How to Be Miserable as an Artist

The top 10 list of How to Be Miserable as an Artist.

Playfully displayed at a very good and very happy artist's house, the venerable You Killed Me First.  As the canvas in the foreground suggest, Believe the Lie~.

Click the jump to check out the best things NOT to do as an artist

Teach. Each. Child.

Classic Teacher paster on Melrose.

Teach. Each. Child.

Doubled Up Sluts

Bankrupt Slut ges backed into a corner and doubled up on the Sunset Strip.

Vented

Cool graffiti piece on a vent in downtown LA.

The vent is loaded with additional tags.

New York Flavor in LA - We See You!

New York graffiti masters Col, 2asae, and Ski bring some East Coast flavor to Melrose.

Flip the Script

Flip the Script sticker getting up off Wilshire.

Hug & Kiss Yourself - You are Worth It

A sticker spotted at an odd place on the ground next to a tree.

It is a postal sticker that says 'Hug & Kiss Yourself - You are Worth It'.

Indeed.  And add a little pleasure rub in there if you feel like it.  Stay up~

Play On, Players!

A bunch of stickers get stuck off of Beverly.  Slaps from Love Life, Keno, 2wenty, Ballerina Black, Half, 125er, 2much, Meez and more.

FYF

Hamok FYF bombs over an old 'A' shutter by Eine.

Sunset in Venice Beach

A gorgeous set of Sunset at Venice Beach.

Enjoy, and Love LA~

Never Hide, Jesus

Plastic Jesus does some culture jamming by combining Jesus, as seen in the Shroud of Turin, with Ray Ban's 'Never Hide' corporate campaign.

Dig how the Plastic Jesus name was done up in the Ray Ban style.

Betso SOA Graffiti

Betso's style and characters make him one of M&F's favorite graffiti artists.

Betso does roll through Los Angeles every so often, but it has been too long.  So we've got the next best thing.  Check out some assorted shots of Besto and his SOA crew getting up and getting down in Las Vegas.

Biking Sun Maidens

A biker blows past a sun maiden mural in Venice Beach.

Beat Box'n

Oter is Beat Box'n on Melrose with a cool animated sticker.

Riding with VRHS, Sugartip, LA_Blue, Bankrupt Slut, Couto(?)and more.

Amazing Gothic House in Venice - El Bordello Alexandra

An amazing gothic themed house in Venice.   Fully adorned with gargoyles, female devils, and outdoor paintings.  Apparently this is a hotel where people can spend the night. . . . if you dare! (bom bom bom)

 A quote from the people running the Bordello describes the place as such:  Our landlord is the dungeonmaster from the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon. The laundry is in a gilded cage on the roof bedecked with jewels and encrusted with red rubies, blue hearts, yellow moons and purple horseshoes. To enter the laundry room you must roll a nine or higher and forfeit 20 stamina points. We are all mildly psychic. We all have cats that are psychic. The guy at the end of the hall has a pet dragon. The guy at the end of the hall on two is a dragon. We are situated two doors away from the Morrison Apartments where Jim allegedly wrote a few Doors tunes and partied on the roof [photo]. We all wear armor to bed, excepting dungeonmaster.

Click the jump for more pics!

Jaber - Forget Internet Fame

Forget about internet fame.  Forget about all the dudes who do 5 pieces of art and then blast it on Tumblr like they have a name.  Jaber has been earning a name on the streets for longer than some artists have been alive--and he is still one of the most active names in the game.  Few can compare to the ups that Jaber has got and how is is killing it worldwide.

Not only does Jaber get up everywhere, but he is also pioneering new techniques.  Sure, plenty of dudes have used customized paint sprayers, but have you ever seen one that is so clean with such a fat cap?  Its like hand tag blown up 1000 times.  The method is Jaber's secret recipe.  Shots captured from Downtown Los Angeles.

Dig it.  No one has earned it more . . . Stay Up!

Mylius Mural

Impressive and fun mural from Mylius in Venice Beach.

With surfing astronauts, beach ball aliens, and some super cute kitty's and dogs.

Dig it~

Street Art is Like Flowers

M&F has always said that a big reason that we love street art, is that like flowers do in nature, street art provides little splotches of life and color.

When this blog started we used to post pictures of flowers along with street art.  M&F doesn't do that as much anymore, but the flowers still find a way into the pictures with street art.  Like here, on Santa Monica Blvd., where some fake roses get placed on the street next to a Bankrupt Slut sticker.

Dig it.  Stay up~

Venice Graffiti

Graffiti in Venice with letters from Ret(?) and another 'Venice' piece next to it.

With a movie producer running up the street.

Failure is Essential to Success

A feel good mural with strong values.

Very cool how this beach front home in Venice Beach turned the lower area into a mural.  The mural features a row of girls, and each has something written across her chest like 'Failure is Essential to Success' and 'Be Kind at Heart', 'True Happiness is Only 10 Percent Circumstance' (True!), and 'My Mother Taught Me Integrity'.

Unknown artist.  Dig it~

Sorry About Your Luck, Venice

A sticker in Venice saying 'Sorry about your luck, Venice'.

Not sure what the feeling sorry is in reference to.  It seems that Venice is pretty dang lucky!

The World's Smallest Front Yard

The World's Smallest Front Yard is in Venice Beach.

So small, that a shadow from a pole almost obscures the view.

Fun thing that someone did to make their yard special.  Click the link for a closer view

Like M.C. Escher

A sticker that is presents a geometric mind trick, somewhat suggestive of the work of M.C. Escher.

Along the bike path in Venice Beach.

Get Up, Stay Up!

Stickers with some West Side flavor on a garbage bin in Venice Beach.

Sticekrs from DTA, Pike, 852R, Worm, JL, Spor SRT, Orie, John Scott, Repoe, Destr B2D, Script UPN, Fatsoe, Sefo, DeeJ and more.

Livin in LA - Vacation in Venice Beach

Venice Beach is M&F's unofficial home away from home.  Venice is only a half hour drive from Hollywood, and it is the perfect place for a quick day long vacation.

Venice Beach is also one of the hottest tourist beaches around LA, and on any given day the beach and the boardwalk will be filled with thousands of tourists mulling through

Venice was recently rated as the most expensive area to live in LA, and also the best place to see a celebrity.  Venice is also home to the RV people, wild homeless locals, and the worst place to have dudes pester you about rap music that you never want to listen to.

The street art and graffiti scene in Venice is one of the strongest in LA.  Many West Side locals hold it down, and it is also a place where nearly every artist from all over LA, and maybe the world, will visit at one point or another.    There are some trademark Venice art murals, and this post does not cover them specifically.  Rather, this captures a day spent in Venice--and we did see a celebrity!

^ Paparazzi trying to snap a shot of Michelle Monaghan as she stepped into the van.  Michelle walked right by M&F but we didn't have the camera out at the time.  She was pretty, but there were prettier girls in Venice this day!

^A tourist biking in Venice along the bike-way.

^The beautiful Venice Beach beach with the Santa Monica mountains in the background~  Yes, that is a topless sunbather, albeit front down.

^Trisha Rey has loooong legs.

^Two lovers--the shadows almost look like a Banksy piece or something.

^Cock Rock shadow play.

^ Silhouette of two lovers on a double bike.

^More filming of Michelle Monaghan's movie.  She was not in this scene.  These are all actors composing the background movement for the shot below.

^These two having a conversation were the scene being filmed.  (That is not Michelle Monaghan--maybe it is a body double because this girl looks similar to Michelle)

^And this guy is always on Venice.  Except once, when he was spotted on the Sunset Strip.  Another Venice Beach regular, the American Flag speedo dude, was not around this afternoon.

^Grabbed a vegan smoothie at Moments.

These guys were out having an outdoor jam session.  Just because.  The sounded great.  And right after this, M&F bumped into street artist and pro-skater AMK.  Small world.  Stay up in Venice~

All the Girls Love Jesus

All the Girls Love Earl and Plastic Jesus get pasted in Hollywood.

Actually, all the girls love Earl.  Don't be jealous, Jesus~

Can't Stop Goodboy Release Party at Hotrod

Can't Stop Goodboy is announcing an Art Show/Clothing Release Party at Hotrod in Westwood.

The show will have all kinds of gear as part of the clothing launch, as well as free food and drinks.

The release is set for November 30th. Full info can be found on the flyer.

Click the link to check out a promo video for the show

Fishy Business

A sign adorned with a couple of fish heads. And then hung up on a sign in Venice Beach.

Flowers on the Flower Store

Random Act paints a beautiful flower on the vacant remains of an old weed flower shop in West Hollywood.

Dig the purple popping off the yellow canvas.

Stay up and stay beautiful~

El Mac Paints a Portait

El Mac is one of the most talented graffiti artists on the planet.

Absolutely love his portraits, like this one of Kobe Bryant on Pico.


***Update--This is not Kobe but a tribute to Verse LTS.  Thanks for the information in the comments***

Living Lowered

Lowered Living gets pasted, but for some reason someone scraped the face off at multiple locations along Melrose.

You Go Girl! Lady Gaga is a BANKRUPT SLUT~

Bankrupt Slut's poster saying 'Slut - Its a Good Thing!'.

Featuring Lady Gaga, and Slut-empowering phrases like Everybody Loves a Slut, 'I do what I Want', You Want It, 'Get Some', Slut = Stud, and 'You Go Girl'!

The world will be better when being a slut a good thing~

Get Up, Stay Up!

Awesome combo sign on Melrose.

Slammed with stickers from NRC, DLB, Eagle, Casik, Metos, Oiler, 455er, BLK, and many many more.

Give Your Brain as Much Attention as Your Hair

It might not be a school bus but its still teachin'.  Like the bus says, Give Your Brain as Much Attention as Your Hair, and you will be a thousand times better off.

Fingerbanged Sexual Predator

A sticker from Finger Bang on the forehead of a Nwhre poster.

Next to a couple of pasters and a stencil calling someone out as a sex predator.

VRHS Street Art

Hand drawn VRHS sticker from the street artist visiting from the North West.

A Bunch of Hags

A bunch of hags, but not old ladies.

Stickers from Hags get stuck on Melrose.

Teacher Tributes Shepard Fairey - Obey!

Teacher continues on with his impressive tribute series towards his favorite artists.

This one features Shepard Fairey, who everyone knows goes by 'Obey' on the streets.

Its been said it before, and it's worth saying again, the artistic skill it takes to create these stencils without computer processing is amazing.

Click the jump below for more action shots of the Techenator--or Teacher with a bionic leg getting up on Sunset.