Over the past month, Rene Almanza, whom I'm working on a piece for an upcoming issue of the print Juxtapoz, was staying at this apartment near where I was moving into, and was painting this piece to be used in a store window display. I got to spend a lot of time with him, talking about art, life, philosophy; great talks, and  I got to watch him paint and evolve this piece into something that looks nothing like the pieces you see here. You don't normally get weeks to spend with a subject, sometimes you get a day and sometimes only a few hours, and I really got a full experience. I think we went to Rene's first Thai food meal, so you know you got a friend for life when you are doing a new cuisine tour together... 

As the characters are added, and changed, Rene added new colors and textures and layers...

Rene at work.

Rene runs a website, ArteCocodrilo.com, that is a fantastic site with some great Mexico-based artists that I think everyone should check out.  Daniel Berman is one to check out... 

The materials...

There is William Baglione, editor of the July 2009 Brazil Issue that we did... he was in town for his brother Herbert's show in San Francisco's FIFTY24SF Gallery show, and stopped by to see what Rene was up to. Herbert can't come to the United States because our country doesn't appreciate talent and likes to make it hard for artists to come here... let's all move to Canada...

From artists past... 

That's Word To Mother to you...  

The walls may or may not still look like this.