Here is my work from today:

     Main table where I paint and keep my coffee.

     Secondary table, used mostly for display purposes.

     Here are both tables together.  The entire thing I call my 'Set-up'.

     Here is my main table at the end of a typical session.  Things change and get moved around.


     Basically, if I had to depend on coffee shop customers for sales, I'd be dead right now.  They never buy from me.

     Lucky for me, people from the bar buy from me.  Thank goodness for alcoholics. 

    

     I sold $60 worth of napkin art in the cafe today.  I was pretty happy.
     Then, I got ignored by most everybody else.
     The important lesson is to never give up.
     I have often thought of quitting my napkin art at the cafe because nobody cares, so I am glad that I don't give up.  Look what happened.  I sold a lot today, made some new friends, and they got me a lead to another place I can paint at. 
     Cool, huh?

     There was so much going on with the sale, that I forgot to take a picture of what they bought.  This is the only picture I took in the cafe today, haha.

     Let's see....I sold $35 worth last night, $5 in the cafe yesterday, and $20 the before that.  $60 which is a two day average of $30.  Even if I did that everyday, it would be $900 a month.
     Anyway, here are some recent photos of my napkin art...

     This photo is typical of my set-up at the bar at night.  I have twenty stacks of napkins, all dried, and ready to be sold.  People often go through multiple stacks to find the one they want.
     I have found that it is good to have a lot.  People like to have a choice.
     Plus, I never know what people will like, so my chances of a sale increase since they have a lot to choose from.

        This piece was recently installed into a bar.  I'm proud of this one, and I'm glad it is in a nice, permanent location.

     'The Larry Action Figure' is based off this professional panhandler in North Beach.

     Here is a typical display of my art in the cafe, where no one looks, and no one buys, because they don't have any money, nor class to even say hello.

     This one sold the other night.

  

     Di$ney.

     This is outside of the cafe on the curb.  I have my can of water there, and a toothbrush.  The napkin on the right is my palette, the one on the left is the first layer of a 'Jackson Pollock' type of action painting.  I dip the paintbrush in paint and water, and rub my finger along the bristles to create a splattering effect.

     This picture shows a 'Mona Lisa' napkin art in progress.

     These two girls came over to make fun of me, because I took a picture of the brunette's butt when she was sticking it out while leaning on the bar.

     Women aren't attracted to me anymore, if they ever were.  So, at this point, I just want their money.



 
    

     I had a wonderful night last night.  I sold $85 of napkin art.  Plus, people bought me three beers, and a shot of whiskey.  I was doing good.  I didn't want the night to end.
     In addition, I was able to pay my rent today exclusively from sales of napkin art.  I'm happy.

     I've been warned not to talk too much about how much money I make from my napkin art, but truck it.  I don't care.  Most people want to know how much money I make, and not much about the art.  That is The American Way. 
     I'm lucky I can even sell art.  Most people are oblivious to The Art World.  In general, people are way more interested in sports and beer.

     Anyway, here are some recent examples:

     Here is my cafe set-up.  I have since moved from my favorite corner spot to the aisle, so people can see my work, and maybe I'll get some sales that way.  They can't buy what they can't see.

     The Dread 86.  This is the number they use when somebody gets banned from a bar for life.

     Here is another cafe picture of my table.  People don't know what to think.

  
     I push two tables together now at the cafe.  Luckily, the owner of the cafe doesn't mind.

     I always have some kind of reference material with me for my napkin art to stimulate the imagination.

     Wish me luck.
  



   

     Forgive me if I put up images I have already shown.  I try to fix things when I can.

     Last night, I sold $110 worth of napkin art.  It is only the fifth time I've come away with over $100 in a night this year.
     I was really happy.

     Meanwhile, here is a napkin art for the band 'Hawkwind'.  It is edited with a pen over her exposed breasts, because Blogger has problems with nudity, on account that it affects their advertising.

     Here are a couple in progress.  The girl is cute but smart, because she is pointing to her brain.  The rabbit image I saw on some guy's t-shirt, so I copied it as best as I could in my own way.  I like how both of these are coming along so far.
    

     My friend Charlie suggested I do this one.  A girl with big eyes but with large 70's style glasses.  We'll see what happens with this one.  This girl is completely fictional.  I made her up, and used no model.  I have faint images of women from long ago that I based her on.

     This girl was sitting at the bar with her g-string showing, so I decided to strip her down.  Then days later, I put in a Cthulu kind of creature talking with her. 

 
     It is going to be a big job to put all of my napkin arts on this blog.
    
     With these two, I was just having fun with design, but I had no concern whatsoever for proper alignment or spacing.

     I like them.  They seem fun to me.

     If I wanted everything to be perfect, I guess I would be a graphic designer, and be bored to tears.

     Here is my edited picture of The Simpsons in the nude.
 

     I have no problem with putting the unedited version up, but I don't think it is a good idea.  Someone might get their panties in a bunch over it, and we wouldn't want that to happen.

     Anyway, a couple of days ago, this woman came up to me and asked, "Will you paint a nude portrait of The Simpsons for me?"
     I said, "What?  Ok."
     Then she insisted that I paint Marge's pubes blue.
     I agreed, because I think Marge is the kind of woman that would dye her pubes blue to match the hair on her head.

     Does anybody really look at this blog?  I have no idea.  It says I have 735 hits, but that is hard to believe.  That comes to about 733 people who haven't said a word.  God, I love people.

     Anyway, here is some napkin art...

     One time, this guy had me paint a honey badger from Africa.  That was fun.  I haven't seen this picture in months.
     He was a nice guy, so I was glad to do this work for him.
     He showed me a picture off the web on his phone, so I was able to make a drawing for him.

     Here is some Star Wars napkin art.  Most of these sold when I finished them.  I have to make more, because they are a cash cow.  They take a long time to make, that is the problem, so I end up getting underpaid for them.
 

     Here is a monster, so I guess it is appropriate to show this one, since I am really pissed and angry today.


  

  

    
     Here is my work at the cafe today.
     I get asked from time to time how many I make in one day.  It is a hard question to answer at times.  Basically, I can work on over 100 pieces in a session, just adding some paint here and there, and doing touch-ups.  I usually just mix up one color, and go through a stack of napkins, and whatever piece needs it, I add paint to.  It is an assembly-line process.  It makes the painting easier so I don't have to stop and think at every one. 
     On the other hand, from start to finish, I can make a napkin art in five to ten minutes.  If I am doing a portrait of somebody, I just slap on a lot of paint, and it goes pretty fast.

     Again, nobody bought anything at the cafe today.  The high point was some man smiled at what I was doing. 
     Most people ignore me at the cafe, which is in high contrast to what happens at the bar.  Women come up to me, look at all the work, and throw money at me.  I definitely get more attention at the bar.
     My conclusion to this is that sober, poor people at a cafe who can't think outside of themselves for a minute about what anybody else is doing don't buy art.  Drunk, happy people with some spending money inside a bar, they buy art.

     If I could somehow figure out how to get people to buy my work in the cafe, so I would have both a day business, and a night business,....well, I'd be doing pretty good.
     Even selling one piece in the cafe would pay for two coffees.

     Mostly in the cafe, both my artwork and I get strange looks.  Sometimes people will just stare at me, and say nothing, which makes me feel real uncomfortable.

     Hello.  I had a good day at the cafe.  I didn't get a lot done, and I was late getting there, but at least I got to paint, and do my thing.
     I guess the A's won today, so there was a lot of excitement about that.  They get to advance to the next round, after beating the Detroit Tigers. 
     Anyway, I have a big job to do, and that is to get all of my napkin art onto this blog.  It won't be easy, and it will take a long time.

     The only way to get it done is to start.  Up above is 'SuperJew'.  It is a work in progress.  It will be 'SJ' inside a Star of David.  On the back, I might draw the hero.  During WWII, the Germans used to call Superman by the name of 'SuperJew' as a joke, so that is how I got the idea for this art piece.

     This is a portrait in progress of some stripper my friend introduced me to.  She was a very nice, beautiful, young lady.  I have no problem with a girl being a stripper to make some extra money.  To me, it is just an art form that can help pay for college.

     Many of my pieces just start out as a ballpoint pen drawing on a napkin.  Then I slowly add layers of paint to try and make it into something.  This one is of me walking with my bike while my date is carrying a bottle of wine.  This is based on a real life experience that my lady friend suggested.  I think it will turn out pretty good.

     Here is my little mischievous devil.  The drawing is based off of some cartoon I saw on a flyer, and then I did my own thing with it.  I like this one.  The devil is obviously up to no good, which is kind of what I'm up.  If you are going to do some evil, at least have a good time doing it, I always say.

     'The Ever-Changing Table Display' is often on my table.  I like to show this one a lot, because it kind of indicates what I am doing inside a bar while painting on cocktail napkins. 
     The one below it is the back of a naked woman.  It is okay to show this one, but I have other naked ones that I can't really put on this blog.  That is a shame.  Google doesn't like that kind of stuff.  I've already learned my lesson about having adult material up on a general blog.  What they do is take away the ability for the blog to be monetized.  Someday, I'd like to get a paycheck for the things I do on the web, so I don't want to truck that up.

     This girl was nice.  She was fun to paint, too.  It was because of her last Friday night that some other people wanted their portrait painted, too.  So, because of her, I got some sales that I wouldn't normally have gotten.

     By the time I painted this one, I was on a roll.  I was on my second or third Raineer, and my paint was very fluid.  I also had a lot of paint on my palette, so I just went for it.  He was a nice guy, and I was thinking about Cezanne while I painted this.  CCR was playing on the stereo, so this one just ended up being really good.  It's a beautiful piece, in my opinion.

     These two young ladies were friends of the bearded guy.  They were both very pretty.  I did the best that I could, but sometimes I get nervous when painting beautiful woman.  I can't help it.

     Here are the two of them side by side.  One was done right after the other.  It is fun to see how different people can influence how I paint.  It is a different vibe depending on the people.

     I guess that is enough for this entry.


 

 

  

     Here is my napkin art picture of my friend.  It came out good.  He liked it so much that he bought it.

     Here is a funny one based on my bartender's t-shirt.  Hawkwind is the band Lemmy from Motorhead got kicked out of, which turned out to be a good thing for everybody.

     This is a portrait of a young woman I met through a friend.  It still needs some work, but I like how it is coming out so far.

     Otherwise, it was a pretty fun night.  I had more than a few beers, and sold a couple of pieces, so I was happy.

     Thanks for reading.    

     Here is my napkin art from the cafe today.  I had time today, and I actually sold the 'skull with cigarette' one for $5, which is my standard price.
     Anyway, I started the napkin art on January 1st of this year, and they started selling from day 1.  So, I've just been running with the ball this entire year, to see where it takes me.
     My record for selling napkin art in one night is $230.  That is a lot of money.  The previous record was $185, and I thought that record would never be broken.
     Anyway, I've been having a good time doing this kind of art.  Finally, I get to paint all the ideas I have in my head, without somebody getting in my way.  I'm so done with school and writing essays, and all that crap, when all that matters is the art.
     Most people ignore me.  However, there are many 'art-sensitive' or 'art-aware' people who do make the plunge of a purchase.  Sometimes they buy four or five at a go.
     There are those who try and talk me down a dollar.  I let them get away with it most of the time in order to get the sale.  I also let them do it because I feel sad for them that they can't cough up five bucks to purchase original art.  It is sad.  There are some cases who just don't have the money, and they really want one or two, but that is a different story.  I'm mostly talking about these 'business types' who always want to cut a deal, or get something for nothing.  Such is their nature.

     In a couple of hours, I will go out to the bar, and try again to sell.  Some nights are disheartening.  Even on the saddest nights, I do get work done, so I can sell another day, and that is something.  I always feel good when I get work done.  One thing is for sure, though, and I never know what will happen on any given night.  I could make $100 tonight.  I am not sure.  It has happened multiple times, when I least expect it.

     Also, at least I will have a couple of Raineer Ales, and hopefully listen to some good tunes.  I am pretty sick of Patsy Cline and Johnny Cash at this point, especially the same old albums they play over and over again.  Also, when Billie Holiday plays, I just get depressed.
     Generally, I like good painting music.  CCR is good to paint to.

     Besides the napkin art, my secondary art project is to go every night to this bar for one year.  So far, so good.  It's less than two months away when I will achieve my goal.

     Thanks to anybody who reads this.  I appreciate it.

     Wish my luck, I am doing my best to make some good art.  I'll tell you one thing, it is really hard to do, harder than it looks.
     One problem is that once I sell a piece, I have to make another one that is equally as good or better.  That isn't always easy to do.
     I was telling this young girl that information, and she said, "You can always make another one!"  She is right on some level.  Yes, that is true, but I can never make another one exactly the same.