Back to the Drawing Board

So, it's been a while since I posted anything. I had back surgery in January, and the months leading up to that, as well as the month after, were a major creativity suck. I was on all kinds of pain meds that I had hoped would lead to some whacked out crazy artwork, but instead just left me totally unmotivated to do anything.

It's amazing how being partially disabled for a period of time can change your perspective. Now that I have experienced what it's like to not even be able to tie your own shoes or pick up a gallon of milk, I feel like I'm seeing the little things in life for the gift they are. Living without pain, and without pain meds, is an experience I had almost forgotten in just four short months. I had accepted the dull pain, the foggy haze I lived in as a result of whatever pain pill I was taking that month, and the total lack of energy. I tried to get back to my artwork a few times throughout the fall, but each time I got halfway through a pencil sketch and quit- either because of the pain of sitting still for that long, or because I hated what I was drawing. Or because I just didn't care enough to keep going.

I am happy to say that's behind me, now. Hooray for modern medicine and awesome surgeons. I can tie my own shoes again. I can walk again. I can sneeze without screaming in pain. I can run, and pour my own milk, and I can sit down at my drawing table and finally create some new stuff.

So I sat down and started drawing this week- the first time in months. This is what came out.

I like 'em, so I'm doing a whole series. They're scenes inspired by the Mississippi Delta Region- the birthplace of the blues, and home to some really good catfish joints.

I have always been fascinated by this place. It used to be an ecosystem more bio-diverse than the Amazon rainforest. It was an alluvial swampland sandwiched between the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers, teeming with life. Then came the humans. We built levees, drained it, leveled it, and created this. This strange, flat, haunting landscape. It was the world's largest cotton producing region for a time. It gave us some of the greatest food and some of the greatest musicians the world has ever known.

Today, while still a very active agricultural region, it's strangely devoid of people. Yes there are people, wonderful people, who live there- just not as many. The result of mechanization and industrial farming- less people, less paychecks. So now there are lots of empty roads, empty buildings, even a few empty towns.

For a guy who loves rust and junk and abandoned things, it's a playground of beauty and mystery. What used to be in there? Who used to work here? (For some incredible photographs of the area, check out the book Delta Land by Maude Schuyler Clay.) It's a strange place that seems to resist any attempt to capture it on paper. I have been trying to draw this area for over a year, with no luck. I think I'm getting closer, though. Tentatively calling them "Sundown on 61". Hope you like 'em.

See more stuff at www.charlesmakesart.com