The Sunrise Room

2012-02-03T11:38:00.000-08:00

biosphere / oil / canvas / 12 x 12 inches

2012-01-29T22:57:00.000-08:00

the enchanted forest / oil / canvas / 15 x 17 inches

2012-01-22T13:01:00.000-08:00

werewolf / oil / canvas / 13 x 16 inches

2012-01-05T00:04:00.001-08:00

theres nothing like
another life
in another dream
that you lie awake
feeling for.

2011-12-24T12:56:00.000-08:00

event horizon / oil, pastel / canvas / 15 x 17 inches

2011-12-05T13:50:00.000-08:00

intro world / oil / canvas / 12 x 12 inches

2011-12-02T02:44:00.000-08:00

accept rest

like a welcome guest

in your home

there is nothing

soothing

about the

beginning of a war.

2011-11-23T11:27:00.000-08:00

natural history / oil / wood board / 2 x 4 ft.

2011-11-21T15:37:00.000-08:00

always find ways to challenge yourself, so that you can grow and change, and it will help with the feeling of creating satisfaction with yourself and what goes on in the world around you.

2011-11-19T19:22:00.000-08:00

i accidentally broke my Yuin pk2 headphones. i miss them dearly. best sounding earbuds i have every laid my hands on. i tried re-soldering the connection and didn't seem to get anywhere with that. Catherine is sick with the stomach flu. it hurts to see her sick. oh Saturday, you have betrayed me with the prospect of hope and now there is no music.

2011-11-18T15:33:00.000-08:00

the arteries of a tree / oil / wood board / 2 x 4 ft.

2011-11-14T12:27:00.000-08:00

i can't hear you screaming / oil / canvas / 15 x 27 inches

2011-11-08T14:00:00.000-08:00

under a desert night sky / oil / canvas / 12 x 12 inches

2011-11-06T22:11:00.001-08:00

to escape the maze,

simply shine the brightest

you've ever tried.

those that perish

found that the toughest part

was navigating

the self.

2011-11-05T03:21:00.001-07:00

There’s too many steps

From here to my bed

I don’t know how I’ll face the challenges

Along the way

Taking only my passion

For sleep as my weapon

My dreams become

Reality in forgotten steps.

2011-10-27T11:49:00.000-07:00

the renaissance man / oil / wood board / 8 x 10 inches

2011-10-24T14:29:00.000-07:00

exotic walnut / oil / wood panel / 16 x 20 inches

2011-10-20T14:28:00.001-07:00

another life
awoken by the pleasures of the day
is filled profound
by every observable breath
and along the way
gentle is the hand
that lays
life to rest.

2011-10-20T10:16:00.000-07:00

cold light / oil / canvas

2011-10-15T16:14:00.000-07:00

hallowoods / oil / canvas /48 x 57 inches

2011-09-28T16:48:00.001-07:00

my new website is up and running. please enjoy. ill be writing posts over there as well as here.

www.julianlabounty.com

2011-09-27T12:50:00.000-07:00

East India Trading Company / oil / canvas

2011-09-21T00:58:00.001-07:00

Everything you love
starts on stilts
Held up by your
eternal shadow
even after
there is
the song of you.

2011-08-29T12:07:00.001-07:00

its been a while since i posted anything. this last painting i just painted took me about a month to complete. i spent hours each day out in my backyard, painting, erasing, merging, adding more color, trying different perspectives, moving the waterfall around, implementing clouds, taking the clouds away, making the water darker, lighter, adding trees, removing trees, adding them again. this work is intended to be a signpost along the way, signifying the promise of what can exist as a mentality for summertime as well as the way things feel when you know it comes to a close; that painful realization that whatever vacation this is may be coming to an end. i wish i simply was there and that was life, not this suburban place full of strip malls and debt. i have had to paint outside because of my driving situation. my dui from july won't be settled until the end of September and because of that i have no license and this is definitely a city for drivers. asking for rides down to my studio is difficult because i have to get back home at some point and i tend to work there late so that it counts. to say that i have had a lot of time to reflect on my mistake is an understatement. both emotionally going to jail and financially what this has done to me has made me feel like i have taken way too many steps back in life instead of steps forward. but i tell myself to keep working hard and persist no matter what. i am a painting, an artist, a poet and i must keep any means i have to help keep me going in these endeavors. to give up and do something else would be a great loss to everything and everyone around me. it is hard but parts of life are always going to be hard. know that what you find you do is honest and that's what counts. the longer i stay a painter, the more i realize how honestly difficult it is; one to keep making paintings and two, to be able financially to continue making paintings while at the same time paying credit card bills, buying food, and paying for all the other expenses of life. i can only hope that as always the universe will provide for me and it will see that what i am doing is important and honest work and that it supports such energy. i have no idea if that is ever the case but my experiences have led me to have some kind of trust in these matters. no one is yet trying to take any of it away from me so that's a good thing still. so these thoughts have been here with me all the while and that has been part of why there has been such a long silence here at the sunrise room. it happens. this painting, The End of Summer, it has been all my work to me. And now it is finished it feels good to feel a finished painting. to look at it and remind myself that this is what i do no matter what, and i am a painter and pictures is what i make.

2011-08-29T12:05:00.000-07:00

the end of summer / oil / canvas / 66 x 36 inches

2011-07-29T13:14:00.000-07:00

fit for a king / oil / wood board / 4 x 2 ft

2011-06-25T01:57:00.000-07:00

a father's love / oil, acrylic / wood board / 4 x 2 feet

2011-06-22T03:11:00.001-07:00

I am afraid. I am brave.

The man within me, was a child once,

And along the way

Everything happened.

2011-06-18T15:49:00.001-07:00

i want to make it through / oil, acrylic / wood board

2011-06-07T12:30:00.000-07:00

woodworks / oil, acrylic / wood board / 48 x 24 inches

2011-06-02T14:55:00.000-07:00

hunter / acrylic, india ink / wood board / 48 x 24 inches

2011-05-30T13:05:00.000-07:00

new sign for studio / legos, light rope, varnish, silicone gel, spray paint / wood boards, hangers

2011-05-29T12:26:00.000-07:00

the wood he worked with / oil, acrylic / wood board / 48 x 24 inches

2011-04-29T13:23:00.000-07:00

ornamental / oil / canvas

2011-04-26T10:45:00.000-07:00

camping trip / oil / canvas / 13.5 x 24 inches

2011-04-21T12:24:00.000-07:00

jacob's hourglass / oil / canvas / 24 x 34 inches

2011-04-03T15:16:00.000-07:00

hyperdrive / oil / canvas / 32 x 32.5 inches

2011-03-18T02:27:00.000-07:00

light and wood installation
oil, acrylic, wood boards, blue light rope, white led lights, wire, screws

the first picture is actually upside down i decided not to rotate it that's how it came imported into the computer. i thought it looked good and liked how the entire installation feels fresh looking at it flipped like that. i put it all together on the wall outside of my studio and it helps bring a lot of light down a dark corridor. enjoy.

2011-03-18T02:17:00.001-07:00

i've forgotten
amidst everything
that the key
is just
lying in the grass.

2011-03-01T03:19:00.000-08:00

the wheel of time / oil, acrylic / canvas, kozo paper / 29 x 40 inches

2011-02-20T13:33:00.000-08:00

the legend of spring / oil / canvas / 49 x 54 inches

2011-02-13T11:41:00.000-08:00

ebb and flow / oil / canvas / 39 x 40 inches

2011-02-08T15:46:00.001-08:00

the groan of people
the trembling edifice of science
longingly the universe
waits for
an answer.

2011-01-31T14:00:00.000-08:00

ravine / oil, acrylic / canvas / 24 x 34 inches

2011-01-23T10:48:00.000-08:00

far from home / oil / canvas / 42 x 40 inches

2011-01-19T12:54:00.000-08:00

magic hour / oil / canvas

2011-01-16T12:07:00.000-08:00

armor / oil / wood board / 24 x 12 inches

2011-01-08T02:01:00.000-08:00

Having flashbacks
Of playing Zelda on my couch
Middle of the night
like a child

Operation fix
the problem lies
with the downstairs light
being on

Must Make
Mind milk
Money

2011-01-03T16:19:00.000-08:00

if there is a way
for snow to fall
i make good friends
with the cold.

2010-12-26T19:40:00.000-08:00

the only way / oil / wood board / 24 x 12 inches

2010-12-17T22:50:00.000-08:00

you are everything you've ever been through
an amalgamation of the universe
processed in a unique way
by yourself,
that makes your situation
a labyrinth
for anyone to explore
and that makes us
maze
wanderers.

2010-12-15T23:53:00.001-08:00

today i tried to paint and couldn't. its not that i never will again, just today was one of those days where i simply wasn't going to create anything. i had lunch with catherine, went back to the house, picked up my stuff and drove down to the studio. i was tired it was midafternoon, there hadn't been much sun any of the day and all i can distinctly remember is the way the clouds looked like they were about to rain in any minute. the traffic was fine, unmemorable, there was only one car parked out front, the sign says that its two hour parking until six, its three when i arrive if i park here i would theoretically have to move it at five but it seems close enough to the shut off point that i risk it and know that before it has never been towed. the tattoo shop has a note on it explaining that one of the proprietors is out for the moment but will be back shortly. i walk down the hall and always notice the terrible creaking that goes on as you walk. no one else is here it seems everything is quiet i slip my key in and notice before stepping into my studio that there is a towel on the floor of the bathroom now. i cannot paint. i look around the room, flip all the switches and i don't feel the normal feeling that wells up inside of me as i start to hypothesize how i am going to work. nothing comes up i start to notice how cold i am and i sit down and stare some more. i take out a book and start to read some pages. i am tired so i pull out a cooler i have to keep things cool and half sitting half laying in a recliner with my legs on the cooler i try to sleep. after about ten minutes of that with my eyes closed half listening to some music i can't stand it anymore and i get up. i am agonized at how tired i am how much of a failure i feel that i can't bring myself to work and how i wish i just had a bed to collapse in. i look at all the paintings and over analyze each one. i cant understand them. they don't make any sense right now i consider never touching them or destroying them as solutions. i eventually decide not to do anything and lie down on the ground with the cushion of the recliner as the pillow. i sleep in-between the cooler and the foot of the recliner because it makes me feel enclosed and since i don't have a blanket this provides a psychological illusion of warmth. i manage to sleep for about an hour and a half with some interruptions. phone call, the sounds of feet moving along the creaky floor. a neighbor artist arriving to his studio, the sound of the unbolting of his large steel door. he has music playing very loud which i don't mind because it becomes its own kind of warming drone, another distraction to how cold i am. i keep sleeping, sometimes the music is loud and then it becomes low, almost silent and there are hums and hims out making me interested and alive. once six o clock rolls around i sit back in the chair and close my eyes some more. i think about just leaving. i think about how at this point my ideas about getting coffee and really getting into the work losing myself in the work aren't going to happen. i know im exhausted and whatever love i have for this is lost because of how tired i am. i can't do it so i pack up my stuff, feel relieved that i dont have to clean all my brushes and recap paint bottles. i just turn the lights out, lock the door and walk out to a clean sky and the prospect of my car and everything that lay at home.

2010-12-10T00:00:00.000-08:00

always unwinding
always venting
the remainder of known existence
is these
things.

2010-12-08T18:58:00.001-08:00

life expects
a future to come
away from
standing in
water below freezing

2010-12-08T13:51:00.000-08:00

vision quest / oil / canvas

2010-11-29T05:46:00.000-08:00

a forgiving pitch / oil / wood board / 24 x 12 inches

2010-11-23T13:46:00.000-08:00

OM / oil / canvas, kozo paper / 32 x 37 inches

2010-11-11T17:44:00.000-08:00

amongst the countryside / oil, acrylic / canvas, kozo paper / 32 x 42 inches

2010-11-09T18:36:00.001-08:00

mean cold bastard
without anyone
its cold out here
especially in the wind
don't understand why the world's turning
but i know that
i have to get out
of the cold.

2010-11-07T13:48:00.000-08:00

Under a Sunday sky
The roaming horror
Of time in your bones
All over your body
With whatever tools
To call upon
A fighting chance.

2010-11-04T15:01:00.000-07:00

cats crawling up the rooftops
from bottom to top
with sporadic lines
of gray and black
and the image of afternoon sun
with shadows in between.

2010-11-03T09:41:00.000-07:00

the monster under the water / oil, acrylic / canvas / 39 x 18 inches

2010-10-31T10:58:00.000-07:00

vein of the storm / oil, acrylic / canvas / 42 x 27.5 inches

2010-10-28T13:29:00.001-07:00

the brain
the mind
the involuntary
shout
we arrive from
the dark
shining with A
care.

2010-10-20T16:50:00.001-07:00

the world remains
the sea and the shore
the river and the road
the sky and cement
made a place like this
full of living shapes.

2010-10-20T16:47:00.000-07:00

stomping ground / oil, acrylic / canvas / 45 x 23 inches

2010-10-18T13:46:00.000-07:00

party spot / oil / wood board / 24 x 12 inches

2010-10-15T01:56:00.000-07:00

at night

i run along the street

with an empty bottle

in my hand

i hear the sounds of

ghosts around me.

2010-10-14T13:26:00.001-07:00

k

good

perfect

2010-10-07T18:16:00.001-07:00

i saw a little

animal

come out my throat

this tree keeps

hanging lower

were getting

closer to the earth.

2010-09-16T12:15:00.000-07:00

castle fortress *paradise / oil, acrylic, pastel / canvas / 54 x 49 inches

this is actually a painting from 08 and it was hanging in Dana Point loose without stretcher bars but the tenant who was living in there crumpled it up and left it behind the water heater. my mom and brian brought it back and there wasn't much damage except for all the wrinkles so i stretched it and brought it back to life.

2010-09-15T12:58:00.000-07:00

its been a while now since i've posted any art and i've always tried no matter what to be somewhat consistent in my work habits so that i have something usually ready to show. however with my studio moving from my room to a larger workspace downtown i've had to clean pack and move three years worth of supplies and work and its taken some time with my little car. also since the middle of august i've been working almost everyday on something related to my computer business as well as a bevy of parties and small travels. i have not been lax just swamped with little time and painting takes stretches of time of not being interrupted to work and get the right motivation and thoughts moving. things seem to be quieting down lately so hopefully within the next couple of weeks ill be back in the swing of painting. it pains me that i haven't been painting but lots has been churning in my mind while my hands have been busy with other things. i am always working in my mind. soon to have work up again.

2010-09-02T13:20:00.000-07:00

nobody knows
the facts
which makes things dire
dear, slowly cruisin down
the road, nobody sees
my lights,
And like a ghost I pass
through life,
you can't forgive that
you can try & find the
Edge,
opening your eyes wide
to how it moves,
its love when you see it
and fills your blood with
light.

2010-08-31T10:44:00.000-07:00

i have been looking for a studio for considerable time and i have finally found one. i have been signing lease papers and moving stuff and also traveling so there has been a lack of posts here lately. that should all change within a couple of weeks when im moved in and working steadily at my paintings again. my studio is located near Dino's bar, on Commerce and Wyoming. Its called Commerce Street Studios and the building is occupied by various artists and a tattoo parlor called Naked City. I also think Place gallery has moved shop into the building too. i've got about 500 square feet all to myself and im excited to start working in there. also ill be showing art at First Fridays now in my building, so if you are ever around you should come check it out. i promise to always have free booze on First Fridays.

2010-08-17T15:13:00.000-07:00

friendly traveler / oil / canvas / 23 x 33 inches

2010-08-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

waiting station / acrylic, oil / canvas / 50 x 54 inches

2010-08-12T12:12:00.000-07:00

the world alive / oil / canvas / 23 x 22 inches

2010-08-10T14:52:00.000-07:00

portal / oil, acrylic / canvas / 41 x 41 inches

2010-08-03T21:33:00.000-07:00

the bar is full of wild animals
looking for a place to run
when the glass is empty
a black wolf takes its prey
and the nighttime
lays waste
to everyone.

2010-08-02T14:39:00.000-07:00

ive been looking everywhere for you / oil, acrylic / canvas / 15 x 19 inches

2010-07-30T13:13:00.000-07:00

daydream / acrylic, oil / canvas / 44 x 45 inches

2010-07-28T13:06:00.000-07:00

japanese fans / oil, ash / canvas / 42 x 45 inches

2010-07-26T17:59:00.001-07:00

looking back
and
looking forward
in the middle
i am aware.

2010-07-20T15:06:00.001-07:00

where am i always going with the art. sometimes i get so tired of the aesthetics
of what i am working on and i get all angry and then i destroy it and a bunch of
other pieces similar to it. sometimes i go throughout my house on these great purges, i pick paintings out and drag them upstairs to my room where i cover them in a color, usually white or blue. so thats why a lot of the paintings end up having these intricate textured bases underneath the color because they've been painted over multiple times. it is also good because when im not in the mood to stretch out some canvas i still have surface to work on.

i have some money to buy more paint from working yesterday. it gets really expensive to do big pieces in oil i use so much paint and im constantly running out of white and yellow. i've been trying to work as honestly as i can, it gets hard when you've been doing something for a while and you know you can do things and get away with them but by doing that you won't progress further so the more experienced you get the harder it gets to push yourself; so i go through these days of thought just thinking and looking and working and reworking the image and the layers and i think im so consumed in work that a part of me has now just become lost in it and as long as im in love with painting there is a part of me now absent from the regular forms of life, a part of the mind interested in the pure conception of this work i love. it is there and it is usually tackling something. im not even sure. its been a while since i conceptualized in this way about my endeavor and i thought it would help make some things clear. what is my greatest concern about having a complete work. is it how honest it feels. well that's important because i can't bear to have an aesthetic that feels contrived or co opted or there in my face and i know deep down in my heart i do not like it. which is very difficult because often times one can make something and it feels like it took a lot of work and well you don't just want to abandon all that work. but i have learned that that work never was done in vain and that the work will never go away so use your honest judgment without involvement cause it will be done and thats how something can last and be important in how it works.

i really love to paint. each and every time i have taken a short break from painting maybe a week at tops, and then return when i am working again there is something.

on the mend

2010-07-20T14:33:00.001-07:00

cant shake the
empty pain in my
head, don't try
to make things pass,
just let the memories
of your life
strike you.

2010-07-19T17:50:00.000-07:00

on the mend / oil / canvas / 29.5 x 40 inches

2010-07-18T13:45:00.000-07:00

i took a memory
to the roof
felt my body
escape;
the clamor of life around me
the harsh reality
upon another man.

2010-07-17T15:08:00.000-07:00

my great beyond / oil, acrylic / canvas / 38 x 44.5

2010-07-12T13:38:00.000-07:00

wasted parts / oil, acrylic / canvas / 33 x 33 inches

2010-07-08T13:24:00.000-07:00

i know the feeling
of noise around me
and the quiet silence
rings with music
glaring omission
of the cacophony of the universe.

2010-07-06T14:39:00.001-07:00

started playing dragon age. my work schedule might go to shit until im through with it.

2010-07-03T14:06:00.000-07:00

the prize / oil, india ink, acrylic / canvas / 36 x 36

2010-07-01T14:01:00.000-07:00

way of the traveler / oil pastel, acrylic, india ink, oil / papyrus / 25 x 35 inches

2010-06-30T20:43:00.000-07:00

now, here, alone at dusk
with only the fading of work
And the approaching dark,
my heart turns to love
& fills with it

there would be nothing
more perfect and affecting
than this

and i will be wrung,
to a point of joy

it is I
and it is happiness,

2010-06-29T18:54:00.000-07:00

Lonliness is like
the loyal friend,
A shapeless form
that knows the nature
of your heart,
without having to
know.

2010-06-28T17:52:00.000-07:00

the sunrise room / oil / canvas / 68 x 41 inches

2010-06-26T14:49:00.001-07:00

amongst friends
and every voice
but your own
is heard,
the nature of a decision
cannot be known
unless you know
that you are forever alone.

2010-06-26T13:07:00.000-07:00

blackout summer / oil / canvas / 55 x 24 inches

2010-06-21T17:07:00.000-07:00

with every dying breath / oil / canvas / 27 x 29 inches

2010-06-18T13:17:00.000-07:00

outlaw / oil, oil pastel / canvas / 40 x 35 inches