Illustration Zero

I donated this painting to a Red Cross 9/11 Survivor Benefit Art Auction titled "Art Inspired By The American Flag."  In truth, it was a free-hand watercolor that was inspired by looking at a picture of Cindy Crawford.  I should have left it at one wash, for the colors were incredibly vibrant at first; after the wash, it lost its stark boldness. To date, I do not know who bought it or for how much of a donation, but I hope they like it as much as I still do.I owned the painting when I conceptualized AZALEA, although when I painted the painting, in my early notes, I called Azalea's character "Rhea."  An art auction later, this image is all that remains of that early time when I thought it was better to buy a tube of watercolor than to buy something to fill a hungry stomach. For me, for this book and for what feelings one may have when viewing this image is precisely why I chose it for the cover, and why I sign my paintings M. Theo.

My tools were: water; 150 lb. cold press paper; a long, sable-hair brush; a medium thick camel-hair brush; (cadmium?) red, (ivory?) black and (Prussian?) blue transparent watercolor paint; and a copy of a "Best Of" issue of a magazine with a thumbnail of Ms. Crawford's picture on the cover. I was hanging out at a friend's house and I had a sparse few of my art supplies in tow, so not to waste an opportunity, I took two heavy bong hits, went to town and this was the natural result.

I didn't have a spare playing card to help mask my freehand strokes, so it follows that the erratic vertical line above her clavicle; to the lower right of her pointy chin. The flaw draws the eye to that spot and it always seemed to make me see her eyes move out of the corner of my eye, so I took the spirit of that painting and played with it, made it more than the sum of its parts and then breahted first life into our heroine, AZALEA, an imperfect, scarred and self-reliant woman.  From the moment I painted that painting, an epic premise began to cook in my mind -- and the rest of this book followed from there...

- Nobody Famous (M. Theo)