....5 more days left in South Africa and we're coming out of the desert. It's cool cause on the trip back into town I realized my "purpose" in Africa, the desert.... I wanted to place the images in an order to better illustrate the experience.... a book. But this is a sneak peek...

The desert was crazy... Let's leave it at that.

Ok... Now the residency is going to the desert for 4 days. I have 2 week left in South Africa and still, I don't know really why I'm here. I mean, yes, drop some pieces in the city... experience new cultures...rock a show with the residency AWOA...meet artists.. But the main  project in my mind, that's aside from everything, hasn't been formulated yet. The one that you could only do in the specific place that you are. I hadn't found it yet. Anyway, it was a mad dash to finish everything I had to do before I went to the desert.. Cause I had to go to the desert!! I took it upon myself to take the following task as an "artistic challenge" .....on a whole.

So I had to finish a show's worth of work for the group show that was in August.. "The Space in between" at AWOA Gallery........Dolphins needed to be painted! Phil's sister's family needed a dolphin coming out of their garden. I had to do that! Amazing! Africa has an obsession with porpoises, at least Woodstock. Dolphins, killer whale looking things, bottle nose stuff. Those guys are my family they get whatever they want.....  Also the place where we would eat sometimes, Jamaicanmecrazy... needed a wall done.......... Plus I had to paint Ashley's dead dad. I promised. Ashley was this little dready dude I use to grab off of. He finds scrap metal for a living sometimes. Righteous little rasta man. He taught me about rolling trees in onion leaves....

So I had a lot to do before the desert. This is what I came up with....

At this point, the people in WoodStock are putting 2 and 2 together and now they realize these pieces came from me. So everyday someone would walk by and ask for something for their house. This one girl, I can't remember her name (it's been 6 months), she offered up her wall. I said yes. She was cute. I told Phil (my "sista from another mother's husband") about it and where it was in lower Woodstock and he told me to be careful. I go to paint it the next day and it turned out to be a "street Pharmacy" location. No different than the ones in St.Vincent by Paul's Lot where I would eat lunch when I was a kid. Still I was on my P's and ...anyway..The wall she wanted me to paint was this sick space that I saw every time I traveled to town. I wanted to paint it... I wanted to paint something that I wanted to paint. I wanted to paint something grimmy.  It fit the space so well. Then she wanted me to put her kids in the piece. So I put them on either side. It made the painting a bit softer. But it's cool I like it. All she had was trees, so she paid me with that.

......So After the Dentist wall, the owner wanted me to paint the second floor. It stuck out overlooking the main street in Lower Woodstock. Beautiful view from up there.. So I decided to paint my homies from Toronto, Gabe and Katlin, dressed up as Cape Town hipsters. It so happened while I was painting them in S.A. they married each other in T.O. Congratulations guys...

Im very sorry for my tardiness. It all started in Africa when my laptop broke down. I couldn't upload or download any photos. Got home from my trip and my main computer decided to break down. Need less to say it took a while to retrieve all the images order them and post them. So this is an up date from my last post and so on and so forth.

Ok.. Im almost finished my second big wall. Its a Dentist office place. They just wanted trees. So I cooked up something. Im almost done.. I have portraits to finish on the roof. This spot is filled with kids.. they stand so close when I paint.. its a crazy study in paint patience. Heres some flicks..

Done and done... So I finished Windy cuts and I think the area likes it. I like it. Mr David (Hes this elderly Muslim Pimp in the hood) would just talking to me about the area the whole time. Thats how i figured what to paint. He was a "touch talker"(people that have to touch you to reference to you in conversation). I was trying to paint and he was trying to talk to me, so he would stand close and he kept shaking my arm every time I made a line. it was funny and annoying after a while. But he told me a lot about the community. Bless his heart.

This is kind of how lower Woodstock is set up. I tried to paint it how I saw it.. Thanks to Andzej Urbanski for the colabo. Thanks to Phillip and his family for the house we painted on. They showed us much love.

On to the next one ..On to the next one..

Ok.. finally we have internet at the Residency. Its been a month. Im thankful for constant internet, but the vibe of the studio is gonna change.I hope talking to one another still happens. But thank the lord I have source material again.

Anyway Im trying to finish up the windy cuts piece.. soon done.

Im eating stuff.