Illustration Friday - Octopus's Garden

In 1970, the foundation of the Entertainment Industry shook and the world gasped as Paul McCartney announced the break up of the most successful band in the brief history of popular music, The Beatles.  There are numerous issues cited for the formal demise of the band.  In fact, all four members had been working on solo projects for a while before the announcement, which Paul made in anticipation of his first solo album over forty years ago.  Today's theme for Illustration Friday is "Separation," which prompted me to share my Beatles portrait, Octopus's Garden in response to the theme and one of the most infamous "separations" of the century.

Inks on Bristol / 2009

Octopus's Garden is a part of my Topsy-Turvy series where all works can be hung in multiple directions.  The final framing on this piece is wired to hang all four directions.  I usually present it the direction you see here since John is my favorite!  Which is your favorite Beatle?

Today's feature illustration was exhibited at my Cult of Personality Exhibit in 2009.  Click HERE for more about the exhibit!

Click HERE for my Memorial Portrait of John Lennon posted just yesterday on the 31st Anniversary of his passing.

Click HERE for a Stream of ALL of my Illustration Friday entries!

Illustration Friday: The Tough on Crime Skeleton

"Said the Tough on Crime Skeleton - Tear Gas the Mob"

"Brigade" is an unusually macabre theme coming from Illustration Friday this week.  Coincidentally, these past few weeks have seen brigades of armed Police in riot gear swooping down the streets of our nation in response to the first ever GLOBAL Protest in the Occupy Movement.


These largely peaceful protests are scaring the Upper Class and Big Business's hand in our Government because they are reaching beyond the control of the main stream voice in Big Brother.  Despite little press coverage or acknowledgement in its first month, the movement became a world-wide phenomenon with Occupy groups springing up in over 80 countries across the planet.  Of course, the spin doctors are at work and justifying the unconstitutional removal of these protesters across the country the past few weeks as our Government shows its strong arm by beating, tear gassing, pepper spraying and arresting over 1,000 citizens here in the US, Canada, Australia and Europe. Occupy is exposing the corruption of our Government by Wall Street.  Occupy is exposing the Police State you really live in.  Occupy is here to stay and keep pulling back the curtain and lifting the veil and nudging open your third eye.

My featured illustration this week is from my Ballad of the Skeletons series inspired by Allen Ginsberg's poem of the same name.  I have shared a few of these works through Illustration Friday and you can Click HERE to see a stream of ALL of my entries from this year!

Click HERE for the Official Allen Ginsberg Website!

Click HERE for my FREE Occupy Wall Street Posters I designed for the Movement!

Click HERE for the Official Occupy Wall Street Website!

Illustration Friday: Sun Mantra

Round is the theme for this week from Illustration Friday. The illustration I chose to share today incorporates a few unique concepts and is called "Sun Mantra." This triptych is from 2008 though I've not displayed or framed it as of yet.

Sun Mantra / inks on bristol / 2008

The tiny peace sign in the middle of the sun you may recognize as my branded symbol made out of bones which you see all over my site. The element found its way into a couple of other works the past couple of years and I drew the peace sign again by itself late last year to begin using as sort of a signature for many of my designs and promotional materials. The strongest element of this composition though is the gradation of the eyes around the inside of the sun. These eyes cycle through a spectrum of grey tones and give much life, movement and visual context to the work.

Click HERE for a Stream of ALL of this Year's Illustration Friday entries!

Illustration Friday: Flies

"Stripes" is the theme for Illustration Friday today as I continue in my endeavor to submit to their site EVERY Friday of 2011!  So far, so good and today I've got an illustration from my Scraps & Motives (S&M) Exhibit at Cafe Coco in Nashville back in the summer of 2008.  This drawing is actually a very small work (about 5 inches tall) and is a crowd favorite.  The look on his face was my own response and outlet for being overrun with house flies at the time I drew the piece.  I hate flies, they make me crazy and I'm sure it's a sight to see a grown man jumping up and down in victory every time one feels the wrath of my swatter. I'm not sure why, but folks seem to like my characters the more they look like they should be wearing a helmet.  Why do you think my viewers are drawn to the deranged?

Click HERE for a stream of ALL of my Illustration Friday entries! 

Illustration Friday: Elephant Oil

"Elephant Oil" Acrylic and Spray Paint on Found Sign

"FUEL" is the theme for today at Illustration Friday.  I've got a brand new painting for you to preview as my entry this week.  "Elephant Oil" is a painting on a repurposed metal sign.  These pricing numbers for old gas stations were salvaged as scrap and I painted a slew of them with Charles Bennett for our show, BUY the NUMBERS which is currently on display at The DAC in Clarksville, TN through the end of next week.  Drop in and check them out live if you're in Clarksville!  The gallery is housing over 60 new works from the two of us!

Click HERE for The DAC's website and find them on Franklin Street to see the art in person!

Click HERE for pics from the installation of the BUY the NUMBERS show!

Click HERE for a stream of ALL of my Illustration Friday entries!

Illustration Friday: Wagga

"Scattered" is the theme of the week at Illustration Friday today.  I wanted to share one of my Topsy-Turvy illustrations since they are indeed cure and medicine for the madness of my scattered brain.  This series in fact is what I finally found interesting enough to get me using my drawing skills seriously back in my mid-20's.  This guy is from my first Topsy-Turvy exhibit in 2006...

"Topsy-Turvy: Swagga" inks on paper / 2006

Click HERE for a stream of all my Illustration Friday entries from this year!

Click HERE for my TOPSY-TURVY Page and more about the series!

Illustration Friday: Frankenstein

Well, it's actually Illustration Wednesday as I play catch-up here at DREGstudios!  I've been on vacation to Phoenix, AZ this past week and have a long day of running, list making, and getting things back on track.  IF's theme this week is "Contraption," which made me think of the ultimate machine in Dr. Frankenstein's monster.  Here's the portrait I drew of the undead beast in 2009...

Click HERE for a stream of my Illustration Friday entries from the ENTIRE year!

Illustration Friday: Bear Mantra

"Hibernation" is the theme for this week brought to you by the good folks at IF, who host and farm a slew of links for creators and patrons alike to enjoy based on their given weekly prompt.  The leaves are turning here in Tennessee and the smell of Fall is blowing around the edges of the woods bringing forth bursts of color before winter takes over.  Soon the bears will be laying down for their long winter nap.  This work is kind of a random piece and I'm not sure where the motivation came from for it- as is the case sometimes but alas, I have a forum to share it with you today!  I was feeling bears and bees... and a giant flying surreal and soluble fish.  Let me know what you think of this one by dropping a comment...

"Bear Mantra" Inks on Bristol / 2010

Click HERE for a stream of All of my Illustration Friday entries!

Illustration Friday: Mangy Mickey

Inks on Bristol / 2010

IF's theme of FEROCIOUS immediately made me think of my rabies-ridden mess of a Mickey Mouse I did for Jeff Bertrand and Studio 83's 5 Themes 15 Artists exhibit last year. One of the themes for all participating creators was to take a Disney Character and turn them into a Garbage Pail Kid.  All five themes were challenging and fun but I believe that many of the artists found a special place in their hearts to go with this one.

Here's my Mangy Mickey for Illustration Friday this week!  He's actually only part of my holy trinity of Garbage Pail Disney abominations which also includes Musty Minnie and Parvo Pluto.  Where are they?  Hanging out over at my article about the exhibit from last year in which you can see ALL of my entries and some pics from the opening reception by CLICKING HERE!

Click HERE for the Official Garbage Pail Kids Website!

Click HERE for the Official John Pound Website! (Artist of over 400 Garbage Pail Kids)

Illustration Friday: Get In The Ring

Illustration Friday wants art today under the theme of "Boundaries."  Here is my entry for this week as my IF 2011 marathon continues.  If you're just now tuning in, I've responded to the site's weekly theme with my artwork since the New Year began.

This guy is from a 2008 series of pen and ink drawings I did on a stack of these found index card dividers.  Several are being mounted on wood for my upcoming exhibit next month, The I Don't Know Show (Keeping It Clean in the Dirty South) with Charles V. Bennett.

Click HERE for a stream of ALL of my Illustration Friday entries so far!

Illustration Friday: The Night Moves

"Mysterious" is what we have to go on for this week's Illustration Friday entries.  Based on their chosen theme, each week I peruse through my own illustrations to find something fitting to share.  My featured artwork today is a piece from 2008 I call "The Night Moves."  It was displayed in Hopkinsville, KY in 2009 at my exhibit, "Felt & Found" at the L&N Depot Gallery at the Historic Train Station run by the Pennyroyal Arts Council.

What do you think makes this figure so mysterious?

Inks on Bristol / 2008

Click HERE for a Stream of All of my Illustration Friday entries from this year!

Illustration Friday: Africana in Sacred Texts

The African Masks I drew as part of my Sacred Texts series a few years back immediately came to mind with the theme for this week's Illustration Friday with "Disguise."  African culture is one rich with arts and crafts throughout its history.  Folks wear small masks in ceremony as well as very large headdresses to show their strength both physically and spiritually.  This particular mask is carved from wood and has a group of dogs carved into the top giving a crown effect I found fascinating in using it for one of my illustrations.  It was displayed at my Sacred Texts exhibit at The Tennessee Art League this past January-March.

Click HERE for my post about the SACRED TEXTS Exhibit at TAL in Nashville!

Click HERE for more on my Sacred Texts series and read about this body of work and why in the world I would draw over pages from The Holy Bible.

Click HERE for a stream of all of my Illustration Friday entries from this year.

Illustration Friday: Mista Mad Stacks

"Influence" is our beacon for creativity today on Illustration Friday.  Money influences everything around us... everything runs on this paper and (increasingly) invisible omnipotent power.  The idea of money and capital has become a very abstract concept in our society with wireless transactions, stocks, bonds, and debit cards.  It's all just numbers flying through the air now with everyone shaving off their cents from your dollars.  The United States government insured your money with gold waaaaay back in the day but no longer.  Now, you just have to trust that the digits are there and nobody hits the reset button tomorrow.... what value do YOU place on that?

"Mista Mad Stacks" inks on bristol / 2009

"Cash rules everything around me- C.R.E.A.M.

Get the money;  Dollar dolla bill y'all"

-Wu-Tang Clan


Click HERE for a stream of ALL of my Illustration Friday entries!

Illustration Friday: Money for All

Acrylic and Spray Paint on Wood / 2007

"Swell" is our model for artistic outlet this week on Illustration Friday.  The term makes me think of our swollen greed here in America the beautiful.  When is your cup full?  When is enough enough? When will we squander all of our natural resources, leaving a desolate concrete jungle to be re-inhabited by nature when the lights finally go out?  Keep on driving, keep on buying, keep on living the dream and rocking in the free world because all that matters in Capitalism is today's dollar. 

"Did you find something
You were looking for
Freedom has its price now
Wanna buy some more...

Wipe your nation's shame from you
It's not where you're born
It's the things that you do."

-Nine Horses, Money for All

 Click HERE for a stream of all my Illustration Friday entries!

Illustration Friday: Southern Gothic

"Imperfect" is the theme for Illustration Friday today.  It's the tiny imperfections that can blow something up to and over the top of a perfect stratosphere- the crack of high note that sends your spine tingling and gives you gooseflesh all over.  A gravely breaking blues voice that makes blood-hot tears streak down the faces of grown men.  A bullet hole in a road sign.  The break of a guitar string.  The click of your tongue off your pallet at a moment of profound clarity.

"Southern Gothic" inks on bristol / 2010

Click HERE for a stream of my Illustration Friday posts!

Illustration Friday: Gag Order

"Gag Order" Inks on Paper / 2007

"Obsession" is Illustration Friday's theme today.  I've been obsessed this week with Freedom of Speech.  This month, the artistic community here in Tennessee has come under fire about our new State Law banning citizens from posting "potentially offensive" images to the internet.

I responded to this new law with a Portrait of the man who signed this law into effect, our Governor Bill Haslam.

Click HERE to view this new portrait in defiance of State Law and leave me your feedback about the law and how art can be illegal.  

What is more Offensive? A violation of our Civil Liberties or Art?

[CLICK HERE for a stream of all my Illustration Friday entries]

Illustration Friday: Eye of the Beholder

"Perennial" is the theme for this week at Illustration Friday.  I chose to share with you another piece from my Topsy-Turvy series (where all works can be hung in multiple directions.)  The featured work today is one of several square four-way drawings I completed back in 2006-07.  Many of the two-way Topsy-Turvies deal with before and after, opposites, cause and effect, etc.  These square works deal with either progression, or in this case- constancy.  This particular work was exhibited in my Topsy-Turvy II exhibition in 2010.

inks on paper / 2006

Click HERE for a stream of my Illustration Friday entries!

Click HERE for more on my Topsy-Turvy series!

Illustration Friday: We the People

We're doing an Illustration Monday today here at DREGstudios! since I just got back from New Orleans last night from my Southern Pop Surrealism Exhibit!  I'm getting caught up on things, so here we go...

The theme this week at IF is "Gesture."  Instantaneously, this work came to mind from my Sacred Texts series from a few years back which feature imagery drawn on pages from The Holy Bible.  (Click HERE for my artist's statement on this body of work.)

"We the People" inks on pages from The Holy Bible / 2007

The idea behind this piece originally came from a painting I did in 2006 for an exhibit I curated, called We the People at The Icehouse Cafe in Clarksville.  This group exhibit featured a slew of local artists and we held a voter registration drive at which Chris Lugo, a Green Party candidate spoke to the audience.  The painting consisted of three panels as above, but the panels themselves were also chained together.

Illustration Friday: I am Batman

Inks on Bristol / 2009

Today, Illustration Friday wants us to "Stay."  This week's theme makes me think of staying still, which brought me to this incarnation of The Caped Crusader from my 2009 Cult of Personality exhibit.  Batman has always been my favorite comic book hero- mainly because he walks that fine line of genius and insanity.  He's more of an anti-hero in some regards, defying and evading the law himself under his guise.

Click HERE for more of my Cult of Personality Series!

Click HERE for a stream of my Illustration Friday entries! 

800 Milligrams

inks on found index card divider / 2008

"Remedy" is the theme for this week on Illustration Friday.  There really were a lot of works to pick from today to suit this posting.  I grew up and live in a society with a deep-rooted drug culture.  Being a midnight toker, I am often inspired by this facet of our carnival of life through cognitively altering my consciousness via the few relatively safe substances I'm willing to use.  These experiences and the drugs themselves do surface in my work from time to time.

There is a remedy for every malady in the circus we call America- and you can have them all.  For 40 years, our country has waged a world-wide War on Drugs, hemorrhaging over $1,000,000,000,000 (yes- that's trillion) in a grossly failed attempt to stop drug trafficking.  All of this money, time, resources, and human life were squandered on battling the importation of natural substances such as cocaine and marijuana.  How much of that money was spent of drug education and drug treatment?  A very small fraction- we got Just Say No and D.A.R.E.

The truly frightening statistics with drug-related deaths and illnesses aren't found in the shady world of street trafficking, but right in front of our faces.  We are exposed on a daily basis to a LEGAL drug industry which makes far more money than the ILLEGAL one with Big Business and their pharmaceuticals. While 10,000 people die from Illegal Drug Use per year in our country, a whopping 100,000 die from legal prescription drugs which were pushed by Doctors, Television Ads, Clinics and anyone else getting their pocket lined by Drug companies.  These manufacturers hire lobbyists to corrupt Washington AND the FDA into not holding them accountable for these preventative deaths.  Pharmaceuticals are the #1 cause of death in the United States annually and are statistically 10x more lethal than all street drugs combined.

An American is arrested every 30 seconds for violating Marijuana laws.  $500 is spent by our government EVERY second to fight such illegal drugs.  Marijuana has NEVER killed a single person throughout thousands of years of medicinal, holistic, and cognitive use.  The Top 20 Big Pharma drug manufacturers average nearly $25 Billion in revenue EACH...and caused 1 MILLION deaths in the past decade.