I turned my sweet lil niece Keev Keev into a bottom dweller. No real concept, just adorable. Mixture of pencil, photography, and some Photoshop collaging (is that a word?) Adding to my collection of lil critters. I can’t show the others here due to familial differences so I’ll be starting a new collection with new muses. Since I don’t have children I have to borrow my brothers’.
A great tutorial from Spoon Graphics if you are struggling to get your images cut out. Nothing is more frustrating than spending countless hours cutting out images only to still see the fringe! If you are a novice photo editor start at the beginning. If you’ve been around the block and back skip to 7:20 to learn more about the Refine Tool and getting rid of that fringe!
How to Cut Anything Out in Photoshop
If you haven’t been to the Western United States, go!This was my first time, to these specific states anyway, and it will definitely not be my last. I’ve made the journey from Southern California to Washington, Arizona back to Texas, and fell in love with all of those places. Arizona is hard to beat, but the seclusion and beauty of Wyoming was a match indeed. Korrina and I started our journey in Billings,
Montana at 12:30pm on Saturday, October 3rd. Our plan was to make it to Yellowstone but we were flying standby so anything was a welcomed possibility. Luckily we both made it to Minneapolis and on to Billings as planned. We proceeded to rent a car but we didn’t have a place to stay because our cabin wasn’t ready to be checked into until the following day. Again, luckily I have a special someone on speed dial, that is as generous as he is loving, and he took the stress of finding a place off of us. Now the fun can begin. Stop one, store. Shopping list: water, snacks, auxiliary cord, wine, champagne, and more wine. I don’t usually drink wine, unless it’s my Mom’s, but I had a feeling Korrina was on to something. I don’t condone or endorse intoxicated driving, but intoxicated park exploring, while probably not the smartest, is a blast! We drove through rain, climbed a mountain (by car), played in snow, fell in rivers, hiked in bear country, basked in sunshine, and drove completely through the world’s first national park in total darkness. All in day one. We finally made it to our hotel, after a series of photo ops and outdoor pee stops, at around midnight. We giggled and cried and went to bed. Day two began at a charming little diner/cafe where we discovered we are not fans of bison patties. Yuck. The homemade syrup there is amazing though! Wish I could remember what it was called. If you ever eat breakfast in West Yellowstone, you’ll find it. Do not go to Chinatown! Just trust me. Food in our bellies, more water and wine in our bag, and off we go to Yellowstone, again, but last night didn’t really count. We decided just to drive through Yellowstone today because we really wanted to see the Tetons. Of course it’s our first time in Yellowstone so that was hard to stay true to. We stopped every few miles to gawk at elk, or drool over paint pots, and to not be impressed with Old Faithful. I mean, it was cool, for sure. If I had never heard of that particular geyser and there wasn’t so much hype leading up to that moment nearly my entire life, then yeah, it might have been way awesome. It wasn’t. The gift shop was pretty cool though, food way over priced, and the bathroom sucked, but whatever.
Ok, now off to the Tetons. We made it. Tried to go down some off-the-highway scenic route, and we succeeded, but we never did figure out how to pay and get in to the park. Which I suppose worked out in our favor, because we found plenty of magical spots to chill in without ever being bothered. We had more photo shoots, peed behind more bushes, and drank wine and smoked cigs in the grass. It was fabulous! Another long day, and since it was almost dark we decided to see if some friends were home west of Jackson, instead of driving back up through the park. They were home, and invited us right over. They were lovely and generous and we were drunk and obnoxious. Sorry guys. We blabbed for awhile, and my friend and I got way into their dog, that when sober didn’t seem so significant. Then we were off to Idaho. Actually we were already in Idaho, we just needed to go two hours north to get to our cabin. Two hours? No problem. Yeah right. It’s amazing how down hill you can go in two hours. Before we did though, there was more fun to be had. Both Korrina and I live in cities. You are lucky to see a handful of stars at best. Out in the middle-of-nowhere Idaho it seems as if you can see a handful of galaxies. Not true of course, but fuck! It’s insanely gorgeous. We notice this while we’re driving so we pull over to gaze. First we must pee again, good thing we weren’t drinking beer. Ahhh, after a nice relief and a small tumble, we climb on to the hood of our rental car and just stare. We could have fallen asleep there, and that’s why we had to leave. It gets pretty cold at night, and we were on the side of a highway, and we stunk. So back in the car we go. Only Korrina falls asleep and my GPS craps out on me. My memory is a little foggy now, but somehow our cabin just miraculously appeared in front of my car. We wobbled inside, fell on our beds, clothed, and passed out. Day three we decided to take it easy on the booze. Booze free day at Yellowstone. Today was all about Yellowstone. We drove back up to West Yellowstone t
o find food, which is impossible to do in Island Park, Idaho where were staying. Turns out it wasn’t much easier in West Yellowstone either. Nothing opens before 11:00am and were hungry NOW. It was like 10:30. That’s when we had our creepy Chinatown experience. Just don’t go there. Earlier that morning I had discovered I had brought along the wrong battery charger for my camera so I was severely depressed, kind of. We were trotting along “downtown” West Yellowstone and happened along Elk Photo, or something like that, and lo and behold, they carry my kind of battery. The store clerk warned me there was probably no juice in the thing as it’s been in stock for quite sometime, but… he … was… WRONG! And I was so happy. Full battery.
Ok, time to head east again. This trip to the park was going to be all about exploring the north and northeastern parts. We traveled up to Lamar 
Valley, to Mammoth Hot Springs, and then back down and out the west entrance. We stopped in West Yellowstone again for food around 8:00pm. Had some killer chicken wings, pizza, and my first Guinness since I left Texas. We were “solve” (inside joke). As you can see, I don’t have a lot to say about this day, we were sober and tired. It was still a wonderful experience and were delighted to be there, but the bodily abuse and the 1300 miles in the car were starting to take a toll. It was a relaxing night in our cabin, with one glass of wine, some Nickelodeon movie, and an early bedtime. We woke up 7:00am, were out the door by 8:00am, and we drove 300 miles to Salt Lake City, Utah. Another day of standby travel. Korrina was never going to make it back to Raleigh on standby so I took her home with me to Austin. We partied wit
h
Curt til the wee hours of the morning, like 1:00am, haha, then woke up and were at the airport by 6:00am. She made it to Raleigh, I made it back to sleep before going to work, and just like that, it was over. It’s over, but we will never forget it.
I collaborate with my boyfriend’s brother Cris on a lot of artwork, which is tons of fun, but I recently moved on to another Kirkwood. The lovely Cat is a talented artist herself, and while she certainly doesn’t need me, I sure did enjoy making this piece.
The background is an image of the Arizona desert that I took while trekking about last year. The sky is actually shot from an airplane, probably on my way to Arizona. Doesn’t it look upside down? It will now. The wildebeest and the ostrich are pictures I took at some nature preserve here in Texas (while I was with Cat). Flamingos are from SeaWorld (again, while with Cat, and don’t go there!). The leaves are from my backyard. The dead roses are from my sweet Mom (they were alive when she gave them to me). The basket, rope, and body of the girl, ripped off manipulation from I don’t remember. Annnnnnnnd, the head of the girl is the wicked cool drawing by Cat. It’s a pen and ink drawing that I filled in with Photoshop. There you have it, another Butler/Kirkwood collaboration.
I love all things Mike Patton and have seen many of his performances but I finally got to see Faith No More the other night resulting in long lasting goosebumps. I was also fortunate enough to witness the magic with great company including my writer friend Greg Klein. I went to this show as a fan but was hoping to pitch a review to one of the magazines I shoot for but I have yet to hear back from them and I just can’t wait any longer to share my photos, Greg’s review, and our excitement.
Faith No More
Austin Music Hall
Austin, TX
July 26, 2015
Opener: Napalm Death
Faith No More has always been a hard band to pin down. Maybe it’s their frontman Mike Patton, who seems to have his fingers in five musical pies at any time. Maybe it’s their complex sounds: mixing funky bass chords with heavy metal progressions, only to follow these songs up with a lounge ballad. Or maybe it’s a band dressed in white linen on a stage full of floral arrangements, playing for a sold-out music hall full of sweaty rockers dressed in black.
Or maybe it’s all of these. Regardless, Faith No More took the stage Sunday night for the first time in Austin in almost twenty years, supporting Sol Invictus, their first album since 1997, and delivered an electric night of music. Before they played, though, British grindcore metal band Napalm Death warmed up a crowd already cooking in its own juices from the oppressive July heat. They certainly had their fans, and played a solid 45 minutes before the roadies began to set up the numerous flowers around the stage in preparation for the headliners.
Opening with “Motherfucker,” their first single from the new album, both the band and the crowd were ready to go out of the gates. FNM played a healthy spattering of their catalogue, drawing most heavily from Angel Dust. This didn’t feel like a band in support of a new album, and while the new songs all translated well to the stage, odds were this was most people’s first chance to see Patton and company live, and they played to the fervent crowd’s energy. The highlight of the night was “Midlife Crisis.” After letting the audience sing the second chorus, the band then broke into an interlude, playing the song to the tune of Boz Scagg’s “Lowdown.” FNM was raucous with “Be Aggressive” and “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies,” slowed it down with “Evidence,” and of course played their biggest single, “Epic.”
After “We Care A Lot,” they closed the night, and second encore, with Burt Bacharach’s “This Guy’s in Love with You,” precluded by Patton warning the crowd, “Remember, you asked for this.” As the room full of rockers sang along to a 48-year-old pop song, it seemed a fitting end to a dynamic night of music. Faith No More showed Texas they hadn’t lost a step during their 20-year absence. Here’s hoping we don’t have to wait as long for their return.
-Greg Klein
Setlist
“Motherfucker”
“Be Aggressive”
“Caffeine”
“Evidence”
“Epic”
“Black Friday”
“Everything’s Ruined”
“Midlife Crisis”
“The Gentle Art of Making Enemies”
“Easy” (Commodores cover)
“Separation Anxiety”
“Spirit”
“King for a Day”
“Ashes to Ashes”
“Superhero”
Encore
“Matador”
“We Care A Lot”
2nd Encore
“This Guy’s in Love with You” (Burt Bacharach cover)
Started a Rat Fairy series a few years back and just finished the third and final piece. I’m out of my twenties and don’t fancy selfies so much anymore so if you know any cheap models send them my way.
Another image using a Cris Kirkwood watercolor painting (with permission and enthusiasm of course). So a couple months back my Mom and her husband wanted to take my niece and myself on a lunch cruise. I cringed at the idea of course but begrudgingly went along to not hurt her feelings. It wasn’t cheap by the way. Needless to say it was rather tortuous but I loved being in the company that I was in and some good did come of it. For instance, the cherry blossoms. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a cherry blossom tree or just didn’t notice one before but I did on this day and thankfully snapped some shots on my iPhone while cruising down the Potomac. Naturally, when I capture anything of beauty, I have to add something ridiculous, meaningless, and goofy to make it well rounded enough for me to enjoy tomorrow. So that’s exactly what I did. I “spruced” it up.
I’m not very good at blogging, I think it’s because it’s like talking to yourself while doing the laundry. Anyway, here’s some new stuff that I’ve done. One I created using one of Cris Kirkwood’s little water color paintings like I tend to do. I’ll get around to showing more of those because they are pretty bitchin’. The other I used a pencil drawing that I made the other day while lounging around with my dog. It’s actually a drawing of a screenshot of a video of my nephew using the distort feature in Photo Booth on the Mac. I was pretty amused with the result and had to use it in a composite. I call it Bagel Boy. Only a few will understand why.
I was hoping to write a real piece on this band but a show review will do. I brought Greg along with me once again to do my dirty work, like hold my cameras while I pee, oh and write the story.
By the time it was the day of the show we knew our editor only wanted a show review so that’s all we focused on.
Had we been approved to get more detail I would have loved to have stepped backstage and pick these guys’ brains. They have an interesting story for sure and as lively as their shows.
I’ll have to save that for later though. In the meantime, here’s what was posted.
Emos 4/18/2014
Actually I went to the desert and it was amazing. It wasn’t my first time but it was most memorable. Probably because I turned 30 while I was there or maybe because I really wanted to go and I made it happen. Last time I found my self being aimlessly driven around Arizona I didn’t know what to expect which made it magical but without intent. Anyway I could describe every crevice of beauty in the desert but my words wouldn’t do it justice and neither will these pictures but it’ll give a little taste of what’s out there.
The journey started in Phoenix and on to Scottsdale where I entered a 70 mile dirt trail through the desert and was spit out just south of Prescott. Spent the night there in some super old hotel that felt more like a bed and breakfast, quaint and over priced. Woke up and traveled through Jerome on our way to see the Tuzigoot Indian ruins. Stayed there for a bit before having lunch in Sedona and before I decided to live a life of solitude, drove back to Phoenix to catch a plane back to Austin.
Jaime Butler 