Artfields 2.0

Studio updates 2026 - A painting headed to film, a tattoo collab, new paintings and much more…

Every year, Lake City, SC comes alive for Artfields — and if you're one of the participating artists, the town wraps around you in a way that's hard to describe. The locals, the collectors, the other artists all of them make you feel at home and like a rock star all at once.

I was honored to be selected for a second year in a row. I spent the final weekend of the show hanging out and soaking in all the art. If you are unfamiliar with the festival, you can check out what CBS Sunday Morning had to say about it.

The Vault

This year at Artfields my painting “The Messy Mind of a Radiant Child” was featured in The Vault — an antique store that was a bank in a former life. The original vault door can be found in the back of the shop. This building is jammed full of objects with histories and stories of their own and was the perfect backdrop for my crazy painting with it's own story to tell. The hosts connected deeply with the work, and they made sure to relay to me how much visitors kept telling them how it was one of their favorite pieces in the show, which warms my heart.

Hanging with artist friends old and new

One of the gifts of Artfields is meeting and hanging with other artists. Fellow Atlanta painter Kris Krava was back for year two alongside me — and I love sharing the experience with someone who gets it. Kris and I ran around town ingesting all the art vibes and enjoying the local food and culture. His beautiful art fit right in with the impressive array of art from some of the finest artists across the entire southeast region. I'm also excited to pass along his new website, Free Trade Art Exchange, a platform where artists trade original work with each other. I'm joining in — and if you have art you'd like to trade please go check it out.

Kris introduced me to Noah Scalin, a resident artist at the Acline Gallery whose work genuinely stopped me: among other things he recreates iconic paintings and pop culture imagery entirely from stickers. Noah actually won the prestigious Grand Prize at the 2022 ArtFields Festival. He had seen my painting and was really gracious with his compliments and feedback. We ended up trading stories and naturally some stickers.

I was super excited to share with Noah that a recent painting of mine was acquired for a live-action film project based on an iconic childhood brand we both grew up loving - more to come on that in the future. That kind of connection made in this small South Carolina town is exactly why I can't wait to come back.

An interesting collab with my wonderful friend and the super talented Shai Harris

I drove out to Madison, GA recently to deliver some paintings to my old friend Shai Harris at his tattoo studio, Madison Ink Tattoo Studio. The space alone is worth the trip. Dark walls, a leather Chesterfield sofa, an Emmy on the shelf (earned for work he and I did together in our glory days). Shai is the real deal.

What we're doing together feels genuinely rare: Shai is displaying some of my paintings made specifically for his studio, and for each piece, he'll offer to tattoo that image on exactly one person. One tattoo, ever. If you've ever wanted to carry a painting on your skin — this might be your moment. Catching up with Shai on the visit also lit something up in me creatively and I've been painting abstract faces ever since I got back.

New work — abstract faces

I've wanted to return back to making more of the abstract faces and they've started coming fast — loose, expressive, color-forward. A few of these are currently on view at Trackside Tavern in Decatur, GA through June. If you're in Atlanta, come see them in person.

Catalog Raisonne

I also wanted to share something I've been building that I care about deeply — a digital catalog raisonné of my entire body of work. Every painting documented, every detail captured, related media connected. It lets me observe my own path at the highest level — see where I've been, notice patterns, understand where I'm going. I’ll share the site in a future post when it’s ready for public consumption… but if you are interested in learning more about it hit me up.

One painting, three shows

Last year's Artfields entry, “The Source”, has continued to have it's own story unfold — starting out at the "Code of Color" show at Heart and Soul gallery, then up to Artfields as my first entry and piece accepted, then to "The Gathering" at Future Gallery and the journey continues...

Stickers, prints & patreon

I'm still making lots of stickers that I mostly sell at live events, these may eventually end up on my site for purchase. A few folks have signed up on Patreon to support me and they get small prints and stickers shipped to their mailboxes monthly as part of my print and sticker club. If that sounds interesting come on over. Check out my Patreon.

Thanks for being here and for following along on this journey. More soon.

— Randy

This piece is special to me and I made a video about it that I'd like to share in a new segment called "Awesome and Unappreciated Videos from the RLD Studio Youtube Channel". If you're curious about where a painting comes from — the feeling behind it, how it's made etc. — this one's worth a few minutes of your time.