#OdeToTheLost

Here is a dedication to the lost pens and pencils found and recognized by their self-portraits. What? The pen made its own portrait? The pen/pencil self-portraits are renders using that lost writing utensil while rendering it. Maybe the intention could be explained this way: I would draw the writing tool by using that tool to draw. During the process my hand while cradling that lost tool would also be rendered into the composition.

How did this start?

I found a pencil somewhere– where, I do not remember– and I had a feeling that it felt neglected. Then I had the impulse to draw it with it giving it the feeling of appreciation. Beyond my own act of appreciation, I decided to share this dedication by a tweet with #odetothelost. After one I gained a sense of purpose to continue supporting these lost souls. Incidentally, I worked in the perfect environment to find them. I worked in a school. Unaware, students would frequently lose these traditional tools of rendering moving from one room to another.

I continued and recorded more of these lost souls with their own existence and effort to support their meaning and worth. Think of Tom Robbins’ “Skinny Legs and All”–a novel of journeys, where one described inanimate objects and their trek to find their coming or meaning of existence. (In confession, I have read this novel at least twice and I have not completely comprehend the full meaning; however, Robbins inspired a curiosity of whether things have a conscience.)

So, again, a dedication to the lost pens and pencils.