Paintings to Poop to

Today marks my 31st day of selling one small gouache painting every day, under the #PaintingsToPoopTo moniker. To celebrate, here’s some background on the series, along with some information on its future.

The first of the series.

Since this is 2020 and some of you need to be able to read this fast so you can get back to mindlessly scrolling the same three apps, here’s the short breakdown followed by way more context. You should read the long part though. In the before times people paid me to write and it was fun.

How big are these?

Most are in the 4”x6” range or a little smaller. Each piece has different dimensions.

How much do these cost?

These are “pay what you can.” Don’t message me asking what they cost, it’s not a fixed number. I’m trying to open this up to as many folks as I can, so I don’t want price to be an issue. That said, please don’t see this as an opportunity to try to “get a good deal” and take advantage of me. That would suck. Art’s value is defined by what I, the artist put into it, and what you, the viewer get out of it. I put a lot into these, I hope you get a lot out. If you think you’re going to get less than a cup of coffee’s value, why bother messaging me? Most have gone for between $30 and $100. That’s a range that I can live with.

When do you post?

I post the day’s painting on Instagram between 8 and 9 am. Sometimes I post it a little early, because I’m stoked on the painting and want to get it out there early. If you’re feeling competitive you can turn on post notifications for me

How long will you keep doing this?

A coon’s age? Until I find something better to occupy my time? Who knows?

Tired of not quite being fast enough to get one?

You should probably just commission me to paint you something cool...see the last question in this list. If you’re not fast enough to get one, sorry, but also, in the words of The Wire’s Stringer Bell, “The game be the game.”

Can I get prints of these?

Nope. Offering prints of these takes away from the specialness. Also, the whole print process is a huge PITA for me, and very expensive. I often end up losing money on prints. So, except for a few exceptions (like the beacon postcard one), you’re not getting a print of any of these. Maybe I’ll start a postcard subscription club or something. 

What if I want a painting of something specific?

Then I want to make one for you! My commission pricing is really reasonable (you could buy a calendar’s worth with your stimulus check, just saying). I can get all fancy and make you something really cool. You should do it. Just email me here.

The long wordy part:

I don’t know if you remember the end of March, it was approximately twenty years ago after all, but, at that point, basically everything was garbage. It felt like the world might be sort of ending, everybody was strapped for cash, I’d just lost a bunch of work thanks to COVID, and everyone was trying to figure out alternatives to toilet paper. So I built a bunch of dirt jumps instead of working, and tried not to annoy my partner too much as she transitioned to working from home. 

My Instagram was full of annoying productivity culture hustlers telling me that if I didn’t come out of this shutdown having created my opus, I was probably never going to make it anyway. And I just didn’t feel like making art at all. Like at all at all. So I didn’t. But eventually, I built enough dirt jumps and got enough blisters, and got tired of dumping rocks out of my shoes, that I finally bought a printer and started trying to paint with actual paint again.

This one was fun, and went to a really cool artist.

I have a tumultuous relationship with actually painting. For a long time I just hated it. I find it really easy to create generic watercolor mountain scenes, and really hard to make anything that actually reflects how I see the world. Maybe it’s because of my nearsightedness, maybe it’s my obsession with gear, whatever it is, I hate drawing and painting impercise things. I want viewers to be able to tell what bike I’m drawing, what ski bindings, what backpack. And I’m not a good enough draftsman to accomplish that kind of specificity with a pencil on paper. If I can’t create art that reflects how I see the world, then what’s the point of creating art? Swinging a hammer pays better.

But working digitally allows me to zoom in as much as I want, to shoot and use my own photo reference, to get really anal with details. So for years I’ve ignored the allure of actually painting to instead focus on drawing bikes where you can tell if the drivetrain is SRAM or Shimano. With the whole “self isolation” thing though, along with the advent of spring, the last thing I wanted to do was stare at my IPad screen.

So I found a middle ground, I finally bought a cheap printer, and started drawing pieces digitally, printing them on watercolor paper, and then actually painting them before I finished them by inking the outlines. And I didn’t hate how they turned out. It’s been good for me to have to let go of those details and just work with the paint.

The name, and the idea for the series comes from a series of indistinct memories from my youth. Distorted by the lense of time, and too many concussions, I remember most bathrooms from my childhood having some crappy painting in them. Usually a watercolor of daffodils that maybe looked something like this:

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. I don’t mind, it, I just like bikes and skis more than flowers.

I like the idea of small paintings in bathrooms, something to look at while you do your business, something to add personality to one of the more overlooked parts of a home. And the guache pieces I was cranking out fit the bill pretty well. So I decided to start putting them up for sale on Instagram and see if anyone else wanted to liven up their bathroom.

They’re priced as “pay what you want to.” Everyone is always telling me not to undervalue my art. And I don’t, I think what I make is worth lots of money. But I also remember being a pretty broke highschool kid that really wanted mountain art. So the idea has been to remove as many barriers as I can, to make it as accessible as possible to own a little original something that I made. Message me first, and throw me what you can.

I was stoked this one went to one of the more badass bikepackers I know.

Most of these paintings have gone for between $30 and $100. Some have gone for less, a few have gone for more. I’ve been burned a few times, accepting a lower offer right as someone messaged me offering triple that number. But whatever, that’s sort of the point. I’ve made more than enough to pay for my groceries this month, and that’s pretty rad.

I was immediately stunned by the response. I figured that as soon as I had two in a row that didn’t sell, I’d give up on the series and start selling my body on the internet or something. But instead, they started selling faster and faster, as people learned to turn on their notifications.

This one was inspired by one of the sicker riders in town, and now he owns it.

So now I’ve sold one painting a day for a month. I thought maybe I’d quit after 30, but I’ve got a bunch more ideas waiting in the wings, and I’m not tired of doing this yet, so I guess I won’t stop.

I’ll keep posting one a day until I burn out, or you all stop buying them. I may take a few days off here and there, as things open back up and I start sleeping outside a little more. Regardless of how long this series goes for, thanks for giving me something to do, and some income during this weird time. I really appreciate it, and I hope I can give you something to make your daily ablutions a little more pretty.

Maybe my favorite of the series. Guess I need to keep playing with fire?