Archive for May, 2010

Somehow I forgot to blog about my new shirts…whoops! Here’s the men’s, which is available in medium or large.

Here’s the women’s, which is available in size small. Sorry, medium and large already sold out.

For this edition of shirts I put two colors of ink in the screen (blue and white) and let them bleed together during printing (I added pink as a third color for the women’s which blended into purple when it mixed with the blue). Using this method guarantees you that each shirt in the edition will be slightly different than the next, making each one a unique original. Please keep this in mind when you receive your shirt in the mail. You may not get the exact one in this photo, but you will get one that was printed during the same session with the same colors and placement.

These are going for $24 each.
The men’s can be purchased here.
The women’s can be purchased here.

Thanks for looking!

A while back (here to be exact), I posted some in progress photos of a black and white painting I was working on. Well, I finally finished it a few weeks ago and forgot to put photos up of the finished piece. Here you go. I hope you enjoy!

“Reunion”
18″ x 24″ – mixed media on wood.
sold

On the second day of Unique LA I thought it would be fun to do a live painting. And here’s how that went down.

This painting is now on display in my shop if you want to come take a look at it in person. It’s pretty raw and I’m not going to add anything to it because I don’t want to take away from the whole “live” aspect of the painting.

It’s 24″ x 48″, mixed media on wood.
If you’re interested I’m selling it for $150.

I have a few new pieces for the “cookbook series”. In fact, they might be the last pieces because the cookbook I was using no longer exists. I used every page that I liked. There are still a couple pieces I have to photograph and get online, but that might take me a few days, so here are three that I have at the moment.

“Responsibility Is For Losers”
for order info click here.

“Tomato Tongue”
for order info click here.

“Call Me Dumpling”
for order info click here.

Each of these originals measures 7.25″ x 9.875″, on wood and signed on back.

These are hand painted mixed media paintings on pages torn out of a 1964 cookbook. Each page has been mounted on 3/4″ thick pine wood and the edges have been painted black. The surface has been coated with a thick layer of clear plastic resin. The resin coating provides a protective high gloss finish. It basically looks like a yummy piece of shiny candy.

Wire has been attached to the back so each one is ready to hang right out of the package.

Thanks for looking!

Since I moved to wordpress you might have to update your subscription to this blog.

Please subscribe at http://feeds.feedburner.com/jeffclaassen. Pick from a plethora of readers. I prefer google, but there are a ton more to choose from.

See ya,
Jeff

I have a couple of friends (photography nerds, if you will) named Richard and Henry. They started an awesome photo project they are calling “The People We Encounter”. Richard is making a book out of the all portraits and asking the subjects to do something next to their portrait. I did a little india ink painting.

For more info about their project please take a look at their blog: weencounterpeople.wordpress.com/.

Enjoy!

MTN has made some changes to the Hardcore line. All MTN Hardcore 400ml cans now come with a spray nozzle and a clear protective cap. This is great because you can safely stack your cans without having to take your spray nozzle off.

Announcement:
The Claassen Gallery has been very excited about selling MTN for the last two years. And who wouldn’t be? Afterall, it’s the best spray paint on the planet. We’ve had nothing but great feedback about what a quality product it is. With the introduction of the new Hardcore can we are making a transition with the pricing. All new Hardcore cans will be priced at $6.50. We still have a lot of the old style cans that we will continue to sell at $6.00 until they are all sold out. It might take a couple of months for us to have the new can in all the colors we like to keep in stock. Now is a good time to snatch up the remaining cans at $6.00.

A word from Jeff:
Having the opportunity to offer artists in SLO the best spray paint ever made has been an awesome experience. I’ve met so many artists and creative people and feel very fortunate to be in a position where I’m surrounded by creative people on a daily basis and for that I am thankful. I know fifty cents isn’t much, but I’ve literally lost sleep over this. The final conclusion is that if I’m going to continue selling MTN it’s just not possible to do it at $6.00 a can. One of the many things that makes MTN paint so awesome is that the quality speaks for itself and I’m willing to stand behind that.

A couple of months ago I started a new blog called The DIY Artist. Since opening my own gallery in Novemeber 2004 I’ve learned a few things about being a “professional” artist and in the last two years I’ve witnessed a HUGE increase in artists coming to the gallery and picking my brain. I try to help them as much as I can and I’ve noticed that a lot of people have the same questions, so I thought it would be a good idea to make a specific blog to help out other artists in their quest to become full time professional artists.

Some of the categories include:
- Selling
- Promotion
- How To

Last week I opened up an Amazon Bookstore (yeah, I’m a book nerd) for my readers to browse my personal book selection, which highlights business books I’ve used to help my own business as well as some of my favorite art books. I’m pretty excited about this because I’ve never tried out this whole “affiliate” thing with blogging before. So, if you ever buy from Amazon please access their site through my store, astore.amazon.com/thediyartist-20. It won’t affect the price you pay for anything, but Amazon will kick me down a little credit.

Well, that about sums up things at the moment. If you’re an artist looking for tips on selling/promoting or have any family/friends that might be interested please send them over to The DIY Artist.

Thanks much!
- Jeff

I picked up a block printing kit because it’s something I’ve been wanting to try for years. The other night I finally opened up the kit and took it for a test spin.