OdditiesByErnie

“Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you're there.

It doesn't matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime.”
― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

I think there are moments in every Artists life where inspiration strikes and takes over and you as the artist, your body, your hands, eyes, they are just a slave to that inspiration, driven by your creativity, and you are not really thinking about what you are doing in a concise or clear way... just giving over to the moment.... or at least that's how it is for me at times....

Sometimes those moments result in something grand, or something that lets you grow as an artist... other times its a dud...

Tonight I had such a moment...

I have been working with ink splatters and inspiration struck... I was totally into the moment... and when I got done I was pleased... until I looked around and saw that I had forgotten to clear away my other WIP's .... now I have some very unintentional ink splatters on several other pieces...

Fail...

I ruined at least 4 WIP's while creating one...

Lesson learned hopefully....

Well - today, besides being a great holiday, marks the accomplishment of a strange and spontaneous goal I set for myself.

I don't normally use a lot of dialogue with my art, I find that I enjoy letting the viewer decide what my pieces mean to them, take what they will from it, let the work speak for itself, rather than telling the viewer what it is that I am trying to express. Sometimes people get on to me for this practice, but it is my way, I'm usually just not one for words, but today is different, and if you are reading this, I hope you find my uncharacteristic wordiness worth while.

On October 1st of this year I drew a little Jack O' Lantern that kind of looked like Jack Skeleton from a Nightmare Before Christmas, and while I was drawing it I kind of decided that I would try to do a "Halloween" themed drawing every day of the month of October. I also Decided that I would number them each like a Calendar, and in some cases I decided to make the number significant in some way in the image. I didn't give myself any other limitations and just drew what I felt like drawing... some of them turned out very good, while others I was less than satisfied with, but all in all I think it turned out to be a great test of my skill, mental fortitude, and self discipline. I hope you have enjoyed looking at them as much as I have enjoyed drawing them and the challenge of creating them.

Quite a few people seemed to like this series and several of those seemed to be eagerly anticipating the next installment, especially the last...

For the Last Oddity of the series I chose two of the most influential horror writers of all time. Alfred Hitchcock and Rod Serling....

Hitchcock was brilliant and his record shows it, as he helped bring his fears to the public through TV and Movie, one of the greatest and certainly one of the early horror pioneers in these genres.

However -

Serling was all of that and more in my eyes... Serling not only brought his fears to the world but also his hopes, and his concerns. He used his talent to make the whole world think. He was a hero and champion, fighting against discrimination, hunger, and atrocity.  For that reason, his "Twilight Zone" is a place I visit in my mind often, or maybe it draws me into it, either way, perhaps I do a little of the same thing Serling did through my talent...

I try and show the world something and change it in some favorable way through my art and talents.... If I have changed it in a positive way for even one person then all the effort will have been worth it...

So here it is - the entire series in one place - with Rod Serling taking top billing.... I hope you enjoy it.

If you are interested, I had the pleasure to be interviewed by dasghul.deviantart.com/ - check it out....

dasghul.deviantart.com/journal…

This song has crazy cool lyrics ....