Sunday Morning is Every Day For All I Care, and I'm Not Scared

April 24th 2011:

Easter is a holiday for children and religious folks... as I am neither (and have no children, unless you count the wolves), I celebrated the holiday with an "Iron Range" breakfast - eggs, toast, tater tots and a can of Hamm's - at Zayda Buddies, then the old gang reunited for a trip to EMP for the Nirvana exhibit.

It is an odd feeling, seeing a large part of your teen years on display in glass cases, relics from a time that is no more. It felt kind of like having my childhood slaughtered, and its bloody pieces spread out for everyone's viewing pleasure.

Okay, maybe that is a little over-dramatic, but you get the point. It was a painful sort of nostalgia, seeing all those Nirvana relics behind their plexi-glass windows. Not that Nirvana, as much as I loved them, was the end-all-be-all of 90's rock bands, but more remembering that there was a time when "alternative" music thrived, and local scenes thrived, and people went to shows because it was fun and they were friends (actual friends, I mean, not the awkward hipster "do you have anything I need or want right now? No? I gotta jet" sort of friends), and the majority of indie/underground bands weren't trying to write music that would play well to a car or cell phone ad (I mean, come on, the thought of selling a song for a commercial was sacrilegious back in the day).

But, sigh, things change... I do hope that there is a future generation of kids out there buying guitars and playing rock music because it is rebellious and meaningful and beautiful, not because it could get them an energy drink sponsorship, a slot on Warped Tour and 15 minutes of fame.

That's not too much to hope for, is it?

Black Houses

I have new paintings in the works! Nothing I am ready to show yet, but maybe soon... the series will be called "Secret Animals" and I am pretty stoked about it so far. It is going to be a little lighter than my usual fare, a little softer.

I will also be hanging artwork from the "Age of Innocence" and "Fear, Phobia & Pharma" next week. They will be up at Bauhaus Books and Coffee throughout July, so please stop by and check it out next time you find yourself on the Hill.

In the meantime, I thought I would share some artwork I did a while back for a band called Black Houses (the title links to their site if you wanna check it out!). Hope you enjoy!!

Strange Dreams

When I was a kid, I used to have this recurring dream about tornadoes. It was always the same, I would be sitting in the frame of a house, just a ceiling, floors and beams, like the place was only half built, in the middle of a huge field of tall brown grass. There were no mountains or buildings anywhere in sight, and I could see from one horizon to the other. The sky was always cloudy and purple, the air perfectly still. A funnel would form from those purple clouds, touch the ground and head towards me and my frame of a house.
These dreams were never frightening; instead, I was always filled with a sense of calm and would wake up well rested and at peace. I'm not sure what any of it means, but ever since, I have been obsessed with tornadoes.
This piece was originally called Elizabeth's Dream... below it is my photo muse.