Spillmanville

Enjoy With A Friend!

2012-01-27T08:27:00.003-06:00

We here at Spillmanville Inc. have been a busting our tail as of lately. I've finally started to get back into the swing of working in a kitchen. The past week has really been about finding my kitchen legs and figuring out how to stay on them after work up in the studio. Kitchen work isn't a joke. It's hard work and requires a great deal of physical exertion. However, the experience has been a trip. Long gone are the days of stress caused by working in a completely screwed up school system in a city with a backwards governmental system. Now, I just have to worry about what veggie specials I want to serve or what soup of the day I want to make. It is a lot like working in a study, but with intense time restraints.

Working at Three Angels Diner has been a real trip. I'm in the kitchen doing my thing while people sit back, enjoy some good food, and take in my paintings that are hanging all around the dining room. It is an odd experience to be on hand when people want to ask about the work on the walls. It's like they are almost impressed with the fact that they are enjoying my art at the same time they are ingesting the plates of food that I just prepared for them. When things slow down after the pounding of the lunch rush, I often look out into the dining room and look at my paintings with all these people sitting around them. A loyal regular of the Diner asked me if I enjoyed working in the kitchen. I told him that I worked in my art gallery and I just happened to be serving food to all the patrons that came to view the show. I'm truly lucky to be enjoying this little experience.

So, obviously the studio sessions have been back and forth, but it is finally coming together in a manageable schedule. Yes, a constant schedule is important in order for me to keep from getting lazy and content. Working at night is still a bit different to me, but I'm slowly getting used to the freedom of working after the responsible part of the day is done. The past couple of nights have involved prepping canvas and taking stock of some of the oil paintings that are in the mid-level stages. I have a few paintings that I have been putting off finishing due to a lack of deadlines and the unwillingness to paint in color. So, these paintings have been pulled out and set back up to be completed. Now, when I'm looking around the painting room, I can see the beginnings of a show and a cohesive new body of work.

I finished this rather large drawing last night, and i am fairly content with the outcome. I've been using the bamboo brushes still, but I decided to start bringing the pens and coffee staining back into the process. I'm still not sure if i prefer the black on white look of the previous couple of drawings or if I like the stained look better. In the long run, it probably really doesn't matter as long as the process works with the image. The drawing is titled "Enjoy With A Friend!". I've been thinking a lot lately about my friendships with people and how they have evolved over the years. I've realized that I rely on my pals to for many things including laughs and conversation, but I also utilize their personalities and stories in my art. I need real friends and those moments of banter in order to find new narratives for my paintings and drawings. Obviously, a lot of these moments occur over adult beverages. So why not enjoy with a friend.

"Enjoy With A Friend!"

gouache, ink, coffee on paper

32"x40"

That is that for now. Up next, finishing a few unfinished paintings, starting a new painting of birds constructing birdhouses, a new T-shirt design, and hopefully wrapping up the last 2 comic pages that I started weeks ago. Wow! We are busy.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville smells like bacon and hamburgers still.

The Studio and The Kitchen

2012-01-17T08:33:00.002-06:00

Pictured below is the drawing I'm currently working on, well, and a banana I ate for lunch yesterday. Due to the recent job changing event, the studio has been a land of wackiness and odd hours. My schedule has changed several times in the past weeks. I've gone from not working for a couple of weeks to working @ Bari Restaurant at night and 3 Angels Diner for brunch on Sundays. Now it appears I'm switching again to days at the diner. This could be a nice schedule.

I am a morning person so it will be nice to get up and go. The part I'm most interested in is getting off by 6pm. That means that my studio hours will shift from painting at midnight to painting during the earlier evening hours. 7-12 has never been my studio schedule, but I am super excited to find out what those hours produce. I know now that the studio after midnight is just plain bizarre. I found that when I came back up in the morning to set the studio for the after work sessions, that the work didn't look exactly the way I though it did the night before. I could tell that I was trying to work too fast at night by looking at the line qualities and the amount of excessive ink that was used. I think being physically tired and a bit out of my element at those hours really didn't help the work so much.

This new schedule is subject to change as is the life of a cook, but I'm looking forward to it none the less. I mean it is basketball season and the games start around 7 at night. That means basketball and painting. Hell yes! Although it has been a bit different not being swarmed by kids in an elementary art room, I am positive that I made the right decision of resigning from that environment. I have been extremely optimistic as of late, and I can even tell that I have been somewhat humbled by the opportunity to just put my head down and work with my hands again. So, here's to the new studio times and the work that I will create during those hours. I feel very alive as an artist right now, and I am ready to work my ass off!

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is alive with pleasure.

Hot Off The Presses!

2012-01-11T14:01:00.003-06:00

Hell yes! Just stopped by the printer and picked up the first box of Team Spillmanville shirts.

We are excited to be working along with MegFord Design Wear on our little Spillmanville merchandising adventure.

TheTeam Spillmanville shirts will still be available for a limited time as we put together the next moves, so if you are still interested, follow the directions on the right of the screen. It's not too late. You can still join the roster today! Last but not least, We would like to give a very special thanks to all of you now fully official Spillmanvillians for joining the team and supporting our studio and work.

Enjoy!,

Spillmanville loves some T-shirts.

Drunk Monkeys (the pencils)

2012-01-10T08:23:00.003-06:00

The studio has been a buzz with activity lately. After finishing the last oil painting, I realized that painting late at night leads to some wacky decision making. After pouring on all the white at the end of a black painting, I realized that I went one step too far. The painting worked for it's purpose, but honestly I wasn't very impressed in the end. I should have probably stopped a couple of sessions before I called it quits. The late hours led to some meddling I suppose. None the less, the painting did what I needed it to. It brought the painting bug down to bite me in the ass.

In case I haven't mentioned it, I am back working in the restaurant world. It feels nice to be back in the kitchen. There are a lot of differences in how my day begins and ends as compared to the previous days of teaching. One, I don't leave stressed out at the end of my shift. That has been a beautiful feeling, and I have really appreciated the ability to sleep through the night without having anxiety attacks about the day ahead. Wonderful. Two, I work with a staff of highly diversified and creative people. Conversations have gone from bitching about school politics and the rotten student that drives everyone nuts to basketball, soccer, music, business, art, cooking, and story telling. It's nice to feel comfortable and a part of my crew, without worrying about people running their mouths behind my back or being walked in on every other day by overpaid inexperienced evaluators. Now, number 3. To all my former art teaching colleagues, who keep telling me that they are jealous of my resignation from teaching, hear this. The hours are long. You don't stop until it's through. Your legs, back, shoulders, and basically your whole body hurts at the end of the day, but the satisfaction is immediate. Oh, and just like teaching, you still have to make the time to create the work in the studio. I know I've put in work at the end of the day or night depending. I find labor rewarding, and It is honestly an excellent feeling to be working with my hands again.

So, Sunday after cooking brunch at 3 Angels Diner, I was uncertain of my abilities to even get up the stairs to the studio. Imagine running through about 12 dozen eggs in a couple of hours while the line waiting for tables is trickling out into the front of the diner. You prep for 3 hours and then sell it out in 4. Non-stop. However, I managed to motivate my ass up to Spillmanville. I couldn't sit down for the fear of not getting back up and my attention span was shot, so I made the most of it and prepped up a nice 6 foot canvas. I've got a nice sketch drawn up for the surface, and it is all stained and ready to go. Yes, another black painting is on the way.

Also on the drawing table is large drawing in the pencil stage. The brushes and pens are ready to go. Yes, the drawing is of a couple of monkeys getting their drink on. There will be a bit more to it as I get into the details and the environment, but I can already tell it's gonna be a blast. The drawing is tentatively titled "Enjoy With A Friend". More to come.

Now, for all of you that have inquired about the comic book project, it is still in the studio, but slowing down for the moment. When I left teaching, it was not with the intention of staying in the kitchen, but more to motivate my studio work. Currently, I am working on a whole new body of paintings and drawings with the intentions of getting some show time this year and possibly new gallery representation. In order for me to accomplish this, other projects are kind of on the slow down until this work is finished or at least in a nice progressive state.

With all that said. 2012 is off with a bang. Work is being made. Ideas for shows are coming forward. We are working hard for you tried and true Spillmanvillians.

Oh, side note. To all of you who ordered your official Team Spillmanville shirt, we graciously thank you. The shirts are in the printing process and should be headed your way this week. New design coming soon. Thanks for the support. Now go make something with your hands and show it off to the world.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville likes the extended robe and house shoe time in the morning.

Into The New Year...

2012-01-04T10:42:00.004-06:00

I hope that 2012 has started off right for all you Spillmanvillians. It has been a mighty change around here. Since the end of the previous year, we have left the teaching profession, returned to the culinary world, given up my financial stability, begun pulling late night hours in the studio, started drawing with a fever, started new oil paintings in the hopes of doing a show or to this year, and we have slowly begun to produce some Spillmanville merchandise with more to come.

On the subject of leaving the crazy world of elementary education. The job was rewarding and I was successful at it. My students one countless awards, were featured in several publications, and were exposed to the world of drawing from the age of 5 up by a real artist. My personal achievements were numerous. I started an award winning art program from scratch with nothing more than broken pencils and copy paper. I was interviewed by several publications on the role and importance of art in children. I even got to do lectures as a real authority on this subject. So why leave? The job was too stressful and I could no longer deal with the anxiety of not being able to change the community around me and save these kids. The socio-economic drama that is inner city Memphis was too big for my weak little heart. I had to remove myself from this climate and slowly begin to distance myself from these children. I was too close, and their problems and cries began to keep me awake at night. I had only intended to do this as an opportunity to learn more about art through the eyes of a child. I got it and I understand it, but at the end of the day, it was taking it's toll in my studio. I'd rather be broke on the streets than frustrated at the production in my studio. Decision made.

The return to the kitchen has been great. A kitchen is nothing more than a studio with produce and edible items instead of turpentine and oil paint. I love the ability to produce a product and feel the reaction instantaneously. Plus, the vibes in the kitchen are honestly more creative than in my classroom where I had to dictate everything word for word. Truly a blessing to have such great friends in the culinary world to let me step back in and get my kitchen legs again. Awesome.

Now back to the work. Below is a painting I finished up last night. The title of the painting is "My Place Or Yours". It's a simple little ditty about sharing the good times with those important to you. Fitting, as it was made over the holidays. This painting was a trip. So many weird decision were made as I painted at night. It has been years, and I mean years since I painted past midnight, but it has been interesting to say the least. The painting is on coffee stained canvas, and it was originally just going to be a black painting. Well, then these weird green colors and this hazy pinkness began creeping in. Then, I'm not sure what I was thinking, but I started putting in the whites. I don't really know why yet, but I really love the stark contrast. In the past, I would have never outlined objects in my painting with thick black paint and or used this much white for highlights, but hey I like it. I think that the fact that the black is hand mixed from primary colors is what does it. The black tends to break down into its dominant tones when next to the white. Truly a fun painting to make.

"My Place Or Yours?"

coffee, gouache, oil paint on canvas

30"x24"

Well, that is the view from down here. By the way, thanks to all of you who ordered your official Team Spillmanville t-shirt. We love you, and you are going to love looking slick while you rep the 'Ville. Happy hump day. Now, go out and make something. Then show it to people. Wow! Now you're an artist.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville doesn't pack his lunch in the morning anymore.

Join Team Spillmanville

2011-12-29T10:58:00.004-06:00

Join Team Spillmanville Today

These are the official Team Spillmanville player T-shirts. These high quality shirts will let the public know that you are part of something bigger than them and that you do not stand alone. Don't be left on the bench, become a member today and rep the 'ville.

To order just click the pay pal button at the side, select your size, select your player number, and bam! you just joined Team Spillmanville! Please allow at least 2 weeks for delivery.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville loves you!

Happiest of Happy Holidays

2011-12-24T07:22:00.002-06:00

Dear Spillmanvillians,

We here at Spillmanville Inc. would like to wish you and yours the happiest of happy holidays. Whether you celebrate the days with large groups of families, eating at the "adult" table, unwrapping presents that stupefy, egg nogging, lazing around, drinking heavily, watching football, making sausage balls, gift card buying, making handy crafts, enjoying "It's A Wonderful Life" or "A Christmas Story" on the tube over and over again, or just kicking it by yourself, remember to enjoy the season. No matter which higher power calls you or what building you choose to go, or not to go to on Sundays, realize that you are just one of a gazzillion people out there walking the Earth, and try and treat everyone as if this was a special time for us all. May Santa grant the wishes to all the nice boys and girls, and may Krampus take care of all you naughty little brats that mess it up for the rest of us. Merry Crunkmas and an exceptionally happy New Year to you all.

Happiest of Happy Holidays from Spillmanville to You!

Enjoy,

Spillmanville has already begun the holiday cheer.

Back in Black

2011-12-22T08:14:00.003-06:00

As we head closer to the holidays, and what is sure to be a few days of down time from the studio, I've been looking around the studio and taking inventory on projects started and those still proposed. I predict a very busy 2012 coming our way. I've begun reflecting on all the heavy choices I've made in the past year. Yes, it seems that this time of the year inspires introspection. We left our galleries this year, quit our professional job, and we have begun to move closer towards living the dream. I've set myself up for some scary and unknowing times for the future with the idea that it will motivate that insatiable hunger to produce that I once had before entering the world of public school teaching.

I have never looked at my production over the past few years as lazy, but the job and other issues surrounding previous decisions about the handling of my art most certainly stunted my energy to work like it meant something more. In the past few weeks since realizing the unhappiness of being away from creative minded people, the studio, and the ability to work with out surrounding myself with the politics of the city and the policies of the state hanging over my head has lead me to believe that some decisions, although tuff and life effecting, have to be made in order for a person to truly pursue their dreams.

The past several weeks have proven to me that I am most certainly growing hungrier and my imagination and inner artist has apparently been going nuts over the past couple of years. I've been finding myself drawing on everything, writing every dumb thing I hear down, and basically finding myself aligned with my tools. I've been going back and forth between graphite, ink, and oil paint depending on my mood. It feels great. Of course mistakes get made and you have to work to achieve that vision, but the feeling that something is gonna happen in there every time I walk through the Spillmanville door is great.

On top of everything, it has been uplifting to smell the mighty fumes of turpentine and oil paint coming from the painting room once again. I haven't really had the urges to paint in oil in quite a while, but it has been fun to have my old friends back. Although, the painting above is mainly tones of black, the time spent mixing that black from my tubes of red, blue, and yellow, have reminded me what an honor it was to have had the ability to truly learn the science behind this medium. It is even more fun however to utilize this substance in the actual act of creating a new image. The studio most certainly smells like a damn studio again.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville thinks that the plants in the window are making it easier to breathe.

The Studio is Warmed Up

2011-12-21T08:53:00.004-06:00

Spillmanville has been alive with pleasure these past few days. We have accepted the fact that we are no longer dealing with children, and that the world is ours. Things in the studio are starting to feel familiar again. I don't really see any of the time spent in there as wasted time anymore. Every little sketch that I have been doing to motivate my moves have been evolving into something tangible.

A friend of mine dumped off a huge box of vinyl paper the other day. I was kinda perplexed about all this paper, as it's surface is not the most appealing for what I do. The walls in the drawing studio have been unpainted since I moved in there, and the powder from the dry wall tends to get on everyone when they lean back against the walls. I decided to wallpaper the studio with this vinyl paper as a quick fix to my unfinished wall problem. As the day progressed, I found myself drawing all over them. I have about 2 boxes of sharpies laying around that I took when I cleaned out my classroom last week. It just kinda made since to start utilizing my wall space to jot down sketches, quotes, and what not as the studio sessions move along. When I was closing shop yesterday, I noticed that my visitors had been writing me messages on these walls when I wasn't paying attention to them. See, now the studio is interactive.

Amongst all the work going on up there, I have been putting off creating new work for the restaurant Bari that is located under my studio. I have been hanging work in there for years, and the connection to the bar below and the studio upstairs has been a great relationship. Someone downstairs wants to see more work, they call upstairs and I bring them into Spillmanville. Beautiful.

I recently sold a "flower" painting that has been in the bar for a bit now, and the new owner came to pick it up yesterday. Now there is an empty space above the couch. So yesterday, I grabbed a canvas and a sketch that I had drawn over coffee that morning, and then began drawing it out onto canvas. My cousin dropped by to watch the Bayern Munchen game, and we warmed up the painting studio. I got down to the business of mixing black from my primary colors, and the rest just fell into place. The painting will more than likely stay black, but it is in the underpainting stage right now. Once the value is added and the shadows are popping, the painting will have a deeper feel to it. It was also suggested that I give the sitting bird a cocktail umbrella to break up some more negative space. I will do this today. Thanks for the suggestion.

So here's the agenda for Spillmanville Wednesday: shadows, umbrellas, new drawing on paper starting, happy hour and Liverpool soccer this afternoon. Tonight cocktails and Christmas lights. Gotta love the holidays.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville loves space heaters and hoodies.

Memphis Connections

2011-12-16T10:34:00.003-06:00

Come out and support your local artists.

"Memphis Connections"

One night only.

Marshall Arts

Friday, December 16th 6-9

A collaborative piece between Dwayne "The Artbutcher" Butcher and Allen Duckworth:

Enjoy,

Spillmanville likes when artist do things together.

Going Home

2011-12-16T05:54:00.004-06:00

Well here we are. It's another end to the working week, but it will be a Friday like no other. I've spent the last 4 1/2 years building and operating an art program for the public school system here in Memphis. Today will be my last day teaching there, and I'm ready to go home. No. I'm not moving, but Spillmanville is going back to where we left off before we accepted this great opportunity to educate and learn from some of the children of this city. I'm going back to the hustle of getting by and being a broke ass artist.

The job has been stunting my work in the studio for a while. When I decided it was time to move on and submit my notice to the school system, I automatically began to breathe better. I feel a huge amount of mental pressure leaving my body. I'm sure that feeling will change to monetary stress as the weeks progress, but that is better than feeling defeated and unhappy when I leave work everyday and try to make work in the studio at night. Now, the work is singing again, and the sketches for future pieces are building up. One day at a time. Yes, but I am putting things together at my own pace with my eyes looking towards the future of Spillmanville in the year 2012.Many exciting things are coming our way, and we will keep you informed as things develop.

The first Spillmanville shirts for purchase are coming. We want everyone out there repping the 'ville, and we are in the process of creating the first design available to the public. We are teaming up with local printers MegFord Design Wear to begin making a line of Spillmanville merchandise. I couldn't be more excited to be working with these fine people and avid Spillmanville supporters. More to come on this as we finalize the necessities.

I've been spending many many hours up in the studio the past several days, and I'm really digging the direction of this new work. Although, not much has changed with the ideas and themes in my work, the little aesthetics that come when you go from a pen to a brush have definitely flipped the game. The new drawings kind of pick up where the Spillmanville Funnies at AMUM left off, but there is no text. I've been drawing on 30"x42" Stonehenge paper, so the drawings are on a fairly large scale.

The drawing below is titled "Going Home". Yes, it is perfect for the moment. I have used the ship as a vessel for travel, progression, and safety in my drawings for years. I loved the idea of having this giant innocent looking bird act like the vehicle for the vessel. It's almost like putting your safety into the hands of something alive and bigger than yourself. None the less, here is the product of the last several days:

"Going Home"

ink on paper

30"x 42"

That's all for now. Live your dreams. Push anyone out of the way that dares to stand between you and your mountain top. Never say die! or other words of wisdom.

Enjoy!,

Spillmanville will not wake up, pack a lunch, and iron dress shirts at 5a.m. for a very long time.

I Really Want To Paint Over Something...

2011-12-10T13:06:00.003-06:00

Since we last spoke in any real length, Spillimanville has been going through a few changes in our life. We are leaving the teaching profession and returning to the world of hard working artist trying to get by. As scary and bizzare of a feeling it is creating within me, there is an overwhelming amount of excitement and belief in the future. I'll have a day job, so don't worry about that, and there will most certainly be more on that as we approach our return to the world of culinary delights as well. None the less, you can expect more Spillmanville in the year 2012. We are looking forward to the new year with a breath of fresh air and a sense that anything is possible.

Now onto today's post, because we don't want to get into all that bizzness. Last Sunday I went to the group show "Ripped From The Studio" at David Lusk Gallery. First, it was a gloomy, rainy, Sunday afternoon, so the day already felt weird. The show was fun to look at for sure, but what I was most interested in was the work of Tad Lauritzen Wright. His work consumed a whole wall like a visual monster. I just kinda stood there taking in as much as my little attention span could handle. Then, I'd walk away, get another beer, or have a little chitty chat session with other gallery goers and fellow artists, but I would keep going back to look for something new in Tad's piece. I did this over and over for the duration of the show. (that also led to a hell of a buzz, none the less).

Of course, if you read this blog, then you have heard me mention Tad's work numerous times. The boy just looks like he is having fun when he creates. I'm not an idiot, I understand the time and physical labor that he puts into the work, but it just comes across as fun and engaged. I think I felt like I was experiencing a day to day kind of feeling when I was looking at this stuff. I was enjoying that it was loosely edited and encapsulated so many ideas at once.

I have been really jazzed about new things lately, and it makes since that after doing and showing several large brush and ink drawings that I'd want to get back into the paint. So what happens when I get back into Spillmanville after picking up chemicals from the Home Depot (Chemicals as in turpentine and mineral spirits)? I'm starting to get the urges to not just paint, but to paint over something. I want to cram a bunch of imagery on top of something. WTF?

I have several oil paintings that I started in the past year or so, that for some reason or another have just never been finished. I have a few ideas as to why this is. First of all, these paintings are what I call scene paintings. As in they show a scene from something bigger, like a story or a movie. They are narratives. There is a story. The do have some form of action, but they just seem to have become boring to paint somewhere in the process. I think the amount of time that it takes to paint like this sometimes is too slow for my imagination to hang back for. I like to continuously work on new ideas, so sitting at the easel for long periods over a stretch of time only to see the painting come out exactly the way I though it would is not interactive enough for me. Yes, That should be the point, but there is just no room for the day to day events to play a role. Your mood changes from session to session, but the painting stays the same.

So. We shall see what the fate of this steamboat above is. It might get finished according to plan, but there is a good chance that Popeye's fists and arm's are about to come shooting out of the painting somewhere. Too many ideas in my head, and none of them have much to do with the other. Just throw them all together and let the viewer figure it out. We do all the art making. They need a job to do at the gallery as well.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is against the wind.

Happy 125th Birthday Diego!

2011-12-08T07:40:00.003-06:00

From all of us here @ Spillmanville Inc., we wish Diego Rivera the happiest of birthdays. Diego is one of our favorite artist and personalities of all time, and the robust painter would have been 125 years old today.

Happy Birthday! You are greatly missed!

Enjoy,

Spillmanville wants to go paint on a wall.

Cha-Cha-Cha Changes...

2011-12-06T18:21:00.001-06:00

Spillmanville is currently undergoing "changes" at this moment, but will have lots to talk about as the next couple of weeks unfold. Can't wait. Changes! 'Nuff Said.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is wearing moon boots.

Spillmanville Funnies @ AMUM

2011-12-02T06:37:00.003-06:00

After much hard work, late studio nights, an ass load of vinyl, many afternooners, and tons of sketches, the Spillmanville Funnies have now been installed at the Art Museum At The University of Memphis' Casework's Project.

I am very proud of these pieces and their lowbrow potty humor, and must say that they were a joy to make. I learned a great deal about loosening up, even though it may not show. There are 5 comix in the show and will be on display into the new year.

SpillmanvilleFunnies

Art Museum At The University of Memphis Casework's Project

Opening Reception

Friday December 12, 2011

5:00-6:30 pm

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is ready for the Memphis Friday night art explosion

Spillmanville: The Day After Black Friday...

2011-11-27T08:42:00.003-06:00

Hope everyone survived Black Friday and successfully lived through all the macing, customer riots, and all the falls from climbing the sale racks at local Wal-Marts. We here @ Spillmanville blew all that off. We've been in the studio nicely tucked away working and working. It has been great having these last few days off. I can honestly say that I love being in my creative space with this much time to let the work make itself. I've grown so accustomed to cramming in all that I can into a few hours after the job. Taking my time has been wonderful. Thank god for ESPN3 and the hearty helping of soccer, basketball, and football. I've had games going on the laptop all day and records spinning on the turntable. Hell, just being able to make it through so many records throughout the day has been inspiration enough. I'm sure I'll have a back to work hangover starting tomorrow, but I'm gonna make the most of today as well.

Above, is an image of "Spillmanville Funnies" #3. It's self explanatory. I started drawing the snow yesterday as the cold front was coming in. It's kind of ironic, but the local weatherman started talking about snow headed for the M today. Really? I'll believe it when I see it. It was almost 80 degrees when I got up yesterday. I love weather.

The best thing about having the full day to work, is that when you start running low on energy, the ideas start coming out again. This comic and the next one coming up, both came to me in those weird tripped out moments that only happen after working for hours on end. So, yes "Spillmanville Funnies" #4 is leaving the sketchbook for the big paper today. Can't wait. The animal is a toss up between a cow and a lion, but I think the lion is winning. The cow seems to be a worker, but the lion is the boss, uh, I mean the king.So that's the size of it. I've got a few more days to wrap up this project. I've got 2 more coming, and then they go to hang at the Museum. The work has truly been entertaining to make. I'm really gonna miss this pace and the time spent just concentrating on my own work. Good times.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville enjoys CBS Sunday Morning.

Adding It Up, Now Bring On The Squirrels

2011-11-25T07:38:00.002-06:00

Now that all the Thanksgiving activities have come and gone, it is time to get back down to the making of art. I took the day off yesterday, completely. Well, for the most part. The sketchbook kept finding a way to come out of his room and play throughout the day, but no real energy was put into it. It's good to take a bit of time for the family during the holidays, and I'm learning to enjoy other things in life besides painting and drawing. Honestly, to make the kind of work I make, I need to be around conversation and human activity to find those goofy moments that make my narratives happen. Now, I didn't say that I needed to be involved in conversation, just close enough to hear it or experience the moment when it happens.The comix are adding up, and I'm already getting excited about the way they are all going to look together hanging up. I've had a nice panel of friends drop in on me while I've been working on these, and they seem to at least get it, so that is good. Now onto comic #3. This one came to me like a flash of lightening while I was eating my lunch in the studio Wednesday. I had another one that I was gonna do, but this one just slid on in there like it had a purpose (I'm hoping the next 2 come as easy as this one). All I'll say about this strip is that it has squirrels and the word "nuts" in the punchline. It is some real potty humor, but I just can't resist. Trust me, the real punchline will be in the drawing. Man I love hiding stuff in the imagery. Man, you're so smart. So. Here we go. It's the day after Thanksgiving studio explosion. First I'm gonna make the fat boy breakfast, then the leftover turkey samwich for the road, grab a sixer of St. Pauli, throw on the studio grubbies, spin this bad ass Percy Sledge album over and over, lock the 2 doors between Spillmanville and Cooper, turn on the space heater and the hot lights, pull em up, and then get down to some serious bizzness.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville loves left over turkey samwiches.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T06:56:00.002-06:00

From all of us here @ Spillmanville Inc., we would like to wish you all the happiest of Thanksgivings. Whether you lay around eating, cooking, drinking, watching football, makin' crafts, or just layin' around on your ass all day, make it a good one. Make sure to tell somebody thank you. If someone cooks for you today, remember that they were working when you were probably doing jack squat. Give 'em a hug and a nice complimentary belch in return. For all of you that forgot to hit the liquor store last night, may you be thankful that they still sell beer at gas stations throughout the city, and it will be alright.
Thank you for all you do and for what you make us. Happy Thanksgiving!

Gobble Gobble.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville likes the dark meat.

Here Comes Bunny...

2011-11-22T06:00:00.002-06:00

Oh my oh my. Spillmanville has been severely under the weather, and we have been in the bed. Although, we didn't mind the time spent under the covers and in the robe, the time lost in the studio has been a real nuisance to our deadline. None the less, we aim to please, and we don't stop. Here's a shot of "Spillmanville Funnies" #2. The image is still missing a bit of value tones and the text, but that will all fall into place this afternoon. This one was a blast to draw.

I definitely seem to be enjoying the freedom of the brush, and it is starting to become addictive. I have a feeling this will show up again after these pieces go up (Listen to your tools). I also really like how humanistic the bunny turned out. Trust me, if he goes on to be a continuing character here @ Spillmanville, you will probably learn to loathe him and his egotistical self. Oh lord, here we go.

One more day of work and then the Thanksgiving break begins. Spillmanville is looking forward to a nice long week of turkey, sports, ink, family, more ink, naps, more ink again, laughs, inking, and good times with inking.We have a lot of changes that are about to start kicking in with in the next month, so hang loose and enjoy the ride.

Let this day begin!

Enjoy,

Spillmanville lets his cousin eat the giblets.

1 Down, 4 To Go...

2011-11-14T05:19:00.002-06:00

The weekend comes to an end and the work week begins. It was a nice long weekend filled with all kinds of surprises, but alas we return back to the grind. The studio was full of energy yesterday, and the vibe was great. I had several visitors stop by to have a cold Victoria and some artsy conversation. Thanks to those cats for being understanding as I talked to them from the drawing room while they all chilled in the painting room. I guess other artists get it when there is a deadline involved, and luckily my friends have no problem hanging while I am drawing. Some people are a diversion, while other inspire you to keep working. I really appreciated that, so thanks Allen, Dwayne, and Donnie for keeping me motivated yesterday.

So I wrapped up the first of 5 comic strips for Caseworks, and I have to say, I love it. Truly. This drawing was fun to make, and I am most certainly enjoying the brush inking process. It's nice to loosen up for sure. So with out further ado, here's a peak at the finished product, and yes these things are rather large. I think my friends were expecting these to be the size of real comic strips, but they were wrong. I dig the size and I actually think it helps in adding something to this goofy idea.So Monday begins and a new drawing starts on the table this afternoon. It will be a quick session today, but the sketches are done and the paper is ready. Can't wait to get another one of these started. Tonight begins my birthday week, and we are headed out to enjoy the birthday present I got myself, Pixies tickets at the Orpheum. Yes, we are going back in the day. Should be fun.

For those of you who are waiting for more "Fisherman" comic book pages, just stay with us. I know it seems like it is going to take a long time, and you are right, but this has become more of a fine art project than anticipated. Remember this will not be a monthly solicit for your comic shops. This is a tale. It is being told in the graphic novel format, and it will be a great book full of adventure, imagination, and some kick ass art. It'll be well worth the wait, and you can say you have been following the project from the beginning. Your boy is working hard for you and I am becoming a professional juggler just to try and keep up. Comic strips, Spillmanville drawings, "The Fisherman", and the early stages of setting ourselves up to print some Spillmanville product. If only there were no day job. More to come.

Happy Monday!

Enjoy,

Spillmanville loves him some Victoria.

Brush Inking The Cry Baby Bear...

2011-11-12T08:25:00.003-06:00

Hell yes. I'm having a blast with these here bamboo brushes and the beautiful graphicness of this india ink. It's like going back in time to the high school years. I've grown so accustomed to drawing with pens, that this feels like freedom. Obviously, I have had to get used to the loss of the pressure hard line quality of pen and ink, but damn this stuff goes on smooth. Now, if I could only find about 15 days of no job and all studio time, then I would be rolling. This is gonna be a marathon, to say the least.

Below, let me introduce to you Big Cry Baby Bear and his bitching and moaning. Just looking at those juicy black lines is making me want to get off my ass, skip the next hour of coffee drinking, and go try and cram a couple of hours in between the family functions planned for today (more on that later). It's Saturday folks, and although I will not be occupying Spillmanville all day, we are always thinking of you. Get some!

Enjoy,

Spillmanville only works for smiles.

Of Bears and Fire Hydrants...

2011-11-11T05:29:00.004-06:00

Nope. I'm not gonna lie. I called a sub yesterday, and I wish I could do it again today. I've been feeling pretty burned out lately, and I just couldn't deal with people or anything else for that matter. Nonetheless, I tried to sleep in, but there is just too much to do right now. So, I bundled up and took it to the studio. I went by the Art Center and picked up some much needed drawing supplies including this sweet bottle of ink, several bamboo brushes, and a fat handful of brush pens (thanks again guys. that store is the best). Then it was upstairs for the day.

It has been a while since I did a drawing of this size in a while, but the hard part was getting started on a stark white surface for the first time in years. I want these a bit more simple than my normal stuff, and the idea of just drawing with black ink on white paper has been in my mind for a while. There is most certainly a difference when you start drawing on paper that has been stained or seems to already have some visual texture, and starting on white is a bit unnerving at first. I walked around this table for a good 3o minutes just trying to figure out where to start, but eventually, I just went straight in and started drawing this bear's head. From then on it started to flow. Obviously the text is not written in yet and the drawing is still in pencil. I got as far as I could before my little weak legs and stopped up head told me it was time to go home. So, there is a nice inking session coming on and some lettering to finish. I've got 5 of these comix to do in about 20 days, so here we go. Time is getting ahead of me, but knowing the way I am, I'm fairly certain I pushed it as close the the deadline as possible. For some reason I hate the pressure, but I love the momentum that occurs when you have no choice but to make it happen. These are gonna be fun. I don't know about funny, maybe stupid and silly, but they will definitely be a trip to make.

Thanks to chef for dropping off that nice stack of records for me to listen to. Coltrane, Eric B. and Rakim, and some Marty Robbins make for a crazy ass studio session, and that is exactly where I like being.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville likes Fridays, ur well, Friday afternoons.

Next Up: "The Spillmanville Funnies"

2011-11-09T06:12:00.003-06:00

I've been asked to install some work at the University of Memphis Art Museum's Caseworks Project in December, and it is now time to get down to it. I am doing a series of comic strips to be displayed in the cases. The comics will deal with the day to day, occupational hazards and generally the stupid things that I encounter on a daily basis. As you can tell by the size of the paper on the table in the photo below, these will be fairly large.

These comic strips will more than likely lack the normal coffee staining and paper treatment that my Spillmanville drawings are accustomed to. I'm considering going straight up brush and ink on these in a attempt to get a looser flow to these drawings. I can't wait. I've been sketching out scenarios and characters in between other projects for months now, and I've been craving the time to get started. So, here we go.

Pictured above is a sketch for one of the comix, and no, the captions are not included in this picture. I'm still arguing between the words pissed, shit, and peed in the punchline. Will these be funny? Hell, I don't really know. They might just be sarcastic and stupid. Only time will tell.

Hang on folks. Spillmanville is here for you, so stay tuned...

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is living for the afternoon.

New Spread

2011-11-08T09:12:00.002-06:00

...And this little comic book keeps pushing along. I had some good times with these 2 pages. I liked the idea of using the waves as panel boarders on these, because I though it might help tie them into some of the earliest pages of the book. There's a storm a comin' and the violence is picking up. Our hero has had his ass whooped one good time, and is now making his way back to set up his revenge. Stick around, because it has only just begun. Although, it seems to have been going on forever this book becomes more and more interesting to me with every page.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is dazed and confused.

Color Choices

2011-11-04T05:43:00.003-05:00

As I move towards wrapping these next 2 pages of "The Fisherman" up, it dawned on me that I sometimes make color choices that even I don't fully understand until the end. Obviously, I am not a comic book artist by training. This has been a great experience and a childhood dream to work on a graphic novel, and I have tried to learn what I can while staying true to my own style. I wanted this book to look different than the work I produce under the Spillmanville guise, and using color is the easiest way to separate the two. I was workin' on this page last night when I finally stopped to look down at what I had been doing. I've been under tremendous occupational stress lately, and apparently it has been effecting me more than even I knew. Sometimes you just have to listen to yourself, and the voices in my head were telling me to just do it. The colors on this page are popping and all over the place. They didn't really make since to me when I was leaving the studio, and of course this floated around in my head all night.

Working to music, for a person like me who loves the records, usually has some influence on what kind of decisions I make. Due to the massive amounts of vinyl that has been purchased lately, my musical choices have been all over the place. I've been going back and forth between metal, blues, jazz, soul, old indie rock, and hip hop from the 80's. I think it is causing some audio schizophrenia in the studio. However, until this morning I didn't know that it was working in my favor.

Here's the thing about how I design a page for this book. Donnie wrote this script so that one page would be heavily paneled while the next page is a "splash" page or basically a page with one panel and one scene. I try and make the 2 pages sync up in appearance and design. I woke up and pulled the splash page up which hasn't seen any color yet, and I started looking back and forth between it and the one receiving the color at the moment. It all makes sense now. The splash will have elements of all these colors in this 5 panel page up above. Thank god. I thought I was tripping last night, but apparently the artist in me knows best. Can't wait to get back into these.So, lesson for today kiddies, listen to the voices and realize that you know what you want to do if you just let it happen and make it work. AHHHHHHH! It's Friday, and that means last day of the work week and afternoon beers on the porch with Melvis and Nipsy. It also means that Spillmanville Studio Saturday is around the corner. That is a good thing, because I am knee deep in projects. More to come....

Enjoy,

Spillmanville works this hard because we have to.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T18:10:00.002-05:00

Happy Halloween from er, uh, well I'm not sure it's either "Robe Man" or "I'm Staying Home Man". Either way, enjoy, my friends. Enjoy.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville loves some Twizzlers.

End Weekend...

2011-10-31T05:49:00.002-05:00

So first let me apologize for the time between the last post and this one. If you read this blog regularly and you caught the last one, then you are probably putting it together that my current position in this ever changing public school system has been driving me nuts. When I was asked to join the ranks of the other art teachers coming in on this government grant program, I had all sorts of ideas of what was going on. I thought we were being brought in to raise the bar. Alas, I am wrong. My school is in the process of being taken over unless the teachers at my school do the impossible. The lack of teamwork and general laziness around the institution has lead to years of declining test scores, which just happen to be the most important assessment data according to the state. None the less, things have gotten pretty bad and extremely stressful between the hours of 7 and 3p.m. Gone are the days of being the art teacher. I teach less classes this year due to the decline in student population, so the school has decided that I should be their new administrative assistant and teacher aid. I walk around checking classroom data in the mornings, grade writing papers for the 3rd-5th grade, and I was handed a list of kids that I am to tutor in writing. I don't mind all this, but the problem is that any bit of an art program I had is now secondary to the other needs. I hate office work.

Okay, so the point to all this is that life has had me down a bit, and the idea of writing about my personal bizzness or even art for that matter, has not been a top priority. I apologize. So how do you deal with this Mr. Spillman? Well just say forget it all and have a great weekend. Friday night started off with drinks on the porch at mi casa. Then we headed down to Broad Ave. for some beers and fried chicken at 3 Angels Diner. Yes, this was a cathartic move. Of course it always makes me feel good to see people surrounded by my art, and the Diner is most certainly packed with my paintings at the moment. On top of that, the beer was cold, Reebs kept the tunes spinning on the turntable, and the fried chicken was better than ever. Chef has got this chicken thing down to a science, and it might be some of the best in town. Great! Let's just say that the party didn't stop there...

I awoke early after a couple o' hours o' sleep with a nasty hangover, but I had a commitment to keep. Chef and I had to go hit a couple of yard sales, an estate sale, a garage sale and a record swap, all before noon. We were successful in our ventures. I scored a few good pieces of vinyl and then headed to the studio. That led to a call from my soccer crazy cousin, who just happened to be down the street at a local bar drinking beer and watching the morning matches with the rest of the early morning beer and soccer fans in Mid-Town. Since the Liverpool game had just started and I was in desperate need of a hangover cure, I slid on down for a pint and a bit of futbol action. Well, you know this led to nothing good. Let's just say I was out by 8p.m. Much needed sleep.

Sunday morning came, and although I felt weird after grabbing 10 hours of sleep, I was motivated. The studio was calling.

Any bit of social needs I had were gone by Sunday. I wanted to be alone, and I wanted to draw. I set up shop. Packed the mini fridge with St. Paulis and some left over Chicken, threw in a movie on the laptop, strapped on the headphones and locked the door. I got up one time in a bout 4 hours to get my chicken, pee, and grab my first beer of the day. I don't think my pens stopped moving. Damn, I don't know what I'm thinking about when I add all this detail to these pages, because it is a lot of work. I'm not even gonna lie about it, but damn, they are looking hot. I think I tranced out and actually started enjoying myself. Ahhh Spillmanville time.

"The Fisherman" page 28 (inked)

It began to get dark, and although I only had about another hour of inking on page 29 left, I had to call it a day. Next up, page 29 should see the last of the inking process today between work, pumpkin carving and stuffing little kiddies bags full of candy. Then, we are off to the color.

More to come...

Oh lord, the week is starting all over again. May the force be with me, and you as well.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville love chicken of the fried variety.

Comic Bookin' and the Sub Day

2011-10-26T08:36:00.002-05:00

We have a little thing we call "mental health days" at my work. Sometimes taking a substitute and a sick day off is all you can do to survive this racket of a job. The insanity that is our school board is continuously installing more programs, processes, and requirements on a daily basis. The kids stay the same, but the teacher's load and stress gets heavier. Along with this extra work and inability to physically achieve the amount of administrative crap is wearing us out. Dealing with children, uh, students who have more power than the teachers in the classroom is draining the passion from the profession. This causes dissatisfaction on the daily.

So what is a teacher to do, or better yet, what is a person to do to help regain some footing in reality? Why, take a sub day of course. We all know that sick days off are better than normal days off. Everyone else is at work. All that crappy TV you miss between the work hours is on just for your staying at home entertainment. My favorite part of a sick day is staying in pajamas and house shoes, even if I have to run an errand. I did take it easy for the most part. The morning was spent more on thinking about my job and its pros and cons, but I finally got over this senseless act. Mortgage has to get paid, was the answer I kept hearing in my head. So, after a fat breakfast and the 3rd hour of Kitchen Nightmare reruns on BBC, I drug the studio out into the den and then out to the screened porch later. I've been eagerly awaiting the chance to pencil these 2 pages out for "The Fisherman" comic, and yesterday was the day.

These pages had to be a bit different from the last few, just to satisfy my needs. So, due to the now impending storm in our little village, I decided to use waves and water as the panel boarders. There will be a lot of inking to do on these, but it will be a good time. For some reason I was really into the idea of doing a lot of close up activity in these. I've been trying to explain to my little art students what makes a good camera man different from a bad one. I think the ideas of zooming in and out and later cropping in the editing process must have still been in my brain from class the other day. None the less, here's a look at the penciled pages thus far:Next up for ol' Spillmanville, inking, coloring, starting large comic strips for AMUM's Caseworks Project and a whole bunch of gift and trade drawings. Yikes. We are busy!

Enjoy,

Spillmanville has a drawing blister on his finger. Ouch!

Mr. Spillman and the Kiddies

2011-10-22T09:37:00.003-05:00

So most of you Spillmamnvillians know that I am an artist who moonlights as a public school elementary art teacher by day, and I am a fairly damn good one at that. Or at least the kids seem to tell my I'm their favorite, and they can draw like nothing I've ever seen. My favorite grade level to be with is Kindergarten. Seriously. Many teachers cringe at the sight of the ones we call the "wet kids", because they are always snotty, having to pee, don't have a clue on how to control themselves and generally because they exert and consume massive amounts of energy. My Friday crew is the craziest. Hell, it's Friday. I know it, the other teachers know it, and you know damn well the kids know it.

I was in a mood yesterday, but I was in the thespian society in high school and have training on hiding my true self. I don't like exploding on the 5 year olds if possible. There are enough old head teachers at the school to scream at them like their mommas, so I don't really like joining in with this senseless and ineffective approach.

On thing my students are is observant. I try and teach them to be conscious of what is going on around them at all times. They were driving me nuts, and I was about to explode. The school had several activities going on and planned for the rest of the day, so the kids were jacked up more than usual. I decided to walk away and ignore them at my desk instead of be raiding them. I grabbed a brush pen and drew the picture below. Then I took it and, like a ninja, tacked it to the board in the front of the classroom. I then went back and sat down. It took all of about 30 seconds before the drawing was spotted. When the first kid noticed it and said out loud to look at Mr. Spillman's drawing. The class all hushed and looked up. Then out of nowhere, a hand went up (they are not very fond of raising their hands, they prefer shouting across the room at one time). The kid asked me about the drawing. I told them that it was a self portrait created to explain to the class how they were making me feel at that moment.

They suddenly got it. They picked up their crayolas and got back down to bizzness. Then they asked for some "old people" music, as they call it. So, I put on some Lee Morgan, and the world was well....until the next class came in.

Thank the heavens. It's Saturday in Spillmanville.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville will be in the robe all day.

Diggin': Larry Willis-"Inner Crisis"

2011-10-19T05:51:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was a really long day. I'm not sure if that was due to the transition back to work after Fall Break, or if it was this crazy cold rainy weather that appeared from out of nowhere. However, we here at Spillmanville muscle on no matter what. Yesterday's gaol was getting the next couple of comic pages sketched out and ready to be penciled onto boards. I've been beating my head trying to find the right layout for these pages, but it has been a bunch of senseless scribble scrabble. So, when chef rolled up with some more boxes of records, I decided to take a Zebra Lounge break and sit in on the diggin'. I grabbed a couple of St. Paulis and headed on down the hall. Chef dug through a bunch of boxes and pulled out some real winners, but none of them topped the pick of the day.

Larry Willis

"Inner Crisis"

Groove Merchant Records, 1973

The first thing that grabbed us was this bad ass cover. Larry Willis doesn't look like a guy you'd want to talk shizzle to. He was born in 1942 in New York and had a long recording career. He is a fairly well respected pianist and keyboardist who has played with everyone from the likes of Jackie McLean, Lee Morgan, and even a 7 year stint on the keys with rock band, Blood, Sweat and Tears. His best known appearances on record include McLean's "Right Now" and one of Lee Morgan's last recordings, "Infinity". His solo career took him through the sounds of funk, be-bop, soul, and fusion.

Look, I'll get down to it. This album is hot, funky and dirty. It is tough all over. We threw it on just to grab a listen, and we ended up playing it till the end. Conversation stopped. Chef kept digging. He was piling records up in front of me in anticipation of me getting off my ass and taking the DJ reins, but I could not be found. The music, the beers, the mood, or something in the air grabbed my imagination, and the drawing began. I worked out the 2 pages in sketch form in minutes of this record going on. These pages are gonna be hot. They fit the sultry funk fusion sound of this record. Thanks for the inspiration Mr. Willis. We were really satisfied.

So, never put a record down when the cover is this tough, because it just might be the bizzness. Here's a listen:

Enjoy,

Spillmanville wants to live in the kingdom of the robe today.

Drawing Dogs n' Such

2011-10-17T10:49:00.003-05:00

The long weekend is now behind us and it's back to work again. I feel like I just finished up a bunch of work and now it is time to take care of new business. I am in the early stages of drawing out the pieces for my little bitty show at Caseworks @ AMUM in December, and so far so good. These pieces are basically going to be black ink on white paper somewhere in the neighborhood of 32" by 34". They are one panel comic strips slightly in the vein of oh, lets say maybe The Farside. The idea of adding text to my normal satirical drawings has had me out actually paying attention to what is going on and being said around me. I am on heightened stupidity alert. Somewhere months back, I started carrying my camera in my pocket (along with the usual pocket sketchbook) everywhere I go. I think I'm trying to let my imagination rest a touch and let reality be a part, but we'll have to see what all that gibberish produces.

The other job I've begun tackling is catching up on all the promised trade drawings, commissions, and "gift" drawings that I've been putting off. I'm starting with a fairly large drawing for David "Chief Baby Hands" Evans, Underground Art's tattooist extraordinaire and good friend to Spillmanville. This drawing is a trade for a piece he has been working on over the past several months on and off on my chest. That is how we are no hurry, just solid work and good times.

David's drawing will be a bit tough due to the fact that the subjects of the drawing are his 2 dogs (Ella and Gia) who have been with him as long as I've known him. They are very special dogs and I am not much of a portrait artist. I know I've got to get the markings right to bring home the likeness. Past that, the narrative and symbolism will all be Spillmanville. It might be a bit hard to tell from the sketch above, but the dogs will be looking towards the East, and they are draped in (what will be heavily patterned and ornamental) kimonos. Yes, there will be tons of vegetation adorning the back and foreground. Should be a fun one.

List of drawings and characters to be drawn in now certain order:

1. Dogs in kimonos

2. A goat

3. A garden with 3 dogs, yard art, and a special chair

4. A bush baby

5. A turtle and a rabbit

6. A fire hydrant

7. flowers and more flowers

8. Drunk Japanese gods

9. Sleeping roosters

10. pissed off bears

11. whatever pops in my head today

Okay, time to get on with the getting on. Today is in-service day. That means professional development sessions galore, and tonight is parent teacher conference night at my school. I will have no conferences as usual. Great thing about today is that I prepped all this paper for the back pack and drawing time will be available. You know I can't listen in meetings without drawing.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville needs to be professionally developed.

"Digging: The Swamp Dogg meets The Zebra Lounge

2011-10-16T09:25:00.003-05:00

Wow. What a busy weekend. I have accomplished much in the world of relaxing, but not much in the land of production. Well, it is fall break around here, and we have been taking advantage of adult time here at Spillmanville. So that leads me back here to the beginning of the weekend and how the break got started.

Chef and I are big time record junkies. I love music, but not just any kind. I like the kind that comes on slick vinyl. Upstairs above Bari and down the hall from Spillmanville Studios there is a little magical place that few know about or will ever see for that matter. This place is a spot in the building where Chef and I can get away and be little record nerds all alone thinking we are cool. This place is called "The Zebra Lounge". The lounge is aptly named for the crappy zebra printed rug we found when moving stuff around in the offices in the building. We have a couple of chairs, a painting, a mini fridge full of St. Paulis and Peronis, and a record player. Although it is a shitty one, the turntable has never let us down in times when in need of musical satisfaction. Oh, and we have about 3,000 records piled up everywhere. I guess that was the important part.

Chef has become an old man, reminiscent of the cats we grew up with hanging out at the flea markets when we where kids. He takes Saturday morning drives seriously, and he is always looking for a garage or estate sale along his strolls. The other day, he received a call to come look at a man's collection down in Tunica Mississippi. Dude said he had a stack of records, so Jason went. Chef peered over a couple of the records on the stacks, and saw a few things he wanted right off the bat. There were close to 1000 records piled up including a humongous box of 45 singles. The dude selling the record collection was a retired Chicago policeman somewhere in his late 60's early 70's. He went on to tell Chef about his days DJing in Chicago on the side. When Chef heard this, he automatically knew he wanted to buy the collection. He paid $100 in cash. Thats right 100 bucks for all those records. So we spent last Thursday night going through these boxes and pulling out gold. This was the mother load. The 45s alone about gave me a heart attack. Sonny Boy, James Brown, Jimmy Smith, and lets just say Blue Note Jazz galore. Then we moved to the big boys, the full length LP.s. Holy shizzle. After I passed out I woke up in a dreamland. Staring at original copies of Lee Morgan, Josh White, Nina Simone, Chi Lites, Horace Silver, Groove Holmes, Grant Green, Funkadelic, Coasters, Floaters, LL Cool J, anything Motown, Chess and on and on and on...Okay I'm getting overwhelmed thinking about it again. Needless to say we drank down our beers like they were honey. We lost all control of our senses as we began spinning track after track on the table. Going from soul to jazz to blues to oddities. Song after song. Loving it and admiring the collection, we began looking for the record of the day. And here it is:

Swamp Dogg

"Have You Heard This Story?"

Island Records, 1974

Originally born Jerry Williams Jr. in 1942, Swamp Dogg has a pretty serious collection of work. Think blues and funk, 'cause this album is down right dirty. We about dropped out looking and reading the cover, but when we played it, holy shizzle. This record is for real. Swamp Dogg does not play around.

This will not be the last you hear from the Zebra Lounge. There is more to come.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville needs new headphones.

Chapter 2 pages 4 and 5

2011-10-12T05:35:00.003-05:00

After a long stint of drawing some Spillmanville originals, I finally finished up these 2 pages for "The Fisherman" comic. These are pages 4 and 5 of chapter 2, and as you can see there is no respect for our hero. After being thrown out the tavern by these cooky crazy god characters, he rises only to be laughed at. I really enjoyed the color in these pages. Staying fresh and exploring different color combinations is always a challenge, but well worth it. Since I started doing two pages at a time, it has been a goal of mine to make the 2 pages fit each other visually, as they will be opened up together and viewed side by side when opened up. So here you go. A little look at the product through crappy photos as I was leaving the studio last night.

chapter 2, page 4

Chapter 2, page 5

The Spread

Hang loose as there is more to come.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is all tuckered out.

Enough To Go Around

2011-10-11T06:18:00.002-05:00

Ol' Spillmanville has been drawing its arse off this week. We've been wrapping up a series of drawings that are headed off to the Memphis College of Art downtown, coloring comic pages, and working on sketches for a little show thingy at the AMUM's Caseworks (more on that later). Anyways, here's a look at a drawing I did yesterday in and out of my free time between meetings, teaching, and digging through Chef's big record score out in the Bari parking lot. I've been having to teach kindergartners to share supplies, which they do not like doing at all. I explain to them that the supplies are all mine, and I share with them. If they won't share with other students, then I will not share with them. It is all so stupid because there is always enough to go around.

"Enough To Go Around"

ink, gouache, coffee on paper

5"x7" framed 8"x10"

Enjoy,

Spillmanville can already tell that we will be late today.

The Writer Speaks

2011-10-11T06:11:00.004-05:00

My friend and collaborator in comic book chaos, Donald Juengling, has finally decided to let it all out, so check out his new blog : artbombgoboom. You can read along as he bitches about my work (that's a joke).

Enjoy,

Spillmanville loves to read its name

"I'm Just Trying To Get Home"

2011-10-09T08:55:00.002-05:00

Drawing is king around here, and I do my best to pass these skills onto my young art students on a daily basis. Some days you stay real close to those typed lesson plans that we turn in every week, but there are always the days where you just want to let the kids draw whatever pops in their little imaginations. On these days, I find myself sitting on the floor drawing with them. Lord knows they are probably getting a better art education on those days. I try my best to dumb down what I draw in front of them. They still don't completely grasp that they don't draw like me yet because they don't have 30+ years of drawing practice under their belts.

I have a student in one of my 1st grade classes who is a real handful to say the least. He requires constant attention and is a total flight risk. As a matter of fact he escaped from school for the 5th time this year just after art class the other day. No, he doesn't run away from my class, because he loves art. Well, that and I'm his favorite teacher in the building. He tells me he wants to go home all the time. I tell him that I want to as well. In a lot of ways, these free drawing days are kind of like me just trying to get through the day with a bit of artistic enjoyment. I guess I too am just trying to get home.

The student drew this boat while sitting on the floor next to me. I was drawing this big ugly fish. He suggested that we could put them together and then we would have made this drawing together. So, we glued the ends of the pages together and created this little piece of collaboration. Of course, I started drawing out my own version of our idea by lunch time Friday. On the way to the studio yesterday, It dawned on me how I hate sitting in traffic, dealing with attitudes at the grocery store, and frankly anything that gets in my way while trying to reach my destination, whether the studio or home. So I present to you yet another Spillmanville original:

"I'm Just Trying To Get Home"

ink, coffee, and gouache on paper

5"x7" framed to 8"x10"

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is just trying to get back into my studio (I broke the key off in the door)

They Keep Calling Me...

2011-10-06T05:49:00.002-05:00

After completing the drawing that I posted yesterday, I started feeling something not felt in a while. It's called inspiration and motivation. All of a sudden the floodgates of imagery have opened up and they are drowning me. The sketchbook is on fire. Drawing, drawing and more drawing. I am twisting birds, letting fish devour ships, imagining monkeys on tricycles, and picturing houses with wings flying around. I'm not sure what is bringing this all on other than sitting in the library at school through all these ridiculous "proffessional development" sessions and long faculty meetings. It appears that nothing has changed since I was a kid.

My students often ask me when and how I started drawing so much. All I can say is, that I got lucky growing up in a broke family with too much responsibility for a kid my age, and I was an avid user of my free library card. I spent a lot of time alone in my room during free time utilizing things that were free as well as my imagination. I see pictures; then I want to draw them. When I get them wrong, I erase until I get it right. It's that simple. None the less, it's on. Being portable, carrying prepped paper, and living in the sketchbook is about as good as it gets this week. I would love to sit at the drawing table and finish painting the comic pages I started earlier in the week, but I haven't been able to tether down to the studio. There is just not enough time in the day right now.

So, get ready, there is more Spillmanville coming. I started 2 new drawings yesterday that I am eager to get back into, but dammit there are no meetings after school and I have a full load ahead of me today. Thank the stars for paper and afternooners, because this will probably be my studio again today. Cheers!

Enjoy,

Spillmanville be trippin'.

"I'm Moving Out"

2011-10-05T05:43:00.003-05:00

So, amongst all the projects going on, we still find the time to kick out a new drawing here and there. In between painting the 2 latest pages of "The Fisherman", I finished this one yesterday, and It was quite enjoyable. I had fun figuring the wings out on this scruffy little bird, and as always I love bird houses and all there many symbolic meanings. The drawing is titled "I'm Moving Out", and yes, I had that damn Billy Joel song stuck in my head while I was drawing it. No, I am not actually moving out, but I think it has something to do with my relationship with this educational system and my plans for the future. I find myself humming the chorus to this song while I'm at work and getting pissed off. I think it makes me feel better thinking that I have the guts to just get up and walk out some days, whether I do it or not. That's why we make funny little satirical drawings instead.

The drawing is coffee, ink, and gouache on paper. It is a 5"x7" drawing framed to an 8"x10" frame, and may or may not be available for sale at the Memphis College of Art Store downtown later this month with some others selected by Catherine Blackwell Pena. More on that next week.

Here we go folks. Let the hump day begin, and may we all make it to the other side.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is putting on the hustle shoes.

"The Split"

2011-10-04T05:46:00.003-05:00

After work is one of the best times of the day, and there is nothing better after a day of laboring than an ice cold glass of Peroni from the bar downstairs at Bari. Yes, ol' Chef and I are firm believers in the importance of a good afternooner. The cold golden deliciousness helps cover up the pains of the day and smooth in the entry of all after work affairs be it painting, drawing, or just plain sitting around and shooting the shizzle.

Due to the fact that we are the first ones in the building in the afternoon, Chef and I usually get the first pour from the tap. Here's the problem, because no one has touched the keg since the night before, the first glass is usually foamy and unsettled. Hey, that is no reason to flush it down the sink though. No, we fill the glass to the top, set it aside and then pour 2 more that are perfect.

Photo courtesy of Chef Jason "the Lion" Severs

As we finish our first beers, we are always left wanting more. This is where the foamy first pour comes in. We call this beer "The Split". Yes just like bowling. You need this one to finish the job. The above photo shows Chef and I preparing to split "The Split", and yes we are this geeky about beer. Beer is good.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is already eyeballing 2:15 on the P.M. side.

Coloring Book Time...

2011-10-03T05:48:00.002-05:00

The weekend proved to be somewhat productive. I spent a good part of the weekend sketching and making plans for some upcoming projects that I will discuss further in the future, and the rest of the time in the studio was spent finishing the pencils and preliminary inking on pages 4 and 5 of chapter 2 of "The Fisherman". I always love looking down on the table when the pages are in this form. They look like giant coloring book pages, and I love to color. Sunday was a bit more laid back than I needed when I entered Spillmanville yesterday, so I only got so far. There is a lot of wood, grass and trees to be painted on these pages, so that is where I started. There are some elements on the page I am excited to paint, but I am holding off on those parts like dessert after dinner.

Apparently my body thinks I'm a grizzly bear and that it is hibernation time. I usually have a nasty case of insomnia, but all of a sudden I want to sleep. Believe me, I am not fighting it, but it is strange to go from 4 hours of sleep a night to sleeping 9 hours, waking up, watching soccer for a couple of hours and then going down for a nap. Now it seems that I am addicted to laying in bed and stretching out. It must be the weather or the job. No matter. It has been nice. So all distractions aside, the weekend proved to be just what I needed, but it has come to an end. The work week begins, and another round of late afternoon studio sessions fitted in between the bizzness will be the way of the week. So is the life of a working artist.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is not happy about missing his old man nap today.

Drawing Birds With the Childrens

2011-09-30T05:54:00.005-05:00

Well, the week has been long and full of fullness, but alas the work week is slowing down to make way for the weekend. This week the little kiddies made drawings and paintings about birds and seasonal changes. I love teaching drawing lessons to the children, because it is simple and entertaining. I teach drawing through the application of combining shapes much in the same way as a cartoonist or like the drawing lessons found in old Lee Ames books. It teaches children to figure out how things are put together and hopefully learn to see the parts as well as the whole. My favorite part about these assignments is that the students learn to draw the object through the same process, but how they do it and illustrate it is generally all their own.

Some kids who have a bit more drawing intuition will utilize all the elements that they have been taught into each drawing. The one above shows overlapping of clouds, trees, the sun and even the bird itself. This is a very smart and out going little student, and this was one of my favorites of the day. It's so animated.This child has decided to draw in some giant hills behind his bird. He said he wanted the bird to have lots of space to fly. Really? How old are you, because most adult artists can't figure out these problems in their own work. Looks effortless right?This one is simple, but it is one of three that this student drew and colored. They were all different and had different themes. This is a spring drawing hence the flowers. I think the child was more interested in drawing the flowers instead of the bird.Anytime a child will actually utilize the whole paper for their image it is exciting. Little kids like to draw little things. This child was laughing when she drew this one. She thought it was funny that her bird looked so fat. Everyone else at her table had little deflated looking birds. They were all jealous of hers. She eventually showed them how to make their birds bigger.Finally, this student, who drew the spring one above, made this as her final piece. Elementary students tend to like writing words all over their work. I usually stop this from happening unless there is a point to it. In this case, the text is essential. She told me that she wanted them to fly fast so they could get back home and get out of school quicker. Couldn't have said it better myself.

Maybe I should hire these kids to do some Spillmanville work. I can pay them in homemade chocolate chip cookies, Flamin' Hot Cheetos, and handfuls of sour candy. Yeah, that's it, a Spillmanville sweat shop.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is ready for the days in between Thursday and Monday.

The Good Stuff.

2011-09-29T17:18:00.003-05:00

The artist is working very hard for you. He must now stop and enjoy this moment, because it is that damn good.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is currently living the dream.

"That Kid Is Slow"

2011-09-27T06:02:00.003-05:00

Growing up as a student in grade school I was called many things by my teachers. These descriptions of my abilities included the words: lazy, slow, unmotivated, unteachable, irresponsible, and day dreamy, and it most certainly had a profound effect on both my self confidence and my willingness to learn new things from these people. Having spent the last 5 years of my life going through the motions of becoming a teacher to a tenured teacher with one of the best art programs in the city, I have realized several things about these words and the fact that these teachers that wrote me off under these descriptions were lazy and uncreative in their own approaches. Day dreamy yes. Hell I grew up to be an artist, but lazy, really?

The photo above shows one of my first graders drawing a drawing based on a castle I drew for the older grades. It has form, shading, overlapping, and even a bit of instinctual perspective. I have been with this kid for 2 years now, and week after week his abilities and visual comprehension blow me away. So, what do you think his teachers think of him? Slow, lazy, unmotivated, strange, and weird, right? Exactly. They ask me if I can teach him anything or if he does any work in my room. When I tell them that he is one of the most talented and highly skilled students in the lower grades, they laugh and tell me I don't know what it is like to "teach" him the real subjects. Apparently art isn't and never has been a real subject. Yes, the kid writes his name backwards, has a bit of trouble reading, and has a short attention span, but being read regurgitated information from a book out loud to the entire class never taught me anything either. I find that where I see intelligence in kids is not the same as where others are even looking.

This country has lost its progressive ways. The kids learn from math and reading programs on the computer that sound like Donkey Kong and look like Pokemon. How they hell could anyone concentrate. I was always told to go find a quiet corner and read my back in privacy. Everything we were told growing up is not sufficient anymore in this current educational system. It is mind boggling to a creative thinker like me. Where these teachers call the arty kids lazy. I call these teachers uncreative, lazy, uninspiring, and ignorant in the ways of an artist's mind. The reason this country is going to hell in a hand basket and is losing its competitive edge is due to the lack of concentration in teaching children to be creative thinkers, problem solvers, dreamers and inventors.

The boy above can solve any problem through the motions of effort and initiative. I have never seen him back down to a challenge in my room. Now, of course I don't "teach" in "the classroom" according to the rest of the faculty. Even though I'm teaching science, language art, applied math, and even social studies in my lessons. I teach these kids to physically do and understand things that most seasoned teachers can't do and don't have a clue about. This kid will probably go on to be an engineer or an architect, but his days in grade school will probably be painful for him. He will probably get swept under the rug for kids who subscribe to this standard of education and are easy learners, but we have to wait and see.

Since my days in school, receiving my master's degree, teaching college, working as an artist, mentoring in the psychology department at Rhodes, and teaching myself the things that mattered, not much has changed my opinions of these early experiences. Had I had an art teacher growing up maybe things would have improved quicker. Had I had an art teacher like me who knew what they were doing, then I would probably be a famous artist who left home for New York when I was a teenager. As an adult artist, I still feel the ignorance of most adults. I still see their inability to comprehend what I do and how I do it. They still think drawing is magic and not a way of showing an understanding of how the world is put together. Do I worry about these people anymore, no not at all. In fact, they don't even phase me, because I know I can do things they can not. Years back, I was called to come teach a couple of classes at my old grade school. Really, now the lazy kid has a name on him and is an authority figure. Oh, how funny. The best part about teaching little kids is watching them grow into the future person they will be. As for the student in discussion. He is weird, but hell aren't all little 6 year old boys. Will he learn? That comes down to his own will and the army of teachers he will come into contact with over the next 12+ years of his academic career. Will he continue to draw and get better? No doubt. He draws better than I could when I was 8 already. How do I know he will be an artist? I am going to make him one, because in my class, he would be the valedictorian.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville wishes we were kids and we had art class today. I would draw a castle too.

Everything Old Is New Again

2011-09-25T07:28:00.003-05:00

Dear Spillmanvillians,

Let me first apologize for my lack of time spent writing on this hear blog in the past few days. I have been out playing educator and curator this week. Yes, it has been an administrative kinda week, and although, not enjoyable, somethings have to be done besides drawing goofy animals in a sketchbook all day. If I had it my way, I would have a secretary and a studio full of little helpers. Alas, I do not.

Since leaving the old gallery thing months back, I have been kinda putting together some plans and directions for showing my work to the public. I have several things lined up in the city, so there will be opportunities to see what has been going down at Spillmanville. The first thing on the agenda, however, has been the changing of the work down at 3 Angels Diner @ 2617 Broad Avenue, here in Memphis.

For those of you that aren't in the know, the Diner is the 2nd restaurant in town owned by Jason and Rebecca Severs. I have been hanging work over at there other restaurant, Bari Ristorante e Enoteca on Cooper. Hell, Spillmanville has been located upstairs above the establishment for years now. Chef and I share a lot in common from a love of vinyl, comic books, old westerns, and cold Peronis, so when he began talking about opening up the Diner, I started seeing a way to display some of more poppy narrative pieces that have been stored up in the studio. The response from the couple of older paintings I have had hanging in the Diner was so good, that it felt right to funk up the place on a larger scale.

So, a couple of weeks ago I started looking around the studio and pulling some of my favorite and lesser shown pieces from my collection. Chef selected a couple of his favorites, Mel picked one, and the rest was purely me. Some of the work is as old as 8 years and some are as recent as the past 6 months. Now, I have always loved these paintings, but we all know how it is showing in commercial galleries. The hard narratives usually don't fly, as most gallery owners go for the easy sales and the less complicated work to display in their store fronts. I saw this as a chance to put the work I truly loved making over the years out there for a little public digestion and to give the paintings some much needed air and sunlight.

Although, my work is usually exhibited in the form of my drawings and the galleries have never had a problem selling those crazy animals gone nuts, I was truly excited to see the painted versions of some of my more animated ideas hanging on public walls. The color in the room was already loud and bright, but the paintings have completely changed the feeling in the room. I've been down there every afternoon since Wednesday, and I have had trouble not ordering another Peroni to give me an excuse to just hang around look and listen to the chatter. It is definitely fun as hell in there now.
So if you get a chance to get out and chill a spell, head down to the Diner and enjoy the environment over a nice martini and a plate of fried green tomatoes. Today is Sunday, so I know the boys are hard at work in the kitchen already preparing some brunch goodness for you fine people of Memphis. I can picture Chef baking the biscuits, The Blue Genie mixing the gravy, Woodsy cracking the eggs, and Becky squeezing oranges for some chilled mimosas. Damn. That sounds good already. Go down and get filled up while reppin' the Ville. Tell 'em

Ol' Spillmanville sent ya.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville wants some biscuits and gravy.

The Beginning of a Page

2011-09-20T09:10:00.003-05:00

Here we are again. Right in the middle stages of the work week, and the beginning of a new spread in the comic book. Although I am past this point in the process and have begun lining this one out, I thought it would be nice to show all you fine people the starting stages of my pages. I often hand write the panel descriptions from Donnie's script into the sketchbook, so I can refer to it as I have free time to scribble scrabble through out the day. Then, I begin figuring out the design for the layout of the panels. The last part of the sketching process usually looks rough to most, but it's just enough for me to work from. Plus I enjoy trying to get right when I'm already on the comic boards. So here's a little shot of the final scribbles for Chapter 2, page 4 of "The Fisherman":

Yes there is blood in these panels.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is fidgety.

Community Support

2011-09-16T06:03:00.003-05:00

We had a nice long truly uninspiring professional development session with a crowd of about 10 other schools yesterday after work. I learned my lesson at the last one, and I made sure to pack some stained, sized paper on hand for this event. Spillmanville is always thinking about all of you, and we truly understand that the job is no reason for us to miss out on some solid studio time. I began this drawing at the beginning of the meeting without much of an idea in mind, but true to fashion, once I start drawing, something is gonna happen. I wrapped the drawing up with a bit of gouache when I got back to the Orange Room after the meeting. I'm sure the teachers around me were freaked out by how fast this drawing produced itself in front of them. That's right you people, I have superhuman production skills (sometimes).

So here it is, "Community Support", ink, gouache, and coffee on paper. 5"x7" framed to 8"x10".

Here we go. It's Friday. Time to put on the blinders and get through the day. We got some theater tickets for Saturday, so I will be spending date night with my paint brushes, a green rooster, and a six pack of my cold bottled friends. Hell yes!

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is not concerned.

In Progress

2011-09-15T06:17:00.003-05:00

Sometimes I really miss spending my time painting, but due to the demands of my other projects, I'm usually sitting at a drawing table with a pen or pencil in my hand. After finishing the last couple of pages on the book and a new Spillmanville drawing, it seemed fitting to get back into the oil and canvas life. This one is coming along, but don't think you know how it comes out just yet. There is a lot of work left in this bad boy. I'm sure he will eventually be adorned with some nice plant life to help accentuate his surroundings. Plus, I love color, so I can already see the need to get down to some mixing. More to come on this and many other little bits of goofiness.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville feels bad for his studio being so lonely this morning.

New Pages...

2011-09-12T05:37:00.004-05:00

Well, another weekend has come and gone. Somehow or another I got these 2 pages finished up this weekend. The past few days have been highly eventful, but I have been busting my rump to get these wrapped up. They were a lot of work, but I think they came out pretty damn good. So, chapter 2 is underway, and here are pages 2 and 3.

Chapter 2, page 2:

Chapter 2, page 3:

The spread:

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is gearing up for one hell of a week.

With Friends Like These...

2011-09-11T10:48:00.002-05:00

I have kinda been putting this blog off due to a lack of time to just sit around writing personal bizzness, but this subject has been on my mind since last weekend. The work week is stressful right now, and I've been a bit down lately. Working in the public school system is both inspiring and jaw dropping at the same time. There is so much corruption and mismanagement that occurs in this city and its services, and I am a fairly sensitive and politically minded fellow. Having worked for WMC-tv news for so long before entering this position makes it hard for me to just swallow what I'm being told and asked to do on a daily basis. Especially, when I don't believe in it. Being and artist and having a studio, tend to give me an advantage in life. I go in, shut the door, turn on some Coltrane, and begin the act of letting it go, every afternoon.

The worst thing about being an artist who creates the work that I create, is that it is not always commercially viable in this town. Couch art tends to be the mainstay when it comes to what sells and what doesn't. Of course you always have that eccentric patron who will buy anything different or anything yours. It helps to have put in a lot of work over the years and have made lots of connections to the scene. None the less, being an artist with a day job is tough. When everyone else is going home to relax and watch Wheel of Fortune, we are going into our perspective studios and making work, because the work don't make itself. So, in a way you have 2 jobs. The one that pays, and the one that doesn't but lets you be you.

The Art Butcher and The World Traveler up at Spillmanville

Saturdays are mine. Yep, don't bother calling me to set up plans on this one glorious day of the week. I don't go to jobs, mow yards, clean houses, babysit, grocery shop (except for beer and Cheetos), and I most certainly do not think about teaching kids art on Saturdays. I get to the studio early, and I stay all day. I do sometimes accept visitors towards beer:30.

Last weekend, my friend and artist extraordinaire, Tad Lauritzen Wright stopped by for a visit, and it was a welcomed sit down. He brought a couple of big ol' St. Paulis and his usual friendly smile and off center humor. He asked me to get out with him to go look at some art down at another artist's studio, and I looked at him like, (you are asking me to leave the studio on a Saturday?). He had the patience enough to let me finish out the last panel I was working on and even the last scene of "Once Upon A Time In The West", which I then let him borrow for his own viewing pleasure. So we then set out for the afternoon.

At the gallery, we ran into several artists from around town, but then we saw Dwayne. Yes, the Dwayne Butcher, aka "Memphis Own", aka "The Art Butcher", aka D-Wayne. We all then conspired to head to my studio and have an afternoon of beer drinking and bullshitting.

I had a blast. Both of these guys have been working the scene around here for as long as I have (maybe longer), and I have always enjoyed both of their work, all though very different from one another. The things I enjoy the most about these 2 cats are there sense of what it is to be a working artist, the importance of a studio work ethic, and their solid senses of whit and conversation. As the afternoon went on, I felt a change in myself for a minute. I felt relaxed and without concern about the world around me. I liked being jammed into a little room with these guys. I felt surrounded by common feelings, urges, fears, unknowing, ambition, and a weird sense that people like us may have more answers to the world's problems than most.

"Handsome Western States", Tad Lauritzen Wright

"It's Fun Being Me"(installation view), Dwayne Butcher

Although the day was supposed to be about me making art, it became more about me realizing that I am not the only person out there, or even just in this community, that spends all their free time thinking about and seriously listening to their own ideas and creating something original out of them. Whether it is being made out of graphite, ink, comic book pages, oil paint, acrylic, or even videos made with the sounds of hot love making and the visuals of chicken frying, we are out there doing it, even if no one cares. Thank the stars above for friends like these. Their being themselves make it seem okay for me to be me. They make even the weirdest son of gun feel a bit normal every now and then. Cheers my friends, and may all the little kids in town know of all of us who helped create a scene for them to look cool in.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is ready to cut me some yard.

Am I Talking To Myself?

2011-09-09T06:02:00.002-05:00

Ahhhhh....Thank goodness it's Friday. What a long work week this has been. The school year has gotten rougher with everyday, and the amount of meetings and "professional development" sessions is starting to get ridiculous. I don't think the administration understands that those hours after work are reserved for the studio.

None the less, Spillmanville is always working. The next 2 pages of "The Fisherman" are in the final stages. I've got a couple of hours of inking work left to pizazz these up, but let me say this, they are looking hot! If it weren't for these stupid work-related meetings, I may not ever find the time to walk away from the book and spend some time in drawing in Spillmanville. The drawing above is titled, "Am I Talking To Myself?", and it was started in a PD session after work this week. I think the title is a fitting one for an artist who teaches little kids all day. The drawing is on 8"x10" paper, and was made with gouache, ink, and coffee. I dig it.

Well, more to come on all sorts of Spillmanville related bizzness.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is already watching the clock hands.

Friday Night Lights

2011-09-09T05:39:00.005-05:00

It's Friday, and in the tradition and excitement like that of the begining of high school football season, the Fall Gallery Exhibition period is amongst us. Tonight the city will be packed full of art hungry fans running the streets from Midtown to East Memphis in search of some action. Here is a list of events around town tonight:

Greely Myatt "Just Sayin'"

David Lusk Gallery

Sept. 6-Oct. 1

Opening Reception Sept. 9, 6-8pm

Elizabeth Alley, "Go Change"

Flicker Street Studios

Opening Reception, Sept. 9, 6-8 pm

Jan Hankins, "Parsimone's Flotsam"

Gallery 56

Sept. 9-30

Opening Reception, Sept. 9, 5-8 pm

Jiha Moon, "Day For Night"

Clough Hanson Gallery

Sept. 9- Oct.14

Opening Reception, Sept 9, 6-8

Have fun and support the arts.

Enjoy Spillmanville will be burning up the strip tonight.

Freshly Inked...

2011-09-04T18:34:00.002-05:00

I had all kinds of intention on doing this elaborate posting about my studio day yesterday and all the events that occurred down at Spillmanville, but unfortunately do to the afternoon's escapades, today has been slow and low. Nonetheless, we do not stop around here. Due to the fact that these 2 beauties will never be the same after the gouache goes on, here is a look at pages 2 and 3 "The Fisherman"'s second chapter. in there early inked stage. I had to channel the powers of the mighty hangover god's sympathy to keep my attention there today, but alas the deed has been done. Notice the action is building up. More to come...

Page 2:

Page 3:

The Spread:

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is on the couch.

Here's To The End of A Blurry Week...

2011-09-02T13:40:00.002-05:00

Thank the mighty powers that be, it is Friday! I have had enough cleaning up after children time to last me through the 3 day weekend. I love teaching the kiddies to paint and all, but damn, they wear me out. And then there's the adults around the school and, ...um, no. Not today. No bitching or complaining. It is the beginning of the weekend.

Tonight is gonna be a night at the house. It's date night people, so get ready for drunken stories about scrabble 2morrow. Aw yes..... the one full long studio day of the week is 2morrow, Hell yes! The agenda for Spilmanville: Soccer games in the a.m., finish pencils for chapter 2, pg. 3, ink 'em up, and get down to some rooster painting before sundown. Images soon....

And to you and yours, Spillmanville wishes you the best Friday evening possible. May all your wildest dreams come true, or at least somewhere in the neighborhood.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is ready to rub the feet in the carpet.

You are now entering the land of confusion...

2011-08-31T06:11:00.003-05:00

My brain hurts, and I am exhausted. Between teaching kids to paint all day, being a toady for my Principal, trying to keep up with new Spillmanville drawings, working on this comic book, dealing with web and t-shirt designs, painting farm animals, planning out the work and idea for Caseworks, keeping up with house chores, trying to be nice to my family, and sleeping about 3 hours a night, I am officially coming apart at the seams this morning. All my little schizophrenic personalities are talking in my head at one time like a class full of fifth graders, and I can't really hear what any of them are saying. Ouch. Brain pains.

Spillmanville was a much needed oasis from the day yesterday afternoon, but productive and decisive it was not. I spent the better part of 2 hours working on 1 panel of 5 on the comic project yesterday, and I could never seem to get it right. I am not having trouble drawing; in fact, due to all the drawing I do with the kids during the day, my drawing hand is at it's prime once again. I see this comic like a director sees the visual of a film script. The panel at question here, shows 4 bad guys at a table as the "hero" walks in on them in a tavern. I started off having the dudes looking straight at the viewer all "last supper style". Too obvious. I like odd angles, and the panel has to fit a visual look set up by the rest of the panels. I drew the panel out in the first 30 minutes of the studio session, but then I spent the next hour erasing it out over and over again. I have a shot from a favorite western film in my head that I am now trying to base the scene on. By the time I gave up, due to blindness and starvation (I didn't get to eat lunch yesterday, because someone had to babysit the school cafeteria and the ones scheduled just decided to not show up, thanks), I had 3 of the 4 dudes where I wanted them. For some damn reason the 4th and biggest guy doesn't seem to want to sit where I put him. Hopefully today will be more chill, and I can be more clearheaded by time I get back on this, this afternoon. Damn, my art director is gonna fire me.

Oh dear voices in my head, could you please come together in unison like a finely trained choir?

Enjoy,

Spillmanville likes the idea of a three day weekend.

Happy Birthday Mr. Crumb

2011-08-30T16:43:00.002-05:00

Dear Mr. Robert Crumb,

Thank you for all the years of inspiration, education, and entertainment. Here's hoping that you have the best day ever. Spillmanville wishes you a very happy birthday, and for you to enjoy many more to come.

Sincerely and with enjoyment,

Spillmanville, who should be drawing now.

Sorry, but it makes me laugh..

2011-08-29T19:09:00.002-05:00

This is video of my friend getting whacked by my "nephew" Julian at his birthday party. There's nothing funnier next to monkeys on tricycles than adults getting hurt by children.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville likes the "thud" sound.

Cafeteria Blues

2011-08-28T15:26:00.002-05:00

This weekend is slowly coming to an end, and the inevitable return to the work week is coming quicker than I want it to. Spillmanville has been working in spurts this week, and I have sketches and unfinished drawings everywhere.

Page 2, Chapter 2 of "The Fisherman" is slowly getting penciled in. I was so tired Saturday, that it took me about 2 hours just to figure out the panel design. measure them out, and draw them on. The first 2 of the 5 panels on this page are done. Panel 3 has some great stuff going on in it, but my attention span was having an afternoon nap on me.My cousin Zach came on up toting some beers and some great conversation. He is an excellent studio visitor. Always brings beer, has a ton of stories (he has been back and forth from Iraq over the course of the past several years), is a huge soccer fan, and knows how to let me work when we are hanging. We moved from the drawing room over to the painting studio, and I got down to some bizzness on the rooster painting. So, in a way I got quite a bit done.

Today, well that was devoted to watching EPL games on Fox Soccer and tending to my yard duties. Tonight, I'm gonna go hang out at a kiddie birthday party. That's right. Adult beverages and pin the tail on the donkey (well, only if Lalo comes).

So taking a cue from my friend Elizabeth over at Sketchwork, I decided that I should start posting more of my sketchbook playtime, as to let you into the world of the day to day. The sketchbook is always in my hand at school, and there is nothing more fun to draw then big old kiddie heads. I've been eating in the cafeteria everyday since school began this semester. One since there is no time in my schedule for "lunch room duty", I have been killing 2 birds with one stone. Yes, eating and yelling at kids to get quiet, has become my daily lunchtime routine. I love drawing the kids at this time though. They have to stay seated for 25 minutes at their tables and I am at a table right in front of them all by myself. I do enjoy their stares, as they try and figure out who or what I'm drawing while eating my pb&j sandwich.

Here's the kid I drew Friday. He wasn't a very happy camper. He had "the cafeteria blues"

Well, that's all for now. Enjoy the remainder of a fairly decent Sunday.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is always watching you.

Hello Old Friend

2011-08-25T06:07:00.003-05:00

There is nothing better than going over to some one's house and seeing a piece of your work that you apparently had forgotten about. I went by my cousin's studio the other day to have a beer and look at his new work. As I visited his bathroom, I looked up and there was an old drawing of mine staring me in the face. Yes, I too believe the restroom is a great place for art. I mean the art is there and you got the time to look. It's perfect. No, this posting is not about bathroom art. This posting is about that great feeling you get when you rediscover a piece of work that maybe wasn't that important in the grand scheme of things, but seems to have held up after all these years.

I remember doing this drawing vividly now. I was about to enter grad school, and I was sharing a studio with fellow UofM alumni, Jason Story. We drew on everything, and many of the drawings were just for shits and giggles. I started doing a series of quick contour drawings of beer cans on little sheets of pre-cut paper laying around on my drawing desk. Most of the cans were that of the cheap beer variety. The deal was that I had to actually go buy the beer and have the can in front of me. I did one a day while eating my lunch or taking a break for several weeks. I gave the drawings away as gifts. I couldn't even begin to tell you who has the other ones. I think I still have the Original Coors drawing. I gave this one to my cousin as a Christmas present, as it was my most favorite one of the collection. My family didn't quite get it when David unwrapped it front of all of us in our traditional gift giving circle. David laughed, and I remember thinking I should have kept this one. Remember, I said it was my favorite.

Not only was this one of the drawings I really liked, but it is a drawing of one of my 3 most favorite beers of all time. Actually it is my most favorite domestic beer of all time, and of course, one can not purchase this heavenly beverage in the city of Memphis. Walgreens near Marion, Arkansas used to carry it, and I would drive over the bridge to buy a few cases at a time. Hell, it's cheap. I visited Milwaukee not too long after making this series, and I fell in love with the city. You can get Old Style in a pint glass in almost every corner neighborhood bar. I drank this stuff everywhere, and my Wisconsin buddies made fun of me the whole time, because I wouldn't order any of the many thousands of local craft beers that you find all over "Beer City". I told 'em that Old Style was a local beer, and that it was the bizzness. So much so, I had to make art about it.

Oh, thank you pleasant surprise, and yes, I almost stole the drawing back before I left the studio that afternoon.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is totally trying to avoid getting ready for work.

Chapter 2, page 1

2011-08-24T06:08:00.003-05:00

After much delay and every spare minute, I finally finished up page 1 of chapter 2 of the "Fisherman" comic. I had fun setting up the page, but the weeks off between the end of chapter 1 and the start of this one was a bit too long. Settling into the swing of an already disturbing school year has been rough going, and honestly I don't see it letting up. It has been a bit of a struggle to get into the studio after work and actually get a whole lot accomplished.

The story in the book is picking up. Action is coming. Our hero will be embarrassed and pushed to the brink. I am so ready to get into the real meat and potatoes. Donnie's story has many twists and turns that have yet to reveal themselves. The anticipation of helping tell the story and the drive to stay original on this thing and produce a high quality hand made piece of artful narrative is the force that keeps me inking away. Way more to come....

Here at Spillmanville we have been working with the research and development department to figure out new ways to better utilize and promote our products. I have been spending quite a bit of time dealing with the future Spillmanville website, merchandise designs, For Sale pages, and the early stages of a weekly comic strip tentatively titled "Spillmanville Funnies". Yes we are growing in size and approaches. I think I am trying to live out all my childhood fantasies at one time. If I had my own Spillmanville radio station, I think I could achieve it all (yes, I once was a disc jockey and was the music director at my college radio station. I even have a degree in broadcast communications).

Don't worry I'm not going at it alone. I have good friends who have many talents, who seem to be great supporters. I have never been a great collaborator, but my Dad always told me to never turn down good help. Here we go people. Men of many means, 'nuff said.

My team has been combing over our ideas for work to be shown at Casework at the University of Memphis in December. All I can say is that those 5 boxes look like a long comic strip to me. Should be fun and hopefully different.

The future has begun, although it is moving slow. Today's creative agenda includes finishing the sketches for the next 2 pages of the book, drawing out a new Spillmanville drawing, more merchandising research, and hopefully time to lay around on my ass and read up on all the comics that I picked up yesterday. That is if the kids don't destroy me as they have attempted to so far this week.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is ready to start the substitute work program in my room.

Coloring...

2011-08-19T06:23:00.003-05:00

Chapter 2 is well under way. Although most of the work has been done in a sketchbook lately, it hasn't been for a lack of trying to get into the studio. True productive studio time has been hard as hell to achieve, but things are starting to pick back up. The good thing about this back to school crap, has been getting back to just drawing every little idea that pops in my head into my hardbound black book. It has really been helping me organize my personal thoughts and ideas for future pages, shows, designs, and drawings. None the less, it is time to get this rolling.

Although, I have been chastised by my art director for showing too much, here is a glimpse of the current page in motion. That bluish purple is bizarre to me, but I'm really into the color for some reason. Oh, I'm ready to get back to work on this. I can see it in my head, and my imagination is already anticipating the next spread that is sketched out in the book. More to come.

Okay. Pull up the boot straps. It's time to get dirty. Friday morning is now real. Let the day begin....

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is thankful for the cold leftover fried chicken that is going into the lunchbox.

Dealing With It....

2011-08-19T05:53:00.003-05:00

Here we go again. School is back in full motion, and began like a hurricane. I returned to my school this year to find that everything would be different, and my role was about to change. My school is on the list. We scored 11% proficient in Math and Reading. Seriously. Yeah, 10-12 out of 100 students in the 4th and 5th grade can read at the expected level for their grade, according to the state. Now, I'm only the art teacher, but I know that I teach across the curriculum. I mix drawing and painting lessons with math, language arts and social studies. My class is science heavy. Although, I am not in the classroom with these kids for more than an hour a week, I am the "man" at the school. I am their counselor, therapist, surrogate father, cafeteria monitor, field trip chaperon, soccer coach (even though we have no team), handy man, bus duty supervisor, tutor, and all around advocate, but I don't know how to fix this problem at this magnitude.

The problem lies way out side the realm of education. This city has suffered a sociological breakdown that was started long ago. These kids come from severely broken homes and live in poverty. This stigma has been constantly repeating itself from generation to generation. They tend to lack familial support and low self esteem. Their understanding of order, process, morals, responsibility, dignity, and self respect generally don't exist. They have a since of pride that comes from the streets and usually produces animosity and withdrawal. They respond to supperficial things such as video games and Lil' Wayne. They learn reading and math through the means of video game like programs and software that has got to be ridiculously expensive with crap results. My students receive free breakfast and lunch. We give out free school supplies. We spend our paychecks buying things for the classroom. If they lack uniform pieces, the office provides them, but none of this really matters does it.

The teachers in my system are going to be evaluated based on their students performance. Really? We have had a new student enroll everyday since the first day of school. These kids are transient. They might be here one day and then transfer to another school tomorrow. Sometimes their parents pull them out when the going gets tough, instead of allowing the child a chance to make mistakes and learn from them. How the hell a 5th grade teacher is supposed to pull up a new student who has been in at least one new school every year since Kindergarten and never learned to read is beyond me. The teacher still has to teach the other 29 kids in the room as well, and oh, only 3 of them can read. What the hell?

Oh, you think being the art teacher gives me some pass? Wrong. If they get surplussed because of this mess, so do I. Why, because I'm part of a failing school. WTF? Whatever. The kids may not be able to read, but they sure as shit are gonna be able to draw and paint.

Thank god for my wife (who is also a teacher), home, studio, friends, Nipsy, St. Pauli girl, futbol, art, "The Zebra Lounge" and Spillmanville. This is gonna be one hell of a year.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville wants to punch a wall somedays.

Comic Strips n' Such..

2011-08-18T05:53:00.002-05:00

I've been thinking a lot about comic strips lately. When I was a much younger artist, I used to get up on Sunday mornings before my parents, so I could be the one to get the paper from the driveway. I loved the funny pages. I often drew the characters from my favorite strips, and sometimes I would juxtapose them together into my own comics. While I was looking around at random strips from the past I came upon this one from Berke Breathed. Bloom county was definitely one of my favorite strips, and anytime someone makes fun of us artists, it is always a good time to laugh at ourselves.

I have a feeling that there is some reason I have become attracted to this mode of art and storytelling again. I haven't quite figured out the connection yet, but yes I have been scribbling some strips down in the sketchbook. After working on this comic book for the past year, I can see the quickness in this process and in the actual delivery of the point. Comic strips are generally only a few panels, so the timing has to be tight. Well. more on all this later. Spillmanville apparently took leaving the galleries serious. Painting has become a mode of relaxation and stress relief lately, so that all these quirky ideas can be further researched. I'm having a ball doing my thing. I will become a force to reckon with, at least in my own mind.

As I hear morning news anchor say the time, I have now realized that I have to get my tail into teacher clothes and go inspire the childrens. Page 1 of chapter 2 is inked and ready for color and the rooster is about ready to pop. Oh studio time. You precious and valuable thing. Stay tuned..........

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is living for the weekend.

Representin' The 'Ville..

2011-08-16T09:16:00.003-05:00

So, my partner in comic crime, Donnie showed up to our Sunday Juengling and Spillman Inc. meeting sporting this nifty one of a kind Spillmanville Squirrel t-shirt. He thinks he's slick, and I didn't even get one. In all honesty, I have been doing some basic graphic drawings with the intentions of doing some Spillmanville shirts here in the near future. D-man has been helping me organize my thoughts and ideas for the Spillmnville website, and we have been discussing some merchandise to help you, the masses, rep the 'Ville. Stay tuned. Spillmanville is moving towards the future. The future of what, I don't know.

(Spillmanville Squirrel T-shirt designed by Donald Juengling. Model and likeness cannot be disclosed due to possible ties to the witness protection program. This is a bad man.)

Enjoy,

Spillmanville gets all warm and fuzzy when we see our name on people's chest

Chapter 2 Has Begun..

2011-08-15T10:40:00.002-05:00

It has been a minute since I have had the time to concentrate on the book since finishing chapter 1. Settling back into the classroom has maintained the priority around here for the last 2 weeks. After a weekend chocked full of responsibilities and what not, I finally got my tail into the studio Sunday. It was a fairly productive day. I finalized some of the problems I was having with the initial sketches and layout for the first page of chapter 2. I got the whole thing penciled onto board, and even got some inking done. The day ended with the weekly Juengling and Spillman Inc. meeting and a couple of cervezas. A fitting end to a long day.

This one should ink fast and then it is all about color. Oh lord here comes 22 more pages of comic book fun time.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville needs 8 arms.

The Best Album I've Heard In A Long Time

2011-08-13T11:16:00.002-05:00

So if you know Spillmanville, then you know we love us some vinyl. I've been a music hound since I was a little kid. I've been digging through boxes of records at yard sales and flea markets since I was a teenager, and in my opinion, the best records are the ones that are found by surprise as opposed to the ones looked for. Case in point is the record pictured on the turntable below. Chef has been buying big lots of records from estate sales on and off for a while now. The records are slowly finding a home upstairs above Bari Restaurant in our little personal lounge that we call "The Zebra Lounge". It seemed appropriate to us to enjoy a couple of beers and relax with some tunes up in the lounge a couple of days ago, since it has been so hot and we have been working our tails off at our jobs. Chef was digging through some of the boxes and found the Wattstax album. Now, that is a nice piece of live soul if ever there was one, but when he opened it up this King Curtis album appears.

The album in discussion is a live 1971 recording taken from a concert at the Fillmore West by King Curtis and The Kingpins. The concert was one of 3 shows in which King Curtis opened up for Aretha Franklin at the famous music hall. Chef put this thing on and we both went into audio shock! It's that damn good. We barely made it through the first side before we both had to throw in the towel. This thing is hot, banging, smoking, and incredible. This is about the time that Chef then looks at me and his eyes are popping out of his head. Not only does King Curtis have his rhythm section, The Kingpins, but it also features the ever bad ass Billy Preston and the Memphis Horns. Too many highlights to list on this thing, but you can't go wrong with "Memphis Stew". Truly an awesome find in a wrong sleeve in a box of Lionel Richie records.
Album of the week:

King Curtis

"Live at the Filmore West"

Atco Records

1971.

If you don't know, now you Know.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is stuck in the opening day of the Premier League.

sketchin'

2011-08-12T12:55:00.004-05:00

Well, it has been a busy week around here. It's Friday, and the end of the first week with kids is finally here. Although it has been nice seeing them all again, I am glad the work week is over. After spending the past 2 months alone in my studio for hours everyday, being around this many people again is kinda maddening. Studio time has been at a minimum this week, but settling into the job has been necessary for my survival of the rest of the year. Things should settle back in sooner than later.

Due to the time spent at school and all the ridiculous amount of faculty meetings and after school professional development sessions, I've kinda been living out of the sketchbook. Here's a sketch I kicked out yesterday afternoon. It was a quick one, but the idea has been in my head all week. I'm gonna refine the idea, so you'll probably see the image again in all its more though out glory.

That is that for now. Here's looking at the weekend, and may it reap some prosperity. Lord knows all I wanna do is sleep and not wear dress shoes for a few days'

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is headed to the Pre-k rooms to see if there is an extra cot available for nap time.

Tired...

2011-08-09T18:50:00.003-05:00

I would love to show you some sweet art, but the truth is I'm tired. Oh lord, here we go again. 1 week and 2 days down, and we haven't quite figured out the flow.

Sketches are accruing, paint is mixing, pages are laying out, but I am ready for bed.

Goodnight.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville can already smell a Saturday a cookin'.

Livin' The Dream.....

2011-08-06T08:33:00.003-05:00

Well, the best thing about going back to work this week is waking up this morning to realize just how important Saturdays are. So thank the powers above that it's the weekend. It's gonna be a long year.

I spent the week dealing with city school business and attending professional development sessions. Lets just say that I am already missing the studio routine of the summer. Don't worry though. Spillmanville is working even when I am at work. Here's a new drawing entitled "Livin' the Dream". The drawing is ink, gouache, and coffee on paper, and it measures 5"x7" in an 8"x10" frame. We gotta plenty more a coming, so stay tuned.

Let the Saturdaying begin. The stack of records are bagged. The leftover chicken for lunch is packed. The stinky studio clothes are going on. The St. Pauli's are on ice. The paper is stained and stacked. The first page of chapter 2 is sketched. The rooster is waiting, and the day is set.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is ready to undergo some unprofessional development.

What No New Post? Wrong.

2011-08-03T19:13:00.002-05:00

Spillmanville is currently dealing with all things new. From a new year with new (and old) kids to a new venture into the great mysterious and independent unknown.....

More to come, my friends. More to come. Cheers! (Clink- Clank)

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is livin' the dream.

It's Back To School Time....

2011-07-31T10:53:00.002-05:00

Get ready kiddies. It's time to get back to business. Mr. Spillman is preparing to work your tails to the bone and fill your brains with some knowledge.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville will have to go to the office Monday.

New Drawings

2011-07-29T12:06:00.004-05:00

I've spent the later part of this week settling in to the new set up in the studio, and I have really been enjoying the extra space. After I settled in, I began working on drawings for a group paper show next week, but as the past couple of days work started accumulating, I realized that I was probably not gonna bust my ass to do a whole bunch of drawings for this event. I think they may just hang out in Spillmanville for a bit. No matter the result, it has been fun to do a few Spillmanville drawings and take a break from the work I am doing on "The Fisherman" project. It's odd to thank about how many of these drawings I used to kick out, but obviously the comic has been eating up most of my drawing time. In the end, I had a blast making these drawings, and I have tons of ideas for more. I have a feeling these will not appear in any group show, but I may approach an alternative gallery to do a drawing show by myself in the next year. Yeah Spillmanville. The drawings are ink, coffee, and gouache on paper, and they are about 8"x10" framed.

"And The Cow Stood On The Moon"
"Learning To Fly"

Speaking of alternative galleries, the great Hamlett Dobbins stopped by Spillmanville yesterday and blessed the new digs with his artistic super powers. I had a good time chatting with him about everything from comic books, music, drawing, and my addictive urges to drink way too much coffee and blather on and on. Thanks for the visit Mr. Dobbins.

That is that. The studio will be shut down today as this is the last Friday of my summer vacation and I feel no pressure to perform today. I plan on getting in to the sketchbook and begin sketching out the first pages of chapter 2. I am excited about the next couple of pages. There's a scene of our hero getting tossed out of a tavern and onto his face in the mud. Excellent...

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is starting to like words like independent and self represented....

Studio Views

2011-07-27T08:14:00.006-05:00

Okay, I'm gonna be honest with you here. Dealing with the idea of going back or not going back to work has been driving me nuts. I've spent way too much time brainstorming ideas to make money on the fly in the event that our school system did not start on time. Now it seems that our jobs are still there and things will be as normal as possible, and all of a sudden, I don't want to do anything that I have been thinking about lately. It's sad that we have to rely on a steady paycheck to keep ourselves going as artists, but that is how it is for most of us. The threat of not getting that check, will make an artist come up with all kinds of crazy ideas to maintain survival. I really just want to go back, teach, get my paycheck, continue working on my work in the studio, and most of all get back to work on my comic book project (there is definitely no extra money there). The work that I'm doing now takes time, and I personally wasn't looking forward to hustling cash and performing odd jobs. Been there and done that on several occasions in my life. I need this free time to produce work that will not produce any results until it is finished and published, so thank god this gibberish may be over now.

So, what better way to procrastinate getting to work than to rearrange the studio. I've been in this space for over 6 years now, and I can't believe I never set it up this way. I have 2 connecting rooms above Bari. One room has always been the production room, while the other has been housing stacks of paintings. I split the two rooms, moved the paintings into the painting room, and turned the storage room into my new drawing studio. Heavenly. Chef said that it made sense to have 2 rooms for 2 different functions. I have always separated drawing and painting in my head, now they have been separated in my space. I had a hell of a time trying to leave last night. Very nice!

So here's a walk around view of the newly redesigned digs:

Enjoy,

Spillmanville wants to get back to livin' the dream.

Tattoo Sunday pt. 2

2011-07-24T11:06:00.003-05:00

Just for laughs I pulled out this old painting I did right before I started grad school years ago. The painting is not a portrait necessarily, but it was inspired by my late Paw-Paw. My Dad's father was known as Woody by everyone else. He was a merchant marine who had spent time off shore and on shore all over the world. He was covered with tattoos. He had girly tats, patriotic tats, and my favorite, a Popeye tattoo on the back of his leg. Yes, this is where my obsession with skin art began. I've been drawing as long as I can remember, so when I saw all the art on that man's body, I was immediatley mesmerized by the idea of wearing art as well. I'm sure my parents would have loved for me to have picked up some other things besides this from him, but unfortunately I was already sold. Yes, I too love Popeye.

I actually got my first tattoo when I was 18. I went with my dorm roommate when I was attending undergrad at the University of Tennessee. We went to a shop out on Alcoa highway. This is also the highway you take to go get some damn good moonshine. The tattoo shop was owned by a biker named "Preacher". I remember the name of the shop, but they will not receive any free advertising here. I was tatted by "Dusty". I was Dusty's 2nd ever tattoo. Good for him, but not for me. It felt like he was driving a railroad spike on my chest with all his might. Needless to say the tattoo was all f-ed up and scarred really bad.

Years later, I ran into David Evans, and we began a little journey through the world of my ideas as tattoos. You'll be happy to know that my first tat was a monkey on my chest. It was small and tribal. Dave got rid of it by throwing up a much larger, fiercer ape right on top of that piece of garbage from my past. The bad tattoo is gone. David is the king of cover ups, and I bet he does one almost every week. If your tat needs some help, go down to Underground Art and let those folks fix you up. No one wants to wear bad art, no matter how funny it is.
Enjoy,

Spillmanville needs is wearing a tattooed half shirt.

Tattoo Sunday pt. 1

2011-07-24T10:53:00.009-05:00

It's Sunday, and yet again it is time for Sundays with David Evans down at Underground Art.

Today we are going to get some coloring done. David and I have had some scheduling conflicts the past 2 weeks, but today feels like a good day for some ink. Some of you told me you enjoyed the classic tat pictures I posted here a little while back, so without further ado, here is some more photo's from my tattoo resource folder:

Enjoy,

Spillmanville likes tattoo artists that dress up for the occasion.

R.I.P. Lucian Freud 1922-2011

2011-07-22T09:15:00.007-05:00

The artist, Lucian Freud passed away yesterday at the age of 88. Freud, a grandson of the psycho-analyst Sigmund Freud, was born in Berlin in 1922. He fled to Britain with his Jewish family in 1933.

"I want paint to work as flesh, I know my idea of portraiture came from dissatisfaction with portraits that resembled people. I would wish my portraits to be of the people, not like them. Not having to look at the sitter, being them. As far as I am concerned, the paint is the person. I want it to work for me just as the flesh does."- Lucian Freud

The thing I remember most about Freud was that everybody in figure painting wanted to be him. I wanted to use those thick brushstrokes, and I became obsessed with whites, ochres, and naples yellow. The painting above has always intrigued me and disturbed me at the same time. Now that's painting.You know you're a bad ass artist when your studio walls are colored with all your discarded oil paint all over them. So long Lucian. The painting world has been changed with your loss.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville likes to paint with his shirt off too.

Chapter 1, Finished.

2011-07-21T09:29:00.007-05:00

It has been one hell of a week around here. Thanks to the MCS school board, I don't know exactly when my summer break ends now, or when we will see a paycheck again, for that matter. Oh the politics of this city. However, that is not why we are here today. Although it has taken some time, some reworking, and a lot of fine tuning, my job on chapter 1 of "The Fisherman" is over. I have been sitting at the drawing board for days on days now, drawing, inking, and painting these last 3 pages, and now they are finished.

Donnie and I had our own little celebration last night. We drank St. Paulis with the book up in the studio, and admired the progress. We then continued the celebration down stairs @ Bari with Brad Pitts ( the best bartender in town), cold Peronis, and a couple bowls of linguini. It seems like forever since we started, but the work looks like it came together. Don't get too excited, because now chapter 2 begins. 66 more pages. Seriously. So here's a little look:

pg. 20

Pg. 21spread of pages 20 & 21pg. 22

That's all for now. Time to get started on some cupcake houses for a show in 2 weeks.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville will be at city hall listening to grown men act like schoolyard kiddies.

Lee Morgan

2011-07-16T08:19:00.005-05:00

Although many people think that we only listen to Mastodon and Conway Twitty records, I am a huge jazz fan and have been since I was about 14 years old. I remember when I first really got into jazz. I had a copy of Miles Davis "Kind of Blue" when I was in middle school before my family moved from Memphis out to the early expansion of Collierville. Along with the move to a new house came new friends. I met my best friends out there skateboarding around parking lots and blasting Black Flag and Descendents tapes in the boom box. My best friend Matt had an older brother who was graduating High School and heading off to college. He began giving us and education in Jazz. We began to see connections between punk rock and hard bop. These musicians didn't give a crap about the mainstream and they looked bad ass doing it. They were beaten by white cops, ripped off by club owners, recorded for greedy Jewish and Turkish record distributors and labels, had addiction problems, were womanizers, played live constantly, were often despised early on by the critics, and basically reinvented a music form in the process.

Matt and I began going record shopping with his older brother Marcus on a pretty regular basis. I have to admit it now, but I was originally drawn to the record covers before I really got the music. The limited color design surrounding the awesome black and white photos of Francis Wolfe were the closest things I had seen to early punk covers. These dudes looked tuff with a capital T. On one of our first outings to the record shop I remember making the purchases that would change the game. I bought a copy of Art Blakey's "Moanin'", John Coltrane's "Blue Train", and Lee Morgan's "Cornbread". All three of these albums would probably still be in my top 15 jazz albums. I dare say top 5, although all three of these men are in my top 5 jazz artists of all time list. I love the trumpet. I always wanted to play one, but I have no real musical ability, not for lack of trying. Miles Davis is the coolest, but Lee Morgan was the baddest. He looked slicker than grease, had mad style, and played the trumpet like a weapon. His ballads are lush and haunting. His up-tempo numbers are dirty, thumping, jiving, stabbing, funky, and rocking. He played with the best sax men on the planet from Coltrane to Wayne Shorter, but his best recorded relationship was with the most incredible drummer that ever lived, the professor of jazz, Art Blakey. As a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, he honed his chops, found his form, and began surrounding himself with the best hard bop musicians in the world.
After leaving the Messengers, Morgan went onto have a successful solo career. He eventually ventured into the world of progressive free jazz and even touched on the early roots of fusion, but his take on hard bop was the best, if not quintessential. The shining moment of his career, in my opinion, is the album "Search for the New Land" recorded on Blue Note records in 1964. The album included some of the best at their instruments including: Wayne Shorter, Grant Green, Herbie Hancock, Reggie Workman, and Billy Higgins. I remember buying this album and hearing the opening track. It comes in hauntingly and slowly builds while introducing the players instruments one at a time until they are all united in sound. As the song moves, each player is given their solo in the song that ends with them meeting right back up again. I listened to this song about 10 times in a row through my headphones with the door shut to my bedroom. Truly an incredible album from start to finish and still one of my top 5 jazz albums of all time without a doubt.
Lee Morgan was murdered on stage in the early hours February 19, 1972 at Slugs' Jazz club in New York City's East Village. His band was performing there that night. As Morgan was taking to the stage for the late night closing set, his common-law wife, Helen More, shot him in the chest right on the bandstand. Morgan was 33 years old.Go listen to some jazz you punk rockers.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville loves the thunderous sound of the trumpet.

Moanin'

2011-07-16T08:18:00.000-05:00

Lee Morgan on trumpet with Wayne Shorter (sax), Bobby Timmons (piano), Jimmy Merrit (bass) and Art Blakey on drums.

Inking...

2011-07-15T10:51:00.005-05:00

The past 2 days have been an inking marathon up at Spillmanville. I've set a deadline on finishing this chapter up, and all I can tell you is that it will be tight reaching it. However, it is doable. My fingers are already cramped up from the past sessions, but the inking is over. Now comes the color. I didn't completely detail out areas that will have a lot of color. I'll go back on top of the color with things like wood grain, cracks, etc.. The value will come last as well. The last page will be fairly dark, so I went ahead and added a bit of value to work underneath the color. Anyways, here's the progress from the past couple of days.

working:

page 20:

Page 21

page 22

all together now:

Enjoy,

Spillmanville has got to get some coffee brewing.

Scrabble Night In Spillmanville

2011-07-13T08:41:00.005-05:00

Last night was date night in Spillmanville, and due to the heat we kept it domestic. There was talk of bowling, but the idea of getting back in the car just to go throw bowling balls and drink overpriced beer did not really turn me on. Instead we settled for a nice game of cocktails and Scrabble.

We ran through a playlist of vinyl on the ol' turntable and proceeded to completely work ourselves into one corner of the board. Now, I have a bit of bad luck in Scrabble. It never fails that I always pull nothing but vowels out of the bag when selecting letters. If this happens to you and the other person only plays small words, then it begins to get a bit frustrating. With time, patience, a six pack of St. Pauli Girl, several vodka concoctions, and the aid of 3 letter words, we finally managed to include the rest of the board and spread out.
Nipsy Lamont was not impressed with our skill what so ever, and he proved to be of no help for either one of us. He can't spell either. We suck at Scrabble. In the picture above Mel is pointing out the final 2 words played. Thank god I can't add either, because I am not really sure who won. I was to busy drawing skulls and boobies on the score sheet. Thanks for the laughs and entertainment you ol' Scrabble game you.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville really appreciates the spell check button.

Work!

2011-07-13T08:37:00.002-05:00

You wanna know why you can't see what's on these pages! They are only in pencil, and I get to spend my day inking them in, that's why. My oh my, that's a lot of work. The countdown to the end of chapter 1 has begun.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is anticipating a nice drawing finger blister and crossed eyes.

Spillmanville Is Heading To The Pain Spa

2011-07-11T08:39:00.007-05:00

Spillmanville will be out of the studio in order to enjoy a nice relaxing trip to the Tattoo Shop. It's time for some extreme acupuncture and art collecting. David "Chief Baby Hands" Evans will be conjuring up some color magic on my cat and frog chest panel down at Underground Art today, and I am gearing up for a nice afternoon of laying on my back and taking the ink. I've prepared a nice playlist consisting of Mastodon, the Melvins, Queen, Metallica, High on Fire, Judas Priest, and The Sword. It will be loud in the shop, but not as loud as the sounds of David's machine.

So, in honor of today's event, I've posted some of my favorite historical tattoo related photos.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is ready for some permanent art.

Foodgasm

2011-07-10T08:32:00.006-05:00

My best friend from the Eastern part of Tennessee, Big Zach, and his wife Gina came down earlier this week for a little Memphis hospitality and good ol' humid Mississippi air. Zach comes down quite often, but this was Gina's first exposure to the Bluff City, and we tried to do it right. The best part of a visit like this is obviously just kicking it in lawn chairs and shooting the gab, but the best event of the week came down to Friday night.

Although there were tons of art openings that included some of my favorite artists in town, we only had time to make it to one. That opening was at LRoss gallery, where my drunken squirrel was showing himself publicly for the first time. We had to split after that to get down to midtown for our reservations with Chef and Rebecca Severs at Bari.

Now, let me say this before I go any further. I know the Severs family very well, and at one time I was a cook in the kitchen. Saying that, it is always a rare and exciting time when they both take time away from the behind the scenes action of Bari and their other establishment on Broad, 3 Angels Diner. Zach and Gina had never eaten their before, but of course, Mel and I are not amateurs when it comes to the menu. Gina is Italian, so she was quite pumped up when she saw that this was not some chef-boy-ardee, Americanized Italian menu. Zach and Gina were overwhelmed by what to order and in what order. Zach can eat, and was considering ordering everything on the menu, so we let Chef take over.

Chef got the antipasti plates rolling. Within half a glass of Peroni and a round of prosecco, the table was filled with zucchini, peppers, eggplant, bresaola, prosciutto, olives, mussels, piave, an awesome sheep's milk Gorgonzola, some incredible buffalo cheese, and calamari (sorry guys if you were wondering were all the tentacles went, I ate them). Zach looked at me with eyes as big as saucers. I don't think that he had realized that this was just the beginning.

As we ate the first course, Chef and I began to break the menu and dishes down a bit for Zach and Gina. Everybody threw around their suggestions. Some of us wanted pasta and some salads, but Chef and I both new that Zach had to have the Spaghetti Carbonara. I had eaten salad for lunch, so I was happy to see Gina order the Lattuga, one of my favorite salads with goat cheese, hazelnuts, honey and grapefruit. A couple of people ordered the Orzo with crab, tomatoes, garlic and fresh oregano. I went for the Linguini with mint, garlic and shaved bottarga (tuna roe). Zach also had to get an order of oysters just to add to the gastro-extraveganza.

The restaurant was packed to capacity like any other Friday night.Mark, our server was efficient and completely at our mercy even thought he was swamped. He even stopped several times to make a quick joke while catering to our needs. Zach and I had been craving fish all day, so when Mark described the Black Bass, I blacked out or something. I wasn't even paying attention when he said those glorious words "whole fish". Anybody who knows me or has ever eaten with me, knows I love a good whole fish, as a matter of fact, I had been telling Zach all day that I hoped Chef would have one as a special that night. Wish granted! This was Z's first time with a dish like this. He asked me how to start eating this monster of a fish all standing curled up on the plate. I told him to grab the tail in one hand and the head in the other and then flatten him out. Just like that the meat starts pulling off in glorious chunks. I honestly didn't pay any attention to what anyone else was doing, eating, saying, or thinking. I went into a complete foodgasm that didn't let up 'til the next day. I think Zach passed out at the table after he attempted to eat on mine after devouring his. I wish I could tell you what everyone else had. I saw scallops, and maybe some tuna, but I honestly don't remember.

After the plates had been cleared and another round of Peronis arrived, desserts were discussed. We got some Strawberry Balsamic tart that Chef made that afternoon and shared it with the table. Rebecca, being the beverage specialist that she is, ordered a couple of Amaro tastings for the table. Amaro is an herbal liqueur usually drunk as an after dinner digestif. In all the years that I worked there and have eaten there I have never drank one of these, and I must say I'm sold on the experience. The drink completely soothes and mellows out the tummy after a great tasting meal. Thanks for looking out for us Becky.

Now we are all sitting at the table looking drunk and worn out. I didn't want to move. I just wanted to sit back and enjoy this food buzz that I was experiencing. I can't put it any other way. Zach and Gina called me from the road, as they headed back east, to tell me that that was not only the best meal they had had since their honeymoon outside the country a couple of years ago, but was one of the best dates they had been on since that same day. Good food, drink, friends, conversation, and laughs are good for the soul. Thanks to Chef and Rebecca for taking time out of your schedules to sup with us and educate the masses on Southeastern Italian cuisine. You made my friends feel very special. Thanks to all my friends and my wife for all the good banter. Finally thanks to Brad, Mark, Luisa, Lalo, Leanor, and Coleman Thunders for the ultimate foodgasm. (Zach may have made up this word, but I doubt it. It's too good to be original).

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is still seeing hallucinations of that beautiful black bass.

Painting....

2011-07-10T08:10:00.002-05:00

The under painting of the rooster is in motion. The heat up in the studio mixed with turpentine is enough to make you feel drunk, but the show must go on. This painting is gonna take some time and work to build up to my vision. I have to keep reminding myself not to get too thick with the paint in the beginning. "Fat over lean" as Beth Edwards used to say in painting 1. In order for the color to do its thing, this process is necessary. There are a lot of oranges, yellows, and reds in this one, so I am doing my best to consider the ranges of hues and tints I can mix of these 3 colors to help create contrast in certain spots of the composition. At any rate, I'm already enjoying the progress.

On the comic note, I've got 2 of the remaining 3 pages of the first chapter penciled in on Bristol board, and I'm ready to get onto the third page before inking any of them. So, that's right, I'm gonna ink and color these three together. I'm hoping it will help build the momentum to the conclusion of this chapter. I have set a deadline for myself to finish these up, but I will not reveal this info to my art director. After these pages are done, the portfolio will go over to Donnie for scanning, editing and text placement. More to come...

Hopefully something gets done up in Spillmanville today, but the yard in front of my house won't seem to cut itself. Tomorrow is all about some tattooing, so that will not be a productive day on my part, just a lot of laying on my back and taking the beating at the pain spa.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville can tell its Sunday.

Memphis Threat T-shirts

2011-07-07T16:28:00.003-05:00

If there's one article of clothing I love the most, it's a good t-shirt. So when I saw the new offerings from Memphis Threat, I had to share. Check out the Memphis Threat website and get you some Memphian made Memphis shirts. Mr. Lemmonds would love to sell you one. Coincidentally, I've been spinning some old Wu-Tang in the studio, so you know I'm drooling over this sweetness below.

Oh yeah, if you visit the site, be sure and go to the coming soon section and vote on the next shirt. There is a sweet Joy Division based design. Rep the M on your chest Memphis and support local artists while doing it.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville love the color black

Under Construction...

2011-07-07T08:25:00.004-05:00

The studio has been buzzing with sketching, prepping, mixing, and the birthing of new ideas. I've been trying to get everything up and started, so that I can sit back a few days and catch up with my old friend Big Zach whilst he does the Memphis thing. The first mission was to get the last three pages of the first chapter of this book sketched out and transferred over to comic boards. I spent the better part of Monday penciling out the first of the pages on board. I completely drew the thing out, when I realized that my original idea was too design oriented and not really conducive to the flow of the narrative. So, I erased out the whole days work and went back to the drawing board. I finished the pencils for the revised version Tuesday, and proceeded to continue the sketching.

The image below is a sketchbook sketch for a splash page that I've started penciling onto board as of yesterday. (Donnie is drooling with anticipation)

The end of the studio days have been spent researching and sketching roosters and such for upcoming paintings. After a cold Peroni in the alley with Chef and Coleman Thunders, I got down to the business of under painting in burnt umber. The image below is day one, and yes, this will eventually be in full blown, eye popping color. Whoa, I got a lot of work to do.
The next few days will be fairly unproductive as we get down to some catching up with our old friends, but at least the stage is set for all my projects. I'm sure I'll be ready to bust back into the studio as soon as my friends car pulls out the driveway pointed East, and that is much better than trying to figure out what to do when I get back in there. Maybe the studio trolls will come out from under the bridge and start painting this thing in while I'm out, but I doubt it.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is ready to chill.

Summer Show @ Herrington Brown

2011-07-06T11:43:00.002-05:00

Go out and support art on Friday night. Yes, there are probably a bunch of summer group shows, but hey, our good friend and Spillmanville supporter, Elizabeth Alley is in this one. Her art is cool. I know. We own a bunch.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville endorses local artists making summer time cash!

Summer Show @ LRoss Gallery

2011-07-06T11:36:00.003-05:00

Come out and support the arts Friday Night. The Squirrel will be there hanging out on a wall, and he will be happy to see you all. Click this link, LRoss Gallery, to view selected images from the show

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is painting a rooster.

Happy 4th, Seriously

2011-07-04T19:07:00.002-05:00

Happy 4th on the 4th. Spillmanville wishes you all the freedom in the world America ; you look good in independence!

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is acting all free and stuff on the front porch. Now ain't that America.

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-04T09:07:00.002-05:00

Enjoy,

Spillmanville thought yesterday was the 4th, and now the cooler is empty.

Sketchin' for Paintings

2011-07-02T08:43:00.004-05:00

I'm putting the Squirrel painting in the back of the truck and driving it over to LRoss Gallery today for a group show this month, and I'm starting to miss the painting already. I have been running a schedule of drawing several days a week and painting a few in between. My heart is always in painting, but the comic, although it has no immediate deadline, is the priority at the moment. However, I refuse to not keep building the paintings up as I go. After finishing the last 2 pages up a couple of days ago, I've had to handle a bunch of business and matters of that nature, so studio time was obsolete yesterday. Well, I keep getting told to take a break, so I did for a minute.

I've got several stretchers primed and coffee stained ready for action. I began sketching out some goofy little ideas I have been thinking about, but remember my sketches are usually pretty weak and under detailed for what is going on in my head. I spend all that refining time for the book and Spillmanville drawings. Yes, my sketchbook often looks like an advanced 8th grader has been drawing in it. The rooster above keeps popping in my head. One, I have bad morning time insomnia. I can fall asleep just by sitting down, but I can't seem to stay that way for very long. I rise with the sun and have ever since I was a little kid. I have always been afraid of missing out on something, but nothing is really ever happening at that moment. So, a rooster seems fitting for my mood, plus I love drawing birds and crap like that. I enjoyed the colorful and graphic nature of the squirrel, and I'm thinking this one will be in full blazing color. I wanna light up those sun rays in the background, and the rooster wants to be green and red right now.
A while back I was listening to a crate load of country records, and I have become very fond of the early greats like Don Gibson and Buck Owens, and some songs just keep getting stuck in my head. I love nautical themed art. Always have. While thumbing through one of my last estate sale purchased children's book on boats, the Don Gibson song, "Bad, Bad Day" came on and got squished in between my ear drums all day. So, this boat getting accosted by a squid came out. I looked back in the storage room and saw a fresh 6 foot by 4 foot stretcher that I had forgotten about. They appear to be wanting to merge together. This one feels like another black painting to me. It could end up in color, but honestly I get enough of painting blue water and such from the comic book. Well, I also miss the routine of walking in the studio and mixing new blacks everyday.

No matter what gets started first, it'll take a minute, but the last 2 paintings gave me quite a bit of insight into starting and working through this process a bit more efficiently. Like, I told Donnie the other day, "I've got plenty to do, but I just don't know were to start". His reply was probably something about starting the next page of our book being the best place to begin. Oh, the balance in the studio is like a see-saw.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is about to crank up some lawn equipment in the A.M.

New Spread

2011-07-01T08:10:00.003-05:00

I finished the color on these 2 pages of "The Fisherman" comic yesterday, and I thought I'd give you all a glance. I've already sketched out the next 3 pages, and I coffee stained the remaining comic boards for the rest of the chapter. That's right 3 more pages and the first chapter is complete, and then I get to stare down the barrel of the next 3 chapters. Hell yes this is a lot of work.

I had a friend ask me about this project last night. He was like "damn, this thing is awesome. Are you almost done? What, there's 3 more 22 page chapters left? Dude, so what you'll be done in 5 years?" -No, it will not take 5 more years, but it will take a minute. If you read this blog and keep up with the progress, it has taken a minute so far. However, I spent the better part of the first year on this project just figuring out how to work with a writer. Then I had to design the characters, figure out paneling, and frankly just develop how I wanted my pages to look. If you haven't notice this is not a typical looking comic. As a matter of fact, the same friend said that this thing was like some kinda fine art project. Well, I am a fine artist with a Masters degree in painting. Not design, not illustration, and not art education. I draw and I paint, so this is a complete step out of my realm like most jobs I take on. Yes, I read comics, and I even drew a comic for 2 issues in a spiral notebook when I was in 5th grade. That is my experience in comics.

Now, I have learned a hell of a lot as we have worked on this project. The process is there, although future projects will be done differently. I kinda figured that I would do this first project my way visually, and I am very pleased with the product so far. The progress is starting to pick up, since there isn't as much stylistic contemplation going on. Other stories will have their own individual look in the future (if there ever is another project).

Yesterday morning was productive until I met up with Mel for some cold fried chicken over at 3 Angels Diner. I love cold fried chicken, and a cold Dos Equis doesn't hurt the flavor at all. The rest of the afternoon was spent sketching out roosters and squids for paintings I'm slowly starting, while Mel and Chef worked on the Zebra Lounge down the hall. More on that later. The evening, well that was spent socializing at the bar downstairs at Bari, Thanks Brad! (go vote for Brad as your favorite bartender over at the Memphis Flyer). And today........

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is ready to treat this day like a Friday.

Studio Update...

2011-06-29T08:36:00.003-05:00

The studio is prepped and ready to go. Yesterday was slow at best, but I gotta lot of sketching and researching done. I began coloring the pages that I posted yesterday, but I still have several hours of work left on them. I got down to some sailing ship sketching and began roughing out the image for a new oil piece. I have a pretty good idea on the layout for the painting , but the boat is gotta be right. I've drawn so many ships in the past few years that they start to get cookie cutter. This should be a fun one. I'm sure I'll be sketching out squids in between coloring pages today.

Yesterday afternoon ended in frivolity and conversation over beers. Dwayne, Tad, and the Georgia stopped by, and blessed my studio with their artistic presence. It felt good to be with the old school again. Hanging with people of your own cut really helps keep the motivation going, and it doesn't hurt to have Dwayne popping jokes and anecdotes whilst sipping on a St. Pauli. Thanks for the good times. Dwayne asked me to do a Caseworks show over at U of M at the beginning of next year, so that should be something fun to work up to. For the good times..

The squirrel painting is sitting in limbo currently, as we decide were to send him. He has been asked to make a stop at a group show on July 8th, and I might just let him go for a month. So, if you were waiting for him to scurry into 3 Angels Diner this week, stay tuned. Ultimately he is probably still headed over. Hell, if you want him bad enough, I'm sure LRoss will take your money next week. More on that later.

That's that. Time to make the donuts. Wrapping these 2 pages up today. Lord help me, I don't wanna make my art director mad. I know he is just sitting there anticipating new pages. Oh, and yes, that is a flying unicorn farting and shooting laser beams out of his eyes destroying Poison and Ratt cassette tapes in the drawing in the picture above. Don't ask.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville needs an assistant.

Mastodon - Deathbound [HD]

2011-06-29T07:58:00.000-05:00

Awaiting the Color

2011-06-28T08:19:00.003-05:00

I finished lining these two pages yesterday. They are awaiting the color and all the fine value and detailing. I didn't build this one up as much as in the past due to lessons learned when I went back and colored all the other pages. Also, these two pages will have more interior light than normal, as they are indoors by candles and a fireplace. The color will be essential to these two pages.

I spent the end of the studio day staining 2 canvases with an oil glaze and prepping drawings for my next painting. It looks like its gonna be a nautical themed painting in black.

More to come, if we don't get blown away in this storm.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville needs coffee.

My Favorite Dish (a foodie post)

2011-06-26T09:49:00.002-05:00

I spend way too much time watching Food Network and reading little foodie blogs, so I thought I'd play food reviewer today. Now, First of all, I'm a lucky artist. My studio has been nicely situated above Bari Ristorante e Enoteca for several years now, and I have a key to the back door. Besides having a great family of friends and patrons downstairs, I have the advantage of eating family meal.

My most favorite dish of Chef Jason Severs in the dining room is his lightly fried whole snapper. I love the way it sits on the plate staring back at me in its little pool of vinegar and what not, but it is not my favorite dish in the kitchen. That would be for employees only, and it only happens when chef gets the big boys in and has to cut them for fillets instead of serving them whole.

My favorite dish would have to be the fried carcasses of the remaining snapper after the fillets have been cut. Yes, I said carcass. Chef dredges the leftover carcasses in semolina flour and deep fries them till they are so crunch you can eat the fins.
The dish is quite simple really. We just add lemon juice and independently dip the hot crunchy pieces in Valentina's Hot Sauce (has to be Valentina's, and I prefer the yellow labeled milder sauce). Yep that's all you do.
The best part of this dish is that you can eat it with a fork or your hands (my preference). The scene is quite ridiculous watching everyone hover over the fish parts just picking away and fighting over the cheek meat (the best meat on the fish) and all the thick goodness of the collar. I personally like to grab and tear off a big piece from the tail end. You pinch the meat and bones on both sides and just slide the fried meat out between the bones. Tender and crunchy. Seriously. I got lucky this week 'cause Chef had snapper fillets on special twice for dinner, and I just so happened to break from the studio and drop in the back at the right time. It doesn't hurt that I can smell everything upstairs. Oh, I worked in the kitchen for several years, and I just happen to know when family meal goes down.
Well there you have it. That's my favorite dish in town, and honestly it is even sweeter when Brad pours you a tall cold Peroni from the bar. Sorry to make you foodies so jealous, and if that didn't work, I can always post more dishes from family meals you can't get in town unless your family. I have also been know to snag some cold fried chicken from 3 Angels Diner's refrigerator when I'm visiting there too. Hey, you can actually order that one, but you have to eat yours with the population out front.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville likes the crunch of a good snapper fin.

Unicorns, Seriously....

2011-06-24T07:12:00.003-05:00

I've got lots of drawing to do for the book right now, and I've been a bit burnt out on painting for the past few days. So, I've been blowing off some steam in between projects drawing goofy shit like these unicorns.

Yeah, they're pretty silly, but there's something here or there. While digging around in the Orange RoomI the other day, I found a few forgotten books on horses, sailboats, and farm animals that I bought at an estate sale when I was out digging with Chef a while back. I think some of the illustrations in the books and my currently overwhelming imagination have been inspiring new Spillmanville drawings, but I'm just letting the sketches add up for the moment. The themes seem to be revolving around fantasy, rural living, and as usual, escapism. However, the goals for this weekend and next week are to get these last five pages of the comic drawn out and get another painting started. These drawings will create their own path if they are really going anywhere.

This last one was just some sheer sweetness. It would make a good t-shirt. Hey, I already said they were some silly shit.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville likes adding horns to horse illustrations.

Hello Sunshine

2011-06-23T09:05:00.004-05:00

I've been a bit out of the posting circuit this week, but have no fear I have a buffet of ideas, gibberish, and ranting on my plate. Sometimes you just have to take a break. Studio time has been a minimal this week, but piles of sketches of everything from goofy unicorns to sketches of our comic character Hiro's neighbor Hideko looking like an Asian George Costanza. I even went and saw the Green Lantern movie with Chef's oldest kid "The Luce" yesterday. That is a whole story and possible posting unto itself.

The photo above is one of my favorite spreads from our little comic project. As I said in a posting a while back, I spent the 2 weeks before my beach trip coloring and punching up the pop on the first 17 pages of the book. This is pretty much the finished look of the book before the text and word bubbles come into play. I promised to show some of the colored work, so here you go. Hope you enjoy! (yeah, this is for you Donnie).

Well, thats all for now, but hang with us, because chances are more posting will occur today. There really are fantasy unicorn drawings on my desk, and I may feel the need to sweeten your day with some sugary goodness.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville could sleep the day away, or maybe not.

One Day At A Time

2011-06-18T12:30:00.004-05:00

It took a bit of time from start to finish due to a little break after the start months back, but after a hell of a week of painting, here it is. The painting below is gouache, coffee, and oil paint on a 3' x 4' canvas. The painting is titled "One Day At A Time", and yes it is a drunken squirrel playing a piano in a flower patch. Although silly, it made some kinda sense to me when thinking about the lives of these little rodents and how similar it feels as an artist at the same time. I'll spare you my thoughts on all this, but I promise you its funny.

This may be one of the loudest paintings I've made in a while, but it was fun playing with the color again after finishing the "cow" painting. I mixed so much color during this painting that it almost burnt me out. I'll probably do another black painting next just to hold my attention, since work has been going so well lately. The colors are all mixed from primaries just as the black colors were in the last one. That's right, I mixed all the greens, browns etc..No store bought colors here y'all. I had to keep cleaning off my palette knife so many times that I ran out of paper towels the other day. Of course, I forgot to pick up new ones when I was heading to the studio to finish the last details. I was so ready to get on with it and not go back to Ikes's that I just settled on using coffee filters for rags.
So, the studio is basically wrecked, but I'm prepped up for the next one and ready to go. I'm hesitant on waisting a day to clean up, because the flow is there right now. I hung another painting on the easel that is in the halfway mode (not pictured in this side of the studio below), and I've reconfigured the scene to freshen it up for my modern times. This one was started a bit earlier than the squirrel and it is a nasty little piece of work. Either way, this painting is done and ready to hang. I'm not completely sure were this one is going yet, but I figure it will pop up down at Bari or over at 3 Angels for a bit. So, get ready for the blinding Easter egg colors.

What's next? Well, yard work today, but I'll be back at the comic tomorrow. I've sketched out the next 3 pages, and its time to get down to some layout and design. I'm burnt out on painting for a moment and sitting and drawing with rulers and triangles sounds very pleasant right now. 5 more pages until I finish chapter one (issue 1 if this was a single issue comic). Yes, there are 4 chapters, and there is much work to be done.

So that's the view from up here. New work is slowly accumulating in the studio, and I am feeling really good about the direction I'm headed in. Thank god I am not worrying about a show with this work; I'm having too much fun. Be the artist. Back to the grind...

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is now out of paper towels and coffee filters.

It's Getting Closer...

2011-06-16T07:38:00.003-05:00

One more session and a little touching up and the squirrel will be ready to leave the studio. He is eagerly awaiting the opportunity to greet and annoy everybody around him with his psychedelic gaudiness.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is covered in Easter egg colors.