Drawings and Black Card Art

I'll warn you from the outset that some of my drawings are not for the faint hearted. The majority were drawn in 1998 which was the year I came unstuck.  I call it my 'damnation and salvation' period.

As a canvas I chose rough black card, the worst possible texture for fine art imagineable.  I think I was trying to tame it or punish myself.  I'm not sure.  But in the end, I definitely mastered it, and for the mostpart I'm proud of many of these pieces.

Andrew On the Strand (Black Card Art 1998) is part of the Symbiosis series. 

Andrew on the Strand is set on the front beach of Yeppoon in the late 1970's.

A Time to Die (Black Card Art 1998) is from the Symbiosis series.

It is a refined version of the earlier Black Card drawing called Faith No More. 

Between the Crests (Black Card Art 1998) is part of the Symbiosis series.

The view is of Wreck Point at Yeppoon looking down towards Rosslyn Bay.  It is the companion piece to Echoes which revisits the scene eighteen years later.

Boys (Black Card Art 1998) isn't one of the best drawings from the Symbiosis series.  In fact, it's quite ordinary. 

In its defence though, it was a pretty emotional piece to draw and I had a bottle of Jameson's under my belt when I did it.  Still, it's a part of that time and a part of the journey I needed to take.

Broken Beyond Madness (Black Card Art 1998) is a dark piece.  It has a lot of symbolism that I don't want to go into here.  I haven't put a thumbnail here as I don't really want to see it every time I open the page

Castaway's Fancy (Black Card Art 1996) was the third drawing I dared put my name to.  The strokes are clumsy, the shading too soft or too dark.

It's a reminder to myself just how incredibly difficult and unforgiving this type of medium is.

Celestial (Black Card Art 1998) is a piece that I'm incredibly proud of.

Along with Essence, another large scale black art drawing, the detail is beyond anything I ever dreamed could be achieved. 

Celestial and Essence mark the zenith of this medium for me.  Celestial hangs on the wall of my Brisbane studio.

Cruel (Black Card Art 1998) is part of the Celestial series.  It depicts the sadness of a love that has no chance of success.

Several other pieces would later use a similar backdrop to continue the theme in various forms.

Darumbal Dreamtime (Black Card Art 1998) is part of The Edge series and flows out of the Symbiosis story.  The word "Darumbal" is the name of the Aboriginal tribe indigenous to Central Queensland.

In 2010, Darumbal Dreamtime was used as the inspiration for a much cheerier acrylic painting The Saved.

Deep and Mystical (Drawing 1998) is the best pencil portrait I've done and was drawn from memory.

It was later reproduced in ink as Valhalla.  I like them both very much.

Discoteque (Black Card Art 1998) is part of The Lost City series.

He keeps his face hidden and is just a piece of meat.  It represents the life of one of the many underage male strippers, of which I was one, who worked the Elizabeth Street night clubs in Brisbane during the 1980's.

Homeless kids was a big issue then.  I worked the clubs out of teenage rebellion, not poverty.  I had a good enough home life and I was still in Grade 10. 

I was lucky though.  Many kids turned to prostitution, especially around the Gabba.  The old Lennon Hotel and the vacant lot next to the Transcontinental was apparently good for picking up marks too.

No one understood AIDS then.  A lot of them got sick, others got beaten up.  One kid I know was beaten to death with a fence paling.  The cops never did anything.  Being a prostitute was illegal and being gay was illegal, and don't ask the church to help abominations.  So they just died.  No one noticed.  No one really cares even now.

Dreamers (Black Card Art 1998) is part of the Symbiosis Series and remains one of my favourites of the era.

It was later used as the basis for the 2004 painting Dream Weavers.

Echoes (Black Card Art 1998) is part of the Symbiosis series, but also one of a pair designed to be framed together. 

Its companion piece is Between the Crests which shows the same scene 18 years earlier.  Loosely, it's about reflection and the futility of looking back, but as I write that, it's not what I'm trying to say.

The short story Bungundarra explains the scene best.

Echo in the Wind (Drawing 1998) is a rare example of me using a white canvas with pencils.

It was inspired by the death of my friend Rachel who had recently taken her own life.

Echo in the Wind was rather badly replicated in acrylics in 2004 as the awful piece Blue, and then done properly in 2009 as Echo.

Essence (Black Card Art 1998) is probably the best and most flawless drawing I've done.

Along with Celestial, it is also the largest in size.  Essence took around 120 hours to complete and as its name suggests, it symbolises the essential me.

Essence hangs on the wall of Reef Beauty Mt Gravatt.

Faith No More (Black Card Art 1997) is a very dark piece, and though primitive, I make no apology for it.  It is one of four drawings that triggered the need to write and draw the Symbiosis series.

I reproduced this drawing a few months later as A Time to Die.

The other three drawings in the original set are "White Knight", "Unreconciled", and "Thirteen No More".

I redrew Faith No More the following year as "A Time to Die" when my head was in a slightly better place.

Gabba Under Lights (Black Card Art 1998) is part of the Lost City series and companion piece to the story, "The Gabba Under Lights".

The title is a reference to night cricket played at the Gabba which was a short walk from this scene.

See Discoteque for the tale, or read the short story.

Gondolier (Black Card Art 1998) is a key drawing in the Symbiosis series.  It is classic BCA in the sense that it captures a single life-changing moment, and despite it being just a touch too flamboyant, I do like it.

Gypsy (Drawing 1998) is pure pop garbage.  I'm not even putting a link here.  Pencil and ink.

Keeper of Shadows (Black Card Art 1998) is from the Celestial series.  I was pretty wasted emotionally and physically at the time and it has many concepts I still struggle to understand.

Keiko (Black Card Art 1998) is from the Celestial series.  Keiko is a real person, an exchange student who stayed with us for a while.

This drawing is technically "Keiko 2", a redraw of the original which I gave to her as a memento.

Leaving Hetero (Black Card Art 1998) is from the Celestial series.  It is the sequel companion piece to "Pristine in Crimson.

Little Boy (Sketch 2001) is the result of a brief unfulfilling foray into Shojo Manga.  Shojo is dumb.  I've put a thumbnail here but it's really not worth linking.

Lovers in Lapis (Black Card Art 1998) from the Celestial series is a deep piece about denial and hiding one's true self.

I guess it's a "coming out" tale.  Two models pose for a sculpture but as the craftsman chips away, it's the models who slowly come to life, not the stone.

Midnight Liaison (Black Card Art 1996) is the first one - numero uno.  Now part of the ill-named Early Shit series but wow what a blast as I learned how to manipulate colour on black for the very first time.

Midnight Silhouettes (Black Card Art 1998) is from the Celestial series.  I later painted Midnight Silhouettes in acrylics on canvas.  Neither works bear any relationship to the poem of the same name.

I redrew this piece in 1999, titled "Midnight Silhouettes II" as a gift for US songwriter, Jim Steinman, whose music continues to touch chords today.

Moonlit Temptress (Black Card Art 1996) is part of the Early Shit series, and the second BCA I ever drew.

Primitive, flawed, and the shading is all over the shop, but damn I enjoy its innocence.

Nuptial Agreement (Black Card Art 1997) is from the Early Shit series, and it really is shit.

Nice imagery though and I like the gilding overlay.  Dabbling with the topic of organised polygamy.

Oracle's Court (Black Card Art 1998) over reached itself.

Good detail but wasted on a drawing that is best described as a cliched piece of shit. I've put a thumbnail here but its not worth a link.

Pallarenda (Sketch 1999) was drawn while I scribbled the first draft of "Shelly Beach Ramblings".  Pallarenda is a beach in Townsville.

Paradise (Black Card Art 1998) is part of the Symbiosis series and uses the violent energy of "Thirteen No More" more constructively.

Cathartic but disturbing to some.  It gave my oldest son nightmares for a long time.  Bless his emo heart :)

A companion short story was written in 2006 called Abstract Normalcy.  It's not my habit to give a content warning, but some readers will find this story disturbing.

Princess (Black Card Art 1998) is from the Lost City Series.  Companion to the short story "Daddy's Little Princess".

Pristine in Crimson (Black Card Art 1998) is from the Grass Roots series.

It is the prequel companion piece to Leaving Hetero.

I could talk about Pristine's imagery and meaning for hours but I won't. It doesn't require much interpretation.

Reflections (Drawing 1997) is a self portrait and probably my first introspective drawing.

Predating the invention of Black Card Art, it uses many techniques that I would later adopt.

Renaissance (Black Card Art 1998) is from the Celestial series.  It's another 'coming out' piece that ties in all the excitement and wonder of a world seen through new eyes.

The guy at front is the new guy and the one behind him is showing him the world.  I never used to, but I see a bit of malevolence in the 'old hand' now as though he's leading the new guy astray.  Weird.

Requiem (Black Card Art 1998) is part of the Grass Roots series.

It has no real meaning.  It was a million thoughts colliding at once.  There are pixies standing on leaves reaching out to him and I've got no idea what they represent.  Hope probably.

It's pure cheese at its worst, though the shading of the trees is quite good.  People like the drawing which kind of cements my position on not making art commercially.  It's easy to apply their own meaning to and doesn't require more than three brain cells to fire simultaneously.  God this drawing is pop garbage.

Ross Creek Rembrandt (Black Card Art 1998) is from the Symbiosis series.  It is a companion piece to the short story from 1996 also called Ross Creek Rembrandt.

Sanctum (Black Card Art 1998) is from the Celestial series.  Like many pieces from the era, it looks at the isolation of being gay during that period of history. 

It was only a few years before that homosexuality had been decriminalised and it was a very unsteady period.

Sapphire Moon (Black Card Art 2000) is the only visual artwork I produced that year due to studies.  A new variation on an old technique, but basically the end of this style of drawing for me. 

When I returned to art, it was watercolours and then acrylics which remain the mainstay 10 years later.

The girl's lower torso was used in the 2004 painting "Midnight Silhouettes".

Scorpio Rising (Black Card Art 1998) is from the Symbiosis series. 

It deliberately drew upon the same characters and stances from "Wapparaburra", symbolising progression of the characters' relationship.

I love this piece utterly.  I'll paint it one day.

Stargazers (Black Card Art 1997) is part of the Early Shit series.  Very raw, more polygamous exploration.

I enjoyed the place my head was in when I drew this.

Symbiosis (Black Card Art 1998) is the flagship of the Symbiosis series of drawings.

I think you have to read the book to understand it.

Terracotta (Black Card Art 1998) is from the Celestial series.

I look at it and feel nothing.  It's nice enough I guess.

The Higher Ground (Black Card Art 1998) is from the Celestial series.

It is very well drawn but I overdid the number of arrows stuck in the poor angels. :)

Basically the story is a guy and girl angel fall in love and are hunted out of heaven, only to find salvation in the least likely of places.  It's about passing judgment.

Thirteen No More (Stencil 1997) remains only in stencil form.  I destroyed the finished BCA drawing, and I see no point linking the stencil here.  Theme later captured with a touch more grace in Paradise.

Touching Lantana (Stencil 1998 unfinished) is an unfinished drawing from the Symbiosis series.  See the short story, Bungundarra.

Undone 97 (Black Card Art 1998) is from the The Edge series.

It's a self portrait of myself hiding at work in a pool of cigarettes and booze.  Through the door is a cut from Between the Crests, symbolising the cause of my depression of the time. 

I love the detail on the bottle of Jameson's.  I would really struggle to replicate it now.  I doubt I could.

Unreconciled (Black Card Art 1997) is 1 of 4 pieces that triggered Symbiosis: White Knight, Unreconciled, 13 No More, Faith No More.

You work it out.  I still can't go to there.

Valhalla (Drawing 1998) is a black ink reproduction of an earlier pencil portrait.

See Deep and Mystical.  I like them both.

Visions Adrift (Black Card Art 1998) Redraw of Castaway's Fancy.  The first version was bad enough but this piece embarrasses me.

I should have left well enough alone.

Wapparaburra (Black Card Art 1998) is from the Symbiosis series. 

Um, yeah, what can I say?  Wapparaburra is my favourite drawing ever and the inspiration for so much that followed.  Scorpio Rising, my second favourite drawing, was created from the same template.

I later painted a large scale canvas with acrylics of the scene called Sanctuary.

The two drawings hang in my bedroom and the painting in one of my salons.  I receive offers for the painting every week but I'll never part with any of them.  'Wapparaburra' is a place on Great Keppel Island.

Whisper (Black Card Art 1998) is from the Celestial series.  Remains a personal favourite.  I love the symbolism of the caged girl holding the key to her freedom, but procrastinating while the vines entangle her.

White Knight (Black Card Art 1997) is 1 of 4 pieces that triggered

Symbiosis: White Knight, Unreconciled, 13 No More, Faith No More.  It is very flawed and could best be called a rough sketch.

The theme was later captured less obscurely as Gondolier.