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"Broken Violin on Picture Stand" Charcoal on newsprint, 16"x24"

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"Skull and Feather" Charcoal on newsprint, 16"x24"

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"NyQuil" Watercolor and acrylic, 9"x12"

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"Actually, Mr. M, I Think that I Do Have Enough Objects in My Reference Photo, Thank You Very Much" Colored Pencils, 9"x12"

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"@tyleroakley" Watercolor and acrylic, 9"x12"

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I struggle with anxiety, which causes me to harbor a lot of anger and frustration. Instead of dealing with my negative emotions in a healthy way like a "normal" person, I keep it boiling inside of me until it inevitably explodes. This series started with a simple charcoal study of a skull, as can be seen in slides 2-4. I rendered the newsprint, erased out the highlights, added value, texture, and details; y'know, the usual. The day I finished the study, I had gotten frustrated over something I had seen on Facebook–surprise, surprise. Since this charcoal study was something I had done in my free time during an independent art study period, I didn't think twice about scrawling the message I wanted to shout from the rooftops on the top of my newsprint: "Obama isn't MUSLIM." After seeing how that message might be taken the wrong way, I added a footnote: "Even if he is, why would that be a bad thing?" (see slide 1). I took a step back, looked at what I thought was a waste of three days' work, and fell in love. I had not intended from the beginning to use this simple study as a way to express my frustration, but boy, did it work. The smooth, detailed skull (which is much different than my usual style) contrasted so greatly with the exasperated message in my trademark almost-chicken-scratch handwriting. The skull itself, which had been the outcome of several days of heavy concentration and attention to detail, now played a background role to the message I wanted to get across. And I couldn't care less. I decided to make a mini-series of these kinds of charcoal studies. I found them to be quite therapeutic: I would spend most of the week in the back room of the art wing, very carefully creating textures (see slides 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12), building up values (compare slides 2 and 3, which were taken only one day apart), striving for the most intense realism I have ever done, especially with charcoal, and then letting my anger out by plastering up whatever was bothering me that week. I do realize that these pieces are not the most artistically "correct" in terms of composition, as, more often than not, the subjects are in the middle of the newsprint and there is not much in the way of balance, and much less technical unity, but to me, that's what I like about them. Again, these originally did not mean to be anything more than a simple charcoal study, which most likely would not see the light of day, so it's cool to me how these look like they could be taken straight out of someone's sketchbook, which is generally where people shove their feelings out of view of everybody in the world. These pieces have given me a chance to speak my mind while remaining physically silent, which has helped me greatly.

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"Actually, Mr. M, I Think that I Do Have Enough Objects in My Reference Photo, Thank You Very Much" Colored Pencils, 9"x12"

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"(Very) Young Love" Graphite, 6"x8"

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"NyQuil" Watercolor and acrylic, 9"x12"

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"Hande Kader (Say Her Name)" Ink, 8.5"x11"

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"Blue Rare" Ink, 4"x6.5"

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"Starman" Watercolor and acrylic, 9"x6"

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"Andrew Dott... Get it? Because His Name is Andrew Scott, But I Made Him Out of Dots" Ink, 5"x6"

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"Ice Clown" Watercolor and acrylic, 6"x9"

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"Feel the Bern" Acrylic on wood, 6"x12"

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"Femme Fatale" Collage, 8.5"x11"

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"Can't Handle This Right Now" Graphite, 8.5"x6"

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"@tyleroakley" Watercolor and acrylic, 9"x12"

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"Broken Violin (in progress)" Charcoal on newsprint, 16"x24"

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"Broken Violin (in progress)" Charcoal on newsprint, 16"x24"

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"Broken Violin (detail)" Charcoal on newsprint, 16"x24"

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"Broken Violin on Picture Stand" Charcoal on newsprint, 16"x24"

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"Antlers (detail)" Charcoal on newsprint, 16"x24"

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"Antlers (detail)" Charcoal on newsprint, 16"x24"

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"Antlers (detail)" Charcoal on newsprint, 16"x24"

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"Antlers (Spoiler Alert: No)" Charcoal on newsprint, 16"x24"

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"Skull and Feather (in progress)" Charcoal on newsprint, 16"x24"

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"Skull and Feather (in progress)" Charcoal on newsprint, 16"x24"

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"Skull and Feather (detail)" Charcoal on newsprint, 16"x24"

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"Skull and Feather" Charcoal on newsprint, 16"x24"