Monday, April 27, 2020

It's All About My Happiness

I'm pretty happy these days. I know that may be the politically incorrect feeling to have, given the state of the planet, but I'm pretty happy. Sure I have things to worry about, my income has taken a hit since this virus arrived (as such, I'm behind on bills...but who isn't??), my weight fluctuates too much and I seem to be tired a lot (Hey, wait a minute...maybe there's a correlation between those last two things??), but overall, I'm pretty happy. I believe at the root of this politically incorrect happiness is the fact that I'm creating some really special art.

Brian May

Of course, "special" is my biased opinion, however that biased opinion is now the only one that matters to me, when it comes to my drawings. Not too long ago, I needed (sought??) the approval of others when it came to my own satisfaction with my art. I was creating art for everyone but me. When I didn't receive the majorities approval of my work, I was disappointed and unhappiness followed. Even if I liked the art I created, if I didn't receive positive feedback (to put in into terms "today's world" can relate to, "LIKES"), unhappiness ensued. Why did this awakening occur during this pandemic, honestly I'm not sure?? However, I believe it had something to do with the forced isolation and the time that isolation gave me to spend time with my consciousness, without being bothered with meaningless distractions. Whatever the reason for my enlightenment, I am a happier person for it. 


I believe William Shakespeare's words, said it best, “This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man."


Peace out dudes!

Sunday, April 12, 2020

Radio is Dead

Happy Easter! 

I hope the Easter Bunny was good to everybody. However, rumor had it that the bunny was quarantined in his cage, eating wabbit food and pooping wabbit balls in the corner.

I created another caricature this weekend. This time it was a caricature of my favorite country entertainer, Dwight Yoakam. 



Those of you who are not familiar with real country music, might not be familiar with Mr. Yoakam.  I’m speaking to those of you who follow the pretty boy, country singers of today, who wear their baseball cap backwards and couldn’t sing without Auto-Tune. These guys are, in actuality, “pop music singers”. These ”enhanced” pop singers then take on the label of a country singer, throw in an occasional steele guitar and walah! You have the modern country music singer!  This is exactly the type of crap country music that gets played on Modern Country radio stations today (which is the reason I don't listen to modern country radio stations any longer). The fact is, that most of the “music” on any Modern Country music radio stations these days is unlistenable. What you hear on these radio stations is the least offensive, formulamatic,  politically correct, bland electronically enhanced crap, they come up with to subvert the brain dead public (i.e., the people that still listen to radio stations). 

Of course, all this really doesn't really matter anymore (stepping off my soapbox), because, radio is dead. Queen warned us about this and we didn't listen…apparently, no one still loves you...

I myself, don't listen to radio any longer (unless it’s the Seattle Mariners!) If I want to listen to music, I choose alternative methods (albums, CD’s and downloads and YouTube and going to concerts)...and by the way, thank God for YouTube, (although they are themselves the definition of large corporate behemoths) at least, talented musicians can still get their music to a public starving for good, new music. 

Thank you, thank you very much!

(Michael has left the building)

Monday, April 6, 2020

A Ruslan, Abe and George

Its slow at the airport...then again, it's slow everywhere (except maybe the grocery store). I hope everyone is doing ok. Last week was also slow at the airport, however, at least it was exciting. The Reno/Tahoe Airport had a visitor. The Antonov An-124 Ruslan paid us a visit. The Antonov An-124 Ruslan is a cargo airplane that was designed in the Ukraine, back when the Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. Although I'm no expert, I believe it's the second largest cargo aircraft in the world (right behind its counterpart, the Antonov An-225 Mriya). From what I could decipher, it was delivering parts for the Tesla factory (a few miles east of Reno). Anyways, it's an amazing airplane to behold and it was even more amazing to watch its departure, when finally left us last week. Here's a few pictures from the "event" and of course, being the aviation nerd/caricaturist that I am, keep on the lookout for an aviation caricature of the Antonov An-124 Ruslan to follow soon.











Now, let's turn our attention to people caricatures. Due to the "social distancing rules" in effect, my drawing output has been inspirational lately (even if I'm only inspiring myself). My latest, are two that I am very proud of. The first is a caricature of President Abraham Lincoln (did you figure out the clue, from my last blog?).




My latest is of George Harrison.





The George Harrison drawing was created the old fashioned way. I used pens dipped into black India ink on Canson drawing board. The Lincoln drawing was created with India ink as well, however I used drawing pens, with the ink already in the pens. Can you tell the difference? I can. I prefer the results of the of the pen & ink, as opposed to the drawing pens. Even though it takes twice as long to create a drawing, I find the results much more satisfying. Which is one of the reasons, I charge more for the original pen and ink, drawings. Both original drawings will be available for purchase soon on the Michael Hopkins Original Art website and at Fine Art America (where prints can also be purchased at a lower cost than the originals). So check it out and that's all for now, folks!

Hang in there everybody,
Michael