old school old stuff

Take One For the Team/ The Antennas Split - CD cover, 2003

12 x 16, Prepare for Invasion, 2003 

It's a pretty neat coincidence that my dad just dropped off my old portfolio filled with stuff from high school.  I definitely rekindled with a few jems.. and also things that seemed a lot cooler back then.  Among the things I was glad to find again are the Take One for the Team/The Antennas split cover I did in 2003 (holy shit that's 5 years ago) and the Prepare for Invasion artwork I did the same year.  I don't think anything ever came of that band.. I barely remember who it was for??  Maybe my friend Dave, maybe Isaac was in that band?  I really can't remember.  Oh well, I still have the artwork and it's a nice souvenir of how standardized my drawings were, i.e. how everything was based on oldschool tattoo guidelines.  There's a real charm to the lack of originality in old school tattoos, and I mean that sincerely.  I still LOVE that style, when it's well done of course.

For a long time I really wanted to become a tattoo artist...  It's a cool feeling when people get things you've drawn tattooed on them (I'll try to post pictures of my friend Stefan's arm soon).  And while I haven't ruled it out, I'm definitely heading towards other pastures right now.  But hey, there's always later right?

Anyway, this will be a very short post (can you believe it??) because I have to start and end a paper tonight...  While I normally wouldn't be too excited, I think this one will be really interesting: I will be discussing the notion of fear in Luther's argument for the bondage of the Will.  I'm stoked because it's also given me some really great ideas for my next paintings!! 

So basically I leave you with a big TO BE CONTINUED...

Later gator! xo

-P.

More Barrier stuff!

ink on paper

Aaaaaaalright!

So I just finished the rest of the Barrier cd art.  My friend e-mailed me this week asking me for a few more things.  I'm glad I squeezed it into my schedule (i.e. crawled out from under a pile of books) to get it done because he seemed to be saying they'll be printing it all pretty soon!  Exciting!

I can't wait to see the final product and I'll make sure to post some pictures!

So if you don't remember, a few posts down is the cover art.   The tree stump is meant to be printed in the spot where the cd will be.  I love it when I lift a cd and discover a whole new piece of art under it.  I think it will look great with the tree stump.  Note that I had already mentioned (in the previous Barrier art post) how obsessed I had become with the idea of the passing of time.  The lines of a cut tree-trunk is a great symbol of this since each line represents a year gone by.

When I had finished drawing the (tedious) lines of the stump I remembered that sometimes tree stumps have these sorts of gashes in them.  I decided to add some and (in the spirit of the passing of time) give it a sort of clock-effect, with the gashes as the hands.  It's not meant to be particularly obvious, but if anything it should tap into the types of associations we make sub-consciously.  Unlike typical hands of a clock, they are crooked and multiple, which is in an effort to demonstrate the reality of time: not a singular calculated line but a much more complex and on-going interaction between past and future (which we understand as the present). 

It also seemed to me like these gashes were reminiscent of cuts- irreparable wounds caused by humans against nature... As if the single huge transversal cut wasn't enough of a reminder of the  human imprint on nature.  So basically, keeping with the theme I had discussed previously.  

The second image is for the back of the cd.  I was asked to draw a birdhouse in the corner and have the song titles laid out in the middle in the same font as the cover.  I don't know if I can call my hand-writing a font, but it was weird thinking about writing- only when I think about it does it look completely different than normally!  So let's just say it took a few tries.  I thought the idea of a birdhouse was fittingly ironic- a miniature version of human shelter- the irony kicking in when one starts to wonder why a bird would need to live in something that looks like a house when it is capable of creating its own shelter.  YET that was my initial reaction, other thoughts came to me, like the idea that maybe the birdhouse symbolizes humans seeking to live harmoniously with animals?  I'll have to ponder that one some more...  Definitely an interesting idea. 

Ok I should really get back to my European Continental Literature essay...  But first, a tomato sandwich!

Until next TIME! xo

-P.

P.S. A reminder that the art I've posted here was sloppily arranged to give the impression of cardboard- but I promise it will look much nicer when it's all done properly!  Ooooh that reminds me!  Thanks to a friend in montreal I will be getting some real 21st century art-making/fixing programs!  VERY excited!  

post mortem/ Mosh Hard With a Vengeance

THRASH!!!!!!!! (poster)

TOFTT cd art - (old stuff)

Upfront article

First off I will start by saying that I had to crawl out from under a pile of books to get to my computer.  So my little blog: don't be mad, I didn't forget about you.. just been busy that's all.

Ok, so!  My good friend Richard's thrash band, Take One for the Team, is having their last show on December 6th.  They've been together for eight years and have decided to move on.  I hold that band dear to my heart, partly because I've seen them sooo many times over the years and partly because everyone in that band is amazing.

Richard asked me to draw the poster for their last show.  He was hoping it would have a mexican wrestling theme (to relate the poster to some previous band-art) and the "MOSH HARD ONE LAST TIME!" line to relate to their cd Mosh Hard With a Vengeance (and to their overall mosh-ness haha).  So I incorporated that theme with the theme of death, simply because this will be their very last show.. EVER!

It was actually a challenge to get everything to fit right, since I had decided to do it entirely by hand (paper + sharpie).  Buuuut in the spirit of punk rock, it works!  It's busy, but appropriate for the style (i.e. notoriously illegible punk-show flyer).  Note that the picture next to the casket is actually of Richard.  Kind of morbid, I know... It's from a show where he had played with a mask on- I thought it was so fitting for this poster I had to slip it in somehow.

The second picture is of cover art I had done for them in .  They will be making a shirt based on it--I'll post some pictures later.

I always find it kind of weird looking back on "old stuff"... I've improved so much as an artist!!  I guess that should feel more like relief than weirdness since it shows that I'm growing and getting better... But I suppose the weirdness comes from remembering how good I thought that cover was back when I drew it and now, look at it, all I see are the areas where I should have done something differently.  That being said, I really wonder what I will think of the art I'm making now, 5 years down the road.  We'll have to wait and see! 

In other news: there is a really nice (and flattering) article in November's Upfront on the show at the Wurm gallery.  You should pick it up!  After all it is FREE!  If you click on the picture, the resolution is actually good enough for you to read the article.  What a nice little gift right on time for my birthday month!

Oh other press-related interest, my friend Paul G. pointed out that China Doll (awesome local karaoke drag queen celebrity) mentioned the show in her weekly events segment.  Note how she pronounces my name (PASKWAHL). 

Still cool tho!

So the Wurm Galler show is officially over!

I'm really glad that all of the dino-popes sold!  It proves to my Humanities professor that blasphemous art is still damn cool, BOO-YA!

Even though I didn't sell all my stuff I'm still SOOOO pleased with everything.  This show has opened up some really awesome doors for me and I'm excited to be making art on a regular basis!

Ok well that's about it!

OH!  Yah, I also made a flyer for Finner's show (Black Ships, Titan and Alaskan), but there's no original art of mine other than laying things out beautifully and picking a satanic image.  Still cool though, so IF you are not easily offended by extremely evil images AND if you are not at work where your boss might walk by, then check it out!

Ok folks, it's back to the books for me! xo

-P.

P.S. If you didn't have a chance to see my works up at Wurm, I have three of them up at the CUAG as part of the HERE group show, on until Monday November 10th.