Strawberryluna

Stunning posters for Aronofsky’s Black Swan

Being a poster artist for me essentially also means being a fan & student of the history and art of posters, no matter what, where, when & for whom. In my case? Also being a bit of a film nut (to put it mildly), means that yeah, I’m really impressed by these absolutely amazing posters designed by London based outfit La Boca for Darren Aronofsky’s new film Black Swan. Which, I can’t wait to finally go see, as it looks incredibly cool & creepy. Holy spooky mirrors.

Add in my undying love for some good old-fashioned propagandist style & design, and poof! The perfect recipe of awesome was born with these masterful pieces. And while the photo-based posters (of which there a many striking and excellent ones too), are also incredible, I’m just floored by this set of graphic & illustrated posters. What a bold set they make and how well they work in tandem as well as on their own. It’s perfection. Hope that you dig them too.

Edit/add: Thanks to our pal Cameron of Two Duck Disco for letting us know that these posters were created by La Boca out of London. Cheers!

Pneumonia slows you down…phew.

Hey gang!

Sorry that there haven’t been any updates for a couple of weeks. I do have a good backlog of new posts, new releases and fun stuff to post and things have been as busy ever here at strawberryluna HQ.

I got the pneumonia smackdown a bit back and it’s been a real bear. High fevers, trouble breathing, an ER trip, meds, the whole nine.

So, we’re here, we’re working (slowly!) and I’m taking a bit of a break for the next week or so until I feel less like a shark is attacking my lungs 🙂 This illness is no joke, dang.

What a cool vintage poster, right? So, of course I wanted to post it and share it. (Pneumonia not included.)

New posts coming soon, but until then, feel free to totz check my website for new posters & prints OK? Cheers!

Crafty Bastards, yes we are! See you in DC on 10/2

Click for more info on the amazing Crafty Bastards craft show in DC on 10/2!

That’s right & you heard it here first, we’re bastards. Crafty Bastards!

Crafty Bastards is truly one of the best handmade craft shows in the country, fully. We are so honored and excited to be participating in this amazingly fun and cool show for the 2nd year in a row. I’m working away as fast as I can in the studio to get fun new stuff and prepare. Come look for us at BOOTH #114 Hope to see you there!

What is Crafty Bastards?
Now in its 7th year, Crafty Bastards Arts & Crafts Fair is an exhibition and sale of handmade alternative arts and crafts from independent artists presented by the Washington City Paper. The fair is all-day, outdoors, free to attend, and will offer goods for sale, food, entertainment, prizes, and more! Crafty Bastards will take place Saturday, October 2, 2010 in Washington, DC.
Now in it’s 7th year, Crafty Bastards has grown to attract over 30,000  attendees who come for the fabulous array of crafts and the all-day entertainment that over the years has included b-boy battles, workshops, fire-eaters, kid-friendly rock shows, fashion shows, belly dancers and more!  Crafty Bastards is FREE to attend too!
When & Where is Crafty Bastards?
Saturday, October 2, 2010, 10am-5pm at the Marie Reed Learning Center at 18th & Wyoming (Google Maps) in the hip Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, DC.

Last year was our first year at Crafty Bastards and it was amazing, so fun, so busy, and such a lovely day. We can’t wait to repeat it all this year and hope that you are excited too 🙂 We’ll be at BOOTH #114, on the map below. Click for a larger version.  Come on by & say hello!

We're booth #114, come say hi! Click for a larger version.

Brand new Flatstock blog debuts with a bang! HUGE poster Giveaway Contest

If you read this blog regularly, or visit GigPosters.com, or are into the modern rock poster movement, you’ve (at the very least) heard of  “Flatstocks“. But what all are they and how can you learn more, or keep up on which Flatstocks are where & when?

Via the new Flatstock Blog! HUZZAH!!

The new Flatstock Blog is a clearinghouse of sorts for up-to-date information on upcoming Flatstock Poster Shows, with lists of attending artists, time & date & location details, and that’s just the start. The Flatstock Blog is debuting with the following super posts:

Click here to enter the HUGE Poster Pack Giveaway at Flatstock 26!!

Coming soon to the Flatstock Blog there will be profiles, interviews, special sneak peaks at new Flatstock Artists’ projects and tons more in the coming months, so keep an eye on the new Flatstock Blog. Visit by clicking the banner above or right here!

Related Flatstock links:

Flatstock on Facebook

Flatstock on Twitter

Flatstock on Myspace

Flastock Blog

American Poster Institute

About Flatstock Poster Shows:

The FLATSTOCK poster show series is presented by the American Poster Institute (API). It is an ongoing series of exhibitions featuring the work of many of the most popular concert poster artists working today.

The API is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to serving poster artists and promoting the art form. Both the API and its FLATSTOCK series were organized in 2002 as a result of conversations between interested artists and supporters frequenting the popular web site GigPosters.com. The best concert posters have always captured both the essence of the music they promoted and the spirit of the time in which they were produced. This is as true today as it was in San Francisco during the Sixties.

The FLATSTOCK shows provide the general public with an ongoing series of opportunities to see fine poster art in person and to meet the artists who’ve created it — they provide the API with a way to present the poster artists collectively while showcasing the breadth of individual styles they represent.

Up There: Hand painted advertisments, alive and beautiful.

This 12+ minute documentary speaks for itself. So, just take a break and watch sign & advertisement painters work the old fashioned way. Total badasses.

Click the above to watch Malcolm Murray’s absolutely cool and beautiful short film Up There and follow the tough & crazy talented painters of  Sky High Murals work on a new, hand painted ad in NYC for Stella Artois. If you have a love for design, all things hand done, the past, present. & future all balled up into one, or frankly, if you have eyeballs, you’ll dig this. Fully.
Click any of the images below to learn more about Up There.

Oscar, The Bionic Cat: We’re big fans.

Oscar, showing off his super new bionic back legs.

Oscar, a handsome English gentleman kitty, lost the lower halves of his back legs in a farm accident in October of 2009. In a ground-breaking feline first in Britain, the two-and-a-half year old cat was perfect candidate for a new surgical procedure that could save his life, bionically.

The BBC produced a short documentary of Oscar’s groundbreaking surgery & recovery, the below is a short snippet:

Taken from The Straits Times: Oscar lost at least one of his nine lives when he was run over by a combine harvester last October – but eight months later he has regained a spring in his step. The prosthetic paws were fitted by neuro-orthopaedic surgeon Noel Fitzpatrick, in a three-hour operation involving grafting the replacement legs onto the stumps of Oscar’s remaining bones.

‘The real revolution with Oscar is because we have put a piece of metal and flange into which skin grows into an extremely tight bone,’ said Dr Fitzpatrick, who carried out the surgery last November.

Oscar, climbing the stairs with his little bionic paws, no problem.

‘Oscar can now run and jump about as cats should do.’ His owner Kate Nolan said: ‘We had to do a lot of soul-searching and our main concern has always been whether this operation would be in Oscar’s best interests and would give him a better quality of life.’

Playing with a toy like nothing happened. Oscar rules.

Dear Oscar, keep a sharp eye on your remaining 8 lives little dude. Rock on.

Renegade Craft Fair Brooklyn reminder! Come say hellos!

Just a quick reminder that I will be in Brooklyn, NY this weekend at the fabulous Renegade Craft Fair, and so looking forward to it!

Renegade Craft Fair is one of the premiere independent DIY showcases of all things art, craft, and handmade. Renegade Craft Fairs are held in several cities across the US every year – including Brooklyn, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles & Austin.  The fair is known for being one of the first events of its kind, and for having the top-notch indie-craft artists and designers who travel from all over the map to participate. Renegade got its start in Chicago’s Wicker Park in the fall of 2003, and has spread like wildfire ever since.

With over 300 artists coming together in historic McCarren Park in Brooklyn to sell our handmade work, this year’s Renegade Craft promises to be as amazing as ever, if not more so. There will live music and live craft demonstrations, as well as an hourly raffle of goodies at theEtsy booth too. AND!  Renegade Craft Fair is wide open to the public and 100 % FREE to attend too.

I’m going to have tons of new prints and posters and test prints, as well as lots of other new goodies too. So come say hi! We love love love meeting new friends at shows!

Check it: strawberryluna, Booth #65. Write it down ;) Click the below to see a larger map image.

Click the above to see a larger version of this map!

The Details:

What: Renegade Craft Fair, Brooklyn

When: June 5th & 6th, 2010

Where: McCarren Park, in the Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY at Driggs Ave + Lorimer St. + Bayard St. + Union St. (as above)

Cost: FREE!!!

Why: For cream of the crop handmade awesomeness.

And here is the photo of our little pup Sprite, helping me pack up some of those new Test Prints I mentioned, featured on the Renegade Blog:

Sprite: The best 17lb assistant ever 😉


Rock, Paper, Show realease party & our first book signing @ The Strand, NYC June 4th.

(click for more info about the Rock Paper Show, Flatstock book)

Next week is going to be a huge, big ridiculous week for us at strawberryluna. And, to boot, it’s in the hugest, biggest, most ridiculous city in the country. So, perfect!

Not only are we doing the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn next weekend, and are participating in the Rock For Kids Poster Artist Interview Series, but, we’ve also amazingly been invited to be a part of the Rock  Paper Show Flatstock book release party on Friday evening, June 4th, 2010. Holy smokes. And to boot, it’s made better by the fact that the release party event is at my absolute favorite bookstore, let alone one of my favorite places on the entire planet. The Strand bookstore in Manhattan! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Can’t even believe it. Any time that I am in NYC, I definitely make sure to get into the hallowed walls and rows of The Strand, but this time, not just as a book nerd, but as an artist in the rock poster movement representing Rock Paper Show & Flatstock.

Someone pinch me, cause I must be dreaming.

The one & only Strand Bookstore at 4th & Broadway in Manhattan.

For the special release party and book signing at The Strand bookstore,  Geoff Peveto, curator of Rock Paper Show, president of the American Poster Institute and partner in The Decoder Ring, an Austin based design collective, will be available to discuss the history of Flatstock and the steady growth of the gig poster community. Featured Rock Paper Show artists Hero, Mat Daly, strawberryluna, Vahalla, and Tara McPheerson will all be available to sign copies, as well as Holly Gressley of Rumors, the book’s designer, and Mike Treff from Soundscreen Design, the book’s publisher and producer.

If you are in the New York City area on Friday evening, June 4th, come check us out and say hello. We’d love to say hi and talk about posters and books. Cause we’re dorks.

Can’t wait to see you again my old friend, The Strand.

Rock Paper Show: New York Release Party info:

Date: Jun 4, 2010
Time: 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Location: The Strand — 828 Broadway, New York (4th & Broadway) (212) 473-1452

For more information about the 18 miles of books at this historic and heavenly bookstore, click here.

For more information about the Rock Paper Show Flatstock book, read my blog post here.

And here is a photo that I took there in my geeky glee on a visit in 2007.


POSTPONED! :( Set your watches! Rock For Kids live strawberryluna interview (date now TBA)

(click for more info)

POSTPONED!!!!! 🙁 Due to technical difficulties 🙁

We are so sorry to announce that this interview has been postponed due to multiple technical difficulties. We’re super sad, at the same time, we all know that the rescheduled event will be amazing and totally worth the wait.

We promise.

Stayed tuned for the rescheduled date, which will most likely be next week June 10th or 11th.

This is a super fun thing to announce. Ready? OK! We will be teaming up with the fine folks at Rock For Kids & Clay Hayes from Gigposters.com as a part of the Rock For Kids live webcast Poster Artist Interview Series. Our interview will be on Friday, June 4th at 1pm CST (2pm EST)

Here’s the situation: Rock For Kids & Clay Hayes are doing a live interview with us here at strawberryluna and our friends Hero Design Studio, and since we are both going to be in NYC on the 4th for Renegade Craft Fair Brooklyn, we’re going to do this interview Bill O’Reilly-style ( “____ it! We’ll do it live!”)

That’s right! We will be live wifi-broadcasting from our laptops on the fly from a TBA sweet spot in New York City. A hint: it’ll probably be in Manhattan. But we don’t even know where we will be broadcasting our interview from yet. Got any favorite free and awesome wifi-spots in NYC that you love? Give me a holler, we’re on the hunt for one! (No, really…we are…seriously. Send your wifi suggestions.)

Also! In support of the fantastic work that Rock For Kids does, we are proud to announce we’ll be donating 20% of our online sales toRock For Kids from Thursday June 10th to Friday June 18h. Help us help Rock For Kids!

We will be taking questions from anyone & everyone who is participating in the webcast, so log into Vokle.com or watch the interview live via the viewer below, and ask away! strawberryluna will be interviewing Hero Design, and vice versa, as well as answering your questions too. It’s gonna be fun.

So, set your watches, calendars, egg timers and sun dials and tune in for our turn in the Rock For Kids & Gigposters.com organized Poster Artist Interview Series. All of the interviews are being webcast live, via Vokle.com.

The Rock For Kids Poster Artist Interview Series:

Jay Ryan –  on Wednesday, June 2 @ 1PM CST  –  tune in

strawberryluna and Hero Design Studio – date & Time TBA likely 6/10 or 6/11  – tune in

Geoff Peveto / Decoder Ring Design Concern – on Wednesday June 9 @ 1PM CST  – tune in

More about the very rad Rock for Kids: Rock For Kids is a non-profit organization that provides support, hope, inspiration and assistance to underserved children and teens. Realizing that music can be a positive motivator in a young person’s life, Rock For Kids provides free year-round music education for children in need. Rock For Kids positively impacts and celebrates young lives by offering access to safe and constructive learning experiences through which children may challenge themselves, build self-esteem and explore their own creative potential. Realizing that music has the power to transcend challenging situations and transform lives, we envision a community inspired by its youth as they develop self-esteem and confidence through access to music education. We believe children can inspire their own families, become leaders among their peers and take on the world as well-rounded and motivated individuals.

Renegade Craft Fair, Brooklyn – come see me June 5th & 6th!

ROMG I’m so excited to announce that I am returning to the fantastic Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn, New York this year! I’ve been lucky enough to participate in this exceptional show in 2006, 2007, and 2008, then skipping 2009 in favor of taking my first vacation for my birthday in 5 years (in London, Paris, & Le Mans = the only reason I missed Renegade Craft Brooklyn 2009.)

And now, I’m back baby!

Renegade Craft Fair is one of the premiere independent DIY showcases of all things art, craft, and handmade. Renegade Craft Fairs are held in several cities across the US every year – including Brooklyn, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles & Austin.  The fair is known for being one of the first events of its kind, and for having the top-notch indie-craft artists and designers who travel from all over the map to participate. Renegade got its start in Chicago’s Wicker Park in the fall of 2003, and has spread like wildfire ever since.

With over 300 artists coming together in historic McCarren Park in Brooklyn to sell our handmade work, this year’s Renegade Craft promises to be as amazing as ever, if not more so. There will live music and live craft demonstrations, as well as an hourly raffle of goodies at the Etsy booth too. AND!  Renegade Craft Fair is wide open to the public and 100 % FREE to attend too.

I’m going to have tons of new prints and posters, as well as lots of other new goodies too, from tshirts to tote bags and more. So come say hi!

Check it: strawberryluna, Booth #65. Write it down 😉

click to see a bigger version of this map

The Details:

What: Renegade Craft Fair, Brooklyn

When: June 5th & 6th, 2010

Where: McCarren Park, in the Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY at Driggs Ave + Lorimer St. + Bayard St. + Union St. (as above)

Cost: FREE!!!

Why: For cream of the crop handmade awesomeness.

* About Renegade: In the summer of 2007, Renegade opened the doors to a cute little storefront shop in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago, IL called Renegade Handmade. Located  on 1924 W. Division St. in Chicago, Renegade Handmade sells the work of Renegade crafters year ’round.  They carry the work of over 400 independent artists from around the globe, many of whom participate in our fairs.  When in Chicago, visit the brick + mortar or online at RenegadeHandmade.com.

Rock Show: iPad app for Rock Posters

Rock Show, view and buy posters from your iPad. (Click for more info or to download Rock Show from the iTunes store for FREE!)

Dangit! I’ve been meaning to post about this for a little bit now.

Right before SXSW & Flatstock in Austin, TX this year, I was approached by a software development team from Neutrinos in Portland, OR. They were getting ready to release a pretty cool (and FREE!) new app for the (then) upcoming iPad called Rock Show. The new app Rock Show was being debuted at the Interactive portion of SXSW, just a few days before the Music segment of this huge Festival begins.

Examples of posters on Rock Show to view & purchase. (Click for more info or to download Rock Show from the iTunes store for FREE!)

After talking with Rob from Neutrinos, we signed on as one of the first wave of artists submitting posters to be shown and sold via the Rock Show app for the iPad. It seemed like a big step, but we could tell that the team behind Rock Show was committed to making a great app for music, poster and art fans that would also support rock posters artists like us, and help gain more exposure for the artists involved and the resurgence of rock posters in general.

So what is Rock Show? They describe it best:

“Exclusive to the iPad, Rock Show is an awesome way to view, share and purchase concert posters. Rock Show is the best way to view, share, and buy concert posters. All the posters featured in Rock Show are available for sale directly through the iPad. Posters are often signed, numbered, and shipped by the original poster artist. All of the concert posters in Rock Show are available for purchase securely from the app.

Hold your iPad however you want to get the best view of high resolution, full screen artwork. Learn more about a band using the app’s quick Wikipedia link.

I naturally got on board being A) A rock poster artist B) An Apple and Mac person and C) Wildly excited about the iPad and the new horizons it’s opening and D) Impressed with Neutrinos approach for Rock Show. I’m proud to say that we were among the very first poster artists to sign on and start working with Rock Show and uploading posters.

Currently, we here at strawberryluna have about 15 titles listed under ‘strawberryluna’ in the Rock Show app, and there are tons more poster artists partnering with Rock Show and adding their work up for viewing and purchase as well. It’s definitely worth checking out.

Using your iPad, you can search Rock Show posters by poster artist and also by band names, as seen below:

Rock Show is an amazing way to explore the variety of art and design in the current rock poster movement with the large and frankly beautiful resolution and clarity of the iPad screen, as well as being a great new way to connect artists and fans, be they musicians or artists, or best, all of the above.

There are complete descriptions for each poster, such as the band name, date & location of the show, the medium of the poster, and more. Rock Show‘s payment gateway is secure, so it’s a seamless process, with posters shipping directly to the customer from the artists’ themselves, often within a day or so of order receipt.

It’s pretty sweet! We’re having fun with it, and if you own an iPad or know someone who does, check out the FREE app Rock Show and have some pretty fun too.

Rock Show is always looking for new poster artists and designers too. If you are interested, drop them a line here.