Doug Stanhope portrait

Here's something fun I did for comedian Doug Stanhope. I'd read a while back on his forum that he was looking for art to promote his shows with, so I came up with this and emailed him. When I saw him perform in Calgary I gave a framed screenprint to someone who worked at the venue, who told me he'd hand it off to event coordinator and that it would eventually get to Doug.

This is the first time I used nearly the same ink colours on two pieces. Check out my recent Canadian Running piece to see what I mean! I changed the yellow, but the peach, blue, and orange are the same. It just so happened that I thought the colour palette would work equally well for both. And it's really helpful when you've already printed the colour once so you know how it'll look when it's dry, and how it'll look with the other colours.

I wanted to give it a "Garbage Pail Kids" look, with the drippy brown letters and the gross colour scheme. I think the yellow-splattered clouds are a nice touch.

It's a square composition because hey, maybe he could use it for an album cover! I can dream.

I haven't heard anything back so I don't know if it ever got to him, but I still hold out hope! I have all his albums and have seen him live three or four times, it'd be awesome to get a chance to work with him on something. When I was doubled over with airsickness on the way to Calgary I listened to his "Something to Take the Edge Off" and "Die Laughing" to get me through it. I'd bought the albums on iTunes (he finally started selling his albums there) specifically for the flight. What a miserable four hours. Nothing like feeling nauseous in a confined, public space with no hope of escape.

He says that he trolls the Internet googling his own name so maybe he'll find this blog and see the piece if he hasn't already!

***UPDATE: Woo hoo! He thanked me on his Facebook page! It didn't even occur to me to check there, because I don't use Facebook for anything besides Farmville. But I probably should.

Julia Minamata site / blog