"North by Northwest Passage" for Alfred Hitchcock Show, "Suspense and Gallows Humor"

"North by Northwest Passage"
22" x 22" Gouache on paper

 I've loved "North by Northwest" since the first time I saw it - the visuals, the music, the tiny razor gags, but most of all, the urban/rural scene hopping, from New York, to Chicago, to South Dakota.  So - I thought I'd throw together a sort of scenic chart of all the actual locations in the movie - the only fictional one being the Northwest Airlines terminal, which no longer exists and I couldn't find reference for (but for "North by Northwest", I figured I'd take a little liberty).  Also not included are the 1212 Michgan Ave Auction house and the hospital in Rapid City, as they were shot on soundstage in Hollywood.    Even with that, it was a bit of a beast.  Lots of research, lots of windows . . . The cars are also accurate from the initial 57 Skoda 440 cab to the '51 White Freightliner the plane crashes into, to the '52 Ford Customline Cary Grant rescues the girl in.  I took color from the footage to get some of that "technicolor" feel, and blatantly ripped off Saul Bass' opening credit arrows to show the action.

Anywho - the show opens at the Gallery1988 Venice location on April 13th!

(detail)

progress - pencils to color blocking, to black line on top

The remnants of my notes.

In the private collection of . . .

So I got word a few days ago (and already posted this on Facebook - but blogs are forever) but my Peter Sellers was purchased from the Gallery1988 "Is This Thing On? 2: The Weird Year" Show by none other than "40 Year Old Virgin" writer/director and "Freaks and Geeks" co-creator and executive producer Judd Apatow.  Hope he wasn't planning to give it a gift and I'm stealing his thunder but hey - I gotta name drop when I can!

Pillars of Delaware!

Had fun doing the little black and white portraits for the super nice Kelly Carter at Delaware Today featuring some important Delawarians.

Pete Dye Trail

Here's a new spread for Tony Judge for the upcoming issue of GO Magazine about golf course designer Pete Dye's courses in Indiana.  This piece was sort of a beast - but it was a lot of fun to do all the type solutions, and a challenge to fit it all in.  I had done a big map spread for the February issue and Tony wanted a little different feel so I worked with ink and watercolor. 

It's Sweater Time!!

8" x 10" Gouache and ink on Rieves BFK
Fun to do some .005 micron work:)

Portrait of author, funny-man, and super nice fella Lucas Klauss.  My lovely sister-in-law commissioned the piece to commemorate Lucas' first novel - Everything You Need To Survive The Apocalypse, which you should buy.  I had a good time splicing together some facts from Lucas' personal life: his childhood cats - Johnson and Johnson, harmonica enthusiasm, his love of killing white things (watch out honkies!), and of course his amazing knowledge pertaining to when it is, and when it is not sweater time.  Jealous of his success? As well you should be, but you should know, success lives in his hometown in Gwinett County, Georgia - a county so great it has moved beyond the need for punctuation.  Gwinett is great.  Period.  So no period.  Congrats Lucas, and hope you like it.

Is This Thing On?

Here's my submissions for this year's "Is This Thing On 2: The Weird Year" Show at Gallery1988 show in LA - HOSTED BY WEIRD AL YANKOVIC!!  I had . . . maybe too much fun on these guys.  I grew up on Bill Cosby records, and Peter Sellers has been a sort of hero for me since the first time I saw Casino Royale and had my mind blown.  

This one is "Go-cart Championship of America" - 19 3/4" x 15 3/4" gouache on paper.

detail

And this is "Man of a Thousand Mustaches", same size, gouache on paper.

detail - yup - all fake mustaches.