A Little About Me

Recently, the folks at Patience Brewster found my blog and asked if I would share about myself as an artist in accordance with the recent Artist Appreciation month. I appreciate Patience Brewster for reaching out to me. I am always encouraged when I get emails and requests from people I don't know who want to get to know me or support me in some way. Patience Brewster makes beautiful hand crafted Christmas ornaments. 

I hope you enjoy getting to know me a little better through these questions. 

1. As a child, do you recall a significant moment when you felt truly affected or inspired by any particular artwork or artist?

   The artist that influenced me growing up was my dad. Although he probably wont admit that he is an artist, his ability to see and recreate cartoons on anything from paper to birthday cakes inspired me as a child to do the same. He would always stop whatever he was doing to help me with my drawings or to teach me something new. My dad is the reason I draw, both genetically and by inspiration. Even today, with my skills beyond his, I still rely on his help. He has an amazing eye for seeing the tiniest details or changes I need to make to improve my drawings. He will always be the first person I go to if I need someone to give me a solid critique. Many people, even fellow artists, look at my unfinished drawings and think they are done, but my dad and I have the same standard of "complete". He understands what I am asking for when I call on him for help. I love my dad and I am am grateful for his love and investment in my life.

2. As an artist, what do you hope to convey with your work?

    At this point in my career I am mainly doing commissions. People will see my work and ask me to draw a portrait for them. A commonality in all my drawings is focus on detail. I draw exactly what I see in the photos I am given. If you has wrinkles or gray hairs, I'm drawing your wrinkles and gray hairs. Sometimes people want me to draw them younger, but I believe that what we look like is part of our uniqueness and our life story. I love drawing people as they are. Whatever makes you unique is what I love to draw. I want people to be happy with how they look and not be ashamed of getting older or being overweight or any of the other "problems" our society judges.   

3. What memorable responses have you had to your work?

  

    Since my artwork is photo-realistic (looks like a black & white photo) I have a lot of people think that my drawings are actually photographs. One time I submitted a drawing to a fundraiser expecting that it would be taken by someone, but the drawing never got chosen and I was shocked. I know that sounds arrogant, but everyone who saw it prior to the event told me they wanted it, so I assumed it would be chosen. I talked to some of the guests after the event and almost all of them thought my drawing was a photograph and that is why no one chose it. That reasoning made sense because if it had been a photograph, I probably wouldn't have chosen it either.

   Another memorable response was when a grandmother cried after seeing the commission I drew of her granddaughters. It feels great to bring joy to people through my drawings. 

4. What is your dream project?

   I have two dream projects so far. One is to do drawings of veterans. I have a lot of veterans in my family and feel that all veterans should be given recognition for the sacrifices they have made for our country. I am currently getting an opportunity to work with National Geographic photographers Robert Miller and Andrew Wakeford on a book that highlights veterans. You can see my blog post on it here. Another project I want to do is to draw my interpretations of all of Jesus' parables in the bible as well as biblical concepts in order to help grow and challenge my fellow believers in Christ.  

5. What artists, of any medium, do you admire? (Famous or not!)

    I am inspired by M.C. Escher, Alphonse Mucha and Caravaggio. Each of these artists has a very different style. I am inspired by Escher's attention to detail and his ability to create visually interesting scenes that combine Math and Art (tessellations). With Mucha, I am inspired by his posters that combine realistic figures and dark outlines usually associated with illustrations and cartoons. I also love the Art Nouveau era, which Mucha is apart of. Lastly Caravaggio inspires me with his use of chiaroscuro, the use of extreme lights and and shadows. As a black and white artist, I am very interested in light and how it moves around figures and objects.

Veteran's Voices

­This all started with an idea to do a series of drawn portraits of veterans in Ventura County and highlight their sacrifice for our country. My end goal was to have a show of these drawings, along with the stories of the veterans for people to read. As part of my artistic process I do a lot of research into other artists and projects that could be similar to what I was trying to accomplish. I then email the different artists to see if they will respond with any advice or tips that might help me in the completion of my project. I spent many hours browsing Google, Pinterest and Instagram. What I found was a lot of projects where the veterans themselves created the artwork, which is wonderful and therapeutic, but I wanted to find artists who were giving back to veterans with their art. I found 5 artists that created something similar to what I wanted to do and sent out cold emails to see if any of them wanted to respond. From those 5 emails I received one reply.

Robert Miller emailed me back within 24 hours. He is a photographer who worked on a book called "Portraits of Service: Looking into the Faces of Veterans". This book was exactly what I envisioned my drawing series to be, only I would use my drawings instead of photographs.  He said the loved my work and wanted to talk over a phone call. I was ecstatic! After we played email-tag for about a week or so, we finally got the chance to talk. I had a whole list of questions ready about how he funded his book project and how he contacted the veterans to interview. I was ready to get answers and start on my project, but before I had the chance to ask any questions Robert had asked if I wanted to be a part of the next veteran book he and another photographer were starting to work on.  What?! Seriously?! I was kind of in shock while I was processing his invitation, then he told me that he works for National Geographic. DONE, I was in! Wow, National Geographic!! What an opportunity!

The coolest part about it all was that before he emailed me to set up a phone conversation he asked his contacts at Nat Geo to see if they would be willing to let me in on the project. He contacted his fellow author/photographer, Andrew Wakeford, and discussed it with him too, all before we ever spoke. The fact that he was looking into bringing me onto the project, even before I said yes, proves to me that God works behind the scenes of our lives while we are in the middle of living them. I did nothing to receive this amazing opportunity except ask for advice, and I feel God dropped it in my lap.

The book I am involved with is called “Veteran’s Voices: Remarkable Stories of Heroism, Sacrifice and Honor”. I took this quote from their Facebook page to help you understand the book: “National Geographic Books and award-winning authors Robert H. Miller and Andrew Wakeford who wrote and photographed Portraits of Service Looking into the Faces of Veterans have come together to create an entirely new book tentatively called Veteran’s Voices: Remarkable Stories of Heroism, Sacrifice and Honor. This book will consist of thirteen sections and honors and explores the unique lives and remarkable stories of our men and women in the United States military.”

My part in this book has changed many times throughout this journey, and is continuing to change. I am not sure how my drawings will be used in the book, but I look forward to telling you once I know. In the mean time, meet the authors:  

Andrew Wakford

 Robert Miller

It is important to spread the word and get this book out there. Please take a few minutes to check out their website and like and share their Facebook page. 

The book will be ready for purchase on April 26, 2016. You can pre-order the book here.

I hope you will join me in sharing and celebrating the life of the amazing veterans of our military. I am honored to be a part of this book and its purpose "To inspire people of all ages to develop a greater understanding, empathy and awareness for the profound sacrifices experienced by our military veterans."