Greetings to all that have taken the time to read and view!! I am hoping that you will be back again and again as time passes by. If you do come back, be sure to bookmark the URL because it is a long address to type out again and again!
I have been drawing since I was a rather small wee baby. Well, at least as long as I could first hold a pencil or crayon and used paper instead of the walls. I do remember practicing with the Sunday Comics. Back then I would draw Peanuts, Tumbleweeds, and Hagar and as I got a bit older, I would draw Bloom County and Calvin. In between, or during the week. I would create my own characters and place them in situations that I saw, experienced, and how others interpreted the world around us. My work became a reflection of life as it was happening, never taken seriously, both the world and the art, and drawing whenever the mood fit me. This continued for the better part of my pre-teen and teenage years.
By the time I joined the Navy, I was drawing very little or not as much as I should have been. I had developed a desire to be a weatherman. The Navy offered me the perfect opportunity for school and a job that I did for the next ten years. It was during this time that I truly grew, physically that is. Mentally, I developed my work ethic and discipline (still working on the patience part).
( I'm still told that I act like a five year old. I'm also told this is a good thing!)
So for 10 years I was a weather observer and loved it. I did not know it at the time, but weather would become a theme for work produced and still produced to this day. I did do a bit of graphic design and logo work while I was in the Navy. One of my logo designs was "officially" accepted (I've still got the letter!) as the unit "emblem" that I was attached to while serving in Japan.
After leaving the Navy and immigrating to Canada, I finally attended "formal" art classes at ACAD in Calgary, Alberta. I graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. With the formal training, I could get answers and help on the technical aspects of my art. I learned a new discipline (Fibre Arts) and I learned how to talk about my artwork. During my first year at school, my artwork became therapeutic because I was going through some personal issues and I used my artwork to help vent, heal and forgive. It can be very refreshing to release pent up emotion and let the artwork be the receiving end of that energy. Plus it produces some frickin' awesome art! (I got great marks on that artwork produced during that stretch of time!)
For the past decade or so, I have been producing my work digitally for the most part. (I still do traditional paintings and a bit of cloth dyeing) I find this tool (computer, wacom tablet, and photoshop) to be very satisfying because it lets me experiment without the mess that comes with my acrylic painting and cloth dyeing. By mess I mean paint/dye on the walls, on my clothes and the dog (if I had one) nor is there a huge cost with digital By cost I mean cleaning the walls, buying new clothes, and therapy for the dog (if I had one)
Really though, I am able to really let my creative brain go on these works, without worrying about the cost to make it. There is room for error, if I don't like something, just hit the "undo" and try it again. I still love to PHYSICALLY paint and/or dye . And by physical, I mean doing it LIVE, Full Body Movements, plugged in and singing (or wailing as some have interpreted my singing capabilities) along with Metallica. Of course, I do this when I'm alone and in the basement. Picture this and you'll know where the "He can act like a 5 year old" comment comes from.
I have two quotes that I take to heart and try to live every day:
"I don't suffer from Insanity. I enjoy every second of it"
"We don't stop playing because we grow old, We grow old because we stop playing"
So, with that being said, and alot of it by looking back over this for spelling errors, the artwork in this blog will be whatever I choose or motivates me at that particular time. It could be digital, acrylic, fibre, sketch, or a work in progress, whatever. I will try to post at least once a week. I'll also try to explain what was going through this head of mine while creating said piece. (this may or may not be a good idea!)
Anyway, I hope you enjoy what you see and please leave me a comment about your experience this particular time that you visited. I welcome critiques about the work should you feel inclined. (and I hope you do!)
Tony
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