Saturday, June 11, 2011

Two of my Ebay auctions were closed for "violent materials." Wait... what?!

Lately, I've switched from creating my own characters to painting people I've seen in pop culture. This includes Kelly Osbourne, two wackos from the horrible (yet entertaining) Teen Mom, as well as members of the Casey Anthony trial (which I'm addicted to - I'm several days behind, but I'm watching every moment of it).

Today, after waking up from a much needed nap, I went to check my current Ebay auctions only to find that Ebay removed the two paintings (and I'm working on several more) I did from the Casey Anthony trial: Casey herself and the judge in the case Belvin Perry, Jr. 

Did you know you can buy a photography of Ted Bundy, one of the best known serial killers of all time, on Ebay? That is apparently not "Violent Materials."

My paintings are not glorifying hatred, murder, or anything else... they are simply paintings of what I've seen while watching the trial. In fact, as many of my paintings do, they poke a bit of fun at something about each of them. For those of you not watching the trial, one day Casey showed up to court with half of her eyebrows completely plucked out... I knew I had to capture that. Judge Belvin Perry has this strange headrest attached to his chair. My painting has that... and nobody will know WTF it is unless they're watching.

Anyway... I'm not meaning to offend anyone. I just try to poke a little fun at things I see.

The paintings have been moved to Etsy:
Judge Belvin Perry
and
Casey Anthony


Monday, June 6, 2011

Featured Artist: Charlie Alan Kraft

"Weaved into the fabric of time itself and born in the shadows Charlie Alan Kraft has become the scourge of the creative industry. His birth moved mountains but his artwork has fueled wars, toppled communism, brought equality into the workforce for women, clothed the poor, fed the hungry, empowered minorities and single handedly brought an end to the cold war."



So let's meet Charlie Alan Kraft from Portland, Oregon. Charlie has been creating art for 17 years and says, "I've been painting for so long I just paint. Some people watch football or hang out at bars and coffee shops or work in the garden or all kinds of other things. I just paint... It simply comes out of me all the time and new ideas pop out from time to time so my work is constantly changing."

"I don't purchase or own any art. I like art but I don't put it on my walls or buy it. I prefer everything in my house to be empty allowing me to create something as original as possible. Artists that I like..? unpopular unknown ones... Artists that you find by accident that you will never read about."

"Art is and has never been about what you do or how well you do it, like every other industry it is about who you know... There are so many good artists out there it's often sickening but the majority of them will get washed under the fabric of popularity because they do not know the right people."

Make sure you check out Charlie's artwork:
at Etsy
his website
and YouTube.