“My name is Chris Buchholz, and I currently live in the
Dominican Republic with my beautiful wife Heydi. Several years ago I was working
as an Illustrator and graphic designer for a design company in Harrisburg
Pennsylvania, where I had also received my design education in a small community
college.
I’ve been drawing and painting ever since I was a child
and I’ve always loved it. But while working for that design company something
happened to me that would forever change my life and the way I thought about
art. I went to a design conference in Atlanta where I attended a presentation by
one Danny Gregory.
His presentation opened up my mind to, what was for me, a new
and interesting art form; the sketchbook. As he showed page after page of
beautiful drawings, drawings of normal everyday objects, of food, of pants, of public urinals, quick drawings of landmarks
and buildings on journey’s taken, I began to wonder what I had been doing for
the last 20 years of my life. I had seen some of the world, I’d been all over
the United States, seen the Canadian Rockies, I went backpacking through Italy,
bought my first house, met new friends and spent time with family; I had
experienced life in all its triumphs and trials, but where were the drawings?
I hadn’t drawn anything! I
suppose I was doing “art”, which more often than not meant that I was waiting
for a big idea or concept to come along, which rarely did. But I had missed out on the good stuff.
I too wanted to draw my food, and my pants, and possibly draw a public
urinal.
I decided to jump in to my first sketchbook. I decided
it would be based on my first house, which I had just recently put up for sale.
It was actually slated to be sold in about a month’s time. I decided to use this
last month to document everything about the house that I loved, each room, each
wall color, each magnet on the fridge, the contents of the drawers, furniture,
lighting fixtures, and yes, even the toilet. Although it meant putting off the
packing and moving to the last weekend before settlement, I can now say that that month spent drawing and
painting was one of the most satisfying and enjoyable times that I have ever
had.
Anyhow, It’s been about 5 or 6 years since I’ve filled
that first sketchbook, and ever since I’ve been drawing in sketchbooks. Drawing
has helped me to re-analyze my life at times. I decided at one point to cut back
the time I spent working as
a graphic designer to just three days a week so I could spend more time on the
more important things in life. Three years ago I decided to quit my job
completely, move to the Dominican Republic and volunteer my time as a
missionary.
Drawing is wonderful here in the DR, there’s never a
lack of interesting things to draw. I like working mostly in moleskines, mainly
the pocket sized ones. I use faber castell pitt pens, and recently I’ve been
using a lamy safari fine-point, which I love so far. I use prismacolor colored
pencils, and winsor and newton watercolors. I hope you enjoy my drawings!”
Chris now resides in New Oxford, Pennsylvania, USA
- Chris’ blog
- Chris’ art on flickr