Fionna's Bicycles Overview

Fionna’s Bicycles 2022 – Folder One – Overview 5 Categories

A love so strong that it bent chain rings into hearts. He brought me something from work one day and left it on my desk. It was a note that said, “I love you” wrote out in letters, “I”- (chain ring heart)- “U”. It came off a customer’s bike after a freak occurrence. All cleaned up looked like it came from the factory that way. I learned to appreciate machines as conduits for man’s drive. I’ve had it for the past few years and forevermore; it reminds me to pay special attention.

The purpose of including “Bicycles” on my website is that it once meant a lot to me, specifically in 2022. They will always be on my mind and in my eye. Considering that Fionna was the aftermath of 2020 and Arabella’s slow decay, Bicycles characterize Fionna more than Wardrobe does. My introduction to bicycles was through H, and most of the knowledge expressed in the documents presented today is directly from him, circa 2022. My fascination with bicycles does not exist before Fionna, and not much related to bikes has happened since as of April 2026. It was something I gave up entirely when we moved out to the forest. I brought my bike to Texas from Virginia last summer and have used it seldomly, but that’s beside the point.

There are 4 categories I initially determined (other than H’s drawings) for the first folder’s pages: From Life, Fantasy Illustrations / Advertisements, and Theory. These will be the foundation for my initial articles on the subject of bicycles.

For now, I have separated the 30 pages into two categories, “from life” (and associated projects based on life, 20 pages) and the other category is “fantasy work” (10 pages). The criteria for something not drawn directly from life to be put in the “from life” category is that it is based on a real bike I had previously drawn. Amongst two dozen bikes to choose from, there are four that Fionna would fixate on. The other ten pages are not related to a specific bike and are drawn mostly from memory. In order of occurrence, the Bianchi – all parts, a single unknown stem, the Cannondale f4000, the trek 950 or 850 seems to appear twice, the Avenger, the Retroglide cruiser frame, and the Rollfast.

The first bike that catches my eye early in the year is the Bianchi. It’s an Italian bike, and from my memory, the oldest bike manufacturer still in production under the same name. On April 20^th, 2022, I began a breakdown of every part of it in the little room under my parents' house which we commandeered for our business. I make notations about general standards of bike mechanics and terminology. This style defines an era of high brainpower; I was using every neuron I had to draw and record these things amid being belligerently high.

Not pictured is a drawing I made in the yard over several days. A detailed full body description of the Bianchi. As Fionna fades away in early 2024, I made several large technical drawings which are near perfect renditions of this initial observation. I framed and hung the original drawing over a year ago because I liked it so much that now, we are estranged. I made a detailed drawing of the Bianchi emblem with hope of including it in one of the drawings. I finished one with branding in a classy but creative commercial style, though never found use for the emblem.

The next appearance is a Cannondale bike in May 2022, which I imagine was saved from the dumpster. This vintage bike comes from a period of rapid development which caused many companies to release bizarre innovations in attempt to keep up with the market. The documentation begins with a less detailed breakdown of the bicycle and things I found curious.

Sometime in the fall of 2022 I made a Cannondale ad which I tried to imbue with a flamboyant energy reminiscent of the futuristic 90’s era.

There are also two appearances of what seem to be a trek 950 or 850, or at least a bike built similarly. These Trek bikes embody the quintessential form of a bicycle.

In August, I draw a stem from life with ball point pen and admire how well that medium coveys the metallic finish of the part. I made this drawing in the garage, where we ultimately ended up settling in with all our combined stuff.

In late summer 2022, I made a series of sketches in the garage of the Avenger from the front, back, and of the handlebars which I find challenging to draw. It is a modern bike, purchased around 2018. It has been sold in the last year, I think. My favorite aspect was the double top tube with the curved upper tube. This was by far one of my favorite bikes, as well as H’s. It rode like a BMX cruiser and looked like it too.

In October 2022, I made a very polished bicycle mechanic advertisement which featured a bike that looks suspiciously like an Avenger. I remember doing this while on sabbatical in the woods.

My parents bought a few department store bikes in the 2010s and they lingered for a long time, maybe still do. I appreciated the classic shapes on the modern cruiser bikes; it was very appropriate for the area and period correct. He did work on one of these Retroglides in October, and while it was in the stand in the garage, I took a fine drawing of the frame. It would become the subject of another fantastical advertisement (not included in folder one).

Finally, the oldest of them all is the Rollfast, a purple, 70’s banana seat bike that my mom grew up riding. It had a good amount of wear, and I could only imagine my mother’s little hands steering the glittery handles. It was the only bike I inherited, though I never restored it and do not know what has become of it. I drew it from life in the garage in October 2022 which became the foundation for a advertisement style drawing in early 2024.

I like to draw made up scenes, that is a constant them in my art ever since at least 2020. There are two distinct images I sketched in late summer 2022 which became the basis of traces in 2024 as Fionna was going supernova and blowing tons of energy out. They are serene portraits of bikes in nature.

The trippiest drawing is from summer 2022 called psychedelic cruise and features a person morphing into a bicycle in an anthropomorphic world melting around the figure. I made a Lino cut block print based on this design, though it remains unfinished (not pictured in folder one).

The wildest fantasy ad I made was for a made-up aluminum bike. It features skeleton women gyrating and looking sexy on vibrating bikes. Of course, this is all scientific. Aluminum does not absorb shock and without suspension, becomes a noisy ride.

Last is another bicycle creature featuring bones as spokes and a skeleton riding itself. I drew this in a bike shop keeping H company one day. I was taking an interest in graphic and commercial design, which would ultimately contribute to the death of Fionna in 2024.

To end this overview, I will briefly mention the emergence of my spiritual framework which consumes my mind and work in the latter half of 2022. As described in Wardrobe, man creates machines in the image of himself, the world, and the sun as extensions of the body to do more work.