Cheerleader poem

For the last eight or nine years, my niece Katherine has been a cheerleader, cheering for her squad, the other squads in her gym, and eventually her high school football and basketball teams.  The drawing above is one I recently did for her.  But a couple nights ago, she went to the hospital with what they thought might be appendicitis.  It wasn't that, but she's still really sick with an as yet undiagnosed ailment. So  now she needs her friends and family to cheer her on.  I wrote this poem today for her.  Hope you get well soon, Katherine!

Cheerleader

You've practiced for years
Through joy and tears
Flips and twists and arabesques
Bow and arrows and all the rest
Some base, some fly
The whole team tries
To hit their moves
So they can prove
Once and for all
They will not fall
They dance and spring
Through their routine
All for the goal
To win the gold
But there is more you see
Than taking home a huge trophy
Take a moment, slow your pace
Look at the word on which it's based
A cheerleader you are
And that's more by far
Than just a sport made
By the judges' grade
The reason you're here
Is to add cheer
When your team is down
And those around
Are sad and fear
A loss is near
In the air you arc
To add that spark
And stoke the team
To reach their dreams
You are not yet aware
That your job doesn't stop there
Throughout your life
In times of strife
Those who are near 
Will need your cheer
To help them through
Their troubles true
In those times you frown
While you are sick and down
Family, friends, even strangers near
Will rise up and bring you cheer
'Round and 'round and 'round it goes
In kind words, acts, poems, and prose
When the time is right
Be it day or night
We are all cheerleaders
For those who need us

-- Steve Emig
Katherine Durham's uncle

Reframing the situation and Bruce Lee

Halloween was just over a week ago, and it just happened that on that day I woke up and decided to stop thinking of myself as an"unemployed blogger/artist," and to start thinking of myself as a "self-employed artist/blogger."  It seems like semantics, but sometimes simply reframing the situation can make a huge difference.  That afternoon I started this art blog, doing several posts with my earlier work.  That night, I made some fliers up and passed them out to parents at the downtown trick or treat event.  I didn't get any work out of that, but a bunch of people checked out this blog.  That's a start. 

The next night, I spent a couple hours on the computer looking through different kinds of art, trying to remind myself what kind of stuff really got me stoked.  I kept coming back to graffiti, street art, and in particular, stencils.  Maybe it's because I did a lot of Xerox art as a zine publisher over the years, but I've always liked simple, high contrast pictures.  But I also like stuff with lots of color.  All the images I checked out online whirled around my head as I went to sleep that night.  One question kept resonating in my head, "What would I really want to put up on my wall?"

I woke up the next morning with another thought in my head.  That thought?  "I need to step it up."  I got back on the computer and looked for something, some image, that I could put my own spin on.  I picked one of my childhood heroes, Bruce Lee.  That day I made the picture above, with the caption, "Be like water my friend."  I set it across the room when I was done.  "Now THAT is something I'd want to put on my wall," I thought to myself.  And with that, my artwork, the Sharpie marker "scribble style" that I'd been doing for ten years, took a completely different direction.  It felt good.

Now, a week later, I have three drawings to do for other people.  In my case, reframing my thinking changed everything.  Flow... be like water, my friend.

Sharpie Art Doodle Heart Drawing

Welcome to my art blog.  If you're reading this, you probably just received one of my sketchy, last minute flyers, and you want to see what I'm all about.  In a nutshell, in 2005, I actually lived in an indie art gallery in California, while driving a taxi on the weekends owned by the gallery owner.  After not doing anything creative for the few previous years, I started drawing and doing other creative work again.  During that time, I devised this way of shading by scribbling several colors of markers over each other.  For lack of a better name, I call this "scribble style."  In the decade since, I found that ultra fine point Sharpie markers work best for this technique, and I use plain old fine point black Sharpies to outline.  Now if you search "Sharpie art" on Google or You Tube, you'll most likely see something like the black and white "doodle art" above.  The drawing above is my attempt to try some of that style of doodle art, with a red heart in the middle shaded in my unique "scribble style." 

As of right now (Halloween, 2015), I've decided to really focus on my art, instead of just doing the stuff I like and the occasional drawing I'm asked to do.  To see the things I typically sell, check out the past few posts.  If you go back even further, you'll see some of my work from the last three years.  If you would like me to draw something for you, you can call me at (335) 937-3436 or email me at stevenemig13@gmail.com .  You can also friend me on Facebook, I'm on there as Steve Emig, and I share my artwork there, as well.  In the coming weeks and months I'll share more of my work on this blog, as well as write about my weird adventures in life that involved many aspects of creativity (and occasionally stupidity).  Thanks for checking my blog out, feel free to let me know what you think.

Kids Alligator drawings

First my laptop died, and now the flash on my camera.  Bad timing.  That's why these pics are sketchy.  Anyhow... I was asked the other day to do some alligator drawings by a couple whose son has an alligator themed room.  The only criteria was, "not too scary."  So I just did these two alligators and added some color to the backgrounds to brighten them up a bit.  I can do similar things if your kid is into cartoonish animals or other characters.  These are both 12" X 18", Sharpie markers on paper, and take me about 8 hours to do.  I'm doing these types of drawings for $20 until the end of the year.  Again, because of the time involved, I can only do a limited number by Christmas.  If you'd like one, call me at (336) 937-3436, or email me at stevenemig13@gmail.com. 

Kid name drawings

For some reason, my camera chose this photo for the flash to go out, which is why it's a little blurry.  This is the latest of the kid's name drawings I've done, this one's for a member of our church who has a new granddaughter.  I've done 40 or 50 of these over the past few years, without promoting them at all.  I did the first two for my niece and nephew several years ago, when my niece was about nine.  Next thing I know, all her cheerleading friends wanted one, too.  That's how it started.  These are 9" X 12", Sharpie markers on paper, and I fade the name from a lighter color in the center to darker edges.  I've sold most of these for $20 to $30.  But for the rest of this year I'll do them for $10, because I'm focusing on my artwork more, and need to get my name out there.  If you'd like one (or more), call me at (336) 937-3436, or email me at stevenemig13@gmail.com.  These don't look that hard, but I spend 3 to 4 hours doing each one of these.  Again, because of the time involved, I can only do a limited amount of these before Christmas. 

Emig Family Tree Drawing

 Emig family tree drawing, Sharpie markers on paper, mosaic scribble style, 12" X 18", 2015.  Earlier this year I started playing around with this "mosaic style," and that's most of what I'm doing right now.  I did a tree in this style, put the pic on Facebook, and a bunch of people liked and commented on it.  Then my aunt wanted me to do a tree with her newest grandson's name in it.  While I was drawing that tree, a thought popped into my head, "Hey, I could do family trees."  So I did this one for my mom, with my parents, sister, niece, and nephew's names, and our family name in the leaves.  I did another one since, and now I'm doing these twice as big, 18" X 24", so I can fit more names on the tree.  These take about 20 hours of work to do, and I'm charging $50 (plus shipping if you're out of the area) for the rest of this year for these.  Because of the time involved, I can only do a limited number of family trees before Christmas.  If you'd like one, call me and order one ASAP.  Steve Emig, (336) 937-3436, or email stevenemig13@gmail.com.  Below is a closer look at the family name and individual names in the tree.

Isometric Boredom Drawing

Isometric boredom, Sharpies on paper, 12" X 18", 2015.  I was taking a class early this year, and  started doodling random cubes and cubic shapes.  So I made a handful of big colored drawings like this one.  Just a phase I was going through, though I think they look kind of neat.  Just for the record, this drawing and all the ones preceding it were drawn by hand, in marker, without pencil sketching first. 

Crap it's going to be one of those days drawing

The title pretty much sums up the day I was having.  Sometimes you do art just to amuse yourself, which is the case here.  Sharpie markers on paper, 14" X 17".  $20 if you're having a crappy day, too.

Abstract Interconnecting Curves Drawing

Abstract interconnecting curves, for lack of a better name.  Sharpie markers on paper, 14" X 17".  I used to draw interconnecting shapes like this in pen and ink in the early 90's.  So I tried a couple of these in marker and colored them with my "scribble style."  This is the better of the two, $20.

Alien smoking cigarette drawing on skateboard deck

 Skateboard deck art, Sharpie markers on paper, then Mod Podged onto an old skate deck I found.  I did kind of a collage on the top, bottom, and edges.  As for the aliens...  I used to draw aliens doing street art in California, and one day I drew a grey alien smoking a cigarette, and it just made me laugh.  So I drew a bunch more, with weird and funny captions.  This caption reads, "I'm not crazy!  And if you say I am one more time, I'll send my invisible, ninja leprechauns after you."  Somebody called me crazy one night, and that was my response.  Not for sale.

Tree Frog Drawing

Tree Frog, Sharpie markers on paper, 14" X 17", 2013.  So... I wanted to try a few animals in my scribble style.  This is the first one I did.  I was amazed at how good it came out, and I don't do realistic animals anymore because I don't think I can do better than this.  That kind of sucks... but I've moved on to other ideas.  Not for sale, this one's going to a friend who helped me out recently.

Peace Sign Drawing

Peace Sign, Sharpie markers on paper, 14" X 17", 2013.  I did this one for myself, just to see how it would look.  $20.

Heart Drawing

Heart, Sharpies on paper, 14" X 17", caption says "Fragile, handle with care," 2012.  I'm not sure what I was thinking.  At that time, my work was a hit with tween-age girls, mostly my niece and her cheerleading friends.  Since I still have this, I guess she didn't really like it.  $20.

Cana Lily Drawing

Cana Lily, Sharpie markers on paper, 14" X 17", 2012.  After drawing in my "scribble style" for several years, I wanted to try some different styles.  I did a few flowers inspired by Georgia O'Keefe's work.  This is the only one I have left.  $20.