FEBRUARY 2026
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| VOL 21 ISSUE 2 | FEBRUARY 2026 |
There are so many stories that have culminated to bring this video together. I originally recorded and released the song in September of 2021. It was crafted to be a spooky blues riff with a hint of comedy reminiscent of The Munsters. This was the first song that I played my lap steel guitar and then prominently infused 'more cowbell' to add to the fun nostalgic sound. For the cover image, I went way back to a photo of me from 2007 wearing monster makeup and barring my fangs at the exposed neck of an innocent damsel. The damsel was Erin (Glover) StBlaine who was also my makeup artist for this look and we were attending the New Mexico Bodypainting Festival in Albuquerque. She glued on my prosthetic brow and painted an ankh symbol to compliment my purple and lime green ankh shirt.
Fast forward to October 2023 and I'm back east visiting my wife's childhood home in Big Pool, Maryland. While driving past a spooky looking abandoned house with horrific past that included two murders, I thought it would be a perfect location for the Soul Collector music video. My son, Sage, helped me film some scenes there and also in an old shed at my in-laws house that was beautifully 'decorated' with spider webs (and Sage has a bad case of arachnophobia). I had envisioned doing some more footage for the music video eventually where I would do this makeup design again and sing as the 'Soul Collector' in some scenes and myself in others. But the footage sat dormant until last month when I had the spark of an idea to use AI to complete the video.
AI has made great strides over the past couple of years and I found a web app called OneMoreShot.AI that allows you to post a song, a photo, and some prompts to make a music video of that person singing the song. I uploaded Soul Collector song, a photo of myself in the makeup from 2007, and entered some prompts about the Soul Collector wearing black leather in spooky castle and an entranced blond in a white nightgown being drawn to him. The way it animated me was so realistic in some instances and it was perfect for the music video. It took me quite a while to do the editing of all of this footage, but I'm super happy with how the video came out and I hope you take a moment to check it out and leave a comment. Here's the link, enjoy! https://youtu.be/kA9c5vpuoOY?si=LkGMPAWLnYL0OWFX
I'm working on my fifth lighting design project in Nevada and this one is a banquet hall for a Del Webb community in the city of Mesquite. Any time my work takes me out of town, I bring my camera and seek out cool things to add to my portfolio. This time I visited The Valley of Fire State Park on the way back to Las Vegas from Mesquite and the following day, after staying at Excaliber where my wife and I got married, I visited Seven Magic Mountains.
I arrived at The Valley of Fire just in time do a short hike at Elephant Rock and get to the Fire Wave by sunset. The layered bands of color in the Aztec sandstone make Fire Wave such an iconic rock formation in the Mojave Desert. There were dozens of cars at the 7 Wonders trailhead when I arrived, but as I hiked the short 1.5 mile trail there were less and less people. By the time I reach this destination, I was alone and had it all to myself. I have been to the Valley of Fire three times now and each time it gets better.
This was my first visit to Seven Magic Mountains. I believe that I had seen pictures of it before, but I didn't realize it was just a short drive south of Las Vegas. These stacked boulders are painted with 'day-glo' colors (along with a few that are black, white, and silver) and are a stark contrast to the desert landscape and sky. This public art installation is by Ugo Rondinone and the plaque at the entrance says "Inspired by naturally occuring hoodoos and balancing rock formations, the stacks also evoke the art of meditative rock balancing." There are some cool videos online of the installation of the seven boulder stacks that rise up to 35' in height. It's free to visit and worth the trip imo.
Thank you to patrons of the arts! It really means a lot to me when my artwork is chosen to become decor in homes and businesses. Here are just a few cell phone shots of some recent examples. The first one is my first wall mural from a photo I took of the Phoenix skyline and it is in the new headquarters for Arizona Lighting Sales in Tempe. Seated beside me is Roseann Linsmeyer who reached out to me with the concept and then I took the photo from Hunts Tomb near the Phoenix Zoo. The second image is a 24"X36" metal print of Sedona that was purchased by a collector who visited my booth at the Painted Tree in Scottsdale. She saw the postcard version of this print and requested a large version of it for her dining room.
The third image is the first acrylic print I have sold. This image of the Aurora Borealis that visited Arizona is now being enjoyed in the kitchen of these new homeowners. And the fourth one is the beautiful model LuxBot that I photographed at the Arizona Biltmore in front of the stained glass designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. This image is illuminated with a framing projector that spotlights it with white light while the ambient lighting around it is purple and orange. This print is hanging at a design studio near Scottsdale Airpark (that just so happens to be where I work).
Friday, June 5th - Phoenix Fan Fusion Bodypainting Extravaganza - Theme Evil A livE.
Sunday, April 19th - Eddie Unplugged Duo, Pedal Haus Brewery, 95 W Boston St., Chandler, 2pm-5pm
E-ya later,
Mark Greenawalt
Mark@MarkGreenawalt.com
My gift to you is my music. Please kindly accept by going to these fine streaming services to download and stream! I hope you like some and consider them for your favorite playlists!
copyright Mark Greenawalt, Future-Class X Publishing - Phoenix, AZ 85044
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