The Wonders of Commission Work

I have been in Pittsburgh now for about a month and a half. In fact, today it will be exactly a month and a half. I want to say that things are going exactly how I thought they would, but that isn't entirely true. Money has been tight. Everyone seems to have chosen now to pull those purse strings up. But having found some determination between here and there I'm sticking it out. There is a lot that can be done in this town but for now the work has dried up. We've done what we could but for the most part, there just isn't anything coming our way.

There are, however, some pretty big shows coming up. One of which is the World of Wheels, now celebrating its 50th year anniversary. This is a make or break show, offering trophies in multiple categories and recognition amongst the car and bike enthusiasts in the area that they are held. I wasn't here for the one last year and I am hoping that I will have some projects under my belt so I can have something to enter. I'm not really interested in the fame of it, but there is a certain allure to having someone present a trophy to me. That potential for a trophy sounds even sweeter when considering the fact I've been living off ramen and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in order to make this thing work.

Before moving I had no idea that I would be dealing with the amount of stress I have been. Not the stress of making this airbrush thing work, or the stress of putting out a good product. But the stress of actually being able to survive. I know things will work out and I'll look back and be able to say it was all worth it. But at the moment that doesn't do anything for my stress. I guess this sort of thing builds character and apparently you can never have too much of that.

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Da Burgh and Gucci Mane

I've been in Pittsburgh now for about a month and though I have only really worked on one actual project, I have had the chance to get some stuff ready for various shows around town. I got here late in the season so they've just been little affairs. The next one is tomorrow at the Monroeville Convention center (that's near the Monroeville mall for you zombie fans) and is for a rap concert by Gucci Mane. For those unfamiliar, he is a southern rap artist that is probably most famous for his song 'Wasted'. I'm not that big of a rap fan but I've still heard the song and the artist, which means his name has been around for a while. I thought it would be a good idea to do a little tribute piece of the artist performing while we did our own performance. I went outside the box on this one. I used some plexi-glass, some black primer on the back, and went to town with the black and white on the portrait. I thought I'd play around with his name a little but I didn't really have a plan until I got the name on there. I started airbrushing some white in there and let the wheels turn. That's when I got the idea for some heavy flake. I did a base of small gold flake and put a nice silver flake down the center. It still looked a little plain so I got out the heavy flake and put individual ones right down the center like they were diamonds. I the sunlight this thing is too hard to look at. Under in house lighting it looks like you could wear the thing. I may not be a big fan of rap, but I'm a fan of this look. Keep posted for more.

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