---
title: Jerry Garcia Thought of Himself as an Artist Who Played Music
description: Jerry Garcia painted in oils at seventeen and carried sketchbooks on every Grateful Dead tour from 1987. His 1992 art book is back in print.
author: Dr Marina Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
updated: 2026-08-01T15:16:46.764Z
canonical: https://richbooksmagazine.com/article/jerry-garcia-paintings-drawings-sketches-back-in-print
categories: Non-Fiction
content_type: Profile
region: United States
publication: Rich Books
access: members
schema_type: Article
---

Jerry Garcia is remembered for what he did with his hands on a guitar. He spent a good deal of his life using them on paper. He painted in oils by the age of seventeen, worked in acrylic airbrush, watercolour and ink, made images on a computer, and from 1987 carried sketchbooks on every Grateful Dead tour. In his youth, by the Sausalito Center for the Arts' account of his work, he thought of himself as an artist who played music.

That work has now been gathered back into print. Jerry Garcia Music Arts has partnered with Ted Harrington and his company Terrapin Stationers to reissue "J. Garcia: Paintings, Drawings and Sketches", first printed in 1992.

## Asthma Kept Him Indoors, and He Filled the Time Drawing

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