Darren Daz Cox, now in Pekin Illinois!
The Girls Day Dream and The Oedipus Landscape oil paintings!
Wow, another painting is finished! And I only started this one, along with the Springtime Maiden two years ago haha! 
Ok, so I have to sign it and finish up the frame but it’s done. I found some really nice dried pressed flowers on sale for a dollar at Michaels and had a thought of adding them onto the painting in the abstract yellow blobs – but I will refrain, it’s done dammit! This next one which I have now titled, is almost done, just one more layer or so on the dress and maybe some shadows in the foreground, but I’m entering this one in the next Art Alliance of Monmouth County art show on the 30th of this month so it’ll be dry and done too! 
Everyone loves the surreal paintings of Salvador Dali and while I’m not quite as technically proficient as ol’ Sal yet, it is a total thrill to be able to paint something in that genre. I am quite proud of the sculptural forms in the background, one day I would like to sculpt them! 
Just in case you think I’m on a little ego trip, this is what I was drawing in High School, and then in the air force right before I went to college to become an artist. I had never painted a landscape or drawn a female figure that didn’t look like a Neanderthal cross dresser on PCP. Oh by the way Neanderthal Cross Dressers on PCP aka NCDPCP is the name of my new punk band, a punk band so hardcore that we’ve already broken up before we recorded anything or played a single gig! But yeah, being an artist happens in your mind first and anyone can learn to make 3D objects on a 2D surface, that’s a learned skill like riding a bike or playing "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath on guitar. The Italian Renaissance spawned hundreds of painters who learned realism like people learn a foreign language today. It’s easier if you start young and are immersed in it but pretty much anyone can do it. You don’t have to be ‘good’! It’s not a contest!!! Being an artist is like being in a punk band, you are because you say you are, you don’t need a record label or fans or talent, you just need the will to be one and you are.
Originally posted 2008-04-21 16:35:59. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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April 22nd, 2008 at 5:04 pm
These are magical Daz! I love the world you create on the canvas..a most interesting mind you have there my friend!
I loved seeing your drawings from high school..were your parents concerned? I used to draw a lot too, and I remember my Father taking to me out of concern!! hee, hee.
keep creating!
April 22nd, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Now there’s a familiar look….
April 22nd, 2008 at 7:50 pm
Daz, I’ve been thinking, ever since you sent the email, about the idea of writers’ block and “the great American novel,” and I came to the same conclusion that you’ve come to here; an artist is an artist because s/he says s/he is.
I appreciate the point you were trying to make (or, at least, the point I THINK you were trying to make) about having a larger goal, something that’s just out of our grasp, to keep us thinking and moving and creating. To be honest with you, though, my writing has never been about the grand, over-arching story. I like the little snippets of life – I think I’d make a really good journalist for NPR.
On your advice, though, I’ve been thinking about a longer short story that I may write, both because it’s a challenge and because it may serve as a sort of therapy to help me parse out something important that’s happening in my life at the moment. I’m drafting in my head. I’ll gestate it a bit longer and see if a form develops.
So, what I’m trying to say (in my usual, long-winded, complex-sentence way) is that I know that I’m a writer whether or not I ever publish beyond my blog, but also that I’m willing to risk moving out of my comfort zone for the experience of seeing where my writing takes me.
April 22nd, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Yes, I am a writer because I say so and I am an artist because I say so.
you have no idea how much you inspire me my friend.
This afternoon my mom came over and we painted together all afternoon. Her with oil, me with watercolor, a mother-daughter painting day. It was priceless.
Daz, I love that red dress. I want to wear it!
I wish I could jump into that painting like a Mary Poppins sidewalk chalk picture and wear that dress and go on an adventure.
February 13th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
I have 2 degrees from 2 of the finest art schools in the US and I am always amazed at the degree of sophistication and brilliance of the self-taught artists. My degree was just icing on the cake – the experience of working with all the other artists and living in different cities was worth more to me than the education. I was born an artist. I didn’t know that when I was very young – I just knew I didn’t think about the same things that the deer hunters and pregnant women thought about (I’m from Appalachia). I also wrote short stories and here’s my blog with some funny stuff (and sad stuff):
http://artbyvirginiaerdie.blogspot.com
I think being an artist is a mind thing – even if you never paint or act or do anything in this physical world.
I cried with delight when one of the very poor residents of Miami became famous overnight (Purvis Young). I hung out with him and he’s just a man who took on the psychological and socio-economical plight of a very distressed Miami and painted all his feelings about it. It’s the meaning in his art that is so important and the painting “technique” comes second.
Virginia Erdie
August 3rd, 2009 at 9:26 pm
They are just dreamy. DREAMY is the word. They are awesome, takes me to a different world, when I dreamed as a child about something……….something unknown, untouchable.
August 4th, 2009 at 6:02 am
See thanks for the awesome words! As soon as I get my new place I will be painting lots more!
April 2nd, 2010 at 5:06 pm
I think anyone willing to take the time and interest into anything of art, should be applauded. I have kept all of my daughters drawlings since kindergarden.
April 2nd, 2010 at 5:20 pm
thanks Tony, yeah, when art is made from the heart it is important.