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

Heh! Yeeeesssss! The Green OOZE-y Slime! To get that GREEN TIKI color! It must go in... before it can come out of my hands....

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Had some fun over at the Local Wyland Kona Gallery.... the local Big Island gallery that carries my art.

It was such a nice night, even my art agent stopped by while I was putting on a a show for the art buying public.

"Beyond The Reef" was by far the most popular art print this month! Every time I replaced one on the gallery wall, it was sold, and I had to get another made up to replace it!

My new favorite Art Expert in Low-Brow and Tiki-Art : Susan Grimm (love dat name) has really taken all my strange ramblings about art to heart and ended up selling a lot of tiki-art her first month at work in the gallery - I gave her numerous you tube sequences of Robert Williams talking about Low-Brow...and she watched them all and really got interested! Big Mahalo Susan!

And here's the newest Art Print - a two in one piece called "Twin Tikis".
You can find out more at http://www.wylandbigisland.com , or e-mail [email protected].
ALOHA!

Aloha Tiki Tribe! Well, we're still gettin' ready for the big Body Glove 60th Anniversary event here in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.

We "OK-ed" the TEE'Z today.

Some are in the groovin' "Big Island Tie Dye Style". But, jeepers creepers, it seems like we got more folks wanted stuff than we thought: more Tiki-Mugs More Tee Shirts.. ...this event just keeps gettin' bigger and bigger on us. My agent already thinking we didn't order enough Tee shirts from the amount of folks asking for shirts (!) Great Googily Moogily! First the mugs, now the shirts...

This thing... It's growing bigger and bigger...Like some kinda' monster...

(Oh Cheesy placement of Body Glove Sea Creature right HERE!)

Hey, I'm thrilled! Everything has come out looking great so far! All I wanted was to get some beautiful looking art out there! Mugs, tee-shirts , paintings, art-prints, heck the surf film...it's all looking sooooo good!
Gonna be a great Halloween here in Hawaii with the Sea-Creature every where!

Well, if you can't make it to Kailua-Kona, but really would like a shirt...um.... supplies are limited.... jeepers, these things are so hard to gage, ya know? Oh well, order now and make sure to get yours. Check over in the Market place or contact [email protected]. Big MAHALO to everyone asking, and thanks so much for all the support and ALOHA!

Aloha Tiki Tribe!

Working on the "Red Tiki Lounge" painting...

Working out the flora of the Man-eating tropical orchid. Had an idea for one more tiki... might have to do a thumbnail
more laters!
ALOHA!

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Some days making art is like magic. When you are "in the groove-zone" it's like you are watching someone else paint...some ones hand making art...it's effortless, and so wonderful to be this tool that Art flows out of... other days, it's like digging a ditch in Arizona with a plastic spork. It all depends on if the "Artistic Muse" is there to inspire you. I remember learning about classical Greek culture in high school, and about the Muse of Art - a beautiful woman in a flowing white gown. I wondered if she would come to me if I was going to be an artist.

Many years later, My Artistic Muse is a "Low-Brow Artistic Muse". She's a He. Invisible, but dresses really swanky! Looks a lot like dis:

Brad's pretend, invisible, Low-Brow Artistic Muse sez: "Ah, kid, so you just told everyone you're a TOOL. OK, enough inspiration, I gotta an idea you need ONE MORE TIKI in this painting... let's hack out a place for it..."

More laters!
ALOHA!

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
This is tonight's sunset , which was so purdy, I thought I would share it with you.

Here's what I've been brushing on ... getting these strange tropical plants to look more strange, and mo' better.

Here's the painting...things starting to fit together in a weird tiki-pop-surreal way.

Brad's Imaginary Low-Brow-Art Muse Sez:
"Well lookie there, you did have room to fit in one more tiki-thing.
Hmmmm...It actually is not where I thought you would go for first,
but, that's a good spot.
Good.
Now you have room for the OTHER tiki-thing I think that you need to paint in as well!."

ALOHA BP~

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2013-09-11 02:40 ]

aloha tiki tribe!

This was tonight's sunset. Nice red VOG-tinged, as the fire ball sank over the pacific rim...
And, (seg-way) speaking of "Pacific Rim", some one asked me a question I''d never been asked before .
"Do I do anything to "warm-up" before I make art, or start painting."

Hmmm, that's a good question.

Sometimes I'm revved up if my "Low-Brow-Art Muse" is around, and I don't need a warm up.

BUT, if he's not, I gotta' get the "art-juices" flowing... sometimes I sketch. But, that can also just eat up all your Art-Juice.
So, I look to warm up on something a little more simple, that has guidelines to follow so you don't have to think about it too much.
Something that brings back my childhood joy of making art.

It also helps shut off my "monkey-brain".

MONKEY-BRAIN - That means all the day-to-day jabbering & worries about non-important (in the big picture Art Way).... unimportant things.
UNIMPORTANT THINGS: Oh, like paying the rent, or paying the bills, and time lines, and dead lines...
...all that has to be tuned way down.
I need little to NO MONKEY BRAIN JABBERING.

...so I can hear my "Low-Brow-Art Muse"... because he usually mutters in a quiet, rum slurred, low, smoky lounge, kinda' voice.

That doesn't mean I don't have on music.
I LOVE listening to things while I work.
Music: I have special mixes, like a "Tiki/exotica-Mix" and a " Rock-a-Billy Brian Setzer Mix) and a "Heavy Metal Mix" and a "Ambient-zone out mix" all depending on the mood I'm seeking.
I have a big collection of CDs, cause I went through a time when for years I was buying sound tracks to movies.
Like, I have every John Carpenter sound track. I love his low, thumping beats- such as "Escape From New York" & "The Fog" ..like that.

I also love listening to audio Books. I love reading, but I don't have time for that any more... sad.

Anyways... But, back to the warm up... the other thing that quiets my brain & gets my hands going - remembering how to hold a brush, and mix colors, and slap on paint...
I paint old toys or figures like monsters and robots.
When I was a kid I loved to build and paint monster models.

AS A MATTER OF FACT: A lot of how I first learned how to paint comes from me doing that as a kid.
-first learning how to hold a brush, and how to mix colors.

So, the WARM UP is...
... sometimes I grab an old toy (or maybe a new one - I have some long-long-time-friends who know my strange taste in "weird old things", and they surf the net, or thrift ships, and every blue moon they will send me a little treasure.
They know I will dig. They send it in for a trade for an art print or a sketch they saw me doing on line and they want.. and like that.

That's why I have a shelf of universal movie monsters above my art table, and boxes of dinosaurs and things in my garage,
all waiting one day for a bigger art-studio so they can be displayed.
They also come in handy every once in a while as models to draw from.

I hear Mark Ryden is big on this too, so I don't feel so weird letting people know I ..yes ...I have a bunch of toys.

Sometimes, I hunt for things myself. I have a few old resin figures I got in Thailand from a street vendor in the Night Market. One figure is of "Sun; the Monkey-god".
The Monkey-god : That I STILL don't think I'm skilled enough to paint properly yet. But, he sits on the shelf... waiting. Poor old Son has been waiting for more than a decade!

Right now, however, I'm going through my Godzilla kick... again, ...or still, I guess.

That is how I got some figures from Pacific Rim.
And Of course, new toys these days have TONS of little sculpted details. Perfect to paint on.
I don't actually finish a whole lot of them, they are kind of NEVER finished... but I work on them.

My one REALLY finished is a Creature from the Black Lagoon. Many many green scales on him.

Anywhos... the recent warm up has been Knifehead from "Pacific Rim".

He's got blue and purple and green. Colors I love putting together.
Sometimes I figure out cool color combos for paintings that way too.

Yeah, my studio looks like a ten year old's room. But one of my best 'learn how to paint' books is "The Fantasy Art Techniques of Tim Hildbrandt" - Great Book, Excellent BOOK! ...and he's got a life time of toys, dinosaurs, dragons, and stuff in boxes in his studio... many end up in his paintings in various ways.

It all ways helps to see how light really looks reflecting off a wing, or a tail or a claw, or something a human model just can't be...

Brad's Imaginary Low-Brow-Art Muse Sez:
"Great. Give away all your tricks!
Oh well, guess it's good to give back to the "universe".
So, by-the-way, what has all that warming up done for ya?"

Oh yeah, here's me finishing up the tropical plants. Getting the sunset creeping down the pavement...

More Laters!
Big Aloha!

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2013-09-12 15:30 ]

Aloha Tiki Tribe!

Cool sunset tonight, had to post it!
ALOHA!

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
please take a look at the latest work done on the strange tropical plants... more to come...
BP~

Aloha Tiki Tribe? Having a really weird day? Want to know why? Well... it's ALOHA FRIDAY the 13th!!!

Aloha!

Makin' d' Tiki-Art...

AP (Artist Proof) #1 of 10 has already been SOLD for this painting "The Red Tiki Lounge".
I'm honored that it's going into the collection of an artist who has influenced and inspired me, my art, and my career since I started working in LA, back in 1980. He became a friend, and mentor, and helped me through a lot and taught me what it is to be an artist... and even though we now live thousands of miles apart, he still does so. Big Mahalo!

Good stuff

Thanks!

Aloha Tiki Tribe!

I'm gonna' tell you something very important tonight.

See this Art-Book?
It's a copy of "Malicious Resplendence - the Paintings of Robt. Williams".
The book's opened to a well dog-eared page. The page is splattered with paint, because it's been open through many sessions of me making art. It's been my visual reference and inspiration while I slap paint on canvas many times.

I tell you "This is the First Low-Brow Painting I ever saw."

It was in the late 80's or early 90's I think, and I saw it first as an ART PRINT at Hi De Ho Comics in Santa Monica. When I looked at it, I felt my (then) Punker Buzz-Cut prickle as sweat ran down my scalp from my over heated & over aroused brain.

The painting was totally bitchin'!
It freaked me out! It
Blew my mind!

I did not know you could paint cartoon-like images and call them "Art". This changed everything. Finally, I understood good "Art". Art with a capital "A".

Something years at UCLA didn't teach me. As a matter of fact, I was thrown out of an advanced painting course there because I was told things like this were NOT "Art". If that's the sort of thing I was going to paint I better get out and go look for a commercial illustrator job.

However, this new cartoon "Art" proved that was wrong. This RAWKED my world. It mutated my DNA… transmogrified me from a commercial illustrator into a gallery Artist.
I had discovered Robert Williams and I had found "Low-Brow Art".

The painting is named "Patrick has a Glue Dream".

The Comic shop folks showed me the books "Zombie Mystery Paintings by Robt. Williams ", and "Visual Addiction the Art of Robt. Williams" and, best of all, "The Low-Brow Art of Robt. Williams."

This changed my career and my life as an Artist. It took years to turn the train around, but I finally did. It's hard to change after you learn to make $ a certain way, then give that momentum and reputation up, and start all over again from nothing.

But this is the painting that did it.

What's funny is, I finally met Robert Williams at the 25th Anniversary Group Art show at La Luz De Jesus Gallery. I told him one of his paintings completely changed my life. He Asked which one.

And I drew a complete blank.

After untold hours of looking at it, studying it, I could not remember it's name! Worse case of being "star-struck" I've ever had. I died right there in front of my hero. He looked at me like I was some kinda' idiot… I started to disscribe it's utterly impossible image, and failed! Then, I was distracted with some excited and very nice, fans asking me to sign their "25th Anniversary Show books". Mr. Williams got an odd look on his face and wandered off, with-out a word. E-gads!

My heart, cracked, broke, and stopped.

Luckily, later that night as the massive crowd thinned out some, I found him again. I timidly approached. At first, he gave me a look like "Oh no, not that nut again." But, after I was finally able to explain to him which painting had changed my life, he slowly cracked a wise "father of Low-Brow Art" smirk.

… And my heart jump started again.

---

Brad (Tiki Shark) Parker
"Brad Parker creates lurid paintings that pull in influences from tiki, comics, and rock."

• Honolulu Magazine "The Best Of" 2012 Issue
  
  http://youtu.be/7HTCkZXaA

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2013-09-14 20:38 ]

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
I gotta attend a friends memorial... an early morning "paddle-out" (on surf boards) to a boat where his ashes will be spread over the south bay where he grew up, learned to surf, invented the wet-suit, raised a ship wreck... amazing guy. Uncle Bob. I knew him for about 10 years, while I worked with Body Glove. Got to be friends with him in the last 4 years or so. Bob Meistrell, the founder of Body Glove passed away, and I and my partner /art agent, have been asked to be a part of the "paddle-out ceremony" by Uncle Bob's nephew - the now owner of BG. So, jeeze... can't really say no to a request like that. Anywhos, I may not be posting for a few. That means I'm off island. Big Aloha! BP~

Aloha tiki Tribe!
Well, had a great and very emotional and moving experience at the Uncle bob memorial paddle out on Sunday. A red eye flight to Manhattan Beach, then to the Beach, got into a wet suit (the California water is COLD compared to Hawaiian waters!) grabbed a board, and we paddled out to the 70ft disappearance boat, along with hundreds of other surfers and swimmers, and water babies, ) some great shots on my FB page. Check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/bradtikisharkparker

I am getting a bit edgy from all the business meetings and not painting, but I got to walk into a HUGE freakin Art supply store today - BLICKS- and bought some sweet art sketch books. Back on da' island soon... ALOHA!

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
I met my long lost tiki-tribe brother Nelson Parker (!) check out this weird family meeting here: https://www.facebook.com/bradtikisharkparker

Still off island... back in a few more dayz...ALOHA!

'Mr. Bitchin', how could I have known you were into his work ??? lol. It's so obvious in a very tiki way.

Don't know if you've seen it, but there is a documentary on him for free at hulu

http://www.hulu.com/search?q=Robert+Williams+Mr.+Bitchin%27

Watched it about a month ago, he's a pretty interesting guy.

Brad I remember Robert Williams did artwork for the Guns n Roses album "Appetite for Destruction" which was my first record I bought as a kid, I thought it was the coolest art for an album that I had ever seen up to that point.

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
I'm finally back on the island!
It was a great trip... even though I kinda' hate traveling, but it was important, and felt great being part of some important parts of Body Glove's history.

Anyways - YEAH, Robert Williams - my hero!
Kai Koa - that was a very neat way that alot of folks discovered his art, and I think it was a major stepping stone in the growth of Low-Brow Art.

A good book that shows all Robt. Williams Early "Super Cartoons" like that painting, (and which also shows the "underpainting" he did on it.) The book also shows his other early work which are equally as well rendered "super cartoons" that broke down the walls of cartoons and fine art.
Get the book "Malicious Resplendence" the paintings of Robt Williams.
Shows the birth of the Low-Brow Art movement, and Robt. Williams' wisdom and wit are just as enormous as his painting talent. A great book.

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2013-09-24 04:13 ]

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
So first day I got to be in my art studio... after being away for days.... I got a real twitch About not making art. I really feel like a big looser when I can't make art...that my purpose in life is not happening. Don't know what I'd do if I could not make art, but when we were in LA, and showing our business partner from Oman (the middle East) around different parts, one being down town LA, and skid row... (no we were not making a tour of it, just headed to the flower mart to grab some cheap flowers for a visit to forest lawn) anyways, I pointed out the car window and said, if I could not make art, I'd most likely be living in a card board box like one of those poor souls.
But, right now, the Tiki Gods have different plans for me, so here whats going on ...painting.... (oh yessss!)

Here's the painting I'm making- "The RED TIKI LOUNGE"
IT feels so good to be working on it again! I can't tell you how nice it was to be in my cluttered card board box -like studio and paint! PAINT! You don't know how lucky you are to have something like that in your life till it's taken away for a week...

Here's what I really wanted to work on ...the hot rod...the car.... I kept thinking about it, and the whole painting all week.... I was smart and took a side trip tween meetings with normal Biz to stop into a REAL art supply store. BLICKS Art Supplies on Beverly in Hollywood. WOW! Awesome Store! All so many many many the art supplies! It was blowing my mind! Cool arty LA art scene cats and goth girls working there... all so nice, and showing me every thing I could ever what...like not just "the one" sketch book they had for sale, but the ROW upon row of of Sketch Books they had for sale.... heaven! I got two, One cool hard bound like a diary, and one where you could tear out the sheets.

So, I started painting... and my "low-Brow Art muse wasn't far off. He was hanging round the studio, with plenty of inspiration that had stored up while I was away.
A lovely day painting.
Really I gotta say thanks to the tiki gods or who or what ever for this gift... the chance to do this with my life.
I met in Manhattan Beach the man who designed the Body Glove Logo. Who started "Hang Ten" the surf Brand. A really cool guy, who the wonderful folks at Body Glove made sure I was sitting next to at the big 60th Anniversary Dinner. Talk about inspiration... he was a surfer version of Robt Williams. Perhaps more a graphic designer than an artist, but darned full of wisdom.
Big Thanks to BG, and all the fine folks there.

Anyways... I'm painting... and I'm gonna paint a while more...
I'm still painting...and I'm gonna paint some more... big aloha!

Brad's Imaginary Low-Brow-Art Muse Sez:
"Well, gotta' tell ya... The arty people working at BLICKS art Supplies may have thought you were mentally handicapped,
that's why they were so nice to you. I mean, you asked that poor unsuspecting young woman
who worked there, (you know, the one dressed in full-on Tim Burton-style-vampire-clothing & make-up..
and NOT because it's getting near Halloween) you asked her if they had sketch books, and she showed you
the isle where they keep the sketch books, ...and then you kinda' made a scene; you dropped to your knees, and cried,
and blubbered; "Oh...My Gawd! They are all soooo beautiful!!"
Even her icy-vampiric-retail-persona weakened.
But, of course, it is LA. So, she was only a LITTLE bit weirded-out.
You got a good smirk outa' her purple & black glitter-glossy adorned lips."

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2013-09-24 01:15 ]

@ Kia Koa,

Not to be a stickler but he didn't 'Do the painting for G'n'R'. He was well established long before that and they asked him if they could use that painting.
He agreed and didn't charge much because he thought it would go nowhere.

Hey Stickler, I mean Badd Tiki, I was 12 yrs. old at the time. It was about the art and music, not the politics behind it, but thanx for the info!

On 2013-09-24 15:38, Kai Koa wrote:
Hey Stickler, I mean Badd Tiki, I was 12 yrs. old at the time. It was about the art and music, not the politics behind it, but thanx for the info!

yeah I was like 15 too... :D

Kids!

Yeah, that was the point, it got a whole new generation to see the fantastic art of Robert Williams!

You can create a amazing new art movement in your basement, but if no one see's it...is it an art movement?
This got Robert Williams out there!
Sure he was already "out there" to many of us - like me, but I'm an old dude, )
It was gratifying to see one of his MAJOR mind blowing "super-cartoons" gracing one of the hottest albums of that year.... it RAWKED! ( in many senses of that word)

Would it have worked on a Madonna Album? Not sure, but that Guns N' Roses album was a nice fit! ...I think it kinda' gave Guns N Roses a little bit of under-ground art cool in my eyes, actually.

... and it was one more blow against the corrupt snobby Art World of the 80's that looked down on Robert Williams and all figurative / cartoony art.

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Here's some strange news...
this art

"The Tourist"
Uh.... this painting has met with a strange fate. It was torn apart and left on my mother's door step. A long strange tale. No worries, Ma-Tiki-Shark is in no danger from strange low-brow-art-hating stalkers, but the piece...what to do with it? At first, I was just going to toss it...but I kinda' dig those little clouds. I think that strange little dog needs to be saved. So.....
I talked with Matt KEnnedy and Billy Shire at La Luz De Jesus, and both thought it could become a new piece for my next show there in July 2014. Sew it together with Frankenstein stitches... maybe some re-painting... added on pieces... don't know for sure. I'll up date you here...
ALOHA!

---

Brad (Tiki Shark) Parker
"Brad Parker creates lurid paintings that pull in influences from tiki, comics, and rock."

• Honolulu Magazine "The Best Of" 2012 Issue
  
  http://youtu.be/7HTCkZXaA

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2013-09-24 20:00 ]

Why did someone do that, Brad? and to an original piece?

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Here's da newest work on da' painting...

whole thing...

da car...

Da shark reflected in the car...

some work on the Flying Eye Grill.
I think I like the shark so much I might add in a few more... some less visiable than this one... adding a weird depth to the gleaming car surface.
More to come, ALOHA!

---

Brad (Tiki Shark) Parker
"Brad Parker creates lurid paintings that pull in influences from tiki, comics, and rock."

• Honolulu Magazine "The Best Of" 2012 Issue
  
  http://youtu.be/7HTCkZXaA

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2013-09-24 20:36 ]

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
OKee DoKEE... now the painting is starting to look like something worth looking at...

"The RED TIKI Lounge"
24" x 30"
With the hot rod filled in a bit, and some interesting things happening in it's reflections and the grill - now the painting has fewer giant holes of blank canvas in it and ya' get a sense of how it might flow around and become sweet eye-candy... I think the green of the front flora will continue in some sort of cool tones through the Crazy Al Zombie, thus framing the warm hot rod, which connects back to the sunset.

This raises the question what color should the RED tiki Lounge be?

Hmmm... OK, most of you just said well RED ya' big dummy! And that would make a lot of sense, but will that be too much of the warm colors?
Maybe I actually want the lounge to be some cool hues to help circle round the car... I can certainly have the giant TIKIS out front and the "TIKI" sign can be some sort of RED...but I gotta think of how it all will balance out.

Gosh, you would think color would get easy after a while, but I always seem to paint myself into a corner (heh heh) ... OK color is not really all that hard... time to get out the handy dandy color chart... and now I just gotta think of warm to cool to warm to cool... to layer the painting and make it have depth .... right?

Big A-loha, and big MA-halo for watching the Paint dry!
BP~

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2013-09-25 00:52 ]

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Hey, a friend from way back sent me this art shot. This is from one of the first computer games I worked on in the 80's! He said how funny it looks a lot like the Body glove Sea Creature !

Aquanaut
So check it out...

Kreature From Kona

Body Glove Sea Creature

Body Glove Sea Creature Tee Shirt

Body Glove Sea Creature Mug Design

The Body Glove Sea Creature Tiki-Mugs!

Hmmm.... Yep, I think there does seems to be a theme going on here!
ALOHA!

Brad's Imaginary Low-Brow-Art Muse Sez:
"What's funny is the screen-shots of the actual computer-game on the box-art!
Sheesh! How old did you say this game was?!"

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2013-09-25 02:05 ]

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Never know what you'll find digging through your Art studio! dig this:

Last wood cut of "Forbidden Island" plus the original Sketch it came from.
If you like, take a look-see over in the Tiki Market Place for possible purchase.
Not sure if I actually want to sell it yet, but you know, my agent sez "Cash iz King!" and the big Body Glove Party is gettin bigger and more expensive all the time!

Too bad about the Tourist. Stitching it together just in time for Halloween could be cool. No touch up, just leave it raw and dirty.

Badd Tiki ~ Raw... like maybe stuck down on a larger canvas? Maybe something about texture? Ragged.... yeah I think I dig what yer saying.
I was talking to Matt Kennedy the Curator of La Luz de Jesus Gallery - and the idea of putting it in my show there next July. I guess this kind of thing happens more often then you'd think, cause he brought up a few other cases of this kinds damage and artistic repair, or transformation into something new.
I kinda of have this yearning to do big Frankenstein stitches...but Matt smiled and said he just knew I'd get all involved into it and start re-painting it totally into a new piece... knowing how my art muse usually spurs me on, this might happen... but I do want to see the old piece in there... under layers or something... gotta think about this. The more I toss it around in my noggin' - the more fun I'm starting to have with it... so, that must be a good sign that something good might happen. Something like "Art" might happen... and that's always the goal!

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2013-09-26 03:08 ]

Aloha Tiki Tribe!

Here's a strange & weird tale about buying ART supplies on one of the most remote islands on da' globe.

I ramble on a bit, so feel free to skip this one. Not much art instruction in dis tale. Well I had to make a run to the ACE Hardware store today for ART SUPPLIES.... boy, it made that trip to BLICKS ART SUPPLIES in L A really stand out all the more in my head!

I needed a tube of white. White acrylic paint. A basic you cannot get around.

Don't know if you remember that one time, years ago, when Kona had this one little art store (yeah, a real "Art supply store") . It never quite had full shelf's of anything... and I went there to buy white acrylic paint... and they were all out!

The next shipment was in a month!

I would have to drive to the other side of the island to buy a tube of white acrylic paint! It was an hour before closing on Saturday, I was on a deadline to finish, and I was freaking out! Too funny... luckily, the poor frantic store owner found a strange little tub of acrylic paint in the store she didn't even know she had... a brand I'd never heard of, or seen ever again.... anyways it worked out, but that was my first big scare with limited art stores on an active volcano sticking outta' the Pacific Ocean!

That was when I was very new to the island.
I didn't have time to drive the hour or 2 to Hilo to buy a tube of white acrylic paint.

See I was new on da' Island, and I had not found the Ace hard ware... with the one isle of art supplies.

That old Art store has long since gone out of business!
One day, empty. No warning.
Kinda freaky.

There was a Benjamin Franklin if I drove up north, but that went outta business not too long after the Art Store! There was another ACE in the next town south...but that closed too!

So, now I got this ONE Ace Hard Ware. That's it. At least on this side of the island.

Anyways, it's September...and hey, looky-looky ... they got all the nifty Halloween stuff in ACE Hardware!

So, along with my jumbo tube of white clenched in my fist, and a few "0" gage brushes - (for back up ya' know, I Never never never want to be left high and dry with no good brushes ...again! That's a whole OTHER nightmare!) So, when I'm in Ace I always look to see if they have a "0" or a "1" in good shape and just buy it no matter what else I'm buying.

Hey, Sometimes they don't... the brush display can be empty! Creepy!

But, today's fine. Got white.
Got a back up brush or two... and then I decide to give the old Art-Studio a little spooky atmosphere. Make my Art muse happy ... it's already very Halloweenie ( Well, Hawaii-o-Weenie. ) most days in my toy monster and dinosaur littered studio, but ya' gotta' look.

Hey, hey, hey, now, Halloween is creeping into X-mas territory. Halloween now has "Halloween lights" ... my my ... just like Christmas Lights, but in weird sorta' non-X-mas colors ...green and purple. Wow, my favorite colors!! I buy some.

Clean up one of the Shelves. Sheesh, the dust was getting thick up there, so they all needed a good wipe down. Get rid of the dead, jumbo sized cockroaches, and dried up old geckos. Then I lay in some nice purple lights. One string, behind Godzilla. I got another blinking string of purple too, so maybe it might look like the flickering flames in a ruined city after a Kaiju Attack. Could be fun.
Here's how it came out...

Ok. What the box calls a Purple string of lights is really a Pink string of lights.
Pink lights.
Pink.
That well known, traditional, Halloween color... PINK.
Hmmm.
Okay.
A little bit of a surprise I gotta tell you.
Don't really know I'd put up pink lights for Halloween...
...or Godzilla.

The other company has "purple" lights that blink. String em up there, turn 'em on.... They are blue lights.
Blue.
That other Halloween color.

Oh, Jeepers Creepers!!

Hey, wait a second... yeah... won't the PINK and the BLUE light mix and make PURPLE light!
Right?
Ah...You'd think I'd know this stuff, me being an artist an all dat.

However, it ended up looking like pink lights with some blue lights blinking on and off.

Halloween?
Still, on the bright side, this whole thing made me clean up my studio a bit, and sweep out the dead cock-roaches and lizards!
That's always a good thing.
Big Aloha!
BP~

Brad's Imaginary Low-Brow-Art Muse Sez:
"If suddenly you stop hearing from Brad, it means that the traditional ...ah...pink Halloween lights got too hot & ignited a dried out dead gecko & burned the joint down."

---

Brad (Tiki Shark) Parker
"Brad Parker creates lurid paintings that pull in influences from tiki, comics, and rock."

• Honolulu Magazine "The Best Of" 2012 Issue
  
  http://youtu.be/7HTCkZXaA

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2013-09-26 22:56 ]

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Wow, dug up from an ancient Tiki-Crypt this unearthly pristine un-decayed drawing of "Dracula Drinks ...a MaiTai"!

"Jeepers Creepers! It's like he's Alive!"
Oh yeah, baby, I recall this drawing, it just flowed outa' me!
It's so darned expressive! Love it!
BUT THEN, I tried so frickin' hard to recapture that energy in the final painting...
REALLY ...it was hard to do! See for your self.

Dig it? Take a stroll round the Tiki-Market-place, it's up for sale to help celebrate this "Season-of-da'-Witch".
ALOHA!
BP~

Aloha~


Still working on it...
Mahalo~

Aloha Tiki Tribe,
So... my Art-Agent/partner, Abbas, and I were over at the Royal Kona Resort talking about the last few (& seemingly endless details!) putting together the HUGE Body Glove Tiki-Mug / 60th Anniversary party we are throwing... October 24th next month! In the back offices of the resort I saw THESE Tikis! They are being replaced, or moved, cleaned up, or something, and transported from one place in the resort to another. Well, I'm sorry to say I DID cause a scene, and I wouldn't let go of the tikis, ...until poor Abbas had to pry my hands off and apologize to the manager of Food & Beverage Services at the Royal Kona Resort as he led me (crying "Mine! Mine!" ) out of the office.

I think maybe I'm working too hard.
Sorry, Abbas, & Jeff, - thanks for all your understanding and Aloha

BP~

Well double posting this one for obvious reasons...

Awhile back I asked Brad 'Awesome Sauce Tiki Shark the Man the Myth the Legend' Parker if he minded me using some of his designs on a mug. He was cool as ever and totally down with me rippin' his work :D

Took me awhile to actually get to it due to other things in progress... But I did and too impatient to wait and show off the finished piece. it's bisqued but needs glaze and high fire.

Standing at about 7 inches tall I give you the... well, first the origin...

TWIN TIKI MUG:

(i hope I did them justice)

[ Edited by: Badd Tiki 2013-09-28 14:34 ]

Cool! Wow, that came out great! Better than I was even hoping! It's really beautiful.... love the details like the leaves of plants on the sides.... quality all da' way! I'm happy I was able to inspire it's creation! Looks good, and thanks for asking before you posted it up... ( personal messaged me)
Someone should nab that swanky mug!
It has my official seal of Tiki-Shark approval! Go ahead - and big aloha to the person lucky enough to nab it! (but they should buy a print to go along with it!) As a matter of fact, if you do buy the mug, and don't have the print, contact me and I'll see what I can do to get you a really good price. These one of a kind things HAVE to go together! A must! 2-D and 3-D.... I know cause I LOVE looking at my "Diga Diga Doo" Tiki mugs and the Art print! Gotta do it! Let me know how it works out! ...and I'df LOVE photos of how it's framed / arranged or what evers... I've seen some really cool things that folks have come up with!
Here's an example:

SWANKY!

I just have my mugs on a shel in front of the framed print...still looks cool.

Here's a cool drawing I found during the big clean up going on at the house / art studio right now. We gots folks coming for the big Body Glove event next month, so have be getting things cleaned up...was digging through some old piles of paper, found that cool Dracula drawing. And then found THIS too - a drawing of the Were Wolf of Waikiki!
Thought you might dig seeing it.

ALOHA!

---

Brad (Tiki Shark) Parker
"Brad Parker creates lurid paintings that pull in influences from tiki, comics, and rock."

• Honolulu Magazine "The Best Of" 2012 Issue
  
  http://youtu.be/7HTCkZXaA

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2013-09-28 21:44 ]

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Working on da' Shark....caught again in that ...paint and paint till it looks right art circle of doom...

But I think I'm gettin closer...

I dig Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech...
Salvador Dalí, for a lot of reasons...
but a lot for these two photos of him that I remember seeing as a kid.
He was as strange and wonderful as his art.

His moustache & his ocelot.

Wow... dig it.

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Working on "The RED TIKI LOUNGE" 24" x 30" acrylic on canvas...

Here's the whole thing so far...

Here's a closer look at the Chrysler 300 and the Bela Lugosi Tiki-Mug

I finally got the Shark reflected in the car just about how I want it...now I gotta figure out if I want more sharks, and then I gotta put in the highlights so you can see the shape of the car...

Here's the Art Studio... AFTER I straightened up a bit!

Still got my "Halloween Lights" on, and have not burned down the joint yet!

I've been meaning to get this up for a while. A proper display of "the Four Classic Monsters in Hawaii, and ..the four monsters in my art studio! I think I've been wanting this since I was 9 years old. A ...few years later I finally got it! "

You can tell Halloween is coming because the sunsets are getting more and more pumpkin colored.
ALOHA!

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2013-09-30 02:37 ]

On 2013-09-28 21:35, Tiki Shark Art wrote:
Cool! Wow, that came out great! Better than I was even hoping! It's really beautiful.... love the details like the leaves of plants on the sides.... quality all da' way! I'm happy I was able to inspire it's creation! Looks good, and thanks for asking before you posted it up... ( personal messaged me)
Someone should nab that swanky mug!
It has my official seal of Tiki-Shark approval! Go ahead - and big aloha to the person lucky enough to nab it! (but they should buy a print to go along with it!) As a matter of fact, if you do buy the mug, and don't have the print, contact me and I'll see what I can do to get you a really good price. These one of a kind things HAVE to go together! A must! 2-D and 3-D.... I know cause I LOVE looking at my "Diga Diga Doo" Tiki mugs and the Art print! Gotta do it! Let me know how it works out! ...and I'df LOVE photos of how it's framed / arranged or what evers... I've seen some really cool things that folks have come up with!
Here's an example:

SWANKY!

Hey thanks for showing that Brad, I still have it in our mini gallery
Right here:
More Here: http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=35884&forum=20&start=60

Like a mushroom sprouting... a cocktail-paper-umbrella has popped out of the top of little Dig! Funny :)

And a plastic lime too!

Aloha Tiki Tribe!

Getting a little more done on my current painting: The RED TIKI LOUNGE.

Whole thing...

Detail of the Chrysler 300 - it's starting to get real "low-Brow" and making my Imaginary Low-Brow-Art Muse smile.... finally.

Brad's Imaginary Low-Brow-Art Muse Sez:
"Yeah. I dig the Head-Lights. Hey, all I think iz a few extra skulls here and there
is always a good idea in a "Low-Brow Art" painting! But, don't listen to me.
HEY, It's not like I got a gun to your head. Ha-Ha-Ha !
(...it just feels like it creatively.)"