Christmas poster for the Flicker...

I haven't really been participating this year AT ALL with the Athens GA holiday festivities...not one single party, show or arts/crafts fair.  BAH!  I DID do this because an old pal asked me to...but that's it!

Strayhorn Movie NIte...

An out-of-print treat from the great Hal Ashby...free admission and popcorn...

Treasured Books from the JTO Studio Collection™ part 2

This copy was made in 1978.

I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets

Comics by the mysterious, tragic pioneer Fletcher Hanks. This book is really fantastic.  Insane and weird, with beguiling art that is totally goofy and totally haunting.  Most stories feature an invincible superhero (usually Stardust the Super Wizard) who thwarts plots of mass destruction by gangsters, then doles out complex and brutal supernatural punishments!  I saw one of these strips a couple of years ago and was blown away, and was thrilled to stumble on this book at Borders this past weekend.  Buy this book, for the sake of humanity.

Treasured Books from the JTO Studio Collection™

On my old Graveshifter website I did a "Book of the Month" feature which was totally sporadic, not at all monthly, but fun.  I focused on stuff I found at thrift stores with illustrations I liked...usually stuff that was unintentionally creepy.  As I dig through some of the surviving junk I have saved (I threw a ton of stuff away recently...paintings, books, etc.),  I'll post some covers like these.  No blabby commentaries, just scans of stuff I could not bear to trash...yet.

New Album Cover, sort of, finally,

Here it is! I actually finished this drawing a while back, but I didn't want to post it until the record was officially released (which is happening as I type this, the release party is tonight). I was planning on going but I feel ill and old tonight. The local entertainment and news weekly, Flagpole, actually posted a pic of it with a review on their site a few days ago, but I grimly stuck to my promised timeline...although once I took the drawing downtown to show the guys in the band what it looked like "in person" and wound up flashing it around to a ton of people...a shining moment. This is a milestone of sorts because this is the first cover art where I put together the whole package...layout, logo design, everything. I didn't really have the gear until recently to do that stuff...man I love my new computer. I looked back at the earlier version I started with no studio or spare time with a borrowed computer and god how terrible-I'm so glad the first version didn't see the light of day. I have another cover coming out this winter for The HEAP, another band here in Athens, but its still top secret and can't be seen, but here are some shocking and enticing clues : monsters, foxy girls with knee boots, and pinball machines.

Album cover alert!

I'm very excited about this:

"Hello Everybody. On Oct. 17th at the Caledonia Lounge in Athens, GA, Mother Jackson will be hosting the CD release party of their much anticipated sophmore album Soundtrack to Your Damnation. Ginger Envelope will also perform. The album will also be available online. See ya at the show!"

I designed the album cover for this, my first time putting together an entire layout, as well as making a couple of drawings. I won't post any art until after the release...top secret! I was glad to hear yesterday from Richard from the band that the cds came in yesterday and they looked good! Killer!

Draw the Drums

I just got a hankerin' recently to do some drawings based on the machinery and structure of drum kits...using that as a starting point for some free form exploration (an ink equivalent to Spinal Tap's Jazz Odyssey, sort of). Here's a killer photo for inspiration...

Everyday, everyday, everyday....

Paul Newman RIP

My New Favorite Show!

The is the best history show I've seen in a long time, absolutely brilliant. I hope they keep making them; there are 4 episodes so far...watch them all!

My New Threadless submission...

Vote fer it here...

This makes me dizzy...

Baron Calm preview video

This Little Light of Mine...

I just recently was in a meeting with a potential client, and we were discussing a tee shirt line for his company. He was talking about what qualities he wants for this shirt, the fit, fabric, graphics, but then says "of course, I would never wear it, I couldn't wear my own shirt design". I hear that a lot...designers who believe its some sort of sin to wear their designs, like its tacky or self-promoting. I absolutely could not disagree more. My primary impulse to make art is for my own pleasure...I come up with an image that doesn't exist that I want to see in the world. My works are my babies, and they are dear to me...I love wearing my own designs...hell, I'm working on one now with a giant "JTO" logo that I will wear everywhere when its done and printed on a tee. I'm not new to making artwork (nonstop for 36 years or so) but I am relatively new to this design day job world so I am gradually getting familiar with the no-nos. One guy told me recently you NEVER refer to your designs in writing as designs (i.e. "the green menu design"). I like what I do...the first person I aim to please when I make something is myself. When someone makes something and averts their eyes, and can't bear to be near it, that seems less like creation and more like the bear dropping one in the woods. Phony modesty.

Roky Erickson live at the 40 Watt, Athens GA

I wrote this email update to my pal Chilly (of the The 10000 Things blog) about the Roky Erickson show I caught Thurday night:

"It was absolutely great.  I was a little doubtful going in...I was worried that the crowd would be sparse...I did not sense a lot of anticipation leading up to the show, a general indifference.  I also thought that slipping Gnarls Barkley (unofficially) on the PopFest bill a couple of nights before Roky's show would steal his thunder.  Man, was I wrong.   There was a very robust, enthusiastic crowd there when I finally got in, later on, just as Dark Meat (always killer) was taking the stage.  I didn't buy the Popfest pass, I cannot endure seeing more than a couple of bands in a row (I am old and tire easily). I saw a lot of local Roky fans, everyone was really charged...several folks brought records to get signed.  Roky hit the stage with a very basic band, the Explosives, very seasoned veterans, total pros.  Guitars, a bass, a drum kit.  No keys, special effects, no electric jug.  It was blast after blast of great songs, played and sung with tremendous ferocity and authority, high and clear and awesome.  Roky sounded incredible.  No fumbling, stuttering, or running out of steam.  No talk, no banter, no noodling and tuning.  This is a man who walked and played and held his own with giants like Hendrix and Love and the Doors, a pace-setter of that era, and his formidable chops were center stage at the 40 watt that night.  A mob of people cheering and singing along with Two Headed Dog, Demons have Pictures, Starry Eyes, Bloody Hammer, and, of course, You're Gonna Miss Me (plus lots more).  Kids were MOSHING,  it was apeshit, I l almost got knocked over several times.  I was having too good of a time to be pissed.   A couple of encores.   Roky didn't start until almost 1 AM, and played for quite a while.  People staggered out of the 40 Watt, grinning and shell-shocked.  I got home about 3:30 AM, and was gloriously late for work Friday."

Thanks to Roky Erickson and the Explosives, the 40 Watt, and the PopFest organizers for a mind-blowing rock show!!

T. Rex iron on party...

I've always wanted a T. Rex t shirt. T. Rex is one of my all-time favorite bands, but I never could find a shirt I liked. Growing up in a tiny town in the rural south in the 70s/80s, I lived in rock tees, most of which I mail ordered. No internet, no credit cards. Allow 6 to 8 weeks for delivery. I ordered a ton of Zeppelin tees and jerseys. I ordered one of those Union Jack Def Leppard shirts, but was too embarrassed to wear it because it was sleeveless. I liked T. Rex a lot even then, but the rare shirt I saw in the catalogs of vaguely sleezy rock tee sellers like Musicade never had anything I wanted to buy...maybe they looked too girly...it seems like lots of girls like T. Rex. Now that I have the computer at home I wanted to play with making purely digital graphics and logos. This is the first one I carried out completely. I am trying the super cheapo Office Max brand transfer paper, and it printed great in my little free Canon printer/scanner combo. The first try was kind of botched, luckily it was on a kind of awful, baby blue, thick, boxy, "Arizona" brand t shirt with a heavy, high collar. Ugh. I have printed lots of tranfer iron ons on grey heather and it always looks pretty good...they are the shirts I get the most compliments for. Hopefully I can make some designs for a ne screen printed shirt series soon.

Chew Rubber Crutch Rampage 1

This is the first drawing I have completed since I moved into the new studio/pad. I have so much to do, mostly getting on 20 billion projects I've been wanting to put together and can with the new mac. I have to make time to continue to draw by hand...I love making stuff on the computer, I'm not one of those technology hating guys who crab and whine about missing the good ol days, but I have to balance it with drawing, painting, inking by hand...it is actually very relaxing. I know some computer dee-signin' guys who haven't drawn by hand in years...some who can't draw at all, or think its a chore...

You Know...

I hate it when I punctuate my speech with "you know" and the person I'm talking to cuts in and says "no, I DON'T KNOW".  I remember several ex-girlfriends doing this.  Its probably an early warning sign of a relationship tanking...

Here's the lastest work in progress...

Roky design (work in progress)

Here's a piece of a design I'm making for fun-a graphic of Roky Erickson, one of my favorites...The 13th Floor Elevators and his solo stuff is all killer and I am so fired up about him playing in Athens at PopFest this August in Athens...I will probably make an iron on for a t shirt or something...its not finished totally yet, it will probably get a lot crazier.  I finally got around to working on the new Baron Calm series (a pink one with a girl and a robotic confederate bear falling to pieces and a cloud of muppet type eyeballs).   I have decided not to make any more stuff that is small and understated, its got to be bigger and/or crazier.   I hacked out a lot of filler from my website today too, a lot of stuff that seems like mediocre filler to me now...I'm also cleaning out the closets and dumping a lot of old pieces that I can no longer store...I will probably have some sort of flood sale/ritual burning of this stuff soon.

After the Flood

I've been preoccupied the last couple of weeks dealing with apartment floods.   The building I'm in has some major drainage/gutter issues that weren't that obvious during the scorching, biblical, arid drought North GA has been under since I moved in last Spring.   This new and normal cycles of gushing summer thunderstorms turn what was an occasional, annoying leaky window and small section of floor in a full on, splattering flood...it was isolated to the back room (my studio) and I hauled ass out to home depot at 6 AM Saturday morning and bought a wet/dry shop vac to slurp up the nasty tides of backed up gutter-water seeping and dripping into my place.   This is all happening right after I buy and install my beloved new Mac...my first real design computer and the nicest thing I have ever owned.   Luckily I was there when the dam broke, the Mac was at the opposite end of the pad, and there was a vacant, clean, DRY unit on the other side of the building.  It actually worked out for the best...the move was pretty easy, I don't own much, no pianos or marble statues, and it forced me to dump a lot of worthless crap that I have been sitting on and ignoring for the past 10 years or so...my life was flushed, pretty much, in a relatively positive, painless way.  The new pad is slightly better, and weird in a giddy, funhouse kind of way because it is exactly the same layout and proportions as my old place except EVERYTHING IS BACKWARDS, like a mirror, which totally flips me out first thing in the morning.   I got a book on Paul Rand and a tricks of the trade guide for Illustrator CS3 and I'm digging the clean slate.  The most regretable tragic loss was my pinball machine, made of particle board,  that was doused with water for an hour or so...not 100% sure but I don't think the old girl will pull through...RIP Star Explorer (1975-2008).

All Systems Go!

I'm back on the blog after a few months of turmoil.  Big changes and shakedowns at work (that were stressful but probably good for me)  I had no spare time to goof around on this thing at the office, and no internet at home, only my 1997 Systemax computer with Windows 98.  Surprisingly enough, the old beast still plodded on, and I managed to design a few posters and stuff on it this past year.  Last week I got a new Mac for my home studio for freelance design projects...it is shockingly awesome.  I have a feeling I won't see too much daylight (or moonlight) for a long time...all those projects on the backburner are moving to the frontburner.

wow! honored in a dictionary!

from urbandictionary.com...shockingly accurate!

athens townie:


An aging hipster in Athens, Georgia. Stylistically ahead of the curve, these are creative people who were hot 15 years ago, but are unfortunately stuck. Alchoholism and drug addiction is thought to be the primary stumbling block to the success of this otherwise friendly species. There is also the problem of big fish/small pond syndrome. The male townies are responsible for having brought trucker hats and mechanics shirts to the fashion forefront as early as 1990. Most townies are in a band, in a pretend band, or dating someone in a band or pretend band. They wear thrift store clothes and ride bicycles or crappy cars. All in all, they consume very little new goods, making them harmless to the environment. Typical townie occupations consist of working at restaurants, coffee houses, record stores, copy shops, video stores, or the local alternative publication. Ironically, many now wear their blue collar shirts literally, as they approach 40 or 50 and have construction or maintenance careers.

*That bar is so cute on weekends, but steer clear weekdays— it's totally packed with lecherous old athens townies.
*I know what you mean. It's so depressing how much they drink on Mondays!

Strayhorn Magazine Movie Night

Strayhorn Magazine is showing this overlooked revenge classic from 1977 for our April film pick at the fantastic Flicker Theatre and Bar here in Athens GA. All Flagpole Magazine readers please note this movie is replacing KID BLUE...I didn't notify them about the the change in time. ROLLING THUNDER is awesome, and its a free show starting at 9 PM next Monday (April 28)!

Yet Another Threadless Submission...

Yep, Ive got another in the running. I'll probably keep entering once or twice a week. If any of you folks vote over at Threadless.com on potential t shirt designs for printing and sale, click here. If I win this I'll get enough dough to buy me one of them dee-signin' computers.

My "New" Studio

I've had my current place for almost a year now but just recently I arranged it for optimum studio use. I have dedicated the whole back room for drawing, painting, and pinball. Here's a shot of mission control, including many of my beloved creepy exploitation and horror movie posters. I had a few slack weeks of Springtime idleness, but I'm jumping back in saddle with some freelance album cover design and new, large (4 ft. wide) drawing.

Movie Weekend (with Pinky)

Here's the latest weekend movie list...the Altman stuff I've seen before. I really love 3 Women especially. I'm too busy right now to go into much detail about these. I liked all of them, and totally flipped out over a few.

Throne of Blood
The President's Analyst
The Big Bounce (the first one)
Donkey Skin
Three Women
Variety LIghts
The Southerner
Pepe Le Moko
Nashville
Closely Watched Trains

Some Black Velvet Morning...

I don't really collect art for the walls (I have tons of my own stuff to deal with-no money or room for much else) but I do prize my small collection of black velvet paintings. I misplaced the snow owl piece while moving from apartment to apartment, but here are some other favorites, including a version of Frazetta's Death Dealer...

A Long Time Ago, In a County Far, Far Away

This is my first t shirt design. It was for a screenprinting project in shop class in high school (I'm not gonna say the year, its too depressing). I guess I was about 15 or 16 when I drew it. I had one of the shirts (a white and pale blue ringer tee) until a few years ago; it still fit but it got so absolutely filthy from crawling under houses and digging trenches at my day job that no amount of washing would get it clean, so I tossed it finally. There's a parable in that somewhere.

Trials of a Cartoonist

I love drawing cartoons. That why I started drawing (at about age 2 or 3). I think in cartoons, breathe cartoons. I cannot fathom the mindset of people who are indifferent about them, or hate them. For most of life I drew for myself, and to this day, when I make stuff for exhibitions and personal projects, I never consider an "audience" at all. I make stuff I want to see. But as an illustrator, cartooning is an enormous pain in the ass. People nitpick every design to shreds...too scary, too cute, too messy, too clean. I was even corrected by one one genius who pointed out that "there are 5 fingers on a hand, not four"! People are surrounded by cartoons constantly and seldom, if ever, question their design (Bugs Bunny's ears are too long!) When they get some control, some "input", the flood of ridiculous revisions crash in. Not always...sometimes folks are cool...clear direction, sensible revisions...great. I used to think that caught flack because I'm a faceless nobody in the field. Then I read an interview with R. Crumb; he talks about his VOLUNTEER stuff for a small activist paper- they totally picked him to death. He said Spain Rodriguez had the same problem. I guess its a pretty common complaint in any creative field, but good Lord! I know what I'm doing in this arena...

Threadless again...

Movie Weekend (part 2)

Watched this weekend:

Putney Swope (1969, dir. Robert Downey Sr.)
Kagemusha (1980, dir. Akira Kurasawa)
Two Lane Blacktop (1971, dir. Monte Hellman)
The Loved One (1965, Tony Richardson)

I also watched that Hunter S. Thompson documentary, Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride. I don't know if it has ever been confirmed or even talked about, but I think HST was inspired the by The Loved One to have his ashes launched in that elaborate rocket cannon at his funeral (which he had planned since the 70s). I first read about The Loved One (the movie with Jonathan Winters) when HST quoted Winters' greedy, corrupt land developer/minister, who needed to clear out the corpses buried in a plush cemetery in order to swing a real estate deal. The scheme was to launch the bodies into orbit, "the graceful peace of space". I think Thompson really admired the movie (which was co-written by the legendary Terry Southern) and Winters,
who he called a "bull-goose looney".

Movie Weekend (part 1)

I watched a bunch of movies this past rainy weekend (including some old favorites I haven't see in a while). Two Lane Blacktop was among those favorites. I like sitting with a sketchbook while flipping through comics and magazines and watching great movies on rainy days...very productive...

Drawing Joanie

I drew Joan Jett recently for Strayhorn Magazine and really liked the way it turned out. I'll probably draw Suzi Quatro next. Its a win-win situation...cool lookin' girls with cool names (making logos from their names would be fun too). I can't show these drawings yet; they are a secret until the magazine is issued.

Constructive Criticism and JTO

I've been entering designs at the Threadless.com t-shirt competition lately (2 designs so far). Mainly because I'm kind of broke and need to buy a new design computer for home, so I'm flinging stuff down every avenue that pops into view. Its fairly easy to mock stuff up and submit (that's what I do at work all day anyway) and its free and the win is pretty damn decent, so what the hell. The comments were interesting during the voting process. Many of them reflect the kind of criticism that scrapes my nerves, the little gently "constructive" advice that suggests ways to clarify in order for a design to make more sense(!?!). So I get stuff like "the unicorn seems a little creepy, I like the colors, though : ) !!". I've heard this sort of thing from fellow students, clients, and occasional random strangers for decades. Save your breath- I'm into nonsense.

The Black Cat screens at Flicker Mar. 31...

Next week Strayhorn Magazine (a project created by Todd Kelly...I've been pitching in with art and stuff) is screening The Black Cat (1934) directed by exiled auteur Edgar G. Ulmer, starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. We have a monthly slot screening stuff at Flicker (a great bar/theatre/performance space near the 40 Watt in downtown Athens GA) and try to showcase out of print or at least generally rare stuff (Deep End, Greaser's Palace, Mickey One). The Black Cat is not out of print but it has not been very available on DVD in the rental joints and media stores, at least in the Athens area. I rant and rave about this one when I talk movies with folks (which happens a lot, a can babble like a broken record) but not many people I know have seen it. Its a favorite of mine, I love Bela and Boris, and this is one of their best together. Its totally crazy, very unpredictable and dreamlike and weird. Not at all a typical monster mash. If you live in the Athens area and want to see it, come by the Flicker Monday at nine PM. Free admission, free popcorn, and reasonably priced cocktails! I finished this poster and I"m hanging them up at the local haunts after work today.

I hate colored stones!

I heading down to see the folks for Easter. Monday the world will be full of drastically discounted chocolate bunnies.

Chilly, I found it!

Supernatural Gangs

I always liked the "splash page group shot" style art of weird superhero/monster combos or cartoonish rock bands like the Inhumans, the Herculoids, the animated Addams family, Kiss, etc. There is usally one big lantern-jaw lunkhead guy, a foxy girl, some kind big dog creature, but not always. I used this approach for my Gumpuppet t-shirts. Now I'm sketching some "weird team" ideas to include in my new series...I actually bought a sketchbook last week; I've been totally slack about doing preparatory sketches lately.

I got my Dave Cloud and The Gospel of Power CD, The Napoleon of Temperance, last Saturday in a hazy hangover and weird tornado weather. Wow, its a double CD pack with 45 crazy, killer songs. I was raving about it last night when I was out on the town, describing it like if Guided By Voices used Lee Hazlewood instead of the British Invasion for a conerstone. Lee Hazlewood is a hero of mine...I wish I had more of his records.

Mad Love

This movie is so killer, none of my favorite rental places have it now, so it will probably be my next purchase...

The Naked Kiss

Sam Fuller is such a great director, and this opening scene for The Naked Kiss is fantastic...

Bolan (Eagle in a Sunbeam)

Marc Bolan/T Rex is one of my all time favorites. I was listening to the bonus stuff on the Zinc Alloy CD last night, really killer music. Really, one of the main goals I would like achieve is to make my drawings look like T Rex sounds, beguiling and inscrutable and instantly familiar and catchy.

Kidz of the Godz

Children of Paradise (dir. Marcel Carne 1945)
A classic I have neglected to watch for years until last night. Very Awesome.

Movie Weekend (part 2)

Justice League: The New Frontier

Oh yeah, somehow I forgot to mention the new direct-to-video animated movie about the classic JLA. Its pointless to write another glowing review among all the countless others so I won't. If you like D.C. comics, and the Silver Age in general, watch it. That's just a given for me, I don't know how someone who is not aware of the Martian Manhunter or Green Lantern would like this. I really liked it, and the more I think about it the more I like it.

White Spine

White Spine
24" x 24"
This is the newest drawing of my new series. I not really sure if any of them are really "finished" yet, I want to get about 20 to a certain state and then decide if anything is needed to pull them together, some thread that can flow thru the series and make it one thing. This is why I am hesitant to sell any of them individually yet...

Dave Cloud & The Gospel of Power

Old pal and killer artist Brian Buchanan introduced me to the music of Dave Cloud a few years back when he moved from Athens to Nashville for a while. I'm pretty sure he knew Mr. Cloud and got a disc straight from the source. It was awesome...totally weird and raw but smooth and familiar. It had an unhinged aspect that reminded me of Captain Beefheart, but was totally its own creature. Recently Brian sent me a video of Cloud...he's on Myspace now, so its very easy to find songs to hear. I am ordering his records this week...It will be perfect pinball-machine-customizin' music. I'm tearing down the Star Explorer next Saturday.

Go to his Myspace page to hear some of the songs. I dig Lavender Clothes!

Book of the Damned

I missed the Jack Davis lectures they had at UGA last week...I don't really know how much Mr. Davis actually spoke (there were other famous illustrators speaking as well) but I did find Foul Play! by Grant Geissman at Borders in Athens this Sunday. It covers all of the E.C. Comics greats- Kurtzman, Wood, Ingels, Craig, as well as Jack Davis and many others. The book is packed with color illustrations, a bio on each artist, as well as a complete sample story from the classic E.C. era by each comics legend. Borders had huge stacks, selling them for $4.99 each!! If you want to learn about the Mt. Olympus and its deities of comic book art swing by Border on Alps Road in Athens GA and grab a copy.

Weekend Movies (part 1)

The Films of Kenneth Anger vol. 2
This disc covers Scorpio Rising through Lucifer Rising. These were good to watch with the commentary on. Anger provides lots of anecdotes about cast members and all the strange stuff that happened during the making of these short films. This is my first time viewing Anger's works but I was vaguely aware of his work due to his connection to British Invasion rockers I have been into since childhood (Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, Marianne Faithful, etc.) and always had this impression of this diabolical maniac from some infernal distant planet. He is actually conversationally very down to earth...he hates cigarette smoking and rails against it repeatedly, he laments the passing of Al Capp's "Lil' Abner" comic strip, and complains about Marianne Faithful's irresponsibility carrying drugs into the Egyptian locations of Lucifer Rising. Its always interesting when people reveal traits that contradict their reputation.

Crazy Love (2007)
I can't say much about this except its really interesting...don't dig around and look at any spoilers and it will be kind of stunning.

The Old Graveshifter (dot com)

While I'm getting nostalgic for the late 90s, rehashing old art titles and stuff, I took a look at my first art website, graveshifter.com today. I can't believe its still running. Its like the Mary Celeste, unmaintained, forgotten, adrift. I got the name Graveshifter when I did a Halloween art show at my favorite bar in Athens, GA, the Manhattan Cafe with two killer artists and generally great creative guys, Jim Stacy and Joey Tatum. Jim (who tended bar there at the time) was lining everything up and designed these beautiful screenprinted posters to promote the very rare event (the Manhattan rarely has art shows). He was always doing neat projects, and at the time he was hosting a "Nightmare Theatre" type show as the creepy Dr. Crepula. He wanted me and Joey to have cool, scary nicknames for the poster as well. Joey was "The Machete". I coughed up Graveshifter at the last second. Later when I bought a domain for the website I just had to use it. The site is very homemade and sprawling and took forever to upload and edit on my clunky PC dial-up rig. One of the most fun features I did on the site was my short lived, super sporadic "Book of the Month" review, where I showcased an illustrated weird book I found at the many thrift stores I haunted. Maybe I'll pick up that bit for this blog...

Star Explorer

Not too long ago I work out a trade with a pal of mine and got a pinball machine for a portrait commission. Its a weird "rec room" model made in the mid 70s by a South African company. Its a little banged up but works really great (except for the insanely loud "sound effects" that sound like a smoke detector...I had to cut the speaker wires). Decorating the exterior with some killer drawings and logos is my spring project. I just love having a pinball machine in my home.

Speaking of Starcrash,I saw this in the theatre when I was a little kid and it warped me for life. Marjoe Gortner rules! They have this movie at Vision Video in Athens, GA on Broad Street. Rent it this weekend!

Vampire Canyon

I'm trotting out some old titles to tack on new pieces (I made another Vampire Canyon, as well as a Baron Calm, years ago). Its not like anyone but a handful of people and myself would know anyway! I'm probably gonna add some kind of logo to the top of this one.

aboard the starship...

One big source of inspiration for me now is weird, glammy, almost sci-fi uniform-style gear that rockers in the seventies wore before punk really broke out. Its like all these bands were crews on spaceships (ELO really ran with this concept). I'm also looking at lots of starship designs from the same era, like the hand-shaped space station in Star Crash.

Baron Calm
2008

This is the first drawing of a new series I just started at the beginning of the year. It was made for a Sci-Fi themed group show at the MF Gallery in NYC. It was so fun to draw more pieces just kind of quickly erupted. Most of them are 24" by 24" stained plywood panels drawn with brushed black ink with white ink highlights. I was in a rut making these really tiny, elaborately colored paintings and this series is the cure. See the others at my site, jefftowens.com