paint or be painted

Today I sat down and started painting.

I've been painting on and off for years, but I'm now committed to making a go at it as a career.

I love it more than any other art, and it's been my most precious dream since I was a Little Geek in Grade Six, complete with hair parted on the side and big awkward eyeglasses. Every Wednesday after school I timidly snuck through the big Highschool hallways to attend an extracurricular class with the Highschool kids under Mrs. Paul, their art teacher. It was scary as hell sitting with the older kids, and I was petrified of a tall thin Grade Twelve guy with a mullet and a huge Adam's Apple and a jean jacket with a scary band called "Pink Floyd" written on its back. He only drew Yes band logos and super-detailed closeups of his own hands using a ball-point pen.

That's where I learned how to clean brushes, do watercolour washes, and mix colours with pencil crayons and paint. I would tediously duplicate Robert Bateman paintings, using watercolour and pencil crayon. My parents still have those paintings.

So Little Geek has grown in Big Geek, and I still think about painting all the time. Why have I put it off for so long? Because it's been scary as hell for me to actually go for my biggest dream - how enormously disappointing would it be if I failed? But I worked through some extremely challenging situations to finish my last film, and now I feel like anything is possible if I put my mind to it, so lets fuckin' do this.

I have a gallery hookup here on the Island, and I'm going to sell stuff on my website (which I'll advertise soon), and I'll try to post as much as possible here as well. I have a big portfolio of paintings, but I feel like I should do some new stuff before I start talking to galleries in Vancouver and beyond.

Wish me luck.

ps. I'll continue to animate and illustrate and collaborate and teach and create films, but I'm shifting my priorities around.