When Rich first told me about this show I was super excited, but it took me a while to commit to a theme. The temptation with this kind of show is to one-up your fellow artists by choosing an obscure inspiration. It's a regular arms race. After a few false starts I realized that I wasn't in the mood for that, nor was I interested in making the kind of piece that the people who know me would expect. I didn't want this to feel like a job. I have enough jobs, you know what I mean?
So, no obscure inspiration.
And no digital art.
And no traditional art that
looks like digital art. What to do? I decided to make a dimensional illustration, a mixed media piece that would stand out from the pack a little. As for theme, I would pay homage to my pound-for-pound favorite video game of all time:
Pac-Man!
I started out with a bunch of magnetic alphabet tiles (158, to be exact). My plan was to build the "scaredy ghost" as I call it, meaning the blue-and-white version of Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and/or Clyde that shows up in-game after Pac-Man eats a power pellet. I chose the alphabet tiles primarily for visual interest, but also so I could hide the title of my piece and my initials in the finished product:

Next was the tedious task of priming and painting each tile, which coincidentally led to the creation of this oddly compelling work of a more abstract nature ...

Then, there was very much gluing.

I then sealed the facing side (get it? FACING side?!) with more glue, added a clear coat, and fixed a trimmed cork backing to the whole deal. I adhered a few of those sawtooth picture frame hangers to the reverse, and voilĂ ! Scaredy Ghost!

I'm already plotting for the next Retro Game Night, which I'm sure I'll have a spot in since I gave all my drink tickets to Rich. This is why you invite the Mormon artists, ladies and gents!