OCCUPY!

Phase 1: Start Occupation

Phase 2: Continue Occupation

Created in acknowledgement of Occupy Wall Street's third Monthiversary. This scene is riddled with characters and friends from past creations and relationships of the last several months. Maybe you'll recognize some!
Though there are things I'd do differently in hindsight, this piece holds a buttload of personal significance and it's crammed with a lot of sentimentality and nostalgia. It felt really good to make it and I couldn't be happier that I did.

Way more to come.

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Couch Forts - Boln

Download: Mediafire
Tags: folk, indie pop, bluegrass

Since we're revisiting the past few months, here's something I listened to a whole bunch back in September. It's really gorgeous folky pop stuff. I've never heard such rich and decorative instrumentals come out of music like this and the lyrics are tender and inspiring. Some lovely things can happen when you put guitar, banjo and fiddle together.

...But we already knew that, right?
(Forgive the absence of album art. Anyone care to help me out with that?)

Kids on Holiday.

Life of Fog

And when the fog rolls in, you question everything.
There's no answers in these shades of gray
but some people want the security
of knowing what's surrounding them.
And when the fog rolls in, you question everything.
Who's your king? Is he your friend?
Is there freedom to be found in the fog
when you don't know where to stumble to?
When the fog rolls in, you question everything.
Are those distant shapes your home?
Now there's nowhere we have to be
but with nowhere to be, where should we go?
Anywhere you walk is just a blur.
It's up to you to give it form.
Everything was simpler back then.
Now when I question anything, the fog rolls in.


"But I thought you said ambiguity was a bad thing."
"It isn't if you're not a wuss!"

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Juana Molina - Un Dia

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?ofzrg46dqfl0udm
Website: http://juanamolina.com/
Tags: dream pop, folk, electronic, experimental

IMMERSE YOURSELF IN ARGENTINIAN AMBIENT DREAM POP. I know next to nothing about Juana Molina. Thunderbolt Jackson gave me this just yesterday and I spent my whole morning listening to it while struggling to mount a heavy, wooden frame with push pins.

Elsewhere.

In The Orchard

Torn & stained paper, gesso and acrylic thrown together in a found frame.

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Wisdom Tooth - Baby Neptune

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?npe8bvcjrehr91h
Website: http://babyneptunewisdomtooth.bandcamp.com/
Tags: pop, folk, garage, showtunes

I met John Andrews once. We talked about hay rides and working in haunted houses. A year ago he released this album and unfortunately all of the cassettes are now sold out. But it means that you can totally download it free of guilt now!
There's something beautifully childlike about this album. Y'know, there's just a youthful curiosity to be found amongst all of the showy weirdo-pop. But don't just accept my really awkward piles of adjectives as an accurate description. Listen to it for yourself!

We're meeting people; nice people like you.

So I've seen a lot of things in the past few years that have been really important to me and they've all certainly influenced whatever it is I am now. I feel if I'm trying to be one of these artist-types, I should be able to communicate the significance of an experience, right? I'm so envious of people who can make something that just grabs me by the hand and shows me the world that its creator has seen. And there's always that perfect balance of ambiguity that lets you just plug yourself in.
So here's some sketchbook-extractions that try to accomplish that.

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Sxip Shirey - Sonic New York

Download: Removed by request
Tags: experimental, world, hip hop

Speaking of plugging yourself into a world, Sxip Shirey does it really well. New York City is clearly a place he feels really strongly about and he does a really good job romanticizing the day-to-day drudgery of a New Yorker, whether it be wasting away time in the park or falling asleep on the subway.
And sure, his lyrics are a little... blatant but there's some really creative instrumentals on this album. The man makes beat-box harmonica sound so right.

Edit: Album download has been removed per request. You can listen to the whole thing through Sxip's Bandcamp!

Paintin' the rock.

Odetta

Shel Silverstein

So as thick as the stigma for the caricaturist in the art world may be, I can't get around how much I like making cartoons. Especially, if they involve noodley limbs. Good God, I love noodley limbs.

Everything is great with me. I'm making lots of things and loving my friends.

(100 posts! Confetti!)

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Odetta - My Eyes Have Seen

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?txsln8exyf63tfa
Tags: blues, gospel, folk

Shel Silverstein - The Great Conch Train Robbery

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?lhm54xsp4phm8wg
Tags: country, folk, blues
(This is in m4a. Sorry!)

I figured I should share the inspiration for these two paintings. My Eyes Have Seen is powerful as hell and has a lot of intense, rushing tracks. Try and listen to Ox Driver Song and not imagine her riding a chariot and barreling through all of the trees in a forest. Oh, and the reigns are flapping wildly in the wind because she's wailing on guitar.
The Great Conch Train Robbery is an album of a lot of goofy country songs. It's kind of like if Randy Newman got really heartbroken and sang about it passively through lyrics about quaalude addictions.
I love it, but if you're looking for something a little more straight-folk, I hosted his earlier album Inside Folk Songs, a while back.

Hanging like old coats between the trees...

Back in December, I finished up a series that revolves around Duke Ellington. Each of the three pieces intends to illustrate one of his major contributions in the jazz world: pianist, big band leader and collaborator. The left is made of cut & stained fabric, the middle is acrylic and the right is cut & stained paper.

Lately, I'm mostly doing a lot of thumbnail layouts for larger projects and other stuff not worth showing right now. I'll get prolific soon! I promise!

I've also been writing a lot. If I can fine tune any of it, I may post some of it up here!

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Blood Warrior - Blood Warrior

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?jrgkmycxmyfiaks
Tags: roots, gospel, country, punk

Blood Warrior is a side project of Greg Jamie (Of o'death) and it's awesome and great and anyone who is a fan of his other band should stop reading this right now and download it.

I got my hands on it when Wood Spider played his new venue in Biddeford, Maine, The Oak + the Ax. This place has a disturbingly consistent streak of downright awesome bands playing through. If it is even marginally convenient for anyone to head out there, I encourage you to do so. No, no... I mega encourage you.

"To you guys toasting to me!"

Well, I'm back from tour and after being in a bunch of inspiring places, meeting all kinds of incredible people, feeling all sorts of heavy feelings and besting an intense array of snow storms, I can certainly say it was a good, significant experience.
Now I have a weekend before school and I have to try my best to lessen this winter madness before I hit my tidal wave of assignments. With that said, here's some stuff!

Winter Parrots
Done with ink & watercolor around the Boston area

Done with ink! I had a crazy idea that I should draw people as I see them as opposed to what they look like to the world. Everyone can agree on how reality appears. Why should I recreate it?

An acrylic painting that filled in as an affordable Christmas gift.

More stuff soon!

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Esquivel! - Actual

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?hgbgwqe77e4mvgi
Tags: lounge, easy listening, space-age pop

This is great music for working like mad on a project in a basement.
(I'd encourage you to listen to this on nice speakers or headphones. Something to take advantage of the experimental stereophonic goodness!)

"Esquivel is dead. But that's okay because he's the king of space-age pop and all kings need to die." - Mike Ditrio

Festive collapse.

Not really into the idea of posing for a cliché family Christmas card, I decided to illustrate one instead. Here's the front of the card that is filling in for a standard tacky CostCo template.
Adapted from a drawing some may remember from last year.

Here's hopin' everyone enjoys their holiday. I'm not really too into the religious or material aspects of December, but I am all about the togetherness and egg nog. So please do your best to indulge in both of those.

(Oh, and I'm done with my fall semester and I've got a bunch of stuff to show for it. So expect me to put some things up.)

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Squirrel Nut Zippers - Christmas Caravan

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?klicdd65bawpzn7

Tags: Swing, Jazz, Christmas

Yes, yes. I can understand that the sound of Christmas music can be blazingly grating to some people's ears, but what if it's swing as all hell? Huh? What about that?
Hey, I'm just trying to make your holiday a little bit sassier, is all.

Environmental malarkey.

Overcome

I have intentions of touching this up a bit more. When that is, I have no idea, considering I'm kind of busy as hell right now and I'm going to continue to be kind of busy as hell for a while. So here it is!

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Th' Legendary Shack Shakers - Pandelirium

Download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SMFDWZSO
Tags: rockabilly, psychobilly, punk, country, blues

An ol' favorite of mine. I'm going to exercise my fondness of hyphenated punk genres and call this "bayou-punk". ...Yeah.

On a kick.

A painting that I pretty much just used as an exercise of color application. It's meant to illustrate and accompany a childrens poem about the individuality found in a thumb print...hence why there is that negative space to the right.

A month or two ago, I showed a pencil sketch of this painting, and it kind of evolved into something else. Here I've pit Bill Watterson against the haunting legions of his adoring fans, desperately trying to protect his beloved creation from the sinister hands of mass-marketing.
I don't normally do caricatures, but it was fun. I got to apply some of the things I learned in the previous painting, and I think it paid off.

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I'm glad to note that I've become involved with the Folk Routes Anarchist Networking Distribution Syndicate. You can read up on that...but rest assured that a lot of cool things are going to come out of it. It seems as though I'll be lending my hands both as a visual artist and a member of Wood Spider. So exciting!

Also, there's a lot of other cool, more developed plans happening this summer. I'm sworn to secrecy for now, but all I'll mention is that Wood Spider is going on an extensive tour (For us, that is) and we won't just be bringing instruments with us. That's all I'll dispatch this moment.
(We're going to be taking a very sinuous route from New England to Texas and back. If you're in any of the areas that our MySpace's tour calendar vaguely indicates, come out and see us! Or if you'd want to help us out by suggesting us local bands/musicians that would compliment our sound, e-mail me at alex@krokus.com. It'd be greatly appreciated.)

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Squinch Owl - I Am Always Coming Home EP

Download: http://squinchowl.bandcamp.com/no_js/download_tralbum
Tags: folk, early blues, light brown

Sofia Albam is both a friend of mine and an affiliate to Folk Routes. It's just a three song EP, but her voice is stupid good. Please download it and let your heart be melted.
(That link is taken from her Bandcamp page. If it doesn't work for ya, it should just redirect you to the home page, where you could download it there. Cool?)

What an illustrator!

For a class assignment, we had to illustrate a cover for the Valentine's Day issue of The New Yorker. My professor likes things that are cheesey and cute, so I made sure to give him a butt-ton of that.

Textures!

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Dark Dark Dark - Bright Bright Bright

Download - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XLVNRW3J
last.fm tags - new weird america, indie gypsy folk, hobo revival

Speaking of cheesey, check out that freakin' EP title. Good God.

Don't forget to snicker at the stupid last.fm tags!

A decade best forgotton.

My gal's ideal trail mix has four components: pistachios, almonds, banana chips and dried cranberries. ...Well, she truthfully prefers passion fruit granola over the latter, but who would want to paint that?

Also, who would have thought that bathroom tile with acrylic paint would scan so poorly?!

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A Hawk and a Hacksaw - The Way the Wind Blows

Download - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=EZUVW9Y9

last.fm tags - folk, experimental, balkan, indie

This is good music to worship a false deity to.

Post Script: Hey, would any of you fine folks have any music by the band, Madagascar? Such as the albums, Forced March or Goodbye East, Goodbye West? If you do, would you be so kind as to leave a link here?

Tyto Alba.

Portrait of a Barn Owl (18" x 24")

For Father's Day. I'll get a better picture of it, soon. Swearzies.

It's been raining for a long time. Though the overcast, chill and drizzle make up my favorite kind of weather, some sun would be nice. Mrm.

I'm sure I could say other things, too.

Give my best to May.

When the hell did it become June?

Wood Spider's MySpace needed a new layout. So I used that as an opportunity to make something brown and mundane. Here it is.

Check out the 'Space.

There's also a few upcoming Wood Spider shows I said I'd design fliers for. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to throw them on here.

Wood Spider is also crankin' out new tunes soon...I'll probably wind up whoring them out here, as well.

What else?
- Wood Spider this
- Wood Spider that
- Good Lord, I'm unemployed

A Violent Rampage of Productivity

This is for my high school Psychology teacher, Mr. Epstein. A few months before graduation, he asked me to paint him something that he could hang in his classroom "forever". And I, being the scumbag that I am, pursued my immediate, petty teenage agendas instead of fulfilling my promise.
So here it is. A year late.

He said it can be as ridiculous as I pleased. And I followed through with that. It's a shame that probably my best painting thus far was wasted upon such a stupid, stupid concept. Or maybe that makes it awesome. I don't even know anymore.

Epstein receives it on Wednesday. I am excited.

Some final assignments

I've gotten around to finding a scanner big enough to upload some projects of mine.

For my Perspective class. Our assignment was to combine two animals and place them in an enviornment with perspective in mind. I went for a bisant, the product of hybridization between a bison and an ant. I posted a pen drawing of one on here a while back. Go look for it. I like it more than the painting, which was done with acrylic (Figured that was worth mentioning).
There are things I need to touch up on this. I hope I'll get around to that sooner or later.

(Jeez, I scanned this poorly.)

For General Illustration, our assignment was "Alice in Wonderland in New York". Those were essentially our only guidelines, but we had to go through a painstaking composition process that took basically a month. I however, left it to the last two days. I'm happy with it, considering this was my first time using watercolors.

That scanner really flattens colors. Hopefully, I can find a nice camera to shoot these two.

LET'S CONTINUE TO KICK IT!

Granted everything I produce winds up being for school, but it doesn't really alter what I aim to do at all (Because I usually find a loophole in the assignment and seize the opportunity to turn in something ridiculous). So anywho, we had to illustrate a "futuristic socieity" in General Illustration II, and through my cunning explanation of the infinite parallel universe theory, I managed to get away with this:

It kind of looks awful in the photo, but I like the concept too much not to share. I'll eventually get around to acquiring a more flattering image of it, assuming I can find a large enough scanner or a decent enough camera.
Oh, it's acrylic on canvas board, if anyone cares.

It may also be worth nothing that this painting was based on a sketch I did a about a year ago:


And yeahhhh.