I was very happy to collaborate with Kentucky for Kentucky on this project. What began as a simple Derby-themed piece, became a illustrated chronicle of Hunter S. Thompson's 1970 piece "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved".
The names of the horses, like Mayblossom Senility and Whiskey Gentry, were taken from the story. I endeavored to illustrated the silks in a name-appropriate way, such as the chemical compound for 1970's formula of Mace, referred to in the story as Chemical Billy. The text was hand distressed in Photoshop and placed letter by letter for a rougher appearance, the colors sampled from vintage 1970's fabrics.
I owe a debt of thanks to the guys with Kentucky for Kentucky for their encouragement and assistance. You can see their blog post (with a really cool short video) here. This 700 imprint run (200 inprint first run with a 500 imprint second run) was printed by Thoroughbred Printing in Lexington, Kentucky on French Paper Company 80# speckle tone paper.
