Steady as she goes

Had a rough patch of temptation. Made it through. I got real dehydrated and was not getting the right nutrition and it threw me. Did some light work on my tiny treadmill. Drinking lots of water this week and less coffee. Getting good sleep too. Went to see a movie yesterday which was nice. Feeling happy. 

Small business Saturday at Crafted 2015

(James and Ali modeling their new shirts)

My thanks to everyone who came down to Pop Kustom Shoppe at Crafted for small business Saturday yesterday. Special thanks to Andy Harris and family for their usual reliable love and support. So wild to see his family growing and sprouting up so fast. We talked about channel street skate park reopening which he assured me is being worked on and is going to happen folks... We also talked about the San Pedro Shred festival of skate happening next year too and I am going to get an early start on the shirt and poster design as to make sure it looks rad enough to top my last designs from previous years.

My family came down to visit too. Andrew was off with his girl in downtown L.A. Checking out art galleries after thanksgiving but James and his girl Ali came down to the Shoppe and walked around crafted with Sharon and her mom for the afternoon. The boys I watched turn into men. Man it would have been nice to have more time with them this week but I am grateful to get to have them stop down to visit from Sonoma. That's Ali and James in the photo posted above modeling their new shirts. She is adorable james. So happy to see you both!

I have been very busy painting again and I will have a lot more work at the shoppe soon. I plan to have a reveal day for all the new work early next year (which is soon.) it is going to be pretty wild art.

Working on a Long Beach or Redondo Beach shirt next... Just have not decided which city yet. Email me and let me know what city you think would be a good shirt next. 

I discovered some old smaller prints this week that I used to sell. I only found a few sets of them but they are pretty fun. There is a different San Pedro design and a Santa Claus and a few others. Raul has been busy with Calimucho and touring but I will contact him after this week for more shirts as they are moving fast this week as are the poster we silk screened. He was thinking we should make hoodies soon and I think that sounds like a plan.

Angela Romie stopped in back from her travels to New Orleans and it was good to see her home safe. She bought one of the old new found prints and said she is still working on crafted interviews and things and I think she is still busy with her That's so Pedro Podcast which I got the honor of being a guest on awhile back... Check it out if you have a chance.

I finished another commission painting for my Uncle Bill from my moms family this month which is on display at the shoppe until he picks it up when he comes down for his usual monthly visit. This on has goofy, Dudley do right, some Warner brothers guys building a snow man (kind of a winter theme) people are really liking seeing it hanging up and they love hearing how he is commissioning me to paint this series of paintings. He has told me he wants me to paint 20 paintings all about the same size. I think this one makes it about number 9 so far. He has quite an imagination and has been one of the biggest supporters of my art life. He bought me Kiss records and comic book subscriptions for my birthday when I was growing up which were what inspired me to become an artist. He loves sports and is very knowledgable about baseball, football, golf even horse racing. He is a pretty passionate movie goer so I get my movie reviews from him too. He collects toy like me too and it's always fun to hear what he has picked up in his latest toy hunts.

I got the garage at home cleared out a bit to make room to work out there this summer. I managed next to get my studio fixed up a bit more so I can work in there again now and pretty soon I will have access to my record collection and guitar amp again to play some music and plug in the twangers again and turn up the noise a bit. I started painting again which I was kind of wondering what was next painting wise as I had been making shop art for so long I had not worked in anything bigger for awhile and I was sort of waiting to see when inspiration would kick in again and it did when I reclaimed my work space at home and donated some of my toy collection to the less fortunate for Christmas.

Things are great and I am very grateful for all of your support this last year. Online sales have been good too so thank you all for visiting and shopping on my Etsy online shop site (just go to Etsy and Search my name Scott Aicher or Aicher's pop Kustom shoppe (https//:www.etsy.com/shop/popkustomshoppe).

Very happy holidays and I will see you all down at Crafted, the home of hand made 110 e.22nd street, San Pedro, CA 90731 in warehouse 10. My shoppe is located in space 151a right near the front entrance. See you soon and Thank You! Sincerely, Scott Aicher

Merry Christmas...lets rock and roll!

Force Friday

So Force Friday came and went... If you don't already know, Force Friday was September 2nd 2015 when all of the new Star Wars things went on sale at midnight...sort of... What happened was a handful of people brought their phone cameras to vlog post their experience. Some footage made you tube. I was waiting for it to be over the next day in hopes to find lots of happy posts of happy fans in line and in stores. I think it might be expecting too much from the current young people to embrace Star Wars. Most of the adults taking their kids to force Friday grew up with phantom menace being their intro to the much larger world of the force. If you remember the rush to stand in line for that movies midnight toy reveal it was flooded with product...all of it now worth less than original retail price. So this time they put less product out. What was there on the shelves seemed to be pretty well thought out and the surprise I assume is they held back most of the new characters from the movie. I am told they are saving the rest for December when the movie comes out.

I love Star Wars but truthfully Disney is so massive now I really don't want to buy tons of the new movie things. I have collected for some time now. Some of my good friends work for Disney and I am very glad to see them involved with Star Wars now. One of my buddies I used to work with and collect figures with at lunch time got the chance to design some of the new packaging. I am so stoked for him and I imagine his son must be overjoyed and so proud of his dad. 

I love what Walt Disney did in his lifetime, but I don't think he would have necessarily have been a Star Wars fan... I am happy for my friends that work there, but Disney is so massive now I can't say I dig that big of a corporate machine. I slowed way down on my action figure collecting long ago too. One day I hope to make my own toys on some small level. I guess why I don't is plastic. I don't want to put more plastic out there. I really don't know the conditions of the factories that make Star Wars toys. Some toy companies like figures toy co. Show photos of their factories, but how do you really know how the workers are treated? Sorry if this is a bummer toy collectors...but that's my take on collecting now. Can I live without it? Yes. 

Well, one thing is certain...I am looking forward to the movie. I made the decision to buy one new figure. I bought the 20 inch captain phasma from jakks pacific. I got it online real cheap. My wife bought a remote control darth Vader car on the Q too mostly for me and my dog to play with in the back yard. I have never owned a remote control car, so that should be fun.

I don't care for the snarky comments from some of these kids posting videos of force Friday who are obviously not fans, but hey I was once an angry young man so a long as they are not hurting anyone...whateves... Hey cool guys, we know you just went to buy toys to sell on eBay later for profit, and it's not your thing...may the cash be with you. 

It's entertainment. That's all it is. It supposed to be fun. 

I stared collecting toys when I gave up cigarettes and alcohol years ago. I thought we might have kids to pass them on to someday... Well we did not have kids. Toy collecting got a bit addicting but thankfully we just don't have the room for too much. Sometimes if I have mint in box toys I donate them to toy drives. 

I don't let myself get too caught up in entertainment. I try to entertain myself with my own art mostly, but art books and toys can be inspiring at times, so now and then I do love new toys and books. The movies are nice too, but I love more getting the object to hold and imagining the story...like right now...we don't know anything really about the Force Awakens, but we have a handful of new figures to imagine what we can expect. A giant chrome female storm trooper for me is a great place to start.

Too bad Siskel and Ebert are going to miss it.

See you at the movies!

Researching the blues

Today I watched the new Keith Richards documentary on Netflix. I have always wanted to be a rock star first and artist second growing up, but art won and here I am today. Music has been the most important art supply I ever bought. A good record can help you find the connection to the flow of the painting almost right away. I had the chance to meet many of my idols. Many were rock stars and more were artists. Most of the artists I love have a connection to music in some way. Watching this documentary made me want to play guitar today, and I will. The part about being a good artist is the magic happens when you let go and let it take over. Usually most artists work in solitude in a studio. Time passes fast for me as an artist or painter...whatever...I sit and work and the world happens. I get so focused I get lost. I forget to take care of my life and myself. I have at times gone so far I have lost my sense of humor. Note to self: don't ever lose your sense of humor. Guitar can be a challenge for me. Using the left hand instead etc... Sometimes I play very well, but usually I'm the only one who hears it. I have always thought I had to play three chord rock, but I got this nylon classical acoustic at a flea market awhile back that has this wonderful tone. I am working on music here and there. I am going to try and sing too. I bought an old tape recorder online awhile back and I am going to use it this week to start working on signing and songs. I don't like my voice that much, but I f you don't dance and sing once in awhile you are missing out on life. I really don't want to play for anyone but my wife, dog and my close friends, but I have learned that if you practice a lot you get past that fear. That's what guitar is for me facing my fears. Singing is even a bigger fear, but I will work towards it. Most likely I will sing silly songs, but I don't know yet what it will be. Last time I tried it was trying to do a replacements/teenage fan club thing. Maybe it will be me and my acocutic guitar solo someday (well yeah...just like this afternoon). My dog falls asleep when I play and he seems to enjoy it. For now it's my escape. I have been taking time to take care of myself and my health too. Taking care of things at home. Watching this documentary today seeing keef at home and listening to records I sure miss my uncle Don who named his first born son Keith... He sure would have dug it. Lots of love in this documentary. I reccomend it. I want to get Keefs new cd, but I just ordered the new Wilco and Los Lobos cds recently so I gotta get to those first. From what I have heard so far I really like it. If you have never watched hail hail rock and roll you shoul see that too. I must have watched it 20 times or so on t.v. Growing up. The dialog between Keith and Chuck are so incredible, and the part were chuck sings by himself in his dim lit house... Just check that one out... My favorite Stones lp? So hard to choose but the Keith moments on them make them great. The first Keith moments I fell in love with were on Some Girls... When the whip comes down, and even though Mick sang far away eyes that tune is so Keith and it might be my fave Stones tune, but don't make me pick...o.k.? 

Be safe and take care! -Scott

Long break time

I have taken a long break from social media. I will update my website and my Etsy page but recently I have just become ill from the state of the world and I just need some time off from FB.

I have been back to taking care of my health and looking after the house. The studio got cleaned up some. I took a summer break to smell the roses and just enjoy the work I have put in to get me to where I am today. My shoppe is doing fine and is full of shirts, posters and overflowing with my art. My dog and I are bonding and he is making great progress in listening and hopefully we will be walking arround the neighborhood soon together.

 I have been reading The Book of You by Dr.Oz which has helped me with morning stretches and healthy recipes. It has great illustrations of the human systems and it's pretty funny to read. I got into an old comic book called Moon Knight which I got the first run of online pretty cheap. 

 I am working on another painting for my Uncle Bill on my mom's side of the family. This one he wants Hanna Barberra's wacky racers vs. a made up hot rod of villains. He's pretty cleaver with his ideas and it's fun to paint for someone who really enjoys the work. He and I both collect action figures and comics. He often gave me subscriptions to marvel comics for my birthday growing up.

I have been working on my Alien guitar lately too. I got some new pickup covers and knobs in silver. I also picked up some better black tuners. It may need to go up to Alvas Music soon to get the final details done. I also finished a new flyer for Toys That Kill yesterday that turned out great. It's for a local show here in town this October. 

I have been wearing my carpel tunnel brace on my left hand which has helped a lot. I am back playing guitar again too. Really fun to be playing again. I found a book of lyrics I wrote in my studio too. I woke up this morning thinking of band names. The one I thought up I liked the most today was The Book Readers. The weather is cooling hopefully which makes jamming easier. 

I mostly like playing my nylon acoustic I picked up at the flea market for 20 bucks and fixed up. The dog loves to hear my play. He falls asleep when I play...is that good or bad? I stopped drinking diet cokes about six moths ago too. I switched to unsweetened iced tea and black coffee. I tried a Diet Coke a few weeks ago and could not stomach it, so I guess that's that. Also gave up ice cream too. I'm a bit lactose intolerant anyway so I switched to nonfat zero fro yo fro trader joes awhile back and frozen mango to beat the heat. Did I mention ice water? Lots of that too.

I plan on making new poster with the new flyer design soon this month... Maybe I will have them in time for the show on the 17th. Of course with help from my pals at Calimucho, San Pedro again. In the next blog I hope to take some photos around the studio that show my work process. Maybe that will be a page on my website? I know people want to see how I do the art so I hope to have that for you guys soon.

Until next time, be kind to animals...even humans... 

Tinkering project

Working on finishing up this long time project. I found this guitar at a flea market in town. It's a 1987 (I think?) Squire Bullet Strat. It was blue and beat up when I got it. I think I paid 20 bucks for it. The parts worked sort of but needed re-wired which was fine because I had to strip it all down to paint it anyway. I painted it with acrylic paint and 11 coats of krylon crystal clear coat I think... Maybe satin clear because it's kind of satin finish...anyway... I had it for sale for $800.00 in my shoppe for about a year or so. It got attention and a few close offers (I would have gone as low as 500) well I just decided to hang on to it. The paint job is an homage to the late H.R. Giger whom I have loved since Alien first hit theaters. (Did you know he also designed the batmoble for batman forever?) Today I tracked down the parts I need to finish this project.... Chrome pickup covers, switch knob and volume knobs. I also found some black mini tuners (I was looking for matte silver, but could only find locking ones and I just want basic tuners for this) picked up a batch of new stainless steel pick guard screws too. Now I just have to wait for the parts, in the mean time I got two new sets of extra slinkys from Alvas Music (they re-wired and did the full set up after I painted the thing too) I oiled the neck which had got a bit faded from all the sun at my shoppe. I used the oil my wife got me for my dry elbows, Aragon oil... It seemed to work just fine. I put on one of the slinky sets and cleaned off the dust from the warehouse (my shoppe is inside an old ww2 navy warehouse) I have been cleaning the studio and when it gets cooler I will plug it in to my Princeton (it's sold state, not tube, but someday I hope to upgrade to tube but it does the job for now) it's a low budge model but it's super light and very thin fast neck and the set up from Alvas was fantastic...the frets are still gleaming. When I get it all done I will try to add an update here. Keep on rockin in the free world!