I'd rather be lizard fishing.

It is lizard season here and the little guys are sunning themselves all over. I love the blue bellies. Our cat Nacho came walking in from the garage carrying a lizard by it’s front leg. The detachable tail thing must not have worked, but luckily I was there to rescue the lil’ fella. He had a small flesh wound and lost his tail, but when I put him down in the backyard he took off.


I remembered a trick my dad taught me a long time ago- you can use fishing line and tie a slip knot onto the end of a fishing pole and catch lizards with it. I tried it out the other day. It’s pretty much just like a little noose, and it’s very easy to get it around their necks. They must think the fishing rod is a tree branch or something because you can touch them with it and they don’t even move. When they’re caught, they wiggle alot, kinda like a real fish. You have to be quick to loosen up the noose around their neck, and be careful you don’t grab them by the tail (they will detach it if scared). They're really beautiful when seen up close. I took a few pictures and showed Shannon and let them go back to their lizard homes. Nature is awesome.


Messed with the macro function on my camera. Kinda fun...


I grew up near Disneyland but we didn’t get to go that often. I think that made it pretty magical to the Soto boys, and we loved it and dreamed about going. After I worked as a cook at an amusement park (and saw behind the scenes), some of the magic had worn off, the place wasn’t as fun. But it’s pretty neat seeing it again through my daughter’s eyes. She thinks things are real which is awesome. I asked her what Ariel told her because they were talking for a while, and Shannon told me, “I don’t know”.


Giant pizza is always good. Thanks Ribaudo's!


That talk at my old community college was cool. I told them everyone should try graffiti at least once in their life. This is the RCC Art Club...


I’m in a group show called The Sublime Landscape at Project4 Gallery in Washington D.C. Some great artists, including some of my favorites- Gregory Euclide and Randall Sellers. Here’s some new work I sent.



And last, Skullphone is coming to Riverside.... more pictures soon...

Skater cuts and rainbows...

I am doing a talk in a few days at my old junior college- Riverside Community College. It’s going to be nice to be able to go back and tell my story and hopefully give a little back to a school that’s really helped me out. It’s Thursday May 8th at noon in case you Riverside residents and students wanna come by. I don’t think they’re charging admission, but then again, don’t know if they’re making it only available to students either. So if you go, try to blend in. I hope I don't get in trouble..

So I’m working on my slideshow and since it's primarily for art students, I wanted to show some of my past student work and old pictures. Found some great shots from when I was a teenager and in my early 20’s, I'll post a few...


In 8th grade at an art competition at RAM. This was the trendy skater haircut in the late 80's. One side short, the other side very long. The lady at Fantastic Sam's called it the "Surfer Cut" and I remember her saying, "you must be a surfer!" I was all shy, I quietly muttered, "no not really... I skate". I think she thought I meant rollerskates. Those Fantastic Sam's ladies would always try to talk to you and be all hip, ask about girls and sports, all the while pushing their big boobs into your face while washing your hair (okay maybe the 12 year old Jeff was pretty down with that part). Just shut up and cut my hair already!

Working on a mural in high school 1993. Rocking the ponytail + thriftstore gear. Neo hippies and shit...

Almost the same shot of me airbrushing a shirt in 1994 in our backyard.....

...for Jennifer! Yep, I used to do stencil airbrushing on shirts.. pretty corny.. but I could make a good $20 a shirt.

I also used to do holiday window scenes in November and December.

Painting in Long Beach, maybe 1995? Used to be soo fun.

Me in 1997 with a freshly shaved head. I think I blinked. Ganstard..

Old photos are fun but here's some new things I've been working on. These are all pretty large.






I'm thinking of painting again on walls but in a different way than all the "hip hop" style graf I did... I still love graf, just need to do it my own way on my own terms... a quick tag in my studio the other day for old times sake...

Ah yes... that felt very good...