Soapbox Derby...

I have always loved soapbox derby cars and the roundness of the racecars of the 1930s. That's what inspired these 4 collages of some racers that I designed. These are new and really have a masculine bent to them.

Available at Etsy...

More birds...

I have added two more birds to my catalog – A Red Wing Blackbird and a Wren.

These can be found at Etsy.

Memories of New York...

Another Spring Break trip, this one with a college Sociology Class. Was way into photography by then, and New York was full of texture. I was beginning to move away from close-up abstract photography to more recognizable subjects.

This one is called New York Windows No.1, and is updated here for the Rovinato Series.

Available on Etsy.

Memories of Paris...

During My senior year of high school, my sister was spending her junior year of college in Paris. We took a family trip to visit her over my Spring Break. At the time, I was rather disagreeable, as I wanted to spend my Spring Break the way high school seniors do.

In retrospect, it was an amazing trip. My dad took a lot of photographs. My interest in photography was yet to blossom, and I was extremely jet-lagged.

Fast-forward to now – I have the slides my dad took, and a style that I think would fit a collaboration. So, I have added some of these images of France to the Rovinato series.

Available at Etsy.

No...Sleep...Til..Brooklyn!

The Brooklyn Art Project, a social network for established and emerging artists, recently held the Battle for Brooklyn, a competition for group members. Folks submitted a few images of their art for other members to vote on. The top 3 vote-getters will be featured in the Brooklyn Art Project group show in Brooklyn on Sept 28, 29, and 30th.

Enough folks voted for Hello Friend for it to come in Second in votes, so it will be at the show. I'm excited to be included in such a great group of artists as the project, even more so to be chosen to be in the show. Thanks so much to everyone who voted for my work and participated in the contest.

If you're in the NYC area, come on out and support the project at 45 Main Street in DUMBO Brooklyn, studio 1040. Friday 7-9pm, Saturday noon-5pm, Sunday noon-5pm.

Border Collie....and Dogs in Ohio

I finally got around to finishing up this sweet little border collie. Many thanks to Sistergray for requesting this breed and her help in completing the image. This one is available on Etsy...

Just sent 25+ various dog prints to Columbus, Ohio for an event there called Best in Show. The Mahan Gallery will be handling my work there during the event. Several other artists are also particpating, and it looks to be a great event with a great purpose.

Here's the skinny:

"Best in Show" -- special one-day exhibition in German Village

Saturday, September 22, 12–5pm

The Mahan Gallery is pleased to host a special one-day exhibition at Kight Studio 551, located at 551 South Fifth Street in the German Village district of Columbus, Ohio.

“Best in Show” features work that uniquely depicts and honors our canine companions, celebrates their loyalty and promotes the well-being of man’s best friend.

The artists participating include, Megan E. Brown, Elizabeth Chrisman, Mandy Geisler, John Golden, Carol Lew, and Karen Rumora. A portion of the show proceeds will be donated to Columbus Dog Connection to help them continue their work placing abused and abandoned dogs into loving homes.

So...if you are in the Columbus area, please go by and support this worthy cause!

English Springer Spaniel

One of the dogs I have known the longest is our old buddy, Ridley, the English Springer Spaniel. While he wasn't the model for this, I finally have a print in his honor.

This one is available on Etsy.

New Lunastrella

It has taken a while, because I use some really old technology to make these images, and the computer I use for these has been sitting in a climate-controlled storage unit
because there is very little modern software that it can run anymore. So I use an old software that is not supported by the newest system software. Trouble was, I could not find the mouse for this computer, and it won't take a USB mouse. So, I found a subsitute mouse, and am letting this old workhouse chew on some new artwork for your viewing pleasure.

I have been wanting to do these two subjects for a while, and they are available on Etsy.

Featured are an old Super8 camera and and old school boombox.

Oh Internets! Why do you taunt me so?

The good news is that I am almost caught up with shipping (as in, the orders that should go out today will go out tomorrow). The bad news is that only hours ago, I was current with shipping (as in, the orders that should go out today were going to go out today). Seems like a series of little glitches (as in, a certain payment handling site won't let me handle shipping, or my ISP quits working when the payment site finally starts working) have conspired to put me a day behind no matter how much I do to try to get ahead.

I can't complain though, wouldn't be doing this at all if it weren't for the internet. Cold, hard vixen that she is.

Tomorrow will bring everything back to where it is supposed to be, and lots of art will be making its way to its new owners.

New Collage work: Magpie, etc.

Got some new digital collages available over at Etsy. The Magpie, the collector of shiny things, and something I think with which a lot of craftspeople, especially found object and texture lovers like myself, identify. Certainly not because it seems to be the crown jerk of the bird world :).

Got some cool old animals beside birds this time too...

Shown (clockwise from top left): Magpie, Camera, Armadillo, Alpaca, Mockingbird)

The BOGO Sale is done...

By the time all is said and done, 272+ (not counting sets of) prints will be shipped out from the BOGO sale. I am running a day behind getting packages out, but none the worse for wear otherwise. Just about everything is printed, and hopefully I can get all the packages finished up tomorrow and everything will ship out Monday.

BOGO Print Sale Ends Tonight at Midnight

The madhouse that is a BOGO sale ends tonight at midnight. Thanks to everyone that has participated. It's great getting to meet new customers, and reconnect with previous ones. Thanks to all the new folks that came over from Apartment Therapy.

Next week should see the arrival in my Etsy store of some new products with my art on them. I will have more than just prints for the holiday season.

All Systems Go!

I have a piece on its way to Florida State University for inclusion in a show this month.

All Systems Go! is an outer space themed invitational art exhibition curated by John Lytle Wilson at Florida State University's Oglesby Gallery September 17th-October 13th, with an opening reception on September 21st, 2007.

If you are in the area, you can see my Quelstar Pfk-1 Robot Box Art Print nice and big, at 21"x32". You can even take it home if you have the right amount of money :).

Thanks to John W for inviting this John W to be a part of a very cool event.

How much things change in a year...

As I was dawdling a bit, waiting for a file to upload , I started looking at pictures and came across this one from last September.

That little girl is the same one as in the front of the picture in this post (taken in early August of this year). Most noticeable is the hair. All my kids were born with almost none and it stayed that way until it started to thicken up a bit between ages 2 and 3.

When this picture was taken, I had been on Etsy about 2 months and had only about 3 sales under my belt. It would be another 2 months before
Etsy began to pick up for me. Earlier this week, I had my 800th sale on Etsy, and now it's hard to remember the days when my sales were in single digits.

As indicated by the pin on her shirt, my wife knew about Etsy. She is now in charge of my frequent listing, and I'm amazed at how she can often times list something and it will sell almost immediately. She seems to have a feel for what type of customer is on and when.

A year ago, I was trying to make time for Etsy, and trying to figure out it's rhyme and reason. Now I spend my days packing orders, tending to convos and trying to create new art when I have a moment.

Now my mom is an Etsian and outsold my first 6 months in her first week. My wife is working to open a shop soon, and my Grandmother who is 90 was even asking about opening a shop. She knits to keep her hands and mind active, and makes my wife and daughters great scarves.

I think we're going for a dynasty :)

Renaissance Man, Part Deux

Square Red White circa May 1986 (Me doing my best Morrissey imitation and Chris Cybulski)

See Part One Below...

We started out as The Seeing Fields, and within months had changed our name to Square Red White. We stuck with that.

I had hardly sung live before and knew only a few guitar chords, but the musical ability of the others in the band carried me and my "lyrics". We were heavily influenced by the Alternative heavy hitters of the day, REM, the Smiths and the Cure. We played the Student Union about once a month it seems. And the shows were always sold out. It was a very supportive live music scene.

But things change, and though we all stayed friends, we went our separate ways and played in other bands in the scene (as lovingly documented by our lead guitarist, Chris, at the Boone Music Archive.)

All of us have stayed active in music, and I now play in a band called the Jackson Hives. But the Seeing Fields/Square Red White story does not end there...

To be continued...

Home is where the high-dollar waterfront property is...

Not really. It's more like "Home is where the 1922 farmhouse that had no bathroom when it was built and hasn't improved that much since is". For the next year or so, anyway. We want to move before my son (that blonde kid far left) starts junior high next year.

My wife and I moved back to our hometown 7 years ago, and the family grew by two daughters and shrank by 2 dogs (R.I.P. Dexter and Caleb) and then grew by one dog since.

All that time, we have been no more than 5 miles from the ocean. As the years passed, at the beginning of the summer, we began to say, "We really have to try to go to the beach more. People scrimp and save money, and drive hundreds and hundreds of miles to spend their hard earned vacation hours on a week at the beach! And we hardly ever go." And then...we would go about, say... once a summer for a few hours.

For the last 7 years, I have worked as a freelance illustrator and broadcast and graphic designer. You meet great, creative people, but the hours are long. We are talking 120 hours a week long. We are talking, "People scrimp and save money, and drive hundreds and hundreds of miles to spend their hard earned vacation hours on a week at the beach! And we hardly ever go. But I still can't go." long. We are talking, "When did my kids grow up?" long. So we never did much of anything unless there was no work.

This summer was my first summer working almost solely as a visual artist (still some freelance projects lurking about). It only took me 29 years to get from my first sale to committing to making my living from my art. This was also the first summer that we were able to finally go to the beach more than once for the summer. It's almost like creating my art wasn't going to bring about these changes until I had fully committed to this dream of doing nothing but art. But as I began to take note of the fact that my art-related activities were filling more of my time, things started falling into place to make being a working artist a possibility.

We went to the beach several times each week this summer. We all got tans. The kids' hair got blonder. And life got better for us all.

So for the first time in a long time, I'm kind of sad to see the summer go. For a long time I was often unaware of what season it was. And though we might still have a few more weeks to squeeze in a short trip to the beach on a weekend afternoon, the mornings here are already cooler, and I know the chances to go will taper off to nothing till the weather warms again.

I know... I know... you're right. Poor me.

I could have been a renaissance man if it hadn't been for Math...and Science

The Seeing Fields circa Feb. 1986 (L to R: John W. Golden, Chris Cybulski, Ken Jones, Rob Schladensky)

As the son of an artist and a musician, chances were good that I would at least have a musical or artistic hobby. My parents are also academic, having met while attending Duke, and my Dad went on to a Masters at Harvard, and courses at MIT and Berkley. So I should have been a renaissance man, right? Well, not quite...

Literature and young me? No interest. Math and young me? Mortal enemies. Science and young me? Well, I did win my grade in the science fair one year, but Science and young me? Pardon the pun, but no chemistry there. Art and me? Fast friends. Music and me? Well...

Though surrounded by instruments all my life, I did not take considerable interest in playing an instrument until college. I loved listening to music, and it was very important in my life. My college bandmates and I used to joke when interviewed by the college paper that we joined our band to "meet chicks", to poke fun at guys that actually were in it to meet as many women as they could. Sad thing was, the joke was even funnier because we rarely ended up meeting women due to our little musical cooperative.

It was the mid to late 80s, and North Carolina was a fertile ground of alternative bands with Let's Active, the dBs, Fetchin' Bones and numerous other bands. We didn't know any of those guys. But we had lots of friends in bands and our own little scene tucked away in the mountains of North Carolina. I was in Art school, and my buddies were in their various majors and for a short time, we lived and breathed the rock and roll dream. As we saw it anyway.

To be continued...

New Feature: From behind the Wall

In our gallery space, our back room (where I manage the John W. Golden Etsy empire :p ) is separated from the rest of the Gallery proper by a 6-foot high wall. Statements made on one side of the wall travel quite freely to the other side. And, boy! do statements get made.

Our gallery is a little different than what most folks are used to. Our gallery is stocked and staffed by people with the last name Golden. I grew up around this, so I'm not surprised when an artist owns a gallery. This however is not often the case, so I suspect that your average visitor who visits our space is not expecting the artist whose work that they are raving about (or disparaging) is within earshot.

Being nearby when the compliments flow is great, and you know that they are sincere. But more so, I think I enjoy hearing the bad things people say. Sometimes they are funny, and always entertaining. Most often they show how little the speaker understands about what is involved in being a working artist.

So...I thought, to save my wife from having to listen to me repeating what gets said, I would occasionally post some snippets of what I hear on the other side of the wall.

I'll keep it anonymous, as I don't want to poke fun at anyone (too much). Purely for infotainment purposes.

So I have added a Twitter widget so I can get these gems up on my blog quick and dirty like. It's in the upper right hand corner, and I'll try to update it often.

Aye Chihuahua?

I couldn't think of a better title, and I could not resist...

I have a whole slew of Chihuahuas in the Fido series. Just short hair for now...

It's very interesting to me how much variation there can be within a breed, and I could have probably done another 6 of these.

These are at Etsy...

Let the lovin' begin...My first artist feature

For quite some time, I have wanted to point readers of this blog to some of the great stuff on Etsy (Not that you need my help, but work with me for a moment :). So I am finally getting around to it. Some days there is no news about me, so I don't blog. But if I was to spread benevolent truths and substantiated facts about other artists on Etsy, well...that would be nice, and positive, and make everyone feel good in the end.

So, as I sat trying to think who I might like to gab about, one artist leapt to the forefront. She is a fellow North Cackalackian, and our mutual affinity for robots has made us not so strange bedfellows in more than a few treasuries and front pages. She is often kind enough to give me a shout when I make the front page, and makes some of the coolest art I have ever seen with defunct everyday objects.

I have always been a huge fan of found object art, because I like the way that objects that have lost their function can be appreciated for their form. Wrote a college paper about it once even.

So...without further adieu, I give you: Cat Bishop! Known as Artsy to her Etsy friends. Read her profile if you want the real skinny on what the art is all about.

Visit her Etsy shop here.

Craft show issues, Elmer's Glue and White Bread

I came across a macramé necklace for sale on Etsy last night, and it stirred up some buried memories.

In my mind, my first artwork that I produced and sold was a linoleum block print of a sailboat. There was a companion piece of a surfer on a wave. I printed them on this really rough Japanese paper (probably contributed to my love of texture). I was 11 years old, and my mother had just opened the Golden Gallery in Wilmington, NC. I had a little corner called, appropriately enough, "John's Corner", and I sold my blockprints there.

The truth is though, as my run-in with the macramé necklace forced my mind to recall, I was making and selling something else before then.

My clearest memories of that pre-block print time center around 1976. It was the Bicentennial, and we lived in Charleston, South Carolina. My mother had not yet begun to master Watercolor, and was dabbling in other arts. Or crafts, for that matter. I am unable to pinpoint when I joined her in dabbling, but her involvement in craft shows goes back as far as the early 70s in West Virginia.

She worked in the practically lost art of Breaddough, a pre-Sculpey concoction of mashed-up white bread (no crusts), Elmer's glue and a few drops of food coloring. Mostly she made flowers, which then became jewelry of some kind or another. I can vaguely remember twisting and twirling a tiny petal or two around a fake stamen.

She also worked in macramé. We made necklaces from a waxy twine with small wooden beads and clay pendants that she had fashioned out of scrap bits of clay from a Potter friend's studio. We made macramé Owls with huge wooden beads for eyes, and pothangers from a rough Mexican Jute. I vaguely remember putting some of my work out for sale and occasionally selling a piece.

The most memorable thing we did had to do with the Bicentennial though. For all of 1976, as we went to craft shows, we went in 1770's period dress. My mom and my sister had matching dresses and hats, and I had knickers and a puffy sort of shirt. Somehow I don't remember my dad ever dressing up.

My sister still has what we refer to as "Craft Show Issues" because of this. We joke about it. I have fonder memories of it, and funnily enough, my dad now makes his living dressing up in period clothes and telling stories with a historical focus to schoolkids and such.

So, I had to decide if I should update my bios to reflect my newly remembered entrance into the world of making stuff. I decided that, while my dabblings in handiwork before the blockprints was fun, and formative I'm sure, it was a different direction than I have been traveling in since I was 11.

More Rockets and Robots....

I couldn't stay away for long. I'm known locally as that Robot art guy, so every once and a while I need to revisit the source of that moniker.

The seed of these images was planted way back in 2001, when the illustrations were developed as flat graphic pieces. Seems they needed a little character, so I experimented with an etching-inspired style.

These can be found on Etsy.

Time for another BOGO sale!!!!! Plus the Mystery Print giveaway!

My kids are headed back to school tomorrow, and as much as we love 'em, my wife and I are sorta looking forward to it. The two girls have reached their saturation point with each other, and their older brother has had about as much of those two as he can stand.

So, to celebrate that, I am having a Back to School Buy One Get One Free Print Sale in my Etsy store. Buy a print and get 1 print of equal or lesser value free. Limit 2 free prints per customer.

Here's how it works: You purchase 1 print, and tell me in the message to seller section which print you would like to have free. ****NOTE: If you put the print you want free in your cart, you will get charged for it.**** If you want 2 free prints, purchase 2 prints and then tell me which 2 you would like for free.

Furthermore...I will be drawing 1 purchase per day to receive an extra free Mystery print (based on which prints were purchased by that days selected customer).

New Rovinato

I have two new sub-series, Number 4 and 5, in my Rovinato altered photographs series. These are gradually being added to Etsy, and total 26 new photographs.

Work on Coaster sets is coming along. Testing for a Small Breed Dog set featuring a black pug, a tan pug, a Jack Russell Terrier and a Boston Terrier is very close to completion, as well as a Rovinato Set, and a Lunastrella Set.

Look for those on Etsy soon...

Cards, and other stuff

I have been trying to figure out the best way to start offering my work as things other than prints. So I have been working for a while on cards, and coaster sets, among other things. The hurdle is finding a method and materials that reproduce at the quality that I like and I think customers want.

The cards are very close to completion, and I hope to have a few sets up soon. The images will be hand-tipped (hand pasted) onto a white card stock. All attempts at a good card stock that reproduces the image well and is good for writing on were lukewarm, at best, so I am using the premium photo paper that I use for my photos to print the image on.

These will be available on Etsy...