Sacramento Magazine Interview on News Stands Now!

I was in Starbucks yesterday with a colleague and looked down to see that the August issue was already in print so I bought a copy. I was happy with the way Jan Ferris Heenan wrote up the article. Jan came to my show at Casa Bella Galleria and had a lengthy discussion about art and world travel. At the time, I had no idea that she worked for the magazine. She and I met at Samurai Sushi and talked for over an hour so I was curious as to how all of that would be distilled down into a short article.

As I was telling a friend recently, I think this is the first article I've read about myself that was entirely accurate. My first experience with this was years ago when I read that I had been the star of a championship basketball team in South America. Ummm??? Sometimes there is no amount of linguistic legerdemain that will turn fiction into fact, but I digress.

Here is the link:

http://www.sacmag.com/media/Sacramento-Magazine/August-2009/City-Sketch-James-Patrick-Lane/

Para los hispanohablantes: Hice una entrevista con una revista aqui' en Sacramento y por fin, ya esta' de venta...perdoname, pero esta' escrito en ingles. Si tengo un poco de tiempo libre lo voy a traducir al ingles pero en general se trata de donde naci', los viajes alrededor del mundo, y el arte.

日本語：　私はサクラメント市の雑誌のインタビューをしました。　英語で書てありますですけど。。。少しひまがあったら　翻訳　を　します。　ほとうんどの書いていることは私のふるさとう、画家の人生、と　世界の旅行です。

"The Single Mom"

It's finally finished! I am dedicating this painting to single moms everywhere, but especially to my favorite single mom, Shirley Lane. It's not easy being a police officer, chef, nurse, firefighter, boxer and still have the grace to feel like a princess now and then.

I painted the crowd to display a range of emotions; some are impressed, others are fascinated, still others are confused or condescending. Unfortunately, sometimes we feel like our life is a circus and we're always on stage. Don't forget to breathe and be kind to yourself.

This painting will be shown at the Level Up Lounge in Sacramento during the month of July. Hope to see you at the Second Saturday party.

"The Single Mom"

"The Single Mom" closeup

New Painting Direction

Hello again,

I have been taking a new direction in my painting and hope to have the first pieces in the series completed by the time I hang the show at the Level Up Lounge (25th and I in Sac) in preparation for the July Second Saturday art walk. I was recently interviewed by Sacramento magazine and when asked about the most difficult aspect of what I do I was honestly a bit stumped. The final answer revolved around having a voice and conveying what you want to say. A writer may have full command of the language, but still struggle with the type of story to tell.

I've been struggling to understand all of the stress associated with these bizarre economic and social times. Things seemed to have mellowed a bit compared to early 2009 but it's clear that people will be struggling for quite some time. Given the all these emotions I've begun a series of paintings that draws a parallel between various socio-economic situations and death defying circus acts. As I began studying all the different acts in a circus I was shocked at how many parallels there are between things like being a parent and juggling hats, paying bills and keeping all of those plates spinning on their sticks. The list goes on. The first painting is called, "The Single Mother."

Painting demo of West Indian Girl's Sofia

Well, here it is....finally finished it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJpOY1CAjOo

I'm happy with it.

さいごに私の新しいビデオを終わりました。ソフィアちゃんはよくでるですから。。。。ものすごく幸せです。今主奥さんと子供たちが千葉県に戻ります。じじとばば　孫の顔を見れるから。。。うれしいです。私は７月３０日に日本に行きます。

　

"Sofia" painting video

I completed a painting of the band West Indian Girl a while back and videotaped the whole thing. I'm making some final edits to the time lapsed instructional vid over the weekend and hope to get it online asap. The background music is the song, "Sofia", which my daughter loves to sing.

New painting video of Gallo's wine cellars in Livingston

I decided to put together a time lapsed version of this painting now that I'm settled into the new home. I'm currently editing a similar video of the painting I did for the band, West Indian Girl, which is pretty psychedelic. I wrote a previous post about my experience at their show, desperately hoping that some crazed rocker wouldn't destroy the painting. Everything was fine.

The music for this video is by Village Drums. That's me on the bass. My good friend Carol Cody did the arrangement of this song. We always got a great response when we played this one live. I still remember Carol going off onstage.

I'm doing a show with abstract artist John Krempel at the Level Up Lounge (25th and J in Sacramento) for the Second Saturday in July. Can't wait. John has helped me tremendously here in Sacramento, as well as Suleka at Level Up.

Show tonight at 1615 Del Paso Blvd.

Come on out for a good time. We have five artists taking part in this show and a great jazz band playing right outside. I ended up speaking with Heather Fargo (Mayor of Sac for 8 years) for about an hour last night. She was fascinating, cool, opinionated, and hilarious. She also gave me a whole list of funky little dives to paint here in Sac. She likes to frequent the older restaurants with personality...the places that make a city thrive. Her top 5 were:

The Torch Club
Fox and Goose
The Market Club
Capitol Dawg
The original Java City (18th and Capitol)

She has met a lot of famous people like the Clintons and Schwarzenegger but when I asked which person impressed her the most she said Robert Redford. He could have taken the easy road and chilled in Beverly Hills for the rest of his life. I thought that was interesting.

Anyway, gotta get to the gallery. This painting of Crush 29 in Roseville sold last night to a cool woman named Mercedes.

Hope to sell another one tonight!

2nd Saturday Show at Casa Bella Galleria

I'm going to be showing more paintings at Casa Bella this coming weekend. This came on short notice but I'm happy to have the chance to show there again. Shane and Rhoda are great hosts.

Show info:
Casa Bella Galleria www.casabellagalleria.com

Friday, April 10
Saturday, April 11
6-9:00 p.m. both nights
Located on the corner of Arden and Del Paso Blvd in Sacramento.

Hope to see you there!

We've moved

As some of you may know, we recently bought a house in Citrus Heights (just north of Sacramento) and we've been in the process of moving large furniture and unpacking boxes. Today Dean and I built a big fence gate from scratch. It was pretty cool to see it come together and Dean was having a blast using the handsaw and hammering the nails. Sophia rode around us on her tricycle the whole time. After that we all went fishing down at the port of Sacramento (no luck although Sophia caught a big green weed that she still thinks was a fish).

I really appreciate my family during times like these. On our big moving day a crowd of 6 people showed up at 7 a.m. ready to work. They woke up before 5 a.m. to make it here and they worked HARD all day long to help us get settled in. I'm truly grateful.

I have some new paintings to put up on the web but haven't had the chance to take good photos yet.

All the best!
James

Paintings Now at Casa Bella Galleria

The show at Casa Bella Galleria went well. We even had a piano player playing everything from "An American in Paris" to tunes from the musical "Chicago." Shane and Rhoda offered to keep some pieces there long-term, so I now have 10 pieces there on consignment. I appreciate the chance to work with them. They were voted best local businesses in the Sac area and it's election time again. Please vote for them at www.kcra.com/alist. They are listed under the Shopping area. Psssst. You can send in one vote for every email address.

Show this weekend at Casa Bella Galleria!

Woohoo! After a lot of preparation and painting I'm ready for the big show tomorrow night and




Saturday. I'll be taking part in the Second Saturday in the Del Paso area of Sacramento. There are 24 galleries in the area, including a project (of which I'm part) where business owners open their doors to an artist and transform into a gallery for a few days a month. It's a way to get business in the door and help out local artists. I'm excited about working with the folks at this huge furniture/home design place because it will show what my paintings will look like when they're actually in a house. There will be food and wine too, in fact, I heard that a pianist will be there too.

Here are two samples of smaller pieces I did recently. The top painting is a vegetarian restaurant in Fair Oaks called Sunflower. My co-workers and I sometimes go there for lunch. The other painting is a restaurant/bar in Roseville called Crush 29. The interior design is pretty funky and cool.

Casa Bella Galleria is on the corner of Arden and Del Paso Blvd and the show goes from 6-9 p.m., both Friday and Saturday.

West Indian Girl Painting #3 Complete and Concert News

I recently completed the 3rd painting in the WIG band image series. I found out they were playing at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco on Saturday night so I drove over early to meet up with them and show them the latest painting. Robert (singer/songwriter) bought the previous version that's shown in an earlier blog post and I decided to send a blank outlined version of the poster with a box of crayons and a challenge to make their own version (I guess that's #4 in the series). I showed the painting to everyone and they mentioned that their version is at the studio and is slowly being colored in by each band member. It was a great night and performance, consisting of a series of interesting conversations with people who were each fascinating in their own way. You gotta love San Francisco because everyone you meet is doing something interesting and is somehow connected to something cool, not always to each other, but to an art scene, silicon valley, or a subculture the rest of the world is not privy to yet.

The painting is on tough canvas so I just rolled it up and put it in my coat, all the while reciting, "Don't lose the painting. Don't let rockers crush the painting."


I met Joshua and the guys from a new blog (http://www.lifemusiclove.com/) seeking to bring together people with an appreciation for great live music, film and art. They were there to interview the band and do a photo shoot. They mentioned that they had contributors for music and film, but were still looking for an art contributor...enter JP! So it looks like I'll be one of their art contributors, which I'm very excited to do. I imagine I'll contribute a variety of topics; tips on how to improve your art career, general observations, frustrations and dealing with them (see, "Do as I say, not as..."), trends, outsider art, the use of technology, you name it.


The band Loquat opened up for WIG and I had the chance to hang out with Earl and Ryan over some tacos. They were really nice and laid back, very fun to be around. I've been listening to their tunes on myspace since I got back. Think Bjork meets The Pretenders meets....well, meets more people than a speed dating event. They still have their own unique and beautiful sound too. Their bass player, Anthony, and I talked bass for a while--as only bass players can :o) He has a funky new Fender that I had never seen before and the most bizarre camera I'd ever seen, save for the Quaker Oats box pinhole camera I made in Photography 101, but I digress. This camera was so cool that while at the Sundance Festival, he met Brad Pitt and the director from Benjamin Button, David Fincher, and got a few photos just because the camera was interesting. Apparently the cam has a cult following and Fincher is one of them. I don't know these things, but apparently in starbiz land it's considered polite to ask someone like Pitt if you can take a photo (who knew?) to which he replied that he'd rather not since he'd had a few beers. Enter the bizarre orange camera and the rest is history.

"Don't lose the painting. Don't let rockers crush the painting."


In 2 degrees of separation news, a good friend of mine Todd Z, turned me on to Flight of the Conchords, the show about 2 dorky Kiwis pawning their musical wares on the streets of Manhattan (and comedy ensued). I worked in a usability lab with Todd at Indiana University and learned all my chops from him. He's really sharp and currently works in the user experience field in Silicone Valley. While hanging out with the West Indian Girl drummer, Mark Lewis, he mentioned that Brett and Jemaine record all of their songs at his studio in L.A. and that he's played drums on 5 of their songs, including "Business Time." I just about fell over. How cool is that? He said they're cool guys but are a little more serious when they're trying to figure out what the chorus should be. Apparently, they record the tunes in L.A., film in NY, come back to make tweaks...I was starting to think they're just frequent flyer whores but I'm sure it's all very necessary. And who's complaining??


Fran was cool enough to put me on the guest list so I got to hang out in the green room, or whatever you call the place where bands drink and argue and sleep before the show. It sounds glamorous, but if you think it's a corregated shack with a fridge full of beer, no bottle opener and a wilting sofa you'd be accurate. I had a fun time chatting with the band and their friends. One nice guy was Tim Brunet who has been working with the band on their marketing, video, photography and the like. I'll be sending him a link to this painting.

Finally, I came across a Hoosier (yes, we embraced) and a hilarious Buckeye who were informing everyone in the green room/shack how the world REALLY worked. The Buckeye dude was into marketing and was telling us about his big pitch to YouTube this week. Since I don't want to let the cat out of the bag (or get sued) I'll just observe YouTube over the next months and years and see if they become what he has envisioned for them. I'll smile if his wish comes true.

The band had a great show and I thought the sound quality was pretty good too. It was loud but not blaring and you could hear the vocals very clearly. Mariqueen had a cold but managed to pull it off without looking exhausted or sound bad. I don't know how she can wail like that when she could barely talk before the show. Hey, she's a professional.

After all that, I hopped in the car, drank a Pepsi to keep myself awake and drove back to Sacramento feeling positive, inspired, and connected. The painting was next to me on the seat, safe and uncrushed.

Central Park, New York Sold

Rock Mother Bar Sold

Vesuvio Cafe San Francisco Sold

West Indian Girl Painting Sold to Singer Robert James

Sacramento Mormon Temple Sold

Salvador Dali Coffee Cup Sketch Sold

Recently sold artwork

Things are moving out the door, folks. We've got low low APR financing. We're cutting out the middle man and passing the savings onto you with factory to dealer incentives. Oh sorry...I'm not selling cars. Anyhoo, these sketches and paintings have been recently sold.

Squall cover for the Journal of Consciousness Studies

I'm excited and honored to announce that the publishers at the Journal of Consciousness Studies in the U.K. would like to use another painting for the cover of both a journal edition and a book.

I contacted them and we're discussing the possibility of doing a commission painting specifically for the journal and book cover. The idea is that it will show people in a downpour, hoping that somehow their story would be told. Presumably, those stories are contained in the book.

I always enjoy working with Anthony and the people at the JCS. To date they have used "Monk, Monk, Monkey", "Lone Cypress", and the Tsunami Relief painting "Wondering" for their covers.

Mormon Temple near Folsom, California

I went out painting with Naomi, Dean and Sophia and we decided to paint the beautiful views from behind Hazel avenue looking out towards Highway 50 going to South Lake Tahoe. Later the neighbors told me that this was a large Mormon Temple. You can see some of the colors changing in September and a path going down into the woods.

New Paintings

Here is a piece I completed while driving around Napa Valley. I'll be listing another round of paintings on ebay soon. There were large trees to the left creating long shadows that crept down to this little winery shed.

West Indian Girl Band Painting

I've been communicating with a great L.A. band called "West Indian Girl" and have begun doing a series of paintings for them, ideally for a CD cover. After talking with founding member Fran Ten we started brainstorming some ideas. If I did one painting and it wasn't right it would be a shame for everyone so I decided to do something I've never done before; create an outline image, scan and print it onto canvas and watercolor paper, then do a series of paintings in different styles. This photo isn't very clear, but it will eventually be scanned in at a high resolution.

I'm excited about all the possibilities for these paintings. We can sell these versions, prints of them, the band can paint in their own versions and sell them, fans could color them in at shows...we can create a coloring book for the kids! These will take a while to finish so I'll post them as I complete them. I'm going to do versions in pop art, impressionism, etc.