Unsolved Mysteries

I'm in the middle of a bunch of different things, so I haven't had a lot of time to take pictures of stuff in progress. The image to the left is a more abstract piece that I haven't been paying too much individual attention to, but have been slowly adding things to for months now. And I want it to be more than just a pretty picture, so I keep debating internally what it's really about and changing my mind. Sometimes my work can have a very specific meaning that I know before I even start, sometimes I just know I want to express or illustrate a moment or feeling. And, every once in awhile, it's just "I feel like painting an angler fish," so then I do and we're done. It might be a cute little illustration, but nothing deeper. That kind of stuff should be "practice", and in my personal rating system has less value than something I spend a lot of time putting thought and intention into.

Anyway, I think the piece above might be about aliens. In case you aren't one of my best friends, you may not be aware how freakishly afraid of them I am. It's sort of a joke, but with real parts to it - I was definitely traumatized by watching tons of episodes of "X-Files" and "Unsolved Mysteries" as a kid. Back then, it was a thrill and a rush to scare yourself. I willingly terrorized myself with scary movies and books and television shows of all subject matters for years, until then I grew up and realized the only thing I was still terrified of was aliens.

There's a little more to it than just that, but something about the idea of them, how the underground media portrays them... yes, okay, a lot of it is ridiculous, but some of it is just plain eerie. For example; sculptures from the ancient Sumerians that look just like rockets, and multiple variations of figures wearing what looks like helmets and modern day space suits. There are tons of classic paintings, a lot of them biblical, that depict strange flying objects in the background. Drawings and cave paintings and whatever else from all over the world. What else could they be? Coincidence?

Thank god I live in Philadelphia, a big city with lots of LIGHTS and PEOPLE - (everyone knows that aliens only abduct you if you live in like, Alaska, or somewhere else in the middle of nowhere) so for the moment I feel pretty safe. No big headed, bug-eyed, telepathically communicating aliens here, no sir. Just us humans, and cats, and probably some bugs. That's enough about all this, I'm scaring myself. :)

I'll be back later this week with pictures and some sketches and other stuff I've been working on.