What belongs to you? What can you use, be inspired by?

At any given moment in a day, somewhere in the world, you can find people discussing art, the creation process, ownership, inspiration, and on and on. Some ideas as simple as what IS art? That is an old topic and a question that will never be answered. It will be discussed as long as there is art and people with air in their lungs to wonder and talk about it.

Today on NPR the artist Shepard Fairey discussed art, inspiration, creating with Terry Gross and photographer Mannie Garcia. Their discussion can be narrowed down to this: what can a person be inspired by and who owns what when it comes to photography, art and the creation process. Garcia took a picture and Fairey used it as reference in an art piece. The photograph was taken by Garcia as a freelance photographer so he feels he owns the photo. The AP, who he was hired by, seems to feel that the photo is theirs as they approached Fairey and wanted him to pay them royalty for using Garcia's photo as reference. Fairey is now suing the AP. In an article on npr.org regarding this issue it says, "Shepard Fairey says his work is protected under the principle of "Fair Use," which exempts artists and others from some copyright restrictions, under certain circumstances." (CLICK HERE to read this article.)

This issue upsets me because I am an artist. I see inspiration all around me every day. I often draw people that I will never meet. The only way for me to draw them is to find reference either in books, magazines or on the internet. Here is my process. I see something that I want to draw, or I want to draw some thing and find reference. I take that image in to Photoshop so I will have it handy. I look at the image as I create my own drawing. I reference how a person looks, I draw this person or thing and then about half way through the process, I get rid of the original image as I don't need it anymore. I then continue my drawing with my own set of elements, my own colors, my own touch. I accentuate what I want the viewer to see first, I add, subtract and rework the entire picture until it says what I want it to say.

Since art came into existence, people have used the world around them to be inspired by and use as reference. There is a difference between copying, stealing, and referencing. Fairey has every right to create his artwork and use reference where he needs it. He's not stealing. This is ridiculous and an artist myself, really frightening. I hope Fairey wins his case. If not, many artists, myself included, are going to spend more time writing for permission than actually creating anything. Like this drawing for example, I used Kate Winslet for my model, no I don't know her, I used a photo I found; but I only used it as reference. I drew every bit of it with my own hands, my own mind.

Lance Henriksen Illustration Revisited

I received an email from Mark Hayden who runs a website called "BacktoFrankBlack.com" dedicated to the 1996 - 1999 Fox tv series Millennium. Mark asked if they could use an illustration I drew a year or so ago of Lance Henriksen who plays Frank Black, the main character in the series, on their website. I said sure and that I thought that was a fun idea. CLICK THIS to see it in all it's glory on their website. Mark, thanks for your interest in my illustration. To the creators of the show, Chris Carter especially, great work, thanks for many hours of fun. To the stars of the show, Lance Henriksen, Terry O'Quinn, Megan Gallagher (loved you in Nowhere Man), Bill Smithrovich (what a shame your character was killed off so soon) and all the rest -- you all did an outstanding job. What a fun series Millennium is; if you have the opportunity, it's well worth checking out.

Happy Valentines Day

I hope all of you have an excellent valentines day. To my friends and family, you have all now received at least one valentine this year! I hope you like it!

To B, you are amazing, thanks for being my valentine every day.
I love you, K.

Luke, portrait with crazy Photoshop elements

My friend Natalie recently found me on facebook.com, it was great seeing her and catching up on what's been going on in her world over the last few years. She's got a nephew that looks so neat. He looks like a little elf child and I really wanted to draw him, I'm hoping that she'll not mind. This is what I came up with. I wanted to have his shirt and the background a really vibrant red and sort of run into each other, then have lots of interesting elements running all over the picture. I had an idea laying in bed when I couldn't sleep of a way to differentiate between the shirt and background, add a circle pattern to each but vary the size. That way they would be separate but interestingly the same, hopefully. I really really like how that turned out. I wanted to keep the little boy's face really smooth and white, I love the idea of having something simple and clean next to something messy and vibrant, the juxtaposition is interesting. And I think that's all I'll write for now. I've got a cat sleeping on my hand and he looks so comfy that I'll stop jiggling him.

Telephone Wires

These are images that I've always found appealing, really simple and in their simplicity beautiful: Birds sitting on telephone wires. The sky when it's a solid pale color. A flock of resting birds suddenly taking flight. Telephone poles, wires strung across the sky. I combined all of these images into this picture. I love the stark feeling, the thin wires, the shape of the birds, abstract and literal mixed together. This feels a bit lonely, a bit cold, like January. January is simple in a lot of ways -- cold, stark colors, quiet, thoughtful, appealing in it's own way.