Self-Portrait

Have you ever tried something over and over again and just keep running headlong into the same place in the same brick wall and the only thing getting dents in it is your skull?  Yeah, that's a significant part of my life story...

El Jumpo...

Eat the Strawberries

Sometimes you're stuck between a rock and a hard place (or "the Rock and a hard case" if you're Sean Connery).  What do you do?  Fret and worry your way out of it?  Resign yourself to failure?  Or maybe just live in the moment, knowing you've done and/or are doing the best you can?  Today's drawing after the jump...

Artwork Wednesday: Shadow

The last couple of weeks have been just this side of overwhelming.  In the process of preparing for shipping I've also moved into a new place and regained a roommate; all that brings along its own stressors.  Oftentimes I feel like I'm onstage, or under the scrutiny of everyone.  Granted, I somewhat put myself out there sometimes, but more than once I've concluded that I am essentially a glutton for punishment - in that regard, sometimes I think I should've joined the Marines.

Today's drawing is from a few years ago.  It's called "Shadow" - story after the jump.

Artwork Wednesday

Wednesdays are for art.  I enjoy drawing (and on rare occasions, painting); I’ve done a lot of it.  The thing is, I have a ton of drawings on my hard drives and no one with whom to share them.  Maybe that’s not a big deal, but isn’t that what art is for; first for the artist to express himself then to share that expression with the world?  So, from here on out, every Wednesday I’ll share a dabbling I’ve done in the art world with the story behind it (if any).

Today, I present “Open Mind.”

A little background: my most prodigious periods have been while working at a call center.  This is my first work from my first call center period.  I drew it during the training class as I learned how to take calls for a Holiday Inn call center which no longer exists in Cary, NC.  This would have been some time in August 2002. 

This style of squiggly, rippling shapes was first introduced to me by a friend in high school.  One day he randomly showed me this rather psychedelic looking design consisting of loops and whorls and I loved what it did to my eyes.  I asked how he did it and he showed me.  It was simple enough: start with your main shape by drawing a big outline and then work your way inwards.  The effect can be profound for such a simple technique and that’s what I like it about it.  As far as I’m concerned, the fewer moving parts, the better.

That technique stuck with me.  I found it to be an easy, yet productive style of doodling in class.  I took this idea into college and then into the workforce as seen here.  Essentially, the above drawing is just a doodle.  I think I started with the eye; I love eyes.  “Windows to the soul” and all that.  I really had no plan for it; after the eye, I figured it needed an eyebrow; then a cheekbone; then a mouth, a nose, a neck…but no top for the head.

“No top means it’s open, right?” I reasoned to myself.  “An open head means an open brain – hey, kind of like an open mind!”  And so then you see what’s going on in the open mind.  Just  a bunch of shapes and lines you and I may not get, but the guy there gets it; most of it.