Live Painting Tour 2012: August Edition Part 1

"The way is in the heart."

Coursing through the summer mayhem, August perpetuated a creative exploration to close out the summer of 2012 properly. Before I set sail to Gnarnia The Festival, I spent a few days beachside in Virginia Beach working on a commission for my friend Dash who resides in the great music capita of Austin Texas. After many sandy afternoons, early sunny mornings and foggy evenings, this is "All Winds Point West".

"All Winds Point West" Painted in August 2012

Commission for Peter Dash

Process photographs of "All Winds Point West"

August 9th began my last leg of touring for the summer. That morning Thomas Robertson-Forest aka Goatfaced jumped aboard for our ride to the enchanting Beech Mountain in North Carolina for Gnarnia The Festival. With much mountain moisture in the air and a heavy rain that evening and sporadically over the whole weekend, painting was quite difficult. Though thanks to Jarred Trantham, we were able to be involved with the live art gallery which displayed over 30 artists from all over the country, facilitating a comfortable social environment for the Gnarnians' to enjoy a great variety of creativity.

Even though moisture held tight in the mountains, the cool weather was a great break from the usual humid summer conditions. During the day they had the ski lift opened for a beautiful ride to the top of the mountain which provided amazing view points of the Appalachian Mountains and the Tribal Council dome with many interactive and informative workshops everyday. Gnarly weather called for gnarly music and light shows. Android Jones displayed his visual projection performance called Phadroid on friday night which tantalized our eyes with graphics interweaving with a dancer. Even though live painting wasn't possible for most evenings due to drizzle and moisture, I still was able to start a new landscape painting and draw on a few bodies over the weekend!

Drawing on Morgan Miller

Body Art on Samantha Buerkley

If you were not able to make the festival and would like to get a better idea of the vibe and beautiful surroundings, you can check out my entire photo album from the weekend below!

Gnarnia Photo Album 

The following weekend I was graciously invited to be a crew member with the Silo Effect and attend Rootwire Music and Arts Festival as a guest artist. This festival is put together by the most heart centered band in the scene, Papadosio. Their bright influences of positive community and integrated creativity and expression was seen clearly throughout the tranquil grounds of Kaeppners Woods. The artist gallery this year consisted of many nationally recognized visionary painters who held workshops and discussions on top of performance painting each day. Also there were incredible projected visuals and light shows provided by Jason Takahashi, Dustin Klein and Herm Productions.

As the sun set Thursday evening and night fell upon us, I set up and painted on a platform right next to the stage during Silo Effect. Being this entwined with the action brings a motivating correlation to my performance, enabling myself to focus on producing within this intended moment. Here are a few shots of me painting that were captured over the Rootwire weekend.

Painting during the Silo Effect alongside Goatfaced.

Photo by Gavin Meyer

 

"Focus"

Photo by B.Hockensmith

"Passion is Purpose"

Photo by Jon Ohia

Also feel free to check out my entire Rootwire photo album at the link below.

Rootwire Photo Album

Thanks for checking out my latest update from this perplexed yet marvelous summer tour. Look out for Part 2 of the Live Painting Tour: August Edition to be published soon which will include the awaited final image of the "Rainbow Fish" painting from earlier this summer, the Camp Barefoot experience and reflective thoughts on this diligently active summer.

Chapin Mathews
9.9.12 ♥

"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul and paints his own nature..."

Henry Ward Beecher 

Summer 2012 Live Painting Tour Part 2: Process on New Painting and Body Art

"Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence."

Hal Boreland

Propelling through the beautiful landscapes of our country, the winds of creativity steer our path through the Arkansas mountains to find rest and grounding after a long two week live painting journey to Summer Camp and Wakarusa Music Festival. De Gray Lake outside of Little Rock, Ar became the resting peninsula we envisioned to recoup the imagination and unwind. 

Though living on the road can bring the greatest of unique freedoms, the lack of structure can also lead to difficult times and impatience. We all experienced an extreme reflecting point on ourselves and as a group those 10 days we spent between De Gray Lake and then travelling to Asheville, Nc before making our way to Impulse Music Festival. Still, nature provided it's healing principles as I floated daily on De Gray Lake catching sun rays and adventuring inside a waterfall outside Hendersonville, Nc.

The next stop was Impulse Music Festival in Union Point, Georgia. The location for the festival was quite unique. The grounds were used primarily as a dirt bike course so all through out the weekend there were riders performing stunts which added to the already stacked amount of entertainment. The Tribal Council dome was where I found myself the majority of the weekend as the atmosphere lent an ease to social interaction, stretching and meditation. This weekend was the beginning to a piece I had been sketching and planning out since our stay at De Gray Lake. Here is the "fishy" piece in progress at Impulse...

"Fishy" in progress at Impulse Music Festival.

Gallery Set Up

Based upon the distance to Colorado from Georgia and everyones individual needs within the group, our attendance to Sonic Bloom did not occur this year. Returning home early to Richmond, Va after being on the road for a nearly month felt quite comforting. I have missed Virginia over this past year and my now unknowing length of return has opened time to rekindle old connections, make new ones and find creative work.

Since attending Sonic Bloom was out of the question for the weekend, I stumbled upon a small festival in Surry,Va that a friend was involved with. Quickly being added to the list so I could perform, I set sail east to the Blueberry Jam before getting my feet in the ocean for the first time since September. I spent most of the evening painting on bodies instead of the canvas. Meeting some great new faces through the Norfolk, Va crew I met at Nomadic Roots last year, I painted on roughly 12 people over the course of 2-3 hours. It's was great to see so many people excited about the art and wanting to interact with it.

After a few nights on the oceanfront in Virginia Beach, I made my way to Gore Virginia to perform at Nomadic Roots Festival this past weekend. A small 500 person gathering this year became the funnest festival experience of the summer thus far. Lots of the Richmond and Norfolk family were in attendance, creating a reunion of sorts in my perspective. All the live artists constructed a gallery within the main stage area which included Thomas Robertson-Forrest, Tom Reed, Rae Vena and myself. Even though we experienced storm weather that destroyed gallery structure, no artwork was harmed. Jumping onto the stage during the storm Friday night awaiting my great friends the Silo Effect to perform, we started a drum circle that filled in entertainment till the storm passed along and the music started back.

Over the weekend I slowly worked on the "fishy" piece that is currently still in progress and spent a great deal of time producing body art on friends and working on a cane. Here are a few photos from the weekend...

Body Art on Caitlin Gaines, Manager of Silo Effect

Customizing Mike Hayes' Cane

My biggest and most detailed piece of body art yet. 

Created on Liam Bryce  

Sweet Allison Terres' Body Art

Body Art on Samantha Gilbert

The newly married Caroline Miller Knapp and her Body Art.

I really appreciate all the love and support I received over the weekend. Nomadic Roots has become a major homebase festival for the summer, and I look forward to seeing it blossom even more next year when I return! The month of July is currently at ease right now, opening time for commission work and personal travels. Here is one show you can catch me at in July. I hope you will be available to join us this beautiful evening. We have some big creative plans in store so come support your local art and music.

July Shows:

Friday July 20th: Polycrons and Silo Effect at the Canal Club in Richmond, Va

As a last announcement, I have recently been added to The Festival of Gnarnia being held for the first year at Beech Mountain, Nc. If you have not heard of this amazing festival, check out the website and I look forward to seeing you all out there. Here is the remaining summer festival tour starting back up in August.

August Festival Tour:

August 9th-11th: The Festival of Gnarnia held on Beech Mountain, Nc

August 16th-19th: Rootwire Music Festival thrown by Papadosio in Logan, Oh

August 23rd-26th: Camp Barefoot Music Festival held in Bartow, Wv

Chapin Mathews

7.4.12 ♥

"Being loved deeply by someone, gives you strength. Loving someone deeply gives you courage."

Lao Zu