“fishin’ with santa claus in heaven”

He’s back! [insert fan-girl screaming here]. LA based artist Wayne White was on the podcast almost five years ago – episode no.30 to be exact – and I could not be more thrilled to have him back. Wayne is one of my favorite artists of all time for a whole bunch of reasons which, of course, we’ll cover during this episode. The really big reason though? He got me making art again. Not just dabbling, but truly finding my way to do the work I want to do, the way I want to do it. During episode 30, he had two words for me… just two, short but very impactful words that squashed a long held belief I’d allowed an old art school professor to plant in my head decades ago. I’ve told this story before, and it’s actually a huge part of the TED talk I was supposed to have done in Nashville in March {they’re rescheduling so hopefully I’ll still get to tell this story standing on that red dot on a big stage}, but today I got to tell that story to the man himself! Listen right up there under that Cheap Bastard, or subscribe here.

First, one of my favorite films ever / my favorite moment from said film:

Seriously, if you watch Beauty is Embarrassing on a plane you will lose it. I cried so much when Ms. Stoddard showed up in Chattanooga to get her book signed. Such a special moment… that Wayne almost ruined.

Okay, wipe away the tears because “it’s tiiiiiime for PEEWEE’S PLAYHOUSE”:

Soooo, I popped the theme song in here so you could see a bunch of Wayne’s work in action, but side note: I can still sing that entire theme song. Wow. I guess that’s permanently in my brain. Good to know.

Okay, moving along. These word paintings on found thrift shop paintings were my first introduction to Wayne years ago, and I still love them oh so much:

Beautifully painted and ridiculously funny… perfect combo, if you ask me. But, as he said, sometimes he gets bored of the thrift shop paintings, so here’s a look at his latest oil paintings. Clouds. Look at these unbelievable clouds:

Stunning! I loved listening to him talk about how and why he decided to paint clouds for this series. Poetic. Here’s a peek at them in progress on his easel:

I mean, come on. Gorgeous.

Ok, drumroll please…. introducing Wayne’s newest baby:

The Wayne White Puppet Show! *Bear played by Mimi Pond. Here are links to the first two episodes { Ep. 1  /  Ep. 2 }, but keep your eye on his Instagram feed for upcoming puppet shows!

And finally, since we started off talking about Wayne as a kid growing up in Tennessee, please enjoy this:

Seriously, how could I not post that? Hey, he put it up on his Instagram feed, so I figure it’s fair game! Thank you so, so much to Wayne for doing this with me again; thanks to the Thrive Network for supporting the episode; and thank YOU for listening. Let’s have Wayne play us out, shall we …

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Wayne White (@waynewhiteart) on Apr 2, 2020 at 10:27am PDT

Other links:

1. Wayne on Instagram
2. Beauty is Embarrassing {film}
3. Maybe Now I’ll Get the Respect I So Richly Deserve {book}
4. Joshua Liner Gallery, NYC
5. Richard Brautigan, Poet
6. Esther Pearl Watson / Mark Todd
7. Big Time, Peter Gabriel {video}
8. Tonight Tonight, Smashing Pumpkins {video}
9. Wayne drawing with both hands
10. Thrive Network

 

Source: thejealouscurator