Orange County

Nearby Orange County is where Montpelier is located and is relatively small, and rural. And it’s largely beautiful agricultural land with views of mountains every which way you turn.

About framing

My posters are available in a frame that is decent quality and appropriate for a poster. Posters are traditionally not matted; they are a form of commercial art, and not usually treated as an oil painting or watercolor and so forth would be; often displayed in a simple unobtrusive black frame. However, my micro business struggles under the weight (literal!) of providing frames; they are heavy, they come in giant heavy boxes, they take up a lot of room in my tiny studio. They are also shipped across the planet with all those implications - you can imagine - then from a warehouse to me and then from me to the purchaser.

Let’s skip that last step! and save the planet.

I am encouraging purchasers to do their own DIY framing; by purchasing a frame themself, the re-packaging in bubble wrap, shipping etc etc that I currently provide (and it is certainly reflected in the sales price) is reduced. The purchaser can just stop in at their favorite big box store next time they are out shopping and pick one up - the size 13” x 19” is widely available; and perhaps you will find a frame more in keeping with your decor preferences. It is very easy to DIY: just clean the glass with Windex, unroll my poster from the cardboard mailing tube (try not to touch the delicate printed surface) and pop the poster into the back of the frame.

Better for the environment!
(and for my back!)

East Village frame 13x19” by MCS. Widely available online, too.

This article has great advice on framing

Sharing artists' works

Will post some beautiful work I see from time to time - this is a fellow in the UK, see this screenshot of his website (obviously it is not a copyright violation, right? I am screenshotting what I see on my computer and sharing it; perhaps even encouraging a sale of his work maybe?) Think I came across his work in various high visibility publications and looked it up on Insta. Enjoy.

Some of my pieces tell a story in a somewhat similar way; perhaps it is the fox running that reminds me of this one of mine:

Show looks so nice! It's a beautifully done gallery/shop: Possum's Store, Criglersville, VA

at Possum’s Store, Criglersville VA

Art on the Avenue, Alexandria this weekend

Hurricane or no, we’re going!

Communicating the Climate Crisis project awarded Puffin Foundation grant

We would like to thank The Puffin Foundation for their support of this project.

Opening this Friday, August 5, Ix Art Park and venues in Charlottesville

This is my contribution, a poster in a retro tongue in cheek style, entitled Recipe, a bit light hearted because otherwise I would make something so full of rage no one would want to look at it …

National anthems are kind of bloodthirsty: France

Arise, children of the Fatherland,

The day of glory has arrived!

Against us, tyranny's

Bloody standard is raised, (repeated)

Do you hear, in the countryside,

The roar of those ferocious soldiers?

They're coming right into your arms

To cut the throats of your sons, your women!

Refrain:

To arms, citizens,

Form your battalions,

March, march!

Let an impure blood

Water our furrows!

What does this horde of slaves

Of traitors and conspiring kings want?

For whom have these vile chains

These irons, been long prepared? (repeated)

Frenchmen, for us, ah! What outrage

What furious action it must arouse!

It is for us they dare plan

A return to the old slavery!

Refrain

What! Foreign cohorts!

Would make the law in our homes!

What! These mercenary phalanxes

Would strike down our proud warriors! (repeated)

Great God! By chained hands

Our brows would yield under the yoke

Vile despots would themselves become

The masters of our destinies!

Refrain

Tremble, tyrants and you traitors

The shame of all parties,

Tremble! Your parricidal schemes

Will finally receive their prize! (repeated)

Everyone is a soldier to combat you,

If they fall, our young heroes,

Will be produced anew from the ground,

Ready to fight against you!

Refrain

Frenchmen, as magnanimous warriors,

Bear or hold back your blows!

Spare those sorry victims,

For regretfully arming against us (repeated)

But these bloodthirsty despots

These accomplices of Bouillé

All these tigers who, mercilessly,

Tear apart their mother's breast!

Refrain

Sacred love of the Fatherland,

Lead, support our avenging arms

Liberty, cherished Liberty

Fight with your defenders! (repeated)

Under our flags may victory

Hurry to your manly accents

So that your expiring enemies

See your triumph and our glory!

Refrain

Children's verse:

We shall enter the (military) career

When our elders are no longer there

There we shall find their dust

And the trace of their virtues (repeated)

Much less keen to survive them

Than to share their coffins

We shall have the sublime pride

To avenge or follow them.

This

How to find joy in Climate Action. Avoid burnout. Find your purpose.

This video.

A storybook illustration

Going to a happy place. And then getting out there to fight. No stealing my joy. Joke’s on them.

Brandi Carlile

You're feeling nervous, aren't you, boy?

With your quiet voice and impeccable style

Don't ever let them steal your joy

And your gentle ways, to keep 'em from running wild

They can kick dirt in your face

Dress you down, and tell you that your place

Is in the middle, when they hate the way you shine

I see you tugging on your shirt

Trying to hide inside of it and hide how much it hurts

Let 'em laugh while they can

Let 'em spin, let 'em scatter in the wind

I have been to the movies, I've seen how it ends

And the joke's on them

You get discouraged, don't you, girl?

It's your brother's world for a while longer

We gotta dance with the devil on a river

To beat the stream

Call it living the dream, call it kicking the ladder

They come to kick dirt in your face

To call you weak and then displace you

After carrying your baby on your back across the desert

I saw your eyes behind your hair

And you're looking tired, but you don't look scared

Let 'em laugh while they can

Let 'em spin, let 'em scatter in the wind

I have been to the movies, I've seen how it ends

And the joke's on them

Let 'em laugh while they can

Let 'em spin, let 'em scatter in the wind

I have been to the movies, I've seen how it ends

And the joke's on them

UNDERGROUND MODERNIST: E. MCKNIGHT KAUFFER

His later, mod, work

UNDERGROUND MODERNIST: E. MCKNIGHT KAUFFER

At the Cooper Hewitt, saw an exhibit of the graphic designer’s work and wow can I relate. Clear to see how I vibe with the travel poster/fruit labels but also the dip in his creativity as the ad agency system got underway and his design choices were constrained by the usual: money; focus groups; executives.

Here are some goodies:

Fruit Labels, California