My artwork is now on display at this site:

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/stu-shepherd.html?viewcomplete=true

You're limited to 25 images for the first month, then 10 each month thereafter. We'll see how much feedback I get from this site.

Below is one of my pieces, the SeaDancer:



SS

Well now, its February and I haven't posted in way too long. Sometimes life gets busy and other things take importance. Some good things happened over the holidays (had a quick lunch with Fireskin and one of her daughters for half an hour while they were passing through the area) and some not so good things. As usual, life happens, whether we are ready or not.

In November I spent my writing time working mostly on my novel, but in December I went back to the second draft of my first screenplay, which is getting a major face-lift. January has allowed little time for writing or planning story structure. Now that process has reached a dark place, for the side story within the screenplay is starting to seem more compelling than the main story. Its going to take some soul searching and a good eight hour day (when I can afford one) to try to catch that tiger by the tail and choose a path to follow. In the long run, it's a first screenplay so likely won't ever see the light of day, but the challenge is in the crafting of it and not in the selling.

As I have failed to find a proper voice for the spirtual sense within my artwork, I think I find writing to be my voice for that. I want to leave my son at least a legacy of inspiration in the words I use, whether or not they become words printed for more than just he. I can give him so little at this point should I not be around that I want to leave him my sense of wonder and joy at creation, at its mysteries and majesties, at its hopes and sorrows, that he might never be afraid to grab the gift of life and make it his own. He has shown his respect for creation, for nature, for other humans, and in that I have confidence that he is following on the path of being a good man. I can not show him by example how to be a succssful man, so all I can hope to give him is the knowledge that he is loved and respected regardless of his accomplishments, and to teach him to treat all of God's creatures and all people that same way. Thus I write things, hoping that somewhere inside what I really want to say will come out.

Anyway, on towards making February a productive month!

ss

Just finished reading Tolkien's "The Hobbit." It is of course a thoroughly enjoyable read. Getting back to the roots of the Fantasy genre, I'm now reading Terry Brooks "The Sword of Shannara." The contrasts between the two books could not be more extreme. Terry writes in visual clips, describing the sights and smells and ambiance of scenes his characters inhabit, while Tolkien in "The Hobbit" writes in broad strokes, often covering the events of weeks or months with a paragraph. The descriptions in "The Hobbit" are quirky and fun, and designed for pure joy, whereas the descriptions in "Shannara" are sometimes excruciatingly elaborate. So far, I prefer the former, though I am not criticizing the latter.. just making observations.

I'm 60 pages into Shannara, and now have a great idea of what the two characters look like, where they live, that there is a long history into which they are being forced as pawns, but I really don't have much idea of what they are like as people. Ten pages into the Hobbit and you KNOW Bilbo Baggins. Tolkien's style of shorthand characterization brings them to life in a way that I hope eventually happens in Shannara. Sword of Shannara was, I believe, Terry Brook's first novel, so it is understandable that his style would develop. Sadly, if I was not a fan of the fantasy genre and was looking at "The Sword of Shannara" and its 726 pages, I would have found little in the first sixty pages compelling enough to commit the time to read.

Thus, making notes, novelists could use a little experience screenwriting, if only to learn that it is important to capture your readers early, before you set off with the long back-story development that leads into the bulk of the action. Give the reader something to pique their interest. Make it so they just can't put then book down.

Perhaps the enduring reputation of "The Sword of Shannara" is that Terry Brooks's attempt to capture the reader was by being so descriptive of the initial scenes. Having done some study of the screenwriting medium and having focused on that for a while leads me to disdain this approach. I want to KNOW that the book will be worth committing that much time within the first fifteen pages, maybe twenty. If I'm bored, don't really know who or what it's about or why its significant by then, it may be difficult to continue, just like if I'm bored with a TV show or movie after fifteen minutes, there are better things to do in life then surrender another hour or two to it. I mean, if the first bit isn't interesting enough, how likely is it that ANYTHING in it will be?

As for Tolkien, the reverse may be true. Alot was passed over or described in broad strokes. This was done on purpose, as Tolkien knew "The Hobbit" was aimed at younger readers, who weren't as intrested in the nitty gritty details. It reads differently than the Ring trilogy. What stands out overall is the playfulness of the writing. It is just darn fun. Fantasy can be serious AND fun at the same time,and Tolkien is dear to many readers because he captures both with enough balance that his stories stay with the reader. "The Hobbit" is in no way a realistic depiction of action, or how fantasy creatures SHOULD act. I mean, the spiders and birds and dragons all talk, and there is no pretense to tell the readers HOW or WHY they talk (in recognizable language to boot.) And who cares? Smaug the Dragon playing riddle games with the invisible Hobbit thief makes for a far more compelling character than just some large brutish reptilain beast which has to be killed for the heros to emerge heroic. Clearly, chracterization rules in Tolkien, with rationalization of the whys and wherefores put away for a different media.. for Fantasy is best when the whys and wherefores don't run all over the sheer joy of adventure!

One hopes that "Sword of Shannara" grows a bit as it goes, capturing a sense of that sheer joy of adventure...

Okay, back to art...

Stu

Tags: tolkien hobbit shannara
Current Location: Mootown
Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Music: NOT political commercials!!

Just got back from seeing "Flags of our Fathers". Here is my reaction:

It is not technically an action movie, though there are action sequences that take place during the fighting on Iwo Jima. Don't go into it expecting a thrilling challenge to accomplish a goal. The stated goal of the movie from point one is to establish that the term "Hero" can and should apply to all who are involved in such an endeavor, whether or not they do something "heroic" at a specific point.

The movie does a good job of showing the randomness of death on the battlefield, and that anyone there is at risk of it. Heroes in the eyes of the public are those individuals who by equally random circumstance get singled out for attention. That is the story of the movie. It shows that those who are labeled heroes by the press and public rarely except that they are any different than a thousand other guys, many of whom made the ultimate sacrifice while THEY survived. The guilt and sense of unfairness felt by those who survive can leave drastic, life-long marks upon the psyche of those involved in such cataclysmic historic events.

"Flags of Our Fathers" does take the men who raised the flag on Iwo, and survived, back to the world of normalcy -- the world where the cost of the war has to be paid, and they are the ones who will help get the American people to foot the bill by buying War Bonds. That there is a revulsion to the concept by some of the men (namely Ira Hayes)is natural. Having seen what they have seen and experienced what they have experienced, to then be faced with the greedy self-serving nature of politics and Corporate VIPs is such a culture shock that it proves difficult to overcome. In Ira's case, to have given so much for the freedom of others only to be met with racial prejudice (he's a Pima Indian) is revolting. But his path of self-destruction does not stem from a systemic failure of the American culture (though we are all well aware there were - and are - many), but from his own mind's failure to be able to handle both realities --war and celebrity.

That the mission of selling War Bonds is important and vital and that their sacrifice of integrity and self worth is a heroic mission in itself is somewhat lost in the film. To most men sent back from the War to raise money to pay for it, the tasks were almost universally distasteful on some level. Being trained to kill and fight does not prepare someone to be able to dissociate himself from that to face the world of shaking hands and signing autographs.

You kill in war to keep the other guy from killing you and your buddies, period. The reasons your country went to war don't matter on the battlefield. But when the fight is over, and you head home, you need to come to grips with what you did, what you saw, and try to find some reason WHY. In all wars there is a reason why, and I believe that for most Americans in World War II the reasons were clear. Since then, the reasons for war are less clear, and thus the confusion is greater for those who come back. The psyches of soldiers returning from combat must have a mental rock upon which to build the foundation of an answer to that question as to WHY. In all wars, some never build that foundation and are haunted by memories and ghosts from then on.

Even with a conviction in the answer WHY, the horrors witnessed and sometimes performed still live in the mind. The built-in sublimation defense mechanism often buries these traumas, only for them to resurface occasionally in dreams. Those who deal with the trauma best are the ones who realize, as they say in the movie, that you didn't fight for your country or to cure a great evil, but for your buddies. You fought for those who died alongside you, and will forever bear the scars of that failure to protect them. You fought for those who survived, and have forever a bond that no one who was not there can understand. Perhaps you can't look each other in the eye, afterward, knowing you both survived and so many other men, even better men, did not. This is one of the costs paid by men who go to war. The actual time involved in such events is transitory, but the weight of it is with them always. And this is what separates them from those who were not there, which in essence makes them ALL heroes.

In hundreds of battles during World War II such men fought for their buddies and came home. I have no doubt that if need arose today that the people of the USA would rise to the occasion, and sacrifice as much. Ours is not a soft generation, but one of whom God has not asked as much. But we are made of the same stuff. Let no enemy on this planet think otherwise. Let no naysayer convince you otherwise.

I saw "Flags of Our Fathers" during a matinee showing, with only a dozen or so people in the theater. Almost all were of the generation who lived through those times. That the movie shows that generation aging, and dying, touches home. Let them all stand proud of what their generation accomplished. Let them know that their sacrifices are not forgotten.

In the end, a dying man who helped raised the flag tells his son that he wishes he had been a better father for him. It is such humility that marks the American character, and I would hope the character of most in the world. His son corrects him, that he was the best father in the world.

We all wish we could do more than we are capable, either as heroes on the battlefield or as people for our family. In the end it is the desire to have done more that marks the signature of a true hero. Many mothers and fathers and grandparents who have passed recently should carry that epitaph. Here lies this frail human being, hero in their own life. Let us remember.

Let us all try to do better, that one day when we wish we could have done more, our own family can say that we were heroes for them as well.

Well, it's been over a month since my last entry. I have to get used to doing this I guess!

I just signed up for and posted my first art pieces to ArtWanted.com. Within five minutes of my first piece going in I had a comment on it! I've upgraded to the paid version as the free limit is three images per month, and I have about 60 now to upload! I can sell prints through there, and originals. They also have a print production service which I will get set up, allowing users to choose prints of custom sizes (from 4 x 6" to 30"x40" apparently} These won't be limited edition prints, but we'll see what kind of interest there is in them. A little extra income won't hurt!


My sister is looking to join in the fray here. I bet within one day she'll know more about it than I do!

Hmm, since last I posted I have read the last of the Harry Potter series, so I'm up to date. This week I read Samuel Eliot Morrison's "The Two Ocean War". Called "A Short History of the United States Navy in the Second World War", it's 586 pages is a good primer for the actions, problems, solutions, and heroism that the US Navy went through in World War Two. Morrison's epic 15 tome history of the Nave in World War Two is THE authority on all events (I've read a couple of these now, each about 600 pages.) So, yes, 586 page IS a short history!

The recently released movie "Flags of Our Fathers" concerns the Battle of Iwo Jima, which occured in the sprint of 1945 as the US forces pushed inexorably toward Japan. Morrison's book covers this battle and the last one of the war, for Okinawa, in about 20 pages.
The Battle of Iwo Jima and the following Battle of Okinawa found the Japanese Empire using its most desperate measures against the allied forces, from the massive tunneling and bunker system used to keep their troops protected yet reign destruction on the landing Marines, to the Kamikaze menace. In the two battles some two thousand plus pilots expended their lives attempting to crash into allied ships. Enough succeeded during the six months that Kamikaze tactics took place to sink over ninety ships, killing something like ten thousand men. It was an effective tactic, and one that meant the final invasion of Japan would have been catastrophic,for the Japanese still had over five thousand aircraft (and plans to use them for suicide missions) at the surrender.
For those who think the dropping of the atomic bombs as barbaric, look at the history and see that those two bombs likely saved several million Japanese lives, and half a million American. It took such a drastic defeat to change the Japanese culture, and in no way should modern America hold its head in shame at this.
Sadly, the Middle East today seems to be a re-occurance of such fanaticism, but this time there is no one leader, no Emperor to say "Enough is enough." The irrationality and barbarism of that world will take its toll on lives. Learn from history. See how the details of what happened in the war against Japan cast in vivid resolution the similar fight the free Western world is in today against radical Islam. The prospects of peace seem dim, and growing dimmer. In the light of modern events, the solutions to the Japanese cultural revision that had to take place to bring Japan into modern civilized society seem simple. And how much did that cost to accomplish?

Stu

Current Mood: accomplished

Well, here I am signing up for LiveJournal. My friend fireskin is, at the moment, the only one I know in here, but I bet that changes soon.

I'm an artist/illustrator with illusions of being a writer as well. I'm an aviation artist (have created nearing 200 aircraft images now, mostly for plastic model kit boxes by Revell and Monogram). I also create Science Fiction and Fantasy art, and hope to get either into Film or the Game industry again eventually. My career, like so many, has had many stops and starts. I always look at each day as a new start, with new possibilities.

Ah, my web site is here:
http://www.stushepherdart.com

I'm a Dad, though one of those too-numerous divorced ones. I'm fortunate to have a wonderful creative son who keeps me entertained. I am also am fortunate to be able to give support and get it back from some of the most wonderful friends in the universe (and as stated above, you know who you are!)

Okay, enough introductions.

I'm currently reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (on page 582).

The last book I read (up till last week actually) was "But Not In Shame" by John Toland, a well written non-fiction book about the firs six months of the war in the Pacific in World War II, and how the allied forces were woefully prepared, and though hit with constant defeats and retreats, they still fought bravely to defend their lands and the freedoms of the peoples of the South Pacific, Philippines and Malaysia. I've been reading mostly history, and mostly of World War II subjects, as that has always been my favorite topic. Being an aviation artist, it was the heyday of aviation its most heroic form, before missiles and jet engines and computers made the challenges of air combat fleeting and terrifying.

I'm writing about a dozen projects, which means few are near done. I have the first draft of my first screenplay, but it already needs some major revision, now that the dust has settled and I can be objective about it.The problem is finding the time... And no, it's not about WWII aircraft..its a modern day fantasy.

Okay, enough for now.

Current Location: Modesto, CA
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: Enya (cuz it's quiet and soothing for late night art)