Keith Cooper - IMHO

Verbal Sketchpad

When I was growing up I was an avid doodler. I caught the drawing bug early in life and practiced daily, trying to hone my skills and aspiring to achieve artist status. My work wasn’t confined to bound sketchpads. Any surface was a viable option. Every book cover, notebook cover and margin, and personal belonging became a potential canvas. Mini studies of cars, horses, human eyes (etc., etc., etc.) would be edited and refined during my idle hours.

 

A favorite, especially in high school was to scrawl designs on the legs of my Levi’s 501s. I would uncap my Bic ballpoint and scrawl elaborate scapes of lines and patterns on my thighs, my knees pressed against the seat in front of me, during the long bus ride home from school. I’m sure this embellishment was frustrating to my mom, but once you envision an empty canvas, it yearns to be fulfilled.

 

As I got older, I began to pursue a new creative outlet. Writing became a passion and a crude skill that I sought to improve. I think it was my love of music and lyrics, that inspired my affinity for a  turn of phrase. While I wasn’t fond of journal writing I started a few and abandoned them. I poured my enthusiasm into essays and short blurbs that I found funny but never shared. I have had an opportunity to write on assignment (however humble) and have found that rewarding and fun. I may never turn a phrase into profit, but I’d love to be writing full time.

 

This site is an attempt to offer an informal outlet to some of my thoughts and musings. I hope to use it as a verbal sketchbook of sorts. I’ll replace the meandering squiggles with sentences and paragraphs, hopefully strung together into something meaningful.