Addictions

Okay, it's time to come clean.

I've been keeping something from you. Well not all of you. Most of you.
And not for very long, should you think that this relationship of ours isn't based on trust or friendship or random thoughts of an amusing nature, or glimpses of my life in short bursts. Cuz it is, really. It's just that I wanted to make sure that what I was keeping from you was really something that I would carry with me, going forward, and not just minor baggage of a personal nature.

Like that whole finger table saw incident. minor baggage . By now it's minor, it wasn't at the time, no, of course not. At that time it was life changing for awhile, and a source of amusement and stories and much ponderance but we've healed and grown and are better for it, so its not news. Though looking at pictures of it right after the mayhem of that day, and the subsequent healing period with the stitches and bandages, and stuff, that was kinda creepy.

This isn't like that. or the cutting vegetables time, and the stitches and waiting and stuff. no. this is less drastic in a physical respect, but more personal in nature though still life altering, maybe, we'll see how it plays out. Bookmark this post and we'll come back to it in the future and see.

I have a secret, and it's time to let you in on it.

It started by accident actually, just a little bit at first, and it was great! I tried it a little at a time, then a bit more, then the first stuff wasn't enough; it wasn't cutting it, so I progressed to bigger things, and soon was in a bit over my head, spurred deeper into it by a well meaning, trusted friend, who delighted in each step down the path with me, reinforcing the need, pushing me to try new, more powerful things, risking things to see where I'd get to.

It was hard to put down, not that I couldn't quit if I had wanted to, but I didn't want to. I started to dream about it, about what I could do, how I could experience things through it, where it might take me. For awhile I didn't want anything else. Didn't need anything else.

And when I went a few days without it, like on vacation to Disney World in early December, it found me, even then. Just a little bit though, but it was enough to give me that lift I needed.

It got so bad there in Florida that even the family tried it, all three of us, together in a room with strangers, as a group, each of us trying to capture that feeling, that quality that we sought. I think the boy has it in him to be like me that way. Not his mother though, she tries it, but it doesn't do anything for her, and she's okay with that.

It just isn't her. She can't draw or sketch to save her life. No artistic talent. It's sad actually.

Wait, what did you think I meant?

I started drawing! At first, last summer, it was quick sketches of cartoon characters. Like Mickey:

And my personal favourite, Donald:

They weren't bad! And I enjoyed the quick process, Post-it note sized sketches that captured the essence of the characters, the expressions. But I needed something more. I wanted to try something new. So I went and bought some supplies, acrylics and brushes and some canvasses, and took a few of my favourite sketches and made them bigger. Much bigger. 16 x 20 bigger:

And I loved how they turned out.

So I shared this new pastime with a few close friends and they encouraged me to try new things, colourful things, and then I put out my first challenge to myself, to paint a few characters for friends for Christmas. What could it hurt? I was confident I could do it - my friends would enjoy them - though I'd never tried real painting before - and I never thought about what if these look like crap? Looking back that could have been a very real possibility.

I just jumped in and went for it, and enjoyed the process, and the outcomes:

Since Christmas I've keep up at it, trying new things, like doing one for the boy:

And then I had the grand idea to try Captain Jack Sparrow - a real portrait, not a cartoon. I don't know what I was thinking. I've never painted a person before. Worse yet I posted on TourGuideMike.com about my efforts and a shot of the sketch:

I had to keep up with it. I'd laid down the public challenge to myself. That was last Monday. By Friday he was finished:

So that's what's new; that's where I've been; what I've seen, and how its turned out so far.

It's been a rush.




(and I should point out that the characters depicted above are copyright Disney, created by me without permission)