Write, Draw, Sleep, Drink Coffee. 'Cause this is my united mandala of whatever.

What if you wanted a certain Rachro record but someone else already got it?  Bummer.  It happens.

If you really loved a certain record but the original is no longer available,  don't despair - because now some of my previous designs can be printed on merchandise.

It's not a record, but it's still just as cool.

If you have a personal request for a specific record in my collection that you'd like to see in my merch store, please contact me and I'll see what I can do to help.  But check this out.  I must say, the journals and pillows look super cool with a record mandala on them.
I love the hardback blank books, too.  So many nifty doodads.

Travel coffeemug!  Now yer talkin'!

LOOK:  BOOK

Smackwater Jack

I knew that when I had Quincy Jones as my record muse that this one would turn out totally freaking cool. And it did.

The colors on this painted record are much richer in person.  The brown design is a reddish chocolate color and the background colors are a beautiful pale aqua, light blue, and dark blue.  The edges are an orange/rust color.

If you want to hear an incredible, mostly acoustic version of What's Goin' On (made famous by Marvin Gaye), then get yourself a copy of this record.  Unfortunately, this one was too scratched up to listen to, but there's always YouTube or your local record store.

Ce n'est pas un record

This isn't a record, but what it lacks in vinyl it more than makes up for in color saturation and psychedelic goodness.

Let's Dance to Green Onions

This groovy record has some of my favorite songs of all time on it.  Sadly, it came to me heavily scratched with some deep gauges.  But now it lives on in its next incarnation as a Rachro Mandala.

Do yourself a favor and check out this awesome old footage of "Green Onions", by the incredible Booker T and the MG's.

Click right here to see a video of ---> GREEN ONIONS

Meanwhile, back to records.  This is my painted record of The Best of Booker T and the MG's.

Rachro Records in the house...

Have you been looking at my painted records and wondering what they'd look like in your home, framed?

Here's an example, using my recent "Sparks" painted record.

If you would like a custom record painted just for you, please contact me privately through my Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/RecordsByRachro

Badger Badger Badger Badger.....MUSHROOM MUSHROOM

The whole time I was painting this record, I kept getting stuck on the Badger Badger earworm.  If you've never heard it, well, here ya go (*also be sure to check out Weebl and Bob- "When come back bring pie...").

BADGER BADGER BADGER MUSHROOM

ANYWAY.....

I painted this far out, psychedelic Mushroom label record, which was once the Canadian band Chilliwack.

LOOK AT THIS CRAZY RECORD!

You will see colors you have never seen, much like the elusive and silently powerful mantis shrimp.  You will go on a mind journey.  You will see auras.  You will see your past lives.

Hmmm, no. None of those things are true.  You will not see those things, most likely.

Or maybe you will. Who am I to say?

All I can say is that this is a beautiful record with pretty colors that makes me happy to look at.

I hope you like it too.

UPDATE: SOLD!  AND NOW BEING DISPLAYED IN BEAUTIFUL, SUNNY CALIFORNIA.

With a Girl Like You

Hurts So Good, by John Cougar Mellencamp.  This is a 45 record - a departure from my usual LP paintings.

Seeing this song takes me back to my young teen years, back when my Gen X friends and I were the young teen generation that MTV was invented for.  We started high school right as it launched, and we went from a family with 7 local television channels with an 18-hour broadcast day that shut off at midnight to an entertainment explosion 24-hour cable family with 200 channels of never-ending insanity.

What an exciting time.  It changed us all.  The Gen Ys and Millennials that followed us were born into a time of round-the-clock global availability of just about anything and computerized everything at the speed of light.  No need to ever learn about ....w a i t i n g.....  for things.

Because now it's all just right there.

(Do you remember the MTV astronaut?)

Youth.

Donny's in the house

Look at how great Donny Osmond and his crazy horses look on the wall, above the turntable.

Warms my heart.

Glitter in the Gallery

Look how great the framing came out for this green glitter beauty at AllArt Gallery.  I miss this record, but I'm so glad it found a happy home.

Full Range of Foxtrot: How Strange

Flashback to 2012, baby!

I made this nifty, green, 10-inch record a few years back, and it now lives somewhere across the country, but I still remember it fondly.

"HOW STRANGE" is the title and it had a foxtrot, conducted by Orrin Tucker and his orchestra.

If you're curious what this song sounds like, it was featured in the film "Idiot's Delight"

starring Clark Gable.

Here ya go:

Click here to hear ---> HOW STRANGE FROM IDIOT'S DELIGHT

I think my design goes pretty well with it.

Here's a rare work in progress photo, which I almost never do.

Angel Record: Sung in Italian

This little blue and red angel is bringing you some Puccini, and as much as I love the hard stuff I do have to admit my fondness for Madama Butterfly and La Boheme (I'm classy like that).

As I am wont to say, I only listen to one kind of music - the good kind.

This little angel is sitting on a record and whispering Italian pillow talk in your ear.

Shhhh.  Can you hear him?  Little rascal.

Love (and maybe geese) will Steer the Stars

This is another painting of a 5th Dimension album, featuring a song I love, Aquarius.

I think I am actually feeling my mind's true liberation now.  It feels good.

And now with extra birds and flowers.

Thank you hippie people, for writing this awesome song from Hair, and letting The 5th Dimension record such a fabulous edition of it.

I smell a theater medley.

Attention, Color Junkies

If you love color, then this post is for you.  This used to be Great Themes from The Classics.

But now it is IN YOUR FACE with lots of green and red and pink and lemon yellow. I hope you like it.  It has kind of become one of my favorites lately.

Bravo to the unbreakable

This record was Bravo - Great Band Themes, and it was an "unbreakable" record.  I guess unbreakable doesn't also mean unscratchable, because this poor record was basically trashed when I got it. But I think it looks smashing now with a new, very blue paint job.

Hey Jude's

Look out, south Seattle.  My records are coming for your walls.  My next showing will be in beautiful Rainier Beach in Old Town, at one of the coolest bars in the city: Jude's Old Town.

You KNOW that you want to drink some handcrafted local brew while gazing up at Donny Osmond.  Don't lie.  You and your crazy horses.  See you there.

UPDATE: SOLD!

Designs to Color!

Normally, I just post my records.
But this is a special mention for Designs to Color!  This psychedelic, abstract coloring book was *THE ORIGINAL*, created in 1965 by my beloved aunt, Betty Schaffner.  She was an artistic pioneer, decades ahead of her time.

Coloring books with unusual subject matter are the current "zen" thing - but what you need to know is that the Betty Schaffner Designs to Color book was the first, created almost 50 years ago.  She knew she had created a phenomenon then, and now it's back in full force.

My aunt believed that everyone had innate creativity, and in a time where she felt traditional coloring books for children lacked imagination, she boldly created and published designs that could be decorated in a unique way. No two people color the designs the same.  Each design can be colored and interpreted differently, as many times as you like.  The possibilities are endless, when you color in one of the Designs to Color books. Six books were published in the late 1960s.

They are for people of any age, any gender, any ability, and any lifestyle to enjoy.  Use markers, crayons, watercolors, ink pens, or whatever you want to color the designs. No limits.  Open your mind...

And you know what else?  You can color within the lines --- or not!  Your choice. The lines are only a suggestion of where to take your thoughts.

My aunt Betty and these books were an enormous influence on my life and creativity.  I had the unique privilege of living with my aunt until her tragic death, and I am so happy to see that her spirit lives on with these magical designs.

Here is a link to the coloring books, available online:

http://www.tallfellow.com/default/tf-designs-to-color.html

You can also request them at your local bookstore or art supply store.

HAPPY COLORING!

Go Ahead and Take a Ride; No Telling What You'll Find.

Here's a record I've listened to about a million times.  I love you, Go-Go's.

Jane Wiedlin, you are a bonafide goddess and a genius.

I painted this for a lovely couple that lives near the beach in California.

The Go-Go's had a huge influence on my teenage self in the 80s.

Something for the girl with everything

A very generous person gave me their collection of old Sparks albums, which included this one called Propaganda.  I think it came out super groovy.

If you would like to purchase this perky album, please visit my Big Cartel store with this link to the record:
http://recordsbyrachro.bigcartel.com/product/sparks-painted-record-mandala

Thank you for looking!

Hawaii calls

The Best of Hawaii Calls.

I adore this record and it will be displayed at Jude's Old Town,

in the heart of beautiful Rainier Beach in Seattle.

Glitter in the gallery

 

I love this one. Lime green glitter and soft red design.  This one wasn't planned.  It was improvised and I think it came out rather deliciously.  I love when art just happens. It now lives in a gallery in Houston.

Say it correctly in Russian

 

Here, above, is the strange baby cousin to the other Russian language records.  It is 7-inches in diameter, just like a regular 45 rpm record.  But the inner label and spindle hole are the size of a 12-inch LP.  Weird and neat!  You don't see that everyday.

This was called "Say it Correctly in Russian."  Well, okay.

Your lonesome nights are over

This record used to be Roger Williams' Songs of the Fabulous Fifties.  It featured the songs: Mister Sandman, Mona Lisa, Goodnight Irene, and Love is a Many-Splendored Thing.

This teal and brown paisley record went to live, appropriately, with a man who really loves oldies radio.

Hawaii, instrumentally yours...

 

 

Pink!  Hawaii!  Flowers!  Wheeeee!

 



Buddah Records presents

 

This is one of my favorites.  It was painted as an anniversary present for my good friends, Amy and Tiger.

It lives in Los Angeles.  Wanna see it close up?  Sure you do.

 





Syntonic Research, Inc. Environments 10. Side 1: English Meadow

Record reads:

Syntonic Research, Inc.  Environments 10.  Side 1:  English Meadow:

"Bird should be heard, as if from a distance.  Rushing water should just barely be heard."

(*Fun Rachro fact:  My mother used to listen to this sort of ambient, biofeedback-ey, sound effect stuff, back in the 70's.  She also had a record with whales talking, and swore that she could understand them. Oh......you hippies...)

ANYWAY, this record has gone to live with a newlywed couple, several states away.





Arteries, Veins, and Theater

I painted this record for the annual Theatre Off Jackson fundraising auction.  The songs on this 10-inch record were all about love and the heart, so it inspired me to paint in red/blue heart colors.



Blue and living in Hempstead, Texas

 The blue record above was painted for a man who *really* likes the color blue.

I turned this design into some really cool business cards.

The Towering Inferno: An Architect's Dream

 

The record above was formerly the Warner Brothers soundtrack to The Towering Inferno.

Whoever owned it previously circled the side number and the track entitled, "An Architect's Dream."

We may never know why...