Calico Jack’s Darke Rum

 When I moved to Mercer Island, they were still installing some new cabinetry in the kitchen and this painting holds the distinction of not being done on canvas, but rather a leftover piece of cabinet siding. 

Once again, I have created a fake product label, in hopes of reeling in actual jobs I’d love. This piece demonstrates so much of what I love about my style of illustration...research, story telling, and discovering really cool fonts. The map in the background illustrates antiquated names of the Caribbean Islands; for example, Haiti was once called “Tortuga”, meaning turtle, and Mexico was then called “Spanish Main”. It was also neat to paint in scriptures here and there stating “here be tygres” or “here be monstres”. The pirate in the lower left is sort of a pirate-ized version of me. The Calico Jack in real life had the skull and crossed sabers (not crossed pistols as depicted here) as his flag logo and my research has proved he was not as ruthless and brutal as some of his brethren...he was rather a dandy, a bit of a coward and allowed two female pirates within his employ, an act looked upon with suspicion and distain at that time. Still, this would be a cool rum label. Captain Morgan has nothing on this.

Measures 23" x 29"