Wet My Beak
Inspiration - The cover art for Where We Belong/Moonpies for Misfits by Hot Water Music
*Sold
Neo-American Gothic, Q-Anon style. Fascinate the Fools.
Acrylic on wood panels, 50 x 25in, Ampersand panel frame (black.)
Framed next to their corresponding album art side.
*Process
It was always a bar fight.
I just love that everyone is smoking in the sketch, including the bird who would just like to wet his beak in peace. Sadly I ended up pulling the bird’s smoke trail because it was one too many bright actors in the scene. I wanted the drip from the beak to be the southern point on that composition constellation and the smoke was competing for attention.
There is alot going on in the panels that required some balancing. I also needed to make sure I didn’t send the audience off to the left rather than draw them over to the panel to the right. I’m using the blue lines of the tipped over barstool to transfer the viewers appetite for clues over to the other world in panel 2.
The diptych split is part of the story. Two dudes, living in two separate worlds. One of these guys has more flags than a post office and the other loudmouth lives in Brooklyn. These two just want to enjoy a smoke, a beer, & listen to some rock n’ roll in peace.
In one frame I’m using the black star shapes to represent a curse in the air. What we see in the frame is not the real world. The bar tv is broadcasting a mind control signal to anyone that will watch. A powerful hallucinogen.
A bird in the foreground, having a drink in peace, is my perfect Q-Anon agent. As we all know, birds are not real. Is the stool real? There are “others” to his left & “others” to the right. He has no choice but to …*Bang!
On the right side we see the bird transform into a plaid tablecloth. A couple from the city is playing cards and chain smoking. This dive bar is so hip. I tried to capture a “WTF?” moment on her face (although she’s perfectly happy to keep smoking.” It’s all part of the act. Attention may have been diverted if cool guy here didn’t open his mouth.
Mise en scene - Setting the stage for a bar was very familiar. I tried to name that tune in as few notes as possible. My goal was world building on a budget for graphics sake. I needed a bar counter, some stools, a shelf of bottles, a few tables, maybe a card game, a tv for sports in the corner, some antlers for aesthetic tchotchke, & definitely smoking because this bar is located in freedom-town USA. The card was perfect for another Q-Anon easter egg with the “Q” face up.
