Tag Archives: catoosa

Conventions

Catoosa County Film Festival – What You Can Expect

I’ll be at the Catoosa County Film Festival selling not just books and stories, but also some unique one of a kind art. I am an artist along with a writer. In many cases, before doing a book cover for myself or for someone else I’ve sketched out an idea. Most times, these sketches are never seen and often don’t make it into a cover which makes them rare. This is a great way to also come and see my original ideas for book covers, icons, client work concepts, and other things that never made it to the public eye.

I announced that I would be bringing with me ‘Dreary Darlings’. These are a therapeutic purging for me. Characters born from a depression that lasted several days. All of these works that will be sold are originals and not reprints of artworks, concepts, or sketches. What does that boil down to? If you buy one, adopting it, and bringing it home you’ll be the owner of that work and only it. All the concepts and sketches are signed, labeled, numbered, and packaged for their protection.

I have shared some images on my social media accounts. Those images are not the only items that will be featured and brought along. This is a great chance to see what I toil away at away from my computer programs, work schedules, and clients in many cases. In due time, some items may be placed up for sale through my website, but visiting me December 1-3 at Catoosa County Film Festival in Ringgold, Georgia is a great way to meet me and talk about these things one on one if you’d like to know more.

I don’t make many public appearances so this will also be a great chance to meet me in person. 🙂

Check out the festival’s links:

Dreary Darlings

The Dreary Darlings

“From the darkness, the light shall shine” – This is something that I’ve come to believe as a great fuel for my creativity. Many characters in my stories came from something I was working out and I’ve been lucky that I’ve been able to find an avenue that was creative to express these emotions. I’ve spoken about publically how I began writing as a child to create something I could control since my childhood was filled with things I couldn’t control. I’ve also publically spoken about having a ‘rough childhood’, but the depths of this has never been shared in the public eye. My childhood as led me dealing with many anxiety issues that I luckily have control of now amongst other health-related issues.

I’m not blogging this to speak about my childhood traumas, but to speak about the other side of the darkness, that creative side I firmly believe saved me from a worse mental fate. Dreary Darlings are a recent creation of a more recent depressive state I went through. I began doodling in my silence not sure of what would really come of it other than idle entertainment and to shoo away those saddened thoughts and doubts. One by one I saw characters coming out in my drawings, my sketches began to show a pattern. First Peter Plague Doctor came out, then his cloaked bloated little body began to appear again and again. Eugenia, Nan, and others came out. It wasn’t until I looked back over my sketches that I realized I had filled page after page with these eyeless little alien-like creatures.

It’s hard for an artist to find their ‘style’. Through this came to life a style I’d not done before. I had done quick sketches in the past, shared with friends and others, rough sketches and polling for opinions, and these ‘darlings’ have that feel. I don’t know if this style of work is going to continue or just a stepping stone along the way, but it’s a very comfortable style for me. I think fast and it’s obvious in my work with the multiple lines and the rough curves.

I hope you all can see something in them the way I did after they appeared and spoke to me.