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Draw 365 Project 2023: The First Week

With the dearth of video, clickbait headlines and information at its fingertips, who, if anyone, reads blogs anymore? Read: Is there really a point in me prattling on with this platform.

Answer. Probably not, but it still feels like a useful means of communication. At the end of the day, how is the process of image making understood by intermittent snapshots? Or am I seeing this unclearly? Perhaps, if I was making images which were actually doing their job then posting TikTok videos and instagram reels left and right would be the best way to communicate what I am doing.

I don’t really feel that way though. I have always enjoyed words equally as much as I have enjoyed image making. The turn of a phrase is just as beautiful as a well made image. I had hoped to use this platform as the primary means of sharing my daily drawings this year, but that hasn’t really happened as of yet. The first day that I made one of the 88 Donruss portraits I was too taken by the concept of having members in my card community guess the player.

It is a performance that I have enjoyed. At that point I wonder if the work is solely the watercolor or if it is also the game that is played with my fellow collectors when they guess the identities of the players? I always did want to be a rock star. I wanted that give and take with a crowd. At 42 the idea of being in front of people and adored is repulsive but I still enjoy the push and pull that is a crowd and a creative impetus.

It has proven to be a productive first week of the year for me. I really enjoy the portraits that are coming of it. I think maybe I will use this space as a weekly roundup sort of experiment for the time being, at least as the space pertains to my daily drawings.

I do feel very attached to the words, but the only way a daily post makes sense is if I provide a history of sorts of the player that I’ve painted and I’m not really interested in that currently. A que sera sera.

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Cassettes & Handmade Baseball Cards

A quick recap in how I was gifted an awesome New York Mets cassette, finished a card art piece and mailed a RAK to a collector of my handmade baseball cards.

The Story on the Scene

I’ve determined that I’m pretty well done trying to make a business of sports related artworks for people. It was no longer bringing me joy to attempt to create work on commission. That said, creating work for friends which focus on some of their favorite players or just making work of players or images that I enjoy feels a little less out of bounds.

This morning I was able to work on a Frank Selee portrait card, which was really fun. According to wikipedia, Selee was manager for both the Boston Beaneaters and the Chicago Orphans/Cubs during the late nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries. He had a heck of a stash. It puts Sam Elliott to shame.

Additionally, the same friend who had asked for the Selee card had asked me to convert his two cassettes of the New York Mets first ever radio broadcast to a digital format. I recorded both for him and when I asked if he’d like me to send the cassettes back he said that I could get rid of them because he had no way to play them. What a score, because I do! I love this old broadcast.

After finishing the Selee and hearing that I could keep the Mets broadcast I determined that I wanted to gift a small painting that I had done of Nolan Ryan a little while back and so posted it for free on Twitter. I was happy that a previous collector scooped it up. I believe that is four of my pieces that he now owns. I’m quite proud of this one as well.

The method is all in the intention. I appreciate the act of giving. I am so pleased with how my cassette collection is developing and even more pleased to do some good in my little community of Mets fans and baseball card collectors.