Vardo the Romani wagon

Recently I've been watching Peaky Blinders, it has rekindled my love for little traveling houses. As a child I remember falling hard for Mr.Toad's little yellow gypsy caravan. At one point I vaguely remember owning a toy

Sylvanian Families gypsy wagon, or I may of looked at the image in the catalog so often that I imagined I owned it. It also could of been a Fabuland caravan. These guys were the cutest!

As I got older my idea of a Caravan faded from the minimal decor of a Lego interior to the intricate patterns bright colors and textures of the gypsy wagons depicted in Carnivale. I often imagine my caravan could double as a painting studio or maybe a traveling art gallery. Below is the lovely art caravan by Marie Meier.

 

http://duodesordre.tumblr.com/

Someday I could imagine having a home with one of these lovely painted wagons in the back yard.

Circa 1902 Hearst Family Estate Gypsy Wagon

There are a few movies I watched in hopes of getting some good caravan imagery. I remember carnival having some great caravans, but most of the scenes were very dimly lit. Carnivale has this great mystical, Twin Peaks feel to it. The characters are all awesome and the imagery is beautifully rich and grungy. They travel in wonderfully restored caravans. If you search you tube you can find a video of one of the un-restored German caravans that they bought for the show. For more beautiful wagons check out http://gypsywaggons.co.uk .

 

This show also sparked my interest in Tarot cards.

Winter Wonders

A big thanks to everyone that made it out to the FPAC fall open studios.
It was great to see all the old faces (and some new ones).
It is always nice to meet other artists and catch-up.
Below are some images from open studios, if you were not able to make it.
 

This year I will be showing my work at the
RISD HOLIDAY SALE – SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2014

I usually do not do any sales around the holidays. I have been using the time to catch up on illustration commissions and take a little break between work and classes. This year Nicole of Honeydew Studio asked me to split a table with her and I figured I could not pass-up the opportunity.

Hopefully I will have some more Life Science wordless card games printed out by then as well as some new business cards and prints.

Made in Fort Point Store

If you live in or are visiting Boston Mass. and have not checked out the Fort Point area, it is definetly worth a visit. The area has changed so much in the past few years. The rent hikes and the development have pushed a lot of the artists out of the neighborhood. There are a lot more restaurants and start-ups in the area now. My favorite new-ish eateries include Flour, Bees-Knees, Tavern Road and Drink.

The artists that are in the neighborhood continue to make Fort Point their own with awesome public art, open studios and the Made in Fort Point store.

The store just recently moved. It is now in a more central location, but just a little hidden. If you are in the area be sure to check it out.

The store sells an array of my prints, and stickers as well as some amazing works by other Fort Point artists. This is a great place to shop for the holidays and support your local crafts-artist.

Above are some of my Krampus Christmas cards.

Retro Future

I've been working on another neat illustration project "Life Science".
If all goes according to planned I hope to be releasing it at the FPAC spring open studios.

• This project is another series of illustrations focused on frogs and robots, but a little more retro-modern in theme. I had an awesome time researching retro-futurism.
  
  • Retro-futurism depicts the influence of the future produced in an earlier era. This aesthetic is characterized by a blend of old-fashioned "retro" styles with futuristic technology. Retro-futurism explores the themes of tension between past and future, and between the alienating and empowering effects of technology. Sort of steampunkish but in this case rather than being based in Victorian times my aesthetic was based in the retro 40's and 50's. (Diesel punk and Atomic Age) The "Atomic Age" is a descriptor typically used to name the period of history following the detonation of the first nuclear  bomb.
  •  
   Modern Mechanix
  

PaleoFuture

 focuses on Utopias and the pasts vision of the future and time capsules

http://www.paleofuture.com/blog/category/1940s 

Why frogs?
With this vision of the future I wanted to counterpoint by depicting the effects of  a consumerist robot-centric society on the environment. Most frogs require suitable habitat in both the land and water environments, they have permeable skin that can easily absorb toxic chemicals. These traits make frogs especially susceptible to environmental disturbances, because of this frogs are considered  indicators of environmental stress.

 

The Life Science wordless story game is now for sale on Etsy.