Here We Go!

Hey, I gotta take a dump!

Hi guys!

Well, behold my inaugural image! Sorry I took a while getting going here, but I've been caught up in Holiday craziness. Since my last entry, my brother has come home, and my grandfather has begun his sojourn here from back east. So I've been putting off even taking these shots of my drawings until today. Here is the first, and like I said, depending on the results of each, I may have to tweak it as I go. However, the first shots turned out good enough, so for now, I should be good to go.

The above picture I did was inspired by a photo I saw in the newspaper this past June. In some of these, you will notice they have dates on them, when I started or finished it. It was in the LA Times, I forget exactly which section. There was a story about coal mining in Mongolia, which was causing environmental problems there. They had a picture of a few dump trucks in a Mongolian coal pit. I found this really interesting, so I just decided to draw it. I did this nice little black and white line sketch of it, and completed it in a couple of hours.

I find environmental subjects to be fascinating. That was part of the appeal of this. I also enjoy finding material from exotic, faraway places. Mongolia is a place you hear very little about, so I jumped at the chance. That's how many good works get started for me. Now, let me elaborate briefly on why I think environmental subjects are so crucial and important.

Just last week, my father and I were having an interesting discussion, and one topic that came up was the XL Pipeline that is being proposed. It will run from the oil shales in Alberta, up in Canada, down through the Plains, all the way down to be refined in Texas. I said that what pissed me off about the talk of this in Washington was that both Republicans and Democrats are for this pipeline, and are using this purely as a bargaining chip. They are merely deciding where and when it will be built, regardless of the harm it may bring.

My Dad mentioned something he had heard Bill McKibben, of 350.org fame, say on NPR, I believe. He said that the politicians were essentially working for the people who paid for their campaign funding. This is often the energy industry. Bill McKibben is a writer I admire because he often finds insights in these environmental, scientific issues that many observers do not. In Deep Economy, he noted that our political and economic focuses are on growth, and growth only. In the face of such overwhelming climatic chaos, we must find ways for our economics to reflect that human community. The idea that stuck with me was that to us, the economy is supposed to grow and grow forever, and it is not realistic to expect this.

I brought up a report I had seen on natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. There is a surplus of natural gas deposits there, and recently, "fracking" (as in fracturing the rock underneath the shale area) has really taken off nationwide. However, the breaking up of crust underground releases natural gas byproducts into nearby groundwater. This causes the drinking water to become highly polluted, causing people to have serious health problems. However, the leasing of Pennsylvania land for natural gas was something the Obama Administration greenlighted, to find areas of common ground with Republicans. The previous governor of Pennsylvania, Ed Rendell, had also had anti-fracking groups put on terror watch lists. That is the key: that all of the "officials" agree that this is perfectly acceptable. You can watch the report here.

Anyway, the thing I kept in mind as I was talking about all this is that natural gas is seen as an "alternative" to oil. Another alternative is to use coal, as is shown in the drawing above. Another alternative, which does not release energy into the air, is nuclear energy. However, nuclear energy leaves a lot of waste, which is highly toxic, and lasts for over 200,000 years. This has gone longer and more in depth than I expected. My central point is this: that whenever you want to build something, it has to come from somewhere. What you do has an effect.

That is something that I have come to realize. Is that everything you do or could do, have or could have, had to be wrestled out of the environment somehow. Think of all the rare earth minerals that had to be mined out of the ground somewhere to make the laptop I am typing on right now. If you don't think that humans can have an effect on the earth, just look at a picture of the earth from space at night.




However, as troublesome as this is, I think it is something people should realize. For one thing, it would make what we do more valuable, more precious. If we realized that everything is melded, drilled, wittled, or what have you from something, maybe we would see more value in what we make, and what we consume. We would no longer be able to mindlessly kill each other to get into Wal-Mart at 2 in the morning the day after Thanksgiving. We could see that our "things" reflect our mindset, and as we value the "things" we use more, the way we look at life changes.

One reason I started this blog is that art is about more than creation. Creation is a critical part of the artistic process, but as important a byproduct, is the view of life it gives birth to. When I began using my artistic talents, about four years ago, the way I looked at the world, and the things in it, began to shift. What I want to explore on this blog is art and creativity as it gives birth to a real, palpable, workable worldview. I hope you, the reeder, and I, can take that journey together.

Well, that's my first entry. It got a little mroe involved than I expected it to when I first sat down to type. That's a beautiful and also unwieldy thing about blogging, is you don't know where it is going to lead, or how long it will take. Not all of my entries will be this involved. Some will be, others will be based on my own anecdotes or observations, or thoughts. Thanks for reading. I will have another entry up for you soon.

See ya and keep wondering, folks!