Ever seen a world-class Olympic sprinter compete? That chiseled specimen of a human being whose seemingly effortless and expressionless glide through the air captivates and inspires like no other? Unbelievable! How is that even possible?
Some psychologists assert that it takes, at minimum, 10,000 hours of gut-wrenching blood, sweat & tears for a performance that lasts mere seconds. Seriously? That’s nuts! Who with any semblance of sanity would do that? One driven by passion, that’s who. The passionate drive towards athletic perfection, by comparison, dwarfs the years of painstaking 5 am pushes through unbelievable exertion—sheer abuse by “normal” standards. The athlete reaches deep within to find just an ounce of more, right when the body screams, “There is no more!” “I can’t” doesn’t exist in the vocabulary.
Paul is just like that Olympic sprinter. Uh, no . . . not the chiseled physique, but rather the intense drive to develop a world-class skill. His “chisel” doesn’t exist—he consumes his fair share of tacos, but that’s a different story. No one is born a world-class sprinter or muralist. It takes practice and practice, including practice once practice is over. When your friends are having a good time hanging out, you’re away at practice. Commitment? No doubt.
The Beginning
You can link here to OUR STORY and explore some of Paul’s history. Young child sibling challenges where Paul and his brothers would pencil-draw the ordered Disney character were a large part of growing up. Except for Paul, all that his siblings draw today are flies! The silly childhood drawing exercise clearly ignited Paul’s flame because he has never stopped drawing. Not once. From cartoon characters to realistic wildlife, over the course of many years, his pencils still shake & bake.
Olympic Training
Paul would spend hours studying and trying to replicate with pencil wildlife photos in books and magazines. How can I shade, blend, fade and properly proportion to show depth? How can I draw this animal so realistic that you might mistake the print for a photograph? In his own quest for Olympic Gold, Paul’s training exceeds the ten-thousand-hour threshold. Greatly.
Intrigued by the quality of paint application with the air gun in his high school years, Paul began using a different Olympic training facility—cloth and the air gun. His training regimen was the same—hours and hours at malls and fairs studying airbrush artists paint t-shirts, sweatshirts and canvas. How do I regulate the air-to-paint flow, and how do I determine the proper gun-to-surface distance, to enhance realism? As with pencil, how can I manipulate the air gun to shade, blend and fade to depict amazing depth? Paul was fascinated by the potential of an airbrushed image void of brushstroke imperfections. We all recognize the incredible talent of the paintbrush artist—amazing! But the paintbrush was just never Paul’s weapon of choice.
Competition Yesterday
In 2009, five of Paul’s pencil art pieces were among almost 5500 international entries that were judged in a competition for visual illustration. Each of Paul’s five pieces were selected and showcased in Communication Arts’ 50th annual illustration publication.
Paul twice applied (and was accepted) as an entrant in the renowned but now defunct Houston International Art Festival as a pencil fine artist. Paul’s talent received national and international recognition.
Competition Today
Paul’s competition today is internal—the challenge to improve the quality of his creations, one at a time. He’s always open to change and anything new. Paul employs the same attention-to-detail in his Mural Creations as he does in his pencil drawings. “I just get so excited doing this, and the final product gives me crazy satisfaction!” How many of us, like Paul, actually do what we love to do? Paul’s siblings might be more in tune with his artistic life than anyone else. They’re blown away by the countless hours he enthusiastically devotes to his craft, especially after all these years. You would think he just started a new job. Paul defines passion with action.
Paul is a creative-art perfectionist. His commitment to quality occupies a higher level. I can’t guarantee that you won’t find salsa and taco stains on his t-shirt as he creates your mural, but I can most assuredly guarantee that you’ll never find taco stains on your mural—it would diminish quality and Paul would be devastated!