"The Rooke Brothers" oil painting by Dylan Rooke

Its been 7 years since I tried my skills at an oil painting, and man do i miss it. the way they spread together just seem to melt on the canvas; it's so much fun to work with. it took me a little while just to figure out how the methods work again, but after some messing around, i seemed to pick up right where i left off. i really hope to be getting to do a lot more of this sort of thing in the future. I'm really going to try my hardest this next year to get back into the art flow; It's part of the reason i started this blog, to get me motivated to get my art out to the world, to actually do what I've desired to do for a career, whatever that means. it's been refreshing, this new burst of art energy. I did this painting for my parents for Christmas and a made several prints for my brothers and family. it was a lot of fun and sure beats going to some store and buying something out of a sense of obligation. it was good to have Christmas as a deadline, but ultimately i need to get into a better habit of setting my own deadlines and better managing my time for art productivity, amongst other priorities. well, to all the rest of you, a very merry Christmas. peace, joy and love to you in this season of advent.

Solo and Vulnerable

Dylan Rooke "The Whale" live at HMBFC 2008 from DylanRooke on Vimeo.

My good friend Morgan just sent me this video from a few years back, i believe this was 2008? we'll say it is. this was the first show i played by myself, and I remember how incredibly vulnerable and alone i felt out there without big amps and other dudes jumping around to punk/ hardcore songs. no, it was a world new to me, and one I'm still getting used to. there's something so honest i find about folk music, just singing a song with nothing but a acoustic guitar, no mics, no power but your fingers pressed on steel and wood and your vocal chords belting out with whatever confidence it can muster. I've been writing some more solo stuff recently and I'm excited to get it recorded. I'm going to demo the songs on my Macbook real simple like, just in my room with GarageBand. I'll post something on here when i get it done. the song on the video is called "the Whale", one of my first. i wrote the music but stole the lyrics from a hymn in Moby-Dick. another good friend of mine, Steve, got the chorus lines tattooed on his inner arm, it's actually what inspired me to write the song. kind of funny cause usually it's the other way around, y'know; someone hears a song they like and get the lyrics tattooed.. i did the reverse.

"The ribs and terrors in the whale,
   Arched over me a dismal gloom,
While all God’s sun-lit waves rolled by,
   And left me deepening down to doom.

I saw the opening maw of hell,
   With endless pains and sorrows there;
Which none but they that feel can tell—
   Oh, I was plunging to despair.

In black distress, I called my God,
   When I could scarce believe him mine,
He bowed his ear to my complaints—
   No more the whale did me confine.

With speed he flew to my relief,
   As on a radiant dolphin borne;
Awful, yet bright, as lightening shone
   The face of my Deliverer God.

My song for ever shall record
   That terrible, that joyful hour;
I give the glory to my God,
   His all the mercy and the power." -Herman Melville in Moby-Dick

Dorothy Day: a true revolutionary

I'm back on the map for graphic design! for the last two years i haven't even been able to do anything art related on my computer, but now.... i just got a Macbook! so here's my first digital art in a while. this is Dorothy Day, one of my favorite people, a Catholic and an Anarchist of sorts, but most of all, an amazing ambassador of divine Love, Mercy, and justice. i read her autobiography, The Long Loneliness, and it changed the way i view the world in the most positive of ways. she is truly an amazing example of how to live life to the fullest, through sacrificial giving of oneself to others.

Now, lets begin.

hello blog world, this is my first post on this new endeavor I’m starting. I’m going to try my best to keep this as updated as best as i can with art, thoughts, and randomness that hopefully will catch your attention and maybe inspire, encourage, challenge, and halt you in your present state. feedback is welcome and i hope this can be of some benefit to someone, if nothing else, a resource for you and I to connect, even if in the smallest of ways. Cheers and much Love