...and for a couple of years following high school, my hands were pretty idle.

I commited myself to complete immersion within my newfound freedom, creativity, and the city of Los Angeles. I took inspiration from my experiences, and scrawled my impressions in little green journals I bought downtown for dirt cheap. The first small selection is presented here.

All the artwork from this stage is VERY raw - keep in mind this is 15 years ago we're talking about - I had no art training at all but was overcome with energy and enthusiasm - and inspired by my mentor.

Some of it is also very dark - I'll apologize now in case I bum anyone's day out. 8-O

Click on the view-thumbnails to view each piece

This one is very typical of the style of my art stuff from this period : Dramatic, uncontrolled and undisciplined. Some people have said this one's a little dark, but actually I always imagine that the guy is having a hell of a time. 8-)

Yup, that's what he's doing - he's trying to get-away from the repressive Faceman , wouldn't you? I can't figure-out how I managed to integrate the symbol of these two characters apparantly without much effort - I don't think I could repeat it, so I hope someone likes it.

Now here's a nice action portrait of a Mowhawk Tyrant menacing from a Yellow Chasm - in case, say, you find yourself in need of a portrait of a Mowhawk Tyrant and he needs to be, like, menacing from a Yellow Chasm thing. 8-)

Around January of '87, I see myself developing a technique for use with highlighter pens - basic impressions of a figure in more 'transparent' shades of yellow or green, then accents where necessary in more literal tones of blue or red. This piece is probably the best example of this style, and it's apparently the last one I did in this style. I get a lot of positive feedback from this - hope you like it too! Yes, she missed her bus in the rain. 8-)

I debated posting this one for some time, but a friend says it's good stuff so here it is. I consider the design clever but not quite inspired, and the execution possibly flawed. This guy is having so much fun he's partly a checkerboard - I'm going to date this one in very early '86, because it's so raw that I'm certain I hadn't much experience at the time. 8-)

This isn't actually from the green journals but it's about the same era and sentiment. I actually matted this myself, at the time I was matting and framing at Aaron Brothers. If you ever get the notion to work at Aaron Bros for the discount - well, let's just say if you really must...

I played with stark, line-based symbolism for awhile late in 87 : I have gobs of this stuff, mostly garbage - here's one that I consider to have redeemed that particular artistic period. I've found that about half the people who see this believe there is not only an assault but possibly something sexual going-on in here: Um okay, whatever.

Here's another stick figure mutant - honestly I suspect this was a self-portrait: Doncha' hate those square x elbow days? I guess he looks peppy enough anyway. 8-)

As you'd imagine, the brief survey here is just a sip from the fire hydrant of original artwork in "The Archives" - if you stick around here, you will probably see a flood.