BRUSH AND INK STUDY

 11 1/2" x 8 1/2"   #2 pencil, Winsor Newton Series 7 #2 brush and Speedball super black India ink in Moleskine sketchbook.  Simon and Kirby panel.

PROFESSOR CORNEL WEST

11 1/2" x 8 1/2" Fude brush and Faber-Castel brush pens in Moleskine sketchbook.

“To be a Christian - a follower of Jesus Christ - is to love wisdom, love justice, and love freedom.”

THE PROFESSIONAL

11 1/2" x 8 1/2" #2 pencil, Speedball crowquill pen, super black India ink and Winsor Newton Series 7 #3 brush in Moleskine sketchbook

“The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.” - Steven Pressfield

DREAM JOURNAL

10 1/2" x 8 1/2" #2 pencil and Faber-Castell brushes in Strathmore sketchbook
I woke up from a dream this morning and immediately started to loosely draw in my dream journal. This is important since dreams are ephemeral.
In this dream I was about 10 years old and have been caught drawing in class instead of paying attention to the teacher. The drawings were satirical renderings of various teachers and this particular teacher is not amused. He sends me down the hall to the principal's office. Dum, dee dum dum!
The principal is looking at the drawings and starts laughing so hard tears are rolling down his face as he is slapping his hand on his desk. He is beside himself, hysterical. Finally, he pulls it together and he starts the familiar lecture about how I need to fit in, to conform, to be a productive member of society, etc.
I look up at the principal and he has turned into a gorilla! He is still trying to lecture me but has to bite his tongue to try to maintain some sense of seriousness. I tell him " Too bad your Monkey's mad". Then I woke up.
The strange thing about this dream is that it is similar to a couple of incidents that happened to me in real life. I was no stranger at the principal's office, and once a principal did laugh at some funny drawings i did, then gave me "The Lecture". Of course I never talked back, promised to do better, and slid back to class.
I don't recall a time when I didn't draw, and sometimes in school I was allowed to draw something authorized in order to get extra credit to keep from receiving a failing grade. So drawing was sometimes a blessing.
I think it is obvious that the gorilla (or monkey) symbolizes that inner critic we all must defeat as we continue to stay creative.