And so it begins… a new year and a new start. This image might not be such a surprise for those that know me well, but for others, it might come as a bit of a surprise. For me, this image represents a truth that I’ve come to realize and accept after a very long time: my style is made up of many styles. I cannot adhere to a single defined style. For a long time I mistakenly assumed that I needed to have a certain “look” to what I did. Because of this erroneous belief, I spent many years feeling very frustrated with whatever I did. Every time I found myself feeling like I’d finally discovered the look that I thought I wanted ,I would feel that, once again, it wasn’t it. It seemed as if no style was my style and I started to feel very frustrated because of this. Believe me, it wasn’t something I enjoyed; in all honesty, I hated it. Almost all of the artists that I had grown up admiring had a signature style and I assumed that it was supposed to be that way. That assumption was a huge mistake on my behalf. Because of it, I spent years looking for something that didn’t exist: a defined style. I led my own self on a wild goose chase. Starting out as an artist and dealing with the public and their strange ideas about art can be frustrating enough; add to this a feeling of having no visual identity and you can start to understand how I was feeling. After a long period of nearly no activity, I started thinking about this; I’d be lying if I said that I made any immediate progress towards resolving this personal dilemma. It took another two years to finally come to grips with this idea. During that time period I began my first blog, Cubist Comix, and I began to get myself back into a daily routine of drawing which helped a lot. Eventually, all these things helped me realize that mine was a multi-style approach. Realizing that was a great thing, but accepting it was even better. Another great thing was realizing that my different approaches were tied to my different emotions. It all makes perfect sense to me now. Now, that realization is also enriched by the fact that I no longer seek approval from anyone in regards to what I produce, nor do I feel the need to have to explain myself to anyone either. The only thing that I seek now is total freedom; if there are any restrictions placed upon my work, they are ones that I have placed myself. The above image may not be something totally new for me but that’s the least of my concerns because, more importantly, it says something about where I am in the evolution of my own work: this is who I am and this is where I set off on my own.
I therefore go forward along my chosen path; I proudly acknowledge all those influences, obvious and less obvious, that form a part of who I am. One must start somewhere and eventually come to a point where one veers onto a lone and unique path. Let the adventure begin.
