Some days feel a little blue.

This is a 4″x6″ 2-layer laminated drawing of an abstract face. Mediums used include pen, marker, and watercolor. The first layer consists of the blue background and face drawn directly on the paper. The drawing was then laminated, and paint pen and watercolor was used to apply the light blue wisps and blobs of grey color. The entire drawing/painting was then laminated again to seal in the little blue world.

[Read more →]

“Don’t overwork it!”

I get it, but no thanks. At least not today.

As much as I appreciated all my art teachers when I was younger, I think I would have liked less focus on accomplishment or the end result, and more on the process of learning and building. There is so much sustainable joy in action.

Some days I just want to push. Bring the art to its limit until it breaks… watch it break down, learn from it, put it back together and smash it again. It’s like playing, which is part of learning and creativity. I want to do more than make mistakes… I want to lift them up, and turn on the flood lights. Swing ‘em around and test their stability, study them close, cover them up to see what shows through, highlight it and build off that. What a mess!! Yes.

Putting some paint on paper is a pretty safe place to make mistakes. And the best part is learning to trust myself more than anything… that quiet authentic awareness in between thoughts… and what I came face to face with was that a lot of my “mistakes” were just my own ‘thoughts with judgment’. It’s not easy to let those thoughts go, after all, they’re there for a reason… maybe to protect my ego against criticism, i.e. staying within the lines means you get a gold star. But today I’m pushing for authenticity.

With so much attention on process and subjectivity, it’s difficult to focus on the end result and present it with coherent significance. There were so many faces created and destroyed within this artwork, it feels to me like the last one can barely hold it all together. And maybe that’s honest. This abstract painting of a face isn’t the final representation of my authenticity… it’s a painting of the active struggle (push) to find my authentic voice, and the joy and frustration that goes with it.

[Read more →]

This is an abstract portrait painting of an Art Goddess. The artwork is 9″x12″ and was created with pens, watercolor, paint pens, and markers. Multiple layers of medium were energetically and organically built up to create an abstract female face, with broad strokes of watercolor and detailed pen lines used to push and pull the space. The essence of creativity is playfully depicted as an Art Goddess, with the face as an almost universally recognizable lead in to the visual art.

As I’ve grown into art, I realized that I have developed a deliberate way of expressing myself visually. Perhaps the same way that some have a deeper understanding of other tools for expression and communication, like math, language, or music. I feel a deep appreciation for those other creative processes, even though I don’t understand the intricacies of them, I know there are areas of overlap and mutual insight. So I added a few subtle reminders of other tools that enrich and nurture visual art.

I also wondered, if more people were taught to convey emotions or concepts via color and shape more consistently, what new ways of thinking about the world would we discover? What unknown creativity awaits behind the Goddess’ eyes? And what flashes behind yours?

[Read more →]

These are two 9″x12″ abstract portraits of artist Frank Calloway, drawn and painted with pen, ink, markers, colored pencils, and watercolors. Dina Kerik’s Deepwater Journal alerted me to the story of Frank and the reference image for the artworks.

I was inspired by his passion for drawing, which started when he was 86 years old. Frank Calloway turned 112 years old on July 2, 2008, and art continues to be a part his life. I also like the youthful quality of his drawings, and the consistency hints at a very mature, organized, and creatively patterned style.

High quality giclée prints of each portrait are available at ImageKind.

[Read more →]

Some days before I draw, I close my eyes and breathe until I’m close to a kundalini state of mind, and I start to see amazing faces of all kinds. Barely captured in the artwork, the faces are so real, so unlike anything in this world, it feels like more than just imagination. Like my eyes have to close to this world in order to open in another.

There is a gamut of emotions they express, extreme details, and some that seem to embody the very essence of words like “beauty”, “evil”, “fun”, and some… I don’t think there are words to express what they are. I’m not consciously controlling the faces, they move, come, and go on their own, but I’ve never seen them before with my eyes open, and I don’t know where they come from.

I drew a picture that echoes the experience.

~Michael
MDE-Art.com

[Read more →]

Theses are abstract drawings of skulls, sketched with markers, watercolors, paint pens, and artist tape. The acid free tape was layered over the eyes of the more abstracted green swirly drawing. A bandaged or mummified appearance hasn’t translated as thoroughly to the digital reproduction. The skull drawings use basic shapes of color, subtle lines of structure, and semi-opaque washes of watercolor sketched quickly and energetically. A white paint pen is also used to add interesting hot spots of washed out color and blur lines that intensify the subtle illusion of movement.

[Read more →]

This is a pen drawing of a tree with a few leaves and branches. A faint yellow highlighter was also used to accentuate sparkles of sunlight, but they are not as apparent in the digital reproduction. The tree is a large old Silver Maple tree in its final years. Much of the base has rotted out, and the tree is being prepared to get cut down. So this drawing was created in remembrance of this mighty creature.
Thanks for the oxygen!

[Read more →]