Sphere of Influence

This is a third one in the trading card series. I call this one "Sphere of Influence". While this one is not the first one created in the series, it could be title piece of the series. I am interested and fascinated with the ideas of spheres of influence. As we look around at nature, we see everything inteconnected. There is no way around it. It is the bottom line. What we do in one place will affect someone or something somwhere else. As I write this, there is a devastating drought on the Horn of Africa. I have friends there right now, as we speak, who are dealing with this. If you look at the spheres in my picture, they are interwoven into the primary image, to the point where they are transparent, but extremely obvious. The patterns I use within each sphere are used to work with the natural composition and design of the primary image, yet the sperhes have a pattern all their own. These patterns remind me of certain things. The jagged lines of one remind me of fractures. These fractures are occurring everywhere as we continually persist with agendas without regard to the consequences. There is a sphere with horizontal blocks, that remind me of sky scrapers put on their sides, but with an organic feel to them. This takes me to a human-made sphere, one where the influence is created by humans. The third sphere is one that is wrapped by organic shapes...maybe leaves, maybe something else, but it is one that is natural in feeling to me. Notice how this one blends the most with the background image. It should be our goal to leave as little foot print as possible and work with our environment. If we look at the world and life, we should view it in layers...I truly try to achieve a feeling of layers with this image. In my others ones, not so much - part of that is a limitation of the colored pens...but then I let the colors speak more, and put away the layers for another time with those images. However, even with those, There is a certain amout of interconnectedness represented in the color drawings. I draw upon the subconscious to guide me and allow myself to respond as each part of the the drawing unfolds, so it is spontaneous...only following a feeling, not trying to drive the feeling before me. I simply talk about my thought process here as it unfolds in my work. Thanks for viewing.

Jesse