I have wanted to be an artist since my childhood in upstate New York, when a friend of my parents entertained my brother and I by doing magic marker drawings of classic movie monsters like the Creature from the Black Lagoon, Dracula and Godzilla. We were mesmerized as blank pieces of paper transformed into recognizable, almost living images of my favorite imaginary creatures. I put them up on my walls and got out my crayons and so it began.
After receiving my MFA in drawing and painting from the University of Arizona I spent years trying to figure out just what kind of artist I wanted to be. Doing what most young artists do,
I tried to get pieces in gallery exhibitions. My work was usually in the figurative narrative genre and I always included elements of the fantastic in it. But not too much. For some reason I've never really allowed myself to emphasize those aspects of my work. I've been told many times that there is a great distinction between fine art and illustration and I'd better be careful about which side my work fell into. I struggled with this for many years. I’m sure most artists have experienced periods of frustration with their work and what they should do with it.
Not long after my 40th birthday, I was poking around on the internet and stumbled onto a post about a science fiction/fantasy convention taking place in Saratoga Springs, NY, not far from where I grew up, and where my parents still live. What really got my attention was that it also included an art show of science fiction and fantasy art with a special exhibition of the art of Jeffery Catherine Jones. Flashing back to some of my favorite Jones book covers I decided this would be a great opportunity to see some of them in person. Boy, was I right. I took my wife, Kari and my mother, who is a retired elementary school librarian and a huge fan of science fiction and fantasy books along.
When we walked into the main area of the convention it felt almost like being struck by lightning. There, on the walls, were the things that attracted me to art in the first place. Strange worlds, terrifying monsters, seductive warrior maidens.. .It was all there. I spent most of the weekend star struck as well.
Later in the day I noticed a group of people sitting around
a table with what looked like sketchbooks. Taking a closer look, I realized that some of them were artists I'd admired for years. I summoned enough nerve to sheepishly ask a few questions and collected a few autographs as well. It was also interesting to note that while many artists can be somewhat distant or aloof, this group seemed to be extremely open and approachable. Something I was not used to in the art community.
As the weekend went on I began to ask myself “why aren’t you doing this?” When I returned home to Virginia, I immediately ran out to the local art supply store and picked up about five 18” x 24” canvases, (small for me at the time) and started painting. Within three days, I had the beginnings of five new paintings and a vision for many years of future work.
This is the first of those paintings. I worked on it for at most a day and a half and it probably shows, but I like its spontaneous energy. For the first time I didn’t really care “what are people going to think about this” and found it liberating. Looking back, I realize that painting “The Dark Horde” was like exorcising the internal demons that had been holding me back from what I instinctively felt was right. It’s been a few years now and I'm still convinced
that this is the artistic world that I have to be involved with.
My hope is this blog will help me to refine my work, to promote it, and hopefully, entertain readers with my new work and topics of interest to the fantasy art community. My plan is to update the blog on a regular basis, at least once a week. Comments are always welcome and I hope you will check back from time to time!
April 15, 2012- looking back at world of strange planets, terrifying monsters, elves, giants, and seductive warrior maidens, I think you have exorcised your internal demons.
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