The Surfacing Face of the Artist

I've been asked recently why it is that my own face appears within some of my paintings, there are actually a couple reasons for this...

The first and most simple reason is that from time to time i put my own face on a character within my realm just to see if anyone notices, which obviously now people have, so it would appear that my experiment has worked.



The most common place my own face will appear within the realm of my art is within paintings portraying the tales of my favorite original pirate character, Captain Memoria. Why does this pirate look so much like me? Simple explanation yet again...

It began in 2007 with the creation of the character in a little movie my cousin and I made called "The Island Curse" I played the part of Captain Arcanus Memoria, a pirate who came into possession of a stone that made him immortal. In order to maintain a sense of continuity, I decided to continue to base the character's appearance on myself... The realm of my art, after all seemed to be the perfect place to explore and expand upon the character I had come to know so well in my mind.





Also, some small detail I tend to add to the paintings when I am creating my pirate character... I have given my Pirate the very same ring I wear... it is a small detail few notice, but at least I know its in there... Only Captain Memoria possesses the Green Ring in my paintings...



On occasion my face has turned up in paintings without conscious intention. Sometimes I use source photos to study how light and shadow fall upon a face or object. Sometimes if the source photo is of myself then my face will appear without direct intent.



Another explanation for an artist's face to appear without intention within the realm of their own art may be a bit strange but at the same time makes sense... it is common for an artist to inadvertently paint their own features on characters of their same sex, possibly because what face does a person know more than their own? When one spends a lifetime looking at their own face in the mirror it makes sense that in some way their own face might appear in their finished piece simply because, to an artist, it is what a face is suppose to look like...

But on top of all of this, sometimes it only makes sense that I would appear within my own works seeing how my art is mostly based on my own emotional journeys... I will sometimes appear within my own realm within...

A Pirate and a Black Stone

As it would seem one of the reoccurring themes within my paintings is the use of pirate characters as well as a small black stone. Some have asked me what the characters are holding in some pictures, and its really not easy to explain its entire significance in the comments where asked.

My realm of fantasy contains pirates for two reasons. The first and most simple reason is the fact that I just love pirates. I love the pirate style and the stories they tend to fill. They are historic mysterious and distant characters which seems to make them fit in perfectly within a realm of fantasy. The second reason they have made their way into my realm of fantasy is the romantic idea of pirates. They are adventurers bent on finding treasure, they are sneaky yet honorable, they are wanderers, nomadic characters that take their homes with them... for home is only in their hearts and home is being as free as the wind within the sails of their ships.

Within most of these pirate images I am following one specific pirate character I've created. These images are a glimpse into his story. But what makes his story more interesting from my other pirate characters is a small black stone he came into possession of many years ago...



The Black Stone is also known as "The Stone of Eternity" and it was born from a powerful wizard's selfish desire to keep an ancient king alive to rule the lands for Eternity. However, before the wizard was able to give it to the king, the king was killed in battle and the stone passed into legend, and secretly into the hands of the wizard's dark apprentice.

The Stone of Eternity was designed to protect its bearer from the effects of time, allowing this person to live for eternity. When the wizard was unable to give it to the king, he cast his final spell. Whoever would find the stone would be its keeper, and from that day forth, no person could claim it as their own... It could only be gifted to others.

The Wizard's apprentice held the stone for several centuries and it extended his life as he awaited the moment his own secret spell would steal the wizard's powers. When the first signs of the success of his spell had surfaced, the apprentice began traveling with a young pirate named Captain Memoria. The apprentice judged the pirate's character accordingly, and then decided to lead the pirate to an island that could only be found by those who knew where it was... upon this island, the apprentice gifted the stone to the pirate and then parted from the pirate's company.



For at least three centuries the pirate held The Stone of Eternity, and at this point his story still continues...





The Story of Captain Memoria is one I love very much. He is a pirate who was gifted an eternal life; a pirate who has lived far longer than he should have. Most everyone he's ever known has walked in and out of the pages of his story. He has loved and he has lost, and he has learned that the cost of living for eternity is a heavy price. An eternal life is a lonely life, but the only life for a pirate such as he. The wizard's apprentice knew this... and though the pirate knows that at any point he could gift the stone to another and let time take its course on him, he must bear it's lonely curse. Eternity is not a gift in the end, and his own sense of honor binds him to the stone so that no others fall into its empty clutches.



Timeless is a creature who is wise... and the timeless is a prisoner left in disguise.

The Story of Captain Memoria is one I am very found of, and many of my paintings and stories have revolved around his character... In the very near future I will go more into his story, discuss some other paintings that revolve around him... And I am sure that future paintings will continue to tell his story.

SketchBlog#1

I've not been posting as much as I had hoped I would be, but I've been pretty busy the past few weeks so the blog has started out a bit slower than it should have. However, I am making a goal that from now on I will update at least once a week discussing a painting of mine or some theme relating to my work, that and update with current projects.

Despite the fact that I've not been working on any paintings since "Follow Me" I've not been artistically dormant... I've been doing a lot of little sketches here and there and have been refining ideas for upcoming paintings. I am not sure where the sudden flow of inspiration has come from, but the ideas have really been flooding in lately.

Though I will not be discussing some of these projects just yet, as I would like to keep them more under wraps until they are close to being finished, I would like to share with you some of my recent random odd and end sketches that I've done in the past couple weeks.















Feel free to comment and let me know your feedback. It is always much appreciated!!

Is there anything in specific anyone would like for me to post about? Let me know in the comments!!