Welcome 2 Jonestown

Wrapped up this "Welcome 2 Jonestown" poster a few weeks ago and am finally getting around to posting it; it's been a hectic month and a half but things are calming down slightly. James Jones is back with his annual birthday celebration with several of his own projects on the 1st night at TV EYE and some friend's bands to pack out the 2nd night at THE BROADWAY of this 2-night music event. Should be a pretty wild time for fans of prog/jazz/metal mash-up.

Some details of the process below and when an event this size comes along, there are bound to be some changes with venues, line-up and just general disregard for double checking the spelling of bands names, so don't be confused by anything you read below. The image at the top is the final version with correct spelling and venues for each night.

 

Preliminary Sketches

Over the last year I've had a growing desire to get back into painting on my free time so I've been gathering photos, both digital and film, of possible subjects I want to work on through the cold winter months. This is a small selection of places I'm strongly considering and some preliminary sketches. 

The first two photos are from my day trip through Holbrook, AZ, a very interesting and surreal place, and the last 2 are from Rochester, NY and Durham, NC. The restaurant in Durham, NC was my cousin's place and they sadly had to close their doors due to a terminated lease back in the fall. Rumor on the street is the building will be demolished for...you guessed it, luxury apartments. I know, same old story everywhere right now. We figured we should immortalize the beloved restaurant and the building that housed it since they both will no longer exist in downtown Durham.

 

Recent A-frames

Over the past few months I've had the fortune of getting back to some a-frame work for Makitiki's summer pop-up over at South Street Seaport (see a couple posts back for more info on that) and Bin Bin Sake, a new sake, wine, Japanese whisky and shochu shop in Brooklyn. If you're down at the seaport this summer keep an eye out for these bright babies and they'll guide you to a little oasis tucked in the center of all the action.

 

Makitiki Summer Pop-up

Made some little tropical doodles to be placed on the menus of the MAKITKI summer pop-up restaurant down at NYC's South Street Seaport. I always enjoy these little jobs since they are nice break from the balancing act of my text heavy show posters and the 'screaming into the void' aspect of my personal work.

The pop-up is located at 19 Fulton Street and is open Wed - Thurs: 3-9pm Fri - Sat: 12-11pm and Sun: 12-9pm.

 

The Sunset Inn Meets Godzilla

Getting towards the end of the series I've been working on over the last year. Hoping that they'll all be on display here by September or October so people can see it all in order. This piece came about after I spent some time up in my hometown last summer when I was getting a mental break from the city. Not to get too depressing but driving and biking around made me realize how much the look and feel of some areas have changed almost to the point of being unrecognizable from my childhood. From boarded up windows, vacant store fronts and empty lots that used to be the site of a busy restaurant, it all kind of hit me for the first time. 

The Sunset Inn was an Italian American restaurant that we frequented when I was younger but as the strip malls and chain restaurants creep their way through the rural towns of America and small business owners want to retire to spend time with their families after grinding for decades on 60-70+ hour work weeks, these type of places are becoming a rare sight in small towns.

One of the other casualties of modern convenience was the downtown movie rental store Home Video. It was the place where I first was introduced to the cinematic masterpiece, Bambi Meets Godzilla. Bet Netflix doesn't have this one. But you can watch it on Youtube if you're really curious as to how this plays out. I decided to put these 2 childhood memories together and keep Godzilla as this destroyer of something that doesn't stand a chance against him. Kind of as a symbol of a force like big business in small town economies or just the passing of time.

I was playing around with the idea of illustrating this like a used placemat at a restaurant but felt like it was too many ideas trying to say the same thing. But I would like to revisit this concept for something else down the line.

Cozy Royale: Lobsters and Mobsters

Over the summer I was contacted by my old pals at The Meat Hook, a butcher shop in Brooklyn, about working on an illustration inspired by old mobster movies that would hang in their new restaurant COZY ROYALE. Their only direction was "lobsters and mobsters" and gangster movie posters and I got to work on some thumbnail sketches for them. 

After review, it was decided that sketch #3 would be the one to go to final. At first it felt like it was going to be a dead end, and I had a few false starts, but after pushing and pulling the composition and perspective a bit it finally began to take shape and I actually started feeling a bit more confident in how it would turn out.

And here's the finished product. Just moments after tightening up the last couple details. Thanks again to Kaitlin at The Meat Hook for asking me to be involved in this project. With everything going on in the world right now I'm glad that I'm still able to collaborate with good people who are doing good work, trying to have a positive impact on the world and give so much of their time and energy to enrich our lives. Cozy Royale is open for business and located on the corner of Humboldt and Jackson in Williamsburg.