The resulting itinerary would begin on the sizzling West Coast of Australia offering both beach and the downtown of Perth, and continue to the artistic culture of Melbourne, continue North to the breathtakingly simple beach lifestyle of Rainbow Bay located on the Gold Coast of Queensland and concluding in Sydney.
Click HERE for the FULL STORY and PHOTOS!
To the eye, it looked like the urban landscape had been wiped with a rag dipped in the murky waters of painter’s wash jar.
Click HERE for the FULL STORY and PHOTOS!
The sound of Jeff’s leather sandals slapping against the asphalt still echoes loud as I walk the local streets of Carlsbad reminiscing of all day wanders by foot along foreign streets, through dense forest and along breathtaking beaches. While buses sped alongside, trains chugged in the distance and planes roared overhead, Jeff 
“The Dude” and I chose the ‘ol heal toe to explore first hand what Australia and China is all about.
With a camera firmly in hand, I attempted to keep up with Jeff’s long strides and Native American heritage. Early days found us shoulder to shoulder led by the horizon, but it was soon apparent that fatigue sets in for Jeff only when the sun goes down. He charged forward with the strength of a Clydesdale and the determination of a 
hound as I lingered behind documenting the journey.
The rubber of our soles first touched down in Western Australia where 108 degree temperatures heated the roads and warmed the sand which we began our travels upon. Long beaches around islands guided us over dunes and through rolling waves. Exploration was always the
plan when we set out on foot. A map was rarely observed because the correct direction was always forward. When the sun sank low, we turned around and headed back.
Jeff and I went our own ways for a handful of weeks where without a doubt Jeff continued his wandering ways, as I did too, but something lacked without his presence. Maybe it was the lack of a figure in my photos or maybe I missed 
the long stretches of silence broken by a joke, or a line from a cult classic comedy followed by miles of contagious laughter. Either way, I looked forward to Sydney where the heal toe express would reunite.
Our adventure picked up right where is left off at. Our individual flights landed at the same time and, as if our journey together by land could not wait a second longer, we stumbled upon each in the airport. After a high five, our adventure picked up where it left off… on the road.
Like Australia, we spent the majority of our time in China walking, though the conditions and environment was different. The air dense with pollution punched my lungs and the cobblestone under my legs and worn Vans pierced my feet. The weather was cold and dry, but our adventure 
continued through palaces, temples and Chinese markets.
The sites explored first hand and the people met face to face is something you don’t find from the seat of a tour bus. We visited all the tourist sites, but on the way, experienced the underbelly of the community. We shook 
hands with the busboy while tasting the food of the dining experience and we witnessed the numerous out-takes of an award winning picture.
Led by Jeff’s nearly inhuman ability to walk for miles without rest or water, I followed behind, snapping pictures and wheezing. Like a Clydesdale, Jeff, with an overly packed backpack often hung across his shoulders, carried on. With my camera in hand and warm with a recent onslaught of captured observations, I always managed to catch up just in time for the next joke.
Check back tomorrow for “Artistic Observations: China”!
As an artist you seek out inspiration from the local sites encountered each day within your community. Your route along your neighborhood streets offers inspiration and each encounter with fellow community members provides a potential muse. Inspiration is always just around the corner.
Though your local findings can be very rewarding, sporadic adventures out of your element, within strange lands and amongst different cultures is something unmatched, and for many… necessary.
Australia and China was next on my list and when the opportunity presented itself, I jumped on it, and in return, it offered a series of learned lessons, both about myself and about foreign culture.
After 5 weeks of traveling, I find myself back in Carlsbad with more inspiration than I know what to do with, tons of memories, new friendships and over 2,000 photos.
Starting tomorrow, I will be sharing it all here on carlsbadcrawl.com:
• Artistic Observations: Australia
• Artistic Observations: China
• Observations of an Artist: The Dude
• A Walking Tour by Jeff the Dude
• Melbourne Street Art
• Hosier Lane Highlight
WHAT: Paradise Pizza of Carlsbad turns 2 yrs.
WHERE: Paradise Pizza (map)
WHEN: Sun. March, 4th Noon-2pm
Come celebrate 2 years of amazing food, service and atmosphere with free slices complimentary of Paradise Pizza of the Carlsbad Village!
Carlsbadcrawl.com will be on a hiatus…
See you in a handful of weeks!
#7: Taking it to the Streets
The walls of my studio were always scattered with paintings, but I never considered it a gallery. It was always a working studio where the art was the creative process, not the finished product. I considered the paintings more of trophies which represented a successful completion of a set of steps.
On sunny days I would take my process, my art, along with a display of paintings, to the street where I encouraged the public to explore my technique. Pedestrians would frequent my display during village walks and passing cars would tap the breaks followed by a hoot and honk. Locals would keep updated on my progress and village visitors would watch stunned, confused and entertained.
These are the days I remember most vividly. The hot sun pelting the back of my neck as sweat dripped from my nose and paint dripped from my brush. The dust of a truck would tumble into my ankles and the ocean offshores would test the weight of a drying stencil. The conditions were never ideal, but these were the conditions I battled often to showcase my art, my technique and my labors of love.
Thank you all for the conversations that took place outside my studio, the honks as you drove by and the many smiles from afar.
– Bryan Snyder
#6: The Proposal at Snyder Art
Since the very first painting in my signature drip technique, I have been using the same equipment. A table created out of 2 saw horses and a square piece of plywood has grown thick with many layers of excess paint. The brush hair of a collection of paint brushes which have never touched the surface of a painting have been repeatedly dunked into gallon buckets of paint and dripped over hundreds of canvases.
Long before I opened Snyder Art and Design on State Street, I began painting in this signature drip technique in my garage. The development of this painting process was slow, but set backs were easily overcome by helpful tips from friends and family. One which came from my brother-in-law who mentioned the benefits of stacks of pennies around stencil edges resulting in cleaner lines and decreased overspray set me in the right direction.
My table and my brushes have played an important role in each and every piece of art I have created in the past 4 years, but my most cherished treasure is a collection of overly dripped upon stacks of pennies. Over the years, the pennies have grown into colorful treasures.
When I am asked which is my favorite painting, I point to my stack of pennies; there is a piece of painting in each one of them.
– Bryan Snyder
#5: The Proposal at Snyder Art
I have always been a believer in the ability of connecting people through art and there isn’t a better example than what occurred at my studio one evening.
I was first approached with the idea of a ‘doodle’ illustration including a character proposing to another. I felt extremely honored and immediately began brainstorming the best way to capture this momentous occasion.
The finished doodle was hung in the back of my studio isolated from any other art. With plans of a romantic dinner scheduled later that evening, the soon-to-be fiance was invited by my good friend and soon-to-be groom to meet at my studio to browse art. After I stepped out for an “emergency” the couple began browsing my art. The tour ended at the back of the studio with a doodle, a ring and one very happy couple…
…and today the get married!
Congratulations Leslie and Tyler!!!
WHAT: Summer Brooke Album Launch Party
WHERE: New Village Arts (map)
WHEN: Fri. January 27 6-9PM
Congratulations Summer!
#4: The First Day
I was given the keys by Alice and Art Brown of Aurthur Brown Plumbing on May 8th, 2008, which coincided with the Carlsbad Street Faire. My doors swung open, music blasted on my boombox and a series of my first drip paintings created in my garage were on display.
As the faire kicked into full gear and over 90,000 people walked the village streets, I paced up and down the sidewalk in front of my freshly opened studio. I greeted every passerby and shared the vision I had revisited so 
many times in my head of a working art studio where the public could interact and experience the creative process of an artist.
Many whom I talked to showed interest and entered my freshly painted studio. At this early moment, it looked more like small room with unfinished renovations, but I expressed that it was only a matter of time until the walls would be covered in new paintings and multiple projects would be scattered across the floors.
Without a business card or a sign on the front facade, I invited each visitor during that first day to come back as often as the wished. I invited them to bring as many friends along during their visits and I invited them to ask as many questions and take as many photos as they wished.
Since that first day in May 2008, I have had thousands of visits from both locals and Carlsbad visitors, many who have revisited my studio on a weekly basis. The amount of friendships I have solidified have grown exponentially over the years.
From the beginning and all the way up to the end, thank you for all your visits!
– Bryan Snyder
#3: Snyder Art and Design Sign Installation
One day in early April, while riding my bike along State St. into the village, I glanced over at a storefront neighboring an old plumbing store. I had ridden my bike past this building thousands of times while growing up in the village, but this passing was different. I noticed boxes through the window of a small room. I skidded to a stop and approached the plumbing store to inquire about the soon-to-be empty neighboring building.
After knocking repeatedly on the plumber’s front door, a short old lady hesitantly opened the door. She seemed a bit nervous; I only suspect my thick beard, sweating forehead and excited deep breathes caught her off guard. I asked if she knew the owner of the neighboring building. She seemed to relax and told me she, along with her husband, was the owner.
I introduced myself and shared my vision of a village based art studio where the public would be invited to see art, but more importantly, to witness the creative process. For the next hour we shared stories. She read me her poetry and I shared photos off my camera.
With my interest in the neighboring storefront very obvious, I asked her if I could rent it. She told me that she would love to have be as a neighbor, but it would be up to her husband. She gave me a card and told me to call him later that evening. After reading his name on the card, I knew I was in… Art Brown!
Like all my paintings, my sign was created in my signature drip technique. The brush never touches the paintings and wild and gestural streams of paint drip through a stencil and onto the chosen surface. Turquoise and terracotta colors dominated the drips to blend in with the paint job of the building at the time and solid black gloss paint was used in for the text to stand out and glisten in the morning sun. With the help of long time friend and talented carpenter Brian Cramer, my studio sign went up.
Every time I ride my bike down State and glance over at my studio, I think of that day when an old dusty storefront inspired my vision of a village based studio open to the public.
Thanks Alice and Art for providing the soil for my vision to grow from!
– Bryan Snyder
#2: Snyder Art Bathroom Walls
If you you visited my studio over the past 4 years, whether during one of my annual solo art shows, a ‘You Create the Art’ community art show or any of your random visits, you probably have added a doodle or message to my bathroom walls.
I do most of my thinking while taking very long hot showers, sitting on the can or staring into the mirror so the bathroom, as funny as it sounds, has always represented a place for inspiration…. and what better way to record an idea than with the immediate scribble on the nearest wall!
The bathroom also represents a place of privacy. An isolated room behind a locked door where actions undisclosed take place. Inhibitions are vanished like a stinky turd is flushed and sites unseen remain a mystery.
I offered my studio bathroom as, not only a place for inspiration, but also as a place where creative inhibitions could be ignored. I encouraged all who closed the door behind them to let their imagination run wild on my walls and guaranteed, if desired, that their creations would remain anonymous.
Over the years the walls of my studio bathroom evolved into a community canvas of expression. They fueled the continued fascination of the creative process in some and encouraged the act of making art in public for the first time without being judged, criticized or restricted in others.
Thanks for making my trips to the bathroom so inspiring!
– Bryan Snyder
After nearly 4 years of art, community and culture, my studio will be closing. These past years have been the most rewarding and creative period of my life and I would like to share some of my favorites with you.
Each day leading up to the closing date of January 23, 2012 will consist of one of my favorite memories. Enjoy Snyder Art memory number 1…
#1: The Unflappable Lavender Plant and Tomato Tree
Lavender plants occupied the planter when I first opened the studio back in 2008. The scent, along with the lavender plants from the the neighboring planters of Aurthur Brown Plumbing, was strong and stopped many passersby in their tracks. Apparently to some, it smelled like marijuana.
My favorite was while I painted inside, two kids around 13 years old stopped, kicked up their skateboards and took in a whiff at the planter. I kept painting, but attentively listened to their short conversation.
“Dude, do you smell that marijuana?” one asked.
“Duh, it’s an art studio,” the other replied.
These Lavender plants not only smelled like marijuana to some, but were completely out of control. I felt they were out to get me. A trim would ignite an onslaught of new sprouts and unflappable growth. I decided to replace one side of the planer with a cherry tomato plant to reduce the amount of maintenance.
The tomato plant began slow. I don’t even like tomatoes, but I love the combination of red and green. The additional lavender was a perfect mix.
The plant’s growth was healthy, and over time, increased rapidly. Before I knew it, the plant had begun to climb up the wall and in and out of my window vent screen. I included a hanging apparatus once I realized the now identified tomato tree could topple over onto passersby at any moment.
Dozens of small and bright red dots began to appear all over the tree like dots on the belly of a young chicken pox victim. Due to the overwhelming amount of produce, and my distaste for tomatoes, I propped a “FREE TOMATOES” sign against the tree base inviting passersby to help themselves.
The tree grew strong and cherry tomatoes were picked by many. In addition to the introduction of red and green colors into my planter and the free produce offered to the community, it served as a great natural curtain hiding my preparations for my 2nd annual art show. Before unveiling the show, the Snyder Art Tomato tree was removed, but, like the unflappable Lavender plant, which eventually was uprooted entirely, the memory lives on…
– Bryan Snyder
Following the solid swell that pounded the San Diego coastline during the beginning of the year, the coastline went silent resulting in many surfers looking for other forms of recreation.
Charley Stevens, Eric Geiselhart and friends weren’t going to let the lack of waves keep them out of the water. The mellow winds and flat surf provided ideal conditions to bring out the ‘Winch’, a towing device equipped with a hand throttle and underside wheels.
Anchored to the jetty just South of Tamarack in Carlsbad, the Winch pulled surfers along the coast and into the occasional 
wave while a large crowd of spectators watched and shot photos.
“It’s amazing how fast they are going,” an onlooker remarked. “It’s like you they are being pulled behind a boat.”
Though the Winch idea is not new, it has become more recognizable by the mass public in the past years with the occasional use along 
the coast of Carlsbad and Oceanside.
“I have had it for about 4 years,” Winch owner Stevens says. “We would take it to the Cobra Lake in the Carlsbad business parks.”
Whether is it pulling surfers towards a jetty, a pier or even the shore or a man-made lake, using the ‘Winch’ is a perfect way to not only practice your skills, but also to pass the time between swells.
You rummage through yard sales and your wander the dusty aisles of thrift stores. You find forgotten treasures on the side of the road and you dig deep within the pages of ebay. A single sea shell finds its way to your garden and roadside debris decorates your yard.
What do you collect and where do you find them?
5 mushroom clusters, each colored differently in Snyder’s signature drip technique, have been placed in the streets of West Hollywood on, or just off, Melrose and La Brea. Each cluster is a piece of art, but more importantly, they are muses inspiring the creative process. Each cluster posed like a model for professional and amateur photographers to capture.
Snyder invited photographers to search the streets for each cluster, take a photo and submit it into a contest hosted by Melrose&Fairfax.
The finalist entrants have been chosen and posted at the link below. The entrant with the most votes will win an original painting created in Snyder’s signature drip painting technique.
Click HERE to view all the finalists!
don’t forget to vote!
Congratulations to the Murray family for finding a PROJECT: Plant an Ornament 2011 Bonus Ornament, logging it on carlsbadcrawl.com and being the first to identify the secret ‘Village Sound’.
The prize is an original painting by Snyder in his signature drip technique.
Can you identify the sound?
Click HERE to hear the sound!
Click HERE to learn about the entire project!
Prior to opening my studio, I was working on my degree and living in the SF Bay area where I began to document culture and community hotspots which encouraged the development of a network of minds fueled by creativity. I learned how culture helps both the well-being of a community, as well as promotes local business. I observed essential components of a thriving culture and developed a plan that, if implemented in a well organized manner, could nourish the development of culture anywhere.
With observations over a 3 year period of the culturally laden community of San Francisco, and a well organized ‘implementation plan’, I returned to Carlsbad in 2006 with the ambitious goal of encouraging the development of a more creative culture based on the arts and creativity in the Carlsbad Village.
The establishment of an easily accessible forum where artistic ideas and events could be shared communally was the first stage. Carlsbadcrawl.com was introduced in Nov. 2007 as the initial seed, and promoted the single idea of the development of local culture. The site has grown exponentially over the years and continues to encourage culture and promote local business.
During the time of the launching of Carlsbadcrawl.com, I began developing a large body of paintings in my garage with the idea of hanging them through-out the village for locals and village visitors to see, interact with and ultimately spark the realization that Carlsbad could be known for more than just the beach, great weather and action sports, but for the growth of an artistically laden community.
An easily accessible web forum for artistic thought had been established, a visual increase of art in the village had been achieved and with the opening of Snyder Art and Design in May of 2008, the third and most important stage of my ‘implementation plan’ had begun. A working art studio, not a gallery, where the public could visit and interact with an artist and the creative process was my goal when I opened my doors to the public. During the last 3.5 years, my doors have remained open and my creative process was accessible to thousands of local and village visitors, all which highly supported everything I shared with them. Out of my studio, I have created a wide variety of community projects implemented into the Carlsbad Village streets, hosted 3 solo art shows and 2 ‘You Create the Art’ community painting shows, hosted movie nights, designed and distributed local Carlsbad Village calendars, created hundreds of paintings and met thousands of new friends and supporters.
Unfortunately, and due to a 100% increase in rent, I will be closing my studio after 3.5 years of the most creative, inspiring and rewarding years of my life. My last day is January 23, 2012.
I will miss the many daily visitors whom eagerly looked forward to seeing my newest paintings. I will miss the stage which allowed me to share my techniques and my passions with the public and I will miss working aside all my wonderful neighbors along UpState (N. State Street).
As of now, I have no certain future plans. I have poured everything into the goal of encouraging the development of a more creative culture in the Carlsbad Village, Which I began nearly I 4 years ago. Though my studio was the core of my plan, I don’t see the closing of Snyder Art and Design as a step backwards, but as a shove forward.
When a sudden wall blocks your progress, paint it… then in becomes an addition to your path!
If you would like to continue following my journey, please become a fan of my ‘Snyder Art and Design’ facebook page after the below link:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Snyder-Art-and-Design/122763651117400
Click the below link for a short film documenting a day at Snyder Art:
http://carlsbadcrawl.com/?p=1071
Click the below links for culture developing projects I have implemented into the Carlsbad community over the last 4 years:
‘Surfing Madonna’ Artists visits Carlsbad
Cross Promotions with local businesses (New Village Arts Theatre)
Cross Promotions with local businesses (Salon 580)
Cross Promotions with local businesses (Wine Spot)
PROJECT: Plant an Ornament 2011
PROJECT: Plant an Ornament 2010
PROJECT: Plant an Ornament 2009
PROJECT: Plant an Ornaments 2008
Thank you all for your support. I cherish every friendship I have made over the past years and look forward to our next conversation.
Bryan Snyder
“creating culture one idea at a time”
760.521.8713
The Mayan calendar predicts the end of the world in 2012, but that seemed like the last thing on the minds of those celebrating at the 2012 Vintage Prom at New Village Arts Theatre’s New Year’s Celebration.
The lobby of New Village Arts Theatre was transformed by newly appointed event coordinator and Foundry manager Jenna Carlson. Guests dressed in vintage attire (era of their choice) parted the shiny golden plastic 
strips that hung along the perimeter windows and entered the throw back celebration.
Hap’s Bar animated with toasts. Complimentary photos by KomPhotos Imagery captured each guest in vintage prom poses. A long table laden with snacks and treats was frequented throughout the night and the theatre stage lured with the sounds of an old school dance party.
The night’s focus later shifted from the bar, food and photo setup to the theatre stage where guests danced to vintage and contemporary tunes amongst a sea of balloons. An animated backdrop counted down the year culminating in an explosion of confetti and optimism.
2012 holds high hopes and possibilities though the Mayan’s think otherwise. The party at the New Village Arts Theatre ignored the Mayan predictions and not only celebrated the past… but welcomed whatever the future has to offer.
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