An inspiration to paint a piece of the Dali Lama. 2×4 on a linen it is my personal interpretation of an amazing human being. I have read his writings and I am incredibly awed by his wisdom and experience. Much Respect.

This month I was honored to work with one of my favorite Hip Hop heros Abstract Rude. Some good old friends from Fat Bol in Humboldt came to me knowing my work and my love for hip hop to do this piece. As always I am excited to network with other talented artists. It is always such an inspiration to cross pollinate between music and art. Big ups to Chris Noonan and B Swizlo for making this happen.

“The assignment: To illustrate a portrait true to character, of the soulfully eloquent and hard working California hip hop artist Abstract Rude. The theme was to combine positivity and maintain the strength of the underground scene. Fat Bol gave Ab final artistic approval of the piece and in a flash of drawing and designing came the new illustration. Both graffiti and natural elements were used in the piece to portray the smiling Abbey, an LA hip hop veteran. The Illustration is presented as a three color silkscreen on a brown tee shirt with a strong image across the front.

The Fat Bol logo is displayed atop the back of the shirt. This tee is not quite available instores or online yet, but fans can pick one up just in time for Abbey Rizzle’s guest appearance on the spring Lemons tour.” This is straight from Ab Rude’s Myspace.

Last week I finished my first semester in Graduate School at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. AMAZING! I am totally inspired to take my technique to the next level. This piece is the final project for one of my classes with instructor Zack Zdrale,
The 6 hour class was beautifully challenging and I would love to do more work in this style now that I am comfortable with charcoal.

For new years I joined up with some amazing artists to blow the minds of thousands of party goers.. The black tie festivities were at the glamorous Westin St Francis Hotel at Union Square in San Francisco. My good friends the notorious Cripe Brothers work with a group called the Pacific Art Collective doing live art for many occasions. I have heard tale of the 2007 new years party and it is an honor to be asked by these two guys to paint with them this year. The three of us were also stoked to be joined by the amazing Erin Hamilton and Carmen Olsen. Five really prolific artists on one canvas for five hours, you know something good is going to happen.

We had had a meeting the day before in Casey’s lab and the idea was set on what the five of us artists would do on this 8×8 piece of looming blank wood. We arrived at the St Francis to find the canvas’ ready to be painted, they stood in a giant ball room. The panels are a good size and are a great way to see the size of the room in comparison.
I stand ready to rock with my talented cohorts in front of the freshly primed canvas.’

The party was a 3000 person affair, open bar, fashion show, multi-roomed maze of crazy folks in a beautiful huge hotel ballroom. We unpacked and at around half passed eight we got started with our concept.

The amalgamation starts to take shape in black and white.

Our concept was to illustrate a biomorphic creature made of from a multitude of body parts of many animals but to maintain the shape of a recognizable animal contour. In other words to have the head(s) in the top left then the legs,wings, legs, all the way to the tail. You get the picture. I love this part of doing a piece with multiple people. It is when the piece looks the most chaotic but the marks are the most carefully layed down to create a good composition. With five people the piece was quickly laid out and the black line work quickly took the shape of a great beast.

Reaching high and painting low we are all enjoying this fully.

We are going at it at a fast pace. On the other canvas is Damon Soule, his piece morphed through the evening. I have been a fan of his work for a long time and it was a pleasure to see him in action.

Erin is the first to drop the gold on some big blinging tusks, Casey works from a sketch he had previously brainstormed. The piece is starting to get smaller details, textures and bold fills. I really love the way that all of our marks blend together really cohesive and seamless. That is what really excites me about working with other artists on one piece.

Erin is the first to pull out the paint brushes and get bold with color. We had decided on the effective main color scheme of browns, oranges and yellows for the animal, the piece is evolving at an exciting rate. The colors are quick to show volume and depth within the creature.

Casey takes an important minute to step back and check the masterpiece, he is not the only one in amazement. All night there were hundreds of people bubbling over the barriers to see the artists in action.

All arms at work bringing in the yellow to make the animal pop. Notice that happy little bird rocking out!

Tyler putting in some detail.

The whole team hard at work.

By this time we are a few hours into the piece and the crowd is roaring with well dressed belligerent energy. The piece is coming together quite well.

The colors are looking great. The creature is an indescribable behemoth of wings, heads, horns, and hoves.

The Fantastic Five, a sure shot success, posing in front of the finished piece, Word…….

Erin Hamilton, Carmen Olsen, Casey Cripe, Forest Stearns, Tyler Cripe.

Representing the amazing Empire Squared is always fun. E2; an art group spawning from the inspiration a a solid group of Nor Cal artist out of Humboldt is still a force to be reckoned with. This poster I designed for the gallery is for an open edition that visitors can buy when going to the gallery for one of the notorious art shows. Often the shows are of an avant garde nature, with the entire space becoming an installation. So that means that the space is not reliant on sales so this poster can raise some funds when the installation is too hot to buy. Get one by contacting the E2 page.

For the last two years I was honored to teach a class to the Arcata Arts Institute. This morning I was able to meet up with the director of the program Anne Bown-Crawford to catch up on a book that we are publishing. The book showcases the works of ten amazing and diverese students. We worked together once a week for a year to bring their works into fruition in the for of a 140 page book. My good friend and associate Casey Cripe was my teaching assistant during the class and was a big influence on the students works. You can pick up the book from LULU Press and the proceeds go to the AAI program. Here is a preview of the works for the book.

First off check her out for your self @ artwithwings.com. Her works never ceases to amaze me, and since we have shared a studio for a while now I get see all of the work she does. It is very inspiring to have such a good artist around to be inspired by and get critics from. Lucky me, for real.

We worked together on a series of pieces that premiered in Arcata’s Garden Gate. The work for the show was a good test of our compatibility. We went on a big road trip together out to Texas to meet her fam and get to know each other. It was a great trip and when we got back home we had 2 weeks to paint 15 pieces together for the Garden Gate show.

these are 2 of our collaborations.

It was exciting to mash our styles and our work habits. I really enjoyed the experience and we have worked together since then on numerous pieces. Erin and I did live art with Aceyalone, Micah 9, and Dres @ the Eureka Red Fox Tavern.

Erin and I also teamed up with 2 other amazing Humboldt Empire Squared artists to rock a set of large outdoor murals at the Inferknow parties. What can I say, she has great talent, she can bust a great drawing at the drop of a hat, and she is admirably humble. Erin and Forest = FORIN INK

A great deal of inspiration has come from looking at Wayne Thiebaud’s works. After hearing him speak I like him even more.

Much respect to those who put in work and love it.

Here is a painting about sloths that has nothing to do with the post…or does it.

A lot of people ask me what is LIVE ART, isn’t all art live art?

Well yes and no. Of course all art is art done live, but the term is meant like Live music. Art in action, art during the process, art in a space where the viewer can watch the actual developments of a piece by the artist not just the disassociated final piece on a wall. I really enjoy the excitement of working in front of a crowd with good musicians because it gives the viewer a complete experience. There have been dozens of concerts that I have been to that do not stand out in my mind. The ones that do had some sort of visual spectacle that sets them apart in my memory. There have been viewers that have come up to me and told me that they watched me make a piece live at a music show, they can tell me things about the progression of the piece that I did not even remember that had an effect on them. That is cool to add that layer to a show. You have the sound of talented musicians piping out of the speakers, you have the smell of the crowd and the tastes of the beverage, you have the feeling of all the other bodies undulating around you, and you have a visuals of hopefully an entertaining stage performance, So to add a large piece of art being made on stage in the midst of the performance, started at the beginning with a blank canvas and at the end of the show having a canvas that has been illustrated to go along with the performance, adds a great level of visual involvement.

The following is an interview that I did with Billyjam of Amoeba Music in San Francisco:

PAINTING BY MUSIC: FOREST STEARNS’ INTERACTIVE ART

Interview with artist known from Amoeba Music instores

“[If you are a regular at Amoeba Music you may have already seen the silk screened poster art of Forest Stearns who has done several pieces specifically for Amoeba events. Or maybe you’ve been lucky to catch Forest doing his art live at one of the interactive music-and-art Amoeba instores he has been a part of over the past year.

These include one with DJ Shadow (San Francisco Ameoba instore) and two with Cut Chemist (San Francisco and Hollywood Amoebas). He has also done live interactive art with hip-hoppers such as Z-Man and at other events such as Reggae On The River.

Additionally the NorCal artist, who is just about to move to San Francisco, designed the poster for the Noisettes instore show at Amoeba San Francisco which reportedly everyone loved including Universal who Forest says want to take and flesh out to make an animation based on the illustration. I recently caught up with the artist to chop it up about life and art, and art and life. For more information visit his website: draweverywhere.com.

AMOEBLOG: What inspires you to make art?

FOREST STEARNS: Art is what I do. It is a way to be myself. It is exciting and thought provoking, it creates a dialogue and has a lot of history to build from.

AMOEBLOG: And what keeps you doing art on the shitty days?

FOREST STEARNS: The shitty days are cool. I can sleep in then have some tea then by that point I can do some art and the day turns out pretty nice. The shitty days are when you work for someone else and hate it. I work for myself and work with others on projects that I get to choose. I am an optimist, so shitty days can usually be squashed by either looking at the art of others or getting down with some art of my own.

AMOEBLOG: Regardless of time or place who are among your favorite artists and why?

FOREST STEARNS: Egon Schiele for his spooky graphic nature he has inspired my
figure work greatly, Erin Hamilton because she uses the most amazing color schemes you have ever seen. Sonny Wong in Humboldt for his amazing letter styles. Richard Diebenkorn for his ability to rock both abstract and with amazing line work. Chris Bachalo for killing graphic novels with style and prolificness. Michelangelo because he could draw better than the rest. Yoshi Toshi for his amazing inovation in line quality and the style he started. Os Gemeos for going huge and global in graffiti…to name a few. I love creative innovation on classic ideas. A good idea with a good artistic mark. But I may have a new list of artists by tomorrow.

AMOEBLOG: I understand that you are soon about to move from Humboldt to SF where you said to me earlier you will be “on the grind to take over the visuals of the city.” What exactly does that mean?

FOREST STEARNS: Well the SF takeover is simple. I will be as prolific as possible in both my graduate school program and in my gallery showings. I will continue to do live art with DJ and hip-hop friends like the Glitch Mob and Z Man in the city and continue to grow the client base of my commercial work. Simply: build clout and respect through quality artwork and prolific nature. Build relations with companies like Amoeba, Upper Playground, Kid Robot, Lower Haters, and continue to fucking rock!

AMOEBLOG: You have worked with several musicians doing interactive art-music. What exactly is that experience like for you as an artist?

FOREST STEARNS: Fast and furious: have a basic idea of what you are looking to portray in the live piece, be assertive and efficient, know your time frame, maintain balance, create a focal point, stand back and enjoy the making of the piece within the space of being on stage with amazing musicians, Make the piece tight, sign it with good hand styles, be humble, enjoy the experience, Take a good picture, let someone buy it so you don’t have to take it home, it happens fast. You had better have you shit together because everyone is watching and expecting a good performance.

AMOEBLOG: What were the events you did at Amoeba and what did you think of them?

FOREST STEARNS: I have painted live with Cut Chemist twice and with DJ Shadow for instore sets. For both of the shows in SF I created a hand pulled limited edition silk screen poster with Four Letters Press, they were very cool.

The dynamic of the performance is interesting, people packing the rows of the record store to see an amazing DJ for free. I really enjoy doing live art, and I really enjoy good music so for me it is the best of both worlds. I get to become peers with my musical heros and I get to inspire them with my own work.

Amoeba does a good job of making the viewer/musician dynamic as personable as possible with I appreciate. Last month I create a poster for the Noisettes, studying their style and illustrating them in SF. Their live set was amazing and the posters were a hit. Universal is talking to me about making animations for the band as well as using the image for apparel.

AMOEBLOG: How has the experience of working with Amoeba Music been for you?

FOREST STEARNS: Amoeba is a great business to work with. They appreciate creativity and promote viewer participation. They are generous and personable. Amoeba has style that spans from old school Haight rock to New School hip -hop.

Billyjam interview: July 25, 2007 at 09:56am]”

Saturday I was asked to go out and do live art @ the Adidas Concept Store SHOE BIZ on Haight in San Francisco. My good old friend Dustin Delany, better known as NISUS THE MOVEMENT, DJs there quite often, bringing the sound rukus to all. We all know that great music goes hand in hand with good art SO, he had me along to bring some fresh visuals to an already styling store. The sneaker world is pretty huge, so a concept store is on the exciting cutting edge of style. I was very inspired being there with Nisus, and I would love to do some pieces on sneakers in the future.

The piece I worked on is a revisit on a piece that has a history of controversy. “100% Safe and Non-Offensive” is the title. The set was just long enough to get some good black and white changes made, the rest I will attack in the studio to finish with more elements. The finished piece will be posted. Carey Peterson of Four Letters came through and hooked me up with a new American Apparel hoodie fresh off the press. The image on the back is a piece I painted of clustering animals around the Four Letters logo. It is always good to see friends in the city.