A Corner of my Mind's eye...an art blog.

Therapy/Growth: Thomas Dolby.

2012-02-13T08:09:00.000-08:00

Well, I feel like I should apologize for the utter lack of regular posting. A few months ago I wanted to shoot for a post a week... I'll be lucky if you guys get a post a month.
I don't know. Between work and just life in general, I haven't been feeling all that artistic. I've been having lots of artist's block with a few sparse moments of reprieve.

My project of creating art for all the Thomas Dolby songs is still active, so don't worry about that. It's just that lately, I have been in the middle of a musical merry go round that consists of Duran Duran, Thomas Dolby, A-ha, and Icehouse. I don't know if it's just because I'm getting older, but I don't seem to settle on just one obsession at a time (I hesitate to call it that because what I'm in now pales in comparison to some of my old obsessions). I've always had the habit of cycling through different obsessions; finding new ones, coming back to some, leaving some behind for a while, then coming back round to an old one but it seems the timeframe in which this happens has sped up a bit.

Even to the point where I simultaneously have three or four obsessions going on at the same time, which gets very confusing. XD
Anyway, the art. If you've been around me long enough you'll be used to the fact that I'm long winded... In any case, I apologize.

This newest piece of art includes a lyric which was taken from a demo that was included on the 2009 remastered re-release of "The Golden Age of Wireless", the Thomas Dolby album which also includes that infamous song... something about being blinded by science. Whatever.

I am fairly happy with the result, but I would like to try redoing this piece on a larger piece of sketchbook paper, and with maybe a little more attention to anatomy. I had the thought of making the dress look more like space, with stars and little planets and whatnot, but that idea might be best suited for the redo, if I ever get around do it.

That might be something to do in periods of art block. Finding old pieces I think I can do better and taking a crack at redoing them.

Anyway, I hate to say this, but I should probably log off and finish getting ready for work. I don't work until 11:15 but we have to leave a bit early, on account of the snow.

Love is a loaded pistol- Thomas Dolby.

2011-12-29T18:03:00.000-08:00

I had this drawing done and half colored/inked, and it sat that way in my sketchbook for a couple months. I recently picked up some new crayola markers, some copic outlining markers, and whatnot, so I decided to finish it up and get it posted.

It was inspired by the song "Love is a Loaded Pistol" from Thomas Dolby's newest release, 'A Map of the Floating City'.

The song is about Billie Holiday, and I have a great mental image for that that I'm not entirely sure I have the ability to draw, but in addition to that, I get a wonderful art deco, 1920s sort of vibe from the song. That's what I decided to illustrate here.

If you're only here for that art, you can run off and do other things now, but if you're interested in my personal life at all, you're welcome to keep reading.

Getting new art supplies is great, and it may seem a bit irresponsible of me, to go off buying things like that when I don't have much money and when my job could potentially be at risk, but after the new year, I'm cracking down.

I've said things of that nature before, but New Years will be a nice excuse to start off fresh.

First off, I won't buy soda anymore. I tried and failed to stop that around Thanksgiving, but I think this time around it will be more successful. This time a year ago, I started keeping a food journal and tried to make better food choices. I don't food journal anymore, but I'm 40 pounds lighter than I was at this point last year.

Secondly, I'm going to get very tight where finances are concerned. The company I work for is going to be shutting down 100-120 stores nationwide. It could take as long as a couple months for the list of closing locations to be released, and then of course more time as everything in the store is put on clearance and sold.

This would be... just shitty, to put it bluntly. I started working there in August of this year. Before that, I had considerable trouble finding a job. It would be just perfect to the store to close down and put me right back where I was before, putting out application after application with no luck. To cover my butt, I'm keeping an eye on job listings, but they're about as dismal and bleak as they were when I lucked out and landed my current cashier job.

No matter how that financial situation goes, I am going to make absolutely sure that I get to a concert on Thomas Dolby's spring tour. He can still sing really well, and I love his newest album. I'm also not sure how many more chances I'll get to see him play live.

2011 was a year of change for me, in regards to the weight loss and getting a job, but I'm going to work to make 2012 a better year than 2011.

Celebrate me home-Kenny Loggins.

2011-12-24T15:14:00.000-08:00

This Christmas, with a couple pictures, I got back to my acid trippy, rainbow colored roots. For my last holiday piece of the year, I wanted to go a more subtle direction.
If you haven't heard this beautiful, subtle song, I suggest you listen to it right now.

I hesitate to call it a Christmas song, because it really isn't overly Christmasy. I actually listen to this song year round because I think it's so beautiful.

Anyway, it's time I quit rambling and get to the art.

I know you've seen the piano keys in wings idea, but I wanted to include a reference to music, and including staff lines and notes in this drawing wasn't working out.

Now, I'm not usually going to post art that isn't music inspired here, but since it's Christmas eve, I thought I would include the other Christmas drawings I did this year.

I wanted to draw a poinsettia, but as I said, I also wanted to get back to the time consuming, rainbow, acid trippy art I used to do a lot more of. Lately I've been moving in a direction of making something surreal, but keeping it fairly simple. I like that concept, but I also miss making things like this.

This was my other holiday piece. I was inspired by some funky wrapping paper we used this year, as far as the tree's shape, so don't give me too much credit for that aspect of it.

Well, that's probably about it for the holiday themed art. We usually open our presents the morning of Christmas eve, but dad worked at the radio station. So. This year, we're going to go out to eat for supper, and then come back and open presents.

I hope everyone has a happy whatever you celebrate. If you're going out shopping, I beg you to please be patient with your cashier. Speaking as a cashier and having such experience, I can tell you they will appreciate it.

Speaking of shopping, if you're so inclined, you can have a gander at a list I put together of things you shouldn't do during holiday shopping season.

How to not be a complete dick during holiday shopping season.

Again, have a great whatever holiday you celebrate, and have a happy new year while you're at it. :)

Flying North-Thomas Dolby.

2011-12-08T18:26:00.001-08:00

Since I seem to be sailing on Thomas Dolby seas in terms of what I've been listening to as of late, I present to you my latest entry. My interpretation of the Thomas Dolby song "Flying North", on his 'The Golden Age of Wireless' album.

The lyric it was inspired by is the first line of the song:

"metal bird dip wing of fire".

I know he was talking about an airplane in the song, but I have an interesting way of interpreting things.

Plus, I've had this robotic bird idea knocking around in my head for a while. I like the juxtaposition of drawing something natural but putting a mechanical spin on it.

17 Hills.

2011-11-30T18:35:00.001-08:00

Long time, no see! Sorry about that. Between working and having some general art block, it's been a little bit since I've posted. I'll try to keep that from happening in the future, but I can't guarantee anything.

Anyway, for my latest entry, I'd like to present to you a drawing based on the song "17 Hills", which is on Thomas Dolby's new album 'A Map of the Floating City'. It's not currently on youtube, but if you have Spotify, you can listen to it for free. Which I hightly recommend. AMotFC is a fantastic album. I've scarcely listened to anything else since I got it.

Forgive the less than stellar quality of this photograph, which I had to take with my digital camera. I tried scanning the drawing, but since it's so big, it took three scans, and I was having a lot of trouble getting the three different pieces to join together properly. I decided taking a quick photo of it would do for now. When I have more time to spend I might try scanning it again.

I heard from the official forum that Thomas is going to be touring the US in the spring of 2012, and I am going to try very, very hard to get to one of those shows. Depending on the size of the venue I get to (and you can bet your arse I'll be at one of the shows), I want to try to meet him and possibly get his autograph. Of all the drawings I've done so far that have been inspired by his work, I'm probably the most proud of this one, and I want to bring it with me in the hopes that I can get him to autograph it for me.

This is planet earth...

2011-11-13T13:47:00.001-08:00

I have for you all a new piece of Duran Duran art. It began as a "failed" sketch in my sketchbook. At the time it wasn't what I was going for so I left it partially finished.

Due to the fact that I still don't have a working car (or a driver's license, for that matter), there were a few instances where I had to be dropped off at work over two hours early, so I had lots of time to kill.
One of those times, I had my sketchbook with me, and while flipping through it looking for sketches to finish I ran across this one and instantly had a Duran Duran brainwave.

Thoughts on this blog's direction, plus some Duran Duran art.

2011-11-06T20:57:00.000-08:00

I still want to illustrate/take a picture for every Thomas Dolby song, but I'm thinking I want to add other music related art to this blog. A staggering percentage of my art is inspired by the different artists that I listen to, and I feel like limiting this blog to Thomas Dolby art would feel a little stifling. Also, my musical obsessions have been running around like headless chickens lately, so I don't think I can really limit myself to one musician's work. Case in point? For the last two days I've listened to nothing but Howard Jones. Several years ago, when I was in college I had a miniature obsession concerning his music. I only own three of his albums now (I only had two back then), but he's one of my favorite artists.

Anyway.

In this post, I want to include some Duran Duran related art that I've made thus far. In subsequent posts, I'll include other music related art I've made. And I'll work on being a little more organized as far as recording which Thomas Dolby songs I've already made art for, and which songs I have yet to interpret. I might also take the liberty of listing every Duran Duran song, and every Howard Jones song, and any other artist I like enough to potentially give a shit about interpreting all their songs through my art.

OKAY, ENOUGH RAMBLING. I'm actually going to post shit now.

This is a drawing I did back in 2009, inspired by a song called "What Happens Tomorrow". I got the idea for this by randomly staring at some ivy that started to grow on one of our windows.
I very rarely use any medium aside from markers, so I'm sure it's refreshing to see something done in colored pencil, without the acid trippy rainbow of colors I normally use. I like this piece a lot, but as with a lot of my older art, I would like to try and make it better. For one I feel like the magenta could have faded better into the green.

Done in 2010, this is also different from my normal faire. It was done completely on the computer, using Paint Shop Pro 8. It was drawn using the pen tool, using the computer mouse, since I'm not fortunate enough to own a tablet. It was a lot more time consuming than it appears. As of right now I'm not seeing a whole lot I would be able to improve. I'd probably choose a little lighter shade of gold for the sun rays, but that's all I can think of.

This is a more recent piece, done earlier this year. In March, Duran Duran performed a a concert that was streamed live on youtube, and I watched it. I had a piece of paper in front of me and was doodling on it throughout the concert. This is one of the ideas I came up with. It was drawn on cardboard.

I would like to try doing this one over again, perhaps on regular sketchbook paper, or even on the computer.

This piece was described by my brother as "legit pop art", and I have to say... It's one of my favorite drawings that I've done, ever. I do wish the dot was a little more perfectly round, but I'm not going to nitpick. By the way, the design inside the dot? I have a tattoo of that symbol. The only difference is that mine doesn't have yellow on the inside. And of course, it's not inside a giant dot, but forget that. XD

I hope some day I get a chance to show this to the band, I like it so much.

The last drawing I'll post for you today is this one:

This was done with a mixture of pastel crayons, crayola markers, and a couple metallic markers I got on sale at Wal-Mart a couple years ago. I was originally a little torked off because it smeared a little more than I had intended, but now I rather like the end result. I do wish I'd done the mouth a little better, and even though my people are never realistic, I can't seem to escape this pox where the peoples' heads are always too big, but oh well.

My Brain is Like a Sieve.

2011-10-16T07:57:00.000-07:00

It really is. I was going to try to shoot for a post a week, but my musical obsessions have been running alllll over the place lately. I was wrestling between Duran Duran and Def Leppard for a while, then between Thomas Dolby and Duran Duran, and right now... Duran Duran is winning.
I will still be updating this blog as I see fit (because I am still very inspired by Mr. Dolby's work), but it's making me want to start one of these for Duran Duran.

I don't know. I'll think about it. I'm leaning towards going ahead and starting one, but that's just what I need. Another blog nobody will read. XD

Anyway, for Halloween, I've become taken with painting pumpkins, because it's far less messy, and the pumpkins last a lot longer. I bought a ghost pumpkin this year and decided to paint it. It's a lot of fun. Actually, I am considering buying another one because they're so much fun to paint.

For this pumpkin, I borrowed a lyric from "My Brain is Like a Sieve", a funky little number on the album "Aliens ate my Buick".

To the Lifeboats.

2011-10-01T20:11:00.000-07:00

Here is a lovely photograph I took using a lyric from the song "To the Lifeboats" which is on Thomas' upcoming album "A Map of the Floating City".

I had to piece together three or four different pictures, so they don't meet up exactly.

I have other shots from this particular day so I might show those to you later.

Field Work.

2011-09-29T19:44:00.000-07:00

So, here is the first piece of art to grace this new project blog. I was inspired to draw it after listening to Field Work about a million times. I suggest downloading Spotify to hear most of the songs I'll be making art for, but you can probably just look up each song on youtube if you're not one to download new programs.

Also, I have previously posted elsewhere a piece of art for the song Oceanea, if you're interested in that.

Now, if you'll allow me to get fangirly for a moment. If I had the chance to be at one of Thomas Dolby's concerts, I would want to give him one of the above pictures or at the very least have him autograph one.

I have a few photographs that should be coming your way shortly (within the next couple of days), so stay tuned for those.

Welcome to my new art project!

2011-09-27T09:13:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, and welcome to my new art blog.
I had an art blog where I was going to attempt to post a new piece of art every day for a year, but that fell through the cracks. Most of my really good art is too complex to churn out one piece a day, and my creativity refuses to perform on such a regular schedule. My creativity is like a moody teenager. When it wants to, it can get the chores done but it generally prefers to merely utter "I don't FEEL like it" and go back to watching reruns of Psych and pissing around on the computer.

I still wanted to dedicate some time to an art blog, but just one with a more forgiving posting schedule.
A friend of mine from deviantart started up a project where she's going to illustrate every Beatles song. You can find her here: http://illustratedbeatles.blogspot.com/.

That gave me an idea. While the Beatles have certainly had their share of influence over the art and music of the past fifty years, they have not lit the proverbial fire under me quite like they have for some others. At least... not over time. There was a period of little over a year where I ate, slept, and breathed the Beatles. That time has now passed, and I can appreciate them without an obsession looming over my head.

So I got to thinking. Is there an artist that has had that kind of a lasting influence on me? Yes, there is. His name is Thomas Dolby.
Most of you probably only know "She Blinded Me With Science" and maybe "Hyperactive" if you're an 80s freak, but my first real exposure to him was the music he composed for a short computer animation film called "Gate to the Mind's Eye". My first real exposure to his music were the three songs he composed for the film "FernGully:The Last Rainforest", but I wouldn't connect him with that until years later.

I have decided that for my new project blog, I will make a drawing/painting/photograph/whatever for every Thomas Dolby song. I realize it's kind of a lofty goal, but with the things I've learned while posting my previous blog, I feel like I can make it happen.

This blog will not be a post a day venture, and I feel like that will allow me to contemplate more complex pieces. There will also be far less pressure. I won't feel like I have to dig up some old pictures just to fulfill my post a day promise. So every piece will be new. With the exception of two Dolby related pieces I've already made.

Also, I haven't quite decided on the format. I'm thinking I can draw a picture for every song, and then go back through the list and take a photograph for every song. Or just do either and do the opposite when I go through the list again (i.e. draw a picture for a song the first time around, then take a photo for it the second time).

Anyhoo, I'm pretty excited to see where this blog takes me. I might even try to draw some readers in from the forums on Thomas Dolby's official site. It's a big ball of unknowns right now and for once that does not intimidate me.