Your work has a storybook quality to it, much like 19th Century illustrators like John Tenniel who illustrated Alice in Wonderland. Who were your early inspirations when you were growing up? What illustrators inspire you today?
Unlike a lot of artists, I never really thought about art when I was growing up. Oh I did the occasional art/crafts projects at school, but art did not play a significant role in my life so I didn't have artists that I admired..
It wasn't until I was in my late 20's-30's that I actually saw books by Frazetta and Vallejo and those 2 played a huge role in what I drew. I used to be heavily into the fantasy/dragon/warrior type of art...but even that ran it's course after several years as drawing just wasn't that important to me. I was more fascinated by creating things with my hands, either jewelry or miniature sculptures.
I attended an art college but during that time, I guess I wasn't "ready" to "learn" or accept what was being taught. I was more interested in art history rather than the actual hands on drawing or creativity portion. Although I did get my BFA in drawing, it didn't hold my interest very long, lol.
Today, I admire artists like Franklin Booth and all the others who have a great understanding of ink line work. (I certainly can't list their names because I don't know them, lol.) When I see artwork that is intriguing or inspirational, 90% of the time I don't even know who the artist is. I am just in awe of how they've managed to capture the essence of what they are depicting, in awe of their technical expertise and how the art "feels". I've seen "beginners" who have the "IT" factor, technically they are still growing but their work already has that special, personal quality about it. Those are the artists who inspire me, the ones who go beyond the technical aspects and make the piece personal.
The rabbit is a reocurring theme in a lot of your drawings, there is a story there isn't there?
Hahaha...I guess there might be. The bunny arose from a meeting with someone who listed their dietary habits (apples, carrots, pears, etc.) and I said to that person "Good lord, you eat like a rabbit!"
Two or three of the original drawings were the results of a psychological break from my then current life. (Hmmm, maybe that's too much insight, lol.) Currently, The Bunny is just a good character and he does whatever he wants, or whatever I want him to do. Perhaps he represents things that I want to do?? LOL. I think what's interesting is how some people have began to think of him as "real".
You work in ballpoint pen, called Biro art, I have done ballpoints and love the medium because there is a certain amount of control that ballpoints give.
What are your favorite ballpoints that you work with and do you take lightfast (lightfast is the ability for ink not to fade in direct sunlight) into consideration?
I found the pens that work best for me are the cheap ones that you find in Dollar stores. Also the multi-color ones where you get eight colors in one pen and those can usually be found in office supply stores. I also have BIC and Papermate colored ink pens but typically you can't get fine point in those, except for the Cristal BICS. Whenever I am in a store, I ALWAYS check out the pens and right now I have a huge backup inventory so I don't have to buy any for quite a while.
I never used to consider longevity in any of my drawings, be it ballpoint or ink, until someone really got on my case about taking better care of my artwork, lol. So needless to say, when drawing with ballpoint pens, it wasn't a factor UNTIL I hung one of my drawings and over a couple of months the ink color changed and the drawing started to fade. THAT was disturbing as it was a drawing I did like but luckily I had scanned it prior to displaying so I have it on file. To answer your question, I do take fastness into consideration now but that doesn't stop me from using the cheap pens that I like (and typically aren't fade resistant). I don't display my original work at home, I have prints that are 98% accurate in color and that's what I hang, lol.
I have attempted color ballpoint before and I know how hard it is to work with them, yet you seem to have a good control of the medium. What are some of the best colored ballpoints to use?
In my opinion, the best are the ones I listed above. I think people have to understand that when you do ballpoint work, it's all in the layers, especially when you're dealing with color. I rarely have "pure" colors, that is the ink right out of the pen. Most of my colors are from layering 3 or more colors to get what I want.
You also have experimented in sculpture and created some really interesting mechanical boxes even creating your own gears out of material like cardboard. They are really clever, are you going to create more?
I really enjoy doing 3 dimensional work and researching how to get things to work. Assemblage art enables me to get "off the paper" and think differently and I love the tactile aspect of doing it. Also to have it look good "in the round" is a different type of challenge. I'm quite sure that I'll do more cabinet boxes (I hesitate to use the word "shrine" because that leads people to think "religious" and my pieces are anything but, lol) but I don't now when that will happen. That's the great part of being an artist, you can do ANYTHING that you want! I don't think I could ever do just one thing , I get "bored" just drawing...or if I hit a wall and can't think of what to draw...so I'm thankful for the other things available to me. Life is short, don't limit yourself, you never know what you can or can't do if you don't try, right?
Do you think you will create a written book about the adventures of the Rabbit? Your work has a definite graphic narrative. Also have you considered doing children's books?
I did a book of the Bunny but it was made up of drawings from an Inktober and didn't "read" very well. Also, I hated the flimsy paper it was printed on. Others have mentioned me doing children's books but I haven't a good story line yet so maybe one day I will try it again. And this time I'll do it in color!
What music do you listen to while you create?
I'm not a big music fan when I'm drawing . Music deeply affects my mood and what I "see" inside my head and if I'm drawing, I don't want something detracting from the path I'm on. Crazy as this sounds, I can have a movie or some cooking show or other nonsense on and it doesn't affect me! In fact, I purposely turn the TV on for the visual and background noise. However if I'm doing jewelry or assemblage work, my choices range from opera to metal....anything and everything EXCEPT Jazz!
What authors inspire your imagination?
Currently, I'm a historical novel reader but I like to read just about anything that catches my eye, lol.( I used to read all the major fantasy authors and had a massive collection of books ) I've read a lot of Conn Iggulden and Sharon Kay Penman novels and hope to read Iggulden's Genghis Khan series next. When I read the non-fiction "The Vatican Prophecies" I ended up doing 2 drawings from it so inspiration can come from anything and everywhere. I really do love to read but have to limit myself or I'll be stuck on the sofa reading all day, hahaha.
