Concepts and Musings About Artwork
I probably should have written something in this blog earlier. However, I am more attuned to writing long-hand in a journal when ideas or thoughts come about. My journal is normally close at hand and a computer is not. Anyway...
Art is so many things to so many people. What is exceptional to one, may be unbelievably trivial or unattractive to another. I have known many great artists in my time; not the artists that are known to many, but those that are known by few; kind of like individuals who could be pigeon-holed as private artists. I believe there is a large volume of worthy art that is unknown to the masses not because it is not accepted by them, but because the artists that produce it are highly private or extremely protective of their work. Some have asked me if I would ever want to formulate my art into a business. There is a caveat there as well...once it becomes a "job," creativity tends to cease...as a hobby, you create the art because you are moved to do so; when art is incorporated into a business model, I believe creativity suffers. So, that is a bit of my ideas about art...on to other stuff.
When I was much younger, I remember drawing all sorts of things; predominantly perspective drawings and bizarre helmeted creatures. The drawings were done on regular paper with graphite. In grade school, I would carve weird totems out of crayons and pencils - selling them to make some extra money. Of course, this was in the early seventies and there was not near the distractions we have now - computers, 300-channel satellite TV, and the ever-present cell phones that are around today. As I grew older, I started transferring my drawings to wood and carving them into plaques, eventually carving them in the round. I had not found metal as a medium yet. I carved my first totem staff from a piece of driftwood when I was stationed in Alaska in the early 80s. When released from the Army, I started working on carving plaques for sale; it did well for me, but was short-lived after I realized, as noted earlier, it became a "job" and my creativity diminished markedly. All the while, I continued to draw. I suspect in the mid-80s, I drew my first caricature card. It was in the Guadalupe Mountains in Texas. My father, brother, and I were camping and my Dad (in the rain) stepped outside the small tent to smoke a cigarette. My brother and I are not smokers and didn't want the smoke in the tent, but of course, my Dad wanted back in to smoke as it was raining. I took a piece of notebook paper out and drew a quick rendition of a smoking vulture in the rain with a circle and slash through it with the caption "No Wet Buzzards." Since then, I have drawn hundreds of cards. Mostly for Amy, but also for colleagues and friends. Many say I should market them, but again...well, you know.
18 December, 2021.
Since my last post, I have retired from my servitude with the state. For 30-odd years I was a dutiful employee of the Arkansas DOT - a place I have often referred to as the "Institution." I could have stayed longer, but I figured that it would be best to move onto the next phase of my life, whatever that may be. Hopefully allowing me to put more time into the pursuit of my artwork.
