Dedcrow

Logo for a very small record company in big old Texas.

Threadless (follow-up)

Follow-up to previous post.
I just learned that my Red Guitar t-shirt design was taken out of competition because of low scores. Oh well. Thanks to all who took time to vote.

Threadless

I submitted a tee shirt design called Red Guitar to Threadless.com to be voted on and hopefully printed.

If I get enough high scores the shirt will be printed and sold from the site and I will win some prizes. Take a look at it and if you like it, sign up and give it a score.

URL: http://www.threadless.com/submission/163461/Red_Guitar

Thanks!

Cabinessence

This piece created sometime in the early '70s was inspired by the Beach Boys song "Cabinessence" which originally appeared on their magical album Smiley Smile (released in 1967). It featured lyrics by the legendary Van Dyke Parks who collaborated with Brian Wilson on a number of genius tunes including "Good Vibrations" and "Heroes and Villans." Decades later I stumbled across Van Dyke Parks' website and discovered that I had just missed the deadline for a contest for pictures inspired by Van Dyke Parks lyrics. Even though the contest had closed and the prizes given out I went ahead and emailed my "Cabinessence" artwork anyway. Much to my total delight I received an email from Mr. Parks saying that he liked my piece very much and I should consider it a runner-up after the fact or something to that effect. (Damn, I wish I had saved that email!)

Oblivion Records

A flattering post related to this drawing and Oblivion Records by my good old friend Fred Seibert.
Click here.
Thanks once again, Fred!

Perelandra

A favorite painting of mine (197?) and logo design adapted by Perelandra Natural Foods Center for their new eco-friendly canvas bags. I asked my friend and owner Steve Hoose: "How long ago did I do that logo?" He replied:"Very very long ago."

Loving the Alien(s)

I was asked to create this drawing of David Byrne and some alien buddies to promote his limited edition Illy espresso cup collection (2001). I first met David when we worked together on the book What The Songs Look Like: Contemporary Artists Interpret Talking Heads Songs. The preface of that book featured a portrait I drew of David in the style revisited in this illustration.

Selected Reject: Best of Luna

Rejected cover for Best of Luna. Photo taken back in the swinging '60s by the legendary David Bailey. The leggy girl in white is the likewise legendary model, Penelope Tree. (Dig the wine and vinyl on the floor). Luna loved my idea for the cover as did the record company art department. Much to my surprise and joy, permissions were obtained from Mr. Bailey and Ms. Tree. Apparently the party people had sufficiently obscurred faces (cropped or wearing sunglasses -- digitally added in the case of the girl on the left) to be legally passable. Unfortunately the record company lawyers nixed use of the photo because they couldn't track down the full-faced fellow with the shiny jacket passed out on the sofa. (Someone said he was in the band Procol Harum). Too bad.

Sound + Vision

Cover design and dummy spreads from a book proposal (circa 2000). Named after the David Bowie song from his ground-breaking album, Low.

A collection of paintings, drawings, collages, photographs, etc. created by contemporary musicians.

Would have been the third book in a sort of trilogy following What The Songs Look Like: Contemporary Artists Interpret Talking Heads Songs (Harper & Row,1987) and Buddha Book: A Meeting of Images (Chronicle Books, 1997).

Potential contributing musician/artists included: Terry Allen, Laurie Anderson, Melissa Auf der Maur, Beck, David Bowie, David Byrne, John Cage, Kurt Cobain, Billy Corgan, Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Brian Eno, Perry Farrell, Chris Frantz, Jerry Garcia, Kim Gordon, John Lennon, Tony Levin, John Mellencamp, Natalie Merchant, Joni Mitchell, Meredith Monk, Thurston Moore, Bill Nelson, Yoko Ono, Liz Phair, Iggy Pop, Lee Ranaldo, Lou Reed, Todd Rundgren, Patti Smith, Michael Stipe, Suzanne Vega, Don Van Vliet, Victoria Williams, and Ron Wood. (Keep in mind this list was compiled about eight years ago).

Approximately 50 pieces of art accompanied by a small photo of the musician/artist, a brief statement by each contributor about the relationship between music and visual art, and specifications of the work (title, date, size, etc.)

Foreward by a notable artist, best-selling author or musician/artist (possibly Laurie Anderson).

Introduction (possibly by Oliver Sacks) discussing the connections between music and visual art. (Note: this was my idea about ten years before Oliver Sacks’ best-selling book, Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain).

The book proposal was rejected by about a dozen publishers.

Although my agent was unable to place this project, I made some new friends during the process. Most notably the amazing British musician, Bill Nelson.