6 x 6, ink and paper
Here is the newest commissioned artwork for my friend's band Barrier. They're from Montreal and are producing some great music so I was obviously glad to help them out. The instructions I was given for this CD cover was: an Oven bird that looks like it's out of a 1930's natural history book, the band's name and the title of the album.
I was inspired by a photograph of an Oven bird hanging out on a branch (thank you Google image) and just went from there. I really liked the way his head was turned... I went through a lot of images and the position of the bird in the one I picked I thought was more evocative than the tons of running Oven birds (they sure love to run around!).
The art will be silkscreened with black ink on a cardboard-type of paper (which is why I tinted the image using my extremely limited iPhoto - does anyone want to buy me Adobe? eh? eh?).
I was torn between two kinds of fonts for the title and showed them both to the guys... Majority rules and they went with the cursive. Originally I had hand-drawn the "Barrier" part but now that I've used a digital font I find it really gives it a nice clean edge.
Ok so I have been pretty obsessed with the idea of the passing of time for a while now and anything that evokes looking back, contemplating the passage of time, nostalgia, etc. These themes are typically represented by objects like clocks, hourglasses, even by scenery, from lakes to trees losing their leaves, flowers fanning, etc. The reason I'm bringing this up is because I thought the posture of this bird was so perfect because it's not looking forward, but backwards, which I thought was ideal for the title of the LP: What to Make of a Diminished Thing. I never asked the guys what they had in mind when they named the album but I interpreted it from an environmental, as well as political, perspective. Namely, looking back in nostalgia at what used to be all the while contemplating how to move forward in a positive way. Note that if the bird's head had been down, the tone would be of defeat, whereas now the tone is of optimism.
But that's only my interpretation of the title, after all it could be about a break-up? Either way, I think the title is powerful and can speak to many things.
So I'm really happy that people are asking me to create art for them! The Smart Mouth shirt was an absolute hit and I got SO much good feedback! I'm really happy people are digging my art because no matter how many times I've been complemented on my artistic abilities I still feel extremely nervous showing my stuff... Fear of rejection? Quite possibly.
I've got a few more commissions on the way, which I'm really excited about!! BUT that being said, I'm really getting into the crux of things with school, so we'll see how much time I can actually devote to art-making. I'll keep you posted.
Until next time! xo
-P.
P.S. Check out Barrier: www.myspace.com/reconstructingbarrier ... They also have a blog but it seems to be down right now. CHECK IT!
1 comment:
it rules!
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