Buried Treasure

[artmasters]

Hi everyone,

I was going through some old sketch books and I found these. I took the ref photos when I was 10 years old with my dad's ancient b&w camera. The place is Mystic Seaport in Conneticut. I drew them when I was 14 years old, graphite on paper, that was almost 30 years ago. Seeing them makes me wish I never would have stopped drawing. So, attention all you young kids out there: don't let anything stop you from doing your art! And all you not so young kids like me, we got alot of art to make up! :D Anyways, I just wanted to share my discovery.

Dave

[Wonko the Sane]

Wow. You were only fourteen at the time? I can't even draw like that now.

[artfulscribe]

Dave, I can't believe you were only 14 when you drew these...that's astounding! So set the stage for us...where did this incredible aptitude come from? Did you just gravitate to art on your own, or had you had some instruction by then? Did your family encourage you?

This is a topic that really interests me. My parents are artists, but they never really pushed it on me. Encouraged, yes, pushed no. I kind of wish they were a little more insistent! LOL I'm not talking about wanting the artistic equivilent of stage parents, mind you, it's just that they didn't exactly encourage art as a viable option. I guess the parental instinct to prevent your kids from starving to death overrides everything else ;) Anyway, it's something I think a lot about with two young daughters showing lots of interest in art...

Roxana

[Rose]

Wow Dave.. you were born to be an artist! This is incredible work for a 14 year old! My son is almost 11 and I can't imagine him doing something like this any time soon! :D

[Brenda]

Amazing, Dave!! You produced such a beautiful, mature quality of work at that young age.

I'm like Roxanna. I'm curious how this ability runs in families. What kind of support/encouragement did you receive? Is anyone else in your family artistic? Did you have any special lessons?

In my family, my father has talent but has never worked at it or produced much with it. My aunt - on my father's side - is an oil painter. She's really good. My children both have some ability. I don't know how much since it's never been anything they've shown any interest in. I have encouraged them, bought them supplies, offered to work with them... but it's not an interest for them. There is no one else in my family who has any talent that I'm aware of. I never received encouragment other than a surprised, "Look what you did. Isn't that nice." type of thing. I was never discouraged but certainly never encouraged. No art supplies of any kind other than regular writing pencils and crayons.

I'm curious... what is your next project?

[artmasters]

Thanks for looking at some of my "treasure". I started drawing when I was pretty young. My first memory was when I was about 4 or 5. I did a "mural" with crayons on a hallway wall in my parents house. I guess she didn't appreciate my talent as she was scrubbing the wall clean. :D

I guess I just gravitated to it mostly by myself. My parents encouraged me but never pushed me. I drew alot in church. You know young kids at church can sometimes be disruptive, so my parents would always give us the church bulletin and a pencil and we would draw. I mostly drew my hands. I was doing all kinds of hand poses. My mom showed them to a friend of hers at church. Her friend introduced me to an art teacher friend. He recomended that I read the book "The Natural Way to Draw" by Nicolaides. My mom bought me the book. That's a tough read for a pre-teen. But I attribute my early aptitude for drawing to the lack of video games and cable/satellite TV. I didn't watch much tv. Instead I built model planes and ships and I drew them. I love the old sailing ships and I learned all the names of all the parts of the ship models that I built. That is how I was able to draw the details of these ships. So I would have to say that I am mostly self taught. I did take the standard classes in grade school thru college. But most of the time I was already familiar with the techniques & concepts from my own study. What the class time did for me was set up a regular time and space to PRACTICE what I learned. That's the key. Learning is one thing, PRACTICE is where you get good. We need to encourage our kids, but more than that, we need to set aside time for them to practice - whether that is art, sports, music, etc. It's tough to do with all the tv and video games out there now.

I better stop. I'm getting long winded. That's my story and thoughts anyway.
Dave

[Angela]

Wonderful! For such a young teen, your work is beautiful. So detailed and so clean and perfectly rendered. That was the one thing I focused on when I was a teenager as well, drawing. Graphite was mostly what I worked in and I don't know why, but I never took any art classes in school. I regret that now, but, hey, it's never too late! These are definitely buried "treasures"!

[artfulscribe]

We need to encourage our kids, but more than that, we need to set aside time for them to practice - whether that is art, sports, music, etc. It's tough to do with all the tv and video games out there now.
Dave

Ain't that the truth! Sometimes I marvel at what the great inventors and genuises of the past were able to dream up, and at such early ages, too. Then I stop and think, well...it's no wonder. Time & imagination were clearly on their side, not having the likes of television and video games eating away at their day. Being alone with one's own thoughts is such a novelty these days.

Roxana

[Roses]

Thanks for looking at some of my "treasure". I started drawing when I was pretty young. My first memory was when I was about 4 or 5. I did a "mural" with crayons on a hallway wall in my parents house. I guess she didn't appreciate my talent as she was scrubbing the wall clean. :D


My mother painted my brothers walls with chalkboard paint and provided colored chalk. They could draw on the walls to their hearts desire as long as they used those walls. It worked great.

[Arlene]

14 huh? sigh what a waste of talent for all these years. don't ever put down those art supplies again. You have too much talent to not use it.

i agree with you about practice. great art is 1% inspiration and 99% hard work...and that includes learning the basics.

[Meisie]

Dave these are gorgeous! If you put those pencils down again, the cp police will come after you for sure! :D
and I agree with all your sentiments....the curse of TV and video games...

Meisie

[lucky]

Dave these are gorgeous! If you put those pencils down again, the cp police will come after you for sure! :D

Ditto! We will hunt you down and throw pencils at you! ;)

[Chisaii]

Well Dave, you already know how much I love your work and it's wonderful that you're back and giving us the opportunity to see your talent!

Our paths run a very parallel course and it's nice to return to your first love!

[artmasters]

Ditto! We will hunt you down and throw pencils at you! ;)

Yikes!!! :eek: I've been warned! If you do throw pencils, make sure they are prismas or pablos. If you use student grade you'll need alot of them because you'll be there all day trying to make an impact. lol :D Also, if you use the good stuff I can collect them and replenish my supply.

Chisaii, Thanks for finding my work here. Your website looks great. Your art is beautiful. I like your choice in subjects also.

Meisie, I just hope the cp police don't resort to torture tactics like inflicting paper cuts, Ouch!!! I promise I won't put them down again.

Arlene, I don't think that is was as much a waste of talent but more of a dam in my progression. Now that I've unclogged that log jam, I'm ready to get down to business and make up for lost time.