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To thine own self be true

SnowmanThe last few weeks have been less than stellar.  While I find winter tough to take most years, a cold snap hits my mood especially hard.  When the temperature drops to -20C and below, I’m about the unhappiest camper you’re going to find.  Vitamin D, sunlamps, and other home remedies, I’ve tried ’em all.  Short of moving away to a warmer climate for 6 months of the year, I’ve just learned I have to ride it out.  Add to that the holiday season, of which I am not a fan, and a nasty cold that knocked me down hard on my one slow week of the year, and the last few weeks have felt like I’ve been living at the bottom of a deep dark hole.  Don’t get me going again on the fact that I’m supposed to be in Vegas this week.

There seems to be this ridiculous belief that if you are fortunate enough to love what you do for a living, you’re happy and upbeat all the time, and everything is right in the world, every minute of the day.  Trust me, that’s not the case.  While I’d much rather chart my own course than have somebody else tell me where to go and how to do it,  there will always be bad days and bad weeks, just like at any job, even one you enjoy.  Think of it this way, if somebody offered you your favourite food for dinner tonight, you’d jump at the chance.  If they offered it to you tomorrow, you might still be happy.  Now, imagine you have to eat it every night for the next year.  Would it still be your favourite, or would you be willing to pay anything for a rice cake?

It is not only in an artist’s nature to keep trying new things and new ways of being creative, it’s an absolute necessity.  If new challenges don’t present themselves, you have to go looking for them, otherwise what used to be exciting just becomes routine.  Creativity doesn’t do well with routine.  It withers and ends up on life support.

There is an elusive state of being that we all seem to be looking for called ‘balance.’  Parents try to find the balance between a fulfilling work and home life, workaholics need to balance their schedule and time off, creatives look for a balance between inspired work and selling out.  I’ve come to the conclusion that this balance is an illusion, it doesn’t exist, and that to try to find it leads to a futility that only makes  a person feel even worse about their situation.  This is largely because your perception of balance is fluid.  Find that extra hour in a week to read a book, and you’ll be looking for two next week.  Manage that, and you’ll be wanting a whole day off, then two, then three and pretty soon you’re running out of money because you’re never working.  Balance is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  The closer you move toward it, the further it moves away.

Perhaps you’ve heard the fable about the scorpion and the frog.  The scorpion needs a ride across the river and asks the frog for a lift.  The frog declines saying the scorpion will just sting him.  The scorpion argues that it if he did that, he’d sink, too, so the frog gives in to a logical argument.  The scorpion climbs up on the frog’s back and they start off across the river.  Before too long, the scorpion stings the frog, and the frog says, “Why did you do that?  Now we’ll both drown!”

The scorpion says, “I can’t help it.  It’s just my nature.”

Rather than listen to all of the people that tell me I should relax more and take time off and try to find some balance, I’ve decided to make peace with the fact that I’m only content when I’m working.  Even when I’m not working, I’m thinking about work.  With that in mind, I’ve packed my next few months, and most of it will be quite challenging, because a lot of it will be new ground.  I’ll be recording a new DVD on painting portraits, something I’ve been talking about for months but haven’t actually gotten around to doing.  I’ve been commissioned to paint a couple of cat portraits and have received inquiries about two more pet portraits this week.  Another Totem is being prepped to paint as is another portrait, a painting of one of my absolute favorite characters in film.  The last one, I’ll be trying to paint in Corel Painter.  I haven’t used the Painter software since Painter Classic many years ago, and I’ve been wanting to try Painter 12, bought this past week.  The best way to do so is to just throw myself into a painting and learn as I go.  I have no desire to stop painting in Photoshop, but I also don’t want to be restricted to it, either.

There are a couple of online courses I’ve wanted to take for awhile, and there’s no time like the present.  Waiting for my schedule to slow down is just another way of saying that it’s never going to happen.

And finally, I’m well into the planning for my booth at the Calgary Expo in April.  There’s a lot to think about and organize, everything from which prints to sell and how many of each, banner design, and all of the other logistics involved with having my own booth and selling my own work at the event.  It’s very intimidating, I’m likely going to be stressed about it, but at least it’s not routine.

Some of the work will be fulfilling, some won’t.  Some of the deadlines will be ridiculously short, others will give me far too much time, which inevitably leads to procrastination and working at it last minute, anyway.  There will be up days, low days, but mostly just middle of the road days where it feels just like punching a clock, just like any other job.  That’s the cold hard truth of it and anybody who is thinking about being creative for a living should know that.

Motivation and inspiration, these are wonderful things.  Sometimes it’s the kick in the ass that will get you moving when you feel like you’ve got cinder block boots on.  But when everybody is telling you to be Polly Anna, optimistic, happy go lucky, and you-can-do-it, it can also wear on you.  Chasing that high will eventually lead to an overdose.  From time to time, you just need to turn off all of that noise and just get the work done, regardless of how you feel about it.  That’s all anybody does, no matter what they do for a living.

So what’s the point of this melodramatic post?  Simply put, sometimes it’s OK to feel bad even when things are good.  Don’t beat yourself up about it.  The pressure as a freelancer to be ‘up’ all the time is maddening and I’d bet that a lot of folks out there, the ones you think are riding high all the time, are either faking it as a marketing tool or they’re heavily medicated.  Even the most optimistic of personalities has down days, too, and you’re entitled to yours.  I’d rather share with you the reality of being a self-employed creative than be a complete hypocrite and sell you a bill of goods.  In my experience, it can do a lot more harm than good.

But this too shall pass.  For while I’m having a few down days lately,  I know that two weeks from now, you’ll see me giddy with excitement when I pick up a certain painting from the printer.  Bet on it.  After that, there will be something else exciting, and before too long, it’ll be Spring again, my favourite time of the year.  Enjoy the highs, resent the lows, but be who you are and stop trying to please everybody all the time.  It’s exhausting!

You may not be happy all the time, but at least you’ll be sane.

 

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A work visa? But, I’m Canadian.

This year could have started better.  I just cancelled my flight, hotel and other arrangements for CES in Vegas next week and I’m not too happy about it.

I was supposed to be working in the Wacom booth for the Consumer Electronics Show next week, leaving Monday morning, coming home on Friday.  While I did a demo presentation at their booth at Photoshop World last year,  I wasn’t compensated for that appearance, so it didn’t pose a problem.  For CES, however, Wacom was sending me there and we overlooked something very important.

Canadians need a work visa to work for an American company in the United States.   I honestly didn’t know this and neither did Wacom, as this was a new experience for both of us.  My research over the past 24 hours has shown that most Canadians who get paid to travel to work at trade shows, do guest lectures, and speak at U.S. conferences are completely unaware that without a work visa, they’re doing so illegally.  If you’re compensated for your appearance, even if it’s just your expenses, you need a work visa.

Believe it or not, this came to my attention just yesterday while my wife and I just happened to be watching a National Geographic Channel series, “Border Security” which looks at the challenges faced by Canadian Border Services at the three different types of entry (air, sea, land) into British Columbia.  An American traveling to Canada needs a work visa for trade show work, guest lecturing, speaking, etc. as well.  One particular case sounded so similar to mine, and the person was denied entry into Canada, that I started looking around and found out that I was in trouble.

Had I shown up at the airport and told them what I was doing, completely unaware that I was in violation of Immigration Law, U.S. customs would have likely denied me entry into the U.S. and I’d be doing a quick turnaround heading right back home, my file flagged for all future border crossings.

My research, of course, found plenty of examples of people saying they just say they’re ‘attending’ a conference, rather than working it, and that’s how they get around the rules.  Then there are the people who’ve been caught lying to border security who caution against that tactic.  Border security officers are trained and experienced to know when you’re lying and I’ve always said I’d be a bad poker player.

I have an over-developed sense of ethics that has served me well throughout my life, but I’ll admit it makes me feel like a bit of a pushover sometimes when so many others regularly break laws like this and get away with it.

But here’s the thing.  If I tried to skirt the U.S. border laws by lying about my reasons for heading into the U.S. and they caught me in the lie, I’d be banned from travel to the U.S. for 1-5 years with no opportunity to appeal.  They don’t even have to prove you’re lying, they just have to think you are.  That means I couldn’t even land in the U.S. enroute to somewhere else.  And anybody who has ever had issues crossing the U.S. border will tell you that all it takes is ONE incident and you’ll have issues for the rest of your life, because they make a note of it on your file.  This would be far more damaging to my life and career than missing three days at CES in Vegas next week.

Just the fact that I called the U.S. consulate this morning to confirm all of my concerns, and they won’t even talk to you without your giving them your passport number, means I can expect that the inquiry alone is now on my file.  Any entry into the U.S in the near future will be met with additional scrutiny, I’m sure.

There is obviously a lot more for me to learn about this situation.  While the U.S. Consulate in Canada did answer some of my questions, they weren’t very helpful and seemed to have no sympathy for my situation at all.  Just getting to talk to a real person took me four or five different phone numbers and about 20 minutes playing touch-tone Olympics getting through the various menus.  Hitting zero just disconnected the call.

As it stands now, I need to talk to the U.S. Consulate in Calgary to find out exactly which visa I need (there are several kinds), make an appointment for an interview (in person), pay the fee if I’m accepted, obtain letters from any U.S. companies I’m working for, etc.  There are a couple of visas I may need, however, that require this work to be initiated by any company in the U.S. that I’ll be working for on U.S. soil.

Canadians have gotten comfortable with the fact that we are such close friends and neighbours with the U.S. that we’ve started to think that we have certain rights when crossing into the U.S. and it’s just not the case.  The United States is solely concerned with looking after Americans.  While Canadians may have a more trusted status in most cases, we are still visitors in a foreign country.  We can be refused entry for any reason deemed appropriate by the U.S. government and they don’t have to justify it to us.  In today’s charged protectionist climate, the rules are stricter now than they’ve ever been.

The same holds true in reverse, something that surprises many Americans when they travel to Canada as well.

So I’ve learned a valuable and humbling lesson this week, and as with most hard lessons, I’m paying for it by not going to Vegas next week, and worse, not working with Wacom while I was there.  Gut feeling, I did the right thing and even though I’m not a happy camper today, things could have ended up worse in the long run.

If there is a bright spot in all of this, it’s that I found out now, so I could cancel my flight and hotel and only be out a couple of hundred dollars in non-refundable fees.  Had I shown up at the airport and been denied access to the U.S. for lack of a work visa, I would have been out the cost of my flight, first night’s hotel, and the return fee for the airport shuttle I was taking Monday morning to Calgary.

There are a couple of days off in my immediate future.  Self-pity will likely be involved.

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Top 12 of ’12

It’s that time of year when editorial cartoonists and other creative types compile their ‘Best Of’ collections.  To be honest, I have no idea if the following cartoons are representative of my best work for 2012.  How it works in the world of freelance and self-syndication is that I follow the regional, national and international news each day, decide which stories are big enough or interesting enough to comment on with a cartoon, and then I send the images off to newspapers across the country.  If editors like the cartoon, they print it, and I get paid.  If they don’t, I try again the next day.  At the end of each month, most papers simply tell me how many cartoons they used, but only a few tell me exactly which ones.  Preferences vary from region to region, so while a cartoon may play well in Ontario, it might be a dud in Western Canada.  That’s the nature of this business, trying to please everybody.

So, when it comes to picking my ‘Best of’ cartoons for 2012, I’m just showing you the ones I liked best out of the 275-300 syndicated cartoons that I drew this year.  Could be because the commentary still made me smile when I was going through the archives, or that I remembered enjoying working on the drawing.  For example, the Pac-man cartoon has no editorial or political value at all.  It’s a seasonal cartoon.  But for some reason, I really like it, so it made the list.  There are a few that take shots at Prime Minister Stephen Harper in here as well.  The other party leaders have no power right now.  They’re just noise in the wind.  So naturally, the blame is placed at the top, the guy with the power.  And considering how much he abuses it, there were a number of cartoons about that this year.  Pardon my candor, but that guy just pisses me off.

All the rest were on topics that made me laugh, made me think, or in a perfect world, accomplished both, which is what an editorial cartoon is supposed to do in the first place.  For those of you who follow my daily cartoon posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+, thanks for your continued support this year.  I will do my best to keep you interested and amused in 2013.

To get a better look, click on the page and it’ll allow you to zoom in.

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Best of the Outlook Cartoons

Many cartoonists will do a ‘year in review’ this time of year, a selection of what they, their editors, or their readers viewed as their best cartoons of the year.  It looks good on the editorial page of a daily newspaper.  Since all of my daily work is syndicated and freelance, any selection of my best national cartoons won’t be printed on an editorial page anywhere, although one or two of mine have shown up in dailies where a number of cartoonists have been represented.  I’ll have a selection of MY favourite syndicated cartoons here on Monday.  But for now, here is the ‘Best of 2012’ selection for the Rocky Mountain Outlook, the local weekly I draw for that covers the communities of Exshaw, Canmore, Banff, and Lake Louise in the Canadian Rockies.  We’ve lived in this area for quite awhile, 7 years in Banff, 11 in Canmore, and while we talk about leaving every winter (even just for a few months), I’m pretty sure it’s all talk, at least for a few more years.  This is home.

A few notes…we have a bunny problem in Canmore.  I could have filled the page with bunny cartoons and had some left over.  Banff National Park has a problem with tourists feeding wildlife, especially bears.  They’re not tame, people.  It’s not a petting zoo!  Bottom left, the dogs in the window, refers to a dog attack in March by a cougar in Canmore.  A LOT of people told me they loved that cartoon, so I guess it hit home for locals.  Bear deaths on the highway is an ongoing issue as well, as people refuse to obey the speed limit.  And finally, Banff has an ongoing battle with providing economic stability and growth for a tourist town, located inside of a national park.  Never easy, but always fodder for cartoons.

Click on the page to see it larger.

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Miss Moneypenny

This was my last commission painting of this year, a little lady named Moneypenny.  She’s a young pup with a great personality and I was given the option of painting her in a realistic portrait style or Totem style, artist’s choice.  Believe it or not, there is no exaggeration in this portrait.  She was really smiling like this in the reference photo, so I didn’t see the point of painting her in the Totem style.

Moneypenny’s portrait was finished earlier this month, but I wasn’t able to show it ’til now, just in case the recipient happened to see it online.  Since I know both the client and the recipient, there was a chance somebody would let it slip, so it was best to hold off.  It was printed and stretched on canvas at 12″ x 16″ and framed.

I found out last night that the gift has been given and while her owner loved it, Moneypenny herself was a little freaked out, thinking there was another dog in the house.  Apparently she barked at it.  Either that was a harsh critique or a wonderful compliment.

Here’s a closeup of the details.

 

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Looking back on 2012

One of the great things about regularly keeping a blog is that it’s like keeping a journal.  I find that each year, I’m actually surprised at how much went on while I was drawing, colouring, and trying to keep from losing my mind.

Here’s a quick recap of the ups, downs, and other stuff that happened in 2012.

This Business of Art.

At the beginning of the year, I canceled my booth at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo because I realized I wasn’t prepared for the April event.  In retrospect, and after attending as one of the hoard, it was a good call because I would have done a number of things wrong.  It wasn’t the best of times for that particular event this year as they did a number of things wrong as well, a casualty of their own growing popularity.  But I’m booked and ready for 2013 and I’m really looking forward to it.

It’s no secret that I enjoy working with Wacom.  I had the pleasure of demoing at their booth at Photoshop World in Vegas in September, was a guest on another of their webinars in November, and recorded a few videos for them throughout the year.  They’re also sending me to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas the second week of January, so it’s clear that Wacom has become a significant part of my life this year.

I’m fortunate to have been invited to be one of the artists represented on Insivity.com, a new site designed to inspire and motivate artists.  Still in its infancy and only officially launched this week, I look forward to writing and recording some exclusive material for it.  I’ll also be looking to be inspired myself, as we can all use a regular dose of that to keep moving forward.

Hardware and Software

Another Wacom highlight this year was the introduction of the Intuos5 tablets and the new Cintiq displays.  Every time I think they can’t make these products better, I’m happy to be proven wrong.   Both the Intuos5 medium and the Cintiq 24HD display are now tools I use every day and I can’t wait to see what they come up with next.

After 6 years using a great computer, it was time to bite the bullet and have a new one built this year.  While the last one worked great, it was Windows XP, only had 250GB of hard drive space, and was starting to have trouble running the big files.  I more than got my money’s worth from it, so no regrets.  Without boring you with the details, the new computer is top of the line and a real pleasure to use.

Photoshop CS6 was launched this year and while there were no particular ‘must-haves’ in the features for me, when you record training materials, you need to be using the latest software.

What with a complete upgrade of all of my software and hardware, anything I can’t accomplish in 2013 will be a failing in my skills, not my equipment.

Speaking and Training

I’ve been speaking to schools on digital art and editorial cartooning for a number of years, but with my ever increasing workload, I’ve had to be selective about how many of these I agree to.  Locally, I consider it part of my obligation to contribute to the community I’ve lived in for almost 20 years.  Outside of the Bow Valley, however, there is a fee for my time and travel expenses.

I enjoyed spending an afternoon with a group of art teachers in Red Deer a couple of months ago, introducing them to the entry level Wacom tablets and hopefully inspiring them to spend more time with the technology.  I found out that more of their students are requesting training in digital art.  A fledgling medium has now become main stream and I thought it great that traditionally trained art teachers were so willing to embrace it for the benefit of themselves and their students.

I had hoped to have recorded my next DVD for PhotoshopCAFE by now, Painting Portraits in Photoshop, but I had to keep putting it off in favour of more pressing obligations.  One of the obstacles was the technology.  I needed Photoshop CS6 and a new machine to run it. Now that I no longer have that excuse, recording the DVD has been bumped up the priority list and I look forward to having it done in the first quarter of 2013.

Prints and Products

In a sad turn of events this year, Two Wolves Trading Co. closed the doors in September.  It was the exclusive venue for my limited edition Totem prints and matted paper prints in Canmore.  The owners, Andrea and Michelle, did a lot for promoting my work.  Between their fun personalities and kindness, including that of their staff, it was a pleasure to have had my work sold in their store.

While the closing of the store did have an impact on my business, it was more disappointing to see friends close up shop.  A walk downtown always involved stopping in to Two Wolves to say Hi and kid around.  I still miss that.  Even though my work is available at About Canada in Banff, I’ll be looking for a new venue in Canmore in the new year, but it won’t be the same.

My prints were added to the inventory at the Calgary Zoo retail store this year.  Just a few paintings to start, but I plan to add fuel to that fire in the coming year.

In the meantime, I continue to sell the prints online through my own store.  I recently sent an email to my web designer, Erik Bernskiold, thanking him again for the great job he did on my site.  Everything works flawlessly.  A sale I had earlier this month was a lot of fun and worked very well.  It’s something I plan to do again sometime in the future.

One of the highlights of this year for my work was licensing five of my Totem paintings to The Mountain Corporation out of Keene, New Hampshire.  Their T-shirts are everywhere around the world, from retail outlets and zoos, to big box and online stores.  I was very pleased to have my work added to their catalog and I’m optimistic that these five will just be the beginning.  Having received my samples just this past week, I was very impressed with the quality of both the shirts themselves and the printing.

A lot of other little moments and events throughout the year, but through it all, there were well over 300 editorial cartoons, more than a dozen illustration gigs, and 15 paintings.   While going through my work this year, it’s amazing how much of it I thought I’d done LAST year or even the year before.

With the exception of one commission piece I’m still waiting for permission to post, these are the paintings I completed in 2012.  Clicking on any of the names or images will take you to the original blog post.

The Pets

In order, here are the commissions I enjoyed painting this year.  We’ve got Gilly the Pomeranian, Chase, the German Shepherd with the titanium tooth, Mocha the horse, and a portrait of Brisby, Australian Shepherd/Red Heeler cross.

Gilly

 

Chase

 

Mocha

 

Brisby

 

The People

Again, in order of completion, the first is Jim, one of my closest friends, and a portrait I did as a gift for his 50th birthday.  Then there’s Russell Brown in his Abe Lincoln getup, Madeline Kahn as Elizabeth from the movie, Young Frankenstein, and Martin Sheen as Tom, from the movie The Way.  I’ll have an update on the last painting sometime early in the new year.

Jim, a personal gift - Portrait

Russell Brown - Portrait

Madeline Kahn - Portrait

Martin Sheen - Portrait

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The Totems

In order of when they were completed, here are the Cougar, the Rockhopper Penguin, the Bison, the Otter, and Bald Eagle Totems.

Cougar Totem

Rockhopper Penguin Totem

Bison Totem

Otter Totem

Bald Eagle Totem

So, all in all, pretty pleased with my body of work this year.  Most of what you see above wasn’t planned out at this time last year, so it’ll be interesting to see what I end up painting in 2013.  Obviously more Pets, People and Totems (oh my!), but other than that, there are no resolutions for the next year.  I’ve just decided to wing it and see what happens.

To you regular readers, those who follow my work on social media and are an endless source of encouragement throughout the year, you have my sincere thanks.  The only way I know if my work is making people happy is because you tell me, and it is greatly appreciated.  If you are an artist yourself, I hope you have found a little inspiration here, and believe in yourself enough to find your own style of art, something that speaks to you and makes you want to create even more.

Best to you and yours in the coming year!

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Totem T-Shirts have arrived!

Was pleased to receive my first samples of the Totem T-shirts from The Mountain.  While there are two others yet to come for the 2013 line, the Wolf Totem and Ground Squirrel Totem, I’ll receive those soon, once they’re up for sale on their site.  As the Ground Squirrel Totem went up just recently, I would expect I’ll see the remaining two in January.

I received three shirts of each design in different sizes and was very impressed with the quality of the shirts themselves and the printing, not to mention my name clearly visible on every shirt.  Images will always vary in how they look, depending on what surface they’re printed on.  Paper looks different than canvas, so I was a little anxious to see how well they would reproduce on fabric.  I wasn’t disappointed.

As mentioned before, one of the things I like best about my Totem paintings being licensed to The Mountain is their commitment to being environmentally responsible and their business ethics.  I know that we get a little cynical about believing that these days, but I’d invite you to check out their claims at the following link, The Mountain: America’s Greenest T-Shirt Company.

If you’d like to purchase one of these shirts, you can visit their online shop.  Here is the link to the four shirts that are currently available, and coming soon, the Wolf Totem will be available as well.

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Martin Sheen – The Details

Martin Sheen - PortraitYesterday, I wrote about why I painted this portrait of Martin Sheen’s character, Tom, from the movie ‘The Way.’  Click on this link, if you’d like to read it.  Today, I figured I’d write a little bit about the how, as there are always artists out there who want to know the technical details, and I’m happy to oblige.

This painting was done entirely in Photoshop CS6 Extended using a Wacom Cintiq 24″HD display.  No photos were used in the painting, aside from reference.  I didn’t keep track of how long it took me to complete it because I wasn’t on deadline or in a rush, so while I could easily say 20 hours, it was probably more, over a few weeks.  Without a deadline, I was able to nitpick it and get it as close to perfect as my current skills will allow.  At some point, however, I just have to call it done, because any changes become so minute that nobody will see them but me.

With all of my previous work, it has become my practice to start a painting at low resolution, usually around 9″X12″ at 72ppi.  Then, as the painting progresses, I will keep bumping up the size and resolution.  I teach this method in my PhotoshopCAFE DVD, “Animal Painting in Adobe Photoshop” and it’s the same practice I use for painting portraits of people.  There used to be two reasons for doing this.  First, when you’re working at low-res, you can’t get distracted by putting in too much detail because the size just won’t allow any.  This forces me to well establish ‘the bones’ of a likeness before working on wrinkles, skin texture, and hair.  The other reason for starting at low-res was that my computer had reached the end of it’s efficient life for this type of work and at full-size and full-res, the brushes just wouldn’t move well enough to make broad strokes across the digital canvas.  A completed painting was never more than 18″X24″ at 300ppi, because at that size, I could only work on the fine details without experiencing some lag.

Recently I had a new computer built and I’m back to working on a very current, high end machine.  Running 64bit Windows 7 with 64bit Photoshop, 16GB of RAM and a 4GB video card, everything is running incredibly smooth.  I could have started and finished this painting at full-res, without any problems at all.  BUT, I’m going to continue using my low-res to high-res workflow for the first reason I mentioned.  It forces me to get the likeness right and it works well for me.  That being said, I decided to push this painting to see if I could make it larger, which also allows more attention to detail.  This final painting is 32″X24″ at 300ppi.  At that size, the brushes were working just fine, and I could have bumped it up even more, with no issues in performance.

I’m still using the regular brushes in Photoshop and haven’t used any of the Mixer or Bristle brushes in my paintings.  Those brushes are designed to simulate traditional media and I honestly don’t feel the need to do that.  Digital painting is a medium all on its own, and I don’t try to make it into something it’s not.  I do intend to give those other brushes a try in the coming year, however, simply to see if they’ll offer me some choices to make my work better.  While I’m pleased with the quality of this painting and very much enjoyed working on it, there will always be room to improve.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

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Martin Sheen and The Way

You could never consider me a film snob and I’ve never wanted to be a filmmaker or an actor, but I love movies.  Great stories told on the screen by talented storytellers, always a collaboration between the writers, directors, actors and all of the other professional creatives and technicians that make up the industry.    I just know what I like, regardless of critical acclaim or popular opinion.

Earlier this year, I watched the movie, ‘The Way’ and it had a profound affect on me.  Written and directed by Emilio Estevez and starring his father, Martin Sheen, it tells the story of a father and son and their experiences on the Camino de Santiago, or the Way of St. James.  I’m not ruining the movie for you to tell you that the son (Estevez) dies early in the film at the beginning of his own pilgrimage and the father travels to Spain to retrieve the body.  Despite it seeming to be against his nature, Sheen’s character, Tom, decides to walk the Camino, and in doing so discovers his son and himself.

My wife and I rented this movie and I really enjoyed it.  Likely because I’m now in my early 40’s, dealing with my own evaluation of life and meaning, and realizing that there is probably less time ahead than behind me.  There’s a reason they call it a midlife crisis.  Had I watched this movie in my twenties, I doubt it would have affected me as much.

Shortly after seeing the movie, I found myself browsing in a bookstore and noticed the book, “Along the Way: The Journey of a Father and Son.”  Written by Emilio Estevez and Martin Sheen, it’s a memoir of their perspectives in life,  Sheen growing up and becoming the father while going through his own trials of life, and Estevez seeing many of the same events from the son’s perspective and his thoughts about his own life and career.  It was a truly enjoyable read and one I’d recommend, but as the book references the making of The Way, I’d see the movie first.

I’ve always felt a connection to Martin Sheen, not because I know the man, but because of my own father’s resemblance to him.  Not just their looks, but some of their mannerisms as well.  My Dad’s about the same age, and while he isn’t the spitting image of Sheen, at certain times in their lives he looks remarkably similar.  So much so, in fact, that when we were stationed in Germany, a woman in Brussels insisted that my father was Sheen, even though he denied it.  I always thought that was cool, so naturally I gravitated toward Sheen’s movies.  While watching The Way for the first time, there was one scene where I paused the film and said to my wife, “Holy cow, does he ever look like my Dad.”

As it is a movie about fathers and sons and I’ve always had a great relationship with my Dad, I bought him a copy of the DVD and then sent him my copy of the book as well.  After watching the movie, he called me and asked, “So, when are we going?”

Pretty sure my Mom and my wife would have serious concerns about he and I taking off to Spain for a couple of months to walk the Camino de Santiago.  But I was pleased that he enjoyed the movie and book.

So why the painting?  Well, first of all, I’m more inclined to paint characters, not the actors themselves.  In our society where the privacy of celebrities is almost non-existent when they’re out of their homes, people seem to think they know them from what they read in gossip rags and see on trashy shows like Entertainment Tonight and Inside Hollywood.  I’m under no such illusion.  Simply because I watch their movies and read their memoir, I wouldn’t dare assume I know Martin Sheen or Emilio Estevez.  The book only shares what they wanted to share, and the movie, while infused with their own experiences I’m sure, is about characters Estevez wrote, not the actors themselves.  But good storytelling can make those characters seem real, and in this case, it was Sheen’s character, Tom, for whom I felt a connection.

Having bought my own copy, I’ve now seen the movie a few times, the last time with the purpose of gathering reference.  You may not see in the painting what I see in it, because it’s a scene that, to me, said so much about the journey the character was taking.  This image of Tom looking up and what he was seeing, was brief, but his expression spoke volumes, given what he’d been through.  The scenes that follow really get to me each time I see the movie, and I don’t mind admitting that.  It’s a wonderful story with rich characters, played by a very talented cast.

Lately, all of my work has been product driven.  Editorial cartoons on deadline, illustration commissions, painting commissions, even my Totem paintings have become about prints, licensing and always selling the end product.  As a result, it’s been awhile since I’ve truly enjoyed a painting from start to finish.  One of the reasons I painted this portrait was that it had no deadline and has no commercial value, other than that it will find a place in my portfolio.  I painted it for myself, simply to paint something personal, and I’m pleased to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was a bit like a vacation from the work of being an artist for a living, and I wanted to find the joy in it again.  There is a balance to be found there and I’m still working on it.  This painting was a good start.

For more on the technical details of this painting, click on this link.

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What’s Happening.

Haven’t been posting on here as much as I usually like to.  Part of the reason is that I’ve been busy, but hey, aren’t we all?  I’ve also had nothing much to say, which is likely an odd thing to read, especially if you know me well.  This post, however, I figured I’d just give a few updates, let you know what’s going on, and what I’ve got coming up.

Insivity.com is a new site that is designed to offer inspiration to artists and creatives.  The brainchild of Joe Sliger from Wacom, Colby Brown, Jeremy Cowart and others, it’s still very new but will no doubt gain momentum in the next few weeks.  A large number of creatives are represented and I was pleased to be asked to be a part of the site.  As of yesterday, my first article for Insivity went live.  ‘Fear’ was written as a ‘misery loves company’ effort, basically to illuminate the fact that being afraid of not measuring up is part and parcel of being an artist for a living.  To quote from the article, “You’re always going to feel fear.  Before every single painting I create, there are moments where I wonder if my best work is behind me.  Is this the painting where the personality doesn’t show up?  Is this the one where somebody says, “What happened?  You used to be good.”

And honestly, it happens with every painting I create, without question.  To read the full piece and check out all that the Insivity site has to offer, here’s the link.

Speaking of paintings that scare the hell out of me, I’m currently working on a painting of Martin Sheen as his character ‘Tom’ from the movie, “The Way.”  This piece is purely for my own enjoyment and it is doing the trick.  It’s the most fun I’ve had on a painting in quite awhile.  The reason is probably because there is no deadline, it will not be for sale, and there is a bit of a story behind it.  I’ll share that when the painting is done, likely sometime this weekend.  This is also a bit of a dry run for my upcoming portrait painting DVD from PhotoshopCAFE.

Incidentally, PhotoshopCAFE is having a big sale right now for everything in their library, including my DVDs, until the end of the year!  20% Off!  Just use the Promo Code PSNL1212

My wife and I own a townhouse condo here in Canmore and since we never wanted kids, it’s the perfect size for us and we never felt the need to get a big house.  The downside is that even though we’re on an end unit, we still share a wall with the neighbours beside us.  In our 11 years in this home, we’ve had both good and bad neighbours.  Just recently, a couple of good ones for the past three years moved away and we were sad to see them go, as they were friendly, considerate and most of all, quiet.  Even though the new neighbours appear to be the same, it’s a rental unit, so you never know how long they’ll be around, and we decided to have some soundproofing installed.  That’s kind of a misnomer, as you can’t really soundproof a home, but we did our best to install some noise dampening measures to our living room and bedroom walls.  Call it noise insurance, if you’d like.  Although the drywallers were professional and only in the house for 3 days, it’s incredibly inconvenient when you work at home.  I didn’t get much done this week as each morning was spent putting drop cloths on the furniture we couldn’t move, wrangling the cat into my office, then cleaning up at the end of the day.  Not to mention that during the day, it was noisy.  Daily routine and keeping the same hours is what keeps me on track and focused while working at home.  That routine went out the window this week.

Still, it’s all done but the painting, something my wife starts today, because she’s good at it and enjoys it.  Despite my skill with digital paint, I would just turn our new walls into a sloppy mess with real paint and a roller.  I’m not very handy that way.

Christmas is upon us and while many are stressing out over shopping and having to be elsewhere, it’s actually a quiet time of year for me.  We don’t decorate or exchange gifts and haven’t for years, simply because we lost interest and didn’t see the point of spending money on things we don’t need just because a calendar tells us to.  It’s an unpopular choice with many people, but one that works well for us.  Our parents got on board with it a few years ago and now enjoy the fact that they don’t have to shop during the craziest time of the year.  It’s a lot less stressful and while we still enjoy going to parties and visiting friends, the holiday season is pretty peaceful for us.

With that in mind, I had a former client approach me with an illustration gig this week, but he needs it by the end of the year.  With few newspapers actually working the Christmas week, I won’t be drawing editorial cartoons, so I figured I could squeeze in one more job for 2012.  It’ll be a pretty fun job involving cartoon animals.  I’ll share it when it’s done.  I’ll also have one more commission painting to share, sometime next week.  It’s been done for a little while, but the client hasn’t given the gift yet, so I have to wait.  It’s one of my best pet portraits, I think.

And finally, I’m preparing to be away from January 7th-11th as I’ll be attending the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this year, doing demonstration work for Wacom at their booth.  Hadn’t planned on heading back to Vegas so soon, but the opportunity came up, and it sounds like a fun experience.  It’s the largest conference Vegas sees each year, with over 150,000 people attending in 2012!  I do enjoy teaching, so I’m looking forward to it.

Big plans for 2013, but that will wait for another post.  Have a great weekend!