Monday, November 28, 2011

CarbElecticCo















































Also for cyber Monday I'm launching some new products on a very limited basis. I've been constructing some lighting to use for future shows and offering them as of right now on Etsy. Take a look at some of these lamps!

Description:
An illuminated celebration of the Machine Age in a time of hybrid vehicles, these two lamps have been hand crafted and turned electric for your home or shop lighting. Each lamp has been cleaned, media blasted, acid etched and clear coated to give the appearance of a well oiled carburetor. The 6' cords are cloth covered, two wire (no ground) that end in a vintage styled plug. Each lamp can be switched on an off with a hidden pull chain in the choke hole. Each lamp comes with a 30 watt Edison style bulb to give a warm, vintage glow to your space. Many of the original fasteners have been cleaned and returned to the lamps for esthetics.

The Listings:

Big Ol' Holiday Savings and the Car-N-Art Store!

Right now, when you go to place an order you can take advantage of these codes at the check out of the Car-N-Art store. All the codes are good until midnight on December 25th, so you have a little less than a month to act!

First off, 25% off POSTERS! That's right, all posters for sale are 25% off when you place an order and enter the code: POSTERSAVE

Next up, 25% off all embroidered PATCHES! This is a great way to get some shopping done for a bunch of folks. Enter the code: PATCHED

A never before 15% off the Embroidered Pinstripe Devil Flexfit hat. Good quality product with a great savings to match! Enter the code: DEVILMADEMEDOIT

Lastly, for anybody who spends $100 or more, it's free shipping! This will automatically be applied to orders that total up over $100.

Start Shopping now: http://carnart.bigcartel.com/

Thursday, September 15, 2011

FINAL W.A.R. recap video


Awesome little video giving the experience of being at the show for all that couldn't attend. I'm in there briefly signing posters for the new Arsenal of Design series.

Friday, September 2, 2011

An American at W.A.R.



**if you only want the short version, here it is "Awesome". Keep reading for the whole, long story.**

I hardly know where to begin in my thoughts of W.A.R. The acronym stands for Weil Am Rhein, which is the town in Germany where the event takes place. It seems many of the European names of shows are based a little more straight forward than the American counterparts, which I suppose makes it a lot easier for folks to know where it's at.

The Road Devils of Europe have been putting on the WAR show for 6 years all together and decided that this would be the final one of it's kind in favor of doing a rolling show, much like the Power Tour that happens over here in the states beginning next year. Because this was the Final WAR, I thought it was time to meet my brothers from across the Atlantic and see what the show and the chapter is all about!

With a few quick posts on our Road Devils forum and a couple of exchanged email addresses, my plans seemed a bit shaky to an average traveler, but I felt that if these guys where anything like my boys back home, I'd be well taken care of, and I was.

Originally I was supposed to be picked up from the airport by brother Jimmy and stay at his place, but as all things that happen last minute when you are hosting a big show, things changed. Luckily as it where, Deniz and his buddy whom he shares garage space with picked me up in his 1953 Lincoln.

Quickly I was given the run down on how difficult it is to own an american custom/hot rod overseas. The Swiss government has high environmental standards and simply does not want modified, gas guzzling vehicles on the road. Most of the Road Devils cars in Europe are completely outlawed because they are modified and will not pass the strict laws to make them legal. Every time these guys take their cars out on the road, they run the risk of having them impounded or even destroyed by the government. Most of Europe shares similar laws and punishments so the trek across the boarder to Germany only a few miles down the road was also a risky one.

Needless to say that being a Road Devil in Europe is not a passive membership. Getting parts from America is a difficult and expensive hobby. Basically most folks are looking at doubling the cost of their purchase on nearly anything shipped from the states from anything like a fuel pump to a set of gaskets or a steering box. The shipping is atrocious. Every time an american shows up at the fuel station we cringe at the cost of fuel and often regret owning a V8 in our vehicles. Our European brothers are paying around € 1.38 per liter. There are nearly 4 liters per gallon so quick math shows them paying nearly $8 per gallon and probably averaging the same M.P.G. that we get in our old cars. Ugh! But when you want something bad enough, I suppose that cost is not an option.

Back on track now, Deniz took me over to the garage space they share tucked down a tight alley in Basel, Switzerland. Many of these guys share shop space and tuck away their hot rods and customs out of sight so there aren't any problems with the law. The shop was awesome; a huge glass roof made for a great amount of natural light to work in and made me envious of their space. Several projects from a Model A roadster to early Chevy trucks, hand painted toilet seats and motorcycles all where strewn about the place. From here we picked up a '70's conversion van and headed to the show sight to begin the long task of setting up for WAR.

Quickly we were on the road again and off to Germany. I am still quite shocked at the lack of border patrol there was between Switzerland and Germany (and France for that matter). This made for a safe passage for the illegal '53 Lincoln. Just a quick jaunt past a few round-abouts and we were at the show site which is the Carhartt/Edwin company/warehouse.


Final WAR, like previous date events is sponsored in part by the Carhartt clothing company and Edwin denim. When we think of the label Carhartt we think quality workwear of heavy coveralls and thick winter coats. In Europe, Carhartt is more of a fashion, though they still sell the quality workwear that we are accustom to. The two labels are popular with counter culture, skateboarders, etc. There was a time that Dickies was so in the states, but perhaps a lot less now than before. Kevin, an event rep. from Carhartt made sure all angles were covered and they provided the location and staffed the bar, audio gear for the stages and gave us room for vendors to set up. Sometimes it really helps out to put on a quality show by having some corporate sponsorship!

Thursday evening we spent setting up all the tables outside and inside. The Road Devils had their own bar located closer to the gate. When the work was done, we ate and drank. Some early folks came into the show and joined in the festivities. This is where I met most of my extended family of Road Devils. Most folks spoke some english so that helped me out immensely. Drinking went well on into the night.

Friday we woke and enjoyed a breakfast at Jimmy's flat. Thank god, because I hadn't slept much on my flight over so it was welcome to get some honest sleep! Friday was pretty mellow durning the day as most folks weren't joining until after the work day was over. I got my table set up later in the day bringing some Car-N-Art products to foreign lands for the first time.

I got a chance to meet 'Lil' Daddy Roth aka Dennis Roth and his girlfriend. It was nice to speak English with americans at times. And speaking of the English, Stuart (aka Sunshine) from the UK, the sole Road Devil from England had me smiling the whole time. His accent reminded me of Brad Pitt in Snatch. Sunshine and his wife Natalia who's originally from Russia and myself spent some time at the Edwin outlet store and even crossed over into France for a beer.
Friday started off hot in the higher 80's and then a storm ripped in and rained hard for a bit and dropped the temperature but nearly 20ยบ F. Tarps quickly appeared out of nowhere and roadsters and other open cars were blanketed to protect from the storms. Again, all came into the bar for more drinks. A little rain wasn't going to stop this party from happening! Friday evening was the Road Devils Europe annual meeting. I stood down from it partially because it wasn't my business to be in but also because it was entirely in German and outside of a word here and there, I had no clue what they were talking about. My buzz at this point was strong enough to not even recall what time we got back to the flat and called it a night.


Saturday the main show began much cooler than the day before. It was still raining a bit in the morning, but nothing was going to keep true, hardcore custom culture fans away or the hot rodders from coming out to the show. I spent the better portion of the morning minding my booth space but I would randomly take a break for food and to talk with the Devils.

At a certain point it dawned on me how odd this experience was. Despite the fact that all the cars for the most part are american automobiles, the music blaring in the bar space is good ol' american rockabilly, the t-shirts that folks are wearing are printed in english and many of them are sporting american logos or american designs, but I was not in the USA, I was in Germany. Most folks who came up to my booth immediately wouldn't speak english to me, and for that matter had no clue I was american until I opened my mouth. I suppose my design work just blended right in. Despite the fact that my design work sports the name Detroit, where I studied and lived while in college, many folks had Detroit shirts on that were never even made in the USA or designed there. So I suppose the originality of what I brought to WAR perhaps flew under the radar or just blended in.

It wasn't until I bumped into American pin-up model Leia Lockheart that I started to feel less alone. 4 years ago or so I got a call from my friend Bob who was looking for a car to photograph Leia with and I was able to help out. Leia was traveling Europe doing some shows and photography sessions with folks and came to the show. I was nice to catch up and not have to find the right words to speak.



I only got a short chance at taking some photos during the day. I managed to capture a few images of the cars at the show. Later in the evening I busted my camera out to shoot the fashion show/burlesque ladies. After the stage show, it was time to just chat with all the good folks who were there and enjoy a few more drinks before calling it a night.





The good news is there were no altercations at WAR this year. Apparently there were a few issues the pervious year with different car clubs, so everyone was happy for a final, peaceful gathering.

Sunday we returned to the show site to witness the aftermath of the show. The bar was trashed, the bathrooms (toilets, they are called over seas) were overflowing. There was a lone Road Devils supporter past out on the picnic tables outside, baking in the early morning sun amongst the empty beer bottles strewn about. We took some time to break down the tables and clean up the Road Devils bar and carry the remaining kegs back to the show site before I got a lift to the airport. It was sad to leave my new found family. Goodbyes were exchanged from everyone who was scattering back to their points of origin.

I wanted to take a moment to thank all the Road Devils Europe for a great time and even better hospitality!

Christian: Thanks for the great time and chats along the way. You and your girlfriend were fun flatmates to hang out with! Sorry I missed the chance to see your Opel at the show but I did enjoy reading the article on the flight to London about it in Smokin' Shutdown!

Alexej: Thanks for showing me a great time at WAR. I wish I knew some more German or even Russian so I had more to speak about. I was told you can fix nearly anything on an engine, so you are a huge asset to have in the Europe chapter. I'm looking forward to seeing you again!

Deniz: Thanks again for picking me up from the Airport and showing me a good time! Next time I'll let me hair grow out to get a proper styling from you while I'm there! I enjoyed the ride in the 53 lincoln and thanks for letting me feel like family!

Jimmy: Thank you so much for putting me up at your flat the whole weekend and driving us around/back to the airport! Your hospitality is unmatched and you'll always have a place to stay when you are in the Detroit area!

Marcel: Thanks so much for the Swiss gifts and for making me feel welcome! Now you got to see Hotrod the movie. I still think you look a bit like Andy Sanberg! Someday I may take you up on that offer of skiing, I just have to learn to ski...

Matze: It was great meeting you and your wife! You guys are awesome! I love your 1939 Chevy Bomb too. You guys made me feel very welcome and part of the Road Devils Europe family!

Olli: It was great talking to you in the vendor area. Thanks for the hook up on the Smokin' Shutdown magazine. I enjoyed reading them on my remaining flights back home. Your "Tupperware" '32 has seen a lot of history and I hear it may be the most driven hotrod in all of Europe! You rock man!

Silvano: Thanks for entertaining me with everything. You and your girl are good people to call family. The Thunderbird is awesome! Looking forward to having you guys State side something down the road.

Simon: Your Model A modified would fit right in here in the states. It's a bad ass hotrod for sure. I hope you didn't run into any issues getting it home from the show. Thanks for the gifts as well! You are a good man.

'Sunshine' Stuart: It was great speaking 'English' with you and your wife! Thanks for entertaining me on Friday and the trip into France and helping me out at the Edwin store! I look forward to hearing from you guys again soon! Also, thanks for the advice on the Underground in London. It mostly worked out for me there, but got in trouble with fucking up on the differences of zones. All's well that ends well!

Thom: You made me wish that I learned German when I had the chance in school rather than Spanish. Your magazine is really top notch and I enjoyed reading the couple issues I got at the show on my remaining flights. Let me know if I can ever help out down the road on the 'zine. You remind me of the true punk rock spirit that is still alive in the club. It was great meeting you and Koshi at the show and look forward to seeing you guys again. I swear I'll try and learn more German next time around. You guys are aces!

Tino: It was awesome talking Cadillacs with you! I have a soft place in my heart for American Luxury cars and their bad ass engines! Thanks for the chocolate milk as well. It was awesome! As always, you guys are welcome to come state side and visit here in Detroit!

Monday, August 15, 2011

What's been up, what's coming up!

I often find myself forgetting to update stuff like this. I'll wake early and think about it and a couple of hours later forget to do it! I know no why my parents always seemed forgetful; cause having kids wipes you out!

This summer has been filled with work and wrenching. I've cut down on the number of shows to attend this year, partially to the cost of gas and partially to spending time with my wife & son. On the upcoming shows list I will be attending the following for sure:
This weekend, Saturday, August 20 · 9:00am - 6:00pm: Relix Riot at the Gilmore Museum Hickory Corners, MI. Check out the Gilmore Museum website.
Next weekend, Friday, August 26 at 3:00pm - August 28 at 5:00am: FINAL W.A.R. Hot Rod and Art Show 2011 Weil am Rhein, Germany. Website That's right people, Car-N-Art goes Euro-trash!

Right after Final War, I'll be headed to London to take part in the Riots… outside of Fright Fest film festival where I'll be to support my movie Deadheads!


I think I'll lie low again until October where I'll resume some shows where you can grab up
some stuff or just drop by and chat. Considering The Rumblers show and HCPU #10 and last one…. Sad, but true.

Recent work includes:

Studio 13:

New England Speed & Custom:
Truckermouth 10' Banner:
Kustomrama Badge/Shield:
Vintage Torque #6 DVD cover art:
Devil's Hand production business card and logo:

Check out this great little video about the Hot Rod with No Name:

The Hot Rod With No Name - Logo Design from Jody Peterson on Vimeo. Be on the lookout for support shirts here soon!

Speaking of shirts, the ACME speed shop just started running my signature shirt for them. ACME Special or "Flying wheel"

I seriously reconsidered giving away this design, even for money. I love it and want to do more like it. I'm even ordering another one because I want it in my closet and it has zero to do with the fact that my names on it.

That's about all for now. Back to the barn for some body work on the Gow Cart '29 Roadster.

See you soon!

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

The Zombie Factor


I got a chance to work on The Zombie Factor event poster for the pilot screening. Friends Matt and Sarah produced this comedy fakey reality TV show that asks what would we do with all the zombies post apocalypse? Take a look at the teaser

"The zombie apocalypse becomes REALITY on The Zombie Factor, the most dangerous show on television. Every episode, someone dies."

The Zombie Factor: Pilot Episode will premiere in Detroit on Thursday, June 9th at Saint Andrew's Hall. Doors at 8pm, shows at 9pm & 10pm. All ages show.

Wanna attend? Get some details on Facebook

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Sins of Steel 2011. June 4th!

It's that time of year again. Sins of Steel: the cure for the billet blues.
I had the honor of putting together the designs for the show.
The event T-shirt:
The Back Detail:
The Event Poster:

The car I picked is what's been rolling around in my head over the last 6 years or so. It's an illustration of the Gow Cart. Granted, there will be some differences in the finished car that I didn't add in here and there (namely, the seat choice) but this gives you a sneak peek at what I've been thinking about.

At any rate, come on out to the show! All registered cars get a silkscreened poster, embroidered patch and sticker among other items in the goody bag.

Need more inspiration? Check out the recap video from last year's show!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Detroit - Las Vegas - Maquoketa, or bust!

I'm packing up now to head from Detroit to Las Vegas for Viva Las Vegas. No, sadly I'm not vending this time around. I'll be helping the massive undertaking that is putting on the Car Show at the event with the rest of my Road Devil brothers! I'm thinking of it as a working vacation so to speak. I'm happy I could help out. RDFL! If you see a Road Devils jacket with Detroit on the back, that's me. Say Hi.

Straight on from Viva, I'll be heading to Maquoketa, Iowa. What's in Iowa you ask? We'll Torque fest you silly bastards! Already 350 Customs and Hot Rods registered and one of the few shows in the USA that you can take your ride out on the dirt track for a few laps and put it to it! I'll be vending there with a few brand new items for sale and some of the old classics! Bring some cash 'cause that ATM is gonna empty out quick!

Enough typing. Time to get my ears lowered and on to the other 150 things I need to do! See ya soon?!

Thursday, March 31, 2011

A Massive catch up!

2011 has been a crazy year already just 4 month in tomorrow! I know I'm usually better about updates on here, but I haven't found a minute to catch my breath from working and being a dad to make the time. Allow me a chance to play catch up in review since the beginning of the year.

Helping out my fellow Club brother Frank, I put together a design for his old 1959 Ford Pick-up doors. Designing was easy, but the application of painting two exact matching doors was a different feat.
The mock up:
The lettering was transferred to some over head projecter clear transfers then projected on the truck doors:
The end results after a quick scrub to age the one shot paintjob which took a few weekends to do it up:
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Also for Autorama, the "artist alley" many of us put together a piece with the single topic of a model A FED called "Little Honker"
This is a quick shot of the finished product taken with the cell phone on a test print. There were 100 pieces made of this 12"x18" two color silkscreened poster. #1 was framed and custom painted by Little Mark of Sled Alley.
This is a quick shot of #1, matted and framed, ready for auction. It pulled in $185 for the leader dogs for the blind. I'm happy to help out.

There are some left over from the show so don't feel like you missed out by not hitting Autorama!


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Quickly there after I put together Half Fast Chicago commissioned me to do an event poster for Burning Love #4, their anti valentines party.
It's single silver color ink on black french paper. It's currently on French's website in the sample room which to me is a honor to be listed there!

Also, you've got a chance to GRAB YOURS HERE
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Motor Age Clothing Co. hit me up early in the year as well for some new shirt designs.
and #2
You can grab yours up at the MOTOR AGE website
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Finishing up in 2011 for Vintage Torque Fest, I did this three poster collection for this years show:
This series is online and all signed. The original print series is only 50 pieces! You can grab yours up before the show

Also now online is last years 4 poster set. VERY LIMITED NUMBERS HERE!!!
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Back in 2008 I worked on this little indy film called Deadheads which is finally blowing up. The trailer alone has 70,000 hits! It recently got into the Newport Beach film fest where I wish it much luck! I worked a lot with the promotions people on photography for this poster:
Much of my set photography has ended up around the net for the film as well including Fangoria's website article on Deadheads
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In the midst of this time period of work, I also had a major set back in later January. If you are on my facebook fan page you probably caught me bitch'n about my Apple Monitor fail. Let me tell you it was the worst thing to happen to me in some time. But when the smoke cleared and all was said/done/installed/replaced/updated I got quite a nice replacement.
Right over my shoulder… it made me and my dog bomber here happy!
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Lovepedal custom effects commissioned me to do some handcrafted box art for their product line up for retail.
the fun part about this has been all the positive feedback on facebook from the lovepedal fans. Some even just wanted to buy the boxes alone!
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Rod & Custom Fabrication loved the Torquefest posters so much they wanted me to do a cross over / old timey logo brand for themselves.
This was the proof work and there are also business cards and a t-shirt design to boot.
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Pit Bull Racing contacted me about putting together some long sleeve designs. We kicked around a few ideas and came up with these race inspired versions of their sponsored riders leathers:
They don't seem to be up online just yet, but I'm sure they will be soon!
Also work for Pit Bull I've done includes

Pit Bull Metal Sign - Vintage
T-shirt, 3-color, bike on front
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Newlands Brewing Systems contacted me just before Autorama to put together an ad for a magazine on their brewing systems being made right here in Detroit! I was pumped to be part of their team and being able to bring my own art to their company look. I was also able to create some custom graphic for their display at the Craft Brewers Conference this last weekend in San Francisco
Ad:
Banners:
Coaster:
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At Autorama I got a chance to meet a bunch of good folks both exhibiting and attending! I was happy to unveil some exclusive products to them which should follow up on the website in April:
flexfit ball cap with pinstripe devil
Devil pinstripe patches:
black
Car-N-Art spark plug patches:
and stealth:
As well over the weekend I had John Jackson from Not Stock Photography keeping my dogs and couch company. He shot this of me sunday morning. Man, everything looks really yellow
under those COBO lights!
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Quickly coming out of Detroit Autorama I had a bunch of work to get back to! There is still elements of my display floating around in my truck.
Trophy Queen contacted me about doing an Americana/Evel Knievel design for a t-shirt:
I love her bags probably as much as the ladies do. I think I could pull off the diaper bag before getting suspect! :)
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Not too long after I found myself helping out my pal Lauren from Street Rod Visions with a sticker /t-shirt design for a show (I think this weekend)
She asked me something stock and I just don't have any "stock" designs. I really only can do one off's for people. She wanted a 32 3-window and that's what she got!
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Half Fast came back with their Spring/Summer/Fall bike night posters at the Orbit Room
A tiki inspired poster to polynesian perfection!
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Finding myself now at the end of March and taxes creeping up my back, I also had to get back to Torque fest art for the registration card.
This is a great little 11x7 inch mini poster give away to all who are registering a bike or car for the show. Something to hang in the garage to remind you what a kick ass time you will have in 2012!
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Lastly, on to my own stuff. Car-N-Art will have some new products shortly with a brand new poster series that will be highly collectable called "Arsenal of Design" 6 Poster series all sold as one (like the old Drive Wrench Repeat)

I can't show you all of it just yet, but it's brewing and you should see something for sale in Iowa at torque fest!

I can show you the shirt though:

Stay tuned to the FACEBOOK fan page for faster updates!
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Well crap! that's about it for now. Hopefully I can update more than once a quarter with work on here!!! Really sad overall. New stuff in the works for future shows, a new website within the year, and hopefully some national ink on the art. Thanks for reading if you made it this far!

~keven