When I was unemployed in 2011 and 2012, I returned to doing a lot of inks. Dozens of new inks, and it was a great return to a medium that I hadn’t worked on since the early 2000’s. In working up to going to my (so far) one and only art show with a booth, I did as many as I could.
That was partially so I would have physical pieces to sell, originals to entice collectors. I was also enjoying inks quite a lot, and trying many new things with them that I hadn’t done before. I was getting confident with ink work, and having a lot of fun.
Then, as with many things in my life, the bottom dropped out of it. I don’t get all that much interest in my work, usually. But while I was unemployed, that disinterest from the masses reached new depths. At the art show, while I did get quite a few nice compliments, I had zero ink sales.
So, I just stopped doing inks altogether. If you check out the posts on this site, you’ll see strong evidence of that, as the last ink that I posted was my Phantom of the Opera ink, May 8, 2012. The passion just wasn’t there anymore, which was somewhat caused by my long-term unemployment as well, and the apparent disinterest in anything I did at all.
Dark times indeed, as they were. It was a precursor to my months-long hiatus here at the beginning of 2013 from doing any art at all, save for contracted pieces. I had lost my way.
In many ways, I’m still looking for it. But I have changed one thing, and that is to finally create a brand new ink work. In the past, I might have recreated a famous monster in ink, or an ancient building or even fossil. I chose, however, to go with a new, more unique idea.
That could have been a dangerous thought to have. Plenty of times in the past I’ve decided to start something again after a long while, with disastrous results. I feel this new ink turned out pretty decently, and I hope you feel the same.
Here’s my new ink (FINALLY, I hear you say through the interwebs). I call it Remnant of the Last Age, and I’d love to know what you think of it. Let me know on my social networks, and click on the image for a larger version.
