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To the left of Shield's Ferry Road , January 15, 2010From my perch upon the tree roots along side the creek, I can see across the nearby road. The bare trees on the hillside, the fence alongside the yard in front of a house, and the snow-covered bank before me draws me back into the static physical realm. Like the Master's of Fine Art I've studied throughout my life, I attempt to create a drawing with the fewest lines possible. Sitting by the creek, I am surrounded by the sounds of water running past. The soothing vibrations washes through me and clears out all the negativity of the day. My thoughts can drift along with the creek or I can be in the moment and watch the birds flit about looking for food. This creek space has been sanctuary for months as I ride out the madness that is flowing through my life. No one is screaming at me or accusing me of doing crimes I never committed. No one is telling me how worthless I am because I have no money. I sit on my perch and feel at peace with the natural world. The human world that is based on greed, power, and deception dissolves from my spirit as I sit quietly and enter into the calm world of no thoughts. Over the years I've had special places where I could go and feel connected to the natural world without people imposing their everyday personal funk on me. I haven't done drawings of any of those other places. They are personal spaces that I can remember and bring up in my mind when I need to draw from that feeling of completeness that I get there. On a mid-winter day my pencil flashed sparks of clarity across the paper and captured a time and place. In the Old Ways it is said that everyone needs a secret spot where they can go and find a quiet time. On this day my secret spot was very visible to the rest of the world, but the secret space within allowed me to spend many hours there alone. In the drawing it all comes back for a moment and now you know it also. Oliver Loveday © 052711:7pm EDT "To The Left of Shields Ferry Road" On April 26, 2016, I began the task of doing a series of watercolor paintings based upon the sketches from the "Tunnel Vision Tapes". The process involved using charcoal to sketch out the lines from the pencil sketch. The goal is to get as close as I can to those original lines within a few minutes. Then I would go over the charcoal with an eraser to smudge and push the charcoal into the watercolor paper. After documenting the charcoal, I would take the painting outdoors and work on it with watercolor paint. The next day I would do a second session with each painting. Using the "dry brush" technique on the previous session would increase the luster, richness of the colors already down, and add more color to areas as needed. While the original sketches are not for sale, these works are available by credit card via PayPal. To see detail photographs of the paintings, click the photograph to go to the watercolor page it is presented on.
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