“Heads Up” at Le Belmont, Montreal, QC. 2x3ft. Acrylic on stretched canvas.

I’m starting to get so far behind I’m losing track of paintings I’ve done and places I’ve painted. I am so busy painting events and working on commissions I barely have time to check online anymore. This is an unheard of situation for me in the dead of winter. This simply does not happen. Well… I guess now it does. I guess now I’m busier than I know what to do with myself. I can paint a different event every day and never take a day off. I work on commissions all the time I’m at home chilling. I have absolutely no social life unless I schedule it far in advance. Otherwise, my friends all come to my shows if they want to see me. Does this sound weird to you? It’s a bit weird to me. I guess it’s exactly what I wanted.

I followed my old friend Construct to this event at Le Belmont. It was my first time painting there.

“The Roast of Marquise” – acrylic on stretched canvas. 36×24″

This was a stand up comedy roast of local drag queen and singing sensation Marquise. I had never seen one of her shows before. I am enamoured with the venue space Katacombes and the tower of skulls in the middle of the room.

I love painting in this space for the oddness of the place… and to get a sense of the ecclectic performances that go on here. There seems to be more variety to this place than many of the venues I’ve painted in around Montreal so far.

This is the second event I painted there. The last event was a psytrance party. I painted from the second level this time… looking down on the audience and performers below. Last time I painted behind a bar.

“Demolition” – 30×40″, acrylic on stretched canvas.

This was an all night rave in a warehouse scheduled to be demolished. The room was full of heavy machinery… presses of some sort… though there was still place for a “dance floor” of sorts.

Someone in the room was wearing a kitty cat hat… and honestly that hat makes the piece. People look at this all the time and love that there’s a cat in the room… for unexplained reasons. I love it when people put on costumes. It makes the party more memorable. It adds character to the painting. I’m more likely to paint something in if it’s bizarre like that and I haven’t seen it before.

This is my new “brother” Magikdee (below). I met him the first day painted an event in Montreal (Bassfest). More on him later.

For the last three nights I was at heads up, then demolition… then graveyard. For some reason, the titles of events, performers, etc that I paint all seem to have some sort of odd significance to the story line… and I think on these things. What is the heads up I should be noticing? What has been demolished? Am I killing myself for my fans again?

I don’t know what it is, but raves take more out of me than just some early evening jam band affair would do. Maybe it’s the fact that you are up all night, and the energy of the crowd is completely different. You can feel the bass booming in your chest. It changes the nature of conversation in general. (Everything is reduced to yelling. Note to self: I need proper earplugs or I’m going to be stone deaf in a few months of this.)

Acrylic on stretched canvas 36×24″.

Psychic City. This was a psytrance event. I have never painted a party that was specifically focused on pystrance before this event. I have never lived in a city big enough to have a party that was focused solely on psytrance.

I really like how this piece turned out.

There was a poi spinner near where I was painting whose movements really make the piece.

I did this piece under a light covered by a colour filter, which made for interesting colour effects on the canvas as you can see here to the right.

I would paint an event like this again. The genre of music seems to contribute to the fluidity of movement of the people attending, and thus it’s easier for me to work in some movement gestalts into the resulting art.

I’m way way behind on blogging these things. I know, I know… you wait three weeks and everything is old news… but I’ve just been too busy painting to blog about it. Crazy problem to have, really. This was a blacklight live painting I did at a rave at Espace Griffintown. I love painting events there.

For this party, there were oversized inflatable crayons everywhere. Thousands of candies were thrown to the crowd, fitting with the theme.

Note: There was plenty of movement and candy, but I did not witness any sex.

Here is the blacklight version….

I painted this piece under regular lighting for some of the night and blacklight the rest of the time, so that you see two different paintings depending on the lighting.

For the rave effect, you should light this thing up with blacklights and a strobe so it flips between both versions.

I must have painted the faces of several hundred people that night. People think I’m a facepainter.

Here’s a few videos from the night.

8×10″ stretched canvas. Acrylic. $25

I’ve known Construct since before he was Construct. I’ve known him since before he was a DJ or I was a live painter.

I met him in the electronic music scene back in Halifax years ago. Seven years ago, I think.

This is another solid person who works hard at what he does. He’s a designer as well as DJ.

Check out his stuff at J’aime le Dubstep.

Acrylic on stretched canvas. 10×8″. For sale. $25

This is Ryan Orphan.

Here’s a DJ that’s made a big impression on me in the time I’ve been in Montreal. He’s a great DJ and a great person. Very friendly.

This is one of the individuals who has helped me to feel more at home here… despite my wandering hear. I have followed him to a number of events in the last few weeks.

Again… I am doing a bunch of these little pieces based off of local talent to showcase what I’ve found here and raise funds for an upcoming adventure.

8×10″, acrylic on stretched canvas.

This is a painting of local Montreal DJ sensation Vilify.

Now you KNOW that any photos of sexy female DJs are going to sell right away.

I should know this by now. This one is already gone.

Expect more paintings of Vilify because she’s so photogenic… and people love her.

8×10″ acrylic on stretched canvas. $25

I have been painting electronic music events for the last few months more and more. I feel like the summer is a time for music festivals and existing outdoors more than inside.

The winter is a harsh, bitter time spent painting raves, bars or sitting at home producing commissioned work upon request. Can you blame me for having DJs on the brain with all that white stuff on the ground?

I keep telling myself that if I’m smart enough, next winter I won’t “do” winter at all.

This is one of several small DJ-themed works I’ve done from home in the last couple weeks. I am selling these on the cheap to fund an upcoming adventure if you like any of them.