Chicken

Work in progress

I think that it's time that I pause my current project and start a few new ones.  I've had this drawing as my main focus for several weeks now, and am finding my progress to be slowing down, and if my drawing is anything like the rest of my life, which is most certainly is, this is a clear indication that I need to put it down for a short time, focus on other things, then come back to it with a renewed desire to see it through to completion.

I think this is my best work, in terms of execution/craft, and in terms of embedded personal meaning.  There is still a nagging feeling that my work needs to communicate something more, and do so clearly.  That is something that cannot be awakened before its time.  As a friend told me not so long ago, "just be patient, the meaning will come."  We aren't obliged to know everything, and until this new focus becomes clear to me I will gladly keep making birds.  I'm thinking Sandhill Cranes are next.

snake logo

I'm loving the book Siddhartha.  I wouldn't say the book has changed me in any way so far, but it's a very inward focused, spiritually centered book, and for those reasons I am able to relate to it on a very personal level.

The peacefullness that comes out of the empty heart.  The fact that everyone takes and everyone gives, and that is how life is.  The fact that other people are not here for our amusement.  The drive to experience everything, primarily myself, deeply and passionately, and yet not be mastered by anything.



Logo

As I learn from everything, and contemplate, my art continues to develop.  This is the third draft of a logo I'm designing for a friend.  It's come a long way since the initial sketches, and is going to be a great success when finished. 

This is what I'm listening to right now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4jj7LtrGzc


Here's the final version of this third draft of the snake logo.  Got some last second feedback from a fellow artist recommending I add some red to the compass, which turned out to be a great suggestion.  I'm not totally sold on the green, or the scales for that matter.  I think if I did one more draft, it could pop even more than it does now. 

feedback is encouraged!

Are ya down?

Recently I've been pondering my relationship with hip hop.  Just like all my relationships, I want this to be a healthy, fruitful one.  Reading through the book "Can't Stop, Won't Stop" has been a huge catalyst in bringing so many different things to light for me, but with this new information has come a flood of questions.  All I know is that at this point hip hop is my favorite genre of music, and that's where it stays.  I respect hip hop.  And apparently it shows.

A guy yesterday, while I was waiting for an elevator, looked at me and said, "Ya down wit da Wu-Tang?"  I was distracted, on the phone when he was trying to talk to me, but after I hung up I turned to him and asked, "Why did you ask me that?"  He smiled, and said "You look like you's down wit da Wu-Tang." I nodded my head in the affirmative fashion, slowly.  And now, I'm thinking instead of trying so hard to define this relationship right now, I should just learn more about it, grow in it.  I can't force the understanding to come, no matter how hard I might try.  In any case, yeah, I'm down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m148vZDwJA

Wheelies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5oU0fiFn_IM



I'm thrilled that this is happening.   I only know what was covered in the video at this time, but I plan on reading more soon.  My initial reaction to hearing about this: people still have the power to take back the power, and knowing that this awesome group of people are taking control of that power in such a spirited way is beautiful, and an artistic feat. 

Eldridge (Learning out loud)

This is Eldridge.  I'm still unaware of any one specific meaning in my drawings, and still without an artist statement.  You might say I am in a period of honing my craft, not only in my drawing but in all other areas of life as well.  I aim to be in this stage always.  Constantly improving, constantly growing. 

I understand art as being a state of mind, a way of living life. 

Trying, by De La Soul:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8TF1o4H92I