My Talent

there is really only one thing I think of as MY talent. It is not that there aren't a lot of things I do well or enjoy doing, but there is just one thing I do BETTER then everyone else.

That one thing is the Etch-A Sketch.

I learned that you could actualy draw pictures on the E-A.S. while serving a Saturday detention back in high school... Sophmor year I think. I honed that skill during the time I was commuting by bus to work at Nordstrom after I graduated. I packed an Etch-A sketch with me when I went on my mission and truely stepped up my game in the laundry room of the MTC where I learned that I could do portrats of the temples. One of the papers I wrote in english 300 was on why the Etch-a Sketch is such a great toy. In Short I love 'em.

I don't use them daily any more but every once in a while I will take the Etch-A Sketch I keep in my bookbag out and draw something.

Now along time ago I had to refine my beliefs on the subject of this medium and answer such questions as "is this an artform". I belive it is art, but I view it almost as preformance art. In the grand scheme of things all art is temporary including painting and statues. The attitude I take is that the "drawing" become real once I show it to some one, then it will live on in their mind even if I shake it to draw something new. Sometimes I try to keep it safe for a few days to show several people, but I have only ever been frustrated the shaking of an E-A.S. once and that was a while ago (Justin shook up an amazing eagle I had spent over an hour on, that I had wanted a photo of)

Below is Saturday night's project. It has already been shaken but will live in your minds. (and of course there are photos of this one)

The inspiration came from the comic strip Grand Avenue a few weeks back, in witch the little boy had done Stary Night on a E-A.S.

I found a copy of the painting using a google image search and printed it in black & white as the first step but I ended up drawind it off the color monitor because it had shrunk in printing.

I have inluded a pic of where I was at when I took my first break. I did it in a series of four or five create burst of five to ten minutes each.

I played around a bit trying to figure out the best way to take a picture of it. In the end I covered my flash with a piece of paper and used the computer to tweek the brightness and contrast to make it easier to see. Sorry if it is still hard to make out.

I am not entirely satisfied with this one, it is not bad but I think I want to try again with the full size Etch-A Sketch and take a bit more time trying to creat the illusion of illumination. On the whole I'll say it is a good first try.