How Did I Get Here?

  That's been the theme in my studio today. Organizing my supplies has led me down memory lane these past few weeks. I found the pencil set I bought right before I left for Dallas and The Art Institute. In 1987. Thirty years ago. I've never used them. I bought them with that intention, but, for some reason, I've never taken them out of their shiny metal case. When I was in art school I barely had enough money for art supplies. Maybe that's why I've been stocking up on them ever since. Every sale, every coupon, every score at the thrift store. Unfortunately, poor organization has led to an odd assortment of art making material. Lots of black and white paint, but also lots of red. Perhaps it's my favorite color? Sharpies. Erasers. And paint brushes. Lots of paint brushes. Lots. Yet I still typically only use two. Until they're worn down and replaced by duplicates. But, I have all the others, just in case. From 0000 brushes to six inch brushes. Watercolor. Hake. Acrylic/Oil. Makeup (they're great for blending pastels). Lots of backups of my painting pictures from 2001-2007. I'm gonna set aside some time to go through and look for lost paintings. I feel like there are several dozen forgotten masterpieces.

  This is an abstract from around 2005. My whole basement was my studio. I had two big easels set up and I was painting in acrylics no smaller that three feet by two feet. My watercolors were four by six inches on the small side to ten by twelve inches on the big side. I was making art every day. And I was gloriously unemployed while I took care of my mom. That gave me a taste for the artistic life.

I was doing a lot of this Big Bold Shadow stuff. Which all had it's roots in this series:

I painted these in Lane Fabrick's Painting 1 class at Southeast Missouri State. He passed away a couple days ago. He was a big influence on me. He taught most of what I know about color mixing and theory. He referred to me as 'the most prolific artist I ever taught" and showed slides of my work to every painting class he taught, until he retired. Every one. For the longest time I had no idea. I guess I had quite a legacy. I do kinda feel bad for all the poor bastards that took the class after me, knowing that no matter how hard they tried and how much they painted they'd never beat my record for most paintings. I'm mighty proud of that.
  Anyway, I'm not sure what I should have written about. Maybe what an ass Last Week Doug is for posting all the new art pics. Ah, well. I'm sure I'm doing something to annoy Future Doug. Here's some new shoes I've done:

  Okay, I didn't realize I had that many pairs of shoes to post. Sorry Future Doug. I'm sure you'll think of something.