Day 12

I really like today's drawing. While it might not be my favorite out of this project, I think it's a pretty good drawing. But that's not the best thing about it.

As I've said numerous times, I love music and usually prefer to listen to something when I'm making any kind of art. When I sat down to do this drawing, my 16-year old son was in the same room, so out of courtesy I asked him what he preferred to listen to. We came to a mutual decision on a band that my own dad would have called "long haired freaky shit" - and we played it...loud! It was a bit of a strange situation because I noticed that we were both singing along and/or lip-synching at the same times and it was an interesting bonding experience for the two of us. I have always said and will always continue to say that I have amazing kids.

So when it comes down to it, today's self-portrait is really not about the drawing at all...

#12 November 1, 2010,  Ebony pencil, blending stump
Sounds: Slipknot, All Hope Is Gone

Day 11

True story:

I was near the end of a painting job at my parents' house today, when I was stepping backwards down a ladder. I reached back with my right foot to locate the floor, instead finding the top of a paint bucket. Luckily the lid was sealed tight, but unlucky for me my foot caught the very edge of the bucket . . . which tipped. And I went down. Hard. Flat on my back. As I hit the floor, a very loud "UUUUHHHHHHHH!" came from my body and I could almost immediately feel all of the wind knocked out of me!

Generally speaking, I hate for anyone to worry about me. Since both of my parents and one of my daughters were in the next room, I instinctively yelled a breathless "I'M ALRIGHT!" in what seemed like the exact moment that I hit the floor. Long story short, I'm appreciative that my mom rushed to make sure I was fine. My daughter Katey, on the other hand, sure enjoyed the laugh that I gave her!

I love the fact that art is such a powerful storytelling device. This very quick sketch is a nice document of an event that we've gotten some good laughs out of as the evening went along. But I've gotta say, my butt hurts from landing so hard on it!!

#11 October 31, 2010,  Ebony pencil, pencil

Sounds: Gremlins (Special Edition)
on TV (Halloween night!)

Day 10

At this point, I suppose it goes without saying that I love Halloween...

#10 October 30, 2010,  Ebony pencil on paper
Sounds: Murderdolls, Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls

Day 9

"The torpid artist seeks inspiration at any cost, by virtue or by vice, by friend or by fiend, by prayer or by wine." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I won't say just how I found my inspiration today, but I absolutely love the feeling that I get when an idea comes to me. This "A-Ha!" moment is pretty moving, when you just KNOW what an artwork will look like before you even start it. Ironically, I did make some changes while the creative process played out, but that might just have left me with another idea for a future portrait...

#9 October 29, 2010,  Ebony pencil on paper
Sounds: Black Sabbath, Greatest Hits 1970-1978

Day 8

Other than my art and the people closest to me, the one thing that has consumed much of my time in the past several months has been running. In fact, in this calendar year alone, I have ran more miles than I have at any time in the past. I thought it was fitting to document that passion in at least one of my self-portraits.

This portrait also marks a huge departure from the previous works in this project. It's obviously the first one in color, and it is the first in which I intentionally went abstract. For inspiration I looked to one of my favorite sources: the illustrations in childrens books. In this case, I specifically looked at the work of someone I consider to be one of the best: Jon Scieszka. While my finished product is really nothing like his illustrations, sometimes it's nice to look at other artists' work, just to have a place to start.

#8 October 28, 2010,  Mixed media (spray paint, acrylic, collaged items) on bristol board
Sounds: The Dead Milkmen, Death Rides a Pale Cow: Greatest Hits

Day 7

Today's drawing was a lot of fun. As I looked through some of my older nonrepresentational drawings, I was "drawn" to (pun kind of intended) the loose, sketchy, almost agressive style of these pieces. They were made with charcoal and a great deal of erasing, and the style could best be described as "stream of consciousness." Obviously a self-portrait has a subject, which is prohibitive of simply drawing what comes to mind. While this drawing is more controlled than those that were my inspiration today, I did strive to keep this drawing fairly loose. This is a concept that I will definitely revisit and expand upon as the project continues...

# 7 October 27, 2010,  Charcoal, conte and eraser on paper

Sounds: The Beatles, 1967-1970 (Blue) Remastered


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As I stated in the post for Day 2, I am a huge music fan. If you notice, I have been listing what music I've listened to while making each day's drawing. These are also links which lead to amazon.com where you can listen to samples of the music and even purchase your own copy if you like!

Day 6

I'm a big fan of drawing on various toned papers. For today's portrait, I used a common brown paper grocery bag with charcoal and conte crayons.

To provide a basic definition, any art material that comes in stick form is called a crayon. Most people automatically think of children's wax "colors" when they hear the term crayon, but it's actually very inclusive of many different types of drawing materials. I generally compare conte crayons to charcoal, with the main difference being that conte is a harder material, therefore it's less messy - and this makes the medium much easier to control.

#6 October 26, 2010,  Charcoal and conte on brown paper bag

Sounds: Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals