POETRY magazine cover for January 2013

I drew this a couple of years ago as part of a portfolio I showed to a San Francisco collector. It was one of those he didn't pick. Looking back on it now, I don't think he bought anything. But it's from these discard piles that I often find my best work. And often it's among concrete things that I find the strongest iconic associations. The poetry of shape and function I guess. It made it suitable for sending to Alex Knowlton who art directs POETRY magazine. I remember thinking how a wound electrical cord resembled the mathematical symbol for infinity. I darkened the pencil line and added the color afterwards. I especially like how the color turned out. Bold and simple. I don't get to work in orange often enough.