(Patience my friends, I'll be getting right back to you in a few hours with more from the fringe of my imagination!)
Long, long ago I used to draw. I started out tracing super heroes out of comic books. Soon, I was designing my own super heroes. From there I went on to love art in all its forms. I was gifted by having many great art teachers throughout all of my school years. Not one year found me without a great art teacher.
The kind Miss Mittie from Stroman, the icon of Gary Lindsey from Howell Middle School, The Deeply respectable Linda Hudson at Bloomington High, all were unique in their approach and none could ever have been replaced.
I wish now that I would have been an even better student. The criteria of each class and its respectable teacher were no where near lost on me. No media I tried ever confounded me much. I loved sculpture, pencil, chalk, charcoal, acrylic, quill, and above all, from Mr. Lindsey, building my very own sketchbook.
I remember fired clay sculpture and paper-mache’, chalk secured with hair-spray, and the details of an angels wings in a mixed media drawing I gave to Linda Hudson the last year of her tenure. She was moving to Beeville and her tears touched me as I presented her with the artwork she had given me a good grade on.
Glenda, Daisy, and I once went to Cuero and strolled down the main street and thru all the antique shops there downtown. On the second floor of one, I found a small wheel-barrow with a touching collection of original ink drawings by Gary Lindsey. His inspiration to me was the awe he inspired through the detail of his renderings of wildlife. The only local artist I have ever seen who came even close to what Gary did may well be Dr. Taylor Starkey. I do plan to return to Cuero someday soon. I want to own an original “Lindsey”!
At Stroman High School I had a friend named Larry. He wanted me to teach him how to draw. Right after I did, he came back and taught me more than I ever knew. He showed me how to think far outside of the box when it came to drawing. One of his first works I saw, in a portfolio he filled with amazing things, was a soldier toting a large gun with three gauges on its side. The first thing that struck me like a thunderbolt was the realism of the “glass” on the gauges and the soldier’s goggles. Another drawing was of two hulk-like behemoths going at one another. The details of the muscles were like nothing else I have ever seen.
Larry taught me that every object has a texture that must be conveyed no mater what it takes when you render it in a drawing. He also taught me to use multiple media in the same composition. Ball point pen, mechanical- pencil, felt-tip pens, razor-point-pens, paint-pens, Charcoal, chalks, water-color, the list is as endless as there are media to use. The mixture you eventually employ is just as diverse as the mixture of techniques you use to record music. There are no rules save for the rule of making it the best you can from your perspective. Larry went on to work for Apple in Houston, I think; I went on to drop out of school. Four years after that I walked into VC and took the G.E.D. I passed without studying. Hooray for me,,,, Stay in school kids! Trust me on this one!!!!!!!!
Art means something to me. My interpretation of it will never match yours, nor yours mine. My first exposure to the avant-garde part of art was watching part of a movie about Pollock (You can see one of his works in a commercial for car insurance). I saw a machine assaulting a canvas with many brushes on mechanical arms. Later when I learned who he was, I understood his style, not because of the machines in the movie, because of the cutting edge of the expression in his work. This was back in 71 or 72 maybe, one of the few fuzzier memories in my mind.
Today I went to Hobby Lobby and while Glenda and Daisy were roaming about finding new Christmas decorations, I was looking at art supplies. I have an album cover to design. Needless to say, the only things I bought were decorations. I need to exercise my hands a lot to get them back into drawing shape. That will be fun!
A multi-piston engine similar to but much different from a rotary engine keeps blaring thru my mind. The action of the crankshaft is a no-brainer. The pistons on the other hand, and the fuel system, are the innovations. I only know I’m onto something when I can’t make a successful draft of what I see in my mind. Geometry will be the key to a proper visualization. For now the engine exist, at the fringes of my imagination. I fully intend to bring it to fruition, to reality.
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Thank you Alton. My dreams have yet to let me down my friend.
Furthur,
November 17, 2009 at 6:02 p.m.I think I used the wrong adjective. I am however unsure of how to properly describe the block of pistons I see in my mind. "Radial" would come closest. I clearly remember the commercial for the RX-7's engine. You are correct in every letter of your comment and I have to say "Ten Tons Of Thanks!" for all the great info. My block is still on the "sketchboard" Drafting it is still a long way off. I'll have to brush up on geometric calculations first.
Good blog, don't stop dreaming and working on the dream, even if this dream is replaced by another, success if found on following dreams, and following dreams leads to rewarding life.
November 16, 2009 at 11:17 p.m.I wish you the best.
To begin with, a rotary engine has no pistons, although the early "radial multi-piston engines are sometimes mistakenly referred to as "rotary". The Wankel rotary engine is a true rotary engine with a rotor.....used in early Mazda RX-7s. The radial engine, has a diametrically opposed series of pistons arranged in a circular configuration around a central engine block. It was an upgrade from the original BMW horizontally opposed twin cylinder engines, which originally used on early warplanes, were later adapted to their "boxer" twin cylinder motorcycle engines. Next time you see a BMW emblem(Roundel), notice the resemblance to a spinning aircraft propeller. That is the origin and significance the design of that emblem. Next air show you are at and hear a deep rumbling sound from planes slowly flying by, notice the multi cylinder radial engine powering them. Major HP, and maximum performance from those bad boys, but in a dive at high RPM, they sound like dirt bikes.......
November 16, 2009 at 10:02 p.m.