Carefree Artist: The Gift of Nature

12/24/17

The Gift of Nature

Posted by Mark

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Pardon my Artistic Absence

A loved-one is battling metastatic cancer and undergoing chemotherapy, so I’m again taking a break from the drawing board and sketchbook for awhile and focusing on caregiving.

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“If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.”

― E.B. White

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Free Education Clip Art

Yes, I created the Thinking Cap image above! It was originally created for and licensed to Discovery (Channel) Education for many years. You can now find it and many more images at EducatorClips.com.

(Click on the image to learn the story behind my education clip art.)

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About the Artist...

Mark: I'm an award-winning, internationally-published freelance artist and illustrator who has created hundreds upon hundreds of works of art for books, magazines, greeting cards, websites, and countless other publications. When not working on art assignments, I'm a volunteer artist for the National Park Service and other places. I'm also a passionate advocate (well, as much as an introverted artist can be) for preserving natural quiet spaces. I also love to hike, kayak, invent things, collect old books, do science stuff, and work on my art supply donation project, Art Mends.

View my complete profile

Please see my website, MARKiX.net, for more info and more samples of my work. For whimsical art go to my site, Whimsicalillustrator.com.

About this blog/art journal...

The Carefree Artist is about my artistic endeavors and adventures as a professional freelance creative. Posts might feature a cartoon, or a recently published illustration from a book or magazine assignment, or an original piece of art that I might be selling to try and raise funds for my art supply donation project. All with an emphasis on originality.

Why did I name this journal the Carefree Artist? Actually, it’s really just a wishful sentiment. A professional life in the arts, mine included, is usually anything but carefree. But oh how wonderful it would be to really be a carefree artist! Living the simple life in a quiet and inspiring location and creating a ton of art just for art's sake!

The name was also inspired by the Carefree Highway. A road that played an important role in my life... More about this journal's name at the bottom of this page.*

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Studies have shown that art has the amazing ability to help heal the body and mind. With that in mind I created Art Mends™, my personal art supply donation project.

The goal of Art Mends™ is to simply provide as many free art supplies as possible to a local municipal hospital. The supplies are used by children facing challenging illnesses so they might use artistic creativity to fight whatever ails them.

Please see ArtMends.org for more info.

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Learn More About my Books...

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Writers & Illustrators Member

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Creating fun and whimsical greeting cards for the holidays is a passion and a specialty.

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More about this journal's name...

The name for this journal was also inspired by the Carefree Highway here in my native state of Arizona. (Yes, the one Gordon Lightfoot sang about.) A road that played role in my life as a child and a very important role as a young adult. First, when it was just a rough dirt track to basically nowhere. Then later, when it was a small two-lane road in the middle of the desert. All many years before they widened it and put up all the ugly cookie-cutter houses, apartments, and strip malls and ruined the natural scenic beauty of the area. ("Carefree Highway, you seen better days...")

And no, I do not live in Carefree, Arizona. I live in Phoenix. Land values in Carefree are, unfortunately, not particularly friendly for those pursuing freelance artistic endeavors.

(below) The Road to Carefree. What the Carefree "Highway" was like in my childhood. Acrylic on canvas. 24" x 36" Private collection.

All the material on Carefree Artist is copyrighted by Mark A. Hicks -- ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Reproduction for any purpose without the express written consent of
Mark A. Hicks, illustrator is strictly prohibited.

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