Self-Portrait (aka “Gumball Wall) 2022
I had this idea for a long time, “Hey! What if I did a self-portrait that was just me peering out of a brick wall?”
Once I got past hour 100 of working on it, it started to occur to me that this “joke” turned out to have more truth to it than I thought.
I recently started going to 12-step meetings for CoDA (codependents anonymous) and it hit me that I had been isolating myself for a long time. Due to my issues with depression and anxiety, I often spent numerous weekends alone wandering around the nuclear wasteland through my PS4. I also hadn’t dated since before the pandemic.
I think my Higher Power was inspiring me as a way to make me aware of my self-imposed isolation.
“Buddha Mario” 2017
This was my first project after I moved away from doing Game of Thrones banners. The original piece was done with Prismacolor markers. I sold it to a friend who is a fellow artist and avid video game fan. His house is decked out in retro game art, arcade and pinball machines, and now a picture of a zenned-out Mario in a field of mushrooms.
This piece I changed slightly from the last one. This one actually tells a story; the capless stem, the red-stained fingers, and pink AF eyeballs. His consciousness is going “Doo-doo-doo!! Dah-doo-doo!! Dah-doo-doo!! Doo-doo-doo!! Dah-doo-doo!! Dah-doo-doo!!” Aka, the invincibility song when Mario gets a star power-up.