Songs to Play at my Funeral

I feel it is important to share with the readers of this blog, why I would write this public journal of sorts, given that I am not famous or remotely known even amongst my friends or family for writing songs or music (I’ve kept it a secret for most part).  Certainly not songs or music that would qualify as listenable or “well crafted” by any stretch.  That last sentence is not meant to be self-deprecating or self-serving in any way.  In fact, that is one of the motivating factors for writing this story.  I do not consider myself talented musically at all, but I have been known to stretch myself artistically before. This is a way to chronicle my beginnings as a wannabe artist.

So, where to start? 

Going back to 8^th Grade in 1981-82, I had a teacher, Mr. Brazil, who I really respected and taught me that anything was possible when it comes to art.  Although, he taught art in a very literal sense, in that he said, “there is a tree over there, draw that tree as you see it.”  One of my earlier drawings was that of a truck belonging to my science teacher, Mr. Brogdon.  As instructed, I drew it as I saw it.  By that, I mean that the lines of the drawing were hard and specific.  You knew the tires of the truck was a tire because, my lines were very intentional.  I wanted the observer to know I was drawing a truck and those were the tires.  I had several other drawings during this period in high school like trees and bowls of fruit (not much to write about), but fast forward a bit to just after high school and I was dating my future wife (we are still together after 33 years as of this writing). 

My wife’s mother, now my mother-in-law, was an artist in her own right, much like I was at the phase I was in.  She was (is) quite talented but didn’t seem to show it off and was humble about her abilities, but most importantly enjoyed the pursuit of artistic expression.  At this time in my life, I was around 19 or 20 years old (sometime around 1989) and was starting to do sketches of the pop artists at the time.  Artists like Huey Lewis, Don Henley and Madonna.  Madonna was particularly notable in my progression as an artist because I had drawn her from the cover of her album True Blue and asked my mother-in-law for her opinion on what she thought of my creation.  I was confident I had drawn a very good likeness and so admittedly, asking her was a bit self-serving. I expected her to shower me with the praise commensurate with a drawing that was worthy of that level of praise.  Instead, she did what a respectable fellow artist should do and provided me feedback to help me be a better artist.  She told me that I didn’t need such hard lines to accentuate things like the jaw line or facial structure and to allow for the viewer of the piece to fill in those blanks themselves.  Basically, give the viewer some credit for having the ability to fill in those blanks themselves.  This was a game changer for me and my growth as an artist. 

This was the finished product after I took her sound advice: 

I continued my drawing for the next year or so and in between some not-so-great pieces, I had several that I am proud enough of, that I have hung them on my walls over the years. 

Here are a few: