ACEO and 9"x12" Original Print Auctions

My ebay.com Auctions

Both auctions have a starting bid of .99 cents. The first House Sparrow: Neighbors is an Art Card Editions And Original (ACEO) 2.5" x 3.5" of a House Sparrow family that lives next door in the crevice between a pipe and the wall of an apartment building. This is a black and white linocut print with hand painted watercolor embellishments signed, titled, and numbered. Number 10 out of 19.

The second original print auction is number 2 from a limited "off-shoot edition" of only 4 prints. La Lavandaria On Pico is a linocut print on 9"x12" tan paper depicting my observation on a typical Saturday visit to the lavandaria (laundromat) in my L.A. neighborhood of Pico Union. The larger black and white edition (not offered in this auction) had 31 total prints offered to my monthly subscribers. Be among the first to receive a print from my monthly editions by subscribing: JohnTallacksen.com/Shop (online order form). Prints are shipped or available for local Los Angeles, CA pick-up on the 10th of every month.

My ebay.com Auctions

Starting A New Year With New Art And Toys

After a hiatus due to a story too complicated to explain I am back. Part of the reason I haven't posted in a while is because I have been exploring other social media outlets. Please join me on these shiny toys:
Twitter
Instagram
Paper.li

For all the bird watchers out there I have a new ACEO on Ebay and a block print as-well.

Primstav 1: ACEO Edition

The same yet different

Aerosol paint and ink on elephant dung card stock (From the historic LA paper store McManus & Morgan) of ancient Norwegian Primstav calendar symbol for January 6th (Julian calendar). 

Number 25 is up for auction for the next 10 days here.

My birthday is January 6th. This piece represents a return to the beginnings of my identity in view of my Norwegian culture. This series will continue with editions of each Primstav symbol in order. Please view the pictures provided to see samples of how each card is the same yet unique. 

This card is signed and numbered with the rest of the edition

New Pico Union ACEO Auction

Pico and Union (Pico Donuts) by: John Tallacksen

Bid on this original painting here

This is the first in a series in which I hope to work out my relationship to my neighborhood as an Anglo male in a Latino community. The scene depicts a popular donut shop on the corner of Pico and Union where there are always men playing cards outside. The occurance of these men playing cards at this location is so common that when many of the youth watched me paint this card they recognized who and where it was immediately. I plan on using this as a color study for a larger painting of the same subject matter. The painting is a synesthetic piece meaning I used my Color-Grapheme Synesthesia condition to determine the color scheme. On the back of the card you will find the title "Pico + Union" written in the colors that my mind's eye sees each letter in which I used in this piece. Spray paint is a staple in the street art world and is rarely used by ACEO artists which is why I try to use it as much as possible.

Two New 10 Day ACEO Auctions Posted!

Western Tanager by: John Tallacksen

  Under an hour before the Lonesome George piece sold I was able to post two more ACEO's (one of them pictured above) in my AUCTIONS page. That was close! I don't like being caught without artwork for sale in my shops. It's embarrassing. Thank you to all of my buyers, collectors, and supporters out there.

  So here it is- the latest fruits of my labor! Click on my AUCTIONS tab up at the top to view all of my 10 day auctions. Both of these pieces have color palets chosen by my Grapheme-Color Synesthesia, and interestingly enough the colors that I see in the words "Tanager" and "Orchid" match the actual colors of the subject matter. 

  I'll be posting more during the week. I have a few interesting requests to work on that some of you have sent in. 

  FYI I've been working on a limited print series of a subject that is very dear to my heart. Stay tuned for images and info...

Remembering Lonesome George

Lonesome George by: John Tallacksen

  On June 25th Lonesome George, the last Pinta Island Tortoise died in the Galapagos Islands. This art card is in memory of him and his species that we've lost. God forgive us.

View other original art cards here

More Original Synesthetic Art

Black Skimmer 2 by: John Tallacksen

  I've just posted the art card above for a ten day auction. It is the third piece in my synesthetic series. If yI've posted a description of the process here. Each card in this series is signed and dated, but the title of the piece is also written in the colors that I see in my mind due to Color-Grapheme Synesthesia. The colors assigned to each letter is what I allow to determine the color scheme of each piece. 

  If you're not familiar with black skimmers they are these wonderful birds that hunt for food by flying very low over water while their lower beak is dipped in order to scoop up food. It's an amazing sight to see them fly so low and watch the line of ripples in the water that follows them.

El Nombre De La Ciudad ACEO

El Nombre De La Ciudad by: John Tallacksen

  I created this card earlier in the year as a color study for a larger piece after becoming a fan of Fabian Debora's work. For me painting this piece was a way to cope with my city's lack of preserving or understanding it's own history. Currently there is a sort of ban on murals in Los Angeles which effects a lot of things negatively. Our city was named after a mural in Spain depicting angels surrounding the mother Mary.

  At the same time we have a lot of human trafficking going on in McArthur Park and other areas. I don't quite know how to defend the people being sold into slavery of different kinds, but this piece is the beginning of my action against it. Those of us in the church hold the purity of Christ's mother in high regard, but we need to do the same for God's daughters. This is why the young girl I've painted dressed as the Virgin de Guadelupe isn't supposed to be Mary. Instead this girl represents the average girl in L.A. 

My First Official Synesthetic Art Piece

  A few years ago I discovered that I have a condition called Grapheme Synesthesia. It's pretty hard to describe what it is but I'll give it a shot... when I'm reading, working out some mathematics, or thinking of words or numbers in my head my mind's eye takes over and I see lots of colors. Simply put, each letter or number has a specific color assigned to it in my psyche and when they are put together to form words or numbers I see a blur or gradient of colors. Some letters or numbers are more dominant than others and tend to take over the colors of the word or number.

  Those of you who are already familiar with Synesthesia won't be surprised that another artist has this condition. Many, not all, artist types have some form of Synesthesia. I recently read that one of my favorite artists Vincent Van Gogh had it which makes a lot of sense in view of his obsession with color. 

  In this post I am introducing a completely new method for my creative process that relies heavily on my condition especially in the selection of colors for the piece. As you will see, I have used the format of ACEOs for this experiment, and this particular experiment is up for a 10 day auction now.

A representation of what I see when I think of the term "Hip-Hop"

  Above is a quick rendering of more or less what I see in my mind when I: hear, read, or think of the term "Hip-Hop". Each letter or character has it's assigned color. The blurred line above my handwriting is sort of what I see when I think of the word quickly- for instance when someone uses this term in a sentence and my mind must keep up with every word as the person is saying it. This particular term has a very dark cloud around it in my mind's eye, but I wrote it on a white background for the sake of clarity. The idea was to create a tribute to Hip-Hop since it is a movement I resonate with deeply. This quick "jot" was created in photoshop to serve as my color palette for the piece pictured below.

The final experiment in ACEO format

  This image is a scan of the final piece utilizing the colors chosen by my synesthesia. Yes, this is a 3 1/2" x 2 1/2" ACEO. I am using this miniature experiment to fashion a work method for what will hopefully become a life-long project in printmaking. This is a new style for me inspired by Dave Kinsey's work among others. I need a new style that will compliment my new-found love of printmaking, and I'm hoping this is it- or an early version of it. Please check back on this blog often to see how this style evolves, and to be informed of my first print runs in the coming months. I have my eye on a few workshops here in Los Angeles so stay tuned art lovers!

Mallard Duck ACEO

Mallard In Flight by: John Tallacksen

  When I can I really like to make minimalist marks on my work. Something about simplicity get's me excited which is funny because I can be a very complicated and scattered person. This ACEO captures the action of a mallard duck taking flight from the water. I used watercolor, deco paint markers, as well as my signature aerosol paint to create this image. This miniature piece is created in a similar process to my snipe and sea gull cards.

Click here to bid on this piece

The Tawny Owl ACEO

The Tawny Owl by: John Tallacksen

  I found this peculiar looking fellow inside of a 1950's encyclopedia. I had to draw the look on his or her face. According to the encyclopedia the Tawny, or Wood, Owl is indigenous to central Europe. 

  The image was created with Japanese brush pen and spray paint. Click below to view my 10 original artwork auction updates. 

John's 10 Day Original ACEO Auctions: Check Often 

Bjorn ACEO

Bjorn in the Snow by: John Tallacksen

Jump To This Auction

  It's been a while since I've drawn Bjorn. Sadly progress is very slow on that project. I have a lot of art adventures coming up in the near future that I'm working on. Stay tuned to this blog for exciting updates within the next week.

Wild Snipe by: John Tallacksen

  The next time someone tries to trick you into hunting for snipe, what they think will be a wild goose chase, you can surprise them with the fact that snipe do exist. If you have the winning bid for the piece auctioned above you can also return with the card and show them what a wise guy you can be. This auction has 9 days left so browse through my collectible pieces at this link. 

  This card is a continuation of my series using spray paint. This is a significant fact because aerosol paint is rarely used in the ACEO world, and therefore these cards have added value. I've posted on this blog not too long ago about my personal history with this particular medium. Click here to read that posting. As always, I will be continually posting more of my original art cards exclusively in that same auction page. Sometimes I add one card, sometimes I add two, but there will be more constantly trickling in. I plan on never getting caught without having at least one original card posted for auction at any given time so check back often.

The Art Market Smashing Records: You Might Smash A Few Too

  Oh I most definitely appreciate all of the patrons of the world who buy, and therefore support, the world's art. Unfortunately the middle class is rapidly diminishing, and there is a wider gulf between the rich and the poor every day. Wealthy people obviously need culture in their lives, but so does everyone else. How do hundred-aires get into the buying original art game?

  I don't know much about markets, investments, or business in general, but art is hot right now. 

According to an article from the Associated Press viewed here, art sales are up even in a more than shaky economy- in fact records have been broken in succession within the last few weeks. 

Edvard Munch's The Scream

  Pictured above: the late Norwegian artist Edvard Munch's The Scream tipped the first domino with a record sale at auction of almost $120 million on May 2nd of this year. Go Norwegian artists! YEAH!

  The second domino to fall shortly after The Scream was Russian artist Mark Rothko's abstract expressionist piece titled Orange Red and Yellow. The purchase of this minimalist masterwork set the new record for contemporary art auctions at just shy of $87 million on May 8th. Russian artists stand up!!!

Mark Rothko's Orange Red And Yellow 

  A slew of other high value art purchases continued and may still be running for a while. The a-fore mentioned article by the Associated Press reports that the art sales business is booming right now while almost everything else struggles to reach restoration. In the same report linked above Nicolai Frahm of Frahm Ltd in London is quoted as saying, "People feel very safe about buying art. You have a huge amount of new buyers coming to the market. If you have money, you want to be a part of buying art. People almost are considered imbeciles if they have money and they're not buying."


  I'm glad the wealthy are buying art at a healthy rate right now, but they shouldn't be the only ones able to make this kind of investment- right? Believe me, they don't have to be the only ones. How did the previous owner of The Scream manage to own that iconic piece? He was a patron of Munch's. That's right, they were neighbors and the gentleman liked Edvard's work so he became a patron of his art. Do you have friends that create art? If so, and you like it, maybe you should buy some. If you can't afford to spend even a few hundred dollars on original art (I know I can't) you might be able to spend $5 to $20 on an ACEO. Click On This to sort through many many artists auctioning their original miniature art on Ebay.com. Find one two or three artists you like and bid a few dollars on some original pieces. If you're not impressed with the miniature card stock format just remember that The Scream up there was created on cardboard. You never know if you might be collecting the work of the next top selling artist- and it's very affordable I might add. Go ahead, get into the art buying game. Support a budding artist and allow their work to bless your home and your collection. I promise you'll enjoy it immensely.

Spray Paint and ACEOs Hecha en L.A.

Green Iguana- spray paint and deco markers on trading card by: John Tallacksen

  The very green and yellow iguana above is my second experiment with aerosol paint and ACEOs. As far as I know, please correct me if I'm wrong, there is only one other artist in the ACEO world who uses spray paint and that is Daniel Flores. 

  Personal history lesson: I met Daniel Flores in Los Angeles back in 2008. We were both a part of a local art movement called L.A. Street Productions. Back in the early 90's L.A. Street Productions became the first collective of artists to create ACEOs and ATCs in the L.A. area. There still aren't that many artist in Los Angeles making trading cards. Mr. Flores became one of our premier ACEO artists. He continues a very successful run on selling ACEOs on ebay to this day. For a while he was using spray paint to create his backgrounds. I saw that and decided to try it myself. I am an advocate and practitioner of street art (only legal) so of course I loved the idea of taking my deco markers and spray paint collection into my body of miniature artwork. You'll find that this is a unique style within ACEOs emanating from L.A. and quite possibly nowhere else as of this writing.

Please visit my auctions on ebay.com to bid on this card and many more.  

Sea Gull ACEO And More

Herring Gull ACEO by John Tallacksen

  This art card is one of my latest auctions posted on ebay.com. Some of my auctions are running out of time so make sure that you aren't missing something you would like to bid on. I plan on posting more this week so stay tuned!

The Beginning Of A New ACEO Batch

View this auction and others here

  I am very grateful to all of the collectors of my work. This is another announcement of a new batch of originals. Above is a new ACEO I have posted for auction on Ebay. I will be posting more 10 day auctions in the coming days so as always- check my Ebay store often.

UPDATE 5/2/2012: There are two more ACEOs posted for auction in my ebay store. Some have already been bid on and there are collectors "watching" some of these auctions. This is your chance to own affordable and easily collectible original art! Get your bids in now.

Creepy New ACEO Auctions Posted!!!!

Nosfuratu ACEO Auctioning now!

Hello art fans! October is a few days away, and that means one of my favorite holidays is coming up- All Hallows Eve. Most of the ACEOS (Art Cards Editions & Originals) that I've posted for auction have a Halloween theme to them of some sort. There are ominous birds like ravens and crows, as well as my take on some popular monsters. Click on the "AUCTIONS" link above to see my ebay store. Remember to check often. I post all new and original ACEOS on ebay every 10 days or so. (this time I was really late. Sorry)


While I'm on the topic of ACEOs, I hope you don't mind me addressing a question that I get a lot on this blog and in my travels. Many people are still asking what an ACEO or ATC is. Below is a video that may lack quality in audio picture and editing, but it explains the ATC ACEO movement quite well. Maybe someday I will make my own video explanation. I hope this video clears up all of the confusion...

New ACEO Auctions!

New ACEOs are up for auction! Check out my tree frog friend up there. He's one of the pieces up for auction. Click on my "Auctions" link at the top of this blog to view all of the art pieces. Remember, each auction is only available for 10 days.