Matty Groves

Cardigan

Here is a cardigan that I recently completed. I like earth tones.

-NB

Haul Away Joe

Here is a spontaneous recording that I made to practice with a new recording software. Just a bit of nautical nonsense with our favorite sea shanty. We attempted to make it slightly drunken and rambling sounding which was great fun. Yar har.

Instrumentals and Vocals: Chris Burrus
Additional Vocals: Nick Burrus

-CB

Folk Music Has Roots

This is a photograph that I took for my university's art and literature publication. It is a prototype of a concept for a future Willoughby Sprig music video that I've been thinking about for a while. I took this picture out in the country at a friend's house at around 7 in the morning. It was damp, full of skeeters, and too early to be hanging instruments from a tree. I titled it "Folk Music Has Roots" because sometimes I pitifully attempt to be clever.

-CB

A drawing from the summer with all of its preliminary sketches

So I thought it would be interesting to do this, since I've seen it on other artists' blogs and I always enjoyed looking at it. These are all the preliminary sketches to one of the drawings I did over the summer. I'll put it in chronological order so you can see the development to the final product.




here is the very first sketch where I was trying to quickly log the idea in my sketchbook. Often ideas for drawings pop into my head as quick flashes of inspiration, so I try to capture the idea of what I saw in that quick instant by getting the basic idea on the page to the point where I can remember the details.


That's a rather phallic jellyfish but whatever.






















The next sketch was for the boat. I decided it should be a caravel, just because I liked the triangular form of the sails. I based my sketch from a drawing I found in a book called "The Book of Old Ships and Something of Their Evolution and Romance." It was lying around in my brother's room.


















Here is the pencil sketch.
























Next is the jellyfish. I looked at lots of pictures and videos of jellyfish. I wanted to combine elements from all different kinds into something that was grotesquely organic but also perhaps strangely beautiful. I may have just gotten down the grotesque part but I find to also be aesthetically pleasing. The sketch almost ended up being a complete drawing by itself.














After inking the boat and the jellyfish, I was stuck on how I was going to make this scene look like it was underwater. It is tricky to draw a void with something like a pen which only makes marks and lines. I wanted to capture the effect of shimmering light at the top and a denser darkness at the bottom where the deeper water began. I was being cautious so I printed several copies of what I had of the drawing and tested things like horizontal and vertical lines and stippling.














I ended up deciding on cross-hatching and tried to manipulate negative and positive space. I nearly cross-hatched myself crazy with this drawing. Here is the completed project and a link (if you copy an paste it) to see it larger. I have named the boat "The Albatross" in reference to the Rime of the Ancient Mariner. I'm thinking that I may eventually make some sort of comic out of this, and this would be a splash page.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/52063497@N04/5317769857/sizes/l/in/photostream/

-NB

CONCERT SOON

The Clog Fiddle Project

This is the product of about four weeks of research and exploration in folk instrument building that I put myself through last summer. It was great fun, and I have acquired two more wooden shoes to refine this art and eventually make millions of dollars. Because everyone wants a clog fiddle and that cannot be argued.

1.It's more efficient than most shoes, being musical as well as functional (Just slip your foot through the sound hole in the top.)

2.Made from 100 percent recycled

materials

3. Women like it.

I found an image and some vague measurements of this instrument in a book at my university library, and decided that I had to have one. I have not had any experience building instruments, but have wanted to explore it for some time. The folkiness of this appealed to me and it seemed easy enough for a beginner (not having to deal with building a soundbox). This fiddle is mainly made of walnut (for the fingerboard, tailpiece and tuning pegs) cedar (for the soundboard) and maple (for the bridge and neck). The walnut is my personal favorite and is recycled from an old log cabin.

I must say that it doesn't sound particularly pretty, and there are plenty of things to change for rounds two and three.

But all in all I'm pretty proud of it, considering all I basically had was a rasp, some sand paper, a band saw, a conical gouge, a radio and a lot of spare time. Pretty good for a shoe.

I also became very addicted to NPR because of this thing. I don't think there is any kind of gum that can fix that.

Anywho, I'm looking forward to having greater success in the clog fiddle department!

-CB