I grew up in a small Canadian city during the 60s in front of a black and white television set. The events of the world unfolded before my eyes in gray-scale. I don’t remember the assassination of Kennedy even though I was old enough to remember it yet I do remember seeing every single Godzilla movie made up until that time.
In black and white.
As a result, I believe that I have grown up with a colour deficiency.
By my early twenties, I was a bassoon player in a large Canadian city and, more importantly, a photographer. Black and white. I immersed myself in everything grainy. ASA 400 was my standard and the All was foggy, fuzzy, and oh-so artistic. Even portraits. It was at this time in my creative development that I began painting. Watercolours were my preferred medium and I lost no time in welcoming colours back into my life.
Everything I created was vivid, vibrant, splashy. I attempted a few paintings using grays and blacks but they all took way too long and, as now, I simply have no patience for that type of thing. When I do something artsy, I want to get it over and done with.
So being a professional musician, a photographer and a visual artist – yes, I do differentiate between the two – I took the next two logical steps; I started working in restaurants, and I began to write.
It’s hard to believe that so many years have past since those times. I have moved back to the initial and still small Canadian city, I work as a chef, drink like a sous, and am a published author. No, you haven’t read anything I’ve written. Mainly small stuff in even smaller literary journals, and gay male porn for which I use an assumed name. Something sexy. Something tongue-in-cheek, so-to-speak.
Recently, two life-changing events occurred in my life.
One: It was a gray-scale kind of day in the fall when I found myself in an art supply store near the restaurant in which I work. I saw this very cute and small and complete set of watercolours for only $6 and I bought it. Mainly because of the lovely, slender metal box that they came in. I like that kind of thing; being ravinesque, I collect things and I like having little boxes to put my collections in. I also purchased a couple of pads of water colour paper post-cards and now I’m having a splendid time.
Two: I get two pay cheques a month. One is the for-rent cheque and the other is the for-me cheque; not only do I like collecting things: I like buying things as well. On occasion, I take this latter cheque and treat myself to something nice. Something I’ve really kind-of wanted for awhile but simply have not gotten around to buying. Such an occasion arose two weeks ago. I took the money I would have spent that week on beer and purchased for myself a smart, small, inexpensive digital camera. It’s a Kodak; Digital Zoom C613. I call it Digi (like Gigi but with a D), I take him everywhere with me, and he’s my friend.
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