Earshot Music Art Opening

 It feels like the start of something really amazing.  I came up with my unique "scribble style" with Sharpie markers 12 years ago, and really started trying to sell drawings two years ago.  I started with literally no money, so it's been slow progress for quite a while.  But the opening at Earshot Music last night felt like a big milestone, one where things shift into a higher gear. 

Earshot Music (3254 Silas Creek Pkwy) in Winston-Salem is a classic record store like all us middle-aged people wandered through as kids.  Life's been pretty crazy for years now, and I spent the summer literally living in a tent in the woods, and drawing every moment I could.  That allowed me to get a lot of artwork done, even though I was homeless.  Phred, the owner of Earshot, and Jane Buck, who handles the art there, liked my stuff, and gave me a great opportunity to get my drawings in front of more people.  Thanks guys!

It was a quiet little show, only a handful of people came by, but we had a good time.  My friend Rick, who's really helped me out over the summer, hung out and listened to me tell stories he'd already heard.  My sister Cheri, a teacher in Greensboro, came by with a friend, and we went through all my older drawings, sharing memories with the others there.  Luba, a Winston-Salem artist I met at the First Friday art walk last month, came by, as did a young couple I gave a flyer to last Friday.  I also met long time artist Lee Tompkins, and he gave me lots of ideas on how to proceed with my work. 

 The Kurt Cobain drawing sold, and I have a couple people interested in other drawings in the near future.  I handed out copies of the flyer I made, along with copies of another small drawing.  I had a great time, and am looking forward to getting back to work on another bunch of drawings.  My drawings will be up at Earshot Music until the end of the year, and I would love to do one of your favorite musician or athlete.  Maybe even your dog.  You can email me at stevenemig13@gmail.com  . 

Why I love drawing musicians

Music is one of the greatest forms of magic in the universe.  What else can bring people together from all kinds of backgrounds, all kinds of belief systems, and get them to tune into a single moment?  OK, the recent total eclipse, did that.  But not much else can.  Just like during that surreal moment when day turned to night and even the animals were quiet, music has the incredible power to overcome the things that push us apart.  A great live concert photo captures a faction of a second of that energy when a musician loses themselves in the bliss of creating magic in the moment through their music.

 I love the challenge of taking one of those photos and adding my own flair to it.  I don't want to just make a cool picture of the artist, I want you to remember that feeling of how great music can make you feel.  Then I add lists of songs or lyrics in the background.  I do that so that once someone gets past that initial thought of that musician playing live, they can be reminded of the songs or words that have really touched them at some point in their lives.  Even more, I want people to find songs or lyrics in the back of my drawings that they're not familiar with.  I want them to go look up those songs, and explore the work of that musician, that purveyor of magic moments, even more.

That's why I love doing drawings of musicians.  My Sharpie drawing of Prince above will be at my show at Earshot Music in Winston-Salem, (NC) which opens this coming Saturday, November 4th, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm.  Come by and check it out if you're local.  Check out my work on this blog or Facebook if you're not.  I'd be stoked to do a drawing of your favorite musician... as long as they don't suck.  Ultimately, I want to take my own photos to draw my Sharpie pictures of.

In the course of doing this Prince tribute drawing, I dove into his music, and discovered tons of stuff I'd never heard before.  This clip below is one of my favorites now.  Just let the guitar do the talking for you...