jesse joshua watson's brain on display
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Play
I get to play music tomorrow night with Simon Lynge and Greg V. Undertown in PT, 8pm. Come join us and check out my show on the walls around the place. I must recommend the coffee infused PT stout they serve.
Peace
Been a long time, been a long time, been a long, lonely, lonely, lonely...
Saturday, October 08, 2011
Ghetto Cowboy and the real revolution!
Ghetto Cowboy is riding free. Candlewick's release of Greg Neri's novel this fall could not be timed more perfectly. When I was working on the illustrations, all I could think of was how much I wished something like the uprising in the book, would happen in my country. And it has. And it is.
To hear so many shouting out a phrase that I have said many times in my life feels great. It feels like perhaps this will not be a passing phase but a real momentum that good, every day people can get behind. I stand with the 99%!
I STAND WITH THE 99%!
This is not new. This is as old as it gets.
If we look to many so called religious conservatives, we inexplicably see them defending the oppressors and the evildoers, rather than demanding justice for the downtrodden. Their pitifully thin veil has begun to unravel to the point that there is no hiding the truth any longer.
This is the best of the ol timey religion. Helping your neighbor. Turning the other cheek instead of calling for vengeance. DEFENDING THE WIDOW AND THE FATHERLESS instead of crushing them down with your calloused heel.
This is a movement of people standing up for their lifestyle, their values, their morals, their convictions. If ever there were a time to stand up against the antichrist, this is it.
This is simple.
This is love in action.
Labels:
ghetto cowboy,
occupy wall street
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Summa
Hanging with my good friend, Brian and his little man.
Above: Birthday Parties by Faith. A true genius when it comes to parties. Here the kids are making their own mini frosted donuts. Cheerios with whipped cream and sprinkles. The cutest little things ever.
Speaking of cutest little things ever.
Gnome Style
Boys' Day!
Ninja Style
Uptown Street Fair
Monday, August 08, 2011
Little Wing. Big Book.
Hey. What's the word? Jimi.
I can't believe I am so late in doing this. I wanted to write up a sweet review of the amazing Jimi: Sounds Like A Rainbow, by Gary Golio and Javaka Steptoe. Well, I missed the train and a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor, NY Times Bestseller list, Kirkus Best Children's Books of the Year, etc, etc, etc, ... anyway, you get the picture. This book is on FIRE>>>>>>

Go check out Gary's site: http://www.garygolio.com
He has got a new book out about Bob Dylan now,
...plus an upcoming 2012 book about one of my all time favorite human beings ever to feel the breath of God, John Coltrane! A kid's picture book on JC. Life just got a little better!
Anyway, I am really digging his work and I think you should, too.
Lemme leave you with a little taste of something special, alright?
Peace.
Jesse
I can't believe I am so late in doing this. I wanted to write up a sweet review of the amazing Jimi: Sounds Like A Rainbow, by Gary Golio and Javaka Steptoe. Well, I missed the train and a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor, NY Times Bestseller list, Kirkus Best Children's Books of the Year, etc, etc, etc, ... anyway, you get the picture. This book is on FIRE>>>>>>

Go check out Gary's site: http://www.garygolio.com
He has got a new book out about Bob Dylan now,
...plus an upcoming 2012 book about one of my all time favorite human beings ever to feel the breath of God, John Coltrane! A kid's picture book on JC. Life just got a little better!
Anyway, I am really digging his work and I think you should, too.
Lemme leave you with a little taste of something special, alright?
Peace.
Jesse
Thursday, July 28, 2011
New Work
The Absolution of Man. John Coltrane
24x36" $800
Full Blue. J.J. Johnson
44x16" Framed $750
Sad, Old Duke. Duke Ellington
25x31" $800
Miles
24x36" $1020
Father Drum. Art Blakey
18x24" $500
Dreams Courtesy of Bill Evans
12x16" Framed $400
Far Sight. Bob Marley
20x16" $500
Buddy Guy
36x24" $600
Ron Carter
20x20" $550
Corey Harris, Dread inna Delta
16x20" $480
Devil Music. Robert Johnson
24x30" $888
Dizzy Gillespie
24x30" $800
Ella
36x24" $980
Strong Arm of Elvin. Elvin Jones
33x21" $730
Fusing. Fela Kuti
18x24" $580
The Gears of Mingus. Charles Mingus
20x16" $500
Passing of the Ruler. Gregory Isaacs
20x16" $400
McCoy Tyner and the Rest of Us
27x24" $750
Miles Away. Miles Davis
16x20" $550
Mingus
14x23" $530
Thelonius Geometrics (updated 2011)
24x30" $800
Queen Nina, Muthaf*ka. Nina Simone
12x12" $300
Screams of the Paper Doll. Billie Holiday
16x20" $400
BlueBeck. Dave Brubeck
30x24" $580
Son of the Delta. Son House
20x16" $400
Taj Mahal in Port Townsend
35x20" $800
Painting the Sounds of America
Jesse Joshua Watson
This body of work is part of the story of our music. Just one small part. Though in school we are presented with a history that is much more centered around wars, this history is as vast and intriguing as it is fundamental to our development as a culture. The story of our music is the story of us.
For my part, I did my best to fall into the music and become absorbed by it. I tried to allow problems in to the paintings so that I could adapt and improvise visual solutions, in the same way jazz musicians find sound solutions. I felt myself getting caught up in the moment, that fleeting, timeless instant of ecstasy.
To purchase artwork, go see the work in person at the Public House in Port Townsend, or you can email Jesse directly: mail@jessewatson.com.
Peace
Jesse Joshua Watson
This body of work is part of the story of our music. Just one small part. Though in school we are presented with a history that is much more centered around wars, this history is as vast and intriguing as it is fundamental to our development as a culture. The story of our music is the story of us.
For my part, I did my best to fall into the music and become absorbed by it. I tried to allow problems in to the paintings so that I could adapt and improvise visual solutions, in the same way jazz musicians find sound solutions. I felt myself getting caught up in the moment, that fleeting, timeless instant of ecstasy.
To purchase artwork, go see the work in person at the Public House in Port Townsend, or you can email Jesse directly: mail@jessewatson.com.
Peace
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Dervish
I am breaking from my session, paint wet on my fingers and now keyboard, for a short minute to write down this thought rattling in my tranced out head. I have been painting furiously. No sleep. No eat. No. Nothing but the work. Work.
As I should, I allow the subject matter to inhabit my studio, my ears, my eyes, my bed, my bones, my fate and my soul. In this body of work, mostly centered on jazz musicians I love, I find the subject matter cracking the casing from which I used to create within.
I wake whistling horn phrases from Sonny, Wayne, John, Miles, Louis. I organize my paints in terms of pitch rather than color. The music roots down.
Jazz: The moment. Right now. Not then. Now.
I choose to become the art I am creating. History is crucial. The more I study, the more I ask. The more my paintings evolve. And expand. I have tasted the tip of the iceberg and I want more yet know my limitations. It is for the prophet alone to dive headlong into the unrewarded. The old paintings I did of jazz musicians were scratches on the surface. So are these. Yet, with these I see the man scratching. I may not penetrate but I know more this time around. I feel more this time around.
Jazz: Adaptation. The greatest human achievements begin with a problem. I throw problems onto my canvas. Then I adapt. I take a painting already finished and I strike through it with pink. Then I turn it on its head and start from scratch. But never from scratch. That old painting, disfigured and dismembered is the foundation for the new work.
All great music stands on the shoulders of another. There is no Miles without Dizzy. There is no Dizzy without ... There is no one source. There is all.
There is John Coltrane.
There is God.
Why do I need my painting to look just so? I have a camera. Why don't I take a damned picture if I need it to be just so? This is not about you. This is about me. This is my life and so this is my art. If I hang up thinking about you I will never let the real me out. So I go.
Jazz: Allow it to be what it is. Instead of polishing tunes, Miles releases Bitches Brew, which is a documentation of a group of individuals adapting and improvising. The documentation of the journey to discovery. Are there pieces they wish were different? Of course. But that is why it needed to be recorded. For us to see them struggle until they found the solutions. And so this art, I let be. I work as hard as I need to on some aspects, while leaving the impressions of my struggle on the rest. And in this I find great peace. Great satisfaction. I learn.
I unlearn.
I choose to forget.
I release my fear. My knowledge. My lack of knowledge. I release everything except my ability to improvise right now. Right now.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
As I should, I allow the subject matter to inhabit my studio, my ears, my eyes, my bed, my bones, my fate and my soul. In this body of work, mostly centered on jazz musicians I love, I find the subject matter cracking the casing from which I used to create within.
I wake whistling horn phrases from Sonny, Wayne, John, Miles, Louis. I organize my paints in terms of pitch rather than color. The music roots down.
Jazz: The moment. Right now. Not then. Now.
I choose to become the art I am creating. History is crucial. The more I study, the more I ask. The more my paintings evolve. And expand. I have tasted the tip of the iceberg and I want more yet know my limitations. It is for the prophet alone to dive headlong into the unrewarded. The old paintings I did of jazz musicians were scratches on the surface. So are these. Yet, with these I see the man scratching. I may not penetrate but I know more this time around. I feel more this time around.
Jazz: Adaptation. The greatest human achievements begin with a problem. I throw problems onto my canvas. Then I adapt. I take a painting already finished and I strike through it with pink. Then I turn it on its head and start from scratch. But never from scratch. That old painting, disfigured and dismembered is the foundation for the new work.
All great music stands on the shoulders of another. There is no Miles without Dizzy. There is no Dizzy without ... There is no one source. There is all.
There is John Coltrane.
There is God.
Why do I need my painting to look just so? I have a camera. Why don't I take a damned picture if I need it to be just so? This is not about you. This is about me. This is my life and so this is my art. If I hang up thinking about you I will never let the real me out. So I go.
Jazz: Allow it to be what it is. Instead of polishing tunes, Miles releases Bitches Brew, which is a documentation of a group of individuals adapting and improvising. The documentation of the journey to discovery. Are there pieces they wish were different? Of course. But that is why it needed to be recorded. For us to see them struggle until they found the solutions. And so this art, I let be. I work as hard as I need to on some aspects, while leaving the impressions of my struggle on the rest. And in this I find great peace. Great satisfaction. I learn.
I unlearn.
I choose to forget.
I release my fear. My knowledge. My lack of knowledge. I release everything except my ability to improvise right now. Right now.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
Thursday, July 07, 2011
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