“Cloud Busting in the Air”, Sketchwave Series, No. 16

This is the central focus, the eye of the storm per se, on the entirety of The “Battle of the Senses” Series. This is where the epicenter of concentrated thought manifested itself unto the canvas. At this point, my days of diner drawing became essential in keeping up with social situations. Being that I am a painter, my life has somehow cornered itself into this painting space nestled into a cozy studio in the deep sectors of Los Feliz Village, a residential place East of Hollywood in Los Angeles. I spent months without consistent social interaction due to my obsession with finishing my work. I ended up spending so much time at the diner, that I eventually started working some graveyard shifts down at the local eclectic dive in Echo Park. It helped me get out of my head and help pull situations into my paintings. Some of these situations go over:

• The price of gasoline rising in Los Angeles
• Power cuddling
• Expensive things and cheap things in French
• Endless coffee refills at House of Pies
• Coffee at Fred 62′s
• Rainy weather
• Jellyfish
• Palm Desert
• The weight of Summer
• Blowing out a circuit breaker at a diner
• Chelsea, a citizen of Savannah, reminding me of home
• Taking my vitamins
• Pyramids, toasters, and ghosts in Pac Man
• Coyotes of Griffith Park

The lower left corner was drawn in the City of Hope, a town east of Los Angeles. I drew this laying in a chair, while my friend James slept post cancer removal surgery. The view from the cancer ward window was astonishing… I sat there just staring at this landscape that seemed so intensely beautiful, overwhelmed with the massive fact that my friend was going to live. I drew the literal interpretation of the window view and then later that drive at night… when all of us went back home.

This canvas walked with me through the most temperamental of times, often being the notebook for my depictions of things happening at that very moment. I wanted a truly authentic diary like experience to not only attract the viewer by Mickey being the anchor to the piece, but to further drag them into a colorful shard like world of real time events that explain the purpose of the artist. This piece traveled through deserts, hospitals, and diners this time, and the conversations and thoughts of the people are interwoven into it.

I put this into the “Battle of the Senses” series as this is a specific study on Chronoception, and the recording of the passage of time. This was drawn of events that transpired in an entire 24 hours, and is about a diary like rendition of my life in circadian rhythm.