Michigan Artist Candy Draper!

I have met more great visual artists this year than in my entire previous life combined.  I am not sure of all the reasons for this, but it is a huge blessing to me!

The latest artist I've met is Candy Draper, a fellow Metro Detroit painter.  I found out about her because of an art show we are both entering in nearby Hazel Park, Michigan.

Candy is influenced by the art of Jackson Pollock.  But she has her own style.  Several different styles, in fact.  I was smitten by her work when I first saw it, and am happy to say that I now have a few of her paintings in my collection!

Here is the first work I ever saw of Candy's, which I bought yesterday.  It is 24" x 36", and I entitled, Monster Under My Bed:

I also bought this one, which is called Wish:

Candy has many more such paintings for sale, as well as less expensive 8" x 10" paintings in a similar style.  She is currently needing to sell a large number of paintings quickly, to raise funds, so if you have any interest in collecting her art, please contact me and I will help you find out how to buy her art!

Fit Girl - New Song Demo

I wrote this song really quickly today.  I wrote two lines of it in the gym this morning, and the rest of it while stuck in traffic on the way home from work this evening.

Fit Girl (P. Erlandson)

I was in the gym when she walked in off the street.

With the kind of body to knock you off your feet.

She got down to work, and she started to lift.

Muscles moving like a continental drift.

Looking at her I turned white as a sheet.

She was punishing her delts by the Smith Machine,

Like the love child of Judy Jetson and Mr. Clean.
Over in the corner I’m about to faint.

She’s the kind of girl that I would love to paint.
She was the baddest jacked up chick that I had ever seen.

Chorus:  Fit girl, fit girl, look my way!

If I catch your eye, I’ll have to look away.
If I cannot have you I will live in misery.

Now I’m no schmoe, but my knees were getting weak.
I was afraid she’d think I was a pencil-neck geek.

In between sets, I’d try to catch her eye;

I’m trying to look cooler than the other guys.
I am hypnotized by her physique.  (Chorus)

I can’t describe the effect that she has on me.

I don’t need no coffee, no 5-Hour Energy!
She’s got me bouncing off the walls.
She’s racing my heart like clenbuterol.
She’s got me buzzing to the Nth degree.  (Chorus)

Tattoo Poem -

Here is a poem I wrote about getting my tattoo.  In case you missed it, this is the art I'm having done on my back:



My friend Adam is the man doing the tattoo.  I dedicate this poem to him.


Three Adams - for Adam Brooks

Dali paintings, skulls and monsters, particolored wings,
Cards and dice and portraits line the walls of Suicide Kings.

Breathing shallow, still as rock, I’m trying not to blink.
Virgin plains of ruddy skin imbibing jet black ink.
Adam leans against my back and scribes a fearful face:
An image of an image of the saviour of our race.

Then, as the needle does its work, three Adams fill my mind.
One, the ancient orchard thief and ruiner of mankind.
Two, redeemer of the first, who back to Eden beckoned.
Three, the artist at my back, illumining the second.

For as by Adam Number One the world was filled with sin,
So Adam Two took sin away for One and all his kin.
And as the Second took on flesh to save One from the brink,
So shall the hand of Adam Three incarnate Two in ink.

The artist’s hand creates bold lines of energy and vigor,
Which on my back, in turn, create a large and startling figure.
“It is finished!” groans the Second Adam from the tree.
“I’m all finished!” quotes the joyful Adam Number Three.

I don my shirt, and like Saint Veronica’s veil, it’s blessed
With visage of the dying Christ miraculously impressed.


© 2012, Paul Erlandson

Hot Rod Anglican Gets Inked

So I got, or rather am in the process of getting, my first tattoo ever.

It is based on this stained-glass window (Ecce Homo, 1913), by Johan Thorn Prikker.

In choosing both the image (above) and location (upper middle back) for this tattoo, I was heavily influenced by Flannery O'Connor's short story, Parker's Back.

So far, only the line work has been done.  The pain was not bad at all ... it was completely bearable.  I still have two session to go, to have the color applied.  I'm really excited about having this.

"Sic Deus Dilexit Mundum" translates to:  God so delighted in the world ... which is from the beginning of John 3:16.

Here are a few shots of the tattoo, taken the day it was done:

An Old Animated Film of Mine

Here is a short film that I made in high school with my friend, Scott McLarty.  It is an animated super hero film whose main character, Kaptain Devore, is based on Mr. Devore, the teacher who taught Scott and me high school German.

A New Poem - The Forever Friend

The Forever Friend

So often I have wildly missed the mark,    

And dialed down the volume on God’s voice.     

I’ve seen another soul and made the choice

To hide, until he passes, in the dark.

But you left no dark place for me to hide.

Your brilliance, when I met you, left no shade.

You burst into my life like a grenade.

And quickened part of me I thought had died.

You knew me from the first, I know not how.

By some bright magic you could read my mind,

And I knew all your reasoning in kind. 

To be forever friends we took a vow.

But then came tedium, trouble, time, and tears.

The cords that bound us seemed to stretch and strain.

Your name, which once meant pleasure, now means pain.

How will our vow survive the coming years?

“You’ve changed!”  I think, and voice to you my charge.

“It’s like you’re someone else!”  you sadly say.

“You’ve lost your faith in God;  you never pray!”

“Your politics are bad;  your head’s grown large!”

But you will not so easily break free!

As if that Roman torture should revive

Of fastening a corpse to one alive,

My corpus haunts you yet, and you haunt me.

I picture you explaining this to friends:

“Oh that’s just poor old Paul, pay him no mind!

You’ll find the stench diminishes with time."

The horror of this bondage never ends.

“What happened that this curse became your lot?”

“I met him years ago, we struck a spark.

I touched him, and he left me with a mark.

But now this rotten corpse is all I’ve got.”

And I, in turn, must bear your corpse about,

And answer those same questions about you.

“To this old friend I once vowed to be true.

I’ll bear him to the end, I shouldn’t doubt.”

“But can’t you simply cut him loose?” they ask.

“As well cut out my heart!” is my reply.

"God’s truth, though keeping him should make me die,

My courage is unequal to the task.”

All the things you ever taught, I ponder.

All my teachings still your mind inspire.

All our sins cannot displace the wonder

Of a friendship forged in heaven’s fire.

Running, singing, chiming ever;

Praying, gasping, resting never;

World, flesh, devil cannot sever

You, my friend, from me.

Speaking, cursing, laughing, eating;

Sharing secrets, mourning, meeting;

Our poor, love-torn hearts are beating,

Waiting for the dawn.

Tethered corpses, long afflicted;

From eternity elected;

Dancing, kissing, resurrected;

Walking into light.

© 2012 - Paul W. Erlandson

Bodybuilder Sherri Gray Turns Pro!

One of my favourite bodybuilders, Sherri Gray, earned her IFBB Pro card last night at the Masters Nationals in Pittsburgh!!

Congratulations, Sherri!

Here is an interview I did with Sherri back in 2009.