Tyler Painting

"Tyler" - December 2010
11" x 14" Gallery Wrapped Canvas
Black & White Acrylic

Tyler was a wonderful dog who passed away just before Christmas this year. Nobody wants something like that to happen, so we made sure she'd be home for Christmas...if only through this portrait.

Home for Christmas.

Domino Painting

"Domino" - November 2010
11" x 14" Gallery Wrapped Canvas
Black & White Acrylic

Domino is a beautiful cat I recently had the honor of painting a portrait of.

Domino is an adopted cat who is FIV positive and lives a wonderful and full life with other FIV positive cats.

Adopt without discrimination.

Remorse

"Remorse" - 2006
11" x 14" Sketch Paper
Graphite Pencil & Conté Crayon

Remorse was the first piece I created after I lost my entire portfolio.

With Remorse, I decided to just let go and not be so meticulous about each and every little detail.

The emotions which plagued my mind for this piece were locked in a woman standing at her own reflection in front of her bathroom mirror, contemplating the misfortunes of her life.

Tyler Painting

"Tyler" - August 2010
11" x 14" Gallery Wrapped Canvas
Black & White Acrylic

Tyler was painted in memory of a beautiful soul who is responsible for thousands of others being rescued year after year.

Just one dog.

Vodou Child

"The First Child" - September 2010
12" x 16" Gallery Wrapped Canvas
Acrylic and Marker

I have started a new series of Mixed Media Paintings titled "Vodou Child".

Born out of my quest to figure out Religion, Spirituality and what my Beliefs are, these paintings feature a written Blessing and drawn Spirit to watch over those around them.

Longing Branches

"Longing Branches" - August 2010
11" x 14" Gallery Wrapped Canvas
Acrylic

Longing Branches is the first in a new series of paintings I have titled The Excessive Loneliness in the Sexuality of Trees.

This series of paintings was inspired by the Tree Paintings of Artist Stefan Duncan.

Chip Painting

"Chip" - June 2010
11" x 14" Gallery Wrapped Canvas
Black & White Acrylic

Chip is a portrait of an incredible dog who was adopted by a friend who really loves animals.

This portrait was given to her as a Birthday present.

Oreo Painting

"Oreo" - June 2010
11" x 14" Gallery Wrapped Canvas
Black & White Acrylic

Oreo is painted in memoriam of a beautiful dog nobody met.

Oreo's is a tale of tragedy Shakespeare himself couldn't have written better. Beaten for hours by her owner then thrown from a rooftop six stories down to the streets, Oreo was "rescued" by the ASPCA and treated for her injuries - broken ribs, broken legs, open wounds...the list goes on and on. A few months later, Oreo was dead.

The ASPCA is said to have raised some $6,000,000.00 for Oreo through donations from people who heard about her story. Oreo made a full medical recovery, and only a few months later the ASPCA killed her. Pulled for evaluation while still healing (physically, as well as emotionally) from being beaten for hours and then thrown six stories down into the road, Oreo's temperament evaluator stated that she was too aggressive and not fit for adoption - a death sentence by ASPCA standards.

Having learned of Oreo's story and her impending death at the hands of her "saviors", Pets Alive stepped in and stated that they would be more than happy to take in Oreo and all of the expenses and responsibilities that come with her. Pets Alive is highly experienced with bully breeds AND at handling animals which are in need of extra delicate attention and care. Basically, Oreo fit what Pets Alive does on a regular basis to a "T". Oreo was killed by the ASPCA the next day.

There has been a TON of politics, emotions, beliefs and even a law is trying to be passed in New York surrounding the events of Oreo's death. Bridges have been burnt, some have just been damaged, others have even formed through political bonds or similar beliefs on what Oreo has grown to represent... Hell, I even painted a portrait of the poor creature during these events... The dog that nobody ever met... Another face in the sea of needless death that is the kill shelter system...

She was just another dog, that didn't need to die, who nobody saved.

Delilah Jo Bear Painting

"Delilah Jo Bear" - May 2010
11" x 14" Gallery Wrapped Canvas
Black & White Acrylic

Delilah Jo Bear was commissioned by a great friend who has been really supportive of both my artwork and of Pets Alive.

Delilah was only a part of this world for a short period of time, but in that time she was loved greatly.

Find peace.

Jasper Painting

Jasper" - June 2010
11" x 14" Gallery Wrapped Canvas
Black & White Acrylic

Jasper is a portrait of a beautiful dog that just loves his human! I was absolutely thrilled at the opportunity to paint him for her!

If you follow Pets Alive's tweets, you have definitely seen a few about Jasper thrown in there as well! She just loves her "Little Man"!

Pet Portraits Progress

Things seem to be off to a pretty good start with the Pet Portraits.

The first painting, Elmer, is hanging on my girlfriend's wall.

The second, Delilah Jo Bear, is photographed and just waiting on shipping supplies.

I've started on the third, Jasper, and it already has a good amount of paint on it. I should be able to do just do some highlights and some O.C.D. touch-ups here and there and it should be good to go!

And today I posted on twitter that the first person who replied to me with #catportrait would get 50% off of their cat's portrait! AND I got a RESPONSE to it! So that ROCKS! I'm VERY excited about this! I really wanted to try out a cat portrait so that the cat people could see what that would look like as well, and here we go!

I was actually thinking about posting for the contest last night, but was really nervous about it. I mean, what if there was NO response AT ALL?! That's just embarrassing right there! But within a few minutes, there it was! This is a great day!

Left to the Past

I wonder lately if we were better off when The Church ruled over us. I'm by far no fan of Organized Religion. All I see in Religion is corrupt use of power, stories told to people by people claiming they know of a Higher Spirit or Power. As people, we never as a whole look to influence others for a truly noble and just purpose. Never trust the Storytellers. Blind faith corrupts. We allow others to control us, tell us what to think, believe, do and purchase...and then we die.

Now, instead of The Church, the Governments, Economy, Businesses and Technology are the Powers we worship. We pay homage everyday to screens of light. We overpay for diet and organic products all the while getting fatter on cheap fast foods we love, injected with whatever was marketed enough. Why do I need extra Vitamin C and Calcium in every product I eat? Don't I eat too much already? We are excess.

It's just a blanket. Vacuuming everyday is just passing time until death. I don't need a closet organizer - I don't need the things in my closet. Throw it away.

I work so that I can purchase. I purchase because our new Gods tell us to. I worry about the pointless items I have so I purchase things to protect them. But I am poor and disgusting if the things I've purchased to protect my pointless trash are worn and dirty, so I protect them.

We are nonfunctional. Most people in this world are not needed. Most aren't even wanted. We make room by killing others. Not our own, that would be wrong. We are excess, but we are us, so others must pay.

I wonder if all of this, The Church, The Government, The Economy and Technology and Products all exist just to pacify us, to keep "order" so most never realize it is all pointless. We're organisms living on a small, metal rock, winging around in dark space - even our minds trick us into thinking we actually see. Bends of light and reflection... We see nothing.

At least when we were slaves to The Church, it was one Master we obeyed. Now we obey many, and most never even realize it. Those who do, are left feeling helpless / hopeless. If you crawl into seclusion, you're dead already. Government, Economy, Technology... These are the new hands of God. There is no escape. We are dead already.

Life is a Delusion.

New Etsy Shop

Over the past few days, I've been setting up a Zen Cart for my website to make the process of taking orders easier. I needed to install the software on my website, of course, upgrade my PayPal account, sign up for some services on the USPS website for shipping and go through, configure the HELL out of Zen Cart and also setup the actual items to be sold and their properties. All in all, it really wasn't a bad experience doing all of this. I'm till not sure if my actual servers were setup with the actual permissions needed for the PayPal and USPS services to run properly.

All of this installing and configuring and setup done on my own website, using up my bandwidth, and I'm still stuck with a template from Zen Cart that does not NEARLY match my website AND I'm doing all the marketing myself! Then I remembered, Etsy! I've seen some people online promoting their Etsy shops and selling things on there, so I figured I'd check it out! Ok, so it's like $0.20 per item for a 4 month listing. Not horrible. And they take a 3.5% sales fee. Still, it's a site that people already go to in the first place? Compared to trying to draw the traffic to MY website? I'll pay the 3.5% commission, thank you.

Setting it up was pretty easy. I did it over night and even added my first item this morning! And, I'm not left wondering whether or not I've setup my server correctly, or if I got all the code adjusted properly, or anything like that. I don't have to worry about what switch I forgot to switch on or off or from test to whatever... It's all done. And it feels pretty damned cool if you ask me!

Next Steps

I took another step this morning on commissioned paintings and setup a Preliminary Commissions page on the website. I'm kinda nervous about it, pretty exciting though! I still need to figure out pricing and shipping & handling prices. Estimating timeframes is on my list as well. I guess I'll be using PayPal for payment method.

I'm also still in thought on my Streaming Art project. I took a look at the 5" x 7" canvases yesterday and WOW they're small! With the style of painting I had in mind for them, each would be done in like 2 seconds! Maybe that's a good thing. I could always do multiple paintings per show. Would probably cut down on costs per painting as well. I didn't like that the canvas wasn't Gallery Wrapped at that size. I had in mind to use the hook and wire method of readying them for hanging and that just didn't look like a pretty idea on the back of these little canvases. So, I'm still trying to figure out the Free Painting Giveaway part of the project, but, I think I may just get in front of that WebCam in the meanwhile and do some painting on there anyways!

Elmer Painting / Commissions

"Elmer" - April 2010
11" x 14" Gallery Wrapped Canvas
Black & White Acrylic

My girlfriend and I have just celebrated our One Year Anniversary!

Without her, or anybody else, having any idea, I recently completed a painting of her dog, Elmer (Elmer passed away some months back and she is GREATLY remembered and missed). This past weekend I gave Toni the painting for our Anniversary. She absolutely LOVED it! I was so happy she loved the painting so much. It's now hung up and everything.

It has been an all over great experience painting this piece. I'm really happy with how every step of it went.

Of course I took some pictures of "Elmer" and I posted them online and texted them to friends and family. The feedback I've been getting is just AMAZING! Everybody seems to love it.

It really is great hearing such positive feedback about this painting, especially with how important it is and also with how nervous I always am about my artwork. I never know what's working, what's not working, what parts people really are drawn towards, or what they really just don't care for...and honestly, for the most part, I basically figure people mostly take the position of "Oh, that's nice. (Wouldn't want it, but look at what you're so proud of.)" What I'm hearing from friends, family, and even other Artists, really feels like genuine interest and congratulations on this piece. It's a pretty nice feeling. AND, some people have even asked about commissioning me to do a portrait of THEIR pet for them! How cool is THAT!?! I can't WAIT to get started on those! Of course I'm VERY nervous about it, but also SO excited!

It's definitely going to be a journey starting out on these commissions. It's also definitely one that NEEDS TO be done. I plan on taking a slow start, working mostly with people I know would be forgiving of any stumbles and hiccups along the way. And there are a TON of things that can go wrong on any one commission - the image the Client has in mind versus what the Artist understands is desired, pricing, timeframe, shipping, payment...anything could go wrong. But knowing that somebody actually wants ME to paint something for THEM...that's just an incredible feeling. So I'm looking forward to it!

Elmer Painting

"Elmer" - April 2010
11" x 14" Gallery Wrapped Canvas
Black & White Acrylic

Elmer is the first of a series of Pet Portraits by Artist Anthony Trott.

Painted only a few months after the passing of his girlfriend's dog (of whom is the subject of the portrait), Anthony presented this painting to her in hopes it would help to ease her pain over the loss of her Elmer and maybe someday provide her with some level of peace and closure.

Since then, Anthony has started painting his style of Pet Portraits for others, either in memoriam or in honor of a loved animal.

Anthony's thought on the Pet Portraits is "Anyone can take a picture and keep it and look at it, but there is something uniquely special that comes with a portrait created by hand of that someone so special. A part of their spirit is captured within it...and lives on forever with you."

Anthony's Pet Portraits, as well as many of his other works, can be found at: http://anthonytrott.com/

Streaming Art Progress

So I've thought up a few things to do with my artwork. One of them is to Stream LIVE Video of me painting some, to begin with, smaller pieces (5" x 7") and later give them away through twitter. Already there has been some interest and questions as to how I will let people know when these events happen. WOOHOO! That's awesome, people! Pretty cool knowing that at least a few people are interested in this.

I've always been curious about starting up a Newsletter for my artwork, but never really had a thought on what I would actually regularly send out to whatever amount of people who would actually sign up for it. Well, here's a good start! People are asking how they can be sure to hear about when my Streaming Art events are happening, so I think it's a good time to setup a Newsletter!

So now I've setup a Ustream.tv account for the Live Video feeds. I've also setup a MailChimp account for the Newsletter.

Before I can get started on the Newsletter, I need to finished up with setting up my P.O. Box at the Post Office so I have an address to put down at the bottom of the Newsletter. That's all purchased. I just need to get over to the Post Office (BEFORE THEY CLOSE) and turn in my form and I.D.'s and the P.O. Box is mine for at least the next six months! Hopefully I'll get that done today.

I also need to go out and get some more canvases, brushes, etc. and a new WebCam for this stuff.

For now I'm very excited and curious about how things will go - Also already starting to get a bit nervous and reclusive as well...

I'll keep everyone posted!

Purchasing Artwork

When purchasing a Painting/Print/Sculpture/etc., you're purchasing something that compliments the room, maybe completes it. You want to find something the right size, color, style...something that says "This room just needed this."

When purchasing Artwork, you're truly purchasing a piece of the Artist. Something about the Artist captures you, needles at you to say "I must have this creation." Maybe it's the Artist's style, maybe you witnessed the creation of a particular piece and wish a keepsake of that moment in time, maybe there's an emotion provoked and you just have to have it. Sometimes you quite literally purchase a piece of the Artist in one of his works - the blood, sweat, tears that went into it.

Decorations compliment. Art captures.

5" x 7" Acrylic Painting Giveaways

Very soon I will give away some 5" x 7" Acrylic Paintings on twitter!

I'm not sure if maybe I'll hold a contest for them, or just first to respond gets a painting or what, but I'll figure all that out soon - and I'm sure it will change and evolve as it goes.

For a while I've also been thinking about painting live on Ustream. Maybe these 5" x 7" Acrylic Paintings would be a good start for that! I think it would help build some interest in the paintings - Art is always a bit more interesting when it's more than just a picture.

So this week I'm going to purchase a bunch more canvases AND I'll pick up some 5" x 7" canvases for this little experiment as well!

There's already been some interest in it all so I am VERY excited about doing this!

It should be A LOT of fun! This will definitely help keep me in practice, and motivated, AND it will help give me some experience with packing and shipping my paintings and all that!

Sick Today

So, I was up all night last night with a CONSTANT cough - the kind where you just risk choking to death on a cough drop just to get a few minutes of sleep. Sinuses have been keeping that cough plenty of company as well.

I felt crappy enough at about 2:30 AM to email out of work today. I even actually did stay in bed pretty late today because of it (which never happens). And then by the afternoon I started feeling somewhat better - and determined to get a couple of my paintings mounted and at least one rephotographed.

I got two of my paintings read for hanging! Felt SO GREAT to actually get those hooks and wires on them! Two of my paintings are actually FINISHED finished! One's even hanging on the wall right now! And I was able to (after a MILLION tries) get my painting "The City" rephotographed so that it doesn't have this HUGE glare on the bottom right part of the photo! I'm VERY happy about all of that!

I THINK I'm even refining how to take the photos of my paintings so I can post them on fine art america for print orders. It's always been hell for me to try to photograph these things. There's always something - uneven lighting, a glare, too dark, not focused as much as I know it can be (that's my biggest one)...but I think I'm figuring it out more and more. I know I don't have the best camera in the world, but it can do a job well enough now and then.

I try not to think about just how many pieces I have to photograph because it can definitely feel overwhelming with the little bit of time I find to actually work on trying to get just the right shot for each of them. It can take hours, or maybe just a few minutes. It just depends. I always mentally lean on the "It's going to take HOURS just to HOPEFULLY get one photographed right...if I don't lose the sunlight" side. But I got one rephotographed today. So, it's a good day.

And now I'm feeling like hell again! So, I think it's time to put on another movie and get back in bed!

Regular Blogging and Painting

So, I was reading some more today about Networking and Blogging and blah, blah, blah...And I know I blab CONSTANTLY on twitter and Facebook...But really, when it comes down to straight up blogging and writing out blogs and doing it REGULARLY...I just think "What the hell do I have to write about every day that's worth putting into a blog?"

I don't know.

I definitely need to put in more hours on actual blogging and definitely a LOT more hours into painting during the week.

I need to start sacrificing some weekends as well.

Things need to get done.

One Giant Picture

I'm all fuzzy today. I love when I have this feeling - although, it's already later in the day and starting to fade.

Sometimes all the senses seem sharper the morning after drinking Absinthe, all the while I'm feeling and looking through this cloud of "Fuzzy". Such a great "burn-out" feeling.

This morning's thoughts were concentrated some more on things like gravity, space, the cycles that surround us and make up our lives, death, life, madness, the hope that someday I'll go absolutely out of my mind and it will all puke out onto creative canvases that people drool over. It's hard to devote so much into just some idea that could turn out great or always be nothing but "at least it was created" when I'm not a very motivated person to begin with and unless it comes from an obsessive origin, I'm not a very dedicated person to trying to put something out there either...not to mention the fact that all I see is rotting and decay and nothing lasting and what's the point in putting so much effort into something if none of this really matters to begin with? And why do I have to work at some stupid job when I only have a few moments to live and they're just being wasted away most hours of the day just so I can have a TV and sit in front of a computer all evening? What is the point of going through the motions when existence doesn't matter? Maybe it's all a cycle and we go through this, or similar, over and over and over again - never realizing it's happened a thousand times by now, and will happen thousands of times again.

I've always been drawn towards the Artists that were consumed in their own madness and put out these incredible and chaotic works. I've always thought it would be incredibly great to go mad/crazy and just puke it all out for people to claw after. But in the meantime, and maybe this is all there will ever be, I can at least do my own thing and allow/encourage the madness that's already there.

It's a great feeling to see the starting points in my life to have the ability to just allow myself to be free to go insane. In this society, in order to do it safely, more has to be in place than you'd think. There needs to be that stable job that doesn't ask too much of you but enough to sustain your lifestyle. I have a girlfriend that is extremely supportive of me and my mind and my abilities and doesn't judge or harshly criticize or demean me in cruel ways and I am so very comfortable with her. I think some realizing what spirals are being taken and what needs to be kept out of those spirals is very important for today's world - of course, once you're out there enough and if you've got that X-Factor that people so drool over and they're throwing money at you for a piece of your madness, then there's more liberties a person can take with the spirals.

I want to get there.

New Direction

I have finally started painting some more again. I absolutely LOVE the new/further direction my paintings are headed!

I have posted a few pics of a couple of the new paintings on twitpic.

At some point I'm going to ready a bunch of my artwork to be mounted on walls and put a few of them up for sale.

Some of the pieces I plan to include for sale are:

Shelter
The City
Cam
Stripes #2
Let Go

Maybe some day I will get up the nerve to drop of my "Series to Nowhere" pastels to have them framed and put those up for sale as well.

I'm getting more confident that I can figure out how to pack these pieces for shipping, so that's good.

It's all kind of scary really.

Mental Images

"Let Go" - March 2010
12" x 16" Gallery Wrapped Canvas
Acrylic and Marker

Art can be found in happiness. Art can be found in worlds of fantasy. Art can be found in a child at a circus laughing at a clown...Art can be found in hope…Art can be found in despair.

What about despair? What about fear? Regret? Suffering? Is there a God? Does any of this matter? What if it all just bled away? Is every moment of life perfect? Or do we sometimes feel pain?

Sometimes we hurt. Sometimes wishes go unfulfilled. Sometimes something interrupts our happy little lives and says "This is your life now!" Sometimes we wonder "How could there be a God?" Or better still "Does it matter?"

Take a trip inside the mind of Anthony Trott through his artwork and realize...

You are not alone...

*shrug*

Yeah, I haven't really had much to say on here for the past while.

Life's been pretty damn good lately.

LOVE my girlfriend and her pets.

Love my frog and two kittens.

Little by little, money's getting a bit better again (thank GOD I got rid of THAT "cancer").

Life's been pretty fuckin' good.