Recently I had the opportunity to fly out to Phoenix Arizona to visit and stay with one of my friends for about a week, and seeing as how I have never been farther west than Nashville, I jumped at the chance. Now amazingly this would be only my second chance traveling by plane, which I use to be a bit iffy about with the whole dropping from thirty-thousand feet to your death thing, but have come to really enjoy flight. There is just something about looking out that window down to earth that really puts everything in perspective, from that high up all our petty human arguments and disagreements seem so pointless and small (literally). Thus, it is sort of worth the risk of death (even though that risk is many times less than when driving a car or train even) to get that kind of black and white perspective of life, something that anyone who hasn’t flown needs to experience.

Anyway, the flight was smooth and landed at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor safely and on time. After I collected my luggage from the carousel, I was in desperate need of a nicotine fix after three hours in the air. I walked through the automatic doors into the loading and unloading zone and was hit with a wonderful wave of heat, minus the humidity. After my friend had picked me up we made our way back to his apartment complex and I immediately noted all of the Cacti and Palm trees; which struck me as odd since I figured Palm trees were more of a tropic tree than one that belonged in the desert, so I assumed they had been planted for effect. Being from northeast Ohio I was also blown away by the lack of grass, I mean I obviously was aware that the desert isn’t “grassy” but seeing it is surreal.

So my stay progressed, and I had a good time visiting with my friend and his girlfriend. I’ll admit I didn’t really do much of the tourist thing, but that wasn’t really my reason for going. I am sure that I will make another trek out to the western state soon and I may even decide to uproot myself and settle there sooner or later. If you have never been out west I suggest you take a trip soon as being an American I believe you should try and see as much of our beautiful country as possible before your death (which I assure you, will not be caused by a plane crash). Happy Travels!

A couple weeks back I had the privilege to see 311 and Sublime with Rome in concert at the LC in Columbus. I don’t have to tell you that it was a great show, and a good night to boot. “Beautiful Disaster” has always been one of my favorite songs, so I decided to pay it homage with a piece inspired by the song and my feelings while listening to it.

So here it is, “Beatuful Disaster”:

I have a signed painting from this Featured Artist, it is actually still unframed and it is sort of propped on top of some speakers on my entertainment center… What I mean is it is well displayed for all too see. Steve and I grew up together through our teen years, I have countless memories of us and all our other friends creating extraordinary moments in time, times to be remembered and that are. Much like Steve may tell you, I developed my artistic skills in high school, being constantly pushed and motivated in one of many art classes Mr. Shohada taught that I was in. Enough about me, I asked Steve to answer some questions for me about his painting starting with a brief background of himself, enjoy!

Give me a brief background on yourself:

I was born in Youngstown, Ohio and enjoyed the first 17 years of my life there. Summer before my senior year I moved to LA and finished up at Reseda High. This is ultimately when my life shifted gears. Music and Art seemed to flow quite naturally after taking a tour of the country and I feel blessed to have had these experiences… as, experience is the true artist in my life and its how I discovered what aspiration meant to me. In my short 25 years here on earth my life has been an abundance of adventure, peppered with sadness, but ultimately filled with memories I wouldn’t trade.

When did you notice yourself becoming artistic?

Well, I guess I was born with it… I’ve always liked to draw. I think High school really defined me as an artist only because everyone else thought I was haha. I did have a sketch book with me most of the time though so there was probable cause for the title.

When and Why did you take up painting?

Painting came when I moved to California. It was the era of changes in myself so I decided to put down pencils and pick up paint brushes.

Where or who do you draw your inspiration from?

I have something inside of me that likes to paint. Sometimes I don’t even feel like I’m in control of what I’m painting. Other times it feels like its trying to teach me, like it stands and watches over my shoulder. There’s a long story as to how I acquired it. But it seems to help channel places I’ve seen in dreams or maybe in other lives I don’t know where I find some of the landscapes that come out… but I rarely paint a picture of a picture I found on the web or somewhere.

Do you think your Art carries a message, or messages?

Absolutely, “perfection is subjective to an individual’s perspective.” – me
I believe everyone sees slightly different, so an image of something like, a blue wild flower in a field, sends a message, though one might take it as serenity and one with nature, while another sees loneliness or lost soul in a big world… either way it sent a message.

Who is your favorite painter (or artist), if you have one?

I really don’t have one in particular as a favorite. I will say that I’m not a fan of Picasso.
I really enjoy Alex Grey, Salvador Dali, and Thomas Kinkade as far as famous artists.
Bradford Rigby, Mike Lohr, Jules Muck, these are friends and talented artists that aren’t famous YET…

What mediums do you use in your Art?

Oils are pretty much all I use anymore. Though I dabble with spray paint and pencil/charcoal stuff as well.

How long does it take you to complete a work of art?

That has many variables to factor in, in order to give it a time measurement. For example, canvas size the bigger the longer… is it a commissioned piece (meaning does it have to be something specific that someone requested) or is it a personal doesn’t matter what comes out piece? (my favorite) So it all depends on the piece at hand really. For me, I enjoy spending more time on big canvases.

Do you ever have a problem knowing when a painting is finished?

Yeah I think that happens to most artists… My imagination can really run sometimes so it just wants to add so much more detail to its world for everyone else to really experience what kind of place it is.

Steve of course refused to comment on the pictures of him and actress Carr– just kidding! Seriously, I thank my good friend Steve for answering these questions, and sharing his Art with us.

Please be sure to go visit Steve Avila’s own website which features a portfolio of his art work and painting. You can contact Steve through his site for inquires into purchasing a piece from him. And remember to keep your eyes on TripleOneSix for more future Featured Interviews and Articles like this one!

Let’s take a trip back in time; the year 1999. You sit down at your PC (or MAC) and connect to the internet, connection tone and all. Now imagine you are surfing the web, most likely you are on America Online or some variant of dial-up internet waiting for animated background and flashing gif filled webpages with their Internet Explorer and Netscape support buttons.

This was my reality at the time, and I wanted more. Always being an artistic person beginning to use Adobe Photoshop (I started on version 5) was a natural evolutionary step. Once I learned to hand code HTML, I began to design my own websites where I could display my Photoshop creations, and even blog a little. I then became and active member of an online art ‘forum’ (before Facebook and Twitter, forums were the social communities), where artists all over the world displayed their works to be critiqued by others. This forum was known as ‘thePAD’ and after it shut down, other members and myself created a similar forum entitled, ‘inFLUX‘. I credit both of these forums (mostly inFLUX) with the honing my skills with art, and website coding.

Twelve years later I sit here writing this inside of WordPress reminiscing about those simpler times. Sadly most of the original art and design for thePAD and inFLUX has been lost. However I was able to find (thanks to the internet archive) a few splash page images that were made by some prominent inFLUX members. Click on a thumbnail to see image full size: