Gettin it up & prepping in rep CMB( whatchaknoboutdat?!!)

First, I gotta give propers to Joe Jay for treating me in a most grand manner! Joe's band Concrete Jumpsuit along a few other bands jammed Friday night to the early morning as I painted a 8x8 surface of OSB with mostly spray paint of course, Rustoleum to be exact! Mighty Gesture was in the house documenting all the art that was poppin off. Please let me drop some science on you about Mighty Gesture. It's composed of some highly innovated young black artists, who are diverse in their influences and creations. Mighty Gesture Captain's chair is headed by Miles Rainey -Whitby, who you should keep an eye out for! The future is bright for this young dude!
I digress, anyways I got busy on that large surface and knocked out a piece. The folks there were intrigued with it, but I know in the Graff/Street art world I'm not doing nothing new at all. I'm just bringing people closer to the process that it takes to create this genre of art, call me the Ambassador of GoodILL!
   On Saturday Izms of art was invited to Charlotte's UNCC for its community day. My Izms brethren Mustafa and I went there to rep and support our friend , who works with the Arts community in Charlotte, Ms. Donell Stines. She works at the college as the Community coordinator. It was a beautiful day! It was warm and a little breezy. We brought out our T shirts, music and stickers. We also set up a spot for kids to paint a bit. We also got a chance to chop it up our friend John Hairston,Jr. , who is currently doing a mural at the college. We  sold some Izms of art products and met some people like Julio the Mexican aka Gonza,who created 3 stencil pieces along with Scott Parrish, to add to our networking circle. I'd say all in all we had a pretty dope time!
     Now, the first Thursday of October offers me the opportunity to do some more live painting reppin the CMB and in support of our Artisan sister Carlleena Person's solo show in the Soda city. The Friday and Saturday will be filled by Colacon, which will feature PHIFE dawg of ATCQ and Ghostface Killah of Wu Tang clan. Izms of art will be there with art and merch. I have also been given the privilege of dropping some art to these hip hop icons, not bad huh?!!
   I'll be back in few...Deuces!
"dreamers Never sleep!"...EL- Evate & EL- Luminate!

Painting, Prints & Akil The MC

My homie Trublklef, who's a mcee and C.M.B. member, invited me to paint live at a show he put together. This show featured Trublklef, Crocker,Quanstar, Ever ready raw and Akil The MC. If, you know hip hop you have heard of the Jurassic 5. Akil is a member of this group, which is based out of L.A.
So, I found myself gearing up as I always do to paint live. In the past, I would complete or attempt to complete a painting. This I found entertaining for myself and on lookers, but the completed work I found wasn't very useful. It lacked the ability to be part of a series, which that's what I usually create when I'm in exhibition mode. Lol, exhibition mode is what I've been in for some years now! So, producing work for this purpose takes precedence. Now, when I paint live it's typically a piece ,which will be featured in one of my shows. I found this to be hella more productive.
When I'm at an event painting live I get asked a ton of questions. The most asked question is" Do you have any prints?!!" I use to answer with No! I've felt for the longest time prints somehow lessen my work in the sense there would be more than one version of my work existing. It's something I've debated about with other artists, but after long consideration( I mean hella long!) I finally caved in. I realized the people who couldn't afford my paintings wished they could. It also came to my attention I missed opportunities to make money by not have affordable replicas of my work. So, I just recently had prints made, thanks to fellow C.M.B. member Michael Kayode Dantzler. The first series were geared toward the show Trublklef invited me to. Plan on more prints coming out very soon!
  I arrived at the venue with my painting and prints. I also had a painting for Akil as well. The Mcees damaged to the mic ,while The cut fresh crew, Dj Peoples and Dj Lex were holding down the 1's and 2's. Akil did his set rhyming in a circle and later he encouraged a freestyle session which Fat rat Da czar was a part of!
All in all it was a great night. We even had chance to chop it up after the show a bit. I was glad to have been a part of it! Now, on to UNCC for their community event I go!!!

"dreamers NEVER sleep!"- C.P.
EL-Evate & EL- Luminate!!!

My CRAZEE September

   I recently completed a custom commissioned piece for HD Dreams Visuals. It didn't take as long as I thought it would. I guess I was inspired. I have really been painting as much as I've been sketching and planning. I've been trying to align my mind and actions in preparation for what I have on my plate. Dayum! My plate looks pretty piled up! It's a good thing I stay hungry!  Well, September begins with me sprinting like I'm going for gold! On the 3rd through the 6th I'll have piece featured in an exhibition for the Democratic National Convention. This came about through a collective I'm part of, which is known as Culture Initiative. Culture Initiative is based out of Charlotte, NC but it consists of artists residing in the Southeast. The exhibition will be held at the Packard Place, which will be home to all alternative forms of media for the duration of the convention. Unfortunately, I heard Charlotte will be locked down like a fortress. I won't be going there at all. However, I'm very thankful for Culture Initiative allowing me the opportunity to be a part of history!
  On the 15th, I'll be painting live at One Unit Artspace. I'm part of a show which will be featuring Akil the MC, Ghani Gautama, Quanstar, Crockery and Trublklef. I plan to break out a piece that'll be part of my solo show  for next year. I gotta expose the people to the NEWNESS when I can, ya feel me! I am amped too! I met Akil around 4yrs ago. He's a real stand up dude! The other Emcees are mad talented and rep the Southeast in a major way, this is gonna be hella sick!
I'll be sure to post some pictures of this event, no doubt!
  I'm also painting live on the 21st at a rock event, and on the 22nd I'll be part of UNCC's community day event. Stay tuned for updates and pictures fo sho. Thank you for riding with me on this journey. I can promise you all its only gonna get better!
Culture up!..EL-Evate &EL-Luminate!