Can't You Just Take the Compliment?

    “That doesn’t make any damn sense.”

    “Ugh. I know but it is what it is.”

    “Well, I can’t wrap myself around it. Explain this to me differently, there has to be a way for me to understand: You paint everyday, you like what you paint, you’re challenged by what you paint, but there is nothing in it? What do you mean?”

    “Okay fine but it makes me feel like a dick which means I’m probably acting like one, but when you compliment my artwork, or anyone in general, it makes me appreciative but at the same time it doesn’t amount to much because there’s nothing of me in it.”

    “Nope. Keep trying.”

    “Let me finish then!…So, would you agree that most artists are trying to express themselves in some way through their artwork?”

    “Yeah, of course.”

    “Okay good. Then can you understand that sometimes successful artwork doesn’t express anything from the artist? Like, it’s just an easy looking landscape that evokes nothing.”

    “Sure sure. Go on.”

    “I am. There are plenty of paintings that I’ve done that I enjoy doing. Whether it’s the composition, or the colors I get to use, or even the difficulty behind it. Like a challenging portrait of a parent and their child, or someone’s dog that passed away where I need to put the spirit of the animal in the pictures. Those are good and challenging and I enjoy that because it breaks up the monotonous routine.”

    “But?”

    “But, there isn’t a part of me in that painting. There is no soul. There is only skill and experience from my hands. As an artist, the dream is to produce a piece of work that takes something I feel so strongly, something that keeps me up at night, something that distracts me from everything, that one emotion or thought, to take that and put it into a piece of work that reaches out to make you feel the same thing. My dream is to create something that stops the onlooker from walking by; to a point they get sore from standing and must sit on the floor with such attention they lose track of time. I want to provide a piece of work that not only expresses a piece of my soul but reaches out and touches your soul, and in doing so, adds your energy, your attention, your past, your soul to it as well. Where it comes something beyond what I created.”

    “…so why don’t you do that?”

    “I don’t know how, that’s the problem.”

    “Have you tried?”    

    “So many times.”

    “But what does that have to do with compliments on your work?”

    “Because that compliment sends a reminder to my brain that I can do better. That it’s not my best. That their compliment is better suited for a piece of work that holds more value. And it reminds me that I haven’t produced that yet and then, that I don’t know how.”

    “Yeah you’re being a dick. They’re just being nice. Besides, they just like the painting.”

    “I know I know! But think of it this way: you’re a musician and you’ve been working on a composition with every bit of your soul in it but along the process you create a jingle to make ends meet. You don’t associate yourself as a musician with that jingle because everything you are is wrapped up in this big composition piece that is not yet finished; but you now have people coming up telling you they love your jingle. So you’re being complimented on a piece you don’t even recognize and all you want to do is tell the people that your true art is more worthy. But you can’t because you don’t want to be rude. And you aren’t sure how to finish the ending of the composition so you don’t even know if you’ll be able to share the piece with them, anyway.”

    “That sounds…complicated."    

    “Now you’re getting it.”

    “So why do you even bother painting smaller things like this? Is there a strong emotion to this scene?”

    “Honestly, no. I like Japanese woodblock prints and was inspired to paint something resembling the style. I still get excited and inspired to paint things even if I haven’t put together my ‘magnificent composition’, so to speak.”

    “I’ve gotta tell ya, I’m glad I’m not an artist. I kind of see what you’re saying, but I’m still a little confused.”

    “Yeah, I get that…there are many times that I wish I wasn’t an artist either.”

    “Have you ever thought about quitting?”

    “Every damn day. But I can’t escape that any more than I can stop thinking. It’s who I am. Good or bad. Plague or blessing.”

    “Well, I like your work regardless of how much of your soul is shed doing them, buddy. I’m glad you’ll never stop. I won’t stop complimenting them either.”

    “Thank you. That’s helpful. Even if I don’t know how to say it.”

The Suburban Hunter

The Suburban Hunter

    “I’m bored,” he thinks.

    It’s a quiet night in the neighborhood following a plethora of quiet nights. Only a few times a year does it spark some form of unexpected life. There are two extremes; the silent and immense emptiness of noise or the impactful explosion of sound from all sides. But, for the most part, it is quiet. 

    This is good for hunting but boring for adventure. Old houses line the streets with various foliage. Each home offers a different environment with different creatures, obstacles, smells, and sounds. They show signs of years of living from cracks to worn paint to overgrown vines covering sides and blocking windows. The trees are fully grown and large providing some great spots to hide and watch. From time to time a vehicle will drive by with blinding lights throwing shadows against walls and giving life to darkness; then things settle down and the wind creates the only sign of life. That is, if you don’t know where to look or how to listen. 

    “Where can I go tonight?” he asks himself looking all around from his favorite hole. He has many options to survey surrounding environments but only one that he repeatedly goes to. It has more protection from intruding guests and light; plus, it’s quite comfy inside. He settles himself on the edge and gazes about the yard. It’s empty of options; mostly because they know he’s there, they just don’t know exactly where. But there are signs, despite his best efforts to keep it secretive. 

    He begins his search going West since the previous night he went East. When faced with uncertainty teetering on the rim of blandness, just do the opposite of what you did yesterday; maybe it will shake it up enough to bring some spice. He passes several houses without much care or detailed scrutiny. He decides to swing left and extend his search already. The change immediately proved to not work and he was feeling restless even as the hunt just started. This wouldn’t bode well since he usually had to find a new home after a serious case of boredom dug its claws in his mind. He sighed but didn’t have anything else to do so he kept going until he was about a mile out. This isn’t too far from his usual home range but enough that it’s been a while since he refreshed his memories with the landscape. This worked.

    He felt a new sense of attention and curiosity come over him as he looked around; things were familiar yet different at the same time. Right off the bat, he spotted a small mouse running through an overgrown yard to his right. He pulled up to a tree a good distance away and kept his eye on it. It was young and barely sizable for consideration. 

    “Besides,” he thought, “I’ve grown tiresome of mice. Boring.”

    He took off again to look around other areas but didn’t find anything else exciting. There were a couple of other mice, one being hunted by a prowling feline, a raccoon happily piling on a stack of treats from someone’s treasure box he had toppled over, and some kind of  hideous armored ball thing hopping around that was foreign to him. He plopped down in a tree to be still and observe hoping to catch something he would have missed on the journey. Many times this helps; it was important to stay silent and let life continue on around you and to simply observe and learn. It is a key skill when hunting. Do not rush but be strong in your patience. 

    A brother in arms called out from a distance away giving greetings and exclaiming joy in his successful hunt. One mouse down. He replied in politeness but kept his focus and cocked his head around to check his back when he spotted movement. An unexpected movement. The moonlight reflected off a small pond in tiny ripples. It wasn’t unusual for bodies of water to be around the area but rarely did they ripple like this one. He decided he needed a different view and took off for a closer tree that offered a much better perspective. There were creatures inside this body of water constantly moving around in mesmerizing patterns and suddenly he realized he had found fish! Strange orange, black, white, and red spotted fish of varying sizes. His curiosities piqued his hunter instincts; he had found his prey. This was a more attractive option to the daily mouse. He looked around and noted no one else had found the secret pond; it was all to his taking. 

    He prepared himself on the branch and stretched out his body in excitement of the catch. 

    He took off! He made not a sound as he moved with skilled speed. He focused intently on his chosen prey. A medium sized orange spotted fish with only a few speckled black dots. He wanted something not overly big in case it tasted foul. As he got close everything slowed down and time seemed to stop. He stretched out his talons, corrected his approach with his wings, watched the fish unknowingly swim right to the spot he needed it to be. His brilliant eyes caught every move with precision from the abundant light of the moon. He reached out and plucked out his prey with ease and without making the slightest noise even as the fish wiggled in his claws. 

    He perched in a large tree and devoured his dinner. It was delicious; a rare delicacy! He had truly found a golden spot and began searching for a new hole to prop himself closer, but stopped after a short while when a thought occurred to him. 

    “I don’t want this to be wasted. I will stay in my usual home and only come out for treats.”

    He realized quickly that was an impossible aspect for him. He went back to the pond every night for the following six days. He took a fish every night until there were no more left in his secret pond. But he did not give up hope. He continued to go back for weeks afterwards searching for more. This turned out fruitless when at last, after his fourth week of looking, he ended up with another mouse and an unsettling amount of disappointment. He may have to find a new home after all. 

    The following night, he went out for one last chance and landed in his hunting tree by the pond. There was no movement to indicate any extra fish and his powerful eyes saw nothing moving under the waters edge. He let out a sigh of acceptance; he would be going out further in search of a new home range tonight and he would miss the fun he had hunting those delicious fish. On a table to his left he spotted an odd shape that reflected the moonlight around a rim in interesting patterns. There wasn’t anything usually there throughout his time hunting.

    He finally found a comfy hole in a large leaning tree with exquisite life growing around the entrance. He had his own little lawn just like the other creatures with their large square homes. He looked down to his left and saw the object from the table. He decided he would copy the raccoon and take a treasure with him so he would never forget the joy of finding such delectable food. It would be a reminder to never give up the search. He hooted in happiness as light began to creep up around him, so he sank back into his area and got himself comfortable to sleep in preparation of tomorrow’s hunt.

Carolina Morning & Dreams of Lunch

WHERE DID THE TIME GO!? HOW DID IT GET TO BE ALMOST JULY ALREADY?! SHEESH! WHERE DID YOU ALL GO??? oh there you are!

So check it! I usually use these blogs to post new things in the works and that's what I'll be doing now. Consistency...ya know? After stretching myself wildly too thin with too many projects I stepped away from my day job to become a full time artist/designer. It's stressful as hell but i'm loving life right now. I'm hitting up far more art events like Awendaw Green, Third Thursday, and I'm still kickin it at Black Water. With this new time on my hands, I get to spend it on my painting and thus, my skill has already grown which allows me to produce smaller fun paintings available for all. 

I've a style I'll be sticking with for quite some time. Trying to push all it's boundaries. 

WILDLIFE WATERCOLORS BY CQWORKS! 

I'll attach a pictures below so you can see what I mean! I'm having a blast though and would love to see all your beautiful faces at my events. But don't let distance stand in your way from adopting a pet! They make great gifts as well! 

SIGN UP FOR MY NEWSLETTER and get DISCOUNTS AND EARLY PURCHASE OPPORTUNITIES! 

South Carolina Art Nouveau Print

I finally finished the South Carolina painting! It's off at the printers now! Make sure you get yours! Click here for that opportunity! It'll take about a week to receive the print if asking for shipping! Make sure you check out the Mess Hall to see some time-lapse videos of the process! I personally love the way it came out and I hope everyone else does too! 

Saturday Artwork WIP

Or S.A.W.I.P. If you will.....lol nvm  

I've been sick for a couple of days so naturally I've been drawing and painting away. Working on these adorable buntings! I've got a video in the works to show a good amount of my process as well. I'll post that tomorrow around noon for your Sunday fun. Until then, enjoy this sneak peak shot and I hope everyone is having a great weekend. Don't get sick!  

Morning Thunder Tea & Artisan Toast with Jim's Jam

Does anyone remember when Goku was traveling to Namek and training up to 100x increased gravity to beat Frieza? 

It looks to be customary for me to pop in here and say "oh gee wow! i haven't posted in a while" which is terrible and yet still happening. I'm not going to pepper you with whispers of sweet nothings by telling you that i'm going to post on a more regular basis. I'll try but I won't guarantee that. Life happens too fast and before you we all know it, years have passed and beards have grown and wrinkles have appeared. However, such is the nature of the beast, life has been constantly and unfailingly moving forward and quite the changes are being put into place and it's all exciting but time consuming. I'm working on a stronger hold on my duties in the companies i'm working with. As a stronger foundation is made, more fun is to be had, so cheers to the future. 

What's going on with the website? Great question, me! 

As it turns out i'm using this website as the best representation of who I am! Since I am working on so many things at once, not all those things can be shared and not always on the same platforms or within the same accounts. This obviously makes it difficult to find everything I'm working on. So this is pretty much a website and blog of all the things that I'm working on... to be completely redundant.

You'll be able to see my watercolor paintings and the occasional acrylic. I'll be posting my design illustrations as well. SE-KYU Short Films is another project I'm working on that'll basically be any kind of content creation or fun video I feel like doing. Special effects and animations included. And I still love photography so that'll occasionally pop up. There's a lot of content that will be posted here and all of it varying around a central point: Art by Me. 

So enjoy all that I release and work on and send any suggestions or questions you may have! 

Earl Grey Tea & Peanut Buttah Toast

About this time last year I teamed up with my buddy to create the dream. The dream being a company based on our skills that would allocate us the option to do whatever we want whenever we wanted to. What we want to do is travel and create and share with the world. After all these months of planning and working and building, Hootie Hoo Studio was created and it's been running since January. It's incredible to see it take off and worth every blood sweat and hypothetical tears to get it where it is now. This website will turn more into my watercolor adventures and some fun photography here and there. Since the company started, I took to watercolor as a venue for my own talents. My skills have increased dramatically since I've devoted all this time to it and I've fallen even more in love with the art. I can't wait to continue to explore and push the boundaries of this medium and hope you enjoy it too. 

I also, alongside Richard and Slayton, have put together a music festival!  The Campsite Music Festival which will be on May 19 in Johnston, South Carolina! Musicians will be playing until 2 am while yoga and live art go on throughout the evening. People will be able to set up camp and hang around a fire at leisure. There's an Outpost store inside the Barn that'll have basic supplies in case you forgot something. And allow me to repeat myself but some great music lasting all night! It's going to be incredible. Definitely worth looking into if you dig camping and music and good vibes...

I'll do my best to post more on here but we also have a scheduled blog over at Hootie Hoo that comes out every monday. Thanks for reading and enjoying.