Minnie and Moskowitz

This piece was made awhile ago but I forgot to post it. Based on a scene from "Minnie and Moskowitz," the John Cassavetes film from 1971, which I saw in the theater last year. Watercolor, tempera, and pen on paper.

Juicebox EP Art!

Official release of the Juicebox EP - "First Cut"! Here is the artwork that I produced for the CD. Check it out: http://music.juiceboxfunk.com/

This is on the cover - dancin' legs struttin' down the street!

And this is on the CD itself - jammin' out to sweet grooves!

The Royal Tenenbaums

A pair of paintings created for my friends on the occasion of their wedding in Kentucky this past weekend.  Depicted are Luke Wilson and Gwenyth Paltrow, from the scene where Gwenyth steps off of the bus, the film goes into slow motion, and "These Days" by Nico starts playing.  I've always liked that scene for capturing a romantic moment (even though Luke and Gwenyth are brother and sister in the film...never mind that) that feels out of time and place.

Here's the scene so you can see where I've taken some 'creative liberties':

Blue Valentine

This painting, on a slice of wood, is based on a scene from the movie "Blue Valentine" (2010).  Although the movie is about the disintegration of a marriage, this is one of the few moments where the couple is in love (granted they're on a bus after she Michelle Williams decides not to get an abortion but rather raise the baby with Ryan Gosling...) Nevertheless, I found it a very tender scene and decided to translate it into a painting in honor of Valentine's Day!  I should mention that I originally intended for this painting to have many more components and colors, but stopped myself along the way as it seemed to be resolved already.  For example, the woman's face was going to be a light pink, with an indication of mascara-d eyes and bright red lips, but i liked her with an absence as a face better.  Also I was originally going to add touches like a wristwatch and a coat button but decided I liked it better more bare.  Made with watercolor (blue background) and acrylic paints.  

P.S. I'd like to try painting on wood again, but I'm still trying to figure out how to get a more even wash with the watercolor on the unprimed wood - it went on kind of patchy as it absorbed more at the beginning of the brushstroke.  I think maybe a fan brush might help?  

By the way, here's the still from the film in case you were curious:

Juicebox Cover Art: Part Deux

These are two of the other images I created for Juicebox, designed to serve as front and back of an album cover.  I wanted to make something really crazy, sexy, and colorful that harkened back to album covers from the '70s...

...combined with creepy, crawling drips reminiscent of Dali...

...and punched up with the bright colors of Tropicalia that I love so much:

But the winning cover art for the upcoming Juicebox album has yet to be revealed!  Stay tuned...

Juicebox Album Cover Art

Over the summer I worked on images for an album cover for the groovy/funky/jazzy New York-based band "Juicebox," brainchild of saxophonist extraordinaire Nick Myers.  I tried a few different styles, media, and types of imagery, as you will see below.  Inspired in part by some visually interesting films and a few bottles of gin.  The winning image has yet to be scanned, so stay tuned:

This started out as the sheet of paper that I was wiping my brushes off on.  Then I took a still from the '60s film "Bedazzled" as inspiration for the drawing I made on top.

This was inspired by the Tropicalia art I've seen on album covers of the '60s.  It seemed to fit the style of Juicebox's fun, vibrant music.

I'm not really sure where this came from, although I was sort of thinking of seeing the face in terms of a topographical map, with a sort of "face paint" to accentuate certain lines.  I had another album cover in mind when I made this, but am too embarrassed to say which one, since this looks nothing like it.

Legs inspired by a scene from the 1976 film "Car Wash." Wrong format for an album cover but I was just playing around with the materials I had in front of me at the time.  

Arbitrary '80s color behind a contemplative female face, with eyelashes that seem like they belong in some surrealist painting.  Not sure it really goes with the Juicebox vibe but it seemed just weird enough that a jazz musician might dig it.

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman

This is a self-portrait I made during college round one - in 2001 to be exact!  In other words, this is how I saw myself over 10 years ago...apparently under heavy Picasso influence like most 20-year old artists.  I found it stashed away in one of my portfolios recently and thought I'd share.  It used to hang on my bedroom wall in my Poughkeepsie apartment but I guess I forgot about it after I moved to the city.  Made with oil on canvas, 9x11".