thinking & making

  • Shooter looking good

    Shooter looking good

    Mirror polish because I can.

  • Coin door teardown

    Coin door teardown

    Dismantled the coin door on Big Guns, finally hitting rock bottom on this rehab project. There’s nothing left to take apart!

  • Surf Champ – before & after photos

    Surf Champ – before & after photos

    A couple of months ago I bought a 1976 Gottlieb “Surf Champ” pinball machine out of a basement where it had been the last 20 or so years. I completely stripped down the top side of the playfield and cleaned all parts. Metal went in the tumbler. I replaced the plastics, cleaned the star posts,…

  • Rusty parts

    Rusty parts

    More rusty pinball machine craps to clean. Once I disassemble the coin door I will have completely disassembled the entire pin. This has been an enormous project to take on in my spare time, I will be glad to get to the point when the job can only get smaller!

  • Big Guns stripdown

    Big Guns stripdown

    Stripped almost the entire playfield in one night. Work goes so fast on the rotisserie with easy access on all sides. Another hour this morning pulling the last few bits off and I’m ready for removing the Mylar and cleaning.

  • Brooks Golden

    Brooks Golden

    I had the great pleasure of sharing a studio space with Brooks for a year or so just west of downtown. It was a great space and I spent countless hours there. Brooks was a friend and inspiration, and a stern critic and lover of my work. Tragically, Brooks passed away from health issues in…

  • Red Bull Cooler

    Red Bull Cooler

    The Grocer got invited to paint a canvas wrapped cooler for a Red Bull event in 2014. It was a weird experience. Basically, every artist showed up and had one long day to finish their painting. I met some nice folks and the cooler turned out pretty nice. These kind of painting events are neat…

  • The Grocer: more works on panel

    The Grocer: more works on panel

  • Buddha’s Hand at the G40

    Buddha’s Hand at the G40

    The Grocer made this giant, gorgeous buddha’s hand for the G40 Art Summit in DC in 2011. I wasn’t able to install at the show so they mounted the paste-up on a big piece of masonite for the show. I don’t know what happened to it—I hope somebody hung it up somewhere.