F1.4 ...

My new toy arrived this week - a 30mm F1.4 lense. So last night I gave it a test run by snapping some pics of things in the yeard ...





I think the lens is a keeper ...

Art & Drink in Denver ...

Fantastic night out last night with friend I have seen in years. First stop - The Hamilton Building at The Denver Art Museum. The building opened in October '06 and was architected by Daniel Libeskind ... no right angles anywhere. Felt a bit like I'd wandered into a Dr. Seuss book.







We lucked out and didn't get too much rain while dining on the rooftop of Tamayo.

Life's Too Short to Stay in Stuffy Hotels ...

That's it - from now on I want all of my hotel stays to include a heavy dose of humor. I'm in Denver this week for a convention (part of my stamp crafter alter ego) and will now be telling everyone that they really have to stay at The Curtis when visiting the mile-high city.

Why? Where do I start ...

The 'sundries' counter next to the front-desk counter features rubber chickens ...



The print material in the room take the form of a single complete with "45 adaptor" images ...



The associated restaurant/bar, The Corner Office, serves amazing food and cocktails. Might I recommend the Bee's Knees (complete with rock candy) ...



And did I mention the color orange is everywhere?

More pics on my Flickr site.

Dinner with Friends ...

The perfect way to spend a Friday night - sitting around the table with friends, food and drink for hours. Music for the evening included: Grant Lee Phillips, Magnet and Air. And the only art that evoked a bit of a creepy feeling (at least the only one commented on) was my Bartender Bunny ... exactly the response expected for the bunny.



I made The Bartender in Liz McGrath's class at Artfest 2006.

Rebecca, Lolita, Veshawn & Dawn ...

Flashback Moment: Heard this on the radio while running errands on Saturday. When was the last time you heard 'Double Dutch Bus' by Frankie Smith?

The Art Journal Project Begins ...

Finally got started on Sunday. I have no idea where this is going ... but the challenge is to just trust the process and see what happens.

Of course first step, for me, was choosing something to listen to while creating. I opted for Andre Ethier - a CD I picked up at Waterloo Records in Austin - it was a recommendation by one of the Waterloo employees. When I go into a cool record store, before heading to the counter, I make it a point to ask one of the employees what they're listening too and/or what they would recommend that I probably haven't heard. It's a great way to find the obscure, the local, the independent ... but I digress.



Next step was to start working on a 'sign-in' sheet. For this journal project we are each to pick a theme ... ahh, but we're keeping the themes a secret so that each person who receives the journal to create their page(s) will be surprised. To that end, I will say nothing of my theme ... nor will I show full pages ... don't want to spoil the surprise for whoever might get this journal next.

So, with that ... here's where the sign-in page started ...



And then ... it made it to here ...



Still not sure where it's gonna go next ...

Must Start Journal ...

I really need to get going on my art journal project. My original plan was to spend all day creating last Saturday but when I went to the studio, the clutter and chaos was too much so I ended up cleaning & organizing instead.

I did get started on the journal on Sunday ...

Look What Put Me on the Schmap!

Hey, kinda cool! One of my photos was selected for the Portland Schmap! So bein' creative and having fun a while back paid off with a lil' surprise & byline now. Sweet. The photo is from the Doug Fir Lounge (probably figured that out by now) ... my good friend, E, and I were staying at the Jupiter Hotel next door to the Doug Fir for a Portland weekend getaway. E's sister works at the Doug Fir ... might I say, very nice bartenders there, too.

*my photo's on the Schmap site and in the photos tab of the widget.

The Journal Project ...

Sometimes I need a deadline (or some other such kick in the tush) to start creating. Well, said deadline will be here soon enough ... I signed up to participate in a journal swap hosted by the amazing Deb (she organized the 'Thank You' journal project for Teesha & Tracy Moore). This time, the challenge includes creating pages that incorporate four senses. Each artist chooses a theme for their book, creates the cover & sign-in pages and then off it goes ... I have to get my book ready to send by the end of this month. I'll find out in a week who I'm sending it too.

First step, find a journal to start with ... took a trip to University Art today.



Second step ... well, ok, not really a step ... more like enjoy a lil' shopping spree at University Art. In addition to the Dr. Ph Martin's watercolors, I also picked up some white & white pearl liquid acrylics plus some or (gold) & argent (silver) by Encre Sennelier. Haven't used any of these before so should be fun playing ...



Third for today ... play with the new inks & paints. I decided to drip some colors over an incomplete sketch from my Artfest trip; a fun way to see what the colors would do.

Secrets Revealed ...

When the 'straight job' takes over and there doesn't seem to be enough time (or energy, or brain power, or whatever) to create, I make sure I'm at least reading a good book.

The latest? Totally hooked on 'The Secrets of Rusty Things' by Michael deMeng.

I pre-ordered a copy (sight unseen) after taking a class from Michael at Artfest earlier this year ... so worth the wait!

I've always been a fan of mythology. When I was a kid, and it was time for our class to visit the school library, while the other kids went for the latest on sports or ponies, I went for books on mythology (Greek, Roman, Norse ... whatever I could get my hands on) or books on the Beatles (but that's a different post). So, imagine my joy to get a book full of insight into using found objects to create cool things inspired by various myths and legends. Not to mention the fact that the artist has a great sense of humor and it surfaces in his writing (ah, pop culture references, thank you very much)

It's late, I have work tomorrow ... time to go read more secrets ...

(you can also find 'secrets' on amazon ... but you won't get the extra cool goodies you'll get when ordering from The Artist Nook)

A lot going on ...

I said I was going to create something this week and, since the 'straight job' starts up again tomorrow, I count Sunday as still "this week" ... plus I opted not to do any 'straight job' work today so that this truly was a weekend day. Next challenge - what to create? Sure, I did some paper-crafting card stuff earlier in the week - but I wanted to really create something from scratch.

Last night, I went to see a friend's band play which meant sleeping late today. That, combined with warm weather led to a generally lazy disposition. So, creating anything that required energy was pretty much out of the question.

I received my copy of Teesha Moore's fabulous 'Art & Life' zine a few days ago, so decided to embrace my low energy and nestle into a butterfly chair outside and spend some time with Issue 8. One of the articles was a taken from 32-page handwritten book created by Theo Ellsworth for his students at Artfest 2007. The piece "The Mystery Play Inside You" explored how to meet your inner characters and get on with drawing & creativity.

Perfect.

They say if you want to draw, do it. A lot. I need to force myself to remember that. And, with that, I created a sketch.

Now Playing ...

Picked up Elliott Smith's New Moon today ... includes a wonderful cover of 'Thirteen' by Big Star.

Goal for the week: create something.

Bring On the Altered Curiosities!

Last year, I was lucky enough to take a 'Tainted Toys' class from Jane Wynn at Artfest. So imagine my joy today to see that her first book, 'Altered Curiosities: Assemblage Techniques & Projects' is being published ... and available for pre-order! Already ordered my copy, of course.

My 'tainted toy' from Jane's class, Artfest 2006 ...

Impromptu Art Class ...

One plus of working a 'straight job' is that you sometimes get good employee discounts and, while I don't need that many copies of [insert product here], I've found that my friends are often in need of stuff and that can lead to some fun barter situations.

In this particular case, I leveraged my bro-in-law's employee discount for Roberta Lee Woods, my artist-friend in Santa Cruz. Originally, the plan was product in exchange for a piece of artwork but instead she offered to give me a 1-on-1 collage workshop. Sold!

So, Saturday, drove over the hill and made my first attempts at collage.

To start things off, Roberta grabbed a piece of BFK paper and wet it down so that the paint would flow ... then it was my job to start making a big sheet of background paper ...



After ripping the paper into smaller sections, it was time to bring out the glue & paper bits ...

My first collage attempt:



And, after some encouragement from Roberta to work a bit larger ...

My second collage attempt:



Hmm, maybe I'll frame this one. Whatcha' think?

Retail Therapy ...

Sometimes, the best thing is to take a lunchtime field trip to the local record store. Luckily, what used to be Tower is now Rasputins and only 10 minutes away from work.






Today's purchases ...

Sufjan Stevens
'Greetings From Michigan The Great Lake State'



Hall & Oates
'The Very Best Of ...'
A friend pointed out they were popular at the same time as Prince and Rick James and it seemed like the perfect guilty pleasure purchase.

Mano Negra
'Puta's Fever'



Paul McCartney
'Memory Almost Full'
Because, well, just had to ... it's Macca.


Lavender Diamond
'Imagine Our Love'
This fits the 'random, unknown purchase' slot ... found it on the 'Rasputin's Recommends' endcap and caught something about them being reminiscent of AM pop while scanning the lil' write-up ... sold. Fit the "I need some Summer" bill.

DIY T ...

Last Friday, a friend & I went to the Vivienne Westwood exhibit at The de Young in SF. I had already been thinking about trying my hand at altering some Tshirts, but after seeing Vivienne's work I was more inspired than ever ... not to mention the fact that after seeing true DIY fashion that was worn by The Sex Pistols, Siouxsie Sioux and the like there was no way I was going to pay $$ for a faux punk T from the museum store. Instead, I bought a new pair of shears, grabbed one of the Ts I picked up at SXSW this year and sat down at the sewing machine ...

It started with the 'Generation T' book and some sketches ...



I decided to go for the girlie-T ... seemed fitting for T advertising a Japanese all-girl rock band, Gitogito Hustler ...





Then it was time to start cutting & pinning. I cut the bottom hem off - then cut two additional strips to use as "ties" in the side-rouching (found this technique in the 'Generation T' book). After that - sliced up both sides - including through the sleeves.



Next, time to pin up the sides and sew some channels in order to thread the T strips through in order to create the rouching ...







Then, some more trimming of the collar and sleeves before a few last-minute gathers ...





And, Voila! The new Gitogito Hustler T ...



Even wore it to work ...

Gabba Gabba Hey ...

First time this year that it was warm enough in the morning to drive with the top down ...

Driving usually requires music (as do most things in my life) so before taking off for the day, I plug the cassette deck adapter (old school) into the Zune (new school?), pop the cartridge into the cassette deck press the lil' arrow button to play.

Now, there's driving music and convertible music and Summer music ... today I hit on an album that I hadn't listened to in far too long and realized it fits the bill in all three categories: Ramones Mania. Not to mention the fact that 'I Wanna Be Sedated' pretty much fits the bill any time during the work week.

Today was a whole lot better thanks to Joey Ramone & the boys.

Random Quote

Overheard at Maker Faire on Saturday ...

"Babies are so cool now!"

Followed by the observation that they're not just about spit n' stuff anymore.

No T-shirt is Safe ...

Gettin' in the mood for Maker Faire...



I bought this book several weeks ago (always a sucker for new how-tos, reference goodies and crafty ideas) ... I flipped through the book immediately and even sketched how to alter some Ts purchased at SXSW shows this year.

But, it wasn't until tonight that the scissors came out.

Have to say, it's quite therapeutic to slice up a t-shirt on a Friday night ... a little late-night dose of craft plus it puts a nice point on the end of the work week.

Time Crunch ...

Working full time doesn't leave many hours for creativity ... even less when you factor in the complete lack of mental fire power and energy that exists by the end of the day. In addition to the standard day-job brain drain, last week I also added a business trip to the week. Well, at least I found the throw pillow in my hotel room a bit inspirational ... thinking I could use these colors in some future project. Lookin' for creative whatever, whenever.

Everyone should have one ...

In honor of Mom's Day - a post about Tupperware.



Last weekend, drove 700 miles round-trip for a Tupperware party. Now, not your everyday, run-of-the-mill Tupperware party, mind you ... No ... this was hosted by (Chef) Dawn, featured stand-up comedy by Sal and the Tupperware Lady was Phranc! Some of you might remember Phranc, the musician. Now, it's time to meet Phranc, the Tupperware Lady and Phranc, the artist. (I had a nice chat with Phranc about her artwork. It's amazing what this woman can do with cardboard.)

Not only did I pick up some very cool new expand-o-matic Tupperware bowls (really, the bowls pop out to make more room for stuff), I also picked up a pastry sheet to use as a work surface when I play with resin-based clay and other such mediums.

Tupperware ... for the kitchen and the studio!

More Tupperware Party Pics

1,000 sq. ft, 3,000+ cds ...

Work activity:
"Choose your favorite Movie & CD"

How am I supposed to choose just one?

Awesome Set of Tools ...

One thing I've learned, having the right tool makes all the difference. Sure, you can use a hammer, but having a pneumatic nailer will make your life easier (at least when moving beyond your standard picture hanging project in order to construct whole rooms.)
Tools to create ... same thing.

Working a 'straight' job, one of my ongoing challenges is finding time ... time to read from the ever-increasing stack o' books, time to write, time to create. In addition to the general "only 24 hours in a day" time challenge, there's also the issue of never knowing when you'll feel like creating something.

Enter the tool ... Scribbler!

I found out about this great lil' gem from ZeFrank thanks to a group post from Tara Finlay. Now, not only can I sketch something quickly and watch it magically get more creative before my very eyes ... I can also create something while eating lunch at my desk, during meetings (not that I'd ever do that) or before jumping into the traffic fray to get home.