He sold his floating apple painting I wanted before I could get the cash. It was a good deal too for helping him with his computer woes. Missed opportunity #x. We miss Glenn.

Old Loose Caboose T-Shirt Design Cleaned Up

So it’s been over 10 years since the Loose Caboose Coffee House shutdown and stopped making all that racket in West Monroe & Monroe, Louisiana. I thought it would be fitting to post the artwork for the t-shirt that I was working on that final year. Before the Loose Caboose was morphed and resold to become the University Pub, then  Atomic Coffee & Tea, then finally Cottonport Coffee. I hear the espresso machine is somewhere in Ouachita Parish.

My wife thinks it’s a pseudo-self-portrait. It might be a little. Inspiration for it actually came from a Billy Goat performance at the Caboose. If you drank coffee, went to show, or loitered at the Loose Caboose in the 90′s you might understand.

It’s not like you expect to see great rockin’ performances in northeast Louisiana, but there were quite a few. I would list some of them here, but I know I would miss mentioning a few and it really wouldn’t be fair. I’ll just post my favorites in the comments instead.

Between 1993(?) and 1998(?) the Loose Caboose served coffee and mayhem to the population of Monroe and West Monroe, Louisiana. The coffee shop was originally owned by Shannon Willis and Mahlon (Lonnie) Davis. With the awesome support from a cool caffeinated community of culture lovers, they ran a barely accepted all-ages venue. There was good music, art, and conversation. I still eat my dinner at a table painted by Stacey Thomas.

Old Loose Caboose T-Shirt Design Scans

I got involved in 1995 after graduation from college and because circumstances with my roomate almost left me homeless. I moved into the house on Riverbend with Lonnie and Shannon. I did some design, website, and other work for the Caboose in exchange for coffee, food, and (yep) music. I got my first webmaster gig by meeting Tom Johnson at that infernal coffee house.

I really don’t want to gush over it too much, but it definitely was one hell of a once in a lifetime experience.

Caidy's Birthday Fluer de Lis - 10

This is my wife Caidy’s birthday present this year. She makes sure to remind me about once a week that I “should do more art”. See she knows that before the Web, even before the graphic design degree; I would draw and paint on just about anything. It’s so hard sometimes to make time for plain ole messy art, but it’s cool to have a friend to remind you and make you miss it.

It’s a fluer de lis completed in oil and mixed media on chiseled wood. The wood was an old solid piece with a slight warp that was laying behind my shed. I worked with it for about three weeks. Chiseled at it on the patio for three hours one day while Caidy was at work. Smuggled it back and forth to work along with my paint supply tackle box and other gear.  I’m lucky Caidy never went into the shed last week. She would have figured it out easily.

Here are some images of the process. They’re iphone pictures, so they may be a little funky: