deserted

Today's photograph is of the New Mexican desert. I don't know why I like the desert but I do. Perhaps it's the big sky and never ending sunshine. Or, perhaps , the stillness and quiet. I like to paint pictures of the desert and almost all of my new mono-prints are of the desert. It has irregular forms and almost monochromatic, simple and complicated. Rough and delicate. I like to recreate these feelings in my work.

Saturday

2day was good. The image is a collaboration of a long time. Almost 20 years ago I did a sketch of a motorcycle with a human heart in place of the regular motorcycle engine. I had been reading a magazine article about the poor quality of Harley Davidson motorcycles. The article described how a brand new Harley on the showroom floor would be leaking oil. Oil is the lifeblood of an engine. What if the puddle under the motorcycle was blood? But mechanical things don't leak puddles of blood. Then the engine must be biological. What typifies that more than the human heart. From the marker sketch came the idea, but it was years later before I found that Internet images and image processing programs allowed me to create the above image. The animation is just a bit of fun.

On another note, I rebuild the T Young Artwerks website. See it at www.tyoungartist.com This image is now on a T-shirt at http://www.cafepress.com/1391647.276028712

Memorial Day

Memorial day has just passed, a time to remember those who paid the supreme price. This video is homage to my uncle, John Henry Young. He was my fathers oldest brother. He had two brothers in WWI but only one returned.

Sunday afternoon

Just some sketches from my sketchbook. virtually everything I do creatively begins in the sketch book. I also use to experiment with different techniques. It is also my constant companion when traveling. But not quite as constant as my main squeeze! It is predominantly black and white and most of it is in black ballpoint pen, usually those freebies you pick up at motels. Recently I have started using pencil, since i have found hairspray (I use it as a fixative) in a small travel aerosol. The color work is either in watercolor or water soluble markers.

Some of the stuff is just absent-minded dreaming with a pen in my hand. The center page is a preliminary sketch done plein aire for a painting. The sketch is a year-old and I haven't been able to do a big piece that has the spontaneity the the color sketch has. The page on the lower left is exploring a cactus form. I was stylizing the simple form and abstracting it. And now off tho the sketch book? Where is my MOTEL6 pen? Is the light on for me?

2DAY

It has been a while since I posted. Sometimes the electro-mechanical devices don't work exactly right.

One good thing about low tech is that there are few problems. The expression of visual creativity can be extremely low tech. For example, this new piece was made of newspaper pen, pencil and glue stick. I was watching television when the creative urge hit me. I grabbed the old sketch book (9 x 12) and some newspaper. I wanted to create a design with a variety of textures. I also wanted to have a three dimensional element. The work was created intuitively, no sketches were involved. I used cut and torn pieces to get the variety in edges and the overlapped pieces give a sense of depth. The line work adds a bit detail of primitive symbology. Am I "saying" something with this piece? Maybe... television is boring?