Monday, October 20, 2008

Long Shadows of Introspection



Last week I completed several projects that kept me happily busy. Is work really its own reward or is it a way to escape unproductive pondering?

Quite often when I complete a great deal of work and the pressure of looming deadlines is lifted I like to sit in a dimly lit room and do nothing. This can last a couple of days. My wife finds my behavior unnerving. This time though I was filled with energy and I quickly went about doing all the little things that I couldn’t do when I was busy. That lasted about three days and then I started brooding so I went out for a long walk. I’m not sure how many miles I traveled but my walk lasted for hours. Heck, it’s two miles into town alone. I decided to look at homes for sale in town. If the right one presented itself I’d buy it and turn it into a studio. It’s a good time to buy. Prices are low. A few years ago I considered buying a small church. What a great studio that would’ve made with its vaulted ceiling. I’d have to have a contractor take off the giant white cross though. All these ideas are completely impractical yet I continue to entertain them. Maybe, just maybe . . . well, I wouldn’t want to miss a great opportunity, would I? (See how my brain works).

The long walk didn’t work though. Today was worse than yesterday. I dragged myself through the day. I did some organizing and some cleaning. It depressed me further. I kept running across disheartening things.

Around four o’clock I went for a run. It was colder than I expected so I had to change my usual path so I’d be running in the sun. As I saw my long shadow ahead of me I thought about what I wanted to do with my future and I decided to start my blog back up.

The picture above was done for Subterranean Press. It’s the cover to an anthology called "Songs of Dying Earth" and I did several pen & ink illustrations for it as well that I will someday post to this blog. I greatly enjoyed reading every story in the book. The reason I put it up on my blog today is that it fit my mood but that mood is gone. I ran away my long shadowy thoughts.

10 Comments:

Blogger test said...

Welcome back. Running is certainly a fantastic way to sort your head out. Now get posting!

5:27 PM  
Blogger A. Riabovitchev said...

Looks fantastic!:o)

4:51 AM  
Blogger Jared Shear said...

YES!!.....great to have you back Tom! Beautiful piece, and yes keep posting.

12:28 PM  
Blogger CapoCosmico said...

PPUFF!! que hermoso trabajo! un saludo grande desde Argentina!
Leonardo Gauna

11:16 PM  
Blogger tlchang said...

I love the light in this piece - all pink and golden and slanty...

'Glad it sounds like you were able to run off your funk. Combination of job completion let-down and lessened sun-induced serotonin? (that's what happens to me).

I'll look forward to you 'being around' a bit more.

11:57 PM  
Blogger Tom Kidd said...

Thanks. It's good to be back in the blog community. You're all a great inspiration to me.

A lot of things have changed since I've been away and I'll need to figure it all out and relearn what I knew. So far so good.

5:13 PM  
Blogger ev said...

Its great to see the blog back in action Tom.

4:29 PM  
Blogger Marumae said...

So glad you're back Tom! I've missed your art a lot! We missed you!

9:05 PM  
Blogger Eric M. Edwards said...

I was drawn to your site by this particular cover.

Out of curiosity, was this picture influenced by the drawings of Piranesi? It especially reminded me of several of his early drawings of cityscapes of temples and elaborate memorials, such as this one:

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2007/09/27/arts/20070928PIRA_4.html

Lovely work. Best wishes,

E.

6:24 AM  
Blogger Tom Kidd said...

Hi Eric, Thanks for your observations. I love Piranesi's work! Several years ago I got to see an exhibit of his prints made from the original plates. They even had a (copper?) plate on display. If you search "piranesi by tom kidd" you'll find a link to an "Inside the Artist's Studio" interview with me. If you scroll down you'll see a painting titled "Piranesi." That is the name of one of the cities in a story I've been writing called "Gnemo." Many of the places in this story are named after artists I admire the work of. That list is a long one. But, the simple answer to your question is yes.

1:39 PM  

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