From the Past...

I found an old sketch/scrap book of mine yesterday, and decided to post some pics from the past. Above is a photo of me painting who knows what, who knows where, who knows when!

I don't remember doing this quickie piece, but I still like it...
...this wall was done with my old partner in crime, Epyk. I loved this wall, and it ran for a long time, before it was finally tagged over by haters...
...this is another wall by Epyk and I, done around 97. You can see my outline for the piece to the right. This was one of our first attempts at dimensional lettering. And the photo in the lower left corner, was another production we did on the same wall with a old school arcade theme...Donkey Kong and Q*Bert...
...this strange mural was done on the walls of Warhola's Scrap Metal warehouse. The owner, Marty Warhola is Any Warhols nephew, and had a few of Andy's art pieces hanging in the warehouse. I used to live around the corner from the scrapyard, and spent quite a bit of time hanging out with Marty. He would have me paint various walls to brighten up the place, and share stories of when he would visit his uncle Andy. Marty and his entire family are a very creative and talented group of people who I'm glad I've met.

Out of the Ordinary...

Not all motorcycle paint jobs are skull and flames...
The woman who owns this Harley wanted a Hello Kitty theme...
...it was a odd job for sure, but it was still fun just because it was something different...
...but now I have to get back to painting skulls and flames!

Tropical FIsh Bike...

This is the bike that I painted for a very nice guy back east who loved tropical fish and wanted them all over his Harley...

He was very particular that all the fish and plant life I painted had to look exactly like they do in real life, so that meant an incredible amount of attention to detail...

I studied so many books and pictures of fish that now I could be considered an expert on the subject!

...many of the fish I painted were modeled directly from photos of fish from his own tank at home...
...this was one of those paint jobs that went beyond just making the bike look cool, but truly made someone happy

from: James T.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 3:00 PM
subject: hanzismatter.com submission

Hi, thought you might get a kick out of this. I saw it in my local Asda supermarket (in the UK). I take it to be 女耳魚号日月 (woman, ear, fish, number, day, month) and 雨馬魚耳雲 (rain, horse, fish, ear, cloud), with the middle two 実神 meaning 'true god'. Dunno if thats the same that it is in Chinese, but I have to say that no truly authentic Tokyoite from Shinjuku would wear this shirt, except ironically I guess!

Loved the site for years!
James

from: Laura I.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Wed, Feb 11, 2009 at 1:31 PM
subject: Japanese/Chinese characters

I recently bought a poster with Chinese/Japanese characters on it, and I wanted to be sure the characters actually said what the poster told me they meant. Can you verify that they do mean what they said they mean? I've enclosed a picture. Thanks!




I have seen similar posters before where 鈅 is used incorrect to represent "harmony". It means "key".

The character 匙 does not mean "prosper", rather "spoon".

Fastlane Tattoo Graffiti Wall...

My buddy Brian Papa came out for a visit a couple months ago, and we got busy on this graf piece at Fastlane Tattoos. 

...and while I'm posting graffiti pics, here are two more of girls I painted at Ryan Sheckler's house. Ryan wanted a Playboy bunny girl...

...and I painted the other looking quite pissed, I think girls look hot when they're mad!

Paint it Like a Fighter Plane...

I recently had a Polaris dealership ask me to paint a RZR off-road vehicle to look like an old fighter plane. And even though the shape and body lines of the RZR hardly resemble an aircraft, I think it gets the point across...
...no old fighter plane/bomber would be complete without a pinup girl, the RZR's sat on the hood...
...while this pinup girl lay on the side of a Ducati sportbike...
...this Ducati had all the looks of being flown in combat...
...blast marks, bullet holes, and even some rising sun stamps on the side for the Japanese bikes it shot down!