Broadway Lofts Hallway

Put up some images of the hallway I painted last year on the ol'website(remember those kids? back in thee olden days of the internet, people used to have personal websites where they posted ORIGINAL material that THEY CREATED! weird huh?) Its all black and white and done with brush and ink, then I got smart and started using markers.

Up There/The Ritual Project

very beautiful-stella artois sponsored-short film depicting the age old tradition of hand painted signs. This holds a special place in my heart,as whilst working with Francisco Vargas, a nationally known muralist and sign painter, I found a new respect for this dying craft.

UP THERE from Jon on Vimeo.

heres the mural...

The Ritual Project - final timelapse from The Ritual Project on Vimeo.

Yeezy Yeezy how you doing living easy, huh? Drinking Fiji, eating Wheaties, being greedy huh?

thanks to Steve and Tracy Ruppel for the photos and Christian Vargas for helping me with the "straight lining", even though I almost got hit in the face a few times.

check this.

*****************Iron Bird Lofts*****************

Reza Assemi approached me to "bring some life" to the hallways and laundromat of
the new lofts he had built in downtown Fresno, last spring, "nothing to fancy"...I started it, then got pulled from the project to paint another mural, which was on a strict time line. By the time I returned to the project, there were 10 times the tenants living there, as there were when i originally started it, and the mess of paints, buckets of (fermented) water for brushes, and piles of trash, still lay there, in the hallways, un touched. I felt terrible so I rushed to finish it and got out as soon as I could.

The "iron bird paintings" were quick sketches that were filled in as quickly as the paint dried. I did very little sketching before hand, and improvised as i went along using cheap brushes and a couple hundred dollars worth of house paint. It was more a fun excercise than an excercise of skill or technicality. Its a bit of a shame that only the people living there, or visiting will get to see this work, and at the same time, its a bit of a private collection for the tenants, they get bragging rights like, "yeah, i live by the giant-assed drippy horses" or "okay, go up the stairs and make a right at the barfing triangle, if you see george washingtons skull silhouette you've gone too far".

Christian Vargas helped me out with filling things in, and we collaborated on the ox. He also has some pics up of the work in progress on his blog, if you like looking at photos of me sitting amongst my trash pile and looking terribly scummy.

"whats that going to be" -tenant walking in to wash clothes on the first few days of painting.

Me, "a unicorn tree"

"oh"


























these photos were snapped by the totally awesome dude, Terrance Reimer.

fucking vampires

been on a total vampire schedule lately, meaning i dont know whats up or down. black and white, etc. i got my head in the fucking clouds right now. working on a mural. i'll post pics of the process and i've got an essay style dialogue written out in my sketchbook; i'll post it after its all done. for now, snippets of my life.

Stallionaires

havent been on here in a while, sorry to all 3 people who actually read this thing. Ive been semi-busy, getting ready for a new mural. This things fucking gigantic, 150 feet by 20 feet to be exact. give or take a few feet. shit. its supposed to be triple digit weather all week, and i guess next week too. so i'll be out there everyday probly after 8 pm everynight, theres no way im heading out there during the day; i imagine if i go out there and try to paint in the fucking sun i'll end up like one of those worms that gets lost on his way home during the rain, and ends up turning into worm-jerky the next day on the side walk, all stiff and burnt to a crisp.
Anyways, if you wanna come out and say "hi", or bring me a smoothie, or some Vegatarian dishes, then come out sometime later this week. Im starting today, but i dont want anybody to see me all stressed out and doubtful about my skills, as is often the case the first couple' o days of a mural. Broadway and Calaveras, the old "printing equipment suppliers" building.

im doing some watercolors and reprinting some of my zines that sold out, for tomorrows "bartender challenge" that Creative Fresnos doing tomorrow at Palominos. If you dont know, Creative Fresno does these mixers where they get two local "celebrities" and have them work the bar like a poor mans Tom Cruise in Cocktail, and raise money for good ol' boys like me to be able to eat food whilst painting murals for the lovely people of Fresno to stare at. So go out, and get plastered, and give
some hefty tips.