Back in 2004 we asked Jeff if he would blog up his life for the Fecal. He did and this is his 7 days down in Riverside.
Day 1 of 7 Monday
- August 23, 2004
- by Jeff Soto
I was surprised when John asked if IÂ’d like to do a set of dailies for the Fecal. ItÂ’s true that I check in almost every day, several times, but IÂ’m not the most active member of the community- I donÂ’t post that many messages, and I feel a little bit distant living in Riverside (probably one of the most unexotic and unhip places in southern California). But I said yes because I thought itÂ’ be a good chance for people to experience something new through my eyes. Somehow this week is looking to be very different from a normal Jeff week. I finished most of my pending illustration work over the weekend and donÂ’t have too much to do this week for a change. IÂ’m usually busy as a mutha fucker! I should be painting and drawing all this week but IÂ’m still burnt out so IÂ’m gonna take it easy and only make art if I feel like it. So this week IÂ’m going to take you, the Fecal reader, to different areas of Riverside and beyond. WeÂ’ll go check out Twin Palms- RiversideÂ’s first graffiti yard. WeÂ’ll go looking at plants at the UCR botanical gardens. We can go get some tacos at TonyÂ’s. Maybe a trip to L.A. to see some art. Who knows. This may end up completely fucking boring. IÂ’ll try to make it entertaining. If this ends up sucking I know youÂ’ll let me hear it.
So I thought for the first day IÂ’d do like a scientific investigation into my daily existence. First, my full name is Jeffrey Phillip Soto. IÂ’m 29. Married to Jennifer Lynn Soto, age 28. IÂ’m a painter and illustrator. I wish I could just paint and show in galleries but IÂ’ll admit I have a love for illustration also. I graduated from Art Center in 2002. IÂ’m the first one in my family to earn a bachelorÂ’s degree. Before that I was doing a little illustration work here and there. Jennifer has a degree from UC Riverside. SheÂ’s continuing her studies at CSU San Bernardino to get her teaching credentials. No children yet. No pets because weÂ’re not allowed.We live in a one bedroom apartment. ItÂ’s small but cozy. HereÂ’s some pictures. Jennifer was shy and wouldnÂ’t let me take her picture this morning.
We have some things we collect. I buy books constantly. ItÂ’s an addiction. ThereÂ’s too many for our bookshelf.
My favorite thing about our apartment is our art collection. It started small but has grown in the last year. Almost everything was traded for.
My plant collection is in disarray. The small balcony we have is a bad place for them, especially in the summer when they get cooked from the heat.
We live in an apartment but I get most of my work done at my parent’s house which is a few miles away. Since the apartment is so small they’ve let me set up an office space for my computer and a studio area at their place. I pay them a little rent here and there. It works out because they have someone to watch over the house during the day and I have a decent place to work. I don’t tell people it’s my parent’s house. I call it simply “the studio”. Every morning I drive over there and get to work.
HereÂ’s some pictures from my drive:
This is my office area, where I do all my emailing, take care of business stuff and waste time on the internet. I have a dual 2GHz G5. IÂ’ve been a Mac user since 1996.
Here’s some pictures of the garage, er, I mean my studio. It’s cool, I share it with my dad who does fish taxidermy. For all you PETA people, have no fear, my dad works entirely in fiberglass and creates ‘fish replicas’. It’s an art really, I’m always amazed at the work he does. Anyways, we have a big table we both share and it’s always a mess. We both work messy and the Soto’s overall are pretty damn messy.
The wall I use for painting big pieces.
Well, by now you are either interested or bored out of your mind. So thatÂ’s all about where I work. I could show you lots of other things, like the toilet, garbage cans, my bottom drawer, but, well, thatÂ’d just be disgusting and I don't want everyone to know what kind of a pervert I am.
As far as my day, taking pictures took up most of my morning. Then it got a bit crazier. In the afternoon we had to drive JenniferÂ’s mom to Ontario airport because her mother (JenniferÂ’s grandma) is very sick and in critical condition. JenniferÂ’s mom will be in Arizona and weÂ’ll be watching her parentÂ’s house for a day or two until she gets back. We have to take care of their big german shepard Gunner and their cats Lola, Fuzz and BillyBadass. ItÂ’s funny how things can change in an instant, I thought today was going to be very slow and IÂ’d get a lot of busy work done. I was planning on working on drawings for a new screenprint today and so far have only worked on this daily and drove to the airport. WeÂ’ll see how the rest of the week goes. Never did get a shot of myself or Jennifer, maybe tomorrow. I did get this cool shot of my parents super old cat, Meka, sleeping in a terra cotta pot. Jeff Soto signing out......
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