Self Portrait

Who are we? What are we? Why are we?

Pencil drawing after Paul Gauguin

Calbayog City 2024

"Good artists copy. Great artists steal!" - Pablo Picasso

Paul Gauguin was a force of nature. I can spend entire days reading about his life. And his art... I feed off his art.

And being that I am only a good artist I copy his drawings.

Well, now wait a second.. In my defense I don't copy so much as I "interpret."

There's a difference. 🤣

I based the above drawing on this piece by the master.

Mother and Daughter

Paul Gauguin 1891

And...

I got the title for the drawing from Gauguin's imortal questions:

"Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?" - Paul Gauguin

Love you Paul

HAPPY NEW YEARS !!!

Fasten your seat belts, here comes 2025.

🙃

.

Tropical diving

colored pencil, calbayog city, 2025

I added more to this one. I love playing with these colored pencil pigments.

I brought heavy duty art paper from America that can put up with some abuse. I draw with the pencils and then rub them with alcohol. The colors smear around and blend together. When the alcohol dries I draw more and then smear again. It's so satisfying.

Lately I'm inspired by the blue of the Philippine sea near my home. I went diving a few days ago. The colors of the tropical waters were just like this drawing. As I dove around in a pastel coral forest I actually met a tropical sea snake. It calmly swam about ten feet from me. The snake, the coral forest and the tropical blue ocean were breathtaking.

Hermanos Gutierez - Esperanza

.

Bonfires of joy

ballpoint pen

Corvallis OR 1971

The university was about an hour drive from the Oregon coast. On weekends ends we would pile into our friend's van and drive through the mountain forest to the beach. When sunset came we would light huge bonfires of driftwood logs and eat bread and drink red wine and dance with joy.

Hippy days, long gone, but still here.

.

.

Finals week

Bic ballpoint pen

Corvallis OR 1971

Some very old drawings. My freshman year in college. I didn't learn much calculus tbh.

Study?

Bic ballpoint pen

Corvallis OR 1971

.

.

Doodle edition

My art arose from my doodling during class. I mean seriously, what else are you supposed to do during lectures? And you have a pen in your hand...

I later doodled at work. Same game different time zone.

So here are some doodles. I drew these particuar doodles at work. They were drawn with whatever pen I had at the moment on whatever paper was handy.

My ever present coffee cup staring at me on my office desk.

As a side note I have many things to be thankful for and coffee is high up o the list.

"Time to save time" God help us.

I like this one.

I like some of my doodles as much as my larger pieces. I drew this one on a Japanese post card. Not really sure why I had a Japanese post card.

I'll post more doodles later.

Cheers.

Where do we go from here? 2024

New Years 2024 and I'm sorry folks but how on earth did we wake up in this story line. Smh.

Pencil drawing in my notebook.

Calbayog 2024

Like a Stone

AUDIOSLAVE

The past and the future don't exist. They literally don't exist.

What does exist is this thin sliver of a moment that we call now. Just now, wedged between a past and a future that aren't even real. I know this. I know this..

But tell me, why is the past so real in my dreams?

I woke up. Outside in the distance I heard roosters crowin̈g, and I remembered where I was. I felt my dreams vanishing into nowhere. Kind mercy.

Dim morning light gently poured in through the curtains casting gray shadows across our bed. I stretched out my legs and gave my entire body a deep stretch, squeezing out the last of the demons. I looked up at the clock. 5 am.

We sleep together on a huge bed. My wife and myself with our two young kids nestled in between us. Piled together. Filipino style.

I quietly made my way over to my wife's side of the bed and climbed in with her.

Early morning is our time.

Time is real. I know it is. But it plays with me.

Time is something that happens on the outside but on the inside. inside our minds, there is no time. On the inside there is only now.

Now, is eternity.

It's all we know.

Wedged in between a past and a future that aren't even real.

Calbayog City 2024

pencil drawing in my moleskine

.

colored pencil on paper.

Los Angeles CA 2018

I had that dream again last night.

I dream I'm in a differen city looking for a place to live. I'm alone, searching with this longing feeling deep in my soul.

I've been having this dream for years.

When I wake up I'm so relieved.

colored pencil

Los Angeles CA 2018

colored pencil on paper.

Los Angeles CA 2018

colored pencil on paper.

Los Angeles CA 2018

drawing

pencil drawings, Calbayog City, 2024/25

I try to draw a little bit every day. It's good for the soul. And it's free.

.

Simple life

pencil drawing on paper

Calbayog City 2024

Everywhere I look in the Philippines there are women holding young children. It's so beautiful.

Some thoughts:

I had an art teacher once who told me to work fast. So I work fast. When I draw it's a battle between the pencil and the eraser. I draw and erase and draw and erase. What's left on the page is "the drawing." I had another art teacher once who said "I like to draw a lot of lines because I know at least one of them will be right." I think about that when I draw.

pencil drawing on paper

Calbayog City 2024

Mommy outside the store yesterday

pencil drawing on paper

Calbayog City 2024

Day to day living

pencil drawing on paper

Calbayog City 2024

pencil drawing Calbayog City 2024

Pencil drawing Calbayog City 2024

.

.