Packin' my Leavin' Trunk

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Roots and Blues

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Bright Moments,

Rob Jones

Make Up My Dying Bed (Blind Willie Johnson)

Make Up My Dying Bed (Blind Willie Johnson) Gutbucket 2012

ink, acrylic, and sawdust on found wood

This cat was intense and aggressive with a sweet slide and the trademark gravelly growl of the street performer. The playing compliments the voice and the religious subject matter! Died by contracting malaria from sleeping on a swamp damp mattress in the burned down shell of his house/church in the hot Texas sun.

Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues (Charlie Patton)

Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues (GutBucket, 2011)

Acrylic and sawdust on found wood

Did the blues start here? Possibly.  Did the Blues lifestyle and image start here? Possibly, I really don't know, but in my pantheon of blues, it sure comes close...

See that My Grave is Kept Clean (Blind Lemon Jefferson)

See that My Grave is Kept Clean

Acrylic, sawdust, and wire on found wood (GutBucket, 2011)

Blind Lemon Jefferson was one of the original country bluesman. His influenced can be traced down through Robert Johnson, Fred McDowell, RL Burnside, to countless others.

Rock Me Mama (Butch Cage)

Rock Me Mama (Butch Cage) 2012

ink and acrylic on found violin case

Butch Cage could raise a ruckus with his partner Willie B. Thomas.  Together, this dynamic duo played in the old timey black southern string music fashion dating back to the early 1900's.  The tunes swing and rock, folk and blues and pinch of raw southern jazz.

Cross Cut Blues (Eugene Powell)

Cross-Cut Blues (Eugene Powell) 2012

ink and acrylic on found wood and saw blade

One of thee finest country blues men of his time and a link of present to the past.  Eugene Powell aka Sonny Boy Nelson recorded several songs in the 30's and 40's, usually backing up other musicians, such as his wife Mississippi Matilda.  He continued to record until his death, lucky for us his style changed very little.  As a child, Eugene was shot in the face with an arrow by one of his peers during a PE activity.  It was believed by many to a malicious attack on Eugene due to bi-raciality.

Carolina Ramblers (Bar Stool)

Bar Stool is the acoustic duo of "Dixie" Dave Collins and Dave "Shep" Shepherd of sludge/doom/weed/swamp metal outfit Weedeater.  I am pretty excited for this project mainly due to the instrumentation and the idea of these two good'ol boys gettin' back to their Carolina roots so to speak. Dixie has one lived in voice! I referenced a photo of Country Outlaw O.G. Charlie Poole and his band for the pose. I was fortunate enough to catch Weedeater a couple weeks ago, here in Columbus, and I got to meet Dixie Dave.  He is one nice dude and he absolutely dug the painting. Shep, I will get you next time!

Ink, acrylic, jaw harp, hardware on found wood.

Leviathan Blues (Capt. Ahab)

Thee infamous Captain Ahab...the first major painting of '012. Ink, acrylic, rope, and found wood on found wood.  This is another really large piece, and has given me the idea of continuing to pursue creating literary characters or tale-tale heroes in this style.  I like it, its fun and challenging...now I just need to find some more big wood.

White Whale Sleigh Ride

Thee final piece of '011...what a doozie!  Ink, acrylic, rope, and found wood on found wood.  I took inspiration form Matt Kish's Moby Dick book.

When the Saints Go Marching In II (2011)

The Last Testament (Bunk Johnson)
ink and pencil on found wood
14" x 18" (ish)

Emile Barnes (Honestly I cannot remember what I called this one)
pencil and ink on found wood
12" x 15" (ish)

Clarinet Marmalade (Big Eye Louis Nelson)
pencil and ink on found wood
14" x 18" (ish)

Big Eye Nelson is a continuation of all things simple in the world of rob jones line portraiture. The other two ere just plain fun with the wrinkles and the what have you. On a side note, Big Eye was an honest moniker given Louis Nelson because one eye was bigger than the other and helped differentiate him from the other Louis Nelson on the NOLA jazz scene.

The Future is Unwritten (Joe Strummer) 2011

The Future is Unwritten
pencil and ink on found wood
12" x 16" (ish)

An early piece continuing last year's fetish with drawing/painting hands and concentrating on line. Joe Strummer is one of my heroes. I was kinda in a funk the December he passed away. Long Live Joe!

The Transfiguration of Jeffrey Lee (Jeffrey Lee Pierce) 2011

The Transfiguration of Jeffrey Lee
Ink, acrylic, found objects, on found wood
36" x 48" (ish, its a biggin')

(Detail)

Without a doubt, Fire of Love by the Gun Club, is one of my all time favorite albums. Jeffrey Lee is one of my all time favorite musicians. It is a punky, swampy, bluesy, rockabilly trip through spiritualism and mythology via the darkside of voodoo. It is just plain bad-ass. I must have listened to it 20 time working on this painting. Some of those bottles have been a part of other paintings and now they finally have a home. This one falls in the Icon Alter realm with Gram Parsons, Dave Eugene Edwards, and undocumented Fela pieced owned by Ryan Mowry. Anyway, one of the biggest and baddest of '011!

Fat Possum Blues Review 2011

5 Fat Possum Greats for Chris at Bayport BBQ in MN..home of the Deep Blues. Fun little project, got me listenin' to the albums that got me into the blues in the first place. Thanks Chris!

Ol' Gitfiddle Jim's Old Blues (Kokomo Arnold) 2011

Ol' Gitfiddle Jim's Old Blues
52" x 14"
acrylic and house paint of found wooden ironing board

I gotta say I love this piece enough to make room for it to hang in my living room (kinda like the El Vez Piece.) I love the mood man, mellow with some intense wood color...I love it. Every once in awhile, the image, the subject, and objects just gel in a way I couldn't even dream of!
Anyway, one of the few recorded pre-war Hawaiian styled slide guitar players; Kokomo Arnold is amazing to say the least.

Hobo Blues\Always Behind the Eightball (Seasick Steve) 2011

Hobo Blues/ Always Behind the Eightball
49" x 51"
acrylic, house paint and found objects on found wood

Good Ol' Seasick Steve, one of America's greatest contemporary blues dudes, hobo'd for awhile, played geetar of Eric Clapton, was Modest Mouse's touring guitarist, and now an expat, livin' in England...where he is the toast of the blues scene. This painting here is freakin' huge and really freakin' heavy, but it does have a working diddley-bo on it...the first I ever made.

When the Saints Go Marching In

Johnny St. Cyr

Kid Punch Miller

Papa Celestin

George Lewis

Kid Sheik

Dede Pierce

Big Jim Robinson

So my first show in Alexandria was heavy on the NOLA Soul and R&B folks. This time, by chance of stumbling across a Papa Celestin CD, I have been focusing on the NOLA jazz dudes...instruments for hire. All pieces are roughly 12" x 16" (give or take a few inches) and are done with pencil and ink on found wood. The initial found pieces were colored with this awesome faded lemon yellow color and again by per chance, I had a gallon of oops paint the same color. Big Jim was first, and rarely do I just stop with the line, color is normally my thing...but there is something powerful and basic to just line...

Goin' in for the Master Stroke

Seriously, painting with this guy is one of my favorite all time things! Unlike his father, this dude is a conceptual artist. I love asking him about his creations. Every stroke, mark, and bit of found debris has a purpose. Huzzah for studio time!! Viva la Vida!

Mr. Funny (PW Long) 2011

Mr. Funny (PW Long)
Acrylic and house paint on found wood
48" x 24"

So in my music pantheon, none are much higher than the sporadic, nomadic, elusive, and intense Preston W. Long of such awesomeness as Mule (the truest bluest hillbilly punk that there ever was) and PW Long's Reelfoot (same bombast, a little less piss, little more soul.) Mr. Long's solo stuff of late has been freakin' amazing as well...Remembered, awesome album, seriously, I cannot paint and have a few frosty ones with while playin' without a little choke up and a bit of tears...damn powerful. Anyway, I saw this guy play at the High Five, and it was liking watching a legend make a holy din miracle before a chosen few...damn amazing.
So this is it the young and less young...still intense perhaps even more focused now.
"You could put your wishin' in one hand and shit in the other and to see which one fills up first"...wisdom my friends

Viva La Revolucion (El Vez) 2011

"Viva La Revolucion" ( El Vez)
48" x 42"
acrylic and house paint on found wood

This is one of my favorite pieces so far this year. First large piece I have done in a while. El Vez is billed as the Mexican Elvis, which he is, but he also so much more...listening to one of his albums is like watching the Simpsons (kinda). Its a lot more enjoyable if you are musically learned...El Vez is like a pop culture, pop music rock'n'roll history crash course. Honestly none of this does him or his art justice, just check it out!! Viva la Viva!!

Dirty Doctor Galapagos (2011)

"Dirty Doctor Galapagos"
25" x 24.5"
acrylic and house paint on found wood

Roughly based on Philly band, Man Man. I love the sickly green the yellow turned on the old wood...sweet eats!