Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark Somerville.
Mark, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
It’s an unlikely story. I started drawing in my teens to kill time out of boredom. It became an escape, just filling blank paper space. I’d get brave and try new things but they always sucked I have never had any training in art of any kind. I just like to draw. I don’t draw things, I draw ideas.
When I got sick I was unable to work very much at times. Stress is an aggravating factor so I got very good at establishing a perimeter and creating a safe place to withdraw and heal. And I finally had time to do anything I wanted. I started thinking more and more about drawing and I bought a lot of art. I looked at an oil painting and thought about how I would draw that. One day I assembled all of the materials and just did it while I was talking on the phone. It didn’t suck. Everything changed from that moment in 2010.
At 47 I was liberated from obligation. For the first time I decided what I did. It was weird. I got everything the way I wanted it. Now what do I do? I never planned on living this long. It was like I got paroled and I stayed in the cell. One day I watched a special about the national parks and it came to me. I could become a spectator of my own life and die like this. I’m told I have a degenerative disease of the central nervous system that is slowly killing me and I’m sitting waiting for it to do so, all in front of a stack of books that I say I want to read. Screw that. I cancelled cable and internet and made a reservation at Mount Ranier for a week in July. And I started to draw a lot.
What started as an idea to make panels for a paper lamp shade grew into these square mandalas like pattern drawings of lines and dots that eventually became primarily dots. I have the habit of sitting in front of a blank piece of paper without an agenda and that’s how I stumbled into the thing that I love gradually. Not this, not that, closer… I have dozens of unfinished drawings from this time. Then one day I bought a black light and I noticed that some of my pens glowed. Light bulb moment. There were only a couple people that knew what I was doing.
My daughter was the one that suggested just dots well before I knew anything about pointillism. She also insisted that I buy a portfolio to prevent damage. So, I was leading this closeted life. I didn’t know any artists. My friends are hardworking tradesmen or businessmen…. I couldn’t say that I was going home to put dots on paper all night. Just as I was beginning to question whether this was a pointless waste of time a friend brought a portfolio of my work into an art gallery and the owner made an extraordinarily generous offer for everything. Then things got weirder.
I didn’t know how to dream that. I was at a silent retreat and I couldn’t respond to the phone call. When I was able to call it was good news but scary. I had become reclusive but my physical condition was so improved that I was protective of this routine and mitigated the degree of intrusion. The interval of space that I created as an instinctive method of self-preservation (process) resulted in the art that I was able to create as a result (product). Although I was tremendously grateful for the recognition that this experience offered, I felt like a t ball player that got drafted by the Cubs. Some credit goes to Copaxone and the UofI but I associate my progress with the creative exercise of drawing and I want to protect that. I knew better than anyone that I didn’t know anything about this stuff but I like to draw. I met with the gallery owner and we made a deal for her to sell the drawings. She had an art show. I went to California.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I draw with pens on paper. I use any pen for color but for texture I prefer big ball ballpoint gel pens because they leave a thick dollop of paint like ink that dries like those sheets of candy buttons. I like to pack in a lot of detail and that allows for another space in between to be filled later. Well before pens touches paper I’ve got a picture in my head of an idea so a significant part of the project is done in advance. Gathering materials and organizing them for ease of access. Then I put headphones on and don’t think. I use a light table and a form or template for a guide under my drawing. Usually 8 x 8. Why? I protect the thing that I enjoy the most about drawing. It’s meditative, relaxing. It’s as if I can rest a part of my brain while exercising another part. On the other hand, they take so long that I’m happy to be rid of them when they’re done. I usually work on 4 or 5 simultaneously because they have to dry. I think the inspirational aspect that fascinates me is flexibility.
Like a lot of things, I could have missed it. I started on a journey without a destination and if I was focused on a goal I wouldn’t have seen the other possibilities. And I draw for personal enjoyment so if something sucks it’s not threatening my identity. I only call myself an artist because it’s a convenient abbreviation. A lot of people work hard to be an artist and I don’t work on it at all. I don’t want to insult those people. I just like to draw stuff. Art is intensely personal. Creativity can be fragile. When I stand in front of art to some degree I have an emotional reaction that’s involuntary. If I like it I stay there and feel it, figuratively of course. I would be flattered if that’s the way folks saw my work. It’s eye-catching. Then at some point I imagine a person says to themselves, “What the hell am I looking at right now?”. Followed by “Omg. How the hell did he do that?” as you let your eye dance around the drawing. Or something like that. That’s cool. Everyone asks how long they take so one time I did one drawing, start to finish without working on any other. It took a week.
What would you recommend to an artist new to the city, or to art, in terms of meeting and connecting with other artists and creatives?
I don’t know about this. I know more about what not to do than what to do. It’s like asking a divorcee for marital advice. I’m a semi disabled recluse. The Jehovah’s witnesses don’t even stop here anymore. I think shared space is doable. I like what makers are doing. I’ve looked at artist centric cohousing. That would be awesome. I’ve been to Lowden State Park which was originally an intentional community of artists called the Eagle’s Nest started by a philanthropist as an artist’s colony. Sign me up for that.
I wander around a lot and drop in on art supply stores. I pick the brains of the employees who are usually artists. My art experience has been solitary so I accept that.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
I like to draw. When I spend time trying to take pictures or deal with framers or art gallery people or photographers or sell my work God forbid, or web site developing, ack, I am not drawing. The time that it would take to learn how to do this other stuff takes me away from what I enjoy. The way I do it is by paying people when I sell something or offering my art as currency to get this done. I would gladly pay someone that would make this easier for me. I used to have a website. I put some pictures on Flickr marksomervillepics. Ignore the vacation pictures, I’ll organize it next week. Some stuff is on the internet. I’ll have a show eventually at an art gallery I think. Send me your email and I’ll start a mailing list or something.
Anyone that wants to support my work could help me get a fire watcher job in a national forest in Alaska. I’d love to spend a winter in pristine solitude. drawing. Or a cabin in the UP.
Contact Info:
- Email: iminthewoods@gmail.com
Image Credit:
Photos taken either by me or for me.
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