“Time Life: Mysteries of the Unknown“ I loved these books as a kid. And as an adult!
The most common question that I get asked regarding my art is, first: “Have you had an encounter with, or been abducted by aliens?” The second most common question is: “Where do you get your inspiration?” This post is about the inspiration question, but I promise I will circle back to the aliens question later.
The short answer to the inspiration question is that I am inspired by literally everything! I am a very curious person, and I am constantly fascinated and awestruck by the world around me. If I have to get specific, I could come up with a few different categories of things that inspire my paintings.
Stories
The Paranormal/UFOlogy/ESP/etc…
Fantasy/Horror Fiction
Mythology
Occult Esotercisim and Magick
Folklore
Local History (True Stories)
Art
Medieval and Dutch Master Painting
Golden Age of Illustration Painters
Also Edward Gorey
Experiences:
Places I have visited
Places I have lived
Random things I am interested in or experience in real life. Often these things or situations allow me to poke a little fun at myself.
At the core, I am most inspired by STORIES!! Like a fantasy author, my paintings take place in an imaginary world that I call, The Southwestern Bellows. The narratives are about things that capture my imagination, like UFOlogy, folklore, and local history. I was raised Catholic (I am no longer practicing) and grew up with a magical worldview which piqued my interest in all things paranormal. To this day, I still believe in magic. Also, I grew up in Oregon in the 80/90’s when shows like Sightings and X-files and Unsolved Mysteries were popular. My Dad and his boyfriend had the entire collection of “Time Life; Mysteries of the Unknown”, and I couldn’t get enough of those. Bloody vampires, summoned demons, alien abduction, evil sorcery, and grimoires written on human skin… These were the things that excited me as a kid and still do today!
The Oregon Trail video game! Very inspiring!
Another Oregon fascination was the video game, “The Oregon Trail” which I first played on a floppy disc at my elementary school. From that time forward, I have been fascinated by pioneers and pioneer history. I love history museums.
As for actually being inspired by art, most of my art inspiration comes from the past. I love old master painting techniques and I aim to emulate some of them in my work. Bosch, Bruegel, and Durrer are my favorites. I especially resonate with medieval paintings featuring angels or devils or both. (To me, angels and devils are similar to…aliens.) When even I visit a new city, a visit to their art museum is always at the top of my list.
Another area of inspiration is things that I see in real life. I paint a lot of desert scenes, and although I would never want to live in the desert, I have been to the Southwest many times to visit family; Phoenix and Palm Springs. I find the landscape beautiful in a hot harsh kind of way, and fitting for tales of extraterrestrials. I lived in Eugene, Oregon for fifteen years. A lot of the characters I make up are inspired by my days in Eugene as a former stoner pizza-dude, and rock-and-roll band guy. Back in the day, I used to love people-watching in Eugene. So many wacky, hippie, punk, and studious people.
Inspiration is a funny thing. Everyone is different. Some people/artists are inspired by bug collecting, anime, or building robots. Some people love bowling and math. Maybe I am crazy. I am not sure why everybody isn’t into 16th-century paintings, ceremonial magick, the Oregon Trail, and the Betty and Barney Hill Incident. That’s just what I am into, and that is what inspires my art.