Drawing the Things I Want To (6-10)

Corner Deli. Greenpoint, NY. (6/15)

4 x 6"

"Bloody hell. I'm sweating in here. Roasting. Boiling. Baking. Sweltering. It's like a sauna. Furnace. You can fry an egg on my stomach. Oh, who wouldn't lap this up? It's ridiculous. Tremendous. Fantastic. Fan-tabby-dozy-tastic." (7/15)

4 x 7"

Wainwright Softball Complex. Corning, NY (8/15)

4 x 6"

"I just wanted to leave, you know, my apartment. Maybe meet a nice girl. And now I've got to die for it!" (9/15)

4 x 7"

Pow Wow Trading Post. Holbrook, AZ. (10/15)

4 x 6"

 

Drawing the Things I Want To (11-15)

    

Flix Bus Station. 31st and 8 ave. (11/15)

4 x 6"

"Oh, Look! The Mother Rhino is Giving Birth!" (12/15)

4 x 6"

70mph McDonald's. I-17 Arizona. (13/15)

4 x 7"

Motel. Holbrook, AZ. (14/15)

4 X 6"

Hopi Travel Plaza. Holbrook, AZ. (15/15)

6 X 9 "

Soul Clappin in Nashville

My Newest Soul Clap & Dance-Off poster for Jonathan Toubin's gig at the Brooklyn Bowl in Nashville on July 22nd. I decided that even though I've used Tina Turner a few times already on these posters we had to go with her since she recently passed away and Tennessee is her home state. Plus, she is just the Queen and one of my earliest childhood music memories.

More and more I've been trying to make these posters mimic the heyday of color/black & white soul revue posters while still crafting them in the way I like to. This one got very close to some diy kinko's cut and paste flier or zine. I've done close to 70 of these posters so I'm continually trying to push myself to keep the process fun and change them up enough so people don't get bored of looking at them. This feeling is usually fleeting but, this poster is one of my new favorites.

 

Soul Clap & Dance-Off - Friday the 13th Edition

First illustration of 2023 is here. Jonathan Toubin is bringing his Soul Clap & Dance-Off to Austin, TX to the 13th Floor this Friday, the 13th. Since the party landed on this spooky date we had to squeeze some black cats and ladders in there. I also thought it'd be pretty slick to get eyes moving through the piece by taking the look of dance step diagrams and change it into a guide for how to avoid all the bad luck placed throughout the illustration. And, for anyone that is curious, I drew up Texas icon Barbara Lynn for this poster since the dance-off is going down in Austin.

 

NYNT 14TH Annual New Years Ball

The year is coming to a close so it's about time to start preparing for the NYNT 14th Annual New Years Ball..fingers crossed we make it there. After everyone's parties were cancelled in 2020, besides some high profile people who felt they didn't have to adhere to public safety measures, we were so certain it was going to happen in 2021. I made a poster. We promoted the show. And then ol Omicron shut the whole thing down at the last minute. But this year feels different. I think we'll make it to this one.

I had to quickly whip this one up due to some line-up changes that led to a complete redo of the poster (I'll share the first version later) and since NY's own The Mystery Lights stepped up to save the day I shifted the concept from the previous poster to fit them a little better, hence the UFOs, or whatever you think those floating orbs of light are out in Marfa. I tried a little more dry brush this time around instead of just pencil and dip pen and I really enjoyed the different textures it created for the pants, shirt and hair. The classic soul revue posters have always been the source of inspiration for these posters and after 8 years of make these I like that they are getting closer to the source material while still maintaining their own specific identity. 

This will 100% without a doubt sell out so get those tickets now if you wanna ring in the new year at your friendly neighborhood bar TV EYE with party ringleader Jonathan Toubin and a host of killer bands and dee jays.

And, of course I slapped Party Moon up in that right corner of the poster. Goin straight to the source.

 

Paris, Texas

Back in July while I was teaching at Touchstone Center for Crafts I started working on this Paris, Texas triptych during our nightly open studios. I would work on them during class hours as well which would help me better communicate and demonstrate some of the ideas I was trying to share with my students. I find it a lot easier to work with the same materials as my students, instead of sitting there with my pens and inks and attempting to switch gears in my brain when trying to describe value and shading with a pencil. The first 2 drawings were completed during my week at the school and I recently wrapped up the last one around my work schedule. 

I've really been itching to get working with other materials lately. I spent years studying oil painting and ceramics around the time I was focusing primarily on drawing and illustration. it felt really good to dive back into less line work and hopefully I will be able to experiment with these other mediums a little more in the future, and possibly incorporate them into the little world I'm trying to create with my illustration work. 

 

Comin' down the line

I'm still here internet! Been deep in the studio cave but here are some sneak peeks of some projects I'll hopefully be able to show in full sooner rather than later.

June edition of the Soul Clap & Dance-Off!

Well, well, well. Here we have the 6th illustration in the series of the Soul Clap & Dance-Off residency at Elsewhere and that about wraps it up......PSYCH! Things have gone so well that Jonathan Toubin & Co. are going to be throwing this party monthly, indefinitely. Get ready for plenty more posters and hopefully I can keep it fresh and interesting. This month is a post-punk dream come true and we tried to create something that nods to the aesthetic of the diy posters of the past. Plenty of cut and paste action with punk queen Poly Styrene while trying to nod to the soul posters of the 60's as well. Tickets are on sale HERE!