Editor's note: Tony Cartagena covers Cleveland sports for ESPN 850 WKNR.

CLEVELAND -- When he’s on the field, if he’s eligible to play, suspended Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon is one of the NFL’s elite at the position.

Notice the key words.

Banished from participating in team football activities for the entire 2015 season as a consequence for multiple failed drug and alcohol tests, Gordon is attempting to repaint his tarnished image.

Literally.

“Ever since that day that the suspension was announced, in a sense I was kind of relieved,” Gordon said in a video for PROATHLETE TV filmed during the Miami Art Basel this past weekend. “I was distraught and embarrassed but I was like ‘Man, I’ve been ripping and running too much and too fast’ and I needed to slow down.

“I’m glad that somebody gave me a swift kick in the [expletive] to let me know what is real and what’s not.”

Current Browns receiver Terrelle Pryor said during training camp that Gordon was spending his time away training with receiving legend Randy Moss in North Carolina.

While he’s not working out, Gordon, 24, says that he has found a new way to harness his excess energy.

Art. Specifically Photoshop and Illustrator.

“I don’t want to prove or accomplish anything,” he said of this new-found hobby. “I just want to relieve some tensions and some pent-up frustrations through a different outlet other than on the football field.

“That’s all this is really about.”

During an extended weekend in Miami, Florida, Gordon visited numerous art exhibitors and introduced himself as a fellow artist, not as an athlete. He displayed one of his recent Photoshopped renditions of Pete Rose. Rose is in the news, again, as the MLB commissioner denied his reinstatement into baseball -- upholding a lifetime ban.

“Amongst other things what he’s known for is his dark background and his dark past,” Gordon said. “Associated with money and what the life brings you.”

Rose is pictured having lightning bolts for eyes with Benjamin Franklin printed in the background shadowing Gordon’s abstract rendition.

The piece is titled “Smell the Roses.”

While Gordon met other artists, he was the fan, the opposite role than he’s accustomed to, especially as a football player in Cleveland. When he’s performing, he’s adorned.

“In the sports world it’s all about making everybody happy, it’s politics,” Gordon explained. “It’s not morality issues. It’s not morals. I respect it and I learned it because you have to grow up and become a professional.”

He smiled as painting peers showed legitimate interest in his current and future works.

“I’d like to get taken seriously for it, but I stand 6-foot-4 and 200 something lbs.,” he joked. “Most people are like ‘Oh yeah, who do you play for?’

“Next time everybody is free, we’re all going to come back out here, you’ll see because we’ll get it all on camera. Me, Colin Kaepernick, Johnny Manziel, Odell [Beckham Jr.] and Jarvis [Landry]. Hopefully this gets to shed light on artistic athletes because there are a bunch of them.”

The video includes scenes from the weekend at art galleries and late-night parties. Gordon was shown dancing with friends and mingling in crowded clubs but never appeared to be under any influence or consuming any alcohol.

The Browns are in dire need of his talents. Their receiver position is so depleted that Pryor, who had never dressed as a wide receiver in the league, was signed back to the team and played 16 snaps a week later.

Brian Hartline is out for the remainder of the year with a broken collarbone and Dwayne Bowe has been an abject disaster. Gordon could have a huge impact next season, if reinstated by the league, and grab hold of the No. 1 receiver role the moment he laces back up the cleats.

“I lived and I learned for sure,” he said. “I took my lumps and definitely plan on bouncing back in a big way.”