When we have a passion for something that we love some may call it an addiction.  It got me thinking while I was drawing this sketch of Stevie Ray and his beloved Number One Guitar.  You can’t watch Stevie playing guitar without seeing the feeling and emotion he had for it.

Cradling his ‘59 Strat as if she was a fine woman, I believe it was his passion for the sound and the feeling that he created with every pick of the 13 gauge strings.

Passion = Strong feeling or emotion
Passion =  the emotion of felling very strongly about a    subject
Passion = any object of warm affection or devotion

Addiction = A chronic relapsing disease
Addiction = Physiological & Psychological compulsion
Addiction = Uncontrollable craving, seeking and use of substance

When we do something that we enjoy, I have heard it referenced before that it is an addiction? Are we crossing an imaginary bridge when moderation goes out the window?

Whether it’s drawing, playing guitar, blogging, gardening or just sitting quietly reading a book, why is it that the guilt can set in? What has driven us to the point of stereotyping our desires to think that they could be an addiction?

I suppose this is where the term guilty-pleasures was born, but why?  Why is it that we should have guilt? If we continue to do something we enjoy, we continue to grow, learn & are able to educate others by our example.

It was the many guitar players before Stevie that drove his desire to play and furthered his success.  We all have someone we look up to or aspire to, with out their passion for what they did, wouldn’t we be left in a teach less environment?

We are all teachers and we are all students, we never know what can be created if we don’t continue to learn about our passions and express them in whatever form they come in.  Keeping a positive attitude is essential in reaching our success.  When we begin to feel guilty the negativity creeps in, and that can stifle your potential.  I will say that there are circumstances that our pleasures can consume us, and the boundaries between  passion and addiction become blurred, moderation is the key.

This particular pencil sketch is done on a hand spun wooden plate.  This was captured off Stevie Ray Vaughan’s In Step Album.

I used woodless graphite #97-HB and just a small amount of the auburn charcoal.   Whenever I think of Stevie.. I think the phrase, “no doubt”  I will be listing this piece on ebay pretty soon.  The plate 10 inches round, and was made by my parents old neighbor. George Blum & Sons -

Soul to Soul

~ Susie

Stevie Ray Vaughan’s music is still an inspiration to me, and his story as so many know, has been written about and talked about since his passing in 1991.  One of my all time favorite guitarist’s, his dedication to his music should be a lesson for all of us.

It doesn’t matter what mood I am in, the minute I put on some of Stevie’s best, my attitude can change, from the moment he hits the first cord in the song Hug You, Squeeze You, it brings me to life. I can picture his fingers on the neck of Number One, and can feel the passion he had for what he did through his playing. 

This piece of Stevie was younger in his career and yet, it speaks.  I once read about the Vaughan forearms and you can clearly see as I tried to bring out in this portrayal of him, the muscle that he had behind his playing.  I love watching as he plays and uses the thumb on his left index finger on the neck of his favorite guitar, adding to the uniqueness of his playing and his style.

This was a graphite drawing that I hang proudly in my office, I used photoshop on this original piece to add the light behind him and the stars that float above him.  The price he paid for the hard road that he lead was only beginning to become a written piece of his history, with those chapters un-finished due to his un-timely passing.   Any fan will agree, I am sure, that the remaining chapters of his life would have surpassed many of his guitar hero’s and his mentors.