For my fortieth birthday my four-year-old daughter gave me a small spiral bound notebook made out of paper processed from elephant dung.
Two days later, while taking a bath she asked me to draw her a picture. I grabbed the first paper I could find, which happened to be the elephant dung notebook. I quickly sketched a drawing of battling prehistoric leviathans, which seemed to please her greatly. Soon this became part of our bath time ritual. She would watch as I quickly (everything has to move fairly quickly with a four year old) sketched a scene in pencil.
I began to ask what she would like me to draw for her. Sometimes she said, “whatever you want Daddy.” Other times she had very specific ideas. “Draw a cricket, a cat, and a pirate mouse that are friends and live in a forest full of butterflies. Draw a squirrel on a balance beam and a mountain lion is watching. Draw Olivia (our cat) in a balloon chasing a unicorn.”
I had not seriously drawn anything in almost 15 years before receiving this notebook. But now I was presented with specific challenges, on a daily basis, that served as crash reeducation in drawing.
Over time I began going over the pencil drawings with ink to preserve them. The elephant dung paper proved remarkable well suited for markers and ink and I became quite proud of the results. Since those first shaky drawings my style and content have evolved and continue to do so. But the inspiration for all my drawings will always remain my little girl. My work has since expanded to include large-scale ink illustrations, watercolor, and even oil paintings. And of course the daily drawings in the little notebooks made of elephant dung paper continue.
I hope you enjoy my work in all its iterations. Please email me if you are interested in purchasing prints of any existing work or in commissioning a unique piece of your own.
