Time, There Was Time (1999)

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

In 1998 I painted a role-playing cover for The Legend of the Five Rings’ RPG Book, “Way of the Lion.” That book had a false start on my end—I got partway through a final before ditching it and starting over. This happened a number of times in the 90s. Chalk it up to inexperience, I guess. We’ll circle back to that in time.

I had gotten most of the way through the background, which was a large pile of rocks/boulders and sky. I would have transferred a drawing of figures clambering up, and the heroes perched on the top, fending them off. A variant of this same concept made up the final, printed version. Particularly, I regretted the flat, overcast light here, so I put it away.

Here is the board, the art was probably 117x24”, all in acrylic. In the 90s, my studio was a bedroom that had wallpaper and carpet installed in the late 60s. When my family moved into the home in ‘91, we tore this out throughout the home. Knowing I was about to enter college, and was going to use this room as my first studio and make a mess, I kept both, and proceeded to make a glorious mess here for 7 years.