Bob Paltrow
Award-winning Graphic Design and Illustration. Creative campaigns for video, print and social media. Specializing in creative campaigns, corporate identity and branding—with niche focus in natural and organic services and products; music and entertainment; restaurant; apparel; and publication design including books and magazines. WordPress website development and expertise. Distinctive Web Design. Adobe Creative Suite expert at your service.
I opened shop as Bob Paltrow Design in Bellingham WA in 1994, and serve clientele regionally, nationally, and internationally.
I have considerable academic and professional experience in a variety of media and art forms, including audio production, recording and mixing; videography and video editing; painting, drawing, photography, and sculpture.
I graduated cum laude from the University of Arizona, Tucson, in 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts & Sciences degree —Studio Art with an emphasis in Graphic Design and illustration. I minored in 20th Century Art History. The U of A’s design program was rigorous in developing hands-on processes, with an even greater emphasis on concept-driven design.
I studied sculpture (figure modeling) one semester with master sculptor Luis Jimenez, who greatly influenced me as an artist.
During my senior year in college, my poster entry won a design competition to promote a year-long lecture series featuring social activist artists, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).
After graduating from college, I did a variety of freelance work including children’s pop-up book production; pen and ink illustrations for public school math and science books; illustrations for field guides for Southwest Parks and Monuments Association; working as a typesetter for a weekly re-sale magazine; and was the principal in-house artist for a local coffeehouse chain in Tucson, AZ creating menus, ads, t-shirt designs, table tents, posters – the whole gamut.
In 1992, I got a great job as the in-house designer for award-winning music label Soundings of the Planet in Tucson. It was at Soundings that I gained experience and insight into working with musicians — as well as the independent record label side of marketing and distribution. I was employed by Soundings for five years, designing dozens of cd covers and packaging, catalogs, posters, calendars, point-of-purchase displays, new release flyers, specialty promotions, bumper stickers and buttons – a lot of great, fun stuff. I had a fabulous assistant who is a great artist in his own right, Mykl Wells, and we were part of an 8 person marketing team. In 1994, that job would take me to Bellingham, WA where Soundings husband-and-wife founders Dean and Dudley Evenson had re-located their recording studio in 1989. I would begin my own business a couple of years later, but I continue to do most of their album and design work, including social media, some video production, as well as designing and maintaining their website. It has been a long and wonderful professional as well as a personal relationship.
Highlights and Recognition
- AWARD (2019) Best Book Illustration SILVER as voted The Coalition of Visionary Resources for “Quieting the Monkey Mind: How to Meditate with Music” by Dudley Evenson & Dean Evenson, MS. Client: Soundings of the Planet
- AWARD (2019) Best Cover Design BRONZE as voted The Coalition of Visionary Resources for “Quieting the Monkey Mind: How to Meditate with Music” by Dudley Evenson & Dean Evenson, MS. Client: Soundings of the Planet
- AWARD (2011) 1st RUNNER-UP Web Design as voted by The Coalition of Visionary Retailers for soundings.com
- AWARD (2011) GOLD/1st PLACE – Washington Festival and Events Association
PNW Summit Awards – Commemorative Poster Design “Anacortes Arts Festival 50th Anniversary Poster”
Client: Anacortes Arts Festival - AWARD (2011) GOLD/1st PLACE – Washington Festival and Events Association
PNW Summit Awards – Promotional Poster Design “2011 Movies at Magnuson Park”
Client: Epic Events – Client: Anacortes Arts Festival - AWARD (1990) WINNER of National Endowment of the Arts Poster Competition at the University of Arizona
- AWARD (1998) “Silver Microphone” National Finalist for writing original ad score for Whatcom Transportation Authority – “Bus Stop” – a rap song promoting public transportation to young people during the summer
- Have illustrated and/or designed over 200 music albums
- Illustrated the children’s book “Children of the Earth” (1996)
- Wrote and produced the musical score for the short film “SNAP!” directed by Zachary Brown (2017)
- 2023 – In the middle—the vast, endless middle—of writing my first book, a science fiction novel, “The Last Forest; Future’s Last Hope.” https://bobpaltrow.com/about/
- 2023 – Currently illustrating a children’s book with author/songwriter Tracy Spring, based on her song “Love Doesn’t Care Who You Love.” The art production is funded with the help and generosity of donors to our successful Kickstarter campaign in early 2022! The book is due for release summer 2023.
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Giving Back
In addition to my graphics art training, I have a great deal of experience working with groups of people, specifically to produce fundraisers and plan events for a variety of causes including domestic violence awareness, women’s issues, and race issues. I hosted a Martin Luther King Jr. Day open mic at the Community Food Coop in Bellingham for 9 years. I strive to support local environmental issues and preserving animal habitats. I have also emceed events on stage, so I have experience thinking on my feet while multi-tasking. I believe that my abilities and skills as an artist, designer, and illustrator are greatly enhanced through multi-cultural and community immersion: you have to look inside and outside for inspiration.
Music
Music is also a big part of my life. I studied classical & jazz piano and music composition formally from the time I was 10 through my first year of college, majoring in music, before switching up and dedicating myself academically and professionally to design.
In 2009, I worked with singer/songwriter and choreographer Sabrina Gomez, writing a couple of songs and helping to produce the musical score for an original work she produced through the Blaine (WA) Performing Arts Center, titled “Esperanza.” One of my aspirations is to do more scoring, audio design and music production in the future.
I still compose and perform in the Bellingham area both as a solo performer (acoustic piano) and in various ensembles. I currently play piano and organ with singer-songwriter/ukulele-ist Bailey Ann Martinet as part of the blues/jazz/folk duo Ruby Flambé. I also play keyboards with the band Ebb, Slack, and Flood, a funk/blues/r&b group out of Anacortes WA. I have an ongoing recording project with an as-yet-unnamed group with Miguel Ortiz (Pasco, WA) and Rachel MacDonough (Bellingham) that features loops and samples with live music performance. I have a small home studio and am proficient and creative with Apple’s Logic Studio Pro recording/mixing software.
I’ve produced and co-produced several albums of original music including
- Broken Promise Land (2022) 6-song EP – YouTube lyric-video playlist
- Ruby Flambé (2018) – Ruby Flambé (Bailey Ann Martinet & Bob Paltrow)
- Music for the short film SNAP! (2017) – musical score recorded & produced by Bob Paltrow
- Always Here For You (2013) – Bob Paltrow and Burning Clover
- Lucky (2008) – solo piano instrumental, original compositions
- Patriots of Tomorrow LIVE (2007) at Northshore Terrace
- Carousel (2002) – solo piano instrumental, original compositions
From music to design, Bob Paltrow champions giving back
December 13, 2023 at 5:00 a.m.
Bob Paltrow sits beside the grand piano at the FireHouse Arts and Events Center. In addition to being an accomplished musician and songwriter, Paltrow is a graphic designer and budding author. If needed, he can also officiate your wedding.(Finn Wendt/Cascadia Daily News)
Musician and graphic designer Bob Paltrow said he’s “61 and having fun.”
Judging by what he describes as the projects of which he is most proud, that’s an understatement.
“I give back with my talents,” he said. “I believe in equal opportunities for all, and I want that equality for all people that are marginalized in our world. I’ve worked with many artists, writers, musicians, small businesses and individuals, and activists who want to make a positive impact on a world that needs as much help as we can give it.”
Following is a smattering of what the Bellingham resident has accomplished in the last few decades:
He was on the design and production crew of the Northwest Herbal Fair in Deming, for 12 years.
He was co-host of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Poetry Open Mic at the Community Food Co-op with local poet and author Kevin Murphy for nine years. He also designed all the posters for the event.
“MLK Jr. is emblematic and a hero to me, his life and purpose has largely guided my social activism in life,” Paltrow said.
He donated graphic work to the campaign to save the Hundred Acre Wood near Fairhaven, which is now a protected area.
He produced a successful Kickstarter campaign and album with Bailey Ann Martinet to produce an album of original music, “Ruby Flambé.”
In the 1990s, he helped produce two successful fundraisers and awareness campaigns for WomenCare Shelter of Bellingham.
Currently, he’s working with musician Tracy Spring on a children’s book based on her song “Love Doesn’t Care Who You Love,” and he’s close to completing the illustrations for the book, which he said has been an intensive project.
He’s also in the process of writing his own book, “The Last Forest,” which he describes as “a futuristic science-fiction adventure.”
“I’m a long way into it, and have a long way to go with it,” Paltrow jokes.
He also has a side project, HempSquatch, with the goal of educating and promoting the myriad uses of hemp as a sustainable crop.
He’s written more than 350 songs and has performed with bands such as Akaraka, Land of Mu, The Bailout, Patriots of Tomorrow, WuHu with Bekah Zachritz, Hathorakissa, and Your Highness. His current band, Cats Like Us, plays original music and covers.
Bob Paltrow plays the piano. Paltrow, 61, has written more than 350 songs. His current band, Cats Like Us, plays original music and covers. (Finn Wendt/Cascadia Daily News)
Before Bellingham
Paltrow was born in Miami Beach, Florida on March 14, 1962. His dad met his mother in Florida, where his father was a DJ at a popular radio station. She was a Dutch immigrant and concentration camp survivor, Paltrow said, who came to America alone at age 24.
Paltrow inherited some of his parents’ interests. His father had a degree in music education and was a singer and accordion player, and played clarinet in the U.S. Army marching band.
His mom was an illustrator of children’s books who spoke seven languages and worked as an interpreter for the United Nations.
He grew up in Massapequa, New York, and Tucson, Arizona. Paltrow attended the University of Arizona starting as a music student, took a hiatus, then returned as a theology major, and then earned a bachelor of arts and sciences degree with an emphasis in graphic design illustration.
He spent a lot of time with his grandparents in New York.
“My grandfather‘s law office was above a newsstand that sold comic books,” he said.
His grandfather would give him a dollar and he would go to the comic store and pick up as many 10- to 15-cent comics he could.
“I would read all the comic books in about 10 minutes,” he said, “much to my grandparents’ consternation.”
Then his grandmother started supplying him with pens and crayons, watercolors and paper, to keep him busy.
“I began to copy and color the comic books I was reading — Spider-Man, The Silver Surfer and The Hulk,” he said. “I would faithfully try to draw and re-create them with pencils and magic markers. And that was really how I began doing art.”
As a multimedia artist he has cultivated creativity. For Paltrow, it involves graphic design, illustration, video-editing, creating music scores, arranging and producing music and video, marketing, branding, and managing social media accounts.
“I enjoy trying new things,” he said. “I’m not afraid to try and fail. The creative life is an interesting journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance.”
He’s operated as Bob Paltrow Design since 1995 and has designed more than 300 album covers for independent musicians including Dean and Dudley Evenson, Dana Lyons, Havilah Rand, Robert Blake, The Naughty Blokes, Peter Ali, Anna Schadd, and Lydia McCauley.
About 10 years ago, a couple asked him to marry them, so he got a Universal Light Ministries certification online.
“I think I was good at helping them create a ceremony and vows that fit what they wanted to do,” he said.
They are the only couple he’s married, but since then, he’s been asked to give eulogies. He said it’s always an honor.
“I think I’m asked because I’m a good communicator by nature and by trade,” Paltrow said. “I try to listen and integrate what people are communicating to me. I keep it real and I see the preciousness and sacredness in what is here now, and who is missed.”
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