Melts In Your Head, Not In Your Hands

Catcher - Aug 1982 -  melted crayon on matt board - 14 x 22 in.

I guess I had a lot of broken crayons......because I melted the bits in a spoon over a candle flame and started drawing pictures with the spoon. Thank goodness I only made two. But the weird thing is that the August of the next year I did some more and the August of the year after that I did some more.

The first one here I took to get framed at the local gallery shop and somebody saw it and ended up buying it. The wizard I gave away as a gift and the ones I did in the following Augusts', I actually still have and I think I've never shown to any body. But next year you'll see them ( and I promise better photos).

One of the ones I did in 1984 I had framed and it was on it's way to a gallery when on route to the car, I left it leaning against a tree while I got more art from the house. When I picked it up again, I had the strangest feeling, as if I was on acid or something because the picture looked really weird in a way that I did not remember it being a minute ago. Then I realized that the image itself was moving!..... I had left it in the hot sun and now the picture was mellllting. Howz that for alchemy, Mr. Wizard?

Wizard - Aug 1982 - melted crayon on matt board - 10.5 x 16 in. 

Deathly Beginning

In my previous post I had assumed that I started my 30 years ago blog with my first 'original' artwork, (the drawing shown below), but in fact the blog was started with my first painting in 1980. So since I made reference to this drawing, here it is now.

Even though I had been drawing occasionally for years previous to this drawing, I call this my first original work only because now I was consciously creating work as an 'artist'. I was also a lot more serious about my creations as well by way of doing preliminary drawings, having my friend sam pose for me as well as starting the drawing for a second time after a botched inking attempt. The interests I had at the time were Marvel comic books and the art of Jim Steranko and Rick Buckler's Deathlok character, along with perhaps some Dali and my own inner cosmic visions. It is most certainly interesting that the beginning of my career starts with Death

 

Death - August 1979 - pencil on paper - 20 x 26 in.

Also, If you want to see the drawing that solidified my soul (is that actually possible?.....I hope it's not the same as having a heart of stone) to being an artist - not the type of artist mind you, just the ideal - you can visit this blog post I made back then.

Dust to Particles

My First Comic

I have always had a interest in comics. First with the Road Runner and the weekend funnies to various Marvel Comics fare and then Heavy Metal Magazine by 1979. My 'first' original drawing from 1979 (see next blog post July 24th) was comic book based somewhere between Rich Buckler's Deathlok figure and Jim Steranko's  psychedelia artwork. As far as this single page comic goes, I'm not exactly sure where the art 'comes' from. Perhaps just me. The words on the other hand I would have to credit to someone else. A girl I briefly knew that I used to work with and she wrote an untitled poem. I edited this poem of hers (wish I could remember her name) by rearranging the lines and paring it down to what you see here. I enjoyed the process but I did not do another comic again until 1984 and there still remains a few story ideas I had back then that I would still like to illustrate. Most all of my comics since this one have been wordless in nature.

 Dust - 1982 - ink & pencil crayon on paper - 12 x 16 in.

Tim Curry - 1982 - pencil crayon on paper - 20 x 24 in. 

 Particles - 1982 - pencil crayon on paper - 20 x 20 in.

This piece called Particles is actually in color, (blue jeans and sleeves and a red guitar), but this was the only decent print I could find right now.

You can start to see that just as I am now, even back then, 30 years ago my interests are all over the place. From surrealism, to sci-fi, to comics, to music, to abstraction and realism. I liked it all and felt an affinity towards everything. I sort of thought that since I did not go to school, that all these interests were my schooling, as if they were different 'subjects' I was taking. I was not thinking about graduating any time soon and just seemed to continue along this path of 'all-overness" of which you will continue to see in the future posts to come.

Renascence

Renascence - May 1982 - pencil crayon on paper - 20 x 26 inches

This picture started within the point of the light at the finger tip. There was no hand or idea of a hand yet. It was a doodle that kept changing in the multitude of directions it sparked at every moment. I could not reign in my ideas. Much later in the night I decided on the hand as holding that infinite spark of power of imagination. Then later on after I had gone to bed and when I awoke, I found that my brother Gary was inspired by my image and added more power with his own spark of Christian insight.    

Under The Influence

Humynx - March 1982 - pencil crayon on matt board - 22 x 28 inches

Green Flyes - March 1982 - acrylic on illustration board - 15 x 20 inches

When I started to create my own work I was under the influence of so many other artists. I liked so many! Hence the divergent paths that were yet to come. Since the beginning there was Roger Dean, Frank Frazetta and Michael Whelan in the Fantasy vein of things. I think Whelan comes out the most in these two works. I would really like to redo the sky in Green Flyes. Also I would like to point out that the image you see here is a scan of the original 8x10 worn out photograph I've been carrying in my binder all these years.

 

Surreal Alien

Alien - January 1982 - 20 x 30 in - acrylic on canvas panel

Man Without Wings

Man Without Wings - Dec 1981 - 20 x 22 inches - pencil crayon, ink on paper

     I think I would have to say at this point, that he actually does have wings! I am speculating now, that at the time of this picture, the artist didn't quite realize this fact. The hand is obviously the hand of God, a God of the universe, whom happens to be holding, perhaps lifting up and certainly not clutching or grasping, so why the tears?

      If I am to wager a guess now as to the meaning of the picture as it relates to the creator of this work, I would have to say that it is of an angel of God stuck in, not wanting to be in, a material body, and hence the sorrow and tears. I personally did feel at odds in this world, or perhaps just in this time. As if I did not belong, and could not understand it's workings and questioned what everything was and what it meant. 30 years later I am still trying to figure it out, as I suppose most of us are, but I do feel that I am getting closer.

     

     At the time of this work I was about to turn 18 years old. I had graduated high school that previous June and was now employed as a graphic production artist at a cresting manufacturer.