Portrait Profile: Jana Hunter

As some of you may have caught on, I'm trying to do this new thing where I give y'all a glimpse into the lives of my portrait subjects. In past photoshoots, I'd pick a random location, tell everyone to show up there and then shoot a bunch of head shots...now I've been asking each subject individually to pick a location (home/studio/work/etc) where I can shoot them in

"action."

A couple of weeks ago I caught up with recording artist, Jana Hunter, at her Baltimore home. I know ya wanna peep it because the people seem to find JH muy misterioso. Just sayin'.

Child of the 1980's? I'm going to go with yes, as Jana's look was head-to-toe reminiscent of any of the kids I would have run around the neighborhood with in 1985. That's hot (Although dating myself for the youngins reading this is not...)

Jana moved from Texas to Baltimore a few years ago, living with Wham City for a minute. She moved on after a bit discovering that she was "a different kind of weirdo." I like that.

Jana is into Baltimore living(although I had to ask if she loved it in general or if she loved it relative to Texas...)and is currently making music with Lower Dens.

Check out her house.

This piece (by a friend of Jana's) was used on her comp with Devendra Banhart. Jana was the first artist released on his label, Gnomensong.

For some reason I could only find a small (and fuzzed out) image of the album...even on Amazon... but here it is.

Jana's roommate was working on this piece for ArtScape. Moth Man!

The living room

and the studio

Great signage throughout the space

Thanks again to Jana for letting me come see her space. Check her music here and Lower Den's tumblr here. Lower Dens are currently on tour. Check them out in a city near you. Check back with me late next week(ish...) to see Jana's painted portrait. Check. Check. Check!

I'm going to marathon blog today. I have to catch up. Sometimes I don't blog a lot 'cause I get lazy w/the photo snappin'... that is not currently the case. I have lots o' photos. And I'm going to be shooting a bunch more when I'm in Philly on Saturday for the Mad Decent Block Party (!)

I'll see ya soon. Real soon.

Peace,

-Fitz

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Sneak Preview

Hey buddies!

I'm in L.A. and I have to admit that I've been spending way more time layin' around in the sun burnin' my hiney than blogging...however(!)...I have lots o' photos, so Ima give you a sneak peak of what's coming next. Go in!!!

I have gorgeous people in a gorgeous house (that vertical landscaping is inside!)

Backyard BBQ

Art openings

At home with Jana Hunter

Tourist!

Venice Beach (provides for baby changing needs.)

Fun at Low End Theory (Los Angeles)

Blaqstarr (portrait to follow)

And fun at Dodgers Stadium

That's a lot! Now you know what you have to look forward to. Stay tuned.

Ex and oh I gotta go,
-Fitz




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Sleigh Bells @ The Otto Bar

As I mentioned before, I went to see Sleigh bells and PO PO at the O Bar a couple of Thursdays ago. These are the photos from the Sleigh Bells set.

You see, they perform w/ strobes and smoke, so most of the photos are pretty psyched out, like this.

Every now and then, I'd catch a shot when they were lit by the strobe and the smoke had cleared, like this.

Check out Alexis Krauss's bling.

You know I'm a sucker for a multi-fingered ring, y'all.

The End

So, tomorrow (Thursday,) I will have a couple of paintings, including my newest piece of Eli Halpin, in a group show for ArtScape at:

The John Fonda Gallery

45 W Preston St

Baltimore, MD 21201

(located in the Theater Project)

5:30-7:30

Stop by for a glass of wine before heading out to see the night's many ArtScape-related openings. I'll be heading over to Drawing Out @The Hexagon (1825 N Charles St. 6-9pm)

See you there,

-Fitz

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FOTOS wif PO PO

Shoaibbit, Zeb, Rabbit

Last Thursday I went to the Otto Bar for the sold out opening date of the Sleigh Bells/POPO tour. Mad Decent's PO PO are the brothers Zeb and Shoaib (AKA Shoaibbit) w/ my buddy Emily (Rabbit) as their tour mom. It was fun times. There was high fashion and some getting crunked. You can't go wrong with that combo.

Tomorrow I have some serious drawing to do as well as my photo shoot w/ Jana Hunter. Sah-weet. Look forward to her Portrait Profile on Fitzbomb and the photos from the Sleigh Bells' portion of the show. I gots that too. Oh, and next week, all Fitzbomb will be brought to you west coast style from L.A.

I'm off to do some serious chillin' for now. Like, I'm gonna sit and watch a whole season of Breaking Bad. One of those days. Don't judge.

Ta-Tas,

-Fitz

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New Painting: Eli Halpin

Jeebus it's been hot on the east coast!! I've seriously been melting...but I'm tough, and I plan cooling sesions into my day like pool visits, Crystal Lite/ice/frozen blueberry smoothies, cold white wine, and mall walks. The heat is definitely helping my summer diet. I'll give you that.

Speaking of heat, there's no AC in my studio and the windows are painted shut. Is it bad to tell you that? I'm DEF not one to elicit sympathy, and I think that info might take away the glamorous image that I've been working so long to project. I take it back. I'm SO hooked up.

Despite my studio conditions, I've managed to spend several hours w/ toxic chemicals, heat, and low ventilation to complete the first painting of my new series, Eli Halpin. Because of my heavy drawing schedule I had't painted in a year, so I'm super pleased w/ this first piece.

This new series focuses on people "who do stuff," and not only includes the painting itself, but a Portrait Profile that gives background on my subject. Eventually I'd like to show the pices as an installation w/ both the paintings and photos/video/audio from my interview sessions.

My next portrait profile/painting will be with recording artist and all around swell gal, Jana Hunter (is a Baltimore based songwriter and musician. She was born in Texas and is currently a member of Lower Dens.
She is signed to Gnomonsong, a new record label run by Devendra Banhart and Vetiver's Andy Cabic. Her solo debut album Blank Unstaring Heirs of Doom was the label's debut release. FROM WIKIPEDIA) I'm totally looking forward to shooting her profile next week. I mean not even counting all that cool stuff above, (I'll take my own wikipedia page any day, btw) Jana is just a great person to run into...and it just doesn't happen that often.

In other news... I also talked to the "King of Baltimore Club", Rod Lee, about getting him in on my project. I'll keep you posted on that.

Other than that, I'm excited about my brand-spankin-new computer that I'm getting tomorrow, my trip to LA in a week, and the new shoes that I got during today's cooling mall walk.

The painting of Eli, as well as two older pieces, "Rome" and "Mike Miller," will be on display at the John Fonda Gallery as part of a group exhibition for ArtScape beginning next Thursday 7/15.

I have dogs to draw and blogging to catch up on, so Ima skip out for now.

Keep cool. It's gettin' hot in here and I don't want to see (most of you) with your clothes off.

Ex. Oh. I gotta go.

-Fitz

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