Ahhh Ziggy… You know of all of Bowie’s personas, he is perhaps the most iconic. The music, the hair, the outfits, that lightning bolt. Heh, my father saw this piece in process. Dad is 80 years old and I don’t think I’ve ever heard the man mention Bowie, or Ziggy, or hum one of the tunes the Spiders from Mars created. But when he saw this he said… “David.”

He didn’t say “David?” But “David.” with a period. I took that as a thumbs up. Though truth be told, I was chasing more of an essence than a likeness. (We took some liberties with that hair!)

Once upon a time I was writing a book called “Being Bowie” about a kid in junior high who took inspiration from Bowie. In the story the kid had gotten in a fight, and took a fist to the eye, resulting in the condition called ‘anisocoria‘. Which gave his eyes the different appearance from each other. One eye is always dilated and looks darker. This is literally how Bowie got his mismatched gaze. And in my story, it is safe to say, the main character started marching to his own drummer from that day forward.

It makes you wonder doesn’t it? In another timeline, where David Robert Jones (aka Bowie’s birth name.) didn’t get punched in the eye, did he still become Ziggy? Hell, did he still become Bowie? It is said Bowie later thanked his friend George Underwood, for punching him in the face that fateful day. And as crazy as it sounds, Underwood was artistic, and many years after the school yard fight, he designed the covers of Hunky Dory and… Ziggy Stardust.

So i ask you friends, what is it that brought you here? What events put that brush, pencil, stylus, in your hands? And what are you gonna do with them now?

Take some inspiration from the man himself. Rather than narrate this quick video, I will let Bowie do the talking. Call him Ziggy, the White Duke, Bowie. Or hey, David Robert Jones. But get in the water, “and when you don’t feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom… you are just about in the right place to do something exciting.”

This piece felt exciting for me. And as fate would have it, I actually put the last stroke down, on Bowie’s Birthday last week. And I didn’t even realize it till after.