Everyone’s born creative
“Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten.
Then when you hit puberty they take the crayons away and replace them with dry, uninspiring books on algebra, history, etc. Being suddenly hit years later with the ‘creative bug’ is just a wee voice telling you, “I’d like my crayons back please”.
Hugh MacLeod-‘Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Keys to Creativity’
I’ve been blessed with being able to make a living as a musician for the past 20+ years. In fact, pretty much everything good in my life has come directly or indirectly through Music. In my mid-40s, after extensive travels touring North America as a professional musician, I was “suddenly hit” with a different kind of “creative bug”…illustrations/graphic art.
It wasn’t exactly “I’d like my crayons back please”…in my case, after a couple of years of experimenting, it was good ole ‘Sharpie’ markers. The illustrations in my portfolio all start off as a ‘freehand’ pencil sketch, and then I color (70-80%) with Sharpie markers, also using ‘Copic’ &/or ‘Prismacolor’ where I need to ‘blend’ colors (mostly in the background). The only thing ‘digital’ in the process is that the images are scanned and I adjust the ‘contrast’ before I get prints done. Markers are a pretty ‘unforgiving’ medium to work with, but I’m completely self-taught & I’ve figured out a technique that works for me.
The majority of my illustrations are of motorcycles…Why motorcycles? Well, I was born on Cape-Breton Island, on the East Coast of Canada…
My hometown is situated on the Cabot Trail, described by USA Today as the best motorcycle drive in the world… and in the summer/tourist season it attracted a steady stream of motorcyclists. Luckily for me, my house was across the street from one of the last restaurants before entering the National Park -making it a popular pit stop.
As a kid, I kept a constant lookout for bikes arriving at the restaurant, and whenever they’d stop I‘d run over & sit on the steps and just stare in wonder at the machines. They’d come from all across Canada, & sometimes the States…mostly touring bikes like Harleys & BMWs, but lots of Japanese bikes as well. Everything about bikes seemed cool, but mostly, they inspired me with the sense of adventure that they seemed to promise, as I dreamed of someday moving to the ‘big city’ to expand beyond my small town origins.
When I was 11 years old, my Dad bought me my first bike…a red Honda Z50. Going to the Honda dealership with Dad to buy that bike is one of my fondest childhood memories. If I had to guess, I would say that motorcyclists are passionate about riding because it generates such a sense of freedom, fun & excitement. I certainly experienced those things on my little red Z50, zipping through the fields & trails, exploring a much bigger area than had previously been possible on a bicycle.
My hope is that people enjoy the images, that it puts a smile on their face…I certainly have fun creating them.
Motorcycle prints are available for purchase…please contact me if you’re interested.
