Archive for October, 2009

Jeff Claassen Goodies on Facebook

The next best thing to giving a friend an original piece of art is to give them a virtual piece! Give one to all your friends! Enjoy!

There is a hair salon across the street from the gallery called District 96 and they came in tonight asking if they could use my space for some photos since they lost the sun. I said sure. Of course, I thought it would be wise to make a photo shoot out of their photo shoot. Sadly, my little cybershot did not take a crisp picture, but you get the idea. And yeah, it’s totally fine to put blame on the equipment as opposed to the user of the equipment.

As it turns out I do procrastinate! Who knew? The Picking Daisies Show comes down at the end of this month and I am finally posting some installation shots for those of you that have not had a chance to see the show in person. Enjoy!

I simply can’t get enough of Thao Nguyen.

Yestereday I made thirteen new “color cubes” for the paint display in the gallery. Surprisingly, I still don’t have enough. I’ll need to make some more when I get more colors in stock. However, I’m pretty stoked with how the display looks right now. Here’s a little before and after.

Before.

And after.

It looks much more impressive when all the cubes are full, but it was a busy week and we need to restock soon.

Who knows why a specific desire overcomes us? I don’t. What I do know, however, is that for quite some time now I have wanted some new socks. Not the regular run of the mill white socks with the gray toes from Costco that my feet are so accostomed to. No, no, no, not by a long shot. For months now my toes have been begging to be separated. They are no longer content snuggling side by side, sardine style, like soldiers on a submarine. My toes, my precious little phalanges of the feet, crave independence. And so it goes, I could take it no longer. I walked into The Sock Drawer* and I bought me some toe socks.

And we couldn’t be happier. Me and my toes, that is. Or, my toes and I, for you Grammar Nazi’s. Seriously, who wouldn’t be happy in black and orange toe socks with skulls on them?

* At the time of posting this blog The Sock Drawer site was down, so the above link takes you to their Facebook Fan Page. To get to their official site, try www.sockdrawer.com.

Here are a couple “in progress” photos of something I’m working on today. Hopefully, I can finish before closing time.

Stay tuned for the completed painting. And enjoy your Friday!

I was going through some things tonight and came across this old canvas I painted in Sept. or Oct. of 1999. It’s got some definite Keith Haring influence to it. He was a huge inspiration at the time. If my friend Brian is reading this… hey, you never returned my Keith Haring Journals!

I was recently asked to work with third graders on a project. What’s funny is that this is the same elementary school that I went to from fourth to sixth grade. Ah, the universe works in mysterious ways. The idea was to do something artistic that the kids could make with me and whatever we make could be auctioned off at a school event to help raise money for the school.

I came up with this idea to paint one of my characters on a wood panel and the students could color them in and add their own characters and designs. I made sure to leave a lot of empty space for the kids.

I had anticipated helping a lot, but the kids were so stoked they just instantly started drawing the moment the painting hit their table. I was extremely impressed with the fact that they had no hesitation with what to do.

I had a great time and the kids had a lot of fun. The hardest part was having to wake up and be somewhere by 10am. Lucky for me there was a Jamba Juice on the way to the school and that really boosted my energy. In all we made four paintings. Here are the completed pieces ready to be hung in the Getty.

I’m not sure when the school is having their event to auction these off, but as soon as I find out I will let you know in case you want to try to get your hands on one of these masterpieces.

I’d like to give a BIG thanks to Bishop’s Peak School for letting me hang out and draw with the kids.

Painting things is fun. Here are three originals from the Picking Daisies show. They are now available in my etsy shop.

“They Call Me Tommy”
5.5″ x 7″ – mixed media on wood
for more info or to purchase click here.

“Social Narcotics”
5.5″ x 7″ – mixed media on wood
for more info or to purchase click here.

“Siblings”
5.5″ x 5.75″ – mixed media on wood
for more info or to purchase click here.

Yes! The Claassen Gallery now has the Krink K-71 Marker in green in cyan. If you’re in downtown SLO come on by and check them out. We also have red, silver, black, and purple available.

785 Marsh St
San Luis Obispo CA 93401