'Silent Screamin' for cryin' out loud!

Just a little series I made a while ago. ''Silent Screamin'' consists of six parts so far, but to be honest, there is one older drawing that I consider to be the ''prequel'' to this series of drawings. That one was sold a couple of years ago and unfortunately, I currenlty do not have a proper digital version of it at hand, so I am not able to show it to you all. But will make sure of that in the near future! 

Anyway, as far as this little series go, I think they are strong enough to speak for themselves: 

''Silent Screamin', For Cryin' Out Loud!''

'Sweet Unbearable You': the unwilling object of too much loving affection

Now, on to another series I created earlier this year: "Sweet Unbearable You'', which, for me, is all about idolisation and the effect it has on people: on both an over-adoring fandom as well as the object of their adoration, as the relationship between the two becomes more and more inseparable and more than once, increasingly uncomfortable.

Somehow, I think the images speak for themselves, really. And yes, this is yet another series I want to explore further. To be continued!

Old versus New Tools: Let's Ink & Get Inked!

Old versus New Tools. I am always a bit reluctant to get rid of old pens, brushes, and so on. So much Witty Art has been created with those, it feels almost ungrateful to replace them, to reject them even, just because they have served their time... But... at the same time, I feel immensily excited and eager to get to work with brand new tools, and now even more so because... Finally, I can work again, create new Witty Art with my most treasured materials. 

Let's Ink & Get Inked!

Yet another proud owner of Witty Art comes forward

Just another picture of another proud owner of Witty Art. As you can see, this one is quite the connaisseur when it comes to collecting modern art ;-)

As a matter of fact, you can see much more pictures of Witty Art at their proud new owners' happy homes here.

My art book 'My Life In Limbo' reveals more and more insight into the World of Witty Art

Time to share some of the latest pages of my Witty Art Book 'My Life In Limbo'. As I have shared with you before, this is perhaps my most personal art series up to date, as it is pretty much an insight in my mind, as I am slowly coming to terms with the new directions my life is heading into after losing my house and having to life the life of a 21st century city nomad.

It's an almost daily reflection of my life-in-transition and more than that, it has become a in-depth investigation in the world of Witty Art, or rather: the world behind Witty Art. Stuff that drives me, motivates me, triggers me, frightens me, haunts me and all other kinds of stuff that doesn't exactly kill me but make me either weaker or stronger.

It also features most, if not all Witty Art Characters, some loved, others feared and some pretty much univited guests too. And some new ones, too. But they all make up the World of Witty Art, so in a way, I hold them all dear to my heart. No exceptions to that rule.

 

Creative destruction gave life to my series 'Once Upon A Time... Never Happened!'

So, a bit earlier I wrote about The Making Of ''Once Upon A Time Never Happened #4'' which offered a little preview of this new series. And now, I'd like to share with you how this one came to be.

Basically, this series emerged purely by coincidence and out of destructive rage. I was drawing, working on another Witty Art Series of a couple of Singles, I can't even remember and it doesn't matter. All  I know is that it just wouldn't go the way I had in mind. The ink didn't flow, my hand didn't direct the pen, the paper was not the right kind, etc. 

In short: it all sucked big time.

It's one of those moments you frustrate the hell out yourself as an artist, because you try so hard to make exactly that what you have in mind, and nothing, absolutely nothing you try seems to work, in fact, anything you try only seems to make matters worse. 

It's when everything inside of you screams: ''Stop! Let go, you idiot!'' and when all ratio in you says and knows you should, the artist in you just cannot give up. Because giving up, basically means you failed - whereas you should have nailed it.

Now, I do realise not all artists nor all creatives are like that. But I am. I get terribly frustrated when I find myself not able to recreate the image I had in my head and the feeling of disappointment when I have to abandon a drawing and leave it ''unfinished'' or even ''mislukt'' is all-absorping. In fact, it's a feeling of pure sadness and loss and I can even really mourn ''the ones that didn't came to be... ''.

Anyway, here I was, being totally frustrated and angry and all, at which point I just teared up this particular drawing. I totally tore it to pieces. And as always when I do that, I felt relieved. No way back, let's start anew.

Untill I caught a glimpse of the pieces lying scattered on the floor. There was something about them that caught my eye.

Something new, something promising and alluring.

Somehow, these separate pieces of torn paper seemed to tell a story of their own. The way they were arranged, seemingly random, all of a sudden made sense to me. I picked the pieces up from the floor and started rearranging them onto a sheet of blank paper, playing around with them, moving them up, down, left and right all over the surface, taking some pieces out and by then I'd started drawing on to the underlying paper as well. Connecting the separate pieces, tying them together. 

Creating a whole new image from one I'd so eagerly and willingly destroyed earlier.

From this process of 'creative destruction' came my series 'Once Upon A Time... Never Happened!', in which I've mixed different classic techniques and media such as drawing with ink, graphite and charcoal, adding coloured ink and watercolours, using both drawing, collage and text into a whole new series of Witty Art. 

There are five of them so far - and I really would like to explore this use of mixed media a la Witty further, taking it up a notch or two and work on bigger-sized canvas, perhaps adding the use of digital media as well. But that all will take some further exploring and experimenting, which I can only do once I have set up my new studio again.

Which, hopefully, will not take that long anymore.
 

Witty Art Characters are starting to break down ''the fourth wall''

As my Witty Art Book 'My Life In Limbo' is coming along, it moves further away from it's original intentions: to keep a visual diary of my life of in transition, but, as I wrote before, it has become much more a series on highly personal reflections on Witty Art itself; and the world(s) that it embodies. 

And over the weeks, as the book progressed, the characters that inhabit those world(s), started speaking for themselves. As someone dear to me described it, almost like they were breaking down the invisible ''fourth wall'' between their staged world, disregarding their director/creator (me, that is) and starting to speak directly to the audience: you, friends and followers of Witty Art.

And, yes, is true. They do. As I wrote before, sometimes I am not completey sure whether I am the creator of my own art, or just a humble intermediator, whose sole purpose is to visualise the characters that inhabit a universe I call the World of Witty Art; and to give them a voice as well.

Well, if that is the case, I can only hope their stories speak to you, as powerful as they speak to me. Powerful in their moments of weakness and insecurity, of crippling self-doubt, facing the challenges of being alive every day. While finding strength, resilience, even hope in those very moments of hitting rock bottom - because when you do, when you are at your lowest point, the only thing you can do is look up. And while you might see the steepest hill and the highest mountains you have to overcome, there is another thing you might see, too.

The sky. Now, that may not be the brightest of blue skies, and dark clouds might hide the sun, it's still the sky. And, when it comes to the power of imagination and creativity, to me, the sky is still the limit.