The Hand – Pen, ink, paint, charcoal, pencil, crayon, etc. At the time, I thought the religious message in this was so dark and mysterious. Not so much now, but I still like the feeling of this art from my 20s despite its many technical mistakes.
Tower
Picture that I took in a summer painting course while we were looking for subjects to paint – we would go to some location around town on Monday to take pictures, do a one hour photo development that night, pick one to paint the next day, and spend the rest of the week painting it. This is one of many I didn’t paint. This was from the same junkyard that I found the barrel that became Looking Inside.
Looking Inside (photo)
This is what I found while looking inside an old, large orange oil drum of some kind in the lot of a garbage collection business. This picture makes me think of all of our spiritual searches. We look inside our ‘can’ (our head) for what has been put in there, and then take a ‘snapshot’ of it to share with others. I guess my can was kind of empty that day. This was taken in a summer painting course in college.
Storage Bin (photo)
This photograph was taken in Crawford, Texas, a long time before President Bush moved there. It has since been torn down. This picture speaks to me about my life. No matter how rusted and beaten we feel, there is always a Door out and a Ladder down. We just have to find the courage to leave the darkness and find the Ladder. This was taken in a summer painting course in college.
Falling (photo)
Falling – This is simply the side of an old barn on a country farm I took a picture of. The boards might look twisted and weird, but that is how the original barn looked. This was taken in a summer painting course in college.
Looking Outside (photo)
Looking Outside – Even though the title is opposite of Looking Inside, it’s really not even from the same city. This is another photograph of Crawford, Texas. This building is now gone, too. This picture speaks to me of looking outside of our lives to the interest of others. We find that life is a lot brighter when we look to others interests.
Woman at the Well
The picture was one that I took while on a trip to Mumbai, India. We were in an area of the city with a large number of Hindu temples. This spring or well at the northeast corner of Banganga Lank is considered to be a source of holy water to many. This is one of many moments that I wished I owned a professional camera.
You can actually see this exact spot on Google Maps.
Basement Tapes Compilation
This was a cover I designed for the Basement Tapes podcast compilation. The painting was created by Michael Knott, and I built a cover around it that made it look like an older cassette tape j-card flattened out. You can get the compilation for free at BandCamp: https://downthelinecollective.bandcamp.com/album/basement-tapes
Swimsuit Grandma – Let’s Have Church
Mike indest had a side project he called “Swimsuit Grandma.” He commissioned Michael Knott to paint something for the cover, and then had me make the cover around it. I basically had this idea of Swimsuit Grandma visiting a church that she found boring, so she started drawing in one of their Bibles. Then she scrawled “Let’s Have Church!” on the wooden pew next to her Bible as a declaration that she wanted something better. It probably all makes sense once you listen to the album: https://mikeindest.bandcamp.com/album/lets-have-church
Mike Indest – Shine Down
Mike Indest commissioned Michael Knott to paint some covers for some of his albums. Then Mike asked if I could put them together as album art. For this one, I basically only added the lettering on the front, but I like how it turned out. You can here this ep on BandCamp: https://mikeindest.bandcamp.com/album/shine-down
Down The Line Basement Tapes : A Tribute To Michael Knott Volume 1
Mike Indest put together a tribute album for Michael Knott featuring artists from his Basement Tapes podcast series. This cover was part of a couple of paintings of Knott (one shaped like a guitar, the other ones are the Bunge Boy figures in the background) mixed with the angel wings I designed for Dig Here the Angel Said. You can hear the album on BandCamp: https://blondevinyl.bandcamp.com/album/down-the-line-basement-tapes-a-tribute-to-michael-knott-volume-1
I also did a white version that I liked as well:
Down The Line Collective Christmas
This was a quick cover I threw together to create a cover for the Bad Santa Edition of the Down the Line Collective Christmas compilation. Santa apparently was naughty with the Christmas tree in the background. You can hear the compilation on BandCamp: https://downthelinecollective.bandcamp.com/album/down-the-line-collective-christmas