Jo Cunningham Surfboard Art, Guitars, and Cats.

20/03/2021

Very excited to have introduced the concept of NFTs and crypto-art to Design Centre Enmore tonight! I couldn't believe they're not already talking about as it opens up a whole new potential income stream for their digital art students and graduates!
Here's some of the info I provided in case anyone is interested in a gentle but thorough introduction to the NFT space:
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A great introductory video about NFTs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS3jy2ZdN2s

A recent article from the SMH:
https://www.smh.com.au/.../non-fungible-token-revolution...

To really understand NFTs however, you need a basic understanding of cryptocurrency and the blockchain technology that supports it.

This video explains the original digital currency Bitcoin: https://youtu.be/Gc2en3nHxA4

NFTs, however, are traded in a different digital currency called Ethereum. This video explains a bit about Ethereum and touches on 'smart contracts' which is why it is being used in the NFT marketplace and not Bitcoin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UBk1e5qnr4

Back to NFTs: This is a helpful video by Australian NFT/digital artist Mankind who's become a bit of an educator in the NFT space:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8ww4aNlPQU

Once you've wrapped your brain around what NFTs, cryptocurrency and the blockchain are (blockchain is the technology that enables cryptocurrency to exist and be traded, I can't recall if that's sufficiently covered in any of these videos), then this video is an inspiring watch as to what's possible in the world of NFT/digital art!
https://youtu.be/XqveU599ojg

And here is a lovely interview between Australian cryptocurrency trader/educator Adam Saunders/Nuggets News, and a young NFT artist called Fewocious.:
https://youtu.be/q-eVnopwxss

She will have work at the Follow The White Rabbit NFT event that's happening in Sydney over Easter:
https://futureart.io/

If you want to learn more about the cryptocurrency space and technology. Adam's 'Nuggets News' website has great educational resources: https://collectiveshift.com.au/knowledge-centre/

And lastly here is a list of websites where one can look at and buy NFTs. Some, like Superrare, are curated and artists need to apply to be featured on them. Other sites, like Rarible, are open to anyone to upload their work. Although doing this involves opening a cryptocurrency wallet and paying to 'mint' your work onto the Ethereum blockchain. I minted a piece. It cost me about AU$60 (+$50 when I made a mistake on my first try!). Fees are high currently. Not too long ago it cost much less. Fees will improve in time but it will take a while for the technology to be updated.
https://superrare.co
https://makersplace.com
/https://niftygateway.com
https://opensea.io
https://rarible.com
https://knownorigin.io
https://foundation.app
https://www.bitski.com
https://zora.co
https://mintbase.io
https://mintable.app
https://niftykit.com
https://viv3.com

FEWOCiOUS – How A 17yo Created An Online Digital Art & NFT EmpireToday I chat with FEWOCiOUS, a young artist who creates digital art as well as crypto art in...

20/03/2021

A Cat A Day - Day 80
Mr Frodo Is A Bit Over This Rain To Be Honest.
Digital sketch on Ye Olde Galaxy Note 10
$80 for a physical print via a print-on-demand website, cause them's the rules with this project!

19/03/2021

A Cat A Day - Day 79

Quick digital sketches:

Mr Frodo Enjoying A Dry Afternoon On The Grass.

And dear Lucy, my Norwegian cat friend (who died earlier this year 💗), sketches from 2019 that I rediscovered today.

Struggling with health stuff again, but thinking it maybe a good excuse to experiment more with digital drawing ^_^ .

15/03/2021

New news/blog post on my website! :
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Near Ego Death Experiences, Creativity Celibacy, A Cat A Day, NFTs..
http://www.jocunningham.com/page10127.htm

What a crazy 5 years it's been since my last post here...

Crazy but incredible. And it hasn't stopped yet...

Numerous circumstances (most notably a bit too much kundalini yoga, a bit too much reading non-dual author Jed McKenna, and continued health and personal challenges) saw me pushed over and over through what felt like the very membrane of what it means to exist. I emerge sobered, yet flirting with being recklessly playful, because I can't quite feel life 'properly' anymore. However that also means that maybe I can finally enjoy it again. Because for a lot of the past 5 years enjoying anything was often rather difficult.

For much of last year I experimented with a creativity celibacy of sorts; for an indeterminant amount of time I decided to let go of my visual art and music practice, just to see who I am if I stop doing the things I've felt I've needed to do in order to be who I am, to be ok. It was fairly non-eventful, a bit dull, but interesting to observe. I still existed but things didn't flow as nicely as when I'm painting and playing, life just wasn't as well lubricated. It reaffirmed that creativity really is like a portal for me, tapping me into something etheric and powerful. If I abandon it, I don't die, but I do shrivel up a bit.

My art practice was reignited with the A Cat A Day project; the aim being 365 days of cat art (with occasional breaks). Each day I paint, sketch or sculpt, and then upload the image onto my personal Facebook profile. Each piece is for sale (unless it's a gift or I want to keep it) with the price aligning with the day of the project, for example Day 1's work cost $1, Day 2's work cost $2. Thus far almost all pieces are sold. The project is currently on pause at around day 80, as I shift my focus to work on a commission and to prepare for my entry into the world of NFT art...

NFTs... Non-fungible token artwork or 'crypto-art', if you like... The creative potential of this concept has me the most inspired I've been in a very long time. I plan to release a number of series of both traditional and digital art-work in the NFT space and I have one downright crazy idea which feels so right the world should be mildly trembling! Lol.

I'll leave you with some work from the A Cat A Day project.

20/02/2021

Cat A Day project - A selection from the first 80 days!

Most of these are sold but some are still available. If you're keen on one let me know.

I took a break from this project over summer to work on a commission but I will be beginning again soon with the exciting addition of also releasing some as NFTs/crypto-art.

If you'd like to be alerted of new cats as they drop (priced at whatever day of the project it is, ie day 10's work cost $10), best to follow me via my personal FB profile where I post them first: https://www.facebook.com/jo.cunningham.art

18/08/2020

Introducing my new project! A Cat A Day - 365 days of cat art in various mediums. All work is for sale with the price starting at $1 on Day 1 and rising by a dollar each day. Postage is free. Thus far all works are sold. For the moment I'm posting fresh images daily on my personal FB only, so if you're keen to follow and maybe snap up a bargain while they're cheap you can find me here: https://www.facebook.com/jo.cunningham.art

16/08/2020

After a long break I'm back painting regularly and just finished '3 Cats' here (there's 3 cats hidden in her abstract forms). As a bonus she looks great hung from all angles (doesn't always work out that way)! She's $500, comes ready to hang vertically (I can add more hangers if required), and is looking for a home. 💜

25/10/2019

Long time between boards! Good to be back painting. Am open to taking new commissions over summer. This one isn't cooked yet but will be looking for a home once she's done ❤️.

02/03/2019

Humble beginnings.

19/12/2018

New commission finished today! Dark isn't really my thing when it comes to creating art these days, but the brief was dark indeed! So dark it is! As it turns out, I really quite like her. ☺️ Mr Frodo appears to as well. 😼

19/12/2018

A surfboard I painted for the amazing people and cats at Sydney's Mini Kitty Commune. It was recently raffled off with a load of other great prizes to raise money to support the animals in their care. ❤️ I LOVED doing this one. Would never have thought of combining cats and surfboards, but look, it worked! All cats featured on the board are cats rehomed via MKC (or MKC before it was MKC in the case of my Mr Frodo).

If you'd like to support the MKC and be in the running for some great prizes, tickets to their next raffle drawn NYE, are currently for sale here: https://raffles.mkc.org.au/?mc_cid=1d4a908e0c&mc_eid=87be64305f

11/07/2018

Cataclysm! 😁 She's back from the dead and ready for delivery! So pleased 😊.

11/06/2018

So my new board Cataclysm had a cataclysm 😢😖😫. Varnish got completely messed up overnight. It's hard to know if it was just the dampness in the air, overspray, or the trying to be helpful person who unknowingly moved it under a roof that drips... It ended up with huge white cloudy blobs all over it. I tried to 'fix' it, realised just how messed up the varnish is, tried to scour it off because it started lifting, then that started lifting the paint underneath as well, then I had a big cry (I loved that board so much!!), then went back down and instead of 'fixing' I found myself in 'f@ -it mode' (my favourite of the modes!) which freed me up to just keep working on it as though this is all just part of the process. F@ it. Who knows what it's going to end up like now, maybe the paint won't stick I'll have to sand it back even! I can't be attached. I can't work that way (can't live that way either, painting is my practice room for the rest of life). Got to let go, constantly. I just have to look, listen to what's there to be done, and do it. 💓😞😑😐🙂💓

10/06/2018

This is Cataclysm! She's finished and she's sold! I loved working on her! 💓

25/04/2018

Been trying to start a new board for weeks now. In my head I knew how I was going to start; with sand and soil like my last board. "I'm gonna do a series like this!" I thought. Finally got into the studio today only to realise, yet again, that the deal with me and these boards, is that I don't get to dictate anything. My practice here is getting out of the way. I can't be invested in the outcome if I want to get into a sense of flow. And if I do start imposing ideas either I'll feel stuck (as I have felt for weeks) and unable to work, or bored. This isn't the case for all my work, but the boards seem like my special training area for completely letting go of everything, all rules, all attachment, and just listen to what feels right in the moment, no matter how crazy it seems. And now I love these beginning marks that I thought were a stupid idea as I found myself making them! It's hard not to get attached to all the different beautiful stages these boards go through, but very likely they'll get covered in many more layers before I finally get told "Stop. It's finished". 😊💗

09/02/2018

I'm looking to sell cheap my 80 or so tins of enamel house paints, as I'm making the move to acrylics . $5 for a full 1L tin, less for less full. Anyone interested?

26/01/2018

And she's finished! This is 'Selki'; acrylic house paints, regular acrylics, and clear varnish over a base of beach sand and soil from our garden. ❤ Sold within hours of finishing, that's a new record 😂☺🙏.

22/10/2017

Still super excited at this new approach! Salvaged acrylic house paints over a base of dirt from our garden and beach sand. I feel a new body of work emerging! :D