Inner Child Selfy ~ Self Portrait No. 16

I may ~ one day ~ put my find art skills to work again and create a proper self-portrait, but until then, I will muck around with that which brings me pleasure~ Batman! I will for always find comfort and solace reaching into my childhood and bring back Batman. If we all stick together I hope you find something good and satisfying in it too :)

The Street Family Cooperative

Illustration by Me ~ of Griffin ~ 2014

Illustration by Griffin Street ~ of me ~ 2014

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No. 15

Self Portrait No.15 with body

Self Portrait No.15

I don't know what draws me to these self portraits ~ the narcissism that it takes to keep doing these things kindda makes me cringe.

Part V: A Broken Heart Makes For Good Art (No.14)

Selfy No. 14

Art As Therapy (Part 1) ~ Self Portrait No.4

“Poor Sad Bastard” ~ After all these years I finally got to fall in love again! But alas, it ended too soon. A well meaning friend told me with a symptomatic tone, "people come into our lives for: a reason, a season, or a life" I must of been looking like some poor sad bastard to get that pep talk :) 

Whatever it was, she was great ~ but it has left me a little wilted. So when I look at this piece, I see there's a happy-sad thing going on. Colors are more subdued and the lines are hard, yet there is a positive upwards movement to the whole piece. Hopeful and scared at the same time…you know.

*A person made a commented on this post 1/21/2012. Among other things, she said she saw more pain than joy in the piece. Never one to back down when someone calls me on my crap; I took an introspective look at what I had painted. 

All of the things I had been talking about in the last few post were right there. Emotion in motion! (Sorry Billy Squire), but still, the Bluesy music I’ve been listening to, the internal sunshine turning into a stormy day, and even the exquisite funk! 

This self-portrait was a product of all that ~ even better it was a photograph of my guts as I worked through all this stuff.

I thought about this as I studied it. I saw less positive upward movement, if any at all. I saw the first lightning strike over the heart with fresh red puncture wounds, the second strike happening on the far left side of the page; obviously something else going on there.  And maybe ~ just maybe, there was a falling back, and not an upward movement. 

I like the fact my darker emotions got in there and mixed stuff up. I still stand by my romantic, sunshiny self and say “Love rocks and Girls rule…and I would do it over again, a hundred times!”

* Added 1/23/2012

Self Portrait No.1

I was sitting around bored one night, and decided to take one of those cheesy bathroom mirror pictures. I ended up with my cellphone in front of my right eye like a digital pirate. Having got this out of my system, once and for all, I went back to my desk and started a proper self portrait.

What you see here is not unlike a snapshot from a camera. If you were to see me that day; you would see how long my hair was, weather or not I had facial hair, and so forth. If you were there, I probably wouldn't have been taking pictures of myself in the bathroom mirror!

These exercises keep me creatively limber. However simple the outcome may be, it allows me to practice on an ever ready, and hansome, model.

Self Portrait. No.5

Illustration 461

Self Portrait & Bio

February 2, 2011

I have many self portraits lying around the house. One on this blog right now as a matter of fact. I could have used any of them.

But I wanted to create something new.

The portrait is pen and ink and watercolor, my favorite, nothing new there. The step forward is putting the illustration and the bio together as if they were one piece. The image, a mild-mannered man, with rose colored glasses, peaking around this mass of strange words, both looking as if they were put there willy-nilly.

The individual words on their own mean one thing, when teamed together create a new word, teaming with possibilities. The words come together mostly for fun, and not as some deep look into the artist being.

The inspiration was borrowed from something my teacher said in illustration class, a thought from John Lennon, and the chorus from an old Rush song.

Self Portrait No. 9

It always, mostly, starts with a phone call. The voice on the other end will say, “Dave…I have an idea.” Today it happen so fast I don’t remember what the original idea was, and what was my creative process, so if I mix them up, please forgive me if I sound too clever. The voodoo doll is always the object of someones anger. Sometimes the person’s so mad; the pins go in quicker than bullets through a target at a shooting range. But what about the doll itself, does anyone stop to think about his feelings? I’m drawing this thing, and it starts taking on all of these emotional traits. It was funny and sad at the same time! I though of all my old acquaintances, girlfriends, and stuff…just nailing me to the wall…and finally the last one just sticking this big fat sewing needle through my heart…the next words I heard out of my mouth were, “…Please, will someone just finish me off and be done with me?!”

I laughed so hard…I LOVE ART.

Self Portrait No. 11 and No. 12

A portrait that is forever part of a greater whole. This was part of a piece that started out just for fun, but has become kind of a signature piece. One is a rough draft; the other one you're more familiar with. See how this stuff can develop and change.

Self Portrait No.10

This started out as my last assignment in the watercolor class I talk about. It was all free hand, about 2’X 3’. I love the feel of all the Catholic Icons. There is an innate mystic quality to them. I was reluctant to pattern a self portrait after one though, because some people actually believe the Icon has healing powers. I learned a lot from the project ~ again ~ the teacher was really good at giving away some of his tricks. On the robe he showed me how to take the wet red watercolor, put plastic wrap and dry it with a hair dryer to give the finished piece the look of drapery, very cool! The piece was designed with a blank square in the arms of the subject. I wanted to photo graphic the painting, and then in Photoshop be able to put my favorite album cover there. Why you may ask? Why not I answer?! It’s a piece that lends its self to change, and I like that.

Self Portrait No. 8

Last project @ B.S.U in 2008. Self portrait 5'X6', charcoal on old children's book pages. This was a great class. I'm really looking forward to being back in Boise with the kids, and going back to school.