Mark Sellers ARTE Artist of the Month

• Tell us a bit about yourself (name, location, affiliations, and personal stuff).  
  Mark Sellers ,Abu Dhabi

English teacher at Higher Colleges of Technology, specifically the new campus built out in
the desert town of Madinat Zayed.  This means I have to travel about 4 hours every day.
We can take a bus, drive ourselves or with others. I am married and have three teenaged
daughters all in Abu Dhabi.  My wife is an English teacher at Zayed University, Abu Dhabi.  
My kids are also very creative.  My oldest daughter is considering majoring in art after
graduation. We have a cat and four guinea pigs.

• What inspires you? Where do your ideas come from?
  I guess Im technically a digital artist because even though I start with a drawing, a lot
  of the work and the final product is on the computer. My art always starts as a drawing
  a simple pen drawing in blue, black or red ink.  I prefer to do the initial line drawings in the
  older style ballpoint pen ink rather than the newer free flowing ink.  When greatly enlarged,
  that ink has more of a painted look to it than the free flowing ink.

Most my drawings in the last couple of years have been inspired by the natural world while
the rest just come from a very active imagination. I find that particular contexts produce
some of the best drawings.  I dont know why but many of my best ones have come from
sermons, meetings and academic settings such as assemblies and test supervising. Go figure.

• Greatest claim to fame (with respect to your craft)
  I dont know if I have any fame at all.  However, among people who know me, my tendency
  to doodle whenever I am idle is pretty well known.
  
  
• Where were you born? 
  Born in the cold weather state of Minnesota in the USA
  
• How long have you been doing your craft?
  Ive been doodling all my life but I started doing it in the year 2000 to help me keep from
  drifting away during church sermons and at meetings.  I grew up with ADD so paying
  attention is difficult and sitting still without getting restless is impossible.  The stimulation of
  doodling helps me to relax and focus. It was my wife who first suggested that I go beyond
  filling a page with scribbles and try forming them into something.  It was a gift of a packet
  of gel pens that got me to start filling them in.  I would say that if werent for the
  encouragement of others I would probably, first all, still just be filling a page with scribbles
  and, second of all, my designs would have never left the computer hard drive.

Out of the hundreds of drawings I save, a small number are selected for painting with
gel pens. What I do after I finish a drawing is scan it at 600 dpi.  The high resolution slows
the computer down but I can create much more intricate detail and I can make many
of them the size of a door and they would still be quite detailed. Besides slowing the
computer down, cleaning them up to make them usable can take from two to six hours
or more since have to make several sweeps through at the pixel level. A couple of years
ago I started turning some into art but then left it for a while.  Late in 2007 I came back
to it again and for a while I was making at least one new piece a week. Looking at the
ones I started with and the ones Ive made most recently I can see that I have learned
quite a bit and that my artwork has become more and more detailed and complicated
as a result.

• How did you learn your craft? 
  By just doing it and pushing myself to learn with every project I tackle
  
  
• Favourite film of all time?
  I dont have one in particular.
  
  
• What was the last CD you bought?  
  Three by Loreena McKennitt.  Her haunting melodies are relaxing and inspiring.  I was
  playing her music at my table while I was demonstrating how I make my drawings and
  work with them on a computer.
  
  
• Are you married?  
  Yes.  See above.
  
  
• How long have you been in the UAE? 
  My current contract finishes in two years.  We are thinking about repatriating at that
  point but we have been saying that for years..
  
  
• Do you belong to any other groups? 
  Only ARTE and the artist emailing list
  
  
• What are your favourite materials?
  In the physical realm, I prefer gel pens with minute pieces of glitter in them.  They have
  an amazing effect on my drawings when they are enlarged. Im always on the look out
  for good gel pens and those with colours I dont already have.  The greater the ink flow
  the better so Ill get a wetter and shinier look on the paper.
• What is your favourite colour?
  Ive asked myself that many times and can never come up with a solid answer.  I like
  some shades of purple but generally I like anything that is very colourful.  
  
  
• What are you reading right now? 
  The Afghan by Forsyth
  
  
• Any tips on selling handmade stuff? 
  Im really quite new at this so it is me who should be asking this question.  I found it
  helped a lot the second day when I spent more time taking to people about how I
  make my art and what I try to accomplish with various pieces.
  
  
• Apart from creating things, what else do you do?
  Ive already mentioned Im a teacher and a father. I also enjoy watching movies,
  and spending time with my family members. Perhaps one of the oddest things I enjoy
  doing is cuddling our guinea pigs.
• How can ARTE be improved? 
  I dont know yet.

You can contact Mark at msellers@hct.ac.ae