Each year, we have the Texas State Fair for three weeks in the September/October time – drawing people from all over to visit the city and enjoy the park. They typically have about 8 white swan paddleboats you can rent and ride in for half an hour during the fair time within the Leonhardt Lagoon but they typically go into storage for the rest of the year. We have recently been invited to paint 2 of the 6 total DRAGON BOATS by the Children’s Aquarium in Fair Park, just adjacent to the lagoon. My wife and I were excited to get a chance on a job so fun, and selected the blue and metallic pink dragons to paint. For the blue boat, we decided to go for something traditional, in line with the famed Dragon Boat Race boats. We chose a dark and light blue for the scales and bright red flames for contrast. For the pink one, the request was “something a little bit girly in nature” so we went with an idea my wife had about a school notebook she had in grade school with pinks and neon colors. Keeping in line with that idea, we chose lime green, purple, teal, and light pink to detail it with speckles of scales along with a few hearts and stars. Because this boat started out as a metallic fuchsia, we chose to make a metallic/glittery glaze and make sure the sparkles were all around. We even added a little star with my sweet son’s initials in a secret location on this pink boat!

Sea Dragon Safari boats are now open, and operating daily from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., with the last ride at 4:30 p.m.  Get tickets for the 20-minute rides at the Lagoon dock.

Its a very important moment when all the hard work you see your wife and the people you work with get the recognition deserved for a job well done! Both the director of the Deep Ellum Foundation, Stephanie Hudiberg, and the Deep Ellum Archive Coordinator, my dear wife, have invited me as a guest to attend with at the Historic Kalita Humphrey’s theater in Dallas to the Preservation Dallas Achievement Awards ceremony, where they will receive an award for getting the neighborhood of Deep Ellum on the National Register of Historic Places. A huge accomplishment!

I will be set up with my 10×10 booth at Crowdus, near Elm Street for this 3 day event. Come find me as I hardly ever do outdoor market type events anymore. There will be several stages and more local artists than you can imagine. It will be a good time!

A new concept created for Peter Novotny, owner of the Ruins Bar in Deep Ellum. This mural represents Mayahuel, the deity associated with the effects of alcohol, specifically, Mezcal. According to an ancient Oaxacan legend, Mayahuel, the goddess of Agave and fertility, had fallen in love with a mortal and given birth at the end of a cold winter to “an infinite number” (for the Aztecs, the concept of infinity started at 400) of rabbits, each one describing a stage of intoxication. This mural is located on Pryor in Deep Ellum (https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZBt99Ka1E2gQnLS57) for a street view.

Thank you to the City of Dallas’ visitor’s bureau, Visit Dallas, we (my wife and I) have been selected as ambassadors, for the tourism campaign launched in the UK by #visitdallas in conjunction w #traveltexas (state’s tourism agency). #SquareMile is a luxury lifestyle magazine for the City of London. We are proud to represent the City of Dallas!

#deepellumbluesalley

I am pretty excited that the Deep Ellum Community Association and the Deep Ellum Foundation can finally have space to work and work TOGETHER for the community. This building is the old historic Dallas “City Hotel”. Such a cool space with so much potential. I can’t wait to help them get it fixed up.

I have been dubbed “Spider Dan”. 3030 Elizabeth St by Hwy 75 in Dallas. Design by Eyecon Murals.

This week marks the first in a while for me. Working up in the sky, on an 8 story building in downtown Dallas, just off the highway 75 Central Expressway. It also marks the first time to be working with Chris Arnold, from Eye Con Studios, someone I really respect as a mural artist,. It is a small team of artists, but we are familiar and I am back on scaffolds doing what I love to do.

This week marks the starting of the Deep Ellum Blues Alley. We begin Phase 1 of this project on the brand new highrise, The Stack in Deep Ellum, along Commerce. The Deep Ellum Foundation has selected artists in a juried process, and now its time to get everyone together to make this Dallas Landmark happen! More updates to come as this is a BIG project!