High Country News Cover

I recently completed an assignment with an excellent publication called High Country News.

HCN is a bi-weekly publication based in Paonia, Colorado. According the their Mission they are "a nonprofit media organization that covers the important issues and stories that define the American West. Its mission is to inform and inspire people - through in-depth journalism - to act on behalf of the West's diverse natural and human communities."

The story I Illustrated a fascinating and very well written feature about an arson wildfire in southern California that killed 5 Forest Service crew members.

The story was written by respected journalist and author John N. Maclean. The story was adapted from a forthcoming book of his on the tragic Esperanza Fire.

This assignment involved a cover, 2 full spread Illustrations and a spot Illustration.

I've worked on several occasions with the folks at HCN and we always seem to click. In fact one of our collaborations resulted in an "Award of Excellence" from the Society of Newspaper Design for a story entitled "The Yuck Factor".

This is one of the spreads I did for this story.

The spot Illustration accompanying this piece.

Lightnin' Hopkins CD Release

On Monday August 16th Future Noise Music will be releasing a 3 CD compilation of the works of Texas blues great Lightnin' Hopkins.

The cover will feature a scratch-board painting of Hopkins I did in 2009. I'm simply busting.

I'm always a little nervous when someone requests some artwork of mine and I know they're going to crop it and/or add text. In this case the worry was unwarranted as I think they did a ripping job.

Yes!

Tea For Two?

Accusations that Tea Party leaders tolerate racism within their ranks has surfaced once again in the news. If you do a quick Google search of Tea Party gatherings it's pretty clear to see that there is a racist fringe attending some of these rallies. Denying it only serves to bring more scrutiny.

Although I disagree with many of their ideas- I'm not of the opinion that the majority of Tea Party members are nut jobs and/or racists. But- if the Tea Party is to be taken seriously as a political force that speaks to mainstream America, they'll first need to recognize the problem and address it. Otherwise they promulgate it.

This is the Illustration I did on this subject. I have the teacup split in the middle with a black and white face. I really enjoyed doing this because I thought the design was pretty original and eye catching.

NYC Mosque Project: Location, Location, Location!

Today I did an illustration on a proposed Mosque project located just 2 blocks from ground zero in New York City. It's a very simple design done with silhouetted buildings on a textured background. Simple and powerful is my hope.

I really don't know how I feel about this project. Like most, the events of 9/11 had a profound effect on my life. I can't even imagine the effects this horrific event had on regular New Yorkers let alone the family members of the victims.

The mosque is a project of the American Society for Muslim Advancement and the Cordoba Institute, which promotes cross-cultural understanding between Islam and the west. That's a very noble and important undertaking and they should be recognized and commended for their efforts.

It seems to me that if cross cultural understanding is their objective, then they might want to start by finding a less distressing location perhaps.