a sold artist

When I was little I wanted to be an artist.  I was pretty good, I even had the drive necessary to make that career happen.

I had no vision for what my life as an artist should look like.  I had no vision of myself or how I would live or act.  I didn’t imagine myself living in New York attending my latest art opening wearing a beret and a black turtle neck.  I knew only that my love for making art was pure and that I was happy while doing it.

In elementary school I was always the best artist in class and I milked my role as such, acting humble sometime rejecting compliments with “No, I’m not that good.”  When I got to high school I began to notice that in terms of artistic growth my peers were surpassing me.

I’d become lazy and impatient with the process.  I knew the basics, that everything in its most pure form is just simple geometric shapes, how to place light and create proper shadows, and how to use perspective to create depth.  I knew how to implement these concepts I just didn’t have the patience to take the necessary steps.  It was apparent that if I could make those essentials work for me I could be good, without them my work was off.  Out of embarrassment I stopped making art.

I replaced my desire for visual art with the desire  to be a rock star.  I could fully envision 

what my life as a hard edged tortured rock star would look like; ripped jeans, flannel shirts, a sweaty audience begging me to play my hit song before I smash my guitar into a thousand splinters expressing my anguish.  Eventually this died too as again I grew impatient with the guitar and refused to practice chords or scales.

After my dream of being a rock star faded I put my efforts into being an actor.  Again I fully envisioned my life on stage; speaking the words of Shakespeare, Chekov, Pinter, and Albee.  I eventually went to college to continue to pursue this ambition only to realize as a junior that I was too lazy to practice my skills necessary to grow.  Not only that but the day to day life of an actor seemed severely disappointing.  After turning down a role to hold a spear in a production of Hamlet I officially retired.

I have always loved writing but before college I had never thought of it as a legitimate career choice.  After I stopped acting I put all my efforts into writing.  For the first time I found that I enjoyed the process just as much as I reveled in the product.

Like my visual art aspirations, I had no idea what my life as a writer should look like.  I knew only that I was happy while doing it from start to finish.  I found that no matter how great the struggles, no matter how disappointing the rejection I still wanted to write.  

This was why I found what happened last October to be rather ironic.

My senior year of college I copied a picture of Audrey Hepburn that I’d seen at IKEA for Jaime.  This awakened a desire in me to begin painting again, not for a living but just for fun.  In the next few years I amassed more paintings than I could fit on my limited wall space so quite canvases a few ended up in the back of a closet. 

Last October as we prepared to move from Los Angeles to Seattle we held a yard sale.  It was more like a Fire Sale, as we were selling off just about everything but the essentials.  This included four paintings I’d done that I was ready to get rid of rather then haul back north.  My expectations were that someone looking for a cheap canvas to paint over would buy them.

When one woman picked up a black and white painting and asked how much, I was about to say $2 when Jaime grabbed my arm and spoke up.  “$5!” She said, the girl looked enthused and bought it.  Later I watched as a car made a sudden stop in the middle of the road, reversed and then a woman got out of the car to buy a specific pastel drawing.  Once again I sold this one for just $5 and she was thrilled with the new canvas she had to hang in her home.

By the end of the day I’d sold all but one painting.  Drunk with success I insisted the last canvas go for $5 and no less, the little Mexican man offered me $2 but I turned him down.  I can’t go around selling Brian Snider originals for $2, it would destroy the market.

It was then that I realized that I had done it.  My childhood goal was complete, I’d become a sold artist.  There were three of my paintings hanging in three separate southern LA homes.  I imagined that they would invite guests over for dinner and while sitting on the couch they would ask their hosts, “I love that painting.  Where did you get it?”  With pride they would reply “Oh, thats just a little thing I picked up at a garage sale in Los Feliz.”

this painting is unfinished

I did some mental math and taking in the cost of the canvas and supplies I figured that I’d made a negative $60 profit.  Not much but it was a start.  Now if only I could get someone to pay me, even if just $5, for my writing.

posted by: brian snider

thao & mirah

this is my charles peterson photo from the evening

Every year we lived in Los Angeles when Jaime’s birthday rolled around we always took a trip home to Seattle.  As a result it was never left up to me to plan a party or buy a cake or even buy and wrap presents.  Usually she would get a couple of small gifts but really the trip home was her present.  This year we were already home and it fell on me to put together some kind of party.

I didn’t know what we should do until about two weeks ago when I noticed that the power duo of Thao & Mirah were playing at the Crocodile in Belltown.

I began following Mirah about two years ago but she’s been around in the Pacific North West for over a decade.  She’s been quite successful for a Northwest act in the post grunge era.  Thao and her band The Get Down Stay Down, I was not familiar with until now.  Her music is similar to Mirah, perhaps a little more on the rock side.  She’s got a unique voice that I couldn’t quite identify until I heard someone compare her to Cat Power.

I bought two tickets and set to invite as many as I could to the show.  I wanted it to be a surprise so I didn’t tell her until we got to the Crocodile.  I was expecting it to be a fun evening with some great music.  I was wrong in the best way possible.

another action shot... the best I could do with a digital elf

The big group I was hoping for fizzled until it was just Jaime’s best friend Eryn (she’ll be happy about the mention) and her boyfriend Ryan, which was perfectly fine since we always have a great time together.  Thao & Mirah were not just great, they were down right amazing.  

I had secretly been listening to their self titled album since it was released at the end of April.  This is a perfect collaboration where Thao brings a more polished and pop beat to Mirahs often lounge/folk lo-fi vocals and guitar.  It is an album that can totally stick in your head and have you singing “oh, oh, how dare you,” all day long.

Seeing them live totally exceeded my expectations and easily made me a die hard fan.  Since I’ve already gushed about their debut album you will understand how incredible when I say, I think that they may be even better live.

This isn’t the kind of music that has you flailing your arms and legs about but is perfect for holding your girlfriend (and there were a lot of girlfriends as easily over 50% of the audience were lesbians) from behind and rocking to the beautiful rhythms and vocals.

I was rather proud of myself for having pulled off such a great surprise for Jaime’s birthday.  When her actual birthday rolled around on Monday I felt like an alien gradually learning about the birthday customs of Earthlings.  I completely forgot that you need birthday cake Jaime and I rushed down to QFC and after studying the cakes for about ten minutes we decided on the fruit flan.

    All in all the evening of the concert and Jaime’s actual birthday went well, but I am positive that we will never forget about her 27th as it was truly a wonderful experience holding her and rocking to Thao & Mirah.

If your interested in looking for more from Thao & Mirah you can find a video of their performance of bag of hammers on our facebook page: face book: secretly important

Also visit their band page at Kill Rock Stars where you can download two of their songs for free.

Lastly check out a great article from bitch magazine giving you five reasons for why you should see them on tour.

posted by: brian snider