FINAL Segue

Sometimes these drawings have a mind of their own.

I really wasn't planning on putting full color in this but it just kind of had to happen...

Be sure to check back for more!!!

Observational Drawing Day 10 (A Joker and a Slight Cheat)

I don't think I can legitimately call these observational drawings as I wasn't working from a live model. I was working from a photo of a model though so it's all good?

I had a blast with these... In the past when I've drawn from photo reference, I've had a tendency to blow things out with detail. For these, I tried to strip back the detail and the drawings are better for it.

Also, while the above drawing is the finished product, there's something really appealing about the dead-line drawings themselves...

Be sure to check back for more!!!

One Day Segue (Redux)

Haven't toned anything in a LONG time, so I thought I'd give my drawing from the other day the treatment... Pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Be sure to check back for more!!!

One Day Segue (In Memory of Pete Cosey 1943-2012)

This past May, one of my favorite guitar players died.

Unfortunately, I found out only a couple of weeks ago.

Pete Cosey's name was not known by many. He never had a top 10 hit, he never got caught up in some scandalous business that would guarantee him a spot of notoriety in Rock & Roll history, and he passed without much fanfare.

From what I've read, he was probably okay with all three of those things.

Pete Cosey did not seem particularly interested in getting famous. He played with a lot of famous people, (Muddy Waters, Herbie Hancock, Howling Wolf, Minnie Ripperton, and this guy named MILES DAVIS) but he never really got the spotlight.

Part of the reason is due to the way Pete played and what albums he played on. His playing at the time was far out. It's STILL far out actually, but back then, most people didn't really know how to come at him. Both the album that he recorded with Howling Wolf and Muddy Waters were disasters over here (Howling Wolf HATED "The Howling Wolf Album" album and Muddy Waters wasn't much more enthusiastic about "Electric Mud"). Overseas though, his playing caught the attention of some people who owe a LOT to him, people like Jeff Beck, Robert Fripp (who called one of Pete's albums with Miles Davis a, "wallpaper shredder"), and John McLaughlin.

The only proof one really needs is in the first few bars of Muddy Waters' "I Just Want to Make Love to You" off of the album Electric Mud.

That fuzz tone?!?!!?1?

Yeah...

Now, Jimi Hendrix had been playing like this for at least a couple of years at this point but he wasn't quite going where Pete was going.

Pete's playing was rooted in the blues, but he took it wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy out there and had no problem throwing in loads of DISSONANCE. He didn't play his guitar so much as he performed knock down, drag out EXORCISMS on his instrument (brilliant ones at that).

He eventually caught the attention of Miles Davis who was being skewered by critics at the time for pushing "jazz-fusion" way past the jazz part and essentially laying the ground for hip-hop and electronic music. It was through Miles Davis' music that I was exposed to his playing, and I very distinctly recall that listening experience.

It was 2007 and I was laying on a beach in Florida around Christmas time. I'd been given the album Agharta (the one that Robert Fripp is so fond of) for Christmas and after I loading it onto my Ipod, I laid out in the sun not sure what to expect.

Listening to his first solo on the song, "Prelude", was one of the most memorable experiences of the last ten years.

His playing was otherworldly-- It sounded like he was strangling his guitar trying to get those goddamn notes to come out but they just wouldn't. As he progressed, his playing became less and less dissonant working towards a break-down that I kid you not is one of THE MOST brutal things ever put to tape. At the end of said breakdown, all the music drops out and after the briefest pause he comes back meaner than all hell, rattling off deranged pentatonic brilliance. Shortly thereafter, Al Foster and the rest of Miles' rhythm section coming through doing their damndest to blow the doors off everything but they just can't keep up.

It needs to be listened to, to be fully comprehended.

After his solo ended, I believe I stopped the song. If I recall correctly, I skipped back to hear the solo again, and then turned my Ipod off because I was afraid of what would come next. What I'd just heard was SO good and SO masterful, that I thought anything else would be a letdown.

Needless to say, he blew my mind again.

and again.

and again.

and again.

I created this piece in tribute to him. It's said that when he was a teenager, he'd play in the mountains around Phoenix and it was there that he developed his playing style.

I can only imagine what it must have sounded like to hear him practice-- The notes bouncing off canyon walls and coming back at him. You can ABSOLUTELY hear it in his phrasing too, and I'm so glad that he had the idea to go play where he did.

I feel kind of strange writing as much as I have about someone who I've never met (and will unfortunately will never meet) but at the same time, I think something needs to be said for the man. His music will get me through a thousand more drawings and inspire me to pick up the guitar until I'm old.

May you shred brilliantly in the great beyond Mr. Cosey-- I'd like to imagine that the sounds you pulled from your instrument could carve away at rock with ease.

The rest of us will catch up one day.

Observational Drawing Day 9

Bagged and tagged!

Be sure to check back for more!!!

The GeorgeJurard LP

About two months ago, I started recording music for this

It's now finished and you can download it/listen to it for free!!!

I've linked the album here. The track listing is below...

1. No Meaning
2. Louisiana Bound (with the Real Rap Wives of Birmingham)
3. To Fall in Love (Down, Down, Down)
4. Old Soul
5. The World's Most Beautiful Woman (Passes on)
6. Ain't Life Grand
7. Forever Gone (Jane's Song) (with the Real Rap Wives of Birmingham)

Be sure to check back tomorrow for more!!!

Observational Drawing- Day 8

This one was a BLAST to draw-- Probably the most successful thus far as well.

Be sure to check back for more!!!

Observational Drawing Day 6 (Green Theme)

Mood Music.

In all seriousness, that might be the best song that's dropped this year. I really can't get over it-- the damn thing sounds like a Celtic Mardis Gras Death March being played in outer space!!!

I had a lot of fun with this. It was certainly tricky at times as I haven't done spot coloring in a bit, but so it goes.

I'm going to try to have some new pencils up tonight, be sure to check back!!!

Observational Drawing Day 5

Sean suggested an interesting way to tackle yesterday's pencils so I might end up taking those to completion after all. However, before I do that, I'm going to ink and color these.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for the finished product!!!

Observational Drawing- Day 4

Chilled with my buddy Sean yesterday and did some observational drawing as we talked comics and he previewed some of his new tunes for me.

I'm not sure if I'm going to take this to inks, (the mess that's sitting in my kitchen sink right now is enticing the hell out of me) but we'll see.

Be sure to check back!!!

Observational Drawing Day 3- The Finished Piece!!!

I like the color version just fine, but there's something really pleasing about the black and white version too...

I'm going to try to have some new pencils up later tonight, be sure to check back!

Observational Drawing Day 2 (Partial Flat Color)

The finished thing will be up tomorrow...

Be sure to check back!!!

Observational Drawing Round 1- The Artist's Workplace/Sleeping Quarters

Yes, yes, it is nice to be able to literally roll out of bed and plug in my guitar/start drawing.

Check back tomorrow for inks and colors!!!

The Finished Album Cover!!!

I might make some small tweaks to this over the course of the week, but for now, it's done.

If you haven't been following my musical exploits over the course of these past few weeks, check out my soundcloud page where I've posted rough mixes of the tracks that will be included.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for more!!

LIGHT

Trying to get ye olde brush control back to where it was before I started using the pen almost exclusively... Figured I'd do some self-portraits as I had a lot of fun doing one the other day.

Lighting is something that's always fascinated and perplexed me... It's something that you can't ever work too much on, so I tried to do something a little different for each of these.

I AM going to start trying for daily updates again as it's a new month here... Be sure to check back tomorrow!!!