I had sooooo much fun at Hangout Festival on the beach in my home town of Gulf Shores Alabama. The weather was absolutely perfect. 80 degrees during the day and 70 degrees with a gulf breeze at night. We were either dancing backstage or in the sand. And CMND-Z is so comfortable that I felt so good every day and in every outfit
I started CMND-Z when I was 24. It was a dream back then, and now coming into my fifth year I look back and see all the heart ache, blood, sweat, tears, joy, triumph, and ultimate fulfillment. During these last 5 years of pursuing my dream to start a t-shirt graphic line, I ended up with a commercial screen printing shop, and my clothing line has been growing slowly along with it. I have learned what it takes to be the Boss Lady of both my printing shop and my beloved clothing line, CMND-Z. It is definitely not for the faint of heart and I fight everyday for what I have built in Santa Barbara’s Art District. I will continue to fight and pursue this entrepreneurial dream. It would be o much easier to go work for someone else and not sleep with the stress, but then again, there is always stress in work no matter if you work for yourself or if your work for the man. I am the boss. And I am a LADY.
I am particularly drawn to artists who paint women. I find that I am struggling with who I am as an artist at the moment. Running my two companies bogg me down with the business side of things, so there is not much time left in the day for me to always be creative. But seeing works like these from Carne Griffith, really cleanses my soul when I get overwhelmed with invoicing and estimating and accounting and customer service and designing for other people.
London based artist Carne is amazing. He paints with alcohol! The best use of that drug I have ever dreamed of. He uses liquids like tea, brandy, and vodka to manipulate his inks and graphite, like watercolor. Read more about his life and his works here
Fashion Blogger and photographer Sophia Natalia of It’sNotAboutThat.com wore a slew of CMND-Z to LA Fashion Week. Here is a shot she sent us of her in our custom Backless Bamboo Top. She looks amazing in that dramatic black backless ensemble! Thank you for sharing these with us Sophia!
I got to spend the afternoon in our studio full of badass women. Shannon Jayne and I share our beautiful shop together, Yes, we are very proud mommies. Of the shop that is. We are shooting product shots for the new graphic tee line due in April, just in time for Coachella. And literally as we are shooting, Teresa, my master lady screen printer, is printing out the shirts. And Luna baby pup is sleep under the press. Aaaand, our model Jessi is a dream.
Yep, all female studio workspace. Does it get any better than this? And Don’t Forget! New t-shirt prints out next month!!
I am so excited to go the Jayden Chen’s Art Show tonight at the DNA Gallery. The first time I saw Jayden’s work, I was mesmerized. And she makes me wanna be a better artist. I am for sure buying art tonight. Anyone in the 805, come hang out with us tonight, 529 East Gutierrez.
And check out the rest of Jayden’s work here
all artwork copywrite Jayden Chen
Tonight my good friend Mike Santarossa is hosting an art show at Muni tonight, 22 Anacapa Funk Zone. My shop is in the back of same building as Muni so I got a sneak peak during installation. All the artists did an insane job on these boards, you HAVE to see these.
I was so honored when a client of mine hired me to design his newest tattoo. The job was to design a “Guardian Angel” that woudl go on his left arm. Angels are so real and dear in my life so I was sooooo stoked to dive deep into this project. Below is the final draft…
I am overjoyed that we FunkZone Artists are getting recognition for our work down in the art district. Santa Barbara Magazine featured us in their Best of 2013 edition. Even my little Luna made the shot in front of the CMND-Z mural. Cheers to the artsy fartsy funky town crew keepin it real and authentic and beautiful in da beachside hood.
