Animals and Bluegrass pair together like fries and mayonnaise—if that's something you're into, 'cause we all know I really, really am. Strengeplukk relinquished to me full control of the visual concept for their upcoming album Nålauget, and as a starting point Andreas, the group’s singer and mandolinist, sent me descriptions of each song (because I'm terrible at listening to lyrics—especially when they're in Norwegian). One of the songs was an ode to the farmers of Norway, where only 3% of land is farmable, and I wanted to be able to subtly reference this within my illustration without making farming or farmers the main focus. This Bar-Tailed Godwit (a migratory coastal wader) found itself by happenstance in one of Norway's few barley fields, and was shocked to discover that the worm it attempted to slurp up was no worm, but a fiddle bow!

It's only been a couple of years now since I decided to take a stab at (mostly) full-time freelance design and illustration, and I've been very thankful to have so many contacts within the Bluegrass world wanting to work with me and passing my name around. I've been doing work for Strengeplukk for just about four years now and I'm thankful they keep coming back for more because I love working with them! Thanks guys, you all rule!