bendoodle

Hello from Sierra Vista, a small town in the south of Arizona, less than 20 miles west of the town of Tombstone. I am married to the love of my life and we have two teenagers. I grew up in southern California and miss so many things (the ocean most of all), but have grown to love our little town in the high desert. We have vast open wilderness areas to hike and our view of the mountains is awesome!

I am interested in science, space, quantum, philosophy, psychology, dreams, nature of reality, and other interesting curiosities. I am an occasional Geocacher with several hides, but haven't been out much lately as it's more fun to do during travels, finding new places. I spend too much time playing PC games on Steam and play everything from city builders to action RPGs. Special place in my heart for classic Nintendo games from my childhood, especially The Legend of Zelda and all things Pokémon.

Have always enjoyed being creative and dabbling in new art styles. Never made a lot of time for art until beginning of the pandemic when I discovered Postcrossing. I have been very active there and in the Postcrossing forums doing swaps and round robins mostly with handmade and/or decorated cards. These past years I have delved much deeper into old favorites as well as trying new techniques discovered through meeting so many other creative people. Favorites styles I use (mostly revolving around postcards and envelope decoration) include: • Pen/Pencil drawings • Watercolor • Rubber Stamps (and hand carving my own) • Collage • Artist Trading Cards

Synthwave, 80's, Symphonic Power Metal, and Punk Rock. Some favorite bands: The Midnight, FM-84, Jessie Frye, Wice, Lazerpunk, New Arcades, Lost Years, Midnight Danger, Zombie Hyperdrive, NOFX, Bad Religion, Streetlight Manifesto, Good Riddance, The Interrupters, Sabaton, Sonata Arctica, Nightwish, Alestorm, Gloryhammer, Powerwolf...so many more!

Just some themes I am into in no particular order; but I love discovering new things too, so no worries!

• Fantasy (dragons, orcs, gnomes, etc.)

• The ocean & beach, octopus, mermaids, pirates

• Mystical, divination, tarot, meditation, eastern philosophy

• Skulls, skeletons, memento mori, Día de Muertos

• Postcards, stamps, mail-art

• Hand-carved stamps, linocut prints

• Artist trading cards (any style, but that fit into sleeves/binder pages)

• 80's theme/nostalgia.

• Punk rock

• Cyberpunk, futurism, dystopia

• Link (Legend of Zelda)

• Fallout (video game series)

• Nature, outdoors

• Maps