Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Bricks in the foundation...searching for the creative nexus.



Searching for the creative nexus. Blue felt pen. 8-1/2" X 11" 2015


The unexamined life is not worth living.
Socrates, in Plato, Dialogues, Apology
Greek philosopher in Athens (469 BC - 399 BC)

Finding the starting point for your chosen profession is not easy. We often miss the simple decisions that lend us to our place in this world. It may have been something buried deep in our subconscious or an event that was transformative. Trying to identify  this elusive nexus has helped me understand more about the meaning of self and consciousness. 

Very deeply imbedded in my mind is a warm memory of my Mom making small boats and hats out of paper scraps. We would sit on the floor, put on our hats and sail the boats on a sea of wooden flooring, around cliffs of furniture and landing on the edge of a carpet island.  The island was patterned with lush floral images and teeming wild imaginary animals.  We would travel the world and evade sinister pirates and terrible storms.  That small connection to the past is  imprinted on my mind. It is  the basis of my interested in manipulation of material and creative imagery. Throughout the years, I would amuse my students with this simple paper folding. I would create voyages for them using nothing more than simple materials and mental creativity. We would put on our creative hats and explore the world. When I fold scraps of paper to make boats for my grandchildren, I am transported back to those wonderful adventures with my mom and students. That early exposure may have been the cornerstone of my artistic foundation.  Many more creative bricks were added each year of my life.

Another brick was placed in the foundation when I was in seventh grade. My mom gave me a large scrap of brown wrapping paper and challenged me to make a picture. It was near Easter, and my mom suggested that I make a picture to celebrate Easter. I decided I would make a picture of an Easter bunny. Since I was attending Saint Mary’s Catholic  grade school, my mom suggested that this secular image would not be appropriate. Undeterred by political correctness, I proceeded with the pagan symbolism. However, a simple decision changed what could have been an embarrassment into an artistic triumph. I added a basket filled with eggs decorated with Christian symbols that the bunny was offering to the heavens. The manipulation of materials and creative story telling showed me the way and solved the problem. My mom kept that picture with her for many years.  She shared the picture with everyone and I remember how carefully she would unfold and spread the tattered image on the floor for all to see.

Rediscovering the bricks that support my creative mindset is an ongoing projects. Bits and pieces of images are revealed that contain codes the mind keeps under lock and key. Examining the symbols within my spontaneous drawings and paintings continue to reveal secrets from the recesses of my unconscious mind.


"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2015 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Ode to DADA




"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2015 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Biomorphic sketches.









Preliminary sketchs that are scanned and used in computer graphic images.
Felt pen, ink colored pencil. 8-1/2" X 11

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2015 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Visionary voyage





Took a little trip on my sailing ship

Ipad drawing 1/18/2015


"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2015 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Visionary art


Stargazer
Looking at the stars and  dreaming of unknown worlds.

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2015 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Je suis Charlie

Freedom of Speech  
I Pad drawing Procreate App.  1/2015



"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 20135 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Friday, January 2, 2015

Outsider art

Cryptic series Electric Landscape. I pad drawing 2015



As an art instructor and artist I have received extensive training in the arts and educational theory.  In addition, I have received a modicum of success as a regional artist.  As a result, my art cannot be classified as raw art, untrained or outsider art.  Outsider art has been a powerful influence on my personal imagery.  The immediate primal urge to create something with your hands and wield any material to your desire is evident in the untrained art world. These artists do not consider audience interpretation or gallery showrooms. The quirky objects they create represent the familiar through distorted multicolored lenses. Is it art? Is it craft? Whatever it is, it is entrancing and has inspired me and many “trained” artists for generations. 



"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2015 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Visionary art





Cryptic series Organic Formation. I Pad drawing 2015


Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.



"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2015 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Visionary art


Pity the Planet



“Pity the planet, all joy gone
from this sweet volcanic cone;
peace to our children when they fall
in small war on the heel of small
war--until the end of time
to police the earth, a ghost
orbiting forever lost
in our monotonous sublime” 
― Robert LowellNear the Ocean: Poems





"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2015 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Monday, December 8, 2014

Visionary art




The discovery of individuality


"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Saturday, December 6, 2014

Isom's theory of creative absorption






I am a basically a collage of my ancestor’s DNA, mixed with hundreds of thousands of words, images and ideas that my brain has absorbed and then releases them in the process of creating art.



"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Friday, December 5, 2014

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Visionary art.


Cryptic series four. Message from a colorful bird. I Pad drawing 11/2014

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Visionary art



Cryptic series three. Carnival. I Pad drawing 2014


"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Visionary art.








Cryptic Series two. The Tree of Life. 11/2014 I Pad Drawing

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Visionary art






Cryptic series one. The voyage. I Pad drawing

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Saturday, October 25, 2014


Baroque Series No. 1 and No. 2. I pad drawings. Procreate app.









"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Monoprint series



The monoprint series is now available for purchase. The prints are 15"X21" including the white space around the print. Each gelĂ©e print will be hand signed and numbered.  Only 25 prints in this series. The price will be 44.00 for each print. Please email me if you want to buy a print.




No. 1 Hidden landscapes of the imagination.


No. 2 Voyage into inner space.


No. 3  Elements in flux. 




No.4 Unconscious source.









"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Monday, September 22, 2014

Homage to Dada series.


This series of ten prints is a homage to the Dadaists.  The Dadaists used scissors and glue rather than paint brushes and paints to express their views of modern life through images presented by the media. A variation on the collage technique, photomontage utilized actual or reproductions of real photographs printed in the popular press.  In Cologne, Max Ernst used images from World War I to illustrate messages of the destruction of war.  I find my image using Goggle much like the early Dadaist used media images.  I print the black and white images on 11”X17” presentation paper and use a Sharpie to enhance the image with personal symbolism.  The image guides my imagination and provides a starting point for the spontaneous drawing.

The GiclĂ©e prints are 9”X12”, printed on heavy archival paper.  Only fifty of each signed and numbered print will be available.  Individual prints are 25.00 each and a completed set of ten is 200.00. Shipping costs will be added to the price. Please email your interest.


Rapture of living
Life of a brain
Head Heart Help Hope Hustle Hand
Television apparatus
Time
Divination of ideas
One direction
Upside down can sometimes be right side up
A Vessel with Many Chambers
Nature vs Nurture














"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Saturday, August 16, 2014

The garden.



Garden of serenity. Sharpie pen drawing. 8"X10" 2014

"What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter - a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue."
Henri Matisse





"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Humming of the strings.



Geometry and mathematical rations
harmonics and proportionality

Ink drawing 14"X17"

"There is geometry in the humming of the strings, 
there is music in the spacing of the spheres." Pythagoras

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Viral exploration.




Viral exploration. Ink drawing 14"X17".

An artistic mind can find beauty anywhere - but what about the world's most deadly viruses and bacteria? They can spark interesting cognitive dissonance in viewers as they are both attractive and repulsive.




"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Mind oscillations.







“The pendulum of the mind oscillates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong.” 
― C.G. Jung




"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Sunday, July 20, 2014