Just a Little Ephemera

This site is an online collection of sardine and squid packaging from years past. There's some fun typography and funky imagery. Here are a few from the site:

Chicago

We are currently visiting friends in Woodridge, Illinois. We spent the better part of the day yesterday in Chicago. It's nice to get out of your everyday routine and see new things. Here are some of the things we came cross yesterday.

Moleskin Monster

I bought this gridded moleskin awhile ago for an identity I was working on. It's pretty handy for certain kinds of things. Type, especially. And misunderstood monsters.

The Visual Language of Bargain

There is a hive of food carts in downtown Portland. You know, roach coaches. I have always had a serious problem with these places. The name roach coach didn't exactly help things out. I'm not the kind of guy that won't eat something if it's a little past ripe, or if the texture is a little "funny." That's not me. I am not a picky eater by any means. But when I see these places, I get creeped out something fierce.

It may go back to my time spent in Brazil. They have similar little places there (only they look more in context, Brazil being a 3rd world country.) Some of them cook little chishkabobs of some kind of meat roasted over a bed of coals. Like here, they have a nickname for them. They called them "churrasco de gato." Cat barbeque.

Foul.

That's just something you shouldn't joke about. It may be true that the carts here run rampant with roaches late a night, but NOBODY wants to eat cat.

I never did take a chance on one of those cat joints. But I did eat hot dogs on occasion while I was there. Once the dog ate me, if you know what I mean! I had been pretty sketched out by the hot dog stand by our house. Mostly because of the terrifying number of spelling errors and backward letters on his hand painted signs. But my friend wanted to get a cheap snack, so I went with it. Oh mother! Why didn't you teach me better than that!?

The details of what followed are better left a bit on the fuzzy side. But I will tell you that I have never thought my brain was trying to leap out of my eyes sockets before then. I slept for pretty close to 18 hours. When I woke up every step I took pumped 100 psi of blood into my brainpan.

The whole experience was not worth a mediocre hot dog, no matter how cheap it was.

So when I first saw an entire block of these food carts here I nearly ran away screaming. They all have similar characteristics, namely really bad design. I'm trying to decide if it was the life threatening and life altering experience I had in Brazil or the fact that their signs are just so bad that I can't trust these places. Maybe it's the fact that they could just slam the shutters down that skip town if they got caught serving rat, or a severed toe, or something.

Over the past few months, with the support and encouragement of loving co-workers, I have been slowly overcoming my coach phobia. I have to admit. They serve some wicked good slop! And cheap as dirt, too!

As part of my healing process I took these pictures. I have come to appreciate what I call the visual language of bargain. Perhaps it can be equated in a simple formula:

(super ugly signs) + (really good food) = Excellent Bargain!!

There is a certain folksy humanity that exists in this language. It's kinda nice. In a bad way.

Sea Claws

I like narrative paintings. I love paintings that make you wonder about the characters. Narrative painting creates an alternate universe. In that place you have complete control. You can tell whatever story you want.

I bought a bunch of smaller canvases. I thought it would be interesting to work on a smaller scale. This one is a 4x6. It's based on a sketch I did a while ago.

New Feature time

I am happy to introduce a new feature to the Modern Chef Pants experience. I call it the "Fuel to Your Fire" section. It will be hanging out directly to the right of the most current post. I'll be featuring items and artists of intense interest. Please feel free to submit recommendations for features. Starting this section off is an illustrator by the name of Mark Bischel. His work is worth a gander.

Thank you,

The Management

Routine Creativity

Can creativity been made part of your daily routine? I have spent my whole life trying not to have a routine. I don't like to do the same thing everyday. I get bored. I like to be spontaneous and go with the flow. As I get older and have more responsibilities, that becomes increasingly more difficult to do without neglecting something or other. I have long felt that creativity and spontaneity walked hand in hand. The idea of a routine life meant a dull, uninspired life, where nothing new ever happens. But I'm finding that without a routine I can't get things done. I have to establish a creative routine.

I found this article. It makes some good points about the connection between consistent effort and quality results.

I wanted to get some input from all the creative geniuses visiting my blog. What do you do to work creativity into your routine?

The Scarlet Whaler - Finished

I finally finished this little beast. I'm pretty happy with it. I think it manages to create a certain mood. I'm going to thrift up an excellent decorated frame for this and paint it black. Or Scarlet. We'll see.

Just another train sketch

The Scarlet Whaler

This is a painting that I'm working on. It's not done, but I felt like doing one of those work in progress posts. Mostly because I haven't posted anything recently...