I met Paul at Lake Chad Cafe during my neighborhood Jackson St. Jazz Walk. It was a concert of Seattle’s Jazz band Jim O’Halloran’s World Jam. The level of improvisation of bassist Farki Dosumov, drummer Royce Shorter Jr. and my friend keyboardist Marina Albero. This is what I wrote that day in my personal Journal:

“The place is crowded with people, we hardly find a spot to sit in. The atmosphere is effervescent. The improvisional performance is spectacular, because of it’s vibrant energy and spontaneity. This is quite difficult to find in live Jazz music today. Bossa, Free Jazz … very vivid and fun. Marina is an artist with such incredible strength, and a top musician. The scene is hypnotic: a teenage couple dancing by the band in a Beatnik fashion. I am happy.”

Suddenly, this guy sitting next to me who was carrying a ball full of Jazz books, got up and stood by the microphone to read his thrilling poem dedicated to one of my favorite Jazz saxophonists: Roland Kirk. The poet was Paul Nelson. A few minutes later we chatted, we later became friends and he told me about SPLAB.

SPLAB is an intergenerational spokenword center dedicated to Poetry and Story-telling. They work in creating an environment by encouraging writers to develop their individual writing practices.

If you are in Seattle and want to hear words about equality, consciousness and freedom, check out their events: http://splab.org

STARLESS
1988
Acrylics
Inspired by the King Crimson song “Starless”

THE NIGHT OF THE OWLETS
1988
Acrylics
Looking for the light. The night of the owls … it’s time.

THE CLOCK OF MY DISTANCE
1988
Acrylics
“The clock of my distance is a cradle of vipers
where I feed your absence with the poison of longing.
The clock of my distance, we invent it ourselves,
But you know that you wind it with the hand of my soul. “

LADY WITH TEAR
1989
Etching engraving
There is nothing more naked than a lady’s tear.

SUN KING
1991
Watercolors, acrylics, inks
The sun is the King. The sun is Love. God is Love. God is the Sun.

THE SONG OF THE SEA GOAT
1990
Inks, pencil and acrylics
Illustration of Peter Sinfield’s poem

KOOKY PETS
2010
Illustrations for the book “Kooky Pets”
Inside all of us lives a secret creature called “Kooky Pet” that catalyzes our most intimate dreams and longings. This book is a collection of imaginary portraits of these absurd and amusing characters, including stories and descriptions of witnesses.

GLIMPSES FROM THE MUMMIFIED WOOD
2011
Pencil
Sketch for the book “Visions of the Mummified Forest”
It is no coincidence that many of the creatures that came out of my pencils have horns and goat shapes. It has to do with my genes and those of my ancestors, who lived in a small town called Lendoño (land of pastures), in the mountains of the Basque Country.

WAKE UP, MAIDA
2011
Acrylics
Illustration for the book “Glimpses Of the Mummified Wood”
The awakening of the godmother of all the creatures of the fairies in the forest. It is a very special moment that only happens once a year in the evening, coinciding with the arrival of the winter season: the rebirth of feminine energy. One of the main reasons why modern society in the Western world is so unbalanced is due to the loss of such feminine energy. Women represent the protection of Mother Nature. They maintain the wisdom of an instinctive and profound communication with the universe.

My baby Nova visited me to keep my ego down. Perfect!

SHE DIVINE TELLS ME – HARMONY
2014
Felt pens
Original sketch
She Divine Tells Me is a project about female energy that emerges in our world to recover the balance of original and natural life.

EPOKKA
2013
Digital
Illustration for a promotional video.

SUN
2013
Paper sculpture

Thank you Naomi! 

Birthday flowers from my neighbor artist Robert!

Thinking of new visions and sounds for the future.

Thanks for the pictures to: Naomi Niles & Elizabeth Carpenter.

Dear friends: in October I turn 50.

This year, I feel that I need to give something very special from myself.

Many times my friends have told me that coming into my bedrooms and
studios is like entering another world, another time, another
dimension. Now, I feel that I need to give you a pass to my innermost
world.

IMAGINARIUM is my invitation to make a 50-year trip of my universes,
creations, creatures, visions, and sounds. This journey for me is an
act of sacrifice, love, and exorcism.

I must confess: most of the work that I’m going to show, more than 60
pieces, have never been exhibited before. For more than 20 years,
they’ve been locked away in closets and folders, victims of my
self-criticism, embarrassment and false humility.

Now, I feel that, for better or worse, this is my journey and I want
to share it with you. In their imperfection, all of these worlds and
works, are sacred and they must flow for you.

In this journey, you will meet:

• A hidden door to my Magic Realism quarters.
• Pieces of my heart entangled in ghostly love stories.
• Ancient shamans from undiscovered worlds raising the cosmic conscience.
• Surreal soundscapes surrounded by tribal heartbeats.
• Impossible creatures that you’d like to hug.
• Labyrinths of analog woods.
• Myself, here, for you.
• And more…

From time to time, the planets line up and you feel complete. This year, I’ve had the privilege of working on one of those musical projects where creative freedom, illusion and friendship converge. In addition to my task to create the cover as in other Don’t Disturb’s projects, this time I was also generously invited to contribute as a musician with some synthesizer tracks. It was a gas!

Don’t Disturb is the Jazz / Fusion solo project of my good friend, keyboardist Juan Carlos Díaz -aka Samper-. “Mi Otro Yo” is his third work as Don’t Disturb.

“Mi Otro Yo” is a diverse instrumental album, created in a very spontaneous way. It’s full of refreshing, whimsical and dynamic ideas. The motto to create this cover was to capture the general feel that I’d get from the songs. As I was getting the new themes from Madrid, the sensations of vivid colors and geometric forms full of energy were forming in my mind. That’s what I have finally captured on this cover.

My good friend Samper is also one of the most essential people in my life. We met 30 years ago when I invited him to join Ty-Jir, the Spanish progressive rock group that I was involved with in those days. Since then and through the years, we have collaborated on various musical projects and shared unforgettable moments. Almost always between tears of laughter. It’s been very exciting and emotional for me to portray my friend Samper as I’ve sensed in countless concerts and moments of recording studio: with a quiet gesture, secure arms, and harmonious hands.

• “Van”
• “Piso 35”
• “Leon”

“A Ray of Sunshine” Listen to this little hymn to cosmic love in Bandcamp.

July 1970. The intense rays of the sun in Formentera, Balearic Islands, penetrate my skin to the rhythm of a pop song plays everywhere you go in Spain. It’s  Los Diablos “A Ray of Sun”. That happy music, that feeling of bright light, has been with me all my life.

47 years later, I’ve wanted to capture the cheerful and simple feeling from the original song. I’ve tried to take it to a space scenario that has a lot to do with my childhood in 1969/1970. So I’ve been surrounded by some of my fav analogue synth sounds: Minimoog, Prophet 5, ARP Solina …

In a way, this theme is also a tribute to some of the pioneering electronic music artists I admire the most: Jean Jacques-Perrey, Dick Hyman, Gershon Kingsley …

The original theme was written in 1969 by Claude Carrère and Daniel Vangarde under the title “Fernando” and recorded by French artist Sheila. In 1970 it was re-recorded by the pop group Los Diablos, with new lyrics in Spanish and released under the title “Un Rayo de Sol” (A Ray of Sunshine). The song sold more than 600,000 copies in Spain and hit the top of the charts for several weeks.

For the cover, I’ve been inspired by the pop / mid-century style from that period, which used to be all over the place: bathing suits, wallpapers, books … Verner Panton was one of the precursors of this futuristic style. It’s been such a fun job to do and I’m still hungry for more!

Sometimes I get my fingers in the waters of the Pacific Ocean waters, here in Seattle, and I feel that I’m connected to the warm coasts of Spain, my homeland. I like to think that one of my beloved people is right at the same time doing just the same at the other side of the world. The water connect us. The sea lends its hand.

Leaving your homeland and your people to travel so far for a long time, it’s a tough dream to live. I often think of flamenco artists who, like me, left their roots in – for example – Cádiz to take their art to then far shores in New York. At the rhythm of the clapping, the words of Estrella Morente’s song come to my mind: “My life was leap. Recolonization. Permanent wreckage… Madrid, America, Madrid… There in América, New York“. I have dreamed of Estrella singing this moaning. By my side, Paco “el de Lucía” drives me to tears with his now eternal guitar.

This cover is a tribute to all artists who know this feeling of needing to experience their art in distant lands, despite the deep pain that entails. It could be Barcelona, Sevilla, Valencia … It could be Seattle, Los Angeles, Austin, Tokyo… In the absence, all distances are the same as Cadiz-New York.

In the gloomy Seattle winter days like today, the speakers of my sound system become my fireplace. I rub my hands and bring them closer. The Mediterranean sound of Chano Domiguez keeps me warm and comforts me.

I miss the Mediterranean culture in which I grew up, full of Sundays under the sun enjoying the swimming, family, good friends, good food, and the Latin music that makes us feel alive. Without the fusion sound by Dorantes, Avishai Cohen, Iceberg… I couldn’t make it.

For this album cover, I’ve played around to convey the feelings of fun, diversity and happiness that fusion music brings to me. I’ve enjoyed using abstract and colorful styles a lot, inspired by artists from my homeland who I admire since my childhood, such as Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso and Rafael Alberti.

The heat from my speakers is fading out again. Let’s drop a little more of Cal Tjader to revive it! I’m warming up the pencils and move on for a new album cover.

It’s Friday night. I’m sitting at my drawing board in my studio loft at Hiawatha Artspace, Seattle. Through the generous windows, I can see the lights of the tall downtown buildings. I can hear them talk about magical and mysterious stories going on down there: impossible love affairs, unexpected reunions with old friends, the discovery of never imagined flavors at exotic restaurants, and the rapturous blowing of a sax at a night club. At my studio, Dexter Gordon provides the soundtrack to this everlasting moment that I’m trying to capture with all my might.

To capture just in one image a feeling that has been with me all my life… That’s all I want. It is now crystallized at this Seattle studio. To capture, in a second, a whole universe of sensations: a sordid and tearing jazz ballad… a glass of wine by the candle lights, the sweeping perfume of a woman passing by, whom you don’t see and will never get to see… the monorail rushing across the night streets carrying couples in their blind dates… the immensity of Seattle’s lights creating an abstract puzzle competing with a starry sky…

It’s Friday night. After many workdays, I get to finish this new album cover. I´ve only 20 minutes left to reach the Jazz Alley club, where I’m about to make a dream come true: Bobby Caldwell, one of my teenage idols, plays live. The brilliant alto sax of Andrew Neu asserts it: definitively, it is Jazzin’ in Seattle.

Seattle downtown from my studio.

Tito Puente, Cal Tjader & Eddie Palmieri, Cachao, Perez Prado… they are some of my Latin music heroes. It’s been exciting to put all of the fun vibes into this album cover.

In the forthcoming year, I’m willing to work in other Latin and fusion projects, here in Seattle and also in Spain. If you’re a musician into this type of music and dig this, gimme a shout and let’s be the kings of Mambo!

This illustration piece is my very personal tribute to a song that changed my life as a teenager: “Awaken”, from YES 1977 album “Going For the One“. The original size is 24″ x 24”. My older sister bought the album that very year. I was 10 years old and very soon I was completely mesmerized with Jon Anderson‘s distinctive vocals and lyrics, Rick Wakeman’s synthesizer and master organ, and the creativity and uniqueness in the whole band.

“Awaken” helped me remember about how we are all connected with the universe in so many ways. For many years, I’ve always wanted to put this cosmic spiritual feeling into images. Sometime during this summer, while watching a video of Jon Anderson playing the song with a young orchestra, I was completely moved to tears. I saw it clearly in my head and I realized I was ready to put my pencils to work.

For the last 30 years, I’ve had the honor and privilege of meeting Jon Anderson and other members of YES in different cities around the world and talk to them about many amazing things. Last month, I met them again after ARW‘s show here in Seattle’s Moore Theater and I had the opportunity of handing Jon a digital copy of this piece. Like I told him “I put all my heart on it“.

If you are a YES / Jon Anderson fan, you will be able to recognize in this artwork many symbols related to him: whales, hummingbirds, birds of fire, Chinese bells, ancient gods, Accrington Stanley football club, and of course, the sun. Always the sun…

“High vibration go on
to the sun, oh let my heart dreaming
past a mortal as me.
Where can I be?”

Jon Anderson, 1977