Kitsch from the distant past

Yes, I paint. Well, did. Until Freetime, the carefree kindred that she was, left me which was regretably my fault as I was eyeing this foxy chick, Career, right after college. I pursued Career and fell in love. I to her and she to me. One thing led to another and the bond between me and Freetime severed. I did not blame, nor scold, not get mad at her the moment she left. I made the choice and I understood why it was she felt she'd never be friends with the demanding Career. I made a vow to make amends with Freetime, whether she accepts or not. After all, it was only friendship and attention whe was after, nothing more. We'll catch up on lost times. We could spend some weekends or some late nights together like we did before. I'd like to see that happen. And soon. 'Cause she made me do one thing I felt good at doing. Paint.

In the old times, I'd paint shirts. The first I did had Sandman which I still wear in the house to this very day. Friends would give me a shirt and I'd return it to them with my kitsch-art. I did all these for free. Those were pre-digicam days so I never got to have photos of my art before I gave them out. What I'd give to get those even after all this time.

These photos have two of my creations from the distant past. They are my humble renditions of popular Vertigo comics characters as originally done by Duncan Fegreedo. The dude with the long do is Shade, the Changing Man. The gay masked guy is Enigma.

I made Shade for Chewie. She soaked the shirt in detergent soon after I gave the item to her and the top-coat separated itself from the metallic canvas-base. Got it back with a promise to return it to her once fixed. I never did and the shirt has long been with me.

Enigma was for Omar, aka Wolverine. He loved my comicbooks and we had some good times hunting down bargain buys from the shelves off Merriam Webster bookstores and far flung branches of Filbars. He had some Enigmas and so did I. He gave me his stash when he left for the suburbs. If you look closely, there are still tapes on the boarders of the painted portion of the shirt. I put them there to keep the paint from bleeding off the sides. I never finished this one either. It has been six years from when I started.

My paints have all dried up. My brushes have gone missing. I made a resolve to meet Freetime again and we'll become close and tight and good. I'll get me new paint-stuff then and, hopefully, I'll paint again.

More photos of these shirts through here.

Labels: Art, Vertigo

posted by Fritz @ 4:18 PM