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JULY 5th-9th 2008

This July, I began my official “Paint My Town” tour across the United States. Being this is my first solo paint expedition, I really have no idea on what to expect. What I should have prepared for was this summer's extreme weather conditions. Let’s just say leaving San Diego’s cool coastal climate was like saying good bye to paradise. While heading up North through California, temperatures raised up to a whopping 116. In Las Vegas, Nevada the usual intense desert heat wave was bearable in comparison to trying to paint in Fresno, California which was almost impossible to tolerate with record breaking temperatures.
In Fresno, there are venues that are a must see for any artist passing through. One being Chris Sorenson’s art studio. The studio is an enormous warehouse decorated with colorful mural work on the exterior of the building. The inside holds thousands of metal sculptures, paintings and creative nick knack art pieces on display both created and collected by Chris over the years. Chris gave me a personal tour of his new studios still under the construction process as he expands his already remarkable gallery.
My next stop was Calwa Park. It really caught my attention with its quarter mile long wall open to the public to paint. The Calwa Aerosol Art Park is Fresno’s first real attempt to cater to local aerosol artist needs. One thing you should know is they charge a fee of $10.00 to paint. The fee doesn’t guarantee you anything but the privilege to spray paint legally. With horrible air quality due to over 300 California fires and it a blazing 112 degrees, we spent 3-4 hours completing our mini production and utilized the sprinkler system to cool off when we became drenched in sweat. Aside from staffing who don’t know too much about the aerosol arts, the positive thing I did see was the Aerosol Art Park new beginnings in offering their communities a great way to help and assist with the demanding growth of this art form. So, make sure to be on the look out for upcoming aerosol art events hosted by Calwa and how you can be more evolved. Next on the tour is San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento check back for more personal journals as I head out to paint your town!

Chris Sorensen's Art Studio

Calwa Public Aerosol Art Park Fresno, California

APRIL 27-28th 2008

As a kid, skateboarding was a fun sport. Today, with all the new innovations in wheels, trucks, and decks the sport has definitely become much more sophisticated. A new company launching such a skateboard evolution is Photon Light Boards. Their skateboards are fully functional with LED lights and a battery pack embedded into the deck.  These boards are just the start of sports fusing with technology. I spoke with the Owner of Photon Lights Boards who happened to be a huge fan of my art and he said once they completed their move into a new production/shipping warehouse they would commission me to blast one of their interior walls with a light board themed mural. The completed mural took 2 days to complete and scaled roughly 20 feet high. To see the finished mural visit the gallery section of my site.

MARCH 29th 2008

I flew into Reno, the “world’s biggest little city” and was ready to get my spray on. One of the stops was a mini aerosol art park built behind a furniture store. It was awesome to see that the location was active and being put to good use. They had an onsite graff supply shop with all your spray paint needs. The owners are very supportive of the local youth. They explained that the park has generated positive results so quickly because of it. My main goal was to paint the entire park in one day, but I was unaware of the wall sizes and on a strict schedule. Not to worry, really it meant more to me just to help inspire the kids and leave my mark in the park.
Compared to California’s sunny weather it was cold with a slight chilly wind. I chose a nice individual wall off to the south side of the park to paint. When my first spray can erupted due to a broken seal on the valve I quickly got “ice finger,” a numbing feeling from paint chilling on your finger tips. Ice finger definitely makes it challenging to spray accurately, but no pain no gain. Since I was in a gambling town, I composed a chrome woman laying on top of gold coins and cash to represent the power of money. The piece took about two hours to create and the visitors and staff we’re overly impressed with the outcome. This was just another beautiful day of spray painting in the “world’s biggest little city”.

MARCH 22th-23rd 2008

Sick Side is a new tattoo/retail store that just opened in San Diego, California. They basically had a wall on the side of the building; excellent for a nice aerosol mural and I was honored they called me to bring it to life. They gave me a general idea on their concept and content and let me put my signature Aero twist on it. I took the Paint My Town film crew out to capture the two day production process since i was planning on testing my speed painting; a new style of creating ultra fast results in no time. On the first day I spent seven hours (as you can see in the third image below). It took approximately 16 hours to complete this 10 foot high 100 foot long piece. Both days I was visited by almost every pedestrian passing by either to say it was amazing or the famous one liner “you did all that with a spray can?". It's still a nice reminder that people appreciate good old fashion art even if it’s created with aerosol. To view the finished mural please visit the gallery section of the site.

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