topic 21: miniature

this one came to me pretty quick. its inspired by the mini-comic i never got around to drawing.
it came from this:

i look at my fingernails and realize that ive bitten them until theyve bled.

she says, "were redefining the nature of our relationship."

i say, "like getting engaged, only opposite."

she says, "engagements are usually happy things."

ideally, but thats not really the point.

i ask if there is any hope, any chance, down the line, in the future.

i regret this immeaditly.

she says, "not for it to be like it was."

that clear
that certain
that final

through the tears i ask her to drive me home.

she says i dont have to go.

and i say, "yes, i do."

i light another cigarette - i am that cigarette, i realize how much we have in common.

and then she says, "i have beer."

i am so angry with her, feeling the need to bribe me to stay, to prolong this ...

but i am also sober and in pain.

between gulps of beer i regret having come up for the weekend.


okay so the thing that made me think of this is that the beer she had was a six pack or these mini coronas that were like 8oz. it just further added to the surreal nature of the night, this long awkward, painfull thing that i was going through, and the both of us drinking these little bottles of beer.

one hell of a night

week 17: phobia

well this is the second time ive had phobia as a post. this time i went with agoraphobia. ive been having difficultly leaving the apartment lately, im not really afraid to but more or a motivational thing, i just hope that my reclusive nature doesnt tun into an actual problem.

week 16: change

i bounced around on a few ideas on this one. this one seem to fit i was sitting around earlier thinking about how much my life has changed the last few months, and how much change four words can make in someones life.

topic #20: confession

wanted to say so much with this one...
i did my first sequental piece.
my confession for whats it worth
sometimes i hate myself

dont know how to get rid of the underline so... um.. sorry

announcement

ive decided to start a weekly art prompt showcase, one year of prompts suggested by you.
this is open to everyone.

ive decided to allow other bloggers limited access to posting here so to lighten the load for me. if you want to join, email me and ill check out your site (spamers be damned) and send you verification for limited posting privileges.

as for the blog i plan on starting this as soon as possible, probably in the next week or so.
ill get the ball rolling with the first weeks prompt later tonight/this morning.

atom feed

new thumbnail for linkage

feel free to use this to link to me here at 52 fridays, if you do, let me know and ill add you to the 52 fridays link resource.

coaster sketch of a friend of mine

this is a friend of mine that has been there for me lately, i did this the other night without really meaning to, it just kinda happened.

heres the before:

week 15: farm

so farm.

yeah.

made me think about family dinners at my grandparents ranch. after dinner id grab a mug of coffee and go out to the collasping barn have a smoke and watch the sun go down.

summer evenings there are the perfect temperature and the skies can be so amazing.

i wish i could visit more often.

topic #19: voice

this is one of those prompts that hit me right away. it was the thing that came to mind the second i read this weeks topic... voice.

this is about god, or rather, god and i.

ive had a very... conflicted relationship with religion and spirituality. i was raised catholic and when i was younger, i truly believed, i wanted to be the most pious person i could be, i even thought that one day i might become a priest. i really wanted to believe.

then i got older and things... happened in my life that made me question and abandon these beliefs, i couldnt imagine a god that would let things like that happen, and worse i didnt want to imagine a god that could.

i would have to say that this all came to a boiling point one christmas eve several years ago. i had just lost someone who i had loved with all my heart, i was unhappy, i was sick of living, especially in light of the decisions that i had made and where they had led me, and i was more than a little bit drunk.

it was sometime around two in the morning and i walked outside and screamed at god until my throat was raw and i collasped in the street not caring if any cars might be coming.

and then i just put the words out there, i lay there and i prayed for the first time in years.

i dont think that ive every really given up on some belief that there is some higher power or energy, and i dont really know if it is even aware of us. i used to joke that yelling at god is like yealling at your shadow, only difference is that you know that your shadow really exists... and you get the same results either way.

last night i walked out onto the fire escape and prayed for the first time in about a year. im not really sure what i said, it was mostly feelings, and focusing on how i am going to get through the problems/obsticles/setbacks that i am facing in life, and i think it helped.

so thats the image that came to mind when i saw voice.

i love the 80's

truth is this one almost didnt happen, i didn't much love the 80's. maybe it was that i was too young to really "get" or care about what was going on, maybe it was all the crap that was happening in my childhood. i have better memories of the 90's hands down.

there is one thing that i do hold fond memories of and that is the endless thumb blistering hours spent playing nintendo.

Topic #18: surrealism

so i had a few ideas for this one, i decided on a more light hearted pic than what ive been doing lately, maybe this is indicative of a shift in my mindset.

this was kind of (sadly/disgustingly) based off the other day when i opened the fridge and found that there was some broccoli that my roomate had bought and forgot about in the crisper (dont get me wrong, hes really anal when it comes to stuff like this, i guess he just forgot) and i was assailed by these waves of eeeeeeeeeevil. like the tendrils of a kraken emitting from the the fridge.

it was like i could almost see the odors reaching out to grab my soul.

it was pretty surreal.

squee!!!

this is a first:

Contributor Profile: Patrick Brennan

How and why did you become an artist?

Well as far back as I can remember I’ve been drawing. I remember having such a clear image of what I wanted to draw in my head and being so frustrated when I couldnt get that down on paper. It was probably around third grade that I decided that I wanted to pursue art seriously. So I drew, all the time, in class, at home, anywhere. After high school I started community college where my real education began. I was lucky enough to have a few great teachers who had to make me unlearn all of the bad habits that I had developed, artistically wise, and taught me the fundamentals of technique. From there I went to art school where I have hopefully developed these skills further.
As to the why, I guess that there are many reasons why I became an artist, I enjoy it for one. There is also this sense that I have inside that I have something to say, I havent discovered what that is yet, I think that Ive touched on it a few times though. Also, I want people to look at my work and hopefully relate and know that they arent alone in their experiences.

What kind of art do you create - and why?

I guess I kind of mentioned that in the last one, huh. Well the type of art I create has varied over the years and tends to change with my mood or mindset at the moment. Right now I’m working on a project that is a generic “simplified” style focusing on a non-linear collection of memories in relation to weekly prompts from various art sites, kind of a word association experiment, its still in the early stages yet and I am excited to see where it goes as my life changes.

How has your style evolved? Have you deliberately tried to develop a personal 'signature' style?

Well as far as evolution goes, my style has changed dramatically in the last ten years ago. There are some influences that I cant seem to break (not that I really would want to) but the newer ones come and go, ill see some great work in a gallery or a comic and try to add elements of thei style to mine, sometimes it’ll stick, often not so much. Most dramatically, the greatest change has come in the last four or five months, this new simplistic, and generalized style that I chose to use in part to balance out the heavier emotional subjects that Ive been addressing, also I hoped that by making it non specific, that people could be better able to identify with what is going on in the piece.

What kind of materials do you use?

Everything, anything. Mostly I use graphite, gel pens, sharpies, but I love to use whatever I can get my hands on, ill do sculpture if I can afford the materials, bar napkins and coasters, black poster board, crumpled paper, cardboard. And then of course, there’s the wonder of Photoshop.

Do you have any favourite techniques or working methods for creating your pictures?

This one varies, sometimes Ill read a prompt and have an idea of what I want to do with it in a second. Other times it can be a struggle. Mostly I look at the prompt and try and think of how it relates to what I am currently dealing with, or what I have experienced in the past. Other times I'll be doodling and ill happen upon something that I really like and have no idea why I drew it. So I guess it can be pretty random sometimes.

What inspires you? What kind of content do you like to include in your pictures?

Life. That would have to be the biggest inspiration, I know that it sounds cliché but seriously, when I’m feeling uninspired I get on a bus and just ride around, you’ll see so much if you try this. A lot of what I draw about is a response to me trying to make sense of my life.

Who are your heroes - and why?

My mother, my grandparents, and James Sime. My mother has shown more strength than anyone I have ever met, my grandparents because among many other things, they are my model on what a loving lasting relationship should be.
And then there is James Sime, owner of the Isotope comic book lounge here in San Francisco. (http://isotopecomics.com) this man’s love for, and dedication to the industry and is nothing short of amazing, and even that doesn’t really sum him up.

Do you have any favourite quotes?

If you take life too seriously you’ll never make it out alive. Failure is better than never having tried.

Anything else you'd like people to know about you?

Oh Im horrible at these questions, Ive always stuck to the school of: if you want to know something about me, ask.

Any advice to share with other artists?

Never stop creating, never stop posting.

attention!!!

calling all artists, i have started a links page that can be found here:

http://www.52fridayslink.blogspot.com/


i am hoping that you would want to participate with this link exchange, lets get our work out there for people to see.

week 14: safe

she said she felt safe in my arms...


she was

and to think i felt safe in hers

something new

just a thing i did the other night, i decided to use it for my website that i am in the middle of updating. oh and i recieved an email from artful wisdom asking if i was willing to participate in a contributor profile interview.

cool.