The Lurid low-brow Tiki-Art of Brad (tiki-shark) Parker

Dude wheres the updates?

On 2007-02-13 14:47, Tiki Don wrote:
Hey everyone....this is my first post! I'm the SCUBA guy who commissioned and bought Tiki #9 aka the Sunken Tiki. The painting arrived here in Los Angeles last week and it looks amazing! Even more stunning that the photos here on the forum. I hope you'll all purchase the prints once they are available, or even better, commission your own painting! I'm actually considering commissioning a 2nd one as a birthday gift for someone.

You lucky bastard, that's an awesome painting! GROG want! (and welcome to TC)

Hey TC!
Tiki Shark Inc, is going through our biggest season yet. Manufacturing Beach Towels is way more complicated than anyone would ever think - at least alot more complicated than I thought when I started. We picked up a couple new clients, and I had to do the "design" cycle with them. Really I'm an illustrator/artist, not a graphic designer. I can do it, but it takes me three times longer. So, I haven't painted in about 2 weeks! Good news is - looks like I finally got some tiki designs into a major retail chain. Big 5 Sporting Goods will be offering these Body Glove beach towels this summer!

The Pakistani Prince and I flew over to Honolulu for the holiday weekend. Saturday we got lost on the north side of the island, missed a Chinese new years party with my friends, but we made it back to Honolulu and ate dinner at the "La Mariana Sailing Club". The restaurant is way off the tourist track. It's down the street from the prison, in an industrial area, where strange serial killer looking types stagger around the docks, but WOW, that place is Tiki Heaven!

Tikis everywhere!
AND a blind piano player! food was okay, but the drinks were amazing. Really amazing! They don't even offer a drink menu. The waitress just smiled and said "We have a complete bar. What would you like?" Awesome experience! I think Thor and the Honolulu tiki crew where there, But, I don't know what anyone looks like! Sorry I missed you Mo-eye! Later, we saw Don Tiki play in Honolulu at the Aloha Tower. It was so freaking good I couldn't believe it. Fluid Floyd and Perry Coma have created a sound and a show that you have to see. Period. It's what Neo Tiki Culture is. Really. You HAVE to see them.
When we got back on the Big Island we drove up north to Kamuela to pick up the art prints. Looking good!
Now, About all this Ku business. As far as I understand from my reading, the wide mouthed angry looking temple tiki that is commonly identified as Ku is also commonly identified at being made in the "Kona Style".
.....And where do I live?

Thanks for watching this space everyone. Great to see TikiDon here! Cool! So glad a sea sneel didn't get you! And, please check the Tiki Marketplace for my print news...Okay, enough of all dis. Back to painting before I go into total art consitpation!

Tiki Shark

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2007-02-20 15:20 ]

TShark, nice work on the towels. It sounds like you are enjoying yourself in Hawaii!

I got some time in on the clouds and sky. Finally, getting back to painting!

aloha~

On 2007-02-21 15:30, Sneakytiki wrote:
It sounds like you are enjoying yourself in Hawaii!

It sure DOES sound like you are enjoying yourself in Hawaii-----DAMN YOU!!

Well, at least you're back to painting and posting. GROG can't believe you sold GROG's
Sunken Tiki Painting to Don. The lucky bastard! GROG definitely going to have to get a print.

Hey TC,
Sure has been busy here at Tiki Shark, Inc. Barely time to paint, but I got some brush time in today. Been so long, I sort of forgot what the heck I was doing! Oh yeah, that pesky under-painting...

Thanks for watching.
Aloha from the Big Island~

yay - painting!

Thanks Hewey!
Here's 2 nites work... mostly finding my light sources still.

Aloha you good tiki folks.

Tiki Shark

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2007-02-27 00:58 ]

Nice progress so far Brad!
How big is this "puppy"? I really dig the tiki in this one and the palm trees make me wanna climb them! Looks like you'll be working with at least 2 light sources-the sunset and the campfire...Just remember that the closer light source is brighter and has the solid ground to reflect off.The sun is actually brighter, being reflected off water and all,but it is going down, soooooooo....just thought I'd mess with your genius brain! :lol:
Lookin Fantabulous Buddy!

The puppy is trying to steal my soul, I can feel it. Oh sure he looks cute and cudly now and a litte cnfused but I know that he is really just like the rabbit from Monty Python's Holy grail; A vicious creature.

Sorry, I either have not had enough sleep or have had too much caffeine, maybe it's both.

Thanks LLT - always wise words.. and I'm taking them to heart about the light sources. Tricky things. They can make or break the illusion.
Frostiki - Your right. It's Satan's puppy.
Loooong day- full of all kinds of running around. However, I did get a few hours of "brush in hand - butt in front of the canvas".

Aloha from the Big Island.

I love all of your paintings Mr. Shark, but this one steals my heart cuz your puppy looks
like my little house-rat. Gonna have to watch this one very closely. Your tiki is
wonderful as well, would you sue me if I tried to make it outta wood?

I knew it! Get ye back perro del diablo.

Here's today painting slopping:

Congatiki - Glad you like the little beastie, and OF COURSE you can carve a real tiki like the one in the painting. How COOL! I love your totem pole! And the chisel marks are a great texture.

Here's a closer shot so far.
Frostike - I'm not to the doggy yet.Can't wait to make super big wet eye balls, (that will haunt you in your dreams!)

Aloha from the Big (rainy) Island!

Hey Tiki Central,
Here's tonight's work on number 10... still slogging through the 'under painting'.

Mostly finding the surfaces on the Tiki. This painting is a different cause I'm not doing my "paint by numbers" thing, and I'm jumping around the composition more. That helps when you get tired of working on one thing. There's lots of the painting that I'm still scratching my head over. Figuring out how it's going to look, or what the light is doing in some areas.

Thanks for watching the paint dry!
Alooha~

Aloha~


Aloha~

Oh yeah,
I finally got a gallery up on my website. Now the web store is messed up. One of my business partners at Tiki shark, Inc, (the techy one) is looking into it, so should be updated next week. U might even be able to buy prints off it. http://www.tikishark.com
Thanks~

Tiki Shark

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2007-03-02 23:01 ]

Hey TC,
Went to Maui for the weekend, for a art show of a friend. Haven't been there for a long time. Amazing beaches. However, the island has been developed a lot. It sort of reminded me of Orange County - lots of OC looking folks going to the beach, and creating alot of traffic. It was a bit of a relief to get back to the wide open spaces of the Big Island. Sunday night, after we got back, we walked down to "Don the Beachcomber" for sunset drinks and tusami shrimp. The Royal Kona hotel is almost finished putting in a new floor in the bar next to the resturrant. The bar's called "Don's Mai Tai Bar". As we walked through the lobby I could hear music and thought, "Cool they're playing some real Tiki Bar sounding stuff." However, the music was live: a vibraphone! Awesome! It's great that who ever's in charge over there is really doing up the place with a strong nod to tiki theme in mind!
So, here's tonight's work: Still doing the unending under-painting. I did get a little bit done on the dog.

Thanks for watching,
Aloha~

Hey Brad!
Less socializing and Island Hopping and more painting! Did they give you a time-frame on this piece? It's looking quite splendid! The leaves and plumeria in the foreground are slowly coming to life! And the puppy is actually turning out mightyfine! What kind of pallette are you thinking for this? It looks like a sunset/evening vibe....Are you gonna bust out some BradMagic colors? Hope so!!! So, when are ya coming back to the mainland? The TikiBratPack misses you! I actually saw GROG's eyes well up when he spoke of you!!!
oh....it's five waterfalls-end of story! :)

On 2007-03-06 08:58, little lost tiki wrote:
oh....it's five waterfalls-end of story! :)

SIX!

Cant wait to see the colours hit it :)

The work from Tuesday.

Da Dog. It looks not so much cute, as it does demented, or very surprised to be in a tiki painting. Hmmm, needs work.
LLT - Thanks so much. Yeah, the time frame on this one has slipped. I'm hoping to get this one done mid March. The colors of the sunset will really change the painting. I hope, cause it's really weird painting a sunset in brown! I've been watching the sunsets a lot. I want the sky to go from a electric blue down to a purple on the horizon. With a orange sun. The reflected light of the blue sky will be the fill light on everything. At least that's the plan.
Jentiki -Yep, I'm pretty sure that's what I counted, but Kinny is the Jedi-tiki-art-master, so if he says it's "5" it must be "five"!
Hewey - I know, I can't wait to see what the heck it's gonna look like in color too!
Thanks for watching the paint dry TC!
Aloha~

GROG counted 7 waterfalls in LLT's painting, too. But, GROG see how it can be five as well. It's his "artistic" use of perspective (or lack there of) that is throwing us off.

Wow, you're going to add color to this?!!! Boy THAT should really make it pop!

DAMN THAT LITTLE DOGGY TO HELL!!!!! It will haunt GROG's dreams the rest of GROG's life!!!

[ Edited by: GROG 2007-03-07 09:34 ]

I might seem like a dipshit for asking this Brad, but won't acrylics be rather opaque over this exquisitely detailed under-painting? What do you think Ernie? Wouldn't translucent oils be better?

Perro del Diablo strikes my dreams yet again. Thanks for the close-up on the demented pooch. Now I need a drink, and strangely I have a craving for bad chinese food with questionable chicken.

Can't wait to see this one finished.
Looking awsome!

Hey TC!
Groggy~ Glad U dig it! Well, color is happening tomorrow... I think... I hope.
Hodadhank~ I'm going by what I read about Todd Schorr's painting process. Some how he paints with the style of an old master using oils, but he uses acrylics. U do have to be reeeeal careful not to screw up and get too opaque. But u can do it. I did it in the last painting. Sometimes. I think. Actually, I'm not real sure WHAT I'm doing.
Frostiki~Demented pooches and bad chicken, keeping u up? URP! I had a real bad time sleeping last night too now that u mention it! I better just focus and finish this puppy!
Swampfire ~ Sir, as a big fan of your work, I am honored, and jeez... now that your watching...er no pressure on me to not screw up or nothing! Oh well, here's tonight's monochromatic, or as it's also known, "Squid-o-vision" work. I think the under-painting is just about all done, or as done as it's a gonna get. (luv ya' Squiddy!) :)

Aloha!

WOW!-That's hazy, foggy, dreamy, sleepy looking work there, bro--I love it!!!! The 'haziness' and the slightly askew Rydenesque realism lets one beleive he is actually there with a thin, reddish membraneous glaze on the eyes. HUH?-what the hell did I just say? OK-I'm no art critic but it's still awesome!

On 2007-03-07 11:04, hodadhank wrote:
I might seem like a dipshit for asking this Brad, but won't acrylics be rather opaque over this exquisitely detailed under-painting? What do you think Ernie? Wouldn't translucent oils be better?

Brad did his last painting building up colors in acrylic from an underpainting and it turned out AWESOME, so I'm sure this will be incredible as well. I've never painted in translucent oils, so I couldn't tell you if that would be better or not, but I think what's best for each artist is what medium they are comfortable working with and what will give them the desired effect they are looking for in the finished piece. And, Brad handles the acrylics JUST fine. The good thing about acrylics is that you can add water and dilute them and use them like watercolor and build them up in layers to whatever level of opacity you want, or you can use it straight out of the tube and paint opaque. And if I remember correctly back from painting class in college, there's also a gel medium you can add acrylic to that allows you to build up translucent layers, but I've never used it before. Judging by Brad's past work, I don't think we have anything to worry about (except that damned dog!).

Keep it up Brad, it's looking great so far. I haven't done a serious painting in years, and your stuff is definitely inspiring me to pick up the paintbrush, but unfortunately we're in deadline HELL at work, so I'm stuck drawing Matt Groening's yellow people 'til late in the evening 7 days a week right now. Thankfully, the damned movie comes out in July, so there is an end in sight, but I hope I have a little time off before I have to go back on the series. Maybe I'll come crash with you in Hawaii and do some painting, but not while you have that damned dog there!

(And yes I know it's not typed in GROG-speak, but Hodad asked ERNIE the question)

Here's your thread back Brad. :)

Ernie - I'll have to investigate this gel that mixes with acrylic to create transparent layers. Are you sure it's not called "water"? Hmmm... Best luck on the yellow cartoon people. I'm one of the many millions waiting for the glorious incredible perfect animated movie in July! Anyways, while your waiting to see color on that damn dog, here's some entertainment from that A-mazing group Don Tiki!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNe0oNlVaUU

aloha~

There is a doc. Called The Treasures of Long Gone John (.com) coming out and it shows Todd doing a painting for John sped up. That was the first time that I saw the underpainting used. Don't fully understand it but the clues given out makes sense. Anyways, I'm sure the painting will be tops cause it already is.

Liquitex has an acrylic gel medium that is pretty good....Water works fine too,but the gel medium really seals it in and you can get it in matte/satin/and gloss if you wish...Water's the best way to go as there's no cleanup and I've found a bit gooey-not as smooth as just water...There's also an acrylic and water-based flow improver for blending and such that dries into a nice coating...In Santa Ana about 3 miles from my studio they have a display of the Treasures of Long Gone John(some of 'em including Ryden and Schorr's work) and clips from the movie.I may go check that out this weekend before it goes down...Missed the opening night that had 2 free screenings of the whole movie!
Peas out!

Hey Tiki Shark,
Glad to see you're adjusting to Hawaii.

Aloha!
surfnturf ~ "hazy,dreamy,sleepy, haziness"... I totally blame the VOG (volcanic fog) for effecting my work! It's certainly not anything like pacalolo (cough) no way! (cough cough!) And anyone who refers to my stuff as "Rydeesque" is a good friend of mine! Thank you! Ryden's work is so creepy, but exciting, but weird, but sort of hot, but really creepy, but gross, but really an inspiration of mine!
Grog ~ Hey, did you just refer to me as a "serious" painter? Wow! So, can u tell us the big mysterious plot of the movie?
Teakey ~ I gotta see that documentary! Of course the only movie theater around here is not quite an "art house", so I may have to wait for the DVD.
LLT - Thanks for the info, good ol' Liquidtex! Do you use it a lot? And, R we really supposed to be sealing these painting things? And, Please go check out that show, and then do tell!
MTJahuna ~ Yeah, I'm totally in love with the Big Island now. It's one of the most beautiful places on the planet! Do you have a favorite island?
Here's 2 night's work. The start of the sky's color. One of the things I find most challenging is getting a smooth transition of shading over a large area. I actually used a technique of Mr. Gambino's - I used my fingers to help blend the colors together. And it really helped. Thank you Sam!

Thanks fer watching.
Aloha and out.

and speaking of VOG, check out last night's sunset. Cool, huh?

And... this morning's SUNRISE, but in Salisbury, Massachusetts
This pick taken just before 6 am - thermometer reads minus 3 degrees

and about 1/2 hour later - it's low tide and the retreating tide leaves solid ice and frozen foam right up to the waters edge! We have a wind chill that brings the air temp to 15-20 degrees below zero

Dramatic inspiration for a Tiki Shark sky?

[ Edited by: jpmartdog 2007-03-09 07:02 ]

Yippee, there is finally a little color. The sky is shaping up nicely. Yet the Dog is still creepy.

..i dig the playing cards you designed on your site....nice graphics.

Hey TC,
Jpmartdog - "15 to 20 degrees below". Yeah, it's been cold here too. Yesterday the tall one and I went to the beach and it was chilly, it got down to about 82!

BRRRR!
Frostiki - Thanks, I'm happy I'm getting to the color part too!
TipsyMcStagger - Thanks, I love the cards, but I'm swamped with this season... but I gotta make time to finish them.
OH, Bamboo Ben, a friend of yours here on the Big Island wanted to say hello...

Aloha,

That eel is almost as creepy looking as that dog.

Almost.

Hey Tiki Central,
Grog~ Oops, I forgot how some of TC is rather eel phobic!
Tonight I got some of the back ground clouds roughly colored. A weird thing about acrylic paint. When you mix a color, it's one shade. Then, after you apply it to the canvas it dries one shade darker! So, you have to actually mix your colors lighter than you want them so they come out right on the canvas. You're looking at the second coat of paint over the clouds - the first was way too dark. This may also be a bit dark.

Aloha from the volcano!

Tiki Shark Artist, your painting with color creeping in, wow! The wait has been kiling me but that underpainting you did is top shelf, looks like you've been doing them for years. I really think painting with the subtleties you do in acrylic has got to be harder than painting in oil, that could be my total suckiness with acrylics though. I've definitely been inspired by what you do to try some acrylic work again, trying to do one of those skull paintings right now with the water based stuff. I've been trying hard to keep my fingers out of my paintings lately for fear of cadmiums and nasty heavy metals. Is that a concern for acrylics? I love to finger blend. Looking forward to this piece progressing, it kind of takes the series in a new direction with the weird puppy and big cast of characters. I'd love to see the robby robot drink waiter tiki painting come to technicolor life sometime to. Nice sky!

GROG take the eel over the puppy any time. Big-eyed puppy dreams keep GROG awake all night, GROG wake up in cold sweat.

GROG stole the puppy! :lol:
What kind of a Caveman would steal a puppy!? Probably a Hungry One!
Looks like you'll have to get a new one from the pound!
The painting is really shaping up Brad! What a Master!

Aloha TC~
I'm posting early tonight, because all the rest of the U.S. has gone to daylights savings time, - so you all are now 3 to 6 hours ahead of me! We here in Hawaii are too sun burned and rum drunk to figure out all that clock stuff. "Ah, bra, gots ta just set it back in fall ya? Forgetit!"
Sneakytiki~ I feel a little better about the piece now that I'm applying the color. I don't know if the puppy will appear again, except in maybe a piece commissioned by Grog. I really do think the Robby the Waiter-tiki is next! (I already have started gathering scrap for the mysterious wahine.)
Grog~ Wha? Now I gotta paint that damn dog in all over again!
LLT - Yeah, maybe Grog's hungry. But remember folks - pupus, not puppys!

"Eat me."

We got samples of the Body Glove Tiki Towels in! They came out pretty cool, if I say so myself! Those jaggy edges you see in the design are not because I sent the factory a crappy low res photoshop file, but because of the ancient looms our factory uses. They can't weave curves very well. One more thing for me to work on fixing for next year I guess.

They're gonna come in 3 colors. Yellow, Blue and Coral. Big 5 Sporting Goods has already seen them and gave their OK. So, I'll let you know when they will be arriving in a Big 5 near you this summer! I'm really excited about this, cause it took me a long time to get my favorite design through the pipeline!

Here's today's work. I smoothed out all the colors on the big background cloud. I still will smooth it's edges into the sky. But, I think I'm getting the hang of shading a little better.
Thanks for watching,
Aloha from the Volcano!

Don't let the cutesy puppy-dog eyes fool you, it's pure evil!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And GROG not only talking about Kinny (LLT), but also about the dog in Brad's painting.

[ Edited by: GROG 2007-03-12 00:29 ]

Mondays! Sheesh, all day busy, barely any canvas time. Just enough to start shading the cloud edges.

See?

Exciting, no?

Aloha from the volcanic island!