M Mark Beatty
Artist | Hobbyist | Digital Art

Canada

So, there I am. Gray hair and gray beard, for the entire world to see now...

Tabula rasa. Where does one start? How about - "Once upon a time..." or "Long ago, in a faraway land..." or maybe "Floyd was a small town boy looking for something better..." (Floyd is my father, by the way).

No. Sorry. I'll stick to my 'artsy' endeavors.

Because I mainly upload fractals here, I won't bore you all with what you might already know (that is, if you're not already bored, or bored and already gone, which, if that's the case, you wouldn't even be reading this....)

First off, a word or three about my artistic outlook: Matter-Of-Fact. On some level I know that the things I create, and the process of creating them, are cathartic for me. I care about them. I care about what others think of them. Good or bad. But I don't get all emotional about it - or perhaps it's better to say - over-emotional. I believe, that in the final analysis, from a purely gut level, art, all forms of it, is either something you like, or something you don't. It’s not impossible to change someone’s opinion, but it is very difficult. So - if you have read this far, and you are someone that I have faved one of your works, from my personal perspective – suffice to say, even though I may fave-and-run, that your work grabbed my attention, my curiosity, and held it, and made me feel something strong – like a sense of wonder perhaps. I do not fave lightly, or with any other agenda than this.

Before I came to dA - I also considered myself a songwriter, and a fiction writer. I have played the guitar since I was in my teens and have written songs constantly since I could string three chords together. To date, I have written over 2000 songs, some with lyrics, but many are instrumentals, and all of them are in many diverse genres of music (rock, blues, r & b, classical, acoustic, country, humorous, jazz, etc.). Most of it, I'm the first to admit, is probably crap. But some of it, the odd one, has caught someone’s attention...

I've played in two professional bands since I started playing (one of them, for almost 6 yrs), playing guitar and singing. I cannot say that I never got a break as a musician. Unfortunately my big break came and went. Kismet (damn it!) dictated that I was in the right place, but at the wrong time (it's too long a story for here...).

But much like what I said above, I am very matter-of-fact about songwriting as well. I can write a song about anything. I've written songs about: coffee, fallen angels, flying, growing old, dying, gravity wells, saving the planet, dust, diamonds, ghost nets, the fashion industry, small towns, martyrs, and mosquito bites. I've even written a song about writing songs! – It’s titled, “I Must Have Said Something” And so I hate it when I hear that some songwriter said that they have to go through some traumatic life event to write something meaningful. Ugh!! Does that mean they go around and intentionally set themselves up, just to write a song??? Chalk one up for self-fulfilling prophecies I guess!

Lastly, as I mentioned above, I write fiction too. I've written around 30 short stories, and have 3 novels on the go. If I were to say what genre I would put them in, I'd have to say Sci-fi and Modern Fantasy. However, they are not like what the popular Sci-Fi and Fantasy books are like these days. For example, some of my fave authors are: Franz Kafka, R. A. Lafferty, John Crowley, Tom Robbins, Richard Grant, and Doris Piserchia. If you know any of these writers, you will know that they are a little off the map. My novels, at their deepest level, are about, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s, and the real reason we all can't seem to get along. They have titles of “The Medium is the Messenger” “Dead End Talk” and “Coats of Many Colours” respectively.

So, that's me. Well, not all of me. Like I said, just the artsy stuff....

Take care, and thanks for taking the time to learn more about me.

Current Residence: Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
Favourite genre of music: Jazz, 70's Rock
Favourite photographer: My daughter Lauren.
Favourite style of art: There's only two kinds art. What you like, and what you don't. I like them all.
Operating System: XP / Mac OS X 10.6 (I use both)
MP3 player of choice: iPod Touch
Favourite cartoon character: Elmer J Fudd
Personal Quote: Time was invented to stop everything from happening at once.

www.myspace.com/mmarkbeatty