artwork of sean arthur joyce
Sketching. It's very much an automatic reflex. I can be looking at an image and suddenly the itch to draw takes over.
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Man Ray Portrait
Lady Mask
CEO Mask
Child Angel
Grieving Angel
Mask 1 - Poetry
Mask 2 - Chameleon
Mask 3 - Work
Mask 4 - Fame
Mask 5 - War
Mask 6 - History
Mask 7 - Family
The Unmasking Of The Beast
Urban Trillium
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Sometimes it's the challenge, sometimes an idea. Other times it's an existing concept to illustrate, as in the case of Urban Trillium, which was a try at a cover for Catherine Owen's book, Starvation Landscape (chameleon fire editions, 2001). In rare cases, as with The Muse series, it's almost an afterthought—another shade of dimension to fill in on a theme that has been obsessing me. I had started the series with poems first, then three-dimensional mask artwork (two series: The Muse, The Five Elements), and finally bringing poems and artwork together in the sketches. The theme of masks, in all senses of the word, crept in repeatedly.
I first began sketching at age 6. It was a momentous occasion; one of those rare lucid washes of memory made to stand out by my parents' reaction. Amazement, approval—it was a kind of epiphany. I had drawn almost line for line, slightly skewed but very precise, a honky-tonk piano player from a record album cover my parents owned. Through my school years I was always doodling, always got 'A's in art classes while having to take remedial math courses. The sketchbooks blossomed out in imaginative quality during my florid teen years, then in adulthood seemed mostly to slip into a sound sleep. Maybe one day I'll have more time to devote to drawing. My mother has said, "I always thought you'd become an artist." Well of course, she was right.