Episode 108: Jay Young, Local VB Artist
Jay Young is a local artist in the Virginia beach area. When he is not shaping his skills on the canvas you can find him creating a drinkable art behind the bar at Bee and the Biscuit, a local favorite in Virginia Beach.
Transcription
Kenny: Alright, hey thanks for being with us today. On our podcast today, we have a friend of mine, going back a number of years. I think I got introduced to you Jay by my son, Isaiah.
Jay: You did.
Kenny: Yeah. So with us today Jay Young, artist extraordinaire, up and coming artist in the community here in Virginia Beach, and we're gonna have a conversation with Jay today about his craft, and just about his his walk, his life, and what he's experienced and what he's gone through as a young man on this planet. Which is effing and crazy half the time, right?
Jay: Yes
Kenny: He’s just—
Jay: very crazy
Kenny: Enjoy the ride.
Jay: I do.
Kenny: So, hey, thanks for being with us today.
Jay: Thank you for having me.
Kenny: As with all our podcasts, I want to start out by giving a toast and a shout out to our—our nation's military. You know, here in Virginia Beach, we have a massive community of those in the special forces community.
Jay: Absolutely.
Kenny: Jay as you know, you get a few of those to come out to Bee and the Biscuit out in Pungo.
Jay: l do. They know how to party.
Kenny: Yeah. Shout out to Bee and the Biscuit. It's a great family there.
Jay: Great family owned restaurant.
Kenny: Yeah, awesome group of people there. So Jay also, his side hustle is bartending. Your passion is Art, but, you're a-a little bit of a mixologist. So
Jay: Yes
Kenny: We like to keep it simple, Jay. A little Blue Label. It's my favorite, spirit. We’ll say from the Scots. Is that a good accent, Zach? Is that—can you, can you do like a voiceover for me as a—a squat—Scottish, you know, I got uh, that sounds like english, like I'm a little drunk.
Jay: Russell Brand
Kenny: Russell. Yeah. Sorry. But a toast to our nation's military. Thank you for your service. Blue Label thanks you for your service. If they don’t, they will soon. Cheers.
Jay: Cheers.
Kenny: And you don't have to—oh I forgot we always have to do that. Man, I don't even get a chance to drink my mine and—How—are you old enough to drink?
Jay: I'm very old enough to drink.
Kenny: You are? Alright. Okay. Alright, so here we go.
Jay: Twenty-five.
Kenny: I like to sip mine. You want some more?
Jay: I'm good. Thank you though. It was delicious.
Kenny: Johnny Walker's a little upset you said—said, “no”. But responsible, responsible spirits at 9am on a Friday morning.
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: So hey, really, seriously glad to have you here.
Jay: Thank you for having me.
Kenny: It’s going to be fun today, and Jay brought along some of his art, which is going to be cool to talk about. And you're talking to like the least artful person on the planet.
Jay: Yeah.
Kenny: I'm really good in the art of finance and you know my day job. But when it comes to like painting, I can't even stay within the lines. And
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: yesterday, as a matter of fact, we were—we’re revamping our website on my corporate side, and so, we have this graph that we’re working on called, The KP 121 Rule, which, talks about actuarial science and investments and how those come together.
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: And trying to bring together this visual piece, of these stages of life that we go through, and the decisions that we need to make along the way. And from like 0 to 21, people are making these decisions vicariously through their parents usually or grandparents. So you can probably appreciate that Jay, that you know, in those early years, your mom and dad, your grandfather, those folks had a massive influence in your life, I'm sure.
Jay: They did. Uhm definitely, my dad's work ethic and my mom has a good heart too and just rebelling a little though, when I was younger, but
Kenny: Oh, we'll talk about that.
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: We'll talk about that. We'll give you a chance to confess.
Jay: I'm thankful. Yeah, I was raised right.
Kenny: And your mom and dad are listening to this and go, “oh he does have a heart Jay: I was looking at baby photos with her the other day, and uh, because my girlfriend wanted to see them. Yeah. And it was, uh—I started like tearing up and she was like, “why are you crying?” and I was like, “I don't know, thank you for raising me right.”
Kenny: Yeah
Jay: It was weird, because, I haven't like felt that. I've always been, “me me me me” you know working, doing this and then when you take that time to, you know, especially with a vulnerable heart, like you—like you take it more genuinely.
Kenny: Yeah
Jay: But it's not something you want to do like every weekend.
Kenny: Yeah,
Jay: It's definitely, it resets like, what kind of life you want to have.
Kenny: Yeah.
Jay: You know.
Kenny: It's awesome. Yeah and so that’s—that's just bringing it back to art for a second. ‘Cause this graph we're working on, I tried to draw some, some little icons that I had in my mind's eye, of what would be on this this graph, and you know, we quickly saw, and the team was making fun of me because it didn't look like anything other than a two-year-old with a box of crayons. Which as a prior marine you know crayons were used to eating those things not-not using them. So. What are you laughing at Noah? You're in the army. It means you're not ready to be a marine yet. So. No love all the military, just kidding, great guys. But Marines
Jay: They know how to party more
Kenny: tip of the spear.
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: My son, Isaiah would probably take issue with that.
Jay: I'm so proud of that guy. He’s—he's a good kid.
Kenny: Yeah man, he’s—he's out there getting it.
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: So he’s-he's getting his butt—
Jay: Tatted up too.
Kenny: Yeah, tatted up. Got some art on him and I think you may have had an influence on that.
Jay: A big influence. I got him—yeah, um, but at least he understands the importance of tradition. Like now he's more into the traditional side of tattooing which is based around tradition and respect.
Kenny: Let’s talk about that.
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: You know, I've got a tat here for my family.
Jay: That's beautiful.
Kenny: Got an old one here on my arm, when I was a jarhead. But all my buddies were getting devil dog tattoos and the bulldog
Jay: so sick
Kenny: USMC and one shot one kill
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: and I just got a superman tattoo. Like that was my childhood hero, was Superman.
Jay: Yeah. You can break it down like that. I think when you have limited tattoos like that, that looks good. But, like, there are a lot of people who want to like be like, “I want a whole Superman sleeve” and it's like I mean to the like at the end of the day, like, do what you want to do I guess, like, that's your expression.
Kenny: Superman, like a blue sleeve?
Jay: Whatever that would look like. When it's like a bunch of different superman tattoos but I think a lot of people should look more into like tradition like Japanese or American traditional, um, and you'll start—
Kenny: Japanese is that like the Sailor Jerry?
Jay: no sarah julie, uh, Sailor Jerry is more American traditional.
Kenny: That Blue Label is getting to you already isn’t it?
Jay: Um, but he, uh, he's a pioneer for bringing it over to the West and a lot of other guys. But,
Kenny: Sailor Jerry?
Jay: and some others. Um, Bergeron some others I'm not too deep into the history of it but, I do know the American traditional side of like—I remember when I first started getting tattooed, it was a me thing. It was like, “oh I want this little Picasso sketch”, “Oh, I want this because this is an expression of myself”. You're 17, you're 19, you're 20, you don’t know shit. Like so when you—when there's a platform that's been ages, because tran—remember tribal?
Kenny: Yeah
Jay: That's a me thing. That's a truth, like, because you're part of the trend. And then you get these things like, wow honey masks and skulls with daggers through them, those have been around forever.
Kenny: Yeah
Jay: You look at a —I always, like at work, I would always see like an old Vietnam hat guy and like they have like a eagle holding a skull and it's all faded but the black, the carbon in it, is held and they're like 86. And I'm like—their grandson is here worried about the yeezys and like these like micro small blade like tattoos and like I'm like, “your grandfather is a badass, like he has the coolest tattoo.” Especially at that time, like, it was so looked down on.
Kenny: Yeah
Jay: Because we are getting more, um, you know positive about tattoos and workplaces and stuff like that. But you still shouldn't be an idiot. You shouldn't be all trendy, and but that's just my side of it.
Kenny: So you’re—you're pretty tatted up there.
Jay: I am.
Kenny: Can you-can you hold your arms there, so they can see ‘em from-from that camera there? So—
Jay: I got my whole back done too.
Kenny: You did. Really?
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: We won't have you take—this is a rated kind of ‘G’ show, so.
Jay: Well it goes-it goes all the way down to my butt. It's a Grim Reaper riding a horse.
Kenny: No kidding.
Jay: Yeah, it's pretty cool.
Kenny: That’s pretty wild.
Jay: It hurts.
Kenny: Yeah most most everybody here, except Ian, has a-has a tat but behind the camera over there.
Jay: It's actually cool to not have a tattoo now nowadays. It's rare, so yeah.
Kenny: Well Ian actually has a tattoo.
Jay: Oh he does?
Kenny: Of himself, just taller. Yeah. I stole that from, I forget the comedian that said that. That's an old 1980s joke but—
Jay: Yeah I get all my work done at, uh, Salt Water Tattoo, as well.
Kenny: Salt Water? Shout out to Salt Water.
Jay: They're good guys, Tony Rica, Micro Kurds, all those guys.
Kenny: Yeah
Jay: They're good people.
Kenny: I get mine done at Stagnant Water.
Jay: Stagnant Water.
Kenny: Yeah they're pretty crap—yeah. [Booing] Sorry. Sorry, fans. Yeah, so, the-the tats, that you have, that’s an expression of just things that have happened through your life. Because the last time I saw you-you didn't have—
Jay: as many.
Kenny: Yeah.
Jay: I'll confess no. I don't think all tattoos should have a meaning to them. I think it's more of, like, tattoos represent power. You know, represent, like, it's imagery. Um so you just gotta be careful what you do, I guess. Like, because, if it is trendy, it you will look dumb over the years, unless it's a personal, like tattoo. I definitely rushed into mine because my parents didn't want me to have tattoos.
Kenny: Was that a dumb stage? Is that what you are saying?
Jay: Uh, I would say it was a little dumb, not because I don't regret my tattoos.
Kenny: They’re pretty cool looking.
Jay: Yeah they're well—they’re well done. Um, but now as, like, I'm 25 and I'm learning about collecting and, like, uh learning more about the imagery of tattooing. I'm like, “wow, like, I could have had like a cooler, like grim reaper riding like a panther or something like that.” Like that's cool, you know, like, but I have Lady Guadalupe and it's still cool. But I definitely—my friends—it's that tattoo fever, that addiction, that rebellion, kind of like feeling. My parents didn't want me to have tattoos and I got two sleeves when I moved out and I would wear long sleeves when I went over to my parents house and I finally was just like, had to show ‘em.
Kenny: Yeah I can understand that. My father was a baptist minister.
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: And so, very authoritarian, very strict, and yeah I definitely would say I went through a stage that if he said, “black” I said, “white”
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: and if he was saying white I was saying black. And you know, then it wasn't so much tattoos, I think I was still one of those guys that was getting a tattoo when they weren’t popular. When it wasn't okay. And there's a trend moving back now, especially in the military, like in the Marine Corps, Isaiah wanted to enlist in the Marine Corps. He wanted to go through, one of their—the MARSOC program. And that was a goal that he had, but as he started stepping into that, he found out that one of his tats was too far down on his forearm. And you know, they do this little measurement and they disqualified him and there was no waiver, there was no getting around that. So that kind of comes back to one of those things in life where—we were talking in our so-called green room, the lunch room, the other room out there—that you know, there's these decisions that we make in life. There's these choices we have and sometimes those choices have consequences, both good and bad, and the consequence of that tat for him, left him with having to choose a different journey.
Jay: Absolutely
Kenny: What's cool about that is, you know, God has a plan that's large and he's in charge. And what's cool, is that-that really gave him the opportunity to expand his horizon and expand his territory into looking at other options that he hadn’t really considered. He thought about the Marine Corps because his dad was a Marine.
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: And so, I think a lot of times young people and even I did things based on what my parents taught me, in many ways or rebelled in a way because my parents did it a certain way. Without really just getting centered and comfortable with who I am, where I am, in that moment.
Jay: I think a lot of people too, like our age, um, they get scared or anxious for the future, and say you meet a girl, or you know and like you're just growing up. You know like, you're just going through the thing, and you kind of look towards the people who have been there for you and like—I remember when I was nineteen, twenty around there, and like, I was going to TCC trying to figure out my life.
Kenny: So, TCC is Tidewater Community College
Jay: Community College. Yes, great community college.
Kenny: Not country club.
Jay: Country club, yeah. Um, definitely was not ready mentally, to go back to school and figure it out. Um luckily, I had a scholarship. So I could just figure it out through that. But I ended up dropping out. And I remember only asking the people I knew, I think I even asked you at one point. Like, just like, because every everyone's set in their life. Everyone's like, oh you go out to like a bar and like, “yeah, I just got this job making 60 grand” and like everyone's growing up. And you’re comparing yourself and like sometimes, you'll look to the more familiar faces for advice. Um
Kenny: Yeah
Jay: So like, whether that be the Marine Corps, milit—to any military branch or anything like that.
Kenny: I'm afraid to ask, what did I say to you, do you remember?
Jay: Uh, Isaiah joined the Marine Corps or wanted to join the Marine Corps.
Kenny: No. When you said that you had asked me about—
Jay: Oh about, um, yeah
Kenny: You got some advice from me, I'm like alright
Jay: No you
Kenny: You're like, “oh god”. Where's my drum roll? Yeah, you're like, what did you say? [Drum Roll] Yeah, so drop some, drop some Kenny wisdom on us. Do you remember what I said to you?
Jay: I just—I-I remember telling you like, I was working really hard, and I knew Connor Parker and you were working like in finance. And Isaiah always talked about—and I was getting really into like—because I was broke. Like I remember I was 21, I was busing tables at the Bee and the Biscuit because I wanted a bartend.
Kenny: Yeah
Jay: and—
Kenny: But you're still there.
Jay: I'm still there.
Kenny: There’s something to say to that.
Jay: Yeah oh my gosh yeah
Kenny: Cheers to you for sticking it out.
Jay: Well that shows what happens when you’re loyal. And my-my owners too, just they're just, good people. Like wait—in the restaurant industry, it's very hard to find good bosses. Because, dealing with money, like because the restaurant is a busi—
Kenny: Joe and Karen live in my neighborhood.
Jay: Yeah. They're awesome man. They're —
Kenny: Very kind people.
Jay: very kind people. And their wisdom, like, Joe is phenomenal with his wealth and finances and just so humble and so generous too, at the same time.
Kenny: Maybe we should have joe on the show?
Jay: Absolutely.
Kenny: That’d be cool,
Jay: yeah.
Kenny: Such a nice man.
Jay: He's such a good person.
Kenny: Yeah I knew him for a small season, we went to church at this little small church plant together for a little while. And such a, just a, cool heart. Awesome dude.
Jay: They-they have those Hawaii vibes. Yeah, they're just good people man. And he just—it’s weird, because before I started working there, I-I was all over the place. I was at TCC. I was working at Michael’s. I was trying to—I was very emotional, but, I didn't have an order to my emotion. And which we’ll—I'll talk about more about with my work. Um, that's part of the process, and I remember having eight hundred bucks to my name. I was gonna just blow it all and just join the military and just, like, which is not like a reason to join. It was like I wanted to do—I was so low at my life, I wanted to do something greater than myself.
Kenny: Yeah.
Jay: And give back. And I was very selfish. And it's hard to balance that, you know, and when you're passionate about stuff, and um, I remember just only having eight hundred bucks to my name and I started working there. And I remember just working there for like—I was living at home. I lied to my parents that I was going to school. I dropped out and I got a studio and I started creating. Figuring it out. And I remember saving up like six grand. And I was like, “whoa this feels good” and then I remember, I got up to 20 grand. And, but, the thing was, I was just holding, holding and I didn't know what to do. And I think that's when I came out and I was like ask you and you were like, “you know, you're doing the right thing. Just keep working hard.” I think I was like 23. Even Connor, and like—but it was one of those things, like as I've gotten older, I've been more interested in finances, not because money is reward—it is a reward. That's what we work towards. We want to do nice things and give, like the best thing to do with your money is give. And I want freedom. That's the big—like when you realize it's freedom to be able to do what you want to do. Like, I think would be beautiful like—
Kenny: You know, money is a consequence of behavior.
Jay: It is.
Kenny: So, it can be a good consequence or can be a bad consequence and so what I'm hearing from you, what it sounds like to me, is that you didn't have a like this direct vision of what you wanted your money to do, in terms of this thing that you’ve probably heard about with compounds and having your money work hard for you, versus you working hard for your money. But money in a lot of ways shows up, the character of who we are, both on the receiving end and on the giving end. We had an interview with a client of mine a few episodes ago who was a Naval Academy graduate and one of the cool things I remember him talking about was, it was never about the money. It was about this passion and drive that he had. And he-he set up this business, to what he thought was going to be a music publishing business, and it turned into something, that if you were to ask him back in the Naval Academy was he going to have this massive government contracting firm and then have two massive charities that he has self-funded and and put on the map. That's beautiful.
Jay: Thats beautiful, yeah.
Kenny: And I served on one of those boards.
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: But it was purpose-driven in a way, before the purpose had been molded. The purpose was still on the canvas, and, well I'll ask you this, when you’re—when you’re—when you're getting ready to-to paint or when you're getting ready to craft one of your pieces and you've got this blank canvas, do you sometimes just start putting color on the canvas?
Jay: uh yes, I would. My process is a little differently, but that concept, of like the the blank page or like you know writers—writer’s block or like a blank canvas, I don't think you should be scared. It’s—it's literally just, like, throw something on and you'll see something. But again, it depends on what you’re doing. Like how I set it up now, is I definitely like, I work around the the figure and I'll map that out and then that feeling of like putting the color within the figure.
Kenny: Yeah
Jay: So if you're not—like you-you won’t ever know if you don't do. So it's that concept. It's you can-you can and also like don't take yourself so seriously, like just express. Because what you're saying with your friend, is people change, like your mind is always changing. Like the art I was creating when I was in ninth grade, I thought it was the shit. Like I remember just like creating little Jimi Hendrix portraits and little mushrooms and psychedelic little art and like—
Kenny: Were you tripping on shrooms back then?
Jay: I was dabbling with drugs. I remember but like, it was it wasn't the right way. Which I mean, I know like with drugs and all that. But um, it definitely, like it was trendy you know like, kind of like the 60s. Like, oh the doors. Like, this that and they had beautiful messages but some people get trapped in that hole of like, abuse.
Kenny: Yeah
Jay: um all—like yes, all is one but like you can't just like—it—the doctrines a lot and these things aren't well thought out sometimes at a young age. And you're just kind of, you’re-you’re you're getting—young and dumb and I remember just like creating these like image, like images. And I was a quiet little ninth grader, I was trying to figure out my place in the high school system, and like these cute like senior girls would be like, “oh I love that” and I'm like, “oh you can have it” and they put it on their binder and then like dudes would be like, “can I get one?” and I’d be like, “yeah, 20 bucks.” And like that's when I started like, “wow, you could like do something with this.” And um, but I remember just being so emotional and so about my ego and so about like this is it like I'm here. And like, you never know, so you always—if you're just vulnerable and genuine and self-aware and smart and not delusional, like,
Kenny: Yeah
Jay: you grow. I paint these faces. I do these things, but I know as I get older like when I'm 30 my body work might be abstract paintings or I might have like just paint Grim Reapers or like you just learn as you grow, but, you got to be vulnerable and aware of that change.
Kenny: So it's funny you say that Jay. Zach and I were talking on a, an episode, it was our initial episode where we were just sharing, you know, the folks that we want to talk to. Like yourself. And Zach had asked me a question about kind of my life's journey and, you know, I think for most of us life's journey sometimes just starts as a blank canvas. We—How many people grow up knowing what they want to do? And those who tell you that they absolutely know what they want to do, I think most of time, are full of shiite. But what I found is that, like as I was growing up, I didn't set this life's purpose to be a U.S. Marine. There was military all throughout my family and I had massive respect for those who had served and they always seemed to be—just that character in them was just a little different, a little, a little more kind of cut above the rest.
Jay: Rest. Yes
Kenny: And so I respected that. But you know for me, I thought I was going to be this massive football star and that, you know, I had this this image of myself of—Yeah, Zach, you can do that from over there now?
Zach: I didn't do anything.
Kenny: You didn't do that?
Zach: I don’t know where that came from.
Kenny: Oh, that was the Holy Spirit. Really. That was that was the spirit of Trump talking to us. Nobody can do that like—
Zach: That wasn't even in the show. So people are not gonna know.
Kenny: They’re not gonna—so is it, played over here. Man, are you going to have to put it back in now. Literally folks what just happened there was Donald Trump interrupted our podcast and he said, “No one can do it like me” as I was talking about my illustrious football—
Jay: The football dream. Yeah
Kenny: The football dream. So thanks for interrupting us President Trump. You're great at that. But we still like you, that’s alright, we we love you. So that just totally took me off my game.
Jay: Football
Kenny: Yeah it was, you know, trying to relate this back to your story and your expression of you know, your life's journey. I can relate to that because I went through this phase of where I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I had this opportunity to play some football and even had an opportunity to do it at a collegiate level and then quickly found that, oh these dudes are bigger, stronger, faster, and I'm not prepared for this and so my mind—my state of mind, wasn't there and I quit.
Jay: Yeah.
Kenny: I looked—I quit. Which is the ‘q’ word can be haunting
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: and daunting to stay in it. Right? So there's that balance. So you know, for me—and Noah, I'm losing stuff in my my ears there. For me, what ended up happening was I-I gave up on that dream and I'm now like okay the canvas, crap who am I now?
Jay: It went from landscape to portrait.
Kenny: Landscape, alight, it twisted on me. It's still deaf in my left ear here. So what ended up taking place from there, was in this moment of unknown, a-a friend from high school came into my life. And I have now, no sound in my ears Noah.
Jay: Yeah me either.
Kenny: You're gone too?
Jay: Yeah, I'm gone too.
Kenny: Zach do we still have voice over there? Okay. So, what ended up happening was—okay we're gonna—we’re gonna take a timeout. We're gonna come back. We've got some audio issues and maybe some video issues, so we're gonna stand by here.
[[[[[Break Time]]]]]]]
Kenny: Okay, we’re-we're back. Right? Are we live guys? Zach are we—audio’s on? Alright. So sorry for that. Mid-sentence President Donald Trump came in with an audio file that just corrupted everything here that was going on. I don't know.
Jay: Yeah.
Kenny: It’s not your fault President Trump, but you know, we might as well blame you, everybody else blames you for everything. So we'll blame you for what just happened here. So going at it, being political this morning, going for it. So we were having this conversation about just the the canvas, the blank canvas. And I was sharing with you a little bit of the story—I was conversing with Zach in an early episode. You know I had this this massive opportunity in my mind's eye, that you know, I was going to be this great football store—star. That went away.
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: And then, I was flailing around, trying to figure out who I was in my identity and long story short, I ended up being a U.S. Marine. And that was the best thing that ever happened in my life, because it gave me the mindset of knowing that, whatever I put my mind to, whatever I stay consistent with and keep driving forward for whatever goal I have in front of me, as long as I don’t quit
Jay: Quit
Kenny: what I perceive and what I believe will happen will actually transpire. Now, like with Art, I'm sure sometimes when you start and what you visualized in your head might be slightly different, because along the way you get different inspiration, I would say, for how something looks in your life.
Jay: Absolutely
Kenny: And-and I'll share the second half of this really quick with you, said something that reminded me of a moment in my life where I had, just some massive failure. So things were going my way for a number of years, things were great I had this great financial company, then I sold it. I didn't really want to deal with my business partners anymore.
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: And kind of went off on my own scene and-and got off into another industry that was completely out of my wheelhouse of finance and I thought well you know I'm a smart guy, I'm a—I’m a marine, I can do anything I put my mind to. But there were some outside circumstances that I couldn't control. So the things that we need to focus on in life are those things we can control, everything else is just noise. So for me, what ended up happening is something took place that I couldn't control and some of it I could. Some of it was my poor choices, poor behavior, and I had a consequence of that. So fast forward to losing it all. And I even hate using that term because losing it all is such a selfish, inward, introspective thought, that—that’s very offensive to my wife and my five children. They were still with me.
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: Right? But I-I was very selfish and introspective of going, “man I've lost it all”, you know, all my material goods were gone. And I ended up having to live with my mother-in-law and father-in-law, who are great people, amazing. Love you Mark and Paula. And-and living with them for a year to get my head screwed back on straight and pretty much figure out that you know there's still a lot of life in front of me.
Jay: How old were you?
Kenny: I was in, let’s see, 50 now I was 38.
Jay: That's important for people to listen to.
Kenny: Yeah in my 30s, had massive success up until that point, and then things the wheels fell off the bus. And one episode, one day, I’ll-I'll talk about how that happened. But what I remember Jay, is every morning, I would walk out on this 210 foot dock, that my father-in-law built for my 50-foot yacht to park there. I didn't have that yacht anymore. It was gone. So that identity—was and I would walk out there every morning and pout about that not being there. I'd walk out with this cup of coffee, walk out on the end of the dock and I would sit down on the dock, almost, sometimes wishing I would fall over and suck water. You know, and for me, what came back to my mind one morning was, God put this fish in the river and this fish jumped up out of the water and went back in. And it—my son-in-law has been down there. He loves to fish. He's seen some of these fish. I don’t even know what kind of fish it was. It doesn't matter. What matters is this fish jumped out of the water, big old fish, jumps out of the water goes back in. And I'm sitting there with my cup of coffee. And it took me back to two years before that incident, of that fish jumping, was a guy said to me, who was in my life for literally maybe 48 hours but had spoke some words of wisdom into my life. And he said, “KP you just need to go fishing” and I'm like, “okay, whatever dude, quit trying to be sensei to me. I’m—I’m sad right now. I’m—I've lost my wealth and things have just collapsed around me.” And he goes, “yeah, I know that. But you just need to go fishing.” And I'm like, “okay”. What I learned that day was there were fish jumping all around me. I wasn't prepared to catch fish, I was prepared to whine and pout and cry about my misery of past and, you know, the kind of the who moved my cheese? But every morning Jay, I'd get up and I'd grab a cup of coffee that my in-laws was providing for me, providing shelter, providing opportunity, providing something for me to better myself.
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: And in their garage, I'd walk past a line of fishing poles. And I would walk down to this deck and sit on the end of this deck, being introspective. Aka, at that point, feeling sorry for myself.
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: And then it hit me. “oh, when I come out on this deck and that fish jumps, there is an opportunity in front of me. There is resource in front of me. All I have to do is reach out and grab it.” And so, one of the things in that story, what you said to me a few minutes ago, was taking me back to that moment. That you've had some of these failures in your life, but you haven't let them define. You know, whether it be with drugs or with alcohol or with poor decision-making, what you’ve done is you've gotten really clear, and becoming clearer, on who you are and your talent and what you bring to this world. One of those is your art, so I'd love to spend some time today, on this podcast, just really sharing with people and helping for lack of a better term, promote your art. To share it with the world and say, “hey, you bring something really cool. You bring a, you know, the Jay Young signature to-to this craft. Into this art craft.” So tell me, where it started for you. Where did-where did art for you really just start to you go, “man, I’m actually good at this”?
Jay: I think, um, I don't know good, but I definitely had a spark in drawing when I was probably like eight or nine. And my grandfather would before dinner—we had this room called, the dolphin room, it was like where the computer was and all the stuff and I had a bunch of dolphin stuff in there and I would just draw with him. And we'd have like 10 pieces of paper everywhere and we'd just be doodling and what he would do is like spend a minute on this and then go to the next piece of paper and draw something on that.
Kenny: So your grandfather was an artist?
Jay: In a way, yes. He was more—he didn't take it seriously. I don’t think he has any work to show me either, but, he definitely was illustrative and drew. And my dad is very like artistic, in a way of like construction, contracting, like knows how to build things, home improvement stuff which is an art. It's interior design and building which is crazy.
Kenny: Yeah
Jay: um
Kenny: Look at, look at like Chip and Joanne Gaines.
Jay: That’s an art. Yeah. Thats what I really want to talk about too. Yes, my art form is painting but creativity comes in so many different ways. So I guess the term, like with art, like yes I was drawing but I was always—
Kenny: You’re giving me some hope today. Video podcast is an Art, right?
Jay: Yeah and it is. Yeah, anything that, expressive. You know, and as you said, it takes time to brand and style and—because your expressions are just expressions and they change all the time. So when you can capture them and market them and brand it, that's when the momentum starts going.
Kenny: So I think you were telling me last year or maybe before the coronavirus. Everybody uses the coronavirus as an excuse now or is a mark, an indelible mark, in 2020.
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: And then what-what we did before that and what we're doing now but before coronavirus, you went down to Miami.
Jay: Yeah.
Kenny: To a art show?
Jay: Yeah. Art fair. Art basil, basil. Yeah.
Kenny: Is that what it's called? Basil.
Jay: I think it's art bay-sil or basil—I’ve never—it it was cool. Definitely the market, uh, there's so many different markets with art. But it's definitely a big one in the staple but it's it's known for the party scene.
Kenny: So tell me about Miami.
Jay: It was fun. Yeah it was fun. It definitely woke my heart up, to like what I don't want, you know. So—
Kenny: What was weirdest thing you saw?
Jay: How people behaved for money and fame and
Kenny: Really?
Jay: Like there's a—there's this famous quote. Like Jim Carrey is like on some other level now, with his mind, uh so is Mike Tyson. But, uh,
Kenny: Oh yeah.
[Mike Tyson audio]
Kenny: Hydrogen bombs. Throw some hydrogen bombs on us.
Jay: He's a great guy.
Kenny: He's gonna fight again, you know that?
Jay: Yeah. Have you seen his training videos?
Kenny: oh its—
Jay: It's insane. Makes me feel like a lazy asshole.
Kenny: It makes me feel like a 50 year old.
Jay: Yeah, and I box. He's like so much—but that’s the sign of like once you reach that level of success and hard work, he knows what it takes. So
Kenny: Right
Jay: There's no delusional part of it. Like he or he's been there. He knows what he has to do.
Kenny: Delusion
Jay: Yeah. Like a lot of people, yeah, delusion is a theft and a thiever and it's-t’s hard because sometimes you’re not aware of it. You need outsiders. You need critics.
Kenny: Delusion is devilish.
Jay: It is. Yes. Because you-you can be so comfortable with the reality you’re faced with. Like I know p—like for instance, the bar industry around here, there are people who are like 35 and they're cool within that community. You know, of like being drunk, going for the younger girls, blah blah blah and that's their identity. That's their reality, they wanna—it's delusion. They think they made it and like you're not putting in the authentic, genuine hard work, the sacrifice.
Kenny: Yeah
Jay: Yeah and it's delusional.
Kenny: So, down in Miami, you're talking about these people who have this delusion or the clout?
Jay: The clout, um, it I mean, like it you—you kind of have to, in like the art market, I guess or just fashion and trends or like hype culture or anything like that, um it definitely comes and goes. Like I like-like I definitely got ahead of myself. You know. When I started getting more followers or like I was sharing stuff with these pages or anything like that. It can definitely, like, if a single man at a young age or like there's things it can get—
Kenny: Single man in Miami. It's at an art festival. I guess it's a little—
Jay: Yeah you can get a too ahead of yourself but I went with a genuine—
Kenny: Debauchery comes to mind.
Jay: I went with a genuine heart, and like my friend, and it was crazy because, I mean there was a lot of partying, a lot of like riches, a lot of this, but there were a lot of genuine people there. and the cool—the cool thing about partying there and just networking quote unquote, is when you’re around people with power, that have the same heart as you, it's fun. Because you're not trying to get anything out of them, you're just being like, “hey man, like, like-like I'm just more interested—like I don't want you to give me money, I don't want anything, I just want to know your story”. Because I’m—I observe so it’s like, if I'm not getting the way I want to be, I'm going to go look at people who I want to be and see how they did it. Like my favorite thing with art was watching interviews and dissecting like artists process, work studies, like if I wanted to become a famous painter that's like representational and like paints in Italy. I would go intern under someone and learn how their method, their process,—you can even get more abstract and I could go work with a printmaker even though I'm an oil painter, but, just like catch those vibes, his energy, his work methods and apply that to mine.
Kenny: So you-you do this out of passion and I know you personally and I know it's about passion. It's not about, you know, padding your wallet. But you do need to make a living.
Jay: You do need to make a living.
Kenny: You know, two things in life that we need, and we talk about this on KP's BlackBox. Man, I did pretty good with my voice there, right Zach? I'm proud of myself with that sexy DJ voice. Getting better at that. Two things that are important in life, oxygen and money, right? Live a day without either one of those, let me know how it works out for you. And I've been looking for people to interview that could live a day without oxygen or live a day without money.
Jay: Yeah.
Kenny: Without resource. And-and money we think of, you know, dollar bills and Benjamin's or yuan or the pound, but the the resource of the community of where you live and what you bring into that community. And you bring this art. And so you-you trade your-your time, your vision, you put it on this canvas. You brought a couple pieces with you today, right?
Jay: I did.
Kenny: You want to grab a couple of those while, while I'm talking to you here. So when-when you started doing this, and let me bring my mic over a little bit and we'll try to hold this up. How's that in the camera guys? Good there? Tell us about this chick, man, she’s-she’s got a lot going on.
Jay: Yeah, I think. So when I first started painting, I was really representational. Well try to. And like I remember asking my buddy, who taught me how to paint, Alex Vanezia, phenomenal artist. He—I remember just being like, “what's a skin tone? Like how do you make a skin?” He's like, “skin tones are multiple different colors” and then as I've gotten more into art history and culture and who-who I like and who influences me, I was moving towards the more like expressive side. The abstract side, and but, I was still obsessed with the figure and so my thing is, like, I don't have a special person I paint. Because that would be portrait. That would be I'm trying to capture someone.
Kenny: Yeah
Jay: It's more like I'm trying to capture a feeling within the framework of a figure.
Kenny: She has a really pretty eye.
Jay: Yeah. So that's my staple. Is like, I like to just paint one eye because as weird as you want to be and fun or expressive—
Kenny: Are you in the illuminati?
Jay: No. It's not part of it.
Kenny: No? Jay z, hey. Jay Young, Jay Z, Illuminati, now I’m catching on.
Jay: Hillary Clinton. No, I just do the eyeball because I do still—
Kenny: Jeffery Epstein didn’t kill himself.
Jay: He didn’t kill himself. It definitely just, gives you a more—hones it in. You know as expressive and fun it is. So I'm expressing myself, but with the eye and the framework, I capture that expression.
Kenny: How long ago did you do this?
Jay: I did that piece in December and it took me like three - four days. Which there's no time limit on pieces.
Kenny: And this type of art is called?
Jay: Oil painting. But this is a figurative painting.
Kenny: A figurative.
Jay: I've had people say surreal expressive but it definitely isn't representational.
Kenny: Yeah. My art—yours is really cool and yours is thoughtful, put together. But when I migh—I draw, I kind of look like this bottom half. There's nothing. It-it actually works in this piece here.
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: And so when you started, when you put this together, so this is not—this is not a-a specific person. Kind of—this has a feminine—
Jay: It does. I do paint a lot of feminine, um, figures.
Kenny: Okay.
Jay: It's just something I was kind of drawn to at a young age.
Kenny: Is this a specific person in your life?
Jay: No, um, I do all my imagery from like Pinterest and like I'll type in like, beauty shots. You know, and I again I just map out the face, um, I've even experimented lately on like paper, of just like putting down marks and then like within those marks building a face.
Kenny: Yeah
Jay: With no reference. But it's definitely, it's not anyone specific, it's not supposed to be, “oh this is this person” or “this like girl in my life” or anything like that, it's just a framework where I can express myself within it. Like my brand.
Kenny: Yeah
Jay: Because I'm obsessed with the figure, manipulating flesh, my influences are very abstract painters.
Kenny: Yeah. I don't know if it really shows through on the camera but the-the eye. I'm serious, the eye shot there, it has a lot of depth. You know you can feel—
Jay: It's wonky looking. It’s—I def, I just like to—
Kenny: I feel some passion in that person. So that’s-that's really, really cool. It's really deep. There’s some deep layers in that, if you just stare at it long enough. Are you doing any psychedelics when you're doing this?
Jay: No.
Kenny: No. Okay, you're completely clean.
Jay: Yeah. Uh, I don’t, I don’t get high or anything. Uh, I definitely think we should be more like a like medical kind of, just like, late night kind of, yeah. Whatever your stance is on it, but me personally, I tried doing that when I was younger and I get more done when I'm sober minded.
Kenny: Yeah that's good.
Jay: Yeah, clear-minded. Focused. I don't need drugs to like, and like Salvador Dali like the most surreal weird guy, everyone thought he did drugs and he’s like, “I don't do drugs, I am drugs”.
Kenny: Here I'm getting weak and tired, I don't want to drop your art. That's beautiful though. So it took you four days to put that together, oh wow, this is her sister? This is really cool. Let me see that. Alright. So, how's that for the shot guys? Wow, yeah, alright. Jay, I'm gonna put you on the spot man, you've got some in inventory right now?
Jay: I do. Um some of them, like this one, um I might be putting in a show. I have a couple collectors looking at it and that blue one, I have a guy I'm doing a trade with. But how—I-I-I do have some in inventory, and I'll always be—will create more.
Kenny: Will you do me a favor?
Jay: Yes.
Kenny: Will you leave some here for me and we’ll-we'll let people know.
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: And you can rotate them out, if you want to.
Jay: For sure.
Kenny: And then—
Jay: I'll um, I'll paint that—so what I do too, is I'll paint the edges black and frame them like—I mean, I'll wire them. Yeah, so they're presented well.
Kenny: Very cool. I, you know, the other one’s cool. I'm kind of drawn. I like—
Jay: This is cleaner. It's more centered, and also, it's bigger. Like when it's bigger, it just looks, always better.
Kenny: Yeah, is your style to always do a face?
Jay: A face? Um, in a way yes. But I’m—this upcoming like fall and winter when it de-loads a little bit with work
Kenny: Yeah
Jay: I definitely want to branch out and try some other stuff. So I'm really into vintage. So I'll be doing a lot of like vogue portraits, playboys, um 80s spring break vibe, kind of stuff. I want to do a show with that, but like, still with the figurative kind of fun stuff.
Kenny: Has anyone commissioned you to-to do anything for them?
Jay: I've had a couple people commission me. One of my friends, Mike Anderson, I did a commission for him, for his wife and him when they got married. It was—the concept as a writer never—like if a writer falls in love with you, you never die. So the concept was, ‘welcome to eternity’ that he thought of. And I did like a little surreal kind, it was fun, it put me out of my place. And then another thing he put me on too was, I-I paint denim jackets. And I didn't know that would be—
Kenny: Paint on denim jackets?
Jay: Yeah, so, that pushed me out of my comfort zone too. Which people, when it comes to collecting art, like say I sold this for two thousand dollars for someone, that's an investment on my name, my craft, whether they like it or not. Some people collect art just for selfish gain, which is, yeah you know, whatever. Um
Kenny: Let's set that down. I'll let you relax. That's gorgeous. Very cool. So you were telling me, you're painting on denim.
Jay: I do. Yes, so, painting on denim, um, which you can check out at Jay Young Art on instagram. I'll do a lot of, like—
Kenny: We’ll put that on our site. What—tell us what the site is.
Jay: Um, so my site is JayYoungArt.com but it’s currently down right now.
Kenny: You gotta slow that down for me.
Jay: Jay Young art
Kenny: Jay Young art
Jay: Dot com. But that one, my website is down right now. I'm revamping it. But everything that you see on there, is on my instagram. My instagram is branded in a way, like when you click its an online portfolio gallery
Kenny: Nice. And your instagram handle or—
Jay: Uh, at Jay Young Art
Kenny: At Jay Young Art. Cool, yeah, so check them out. We'll put it on the— our website for you to
Jay: Yeah I appreciate that
Kenny: let people check it out. Now if they want to want to buy?
Jay: dm or email. I keep it pretty simple, um
Kenny: Yeah
Jay: for certain reasons. But with art, you kind of have to, it’s-it's a weird game. Because the moment you put your prices out or say something’s in demand, I kind of like will do a bid. Like I have multi—like I'll post a piece and people will dm or email be like, “how much is this” and I'll say a price like and if they take the bait, they take the bait. You got to keep it at a certain level, you don't want to overextend. But the moment you kind of like say too much on these bigger pieces that's when you kind of cap yourself, because it’s-it’s gambling, it's who is this artist going to be in 10 years? Who did they study? So you got to keep it mysterious, but doing denim jackets and little things, it's quick sales.
Kenny: We were talking about that earlier. And like one of my favorite pieces that I own, personally, is my stingray back over there, that I've had that for years. And the glass blower who made that, is an Italian guy. He passed away, and you know, I paid a couple thousand bucks for that down in Key West, Florida,
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: a number of years ago. And I've seen I-I’ve only found like three of them in existence and there may be more, I-I don't know, but what I've seen that price do, is the last time I looked it was up around thirty thousand dollars now. Don't anybody try ’n' to come in my office and—Noah, Noah's over there like, “oh, okay facebook community marketplace”, but yeah, I mean I love that because I—for me it's priceless.
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: Because it again, is at a point in time in our life, and the same weekend I get this family tat with my wife and I, we bought that piece. So they kind of go together from what—for me and it's a personal story for—
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: Yeah, it’s a heart thing. And I think that's what art is for a lot of people. Those pieces will inspire a person, based on their their personal experience.
Jay: It's collecting, yes. And when people come in here you get to say like—it's when you collect art, like yes, you want to look at the the return sometimes, if you're into investing on it. But like, at the end of the day, you don't need a curator, you don't need interior designer to help you. Like if something's drawn to you, collect it. Like it-it’s cool to have friends come over—
Kenny: Thanks for telling me that because, you know what? I have this-this shoe fetish.
Jay: Yeah.
Kenny: And like nike, yeah, Ian and I, every once in a while will go on sneakers on the app and man people, you talk about people going crazy over shoes, all you got to do is go on that sneakers app that nike makes and you—if you're not like first in line,
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: you’re not getting it. Yeah, Jordan's to just you know Katie's or whatever, but,
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: you know, I've got an attic full of sneakers. My wife is ready to—
Jay: But there’s a market for it. Like
Kenny: Yeah they is and I don't even care about the market, I do but I don’t.
Jay: Yeah but I'm talking about, like the younger generation of these artists, like they’re sleeping on them. They cap themselves, like, while I'm doing faces and I'm building my brand and selling and like I could flip these for like 400 bucks, you know, but what's my return? I'd rather work, do other things, while I'm building this and hyping that up and make it more exclusive and it's just a compounding time thing. And sneakers, like, if you’re into that fashion world and you’re designing your own clothes, you could have like a little d-pop thing selling sneakers and funding these things.
Kenny: Yeah
Jay: Because there are people, you know, like you, that are into sneakers. There are people with a lot of money who are into art and people don’t—
Kenny: I actually have a client who's a special warfare boat team guy. And he's like, he's the one that really kind of turned me on at first. I was kind of buying ‘em here and there. And he’s like, “man, there's an absolute community” and he showed me some of his-his inventory and I'm like, “dude, I like that. Those are cool.” And I just wanted to buy some, just-just to have them. So do you like collect other people's art?
Jay: I do. Yes. Um I-I keep it pretty low. Um, I don't try to go over a thousand dollars.
Kenny: Yeah
Jay: Um, but I do collect—I’m obviously into tattoo culture. So I do like to collect a lot of like tattoo flash from friends and other people I follow on instagram.
Kenny: Are you—is your canvas your body?
Jay: Canvas is my body, in a way. But I-I—Collections. Now I'm getting more into collecting, um, but no, I collect like other, like just paint—works on paper and stuff. Paintings. Yeah. Cause they do—
Kenny: Like you're running out of canvas there Jay.
Jay: Yeah. No, I'm obsessed with like—so the paintings I do, that's like my thing, but I'm also really into like other art. And I'm really into like Chicano style stuff or like tattoo style stuff or just gritty, low brow, kind of like grungy 90s kind of stuff and um like vintage Playboy stuff. Like it's just my aesthetic or how I want to design my—
Kenny: Playboy, like boobies? The beauty of boobies, is that what—
Jay: Beauty of boobies. Or, no. Just the the story of, just yeah, I don't know it’s just, it's cool, I guess.
Kenny: Some of the best writers, literally, were actually from that vintage day
Jay: Yeah, vintage is coming back
Kenny: of playboy. And they would write in other journals now.
Jay: Some great artwork in those too. I have some vintage ones. Um but—
Kenny: It is some great artwork, yeah
Jay: Yeah. Yeah, it's but, it's just cool, like you know, you have a couple of vintage playboys on your toilet or something like that. Um, but tattoo culture got me really into like collecting, um, because collecting books, like I'm a huge art book collector like I'll drop 200 bucks on a nice book because you get to hear their process, their journey, you have all their artwork. And like if you—we have a problem sometimes as like, you know, business people or artists or dietitians, fitness gurus, you get all these resources but you never take the time to dissect it. And these art books like when you just sit down and like spend your time with it, you learn so much. Like you don't have to go to a college to study Art. Like there's so much information out there, like my buddy Alex, who I told you who paints representational, he dropped out of VCU and just went—did workshops, read books, like learned it. You know, the information is out there. But it's just—it’s what you want to do. Like, what do you want to do with your art? Because there's so many—
Kenny: How’s he doing?
Jay: He's doing phenomenal. He just had a solo show at Arcadia Gallery, which is a big gallery out in L.A. He’s—he's working with this guy, Michael Klein, which they are based out of Raleigh. Which is cool, because everyone you know, especially like hype culture stuff, he's more representational, um, fine art. Beautiful work. Can paint like John Singer Sargent style and
Kenny: Okay
Jay: Um, but he—they live in Raleigh, and it’s so funny because like now—like back in the day
Kenny: Raleigh is not what you think of this art scene.
Jay: Yeah, it's creative. It's a small community. But it's crazy with the power of social media, galleries, um collectors, you can live in those kind of—like I want to live in Virginia Beach, you know, I want to build my base around—because I'm like, I love Virginia Beach. Um, but you don't have to be—
Kenny: Yeah, somethings in the water here
Jay: Yeah. Something’s in the water. And a lot of people feel like they have to go chase it. Like New York or L.A. or whatever. And that’s cool. You know, like depends, on what you are. You know, I'm a painter. I'm not a musician, so it's a little different, um, but I found I don't want to sacrifice my security and be delusional, like I'm not saying you're delusional for going and getting after it, but for me I'd be delusional for myself, what I like. And what I like to—I like to have fun, I like to go out to eat, I like to like so it's more fun to have a balance.
Kenny: Yeah. I've seen that happen in the past it’s-it’s always, what it makes me think of is, ‘the grass is greener on the other side’ and that happens to a lot of entrepreneurs in-in all communities, that they’ll-they'll start doing something in their world and maybe business gets slow or things aren't necessarily going their way and they'll see success in other communities and they'll go, “well it’s-it's not me, it's my community. I need to go there.” And that’s-that’s actually rarely the case. It's usually the-the belief system, the behavior that we have, especially in the world we live in today, where technology has made the world super, super small.
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: So you know, just being able to get on a podcast like today, and our message gets out to our audience. That expands your audience.
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: Is really cool in the way that we can share
Jay: Thank you
Kenny: We can share your-your entrepreneurial spirit that comes alive on a canvas, and-and if we can help you do well by doing good, sharing your information, that’s a
Jay: I want to help
Kenny: good day.
Jay: Yeah and I—there’s just such a like there's something so beautiful about Virginia Beach. One, the collective side of like collecting art, but there's so many businesses here that are like trades and um real estate and that need, like I'm not saying a lot of those people in those fields aren’t creative, but they're lacking that. Like people should, like if my passion was plumbing, imagine if I like decided at 25, I'm like, “I'm going to be a plumber.” My branding, my social media, my market, like you will be more tuned to succeed, because those all fluctuate in this market we are now. People it's a co—you have to have that consumer mindset. Like you can't like do the 80s marketing anymore, like, the like—uh people barely go down the boulevard to buy a car now. Like you know, like, it’s like
Kenny: Yeah
Jay: Enterprise or, you know, Craigslist and like people are doing it themselves now.
Kenny: Yeah
Jay: It's beautiful, but can be scary. Because if you don't want to play, it is scary.
Kenny: Yeah
Jay: Like it's just how it is. And, um, I think a lot of businesses lack that creative side and that's why you have like, creative marketing teams and social media marketing and like, it is a job. Like it is.
Kenny: So is it—is there a tough balance for you in being a creator, an artist, and a businessman?
Jay: I'm still figuring it out. Um, it is a little hard. But it's only—it’s just— it's not as hard as I thought it would be, as I get bigger.
Kenny: Do you get up every day or every week and you look at your financials and you go, “hey, uh this week, I need to produce four or five or six pieces of art because I need to bring in x
Jay: X amount of money
Kenny: revenue”?
Jay: Yes. I do. Um I also believe—so like while I'm balancing bartending, making that income and creating a budget and then you know entertainment, fun,
Kenny: Yeah
Jay: Um generous side too and then I have my painting side. And I used to just think wake up, go paint. But now it's more, like when you plan it, like, “okay, Monday get my chores done, get my fitness done, do this and then Tuesday, you have 12 hours to have a checklist of okay, I'm gonna work on these three paintings all lined up.” You start to like cause—people as artists don't want to think like that, they're like, “I'm this person." “I'm expressive.” Like blah blah blah and it's like you gotta, like, grow up in a way. Like I know like when you're young, it's against the system, selling out, but it's like grow up. Like you know, like you gotta. It is running a business.
Kenny: Yeah it’s-it’s interesting. I heard, uh, Donald Miller of StoryBrand, he's a, he's a writer and helps businesses improve how they tell their story of their branding. And he has a place in Tennessee, right outside of his home, that's basically his shack, that he goes to-to just get quiet and get with himself to where he can be creative. And some days he'll go in there and he'll spend maybe hours before that creativity starts, other days, he’ll go in and man he's just like, it's coming to him all at once. But I think what you're talking about, is getting to the point where you can get okay with good and meet good face on and just go, “hey I'm okay being where I'm at in this moment and today if I spend 12 hours in the studio and-and only get one stroke down. That’s progress.”
Jay: Progress. Yeah
Kenny: And being able to be free enough and okay with yourself to say, let the process happen, and then the other part, during that week is equally important. That's processing people.
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: So you have to get in front of people on a favorable basis and share your story or share your product, and I say that to folks that I coach all the time is, if you're not sharing your story, sharing your process, how's anyone gonna know? You could have all the best art in the world and if you hoard it, keep it to yourself, not share it with your community, then you're going to get what you produce.
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: Um and-and so I appreciate that you’re-you’re bringing that to the table. That you're really treating your art, in this fine world of business, and what I do is art. Even in the financial side.
Jay: It is. Yeah
Kenny: I bring my style, my Art
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: to the world that's very diverse.
Jay: The way you decorate your workspace, the way you handle your conversations, your relationships, it's all an expression of yourself.
Kenny: Right
Jay: You are into the arts. Which plays off, because, there are people who are in the finance world and like they have no taste, no style, no culture,
Kenny: Yeah
Jay: no humanities. And like—
Kenny: Oh man. Are you telling me I've got some style?
Jay: Yeah, man, you got some style.
Kenny: Yeah. There are things I like and I just I go with what I like.
Jay: Yeah that's true. Because you look like an idiot when you're trying to be someone you're not.
Kenny: Right. Right. Enjoy what you enjoy. And-and I think that comes back to, in art, you're being true to yourself. You’re bein—the canvas speaks for what you express, right? It shows up.
Jay: Yeah. I found my thing. And back to that process too, it's like how I worked, like how I got to where I was like—I believe in adapting. Like, so I was all over the place chaotic, expressive, and you know, like during the summer, when I was about to have this little show at a local community. I had to like—I’m working six days a week. I get off at three or four, I wanna go out with my friends at ten o’clock, you know, like I have a certain time—like I also gotta stay fit, I gotta do responsibilities, all this stuff. So what I learned was, I paint in layers, so I'll set tape around, I'll paint for like a section for three four hours on multiple things.
Kenny: Yeah
Jay: Leave it be. Come back either the next day, how am I feeling? Am I forcing it? Am I thinking about, “oh I need to finish this and post on instagram”? Which you don't want to do, you want to make it, yeah you want to wait till you're ready. It's like those little cliché, cheesy things that are—they’re true and they're real.
Kenny: They’re cliche because—
Jay: They're real and they're true. They're over told truths. And yeah, the moment you’re not disciplined to those thoughts, you you get too ahead of yourself, and that's a constant struggle with me. Like what you're saying with the community, I wasn’t as big in my community because I thought I was bigger than myself, because a lot of insecurities. Now I'm starting to have more, like you know, I'm selling pieces in Europe and in other states and it feels good. But like, you know, what really feels good is like when a friend has—like I always do like a-a discount for local people, because I want them to have my brand. Because when I'm 35, I'm gonna be a different artist in the market and it's cool, you know. So it's like a golden ticket not because I'm going to be something, it's because I want to be something and I hope that whether you want to keep it or trade it in
Kenny: You’re creating the everlasting gobstopper, using the golden ticket.
Jay: Yeah.
Kenny: Are you, uh, are you reading anything now that you'd like to share with the community? What-what-what do you dig?
Jay: Um, I'm actually trying to get back into reading. I just ordered a book, um, The War of Art. Joe Rogan talks about it. Uh, talks about it—it’s about the concept of when you wake up in the morning and like you're like, “wow I should go drink a glass of water, I should go for a run, I should go do this,” but yet, you know, to wake up and go to your job. Because you're a professional. So when you show up to your craft, your vocation, your relationship, you gotta show up as a professional. And be aware and you'll have these, uh, restrictions that are gonna hold you back but the moment you're aware of them and just create that mindset of like waking up and just you do it because you’re professional, your mind tricks itself.
Kenny: That’s good. Yeah. So that’s-that's called what again?
Jay: uh The War of Art.
Kenny: The War of Art, that sounds like it could even apply in business.
Jay: Yeah it is-it is a big concept of all that. That does run with business. Yeah business is an art in a way and
Kenny: Absolutely is. For sure
Jay: because you can't have Art without business.
Kenny: We'll put that on the, on the site. Is it on amazon?
Jay: Uh, it is, I think. It's like 13 bucks.
Kenny: Nice.
Jay: Yeah. It's a small book too. Joe Rogan would like always hand it out to people. But I got that one and then I've been just reading my art books. Just like, like an artist like David Show or Danny Fox and like just read their life and—
Kenny: Uh, any titles to those books? ’Cus I'm not that art guy, so I don't know those.
Jay: I can't name the titles off the back, but like what I would do, like if I want a book of a certain artist, I just type their name and then collect the book and they have multiple books.
Kenny: Get us some of those and we’ll post them on the site for you.
Jay: Yeah. Definitely influential, yeah, to my craft. That's cool, because if you—you’re only, you only are a byproduct of what you know and experience. So if you don't want to go deep down that rabbit hole of your craft, you’re always going to stay in that shallow end but—
Kenny: So let me ask you, as we close out today, if I want to commission you to put something together for me. You can help me out with that?
Jay: Absolutely
Kenny: Can you-can you do my wild logo out there? Like with your expression.
Jay: Style? Yeah, I can do that.
Kenny: Yeah?
Jay: Yeah.
Kenny: Put an eye on it.
Jay: Yeah well,
Kenny: The tiger's eye
Jay: what I would do is like—what I'm big with, is if I'm going to commission for a client or anything like that, I want to know the space it's going to be in. Because it has to vibe with the space.
Kenny: Right here. We're going to put it out here for everybody all the time. We'll put it somewhere over in here, maybe we'll take down my success photo, and put it around family and we can spread that out and what—you know what would be cool is, we'll just—we’ll rotate some stuff until you get mine done.
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: And um and
Jay: Put it up
Kenny: Yeah, I'll put it up there for you. And it’ll be here. Just as long as I don't have to have this massive insurance policy to cover your priceless piece of art. I tease you, but I know it's priceless, all your pieces I'm sure.
Jay: Yeah that's the hard part with art is starting—that’s the hard part business, is realizing all the taxes and insurance.
Kenny: You know the beautiful thing about a capitalistic society is that when someone says this is the value, you can—and this is not just in capitalism this is the world.
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: When you place a value on something and we say, “hey this piece of art here is worth two thousand dollars.” I as the beholder get to bid back to your ask, which is if you say 2000, I can say, “no actually, Jay, I think your piece of art is worth 1900” and you can either respond with an alternative bid or an alternative ask to my bid and that's the world that we live in. Everyone always takes the price as the price. And I like to think that everything in life is for sale, it's just have we hit the price? So you know I would encourage you as a businessman that, look at what your time is worth to you, and look at that value, capsulate that value, as a part of the time that you put in your art. Price it to that and then price goodwill on top of that. You know, your opportunity of what it could be—everything has an intrinsic value. Which is effectively what you and I believe to be the price.
Jay: Yeah
Kenny: And we always get down to that. People will pay for something, what they view as valuable. And you know, what I've seen today, I view as valuable. So I'd love to have a piece in here showcasing it.
Jay: Absolutely
Kenny: Showing the community and-and helping you grow and helping us grow the community of Virginia Beach’s
Jay: That's a beautiful thing
Kenny: another art place. Yeah.
Jay: It's like my restaurant. I work at, Bee and the Biscuit, like, they got their branding and marketing from just putting out authentic, genuine stuff. And people sharing and reposting and I'm sharing your posting and just
Kenny: Yeah
Jay: builds this beautiful community.
Kenny: Yeah
Jay: That's all it is.
Kenny: The food's not bad either.
Jay: The food's not bad.
Kenny: It’s—it’s a wait sometimes so.
Jay: That's the—that’s—that’s when you see me, you know, two hour wait. I’ll make you a mimosa.
Kenny: Yeah, come hang out with Jay outside.
Jay: Talk about Art.
Kenny: Yeah. Put a drink—Will Joe ever let you put any of your pieces back there?
Jay: Um, he probably
Kenny: Come on Joe.
Jay: He probably would, but, I just don't think it would fit in that environment.
Kenny: Why not?
Jay: It's just—I don't know—it’s brunch, I don't know, I could-I could do like some bumblebee paintings.
Kenny: There you go. Yeah, a bumble bee with a little mimosa.
Jay: Yeah something cool.
Kenny: That would be awesome. Hey, dude, we like to try to keep these to an hour. So we're there, but we'd love to have you back in the future, and when you have some other stuff or bring some of your other buddies and we’ll-we'll sit around and talk about the art and business.
Jay: Get joe in here.
Kenny: Joe would be fun. Joe's a cool dude, Bee and the Biscuit.
Jay: Absolutely.
Kenny: Thanks for joining me today.
Jay: Thanks for having me.
Kenny: We appreciate you. It’s really good seeing you, I'm glad to see things are going well for you, and keep grinding man.
Jay: Thank you.
Kenny: Alright, peace out till next time, love you guys.
Jay: See ya.
Kenny: Bye.