Loren Witcher Design & Illustration

don't do it!

2009-12-13T22:34:00.000-08:00

India

2009-11-07T10:05:00.001-08:00

Came home from a bitter sweet trip to India about a week ago. I love the paintings on the old Tibetan Temples. The Stupas are at a pilgrimage spot at the top of that mountain. Luckily there are roads to it now. Otherwise it would have been a 3 day hike through the jungle.

Chirs Thile Fan from Sewanee Tennessee!

2009-11-07T09:59:00.000-08:00

When I was in Nashville last month I made the 2 hour drive over to Sewanee to catch a Punch Brothers show and to bring a couple of the guys back with me. Just happened to run into a girl who had a tattoo of Cecil from the cd cover of "Punch" i designed last year. It looks great!

Here is rockin' number from that night.

The Boston Boys

2009-11-07T08:41:00.000-08:00

Here is a comp from the digi pack i made for some great young talent out of the Berkley College of Music.

Enjoy this clip i found of them groovin' in a hotel room.

Nashville Style

2009-11-06T18:57:00.000-08:00

Comp for Josh Williams (IBMA guitar player of the year!!!) for Pinecastle Records. Photos by my brother Mike. Check out his work at www.mikewitcher.com

Grant Gordy

2009-09-06T17:02:00.001-07:00

Killed comps for Denver guitarist Grant Gordy. New variations to come. Yes I love blue.

scraps from the Boston Boys CD

2009-07-30T15:21:00.000-07:00

I havn't been feeling much of a spark while designing lately, so i decided to go back to my painting roots. This one is a throw back to my senior thesis at RISD. Here is a screen shot along the way of designing the cover of Eric Robertson & The Boston Boys debut release "LISTEN"

Reed Foehl

2009-04-20T14:26:00.000-07:00

This is a cd package I've been workin' on for Reed Foehl. Here is a video of him singin'. i can't seem to watch it enough!

insulation installation

2009-01-28T18:49:00.000-08:00

Debbie took these this afternoon while i was workin' on the cabin. Slowly but surely she's get'n done.

Missy Raines album art

2008-11-23T22:58:00.000-08:00

here is some of the album art i made for the upcoming compass records release by Missy Raines and The New Hip. My brother Mike took the photo of Missy's bass.

more scraps...

2008-10-28T14:07:00.000-07:00

i don't think i've ever had more fun from one doodle.

Back from Nashville

2008-10-17T11:38:00.000-07:00

Nashville was a blast! I met so many wonderful people, heard and played lots of music, had drinks with Def Leopard who were staying in the same hotel as the convention. Mike and Margie were great hosts. I tell ya, they sure can cook some good t'hai chicken. mmmmMMMM! here are a few picks from our late night old timey jam with Stephanie Coleman, Kristin Andreassen, Nate Leath, Emily Bigham and Suzanne Oleson where i got my first banjo lesson.

There are also two pictures from my walk down Broadway where i stopped into the Legendary Earnest Tubb's Record Shop and found two cd's i had designed in the front rack. That was really cool.

Those funny little paintings were a big canvas backdrop for one of the booths set up in the convention center. They scenes and the style were soo amazing i had to put them up.

Well, i'ma get to cookin' lunch and then it's back to insulation and sheetrock.

scraps

2008-10-08T11:17:00.001-07:00

Promo

2008-09-10T17:10:00.000-07:00

Here are a few snap shots of pages from the cd-portfolio promo i'm putting together for the Nashville trip.

IBMA AWARDS/ NEW WEBSITE / PROMOS

2008-09-08T15:35:00.000-07:00

Well, PUNCH got nominated for an IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association) best package of the year award. I'ma head out to Nashville the first of October to eat the free fancy lunch and dinner that they invited all of the nominees to. Since there will be a lot of good bands, record company folks and what not, I'm making new business cards, a CD-rom portfolio and a new website. Here are a couple of the photos taken for the site by my friends over at www.DeborahSamantha.com

On a long hot summer day...

2008-07-17T15:09:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pics from the 4th of July. I finally moved out of the trailer and into my cabin :) yay! (the trailer was really comfy. don't let the pool side view fool you. It is a great place to stay). The moon was gorgeous on our way down the mountain to view the fireworks. There is actually a lake bellow the moon. It didn't show up in the photo. And the Tehachapi fire works were greeeeat! I put a matres on top of the shell of my truck and we watched them from the dirt parking lot of the Ranch Motel. They were going off right above the train tracks. 2 trains went by during the show. It was beautiful

more to come soon.

SHIIIIRT!

2008-06-06T13:56:00.000-07:00

I'm excited about this one. My friends Chris and Thomas want to use the poster design i created last year as a shirt graphic for their upcoming tour.

I was soooooo excited about it I posted the preliminary comps. Enjoy!

2008-06-02T08:35:00.000-07:00

It's been a while. Lots has happened since my last post. Here are a couple of pics from a cd package in the works. Enjoy!

SWITZERLAND!

2008-05-15T12:39:00.000-07:00

I had a great trip. Lots of work, lots of beautiful sights. Here are a few shots. I have a busy week catching up on a bunch of design projects. there will be artwork coming soon!

Cabin Fever

2008-04-20T10:17:00.000-07:00

I've been workin on a cabin for the past few weeks. Well, the project has been going on for a while now, but i was able to help out wih finishing the drywall, mudding and painting. It looks reeeeal nice. We're finally finished with the walls. YAAAAY! I'll have some pics of the walls with color on them soon. Now I've got to get back to packing for a 4 week trip to Switzerland.

new glasses

2008-04-08T15:04:00.000-07:00

yes, they are ridiculous. But, i have a wider field of vision while i work and now my expensive ones won't get wreked. The funny thing is that i just happened to choose the exact same frame as my grandfather's reading glasses. how wierd is that?

it's april!

2008-04-06T10:45:00.000-07:00

my mom's home made cheese cake. mmmmmmmmmm!

85!!!!!

a rose in grandpa's garden

she can out jump anybody

making Tormas with Lama Lhundrup for the ceremony

buds were just coming up

in the cave at the vinyard (those bottles are hand turned)

well, it's been quite a week. I spent last weekend in Napa Valley helping with a traditional Tibetan Buddhist ceremony for a friend's aunt who had passed away. The day i got home I got a message from my mom that my own aunt had past away and to prepare for her funeral the next day. It was a beautiful service. I will really miss her.

Since all of us cousins were in town we took the opportunity to have some much needed family time. We met up at Lisa and Doug's house in Silver Lake for an afternoon by the pool (and jumping on the trampoline).

Saturday was my grandpas 85th birthday. He shared his birthday with my aunt. It was a bitter sweet celebration. I was very happy to see everyone there.

here are some photos from the week.

2 day cd package FINISHED

2008-03-28T13:55:00.001-07:00

well, i got it done. and now i'ma eat lunch and get back to mudding up the drywall.
I wish i had more time to really refine the thing, but thats how it goes.
Here are 2 little illustrations i made for the inside of the package.

2008-03-27T21:30:00.000-07:00

the record cover

muddn' pre hair cut (that's my muddn' stache)

controlled fires up on the hill

more controlled fires

we saw about 6 trains

and a boat on the way down to LA

well, it's been an exciting week. I went down to la, did a lil' grill masterin (I love BBQ), saw the family for easter, played a little music with my pops, got a hair cut, came back to the mountains, been mudding drywall, helping out with the controlled burns on the property (fire hoses are fun), and i got a call from my brother Mike saying he needed me to do a record package for a promo ep his band is printing up. He said it had to be cool looking and have birds. Oh, and i only had 2 days to do it. Waiting for a final copy edit for the inside. here is a sneak peak at the cover.

Is it spring yet?

2008-03-20T11:52:00.000-07:00

It snowed a few days ago. Luckily it's warmed up a bit and the snow is melting in the sunny places. Even though it's gorgeuos up here, I'm heading down to LA tomorrow to see the family and to take care of some business. I hope it keeps warming up for my return.

in that kinda mood.

2008-03-18T00:42:00.000-07:00

sonny terry and brownie mcghee are two of my favorites. enjoy!

OH SHIRT!

2008-03-15T11:43:00.000-07:00

Last night I finished up this T-shirt graphic for Punch Brothers. I had to re-scan each individual piece of the collage and photoshop it all back together. Now we have a good high res file of our beloved mustache guy.

My buddy Dan helped me out a couple of months ago designing a killer shirt for the band. It seems like only girls are buying it up though, so I tried to make this design a little more masculine. (lets ignore the flowers, birds and buterflys and just focus on the mustache)

Check out Dan's work at:

www.DFreitas.com

(you can see the shirt he made at the Punch Brothers online store.)

On the road again...

2008-03-12T23:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I made my 2 hour journey from 84 degree LA back up to 40 degree Tehachapi. When I got up to the mountain (6,500 ft) there was ice and snow everywhere. Even though last night's temperature was in the 30's I slept better then I have in weeks. Most of today was spent cleaning and organizing my room. It's been 3 or 4 months since I've spent a decent length of time here. It is very quiet. And the air is so fresh and so clean clean.

The cab of my truck. (not much to check out here. I just liked the photo)

Highway 58. Check out those windmills!

The road up to the temple. The inside is just about finished. Now we need to finish puddying up the outside ornamentation and get it painted. Check out that copper colored roof!!!

Screen Shot

2008-03-10T23:02:00.000-07:00

Here is a little happy find. I found this image "photo 9.jpg" stashed in a jobs folder from 2006. Since it has the same kind of center split as the poster below, i thought i'd put it up. It is a screen shot of an illustration in progress I created as part of the packaging for Chris Thile's album "How to Grow A Woman From the Ground". It was the first time for me working with a record label. I had complete artistic freedom to create anything I wanted. There was a song on the record that was titled "Christhile's Magic Bunny Ride" and I created this illustration in honor of that song. When I completed the image I sent it out for final approval and the next day I received an unrelated email saying that track 14 (christhiles magic bunny ride) was now called "The Eleventh Reel" and to please make all necessary changes. HAHA! We kept the image anyway, and later that song received a Grammy nomination for best bluegrass instrumental (of coarse it lost to Doc Watson. But hey, come on, it's Doc Watson!) Now that I look at this version of the bunnies, I kind of like it more then the one that made the booklet. Oh well. if you bought the actual cd you can be the judge.

poster post.

2008-03-10T02:51:00.000-07:00

I've been diggin' through my files to get everything ready for my website and i came across this drawing i made for a poster for my friends Chris & Thomas. It was one of the best shows I saw last year. Check them out.

http://www.myspace.com/chrisandthomas

My favorite song of theirs is "Broken Chair".

and i owe it all to you...

2008-03-10T02:28:00.000-07:00

Those of you who know me know that i am never without my ipod. I recently returned from a 5 week trip to India and Nepal. I left my computer, camera and ipod at home for this trip so that i could be as present as possible. It was one of the longest periods of time i have gone without music in my whole life.

So... I have heard Bill Callahan's music here and there over the years and it didn't really move me (if anything, his voice reminded me of school house rocks or something like that) untill 2 weeks into my trip. As i was sitting in our room at a Buddhist monastery in Sikkhim India practicing what i learned in the previous day's lessons on how to make tormas (traditional Tibetan Buddhist ritual sculptures made from dough) Bill Callahan's song "Rock Bottom Riser" came echoing through my mind. It was one of my little secret hopes that when I got back to the states I could find the song in my head, lay down, close my eyes and listen to it till i fell asleep. So, i found it today. The video by pictureDRIFT's Brendan Cook and Paul McNiel is gorgeous. Enjoy!

PUNCH BROTHERS!!!!!

2008-03-09T23:36:00.000-07:00

The Punch Brothers' first release on Nonesuch Records "Punch" has been out for almost 2 weeks. It was #1 on the Billboard Bluegrass Chart as of last week. Here is the cover of the album: The photo is by one of my favorite photographers and all around sweet person Autumn de Wilde (thanks is due to my brother Mike for his awesome retouch work). The image of the fellow with the mustache is the cover of the booklet. I designed and illustrated the entire album package. It was the first time I didn't seek help from another designer for the type layout. Very nerve racking.

Check out the band's website:

www.punchbrothers.com

Suzanne Ferreira designed the site and my friend Tom DesLongchamp from RISD did the little intro animation.

enjoy!

Tsumori Murals (new mural up Jan. '08)

2008-03-09T21:23:00.000-07:00

spring '07

fall '07

fall'07

spring '08

In January i had the pleasure once again of working with the folks at Satine Boutique to bring the designs of Tsumori Chisato to the walls of their store. This marks the 3rd time i have painted the Tsumori room at Satine. It was a lot of fun. (more pics to come with the spring collection on display)

Welcome to my BLOG!!!!!!!

2008-03-09T20:32:00.000-07:00

well, i never thought that i would ever start a blog, but here it goes. i hope you enjoy it. (i hope i enjoy it).