This evening after bowling, I was sitting having a cup of tea in the kitchen while my wife was looking through her many cookbooks. She has been meal planning. It is a creative process that I do not share the joy for. As she was meal planning she began talking about “real Mainer” type dinners. My response to this was to draw something from my hometown. The last mug of the four for Artstream Studios was a fund raiser for the Volunteer Fire Department in Croghan, NY.
It felt good focusing on my hometown. I remember the Fire Department before its expansion. When I think about its location I can visualize Vinny’s Pizzeria, the library and 7 year old me. I can see the Monnat brothers running to the station from Monnat and Nortz Garage at the sound of the fire whistle. I can hear that it is noon everyday when the whistle goes off. In a little less than two weeks I will be home for a few days. I can’t wait.
I am excited to do some more work like these pieces. I think that there is something much more personal in drawing your personal belongings than there is in trying to tell the stories that are in your head using metaphors. It is like drawing a very sensual portrait verses making a caricature of someone.
I’m off to bed with the sounds of The Fruit Bats, Hobo Girl in my head.
Peace
-Mike