Happy holidays!

OverHeard would like to wish you and your family a merry Christmas and very happy New Year.

Daily Dose of Dopamine

Every artist out there knows how much they need that creative time alone to just let go. Doing commissioned work can be fun, especially when its well paid for. But anybody who is really creating art probably has stacks upon stacks of paper, canvas, or whatever, that may never see the lights of a studio. Work that was created purely out of a whim. With no real message to convey, no guidelines to stick to for an assignment or a job, and no competition rules to abide by, one can really just pour their self into whatever picture plane they choose. Late at night is when I often find the time to do this. The family is asleep the day is over and there's nearly nothing to worry about. It's almost a meditative process that then takes place. I grab whatever medium I have at hand and begin to get my daily dose of dopamine. When I'm creating this work I'm not thinking about what a client would want, or what the masses might find appealing once hung in a gallery. I'm simply letting the ink flow however I feel. Their are some design elements that naturally come into play, but for the most part it's all just feelings on paper. I do have much more work that will probably never be seen by the public, but these two that are pictured, I created the other night and decided to share. I really like the way they came out so I'll probably get them framed. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them.
(top left:18"x24" charcoal and pastel on paper; bottom right:18"x24" charcoal and pastel on paper)

Thanks for reading

-CalvinPressley
calvinjpressley@gmail.com
overheardtv.blogspot.com

Best Hotdog in America???

Yes it's been four weeks since my last post.. Yes im terribly sorry for making you guys wait so long... yes it'll probably happen again, but hopefully not in the near future. Now that finals week is over for me I can finally get back to writing, get back to creating, and get back to breathing, sleeping, eating, and all the other stuff I put aside due to studying.

So its late at night, your hungry for something good. Something satisfying. Something worth the money you'll spend. Something quick. If your here in San Antonio your probably thinking street vendor tacos. Probably... unless you had the opportunity to find and enjoy a gourmet hot dog from Rocker Dogz. If you've been to The Korova on a Thursday night, chances are you've seen the little hot dog stand right outside the front door. I can tell you right now, whether there's a line or not, your gonna need to get one of those dogs before you leave this city. This isn't some New York style hot dog stand. This is a one of a kind gourmet hot dog stand serving up the best hot dog I've ever tasted. Chef Kris Martinez is the owner and operator of this San Antonio jewel, skillfully crafting his hot dogs to a level you would have never though a wiener could go. Follow him on facebook to find out where his mobile truck with be serving up the dogz.
You will be glad when you do. (www.rockerdogz.com)

Just a quick little side note before you run out the door for a hotdog. Check out this awesome video of the Blue Moon competition I was in. I might not have won anything but I did get interviewed which is pretty awesome (even though my name was spelled wrong.. its Pressley like "PRESS play".. two S's)



Thanks for reading the blog!

UPDATE: The video that was posted and linked from youtube is no longer there. Sorry for the inconvenience. Hopefully I'll get more interviews in the future.

Richard Duardo at SAC

Last week, we at San Antonio College were lucky enough to have Richard Duardo come from L.A. to give us a very enlightening and inspiring lecture, as well as give us a print making demo right in the middle of our Visual Arts Gallery. Richard Duardo (pictured to the right) is the founder of Modern Multiples, a very established print studio based in L.A. Duardo has worked with many well known artists from Patrick Nagel, to Shepard Fairey, to the infamous Banksy. It seems like Duardo has his hands all over anything art, from getting his graphic design degree at UCLA he's gone on to produce recognized work of his own, earning many awards and still publishing over 300 artists' work. Check out Modern Multiples (www.modernmultiplesinc.com) for more information about Richard Duardo and his work. I know I'll be checking out his studio next time I'm in L.A.

Over the past few months I've been getting into some digital designs by learning photoshop. I see a lot of cool stuff in the art world that are digitally made. Although I personally like to get my hands on my work more than I like using a mouse to create it, I still like what I've learned and what I've produced. So here's a picture of what I've been able to come up with, let me know what you think. Thanks for reading and thanks for the feedback.

draw

School Project

Currently I'm working on this school project of a three panel piece. I got the idea to record myself working, for anybody that might be interested in seeing the creative process in action. Let me know what you think of this time lapsed video and maybe I'll start doing this more often. Shoot me an email with your comments (calvinjpressley@gmail.com), I really want some feedback so help me out. As always thanks for checking the blog.

After the show

Yesterday was the grand finale to the Blue Moon Art Project and it went very well, I was able to meet a lot of great people and a group of vastly different artists with so much talent. I really had a great time and loved all of the attention my work received from all who attended.
The piece I did on the spot is my vision of the modern American dream. It is titled "Window of Opportunity" and is a mixed media piece displaying elements of America and what we as Americans are all going after. I ripped pages out of a book that was full of historic American documents, used them as a base to the thin layer of red and blue paint that was spread over it. To really get the concept of the piece, one would have to be close enough to read certain excerpts visible through the paint, but then step back to see how the work as a whole ties together. There is a small window which has been placed off center inside the painting which is full of money to describe that small window we all get, to reach that place full of the money we all seek. I wanted to propose the question to the viewer if this is really what their window of opportunity looks like. Is is really that small? Is it really full of seemingly endless one hundred dollar bills? Is the money on the other side "dirty"? I want the viewer to possibly come up with some questions of their own, not for me and for another viewer, but for themselves. The work is currently not being displayed anywhere, but if you'd like to see it in person with the possibility of purchasing, please email me and we can set up a private viewing with any other of my art work you'd like to see.

I have to give a special thanks to those who made the show awesome yesterday. Pearl thank you so much for your support, without you and your family I don't know where I would be. Mom, thank you for coming it's always special to have my family come out to my events and I'm glad you made it. Dad, thank you for your help with the vehicle, I can't wait until you can make it to one of my shows My sister Angel, thank you as well, I really hope I can serve as inspiration to you as you start your artistic journey. My big sister Brenda thank you for coming down, it meant a lot to have you at the show and I hope you see how much you've inspired me to be who I am. I also have to thank the head of this whole operation, Laura Melzow. She's a great, hard working professional who has done so much for San Antonio artists and I hope she never feels under appreciated. Lastly I have to thank my son. Jude is a really big inspiration in my life and even though he's right here pulling on my arm and yelling in my ears he's half of the reason I push myself to get all of my work done. I know one day I will be his inspiration for whatever kind of work he is doing.
Thank you anybody else who has had anything to do with helping me grow over the past year. I've come so far from getting my first easel from Travis, Joseph and Fish. I hope you all know what you've started!