This past Wednesday, I had the honor of joining G. Love & Special Sauce on stage to live painting during their epic performance at The Freebird in Jacksonville, Florida.

I am incredibly appreciative of Garrett for allowing me to be a part of their performance. The show and painting and the post-party on the bus was just a blast.

This painting had been sleeping in my studio now for a couple years. I had left it unfinished in 2009 and moved on to other ideas. It was originally inspired by my friend from home Quincy Mumford who was about to put out his second album and asked me to design him an album cover. His management and I didn’t quite see eye to eye so it never progressed much past a sketch on the canvas.

A couple months ago though, I was flipping through the jungle of ideas in my sketchbooks and rediscovered this sketch which I thought had some real promise.  It was already kind of started on the canvas, so I figured I’d put it up on my easel to reincarnate it.

Original sketch from August 2009

I had intended to make it a bit more surreal, having a snowboarder morphed into the guitar player’s arm. Quincy and I both love surfing and snowboarding and I felt it important at the time to combine both. But after recently re-working it, I wasn’t convinced that really worked visually or was necessary.  I did like the idea though of being caught between winter and summer both metaphorically and literally.  Being born and bred in Jersey, we all have a love/hate relationship with the seasons.  A lot of people seem to just hibernate during the winter. For me it was always a time to create and reflect.

This piece needed to reflect where I mentally was now though since years had passed since it’s conception. The concept of living the moment between two transitional periods of life became my main focus along with attempting to illustrate ‘the zone’ that artists and musicians share a passion for. That place we all go to bend reality around our visions, where logic and potentiality take over seamlessly.

Prints are available on Shop.JayAlders.com

Jay Alders and musician/long time friend, G Love will share the stage at Freebird Live in Jacksonville Beach, Florida on January 25th. G Love will provide the tunes and Alders will back him up by doing a live painting on stage.

Alders often paints to G Love’s music while in his studio so the live collaboration is sure to be a mind-blowing one.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have an incredible lady in my life for over five and a half years now. She accepts me more than I accept myself at times, supports my dreams and improves my self-worth.

So last year when my friend Julio after becoming a father questioned me about my future relationship status and my desires to someday be a Dad. I sorta’ shrugged it off at the time thinking, yeah of course someday. But it got me thinking. He offered some advice which stuck with me. He said, “The ring won’t go on her finger by itself”.

I began some serious pondering on what a good thing we have going on and it was time to start moving forward with the next chapter of our lives.  I contacted my jewelry designer friend Kevin Feldmann in NYC and began a 5-6 month process of designing a custom ring.  I didn’t know the first thing about diamonds or what a carat was, but I sent him sketches, ideas, thoughts, pics of clay sculptures I made, digital layouts, revisions to his CAD designs and by late summer it was taking form.

After making her wait almost six years, she deserved nothing less than an epic proposal.  I wanted to wait until our move to Florida was completed so we would be in a more relaxed mindset and symbolically feel like we had a new fresh start. I wanted it to be on the beach since it’s where we both feel most at home. I wanted it to be a party, a celebration with friends, a perfect ring and I really wanted it all documented. Not too much to ask for right?

A couple years ago we spent New Years in Jacksonville with Donavon Frankenreiter and band and before they went on stage Donavon included us in the pre-show private New Years Toast.  Some very loving words were said and as he often did to us, he put me on the spot with some verbal nudges about marriage. He did the same thing on stage last year in Asbury Park and called Chelsea my “wife” on stage.  So when I found out Donavon and the guys were performing at the upcoming Slater Brothers’ Invitational in Cocoa Beach, I knew that would be THE night.

By September, I got the ring in the mail and locked it away. I kept stealth about everything,my plan was on a need to know basis. I called Donavon and told him of my intentions for the Cocoa Beach show. He was stoked and supportive as I knew he would be. He and I brainstormed some ideas; We agreed that I should do live painting as part of the proposal. It was the perfect front for what was really going on. If I looked on edge, I blamed it on having to paint in front of everyone on stage. If I seemed stressed, it was because I had to prepare for painting on stage. I talked only to my friends Eric Brigmond and Craig Barnette from the band and April Slater and Julie Stine from the Slater Invitational to help get the details worked out and to keep my nerves in check.

Friday evening, October 28th 2011 came after a nice day at the beach for the surf event where we had been set up since the morning. We had some great Thai food for dinner with friends and I must have checked a hundred times to make sure the ring was still in my pocket.  I got to the venue to set up the night commenced.

I had a couple beers but my mind was racing.  My friend Sean Slater knew my secret for the evening and gave me a pep talk at the side of the stage before I started painting which was much needed at that moment.   My friend Justin from GoPro set a camera up next to my easel and Craig set up a Contour Camera near him over the drums. All systems go, it was time to kick things off.

I got on stage after a few songs into Donavon’s set and started painting, it was actually the calmest I’d felt the whole day. I decided to paint a romantic piece of Chelsea and I in a loving embrace in front of everyone declaring my love.  She had no idea what was really going on as I was doing this. Eric brought me up a whiskey and a beer because he knew how nervous I’d been all week. Donavon asked me how much longer I needed and we finally agreed, it was time. I wiped off my hands and he proceeded to show the audience the still wet painting I had just completed.

I remember the cheers but in my head it was quiet, I just wanted to do it already.  Little did anyone know, on the back of the wooden panel that I made,I had painted “Chelsea Will You Marry Me?”. It was covered with brown paper and Donavon turned it around, ripped off the paper and showed everyone. Chelsea still had no idea what was happening and whispered to me something like “what is going on?“, I played along and said, “I don’t know, what IS going on?“.  Then as Donavon turned around the panel to face Chelsea, which felt like an eternity, I got down on my knee and asked her to marry me.  She dropped to her knees and we kissed. She was in complete shock. It was a glorious moment.  I asked her , “So does this mean yes?” and she said “yes” and I put the ring on her finger.  She saw the back of the painting as the band snuck in some wedding music which I didn’t even hear until later on watching the video.

We got up and hugged and I saw Sean and April with Champagne. We each took a glass as Donavon proceeded to spray the entire bottle in our faces.  I was pretty much blinded for a minute but couldn’t stop smiling. What an surreal & glorious moment for us. I poured the remaining drops of champagne on Donavon’s head and proceeded to hug everyone and live in the moment as a newly engaged man.

Painting on stage at The Stone Pony with Donavon and band - © 2011 berryphotographics.net

There are extreme emotional & creative swings that every artist must endure. It’s part of the creative path we are on. We put up with & accept the frustration and insecurities because when good things happen and those pure moments flow through us, it makes it all worth it.

This past Friday,July 22,2011 was one of those magical moments that will be a bookmarked in my memory bank. It was the first time I ever did live painting on-stage which would normally on it’s own be enough of a fun new experience. But this was in one of my hometown’s historic & favorite venues The Stone Pony with some of my favorite musicians who are also close friends of mine whom I adore, Donavon Frankenreiter and his intensely talented band. (Eric Brigmond, Craig Barnette, Matt Grundy,Pete Winders)

Donavon and I have casually talked about doing live painting before, but it wasn’t until a few weeks ago in Massachusetts where we were doing a Surf Art & Music Festival  together that we committed to making it happen in Asbury.  Chelsea and I have been spread real thin the past weeks since then, packing up the house for our upcoming move to Florida. It’s all come together so fast, I just mentally didn’t have time to think about the live artwork until the day of the show.

We’ve had a heat wave here in New Jersey the past couple weeks and this was another upper 90 to 100 degree sweltering summer day. I met up with Donavon and the guys at the bus in the morning. We were all craving some water time with friends so my buds Eric Brigmond, Seth Pettersen and their stage-tech Neil piled into my jeep along with our boards and we drove over to Loch Arbor for a morning surf.  It looked like a clown car with Seth riding in the trunk all squished. As I was paddling out, I saw my friend and local surf legend Vince Troneic (You can see him featured in the newest Surfer’s Journal) We enjoyed some cold small sets rolling through to start our day.

We met Donavon at the beach in Asbury afterwards. He had just finished his surf lessons with the inner city kids and he was easy to spot with his bright colored umbrella hat and longboard. We borrowed some longer boards from my friend Jenn at Lightly Salted Surf Mercado and all had a great time splashing around and catching waves.

People kept asking me what I was going to paint as if I had some grand plan, but I just figured that when I am home I turn on music and get in the zone, so why not in front of five to six hundred people? But then soundcheck happened and the clock was ticking and I started getting nervous. My large paintings usually take a while, what if I can’t do anything cool in an 70-90 min’s? After all, I had prepared a 3 foot by 3 foot wooden panel and that was a big area to cover in a short amount of time especially without having it sketched out first at all.

A couple hours before the show Chelsea saw me stressing. I often over analyze things and she knows it. She calmly gave me some paper and a pen and told me to just start drawing. Within an hour of sitting in the green room I had a couple loose ideas scribbled down on a paper I stuck in my pocket.

Side Stage before show. photo: ©2011 Mike Berry

After seeing Donavon and the guys perform so many times as a fan and a friend, it was pretty surreal standing on side stage waiting to go on with them. I’ve always dreamt of  being a rockstar and this was the closest I’ve ever come. Donavon walked on stage and then myself, Pete, Craig, Eric and Grundy took our respective spots.  I glanced down at the audience filled with local friends and familiar faces and took my spot behind Donavon ready to make them proud.

Each song’s completion was another tic on the clock. I sped through trying to not get lost in details, it was all about having fun. As the last song ended I dropped my paint brush in the water can and completed the piece. Donavon high fived me and helped me down over the amps onto the front of the stage with him. I wiped the sweat off my forehead and embraced the gratitude I felt.

Check out this time lapse video that Donavon released as one of his Mustache Manifestos 

(Thank you to Craig Barnette for the awesome video editing!)

Come out and hear Donavon and his incredible band along with opening act Seth Pettersen while Jay improvises a piece of art on stage.

]]> http://jayalders.com/events/live-painting-at-the-donavon-frankenreiter-show-july-22-2011.html/feed 0 http://jayalders.com/events/surf-art-music-festival-salisbury-mass-july-10-2011.html http://jayalders.com/events/surf-art-music-festival-salisbury-mass-july-10-2011.html#comments Thu, 07 Jul 2011 16:07:47 +0000 Jay Alders http://jayalders.com/?p=2298 Date: July 9 & 10, 2011 Location: Blue Ocean Music Hall –Salisbury, Massachusetts Live Music: by Donavon Frankenreiter , Seth Pettersen and Dead Air Project. Surf Art & Photo Exhibit Featuring: Jay Alders, Sean Davey, John T O’Callighan Price: …]]>

Surf Art Music Festival Donavon Frankenreiter and Jay Alders

He called me in the morning on the drive down and checked on the waves, which there weren’t any. It’s been virtually flat for over a week or more but the weather was perfect, so we decided to make other plans before the show. I called my friend Shaun McGrath from Summertime Surf Camp and he generously lent us some Stand Up Paddleboards and his employee Jack was nice enough to give Chelsea, Garrett and I a fun SUP tour through Manasquan out towards the inlet.

We got back to my house, packed up and headed to the venue where our friend Alexa was there to run our merch table.  The bar opened up and the party began.  It was so nice to see a lot of my local friends as well as catch up with some of G’s crew. Local professional surfer Sam Hammer and his lovely lady Nicole had a table across from us and it was cool to finally have some time to chat with them and the great people from the Algonquin like Bill, Diane, Joe and Mary.

I had my art projected behind G Love during his performance which the crowd seemed to really dig. I often paint to Garrett’s music in my studio, so it was special for me to mesh the two again on stage.

(G Love performing in front of my painting , “Sweet Aspirations”)

After the show, we hung in the tour bus and partied.  G was jamming with our friend Quincy Mumford and at one point Garrett handed me this magazine and a marker to entice me to do some for him. Feeling inspired and out of room on the mag, I grabbed some paper towels and quickly sketched Quincy and Garrett during their jam. I really got get more into doing live art, I always have a blast coming up with shit on the spot.

Thanks to G Love, The Algonquin, Chelsea,Summertime Surf and Alexa for making the day so great!

Check out this video clip of G throwin’ me a shout out…(Thanks G!)

Saturday, July 2, 2011 – Algonquin Theatre Presents a solo show by G Love along with an Artist Signing and Print Sale in the lobby by Jay Alders.

Buy tickets only $29

Check out the new album “Long Way Home” by Australia’s Peter Dixon Band , which features a mirrored view of Jay Alders’s painting “Home Slice”.

Now available on iTunes from Avondale Music.

More info: www.peterdixonband.com or on Facebook.