The biro
piece was just an elongated doodle. Who’d have known a simple pen and paper
could prove to be so effective? It would help if I could actually draw without
tracing from a portrait template, but, alas, I’m unable. Everything you see
here goes back way over ten years. I’ve moved on, conceptually, as an artist,
but with recent digital losses, it was nice to find these precious gems again. They
remind me of what I am capable of, when I’m doubting if I can even sign my own
name or not. I’m very challenged, lately, artistically, because I have no
studio space. I know all the methods, but have no materials. Art, though, I
believe, is the eye inside. Stephen King got told from an early age that he had
a movie camera in his mind. I feel pretty much the same. My eye is my lens. I
don’t need a Nikon to take photographs: I take them with my mind.
The collages
on dark backgrounds have bright funky luminous outlines, but the scanner hasn’t
picked the colour up very well, so they look dull. I’m moderately proud of this
effort with pictures taken from National Geographic magazine, I got the idea
for outlines from my girl Taz. Taz pencilled a portrait of Robin Williams and
run around the edges of his face with an eraser (what I call a rubber outline).
The effect was startling. Ever since then, I fell in love with outlines. They’re
just so dramatic. I didn’t do enough of them in my body of work, looking and
thinking back. That’s a sincere regret. If I ever do another piece of artwork
with an outline on it again, then I’ll be a happy bunny. That’s why I’m posting
these images, because I miss my artwork production so much. It irks me and it aches
me, not being in the game any longer. My initials are A T D, and they stand for
Art Till Death.
These days,
all I do with a canvass is splash paint all over it and stare into it by candlelight
to hallucinate within its hues. That’s its sole purpose, to make me mildly
hallucinate! Two spirits within my consciousness, Xi Lee and Brooke, make
outfits from the patterns and wear them. They look absolutely incredible, if I
do say so myself. You should see the things that I see in my paintings in
psychosis, wow, it would blow your mind.
The childish
characters were drawn by my nephew Warren, when he was only a child. He’s now
in his mid-twenties and playing football for someone. I think he showed great
potential here. Kids are so brave and daring with their characters, nothing
fazes their creativity.
