The Automatic Prophetic Drawing of a Bug.

When I draw I start making marks on a page and I have no idea what is going to come out.

Sometimes I just start lightly scribbling on paper.

This drawing (to the left) ,which I have entitled "The Beheading" is a good example of this automatic drawing process.

What triggered "The Beheading" was a blotch on the wall of a coffee shop (Allan Brother's on Hilyard Street in Eugene, Oregon). The blotch suggested a shape--a man's profile and I pulled out my sketchbook to make marks on the paper similar to the blotch on the wall.

A few days later I had finished the drawing, working a few hours a day.

I didn't know that I was going to color in the drawing until right before I did it. For the color palette I decided to used the colors I found on a leaf: green, sienna brown, scarlett red, and golden yellow. I added the blue because it was the color of the sky and leaves and sky make nice juxtapositions.

I like the automatic drawing process because I am always surprised at what comes out. It feels like it comes from deep inside my psyche rather than from my brain. It seems free and wild like a mustang rather than being in harness like an old plow horse.

There was an art movement in the early 1900's called Dada which led to another art movement called Surrealism. Both of these groups practised automatic writing and drawing. The technique of automaic drawing was invented by Andre Masson and practised by Andre Breton, Salvador Dali, Jean Miro and others. I didnt invent it and I am thankful to those that did and went on to use it so successfully.

In my drawings sometimes what comes out is dark and disturbing and I think "Oh, that will never hang in someones dining room."

However, I try not to judge the work. (There are enough people around to do that for me!) I try not to stop what comes out, but get myself out of the way. It feels like I am prophesying but with images rather than words.

The graphite pencil drawing of the man pulling at his mouth is another example of automatic drawing.

This one, entitled "Mouth-Puller", started when I began scribbling on a big piece of paper with vine charcoal. I was heartbroken and going through a break-up with my wife and was living in a friend's basement. It was a dark time in my life and this image had to come out--had to be birthed.

Now, I will decipher for you some of my artistic code; if you look to the upper left corner of the drawing you will see a dim sun on the horizon. To me the sun seems threatening and poisonous as if tainted with radioactivity. To me it represents God, the Universe, the hand of Fate.

When I drew this I no longer felt trust that everything in life would go well. I no longer trusted the Universe to be kind to me. Rather, it seemed as though the Universe hurt me in an uncaring scientific way. As if I were a bug in a jar.

Do you see the black sunflowers under the figure's left hand? Notice the title of my blog?

I will leave the meaning of the black sunflowers for another day. If you write a comment to me and ask what is the meaning of the black sunflower I will tell you. It has a lot of significance.

Thanks for reading my blog and for looking at my art. Please leave comments--I really like to hear feedback, it is almost as good as getting a letter in the mail.