto, Mr. Wim (Jaime Trevino), Rich Luna... the list goes on. Super stoked that my good buddy Chad "Mototooner" Lampert will be sending out a deck too!

Well....heres my entry:

2010 Hunnert Car Pileup #9

This year, the Hunnert Car Pileup moved from Morris, IL (near Chicago) to the Central Illinois town of Decatur. The Chrome Czars put on such a great show every year, but they had finally outgrown their old location. For the first time at the new location called Progress City expo grounds, the show went great. Wather was in the upper 80's, barely a cloud in the sky, and an ocean of bad ass hotrods. The pre-party on Friday night, October 8th was held on the town square in the little town of Clinton, IL.

I was set up along with my great friends Chad Lampert and Ed Tillrock....here's our booths!

Busy Boy Continued....

These are just half the illustrations I've completed in addition to multiple designs I can't publish yet. Yes, I've been busy....but having serious fun!

Been a Busy Boy......

I know, I know! I haven't posted shit in a long while. Been neglecting the ole blog like an unwanted bastard child! Believe me, I feel guilty. But, like the title says, I have been a busy boy of late.

Let me first start by giving a huge shout out and a GIANT thank you to John Dunn! He purchased my enamel painting titled "A New Way to Fly" from the Gasoline Gallery "Enamel" show curated by Jason"3-Sheets" Janes. John is a great due and a huge collector of lowbrow art. I am not only proud, but very honored that he found a piece of my art worthy of becoming a part of his legendary collection. Again, thanks, brotha!

Secondly, and no less important, an enormous thank you to Ian Monroe of Minneapolis for purchasing "Quite Frankly." My second painting submitted for the "Enamel" show. (See pics in my previous post). I had the pleasure of meeting Ian last month. What a great dude. And his passion for pinstriping and lowbrow art is inspiring! Thanks again, man!

Now, I've continued hitting the brushes and still keeping up with all of my illustration projects, tattoo designs, logo design and family life in general. Well....without further delay...here's a portion of the shit I've been working on. First...the enamel stuff:

 

New Tees & New Happenings

Well, I finally bit the bullet and saved up some Benjamins to get some Jones Design tee shirts done! People have been asking me for years to get some done up. So here they are...Available in size Large, XL and XXL for a mere $20.00 + Shipping: The design is a light grey on a black tee. Sure to please the eye!

I also had the honor of being invited to submit a few paintings for the "Enamel" show at Gasoline Gallery in El Segundo, CA! The show was put togethter by Jason "3-Sheets" Janes and features some of the best Low Brow/Car Kulture artists in the world. I have the honor of having my art hang alongside the likes of Max Grundy, Steve Caballero, 3- Sheets, Kal, Ghost, Makoto, and many others. 

Here are my two pieces for the show:

The show began on Saturday, August 7th and runs through September 18th. I am so stoked to be a part of this show! 

I spent last weekend at the NSRA Nationals in Louisville, KY representing http://www.motorburg.com/ in our booth there. It was a great time and wonderful to meet Charlie Smith, Darrell Mayabb and Keith Daleen. I also had the pleasure of seeing Lance and Diane Sorchik again. Also a treat was getting to hang out with Larry Williams and collaborate on a '41 Willys 'toon, and also meet fellow automotive artists Colter O'Dell and Mike Lomaka! Great bunch of fellas! I had a blast. Meeting Ron Martinez(ower of the 1967-1968 AMBR winner- the Invader) and Egon Nacelis' family was a privilege.

Been Awhile

Have lots of exciting things going on. Of course, with spring here, and summer right around the corner, there's lots of car shows! I had the honor of painting up a replica of a German M40 WW II helmet for Vintage Torquefest. Many fantastic artists were invited to custom paint a helmet to donate to a charity auction, with proceeds to benefit http://www.helpinghannahsheart.org/ 

I had a fantastic time at Vintage Torquefest, met a lot of wondrful people, got to hang with some great friends, Jeremy Schirm, Chad Lampert, Matt Marske, Ed Tillrock, Keven Carter, Nick Sinclair, Max Grundy, Jeff Tuckner, The Surf Zombies, The Porter Muffler folks...John Wells...(the list goes on!), saw some killer hot rods, and thankfully- sold a lot of art!

Next up was theRust Revival in Wayland, MO! Another great show! Donated a couple framed prints and two pinstriped panels for the charity auction put on by my Kropduster Car Club bretheren. Looking forward to hitting more shows! 

Some Old Favorites

Just thought I'd throw some pictures together of some of my favorites from last year. Really had a  lot of fun with these. Hope you enjoy!

A Less Likely Candidate for a Taildragger Kustom

For this drawing I wanted to do a taildragger, but something a little less common. I chose a 37 Chevy. I have seen a few done up as a full on custom and they looked great. Here's my dream version, the way I'd build it....if money grew on trees, of course!

I took a lot of influence for this car from the Barris brothers, and anotherof my favorite builers, Oz Kustoms.

I wanted to achieve a very well proportioned chop. I figured around 6 inches out of the rear and 4and a half out of the front. I leaned the back window forward and laid the windshield back a few degrees. Rather than do full fadeaway front fenders, I chose to take the agled body line and carry it all the way back to the rear fender.

I kept the bumpers fairly simple....Caddy style Dagmars up front connected by a small bumper that echoes the V shape of the grille. The rear bumper is two piece, and  follows the contour of the rear fenders and lowe pan. I used Dagmars again, but connected them with a narrowed 59 Impala overrider bar which frames a recessed license plate. 

For the car's paint, I wanted to try and pull off a deep candy red hue, which required a lot of layering of marker colors, various shades of browns, tans and even some blues. I was really happy with the results! Hope you enjoy the car as much as I enjoyed creating it! Feel free to comment if you'd like.

Todd

Coolest Merc?

I've been really diving into kustoms in a bad way of late...kind of parallels my fascianation with early drag cars...sort of polar opposites, but hey, both are cool. Just wondering if others are in agreement in that I feel Nick Matranga's Merc is THE coolest kustome Mercury built. I honestly favor the 49-51 Mercs by a long shot, but my thoughts always lead me back to this car. Clean, simple, well proportioned from every angle. Inside, and out. And that killer stance. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of 49 thru 51 Mercs that get my blood pumping, but somehow, the Matranga Merc always grabs more of my attention. Feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts!

Me and My Li'l Sidekick

Just thought I'd share a cool pic of my son Nathan and I checkin' out my buddy jeremy's kick- ass kustom 49 Ford "The Witch Doctor". God, I miss that car!

Welcome to my Nightmare!

Welcome to my Blog, folks! Just kind of testing the place out. Added a bunch of links to a bunch of my cool friends' websites...don't fret...if you're site ain't showing, it soon will be.  Here's a recent cartoon I did of my pal Jeff Norwell's Diamond Deuce pickup...hope ya dig!