The kreative Ka was manifested in our family. On my dad's side I watched my cousins roll butcher paper down the hallway and draw from one end to the other, war scenes, airplane dog fights, sieges, tank battles. My mom drew our hands and feet as babes part of a mail-order art course but never finished. Me, I didn't draw much but wanted to and not till I saw something worth drawing. Strange how life is, didn't take drawing seriously till I saw a custom home show on TV and found a magazine with pen drawings. I used splotchy and cloggy Bic pens to copy the line quality, textures, shadows and transparency. In college they tried to hip me to the Euro empire art and modern artist. Can't say I really liked any of it (yawn).My most influential influences were jazz musicians. You see I tried to play the saxophone, and the vibraharp. Talk about want-a-be fever. Went from Motown to Coltrane in one night. Coltrane and Eddie Harris electric sax, struck cords in me. It was so frustrating because I didn't have the music training or the manual dexterity to make the sounds I heard, felt. Then Archie Shepp, Sun Ra, and oh, sonic spasms of delight! I tried vibrant acrylic paints, did a few explosive things. Man, was I caught between music and art. Life got busy became a draftsman. I learned line drawing symbols with pen-n-ink, then on a computer. The computer started bringing all the things together. I could control a computer but not a sax! I could make shapes and sling colors the way I felt, what I saw, what evolved out of the logic of doing it right then (improv). Jazz, Art, what's the diff?
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