doing it

tack welded my frame and strut mounts, and made some mock up struts out of angle iron just to get it standing on its own 2 wheels, and get the sissy bar holding itself up too.  It is all going to have to come apart to get finish welded with a tig but it makes me feel better to see it holding up its own weight without any wood blocks and stuff.

My brothers bike.

choices

need to get moving

new work

yass yass yass

We are jamming now.

Got a nice working headlight and tail light at a swap.

bolted up my 21 inch wheel, which is possibly the nicest part I own.

Started cutting up the lame Yamaha tank i had, and its actually coming out nice.

So close I can taste it, need a few bills and quite a few hours. 

Now accepting donations.

I am

heavily involved in mystic Eastern European Mysticism

And i got a 21 inch front rim and tire of my own for my bike, and the frame is going to get nice and welded up very soon.  very excited about the goings on...

Spring has sprung

dirty new paintings

 

 Matthew's Appetite

 

 

 

 

Freaks and Squares

Dont have much to say, I got fed up with a lot of things in my paintings and decided to take them outside to settle things.  Im feeling a new and different direction as soon as I can figure out what I did exactly.  These are posted in the order I did them with an overall shot of my work this semester at the end. I suck at giving titles.

hang up

 Been doing some painting, some moving and shaking, some hustling, and some living.  Making plans for the summer, don't want to reveal anything too early in the game as it is still wide open.  I just know Im not spending the summer at home and it may involve some furniture making.

so good,

life has been.  Cant complain about a thing.  Stayed in New Brunswick this weekend, screwed around with Rory on friday, made 4 stretcher bars in the morning for a friend and another 8 that night. machine status.  We stole A1 from the dining hall, and a marching band hat from a secret location.  Wrote and painted Saturday, went out to the Court Tavern with Renee and Lauren that night, had to leave my car at Mason Gross, poor little girl all lonely.  slept late on Sunday, went to a rad Joan Snyder lecture, got paid for the stretcher bars, ate Chipotle and screwed off with Rory and Lauren. helped Rory install his work for a show at Collaborative arts where we intern. Worked in the studio till late.  Today I went to the studio for a bit, then went to Long Island City to go to PS1 with Renee, who is a fucking rad person, saw some good art and ate sushi and now I'm so content its UNREAL. I know the best people and I'm lucky to be doing what I love to do and want to do. I have a small income again, I'm doing good in my classes, and I'm having fun where ever I go.  Could not be in a better place with better company.  I need to start taking more pictures of all of this....maybe

here is a painting, the last one of the series of 10  had to do for class. I still have to get pictures of the other ones.

updates

So I got pistons, pins and the sportster headlight.  The pins were wrong, but I got a refund and didnt even have to return them.  I ended up finding some in my parts stash anyway, just need one more clip to secure them in the pistons.  Im trying to unseize the one engine for tickles and grins.  mixed a drink in the cylinder. 

We will see if it does anything.   I also mocked up the sporty headlight, Im going to have to modify my top trees to mount it but it looks good and will look better with another tank and possibly other bars.

Ive been painting too, Im split in my work.  Part of me wants subtlety, the other wants loud.  I have a few paintings Ive done since the last ones, but this is the latest.

 And some detail...

Came out kind of cool.  I just need to keep working and see where I end up.

Happy birthday to me

happy birthday to me.  I have rings, pistons, wrist pins, and a sweet 72 sportster headlight on the way for my bike. I got glasses today.  Im officially an old fart, time to start living! knees in the breeze and whatnot.

Turning point

Doing some slightly different paintings than what Im used too.  Thinking about like searching and freedom and thingness blah blah blah.  Thinking about Raoul De Keyser. Dig them.

I love being a painter and making paintings, talking about paintings, figuring out paintings.  These things that are tough to give meaning to; that are so localized and about themselves. But when you finally see something for the first time, when you finally figure something out, life can get way more interesting and the struggle starts to make sense.  But only starts, and only for a while.

sometimes

I wonder what Im doing or why, how I ended up here and where Im going.
....And then sometimes Im in the studio, fully immersed in what Im doing, a painting or whatever and there is no question about what is next. Im a painter and Im exactly where I want to be, in the moment, in my head, but conscious and aware. 
Sometimes it snows and its nasty and terrible.  And sometimes it snows and I want to walk in it thinking "I was born for this shit"  today was like that too. 
Sometimes its also really easy to just slow down, paint one line in one hour.  Stop for three hours of the day and just listen to what people have to say. It should be easier more often. I want that in my work.  I want my paintings to be slow to look at, not necessarily loaded with explicit information, or history.  Just life slowed down I guess.  Life is so fast, I want my work to slow it down.
I am a painter and I couldnt really be any luckier.

paintings

Doing more work, class started this week, Im back in full swing.  First assignment is a series of 10 related paintings.  Its day 3 and I finished 3. Im having fun too.  Ill put em up in the order I did them, they are all relatively small, less than 21 inches by 21 inches

changes

cant settle... need a wassell tank and a headlight, also made the decision that Im only going to use used/ vintage parts or make everything myself, no catalog bike here.

More Paintings

Said I did more, well here they are. The pictures came out kind of dark.