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Andalucia

Wed, 5 Aug 2009 20:51:13 -0700

Here’s a little tune I’ve roughed out on Garageband. It’s in French and Spanish. The text translates roughly:

I’m at my favorite spot beneath the rubber tree.
I’ve just ordered a coffee with milk, and bread and butter.
My brother in law has taken his spear-gun, dived into the sea,
in search of a big, delicious fish.
My wife is asleep in the apartment in Aguilas
The girls are dancing on the beach,
so beautiful and happy
they’re dancing on the beach,
so intelligent, and happy.
My mother in law and my father in law
are in the cool shadows of the cave,
they’re preparing a delicious meal.
Andalucia!

St. Matthew

Mon, 6 Apr 2009 10:19:34 -0700

It’s been a while since I tried to copy a master painting. This is of Caravaggio’s St. Matthew. It’s fun to notice things I’d otherwise have missed.

Meandering history

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 10:08:07 -0700

Got interested in hydraulic mining during the Gold Rush of ’49. Found a site called Malakoff Diggins where that technique left a weirdly eroded landscape. Then heard that there’s a town in France called Malakoff. That doesn’t sound very French, I thought. Ah, it’s named after a battle. So many places are.
The Crimean war. A tower was taken in Sebastopol by French and British forces. Among the French were-- Les Zouaves. Above is a detail from a painting I’m doing about Les Zouaves.

Where the glass went

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:53:45 -0700

When I show people my Hamm’s Brewery pictures, some ask me what happened to the giant neon beer glass. I say I don’t know. But then, what if this giant woman from the Reynold Brown movie poster took it?

Apologies to Mr. Brown

Sun, 1 Mar 2009 19:34:18 -0800

The advantage, one of them, of drawing on a graphics tablet is-- no mess.
No paint stains on the carpet.

Attack of the

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 08:30:50 -0800

There was a time when posters for movies about monsters were could be phenomenally more exiting than the movies themselves. Take the abysmal--if you’ll pardon the expression-- Neptune Factor, 1973. It sported a dark, scary poster poster by John Berkey. I was all of 12. I saw some kind of malevolent whale on the poster, asked for the movie by name, and suffered the letdown of seeing Ernest Borgnine pretend to be terrified by a fish in an aquarium.

Free RAnge Bankers

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 17:05:54 -0800

It’s a phrase looking for an illustration. This is not it yet. In the photograph that inspired this drawing, the lighting was frontal. I wanted to see these characters backlit with a queasy money-green source.

Truffaut

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 09:01:18 -0800

I thought Quentin Tarantino invented gangsters who talk a lot about women. It was Truffaut! Or maybe David Goodis.

Space Sketch

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 11:39:59 -0800

Friend of mine at Maverix Studios likes Sketchbook Pro, so I’m trying it out. Has a nice pencil look to it.

Painted Sticks by David Brandt

Wed, 4 Feb 2009 10:36:56 -0800

I’m fortunate enough to have this whimsical piece installed on the wall just above my graphics tablet.