ON BEING A SOBER ARTIST

Greetings Earthlings, at the time of writing this, I have been sober for over 6.5 years. Yay! The reason I wanted to share was that when I was thinking about quitting alcohol I remember scouring the internet for articles about “being sober as an artist”, “sober painters”, or “how to be sober and still be an artist”. I wanted to know if other artists like me out there who quit drinking and how that affected their lives. So, I am writing this quick blog for my past self, and for any fellow artists out there considering sobriety.  

Spoiler alert: quitting alcohol rules. It is by far the best decision I have ever made! 

But back then….I had it in my head that in order to be an artist, I also had to be a drinker as if the two activities--making art and drinking--were magically synonymous. 

When I was struggling and thinking about finally quitting, I weirdly worried about how it would affect my ability to make art. I rarely painted while intoxicated but I had a pretty solid habit of sketchbook-ing alone in bars, always with a beer and a shot close at hand. I felt that maybe drinking was part of my creative process, part of my identity in a way, like being a drinker and hanging out in bars was cool and edgy, and that I would never have fun again as a non-drinker. I also knew deep down, that drinking was holding me back and having negative repercussions. 

Now that I have been sober for 6.5 years, here are the actual realities:

Even the legendary wizard, Haxm Forehand, eventually got sober. 

• No more hangovers. Painting with a hangover sucks, so does everything else.

• I have saved so much money!

• I am infinitely more organized in every aspect of my life.

• I was worried about my creativity, but there isn’t anything magickal in a pint glass that gives you art ideas. If anything, alcohol makes you less creative. Bonus: my sketchbook pages are way better drawn, more coherent and not covered in beer stains.

• Art openings are still awkward, but I never feel hangover anxiety…you know, worrying about what you may have said or done the night before. 

• While it is true that I rarely go to bars or drinking establishments anymore, I find that I don’t miss them like I thought I would. These days I spend time in coffee shops, the library, and at home working in the studio. 

• Unfortunately, I don’t go to as many metal shows as I used to. When you are sober, drunk people can be annoying. Oh well.

• I didn’t see this coming, but my guitar practice routine has become structured and organized, and I have been having fun making music a part of my life again.

• Dating was weird for a time until I started dating another sober person and today I am in the best relationship I have ever been in. My girlfriend and I are currently engaged! 

• I thought sober vacations or trips would be boring, but I have found them to be more relaxing, interesting, and memorable without the hangovers. 

• No drama ever! 

• And on that last note: You indeed lose a bunch of friends when you quit drinking, but I have found that it is okay. Life is about change, right? While I had quite a few bar friends and drinking buddies--as most heavy drinkers do--most of those relationships were superficial and fuzzy at best. Sure, I had some good times with the old bar pals, but I am on a different path now and I wish them well. I have even made some new friends too.

• BONUS: As a sober artist I am now much better at channeling aliens.

I could go on and on but I’ll leave it there, and spare you the mushy feelings. I am really happy to be sober and to be a sober artist, and if you are struggling and considering making a positive life change, just know that you won’t regret it. If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an email or leave me a message.

Thanks for reading and have a cool day! 

THE TIME I SAW A UFO

Greetings Earthlings! As I write this blog, it is July 2nd, which is World UFO Day! To celebrate, I am going to share my UFO sighting:

The UFO that I saw looked a tiny bit like the fireball that I painting in this piece, “Prayers to the Magi“ but without the long tail.

My sighting happened back in 2009 in Springfield, Oregon. It was summertime and the occurrence happened right at dusk. My now ex-wife and I were walking down Centennial Boulevard from our house to the corner store when we saw the object directly to our right, flying above the houses. I say “object” because it didn’t look like a craft or a saucer. It was roughly the size of one of those old Volkswagon Beatles; egg-shaped and glowing weirdly as if radiating some sort of energy. It was orange like fire, but again, it appeared to be composed of energy rather than flames. 

The object was extremely low in the sky. It was flying--maybe cruising is the better word--only ten feet above the neighborhood utility poles. It flew West to East at a casual 15-20 MPH and disappeared behind the trees. The experience only lasted a few seconds, but I will never forget it. My ex saw it too, and at the time we were so excited, but we were also left with the feeling of wanting more. It was kind of a letdown, but I suppose this is how these things go. They were unscripted occurrences and I am sure the retelling of the story isn’t all that exciting. 

You had to be there I guess...

The UFO that I saw looked a lot like one of these objects.

Later we bought a telescope and spent the rest of the summer nights in the backyard hoping to see another UFO but sadly never did. I would love to have another experience. 

On a final note, I will mention that coincidentally 2009 is the year that I first started painting. Are the two events related? I don’t necessarily think so, but you never know…       

Happy World UFO DAY!!

Fort Wayne, Indiana: It’s Not That Bad!

Greetings Earthlings, this post is a continuation of my last blog post, entitled, “Why I left Portland”. So, to sum up, the last post, the main reason why my girlfriend, Erica, and I relocated is that we wanted to buy a house and Portland was too expensive. I still love my hometown, but it’s pricey and right now it sadly has a few problems.

The Pandemic really influenced our decision in that it made us question what was important to us. We are both artists and spend about 90 percent of our time at home working, so home ownership was a priority. Plus, we have both been sober for over five years and that really changes a lot of things. So, we were willing to forego living in a hip place with fun bars for a less-cool city where we could have a very cool and affordable house.

Why Fort Wayne?

Believe it or not, I had never even heard of Fort Wayne until I started the research. Yes, the housing prices are very affordable--one of the most affordable markets in the country--and it checked off a few other boxes like walkability, population size, traffic, crime, weather, climate, and distance to other cities. We also wanted to move to a city that wasn’t amazing now but had the potential to be amazing in the near future. Fort Wayne is growing and upon visiting, we could see possibilities. 

Other cities we almost moved to:

This is the History Museum. There are quite a few buildings like this in downtown.

• Milwaukee 

• St. Louis 

• Spokane 

• Des Moines 

• Pittsburgh

• Charleston or Wheeling West Virginia

So, after visiting the Fort we decided this place seemed like a realistic option for us. We ended up buying an old folk victorian house that is across the street from a quaint park with a lake. We purchased the home sight unseen and our cross-country road trip was epic. We love the house and named her Moonbeam! 

Lakeside park, which is across the street from out house. So pretty! People were getting married there every day last summer.

Things I dislike about the Fort:

• Strip malls. 

• Food deserts. We can’t walk to the grocery store like we used to in Portland. 

• Also, public transportation sucks here. 

• In general, the restaurants are not very vegan-friendly.

• It’s not outwardly the hippest place in the world, but there are definitely cool people and things here. You might just have to look a little harder to find them.

• The bugs in August were insane. Literal clouds blood-drinking mosquitoes. I saw one that was seven inches long. 

Things I like about the Fort:

• We were able to buy an awesome house here and our place is within walking distance of downtown. 

• The downtown is actually pretty cool. There have been recent updates, and new murals, and the city has a lot of future plans. Definitely growing!  

• Lots of great parks, river trails, and access to nature spots.

• Some fun Victorian architecture.

• Fort Wayne is within driving distance of 10 major cities and is not all that far from the East Coast. 

• I actually enjoy the weather. The summer was milder than Portland (except for the occasional lightning death storm) and I loved the winter snow. The streets are plowed regularly too, which never happens in Portland and it doesn’t rain quite as much.

• A surprising amount of good coffee shops.

• Nice Library too.

• It doesn’t feel like it suffers from the mental health/drug problems that plague a lot of the West Coast. Didn’t expect it to be any different here, but that’s a nice bonus. 

• Fort Wayne is very chill and the slow pace feeds my creativity.

Overall, I do miss Portland, but mainly family and friends. I am really liking it here though and I think Erica and I made the right decision. 

Fort Wayne, Indiana: It’s not that bad! :)

Also, have you relocated recently? Where to? How are you liking it? Let me know in the comment

Why I left Portland

Greetings Earthlings! As many of you know, I recently relocated from Portland, Oregon to Fort Wayne, Indiana, and a lot of folks have asked, 

The Bagdad on Hawthorne! Sooo good!!

“Why would you leave Portland? It’s such a cool and artsy place.” 

Well, after reading a recent article in the Willamette Week entitled: 

“They Left: Portland Is Losing Some of Its Biggest Fans,” I decided just for fun, to write my own response.

I moved because:

•  I wanted to buy a house! Portland--and everywhere else in the Pacific Northwest, was just too expensive for this artist of humble means. 

• My favorite thrift store, “Great Good Stuff” burnt down and so did that awesome Lebanese restaurant next door.

Things I will miss:

Powell’s on Hawthorne was the best! I loved drawing at the coffee shop there; The Fresh Pot.

• Restaurants that serve vegan food, and especially the cookies and stuff at Sweet Pea Bakery

• Local art supply stores like Columbia Art and Drafting 

• Powell’s on Hawthorne…. Actually, all of Hawthorne because it’s my favorite street in the world.

• The culture, man

• Also that cute coffee shop in Lad’s Addition. They also have great vegan cookies too btw.

• Timet! Such great public transit, and so walkable (I don’t drive a car)

• All the crows and rain

• My family and friends, duh!!!! 

Things I will not miss:

Ugh

• Having your stuff (anything: van, bike, backpack, hacky sack) stolen.

• Methheads with machetes and Junkies with open wounds at Fred Meyer

• All the shootings!

• Stepping in human shit

• EXTREME politics (and I am sure every person in Portland now hates me for even suggesting that I dislike the politics because you are either with us or against us because it’s fucking EXTREME bro!!) 

• Homeless camps in parks, underpasses, and most walkable parts of the city…of course it’s sad, but with the combination of drugs and mental health...

• Murdery China Town and almost all of downtown in general, which sucks because it felt so cool as a kid.

Portlandia…the statue, not the show.

I still love Portland though, and I plan on visiting a lot. And once again: If the housing prices were more reasonable, we would have never moved, even with the problems. Thanks for coming by!! 

In my next post, I will talk about why we chose Fort Wayne, and how the move has panned out for us. Life after Portland, haha.