BCMOM UPDATE
The evening of October 9th, I spontaneously started painting an image that I had only spent about 5 minutes on in my sketchbook. The past few months I have been obsessed with Sturgill Simpson. I have been a big fan of his for going on a decade now, but a few months back, I came across a new video of one of his live performances.
Back when Covid hit, my wife and I got tickets to see Sturgill and Tyler Childers on their joint tour right after Sturgill put out his Anime on Netflix that was essentially and album with visuals called Sound and Fury (Highly recommend) We were so pumped as it is hard for me to imagine a better line up for a show than 2 of the pioneers of modern day independent/outlaw country.
Unfortunately that tour was cancelled only a few shows in, and only a handful of people got to see and hear those particular arrangements and show.
Back to the YouTube video - This new one was of Sturgill and the boys performing out Outside Lands 2024 in San Francisco. Many of my favorite songs of his were arranged in a new, more energetic way, there were some covers I hadn’t heard, and some songs off the newest album - Passage du Desir, that I hadn’t yet given an earnest listen. I was hooked by Sturgill all over again.
This youtube video became the way I started everyday. My daily routine is the same as far as the big picture:
WAKE UP: 4-5 AM
COFFEE, SMOKE, STUDIO
ART TILL 7-8 AM
MONDAY- FRIDAY: WORK FROM 9AM-3PM
ART TILL BED: USUALLY 10-11 PM
I was just coming off a Kendrick Lamar bender, still riding high from the pop-out show and the defeat of Drake, so this was a big change from the vibes I had become accustom to. I will be getting back to work inspired by Kendrick at some point and I am sure he will hit me with something inspirational soon. After a few days or weeks of starting my days with Johnny Blue Skies as Sturgill is now going by - I began to take a deep dive into the world of Sturgill, his 5 album arch, and his history as a musician.
We then learned that Sturgill was co-headlining Sunday Nights at ACL both weekends, and I knew we had to jump on the opportunity to see him. (NOTE: I will go into detail on this story at a later date, but unfortunately we did not get to see Sturgill Perform live at ACL.
Over the course of weekend one at ACL, we stayed out in the Hill Country at Yurtopian, and it was an amazing get away. We listened to a lot of Sturgill, and on the lead up to ACL we discovered Orville Peck, and over the few weeks leading up to and over ACL weekend we listened to him a lot as well as Chris Stapleton and Leon Bridge’s set from Friday night at ACL.
Upon getting home late Sunday evening, I had a fresh surge of inspiration washing over and through me. I woke up Monday morning to find that Sturgill’s entire set from the night before had been uploaded to youtube, and thus a new morning music routine began. That Monday was October 8, and I was wrapping up a piece for a Hardy & Nance show, and had to take it downtown to drop off that evening. When I got back, we watched Tombstone, more inspiration and a strong whiff of nostalgia. The next morning, my routine was as usual, worked on a few things, but more just shuffled around the studio not getting much done. Later that morning, something made me pull out my sketch book.
My original goal was to refresh a logo from a Country & Western Cover Band my dad was in when I was young - Murphy’s Law. I did a quick sketch, but as often happens, all sorts of ideas, stories and images started to crowd my brain. I quickly sketched out the character, but one of my favorite lyrics from Sturgill was stuck in my head - The Best Clockmaker on Mars. To me, this line means people may not get what he is trying to do or why, they may even think he’s insane, but he is still gonna be the best. More and more images and ideas began to flood in. I added a quick background inspired by the Martian terrain depicted in The Watchmen comics when Dr. Manhattan flees to mars to escape earth.
Next thing I know, I am down a rabbit hole. Somehow I got on pictures from the old west where townspeople would display the dead bodies of “outlaws” as a deterrent for crime. I made a few quick sketches of images I found intriguing, one in particular of Rube Burrow displayed in his coffin standing up with all his outlaw gear. Another one of an outlaw named John Shaw, where his friend had his corpse stood up against a fence with their arms around him, all enjoying one last drink of whiskey. I threw down one more quick sketch of Pistol Pete as a skeleton after reading a short article about his story.
That evening, I got home and just started painting. Actually the first piece in this series was inspired by a vector/graphic image I came across, and again, sill had no idea of a series or connected body of work. I think I made a decent amount of progress on two paintings that night. I woke up the next day and picked up where I left off.
Almost 10 days later, I am 8 pieces in and the ideas and inspiration just keeps coming. Again, I have no play or idea with this series other than to do my best to tell an amazing story through these works. I will continue to do deep dives and updates on this series, as well as everything else I have going on if that is something you are into.
Thanks for reading and peepin!
CSCHOEART
