I just started an account on ImageKind for my abstract photography. I never released any of these photos on Flickr or anything because I wanted to frame them, sell them, display them or print them. ImageKind seems like the best way to do that for now. I only have 5 images up there, I have taken many many more (ask my wife) so there should be more images coming soon. Please, consider purchasing a print.

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Just a few of the many photos from our Hawaii trip. We were on the Big Island, which is supposedly not as lush, but I got some fine pictures of paradise. There are many more where these came from so maybe I will post more down the road.

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This is the first in a series. The next 2 or 3 posters will be on the same theme as this one, but different sayings/artwork. I am sure you can figure out what the series entails from just looking at the first one.

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You can download one of 2 mid-resolution (120 dpi) pdf posters below and print them out at your desk.

“Because Scientists Believe”  8.5 x 11 pdf poster

“Because Scientists Believe”  11 x 14 pdf poster

Or if you are feeling brave, have a higher resolution printer and a fast connection you can download the high resolution (300 dpi) 11 by 14 pdf poster here.

Enjoy.

Oh, and look for the next poster in this series in about a week. Hint: it has to do with this book.

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Note: The “Gravitational Time Dilation” posters are nearly done.

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Inspired a bit by Port Royal’s cover to Flares, I was messing around with some designs for Please, Remain calm. I eventually went with the more minimal side of things because it was meant to look “hospital/medical” or something. But the first ideas looked like this :

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Of course, the nice thing about all these designs is I can use them for other projects in the future. I am nearly always writing music (either solo or with Joe as faux.non) and a little touch up here or there is all it would take to export a quality cover. These are just seeds to inspire a new design.

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As many of you know I moved back to my home state a little less than a year and a half ago. I enjoyed Rhode Island and my time there, but there is something that calls you back home. When I arrived on familiar soil I thought I would write some music for the occasion. Well, things got busy and I never got farther than shooting some pertinent photos and designing the album cover. Luckly the cover is good enough to be included in my portfolio.

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Now that I see it again, maybe I will start writing some ambient stuff to go with the cover. The concept and design is almost too good to waste. Hmmm… might be my next music project.

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Speaking of TastyFresh, I have done quite a bit of creative things for them over the years. Each month they produce an e-zine full of articles, music reviews, and general good stuff. I have written 3 articles for inclusion in the e-zine. Below is an excerpt from one of my favorites (and here is the full article)

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It was dark and raining harder by the minute. I was in the center lane of the freeway in a car that wasn’t mine. Usually I don’t mind freeway driving, but on this particular night the rain, the mist from a hundred tires and the glare from the street lights were making it nearly impossible to see the lines on the road. This may not have been a big deal if the highway was a straight shot, but this road was curving around the edge of the city and had numerous sweeping turns to navigate. In short, driving conditions were dangerous and I was driving an unfamiliar vehicle.
So, I did the only thing I really could do. I turned up my drum&bass CD, clamped my hands on the wheel, squinted through the rain and drove like a warrior. For the next twenty minutes I braved lane-drifting SUVs, road hogging semi trucks and the occasional slow driver who insisted on traveling in the fast lane. And since I couldn’t see the lines I had to navigate according to the brake lights of the car in front of me. It was crazy. I don’t know what was racing faster, my heart or my mind.
When I finally pulled into the driveway and turned off the car I was feeling amazing. I was wide awake, hyped on adrenaline and in a completely different mood. I think I may have been glowing. I felt alive.

I don’t remember exactly what happened with the original designer, but at one point Cindy from TastyFresh approached me and asked if I would be interested in designing the flyers for the Cornerstone DanceBarn. I jumped at the chance and went to work with vigor. As always I was in my orange/yellow color scheme :

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Unfortunately these designs never were used because the original designer got his/her ducks in a row and sent the final design. But, in the end, I still got a great piece for my portfolio.

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Over the last 5 years I have had the privilage of releasing 3 albums through Cardamar in Holland. Marco also gave me the opportunity to design my own covers for the CDs.

The first release was “Of Beauty & Mystery”. Since I had been giving it out for a few months before it was picked up by Cardamar I had an indie cover and an official release cover. Below are both :

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The official cover shown below features my own photography as well. I took the picture one morning as the fog was rolling across the field behind my church. Then a few clips and overlaps and we have a grand chillout cover.

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Then about a month later I gathered the leftover tracks from “Of Beauty & Mystery” and asked Marco what he thought of doing a free MP3 release as a mini-album. He liked the idea so I titled it “Itinerary” and pulled together a quick design. I like the hanging sign as the title box. My wife says she likes the cover for Itinerary a lot.

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Then after a bit of a pause, I started writing music once again. From that effort came a secondary project. After a few months of name changes and figuring out what tracks to include, Marco and I released “In Medias Res”. For this design I had my friend Shelley Beber (now Kinder) take artist photos of me. We went to a park one afternoon and did a bunch of different poses. Because of this the design is very photo based with some overlay of grunge/outdoor elements. I like the design, but I still don’t know if it works with the music.

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After the release of IMR, because my creative brain does strange things, I didn’t write music for nearly a year. I was involved in a lot at my church and my music arrangement software kind of went corrupt on me so my music just went below ground. But slowly I started messing around again and recently released an online MP3 album called “Please, Remain Calm” (which you can download here). I released one track every saturday for 8 weeks and included hi-res artwork with each download. Here is the cover of PRC :

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So, that is the design story of my music so far. I plan on releasing a 4 track drum&bass EP in the next few months, but it doesn’t have much of a title yet, let alone a cover design. Expect to see it posted here when I am done.

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As I was posting the artwork for the new album, I realized I have quite a few designs for Brian Cooney’s musical projects over the years.
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Below are the pictures for one of the CDs that I designed for him. I do have the original files for the design, but at some point I must have put together the jewel case and taken a picture. I love the colors and the painted feel to the project.

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And don’t forget the inside picture. I don’t think he chose to use the worshipping man in the final, but it was my personal favorite.

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And then a few months later he had me work on another music construct of his. Brian got together with a few other guys and formed (reformed) Deeper Still. They made some amazing music together and produced one album called “A day like today”. Below is one version for the cover of that album.

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I am sure I will find other Cooney projects in my collection. And I am pretty sure the Born project will not be my last one to work on with him either.

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I was digging through my writings and came across this story I was working on a few years back. I gave up on the story after awhile so it isn’t anywhere near finished, but it might be an interesting read. I think eventually I will use the Jason Red/DJ Redrock character again.
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Below is an excerpt. The entire (unfinished) story is here if you want to read it.

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…Jason nodded at the stewardess and brushed past her, well aware that he could have easily missed his plane. Ticket in hand he quickly located row 16 and dropped down into seat “B” next to a heavyset woman gazing out the window. Quickly he dug in his seat for the seatbelt and buckled it. The woman looked over at him, did not return his “Hello”, but simply blinked, paused and then looked back out the window. Thirty seconds since he had sat down and already Jason was feeling uncomfortable. The stewardesses were coming down the aisle checking the overhead bins. One leaned over Jason and gestured to his backpack. “Sir, that bag will have to go above your head or under the seat in front of you”