January 22, 2005

Hindsight Is 20/20

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Above: The Dukes Of Hazzard and Roscoe P. Coltrane, by Jeope Wolfe (circa 1982). Marker and crayon on notepad. Artist's note: Looks like the Duke boys have won this one. Roscoe's overheatin', and about to run over a thumbtack.


When I was seven and eight years old, I would draw trains on rolls of accounting paper that would stretch across the room and out the door. Later on I would draw cartoon owls called ookpiks, after the Inuit toys I collected. I drew birds and maps. I never drew people because I didn't know how and was afraid of failing at it. And when I finally started, I drew astronauts so I wouldn't have to do faces. My friends in junior high held contests at who could draw the best Wolverine, but I didn't follow comic books. By high school I was pretty good at most stuff in art class, and in my graduating year I won the Art Award, consisting of a plaque and a set of Staedtler-Mars™ pens.

Then I did a terrible thing. When my mom and I moved from our house on Lenore Street (the last house I ever lived in), I purged a huge chunk of stuff from my room. My teenage years were almost over, and I was looking ahead. I threw out all manner of drawings, doodles and art class assignments because they no longer looked cool. They looked awkward and childish – which in retrospect, they were. But at the time I couldn't see their charm. Too bad. I'd like every one of them back now.

5 comments:

Allan Lorde said...

I was just thinking of that book I made in grade 1 that I told you about a while ago. I gotta find that thing.

Jeope said...

Al, is that the one where you drew Charlie Watts?

Allan Lorde said...

It was a picture of me imitating Charlie Watts. As I remember, it was a sequence of four drawings where I pull out a Stones record and pretend to drum. Heh.

lew! said...

bloody hell!
the duke boys have gone english!
those geezers are just zoomin home for afternoon tea.

wow - i wonder if i have any old drawings in the 'rents basement. that's pretty cool that you do. i'd rather have some old drawings than my pads of horrible highschool/college poetry. Yuck!

Jeope said...

Christ, I swear I didn't even notice that until today. Fun-ny.