Some art, maybe a little gardening, a few other bits.

Showing at The Comfy Cow

2012-02-02T15:32:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I put up nine drawings and paintings at a local dessert place, The Comfy Cow, on Frankfort Avenue. One of their rooms has an area designated for display of local artists, and the manager there was helpful and gave me the freedom to put up a selection of artwork. I put up most of what I wanted to hang, including all of my local landmark pen-and-ink drawings.

It will be up through the end of March.

After I was done putting up my works (and drinking a chocolate malt), I stopped at the nearby B. Deemer Gallery and enjoyed a retrospective of painter Robert Knipschild, who (I learned) was an instructor to well-known Louisville oil pastel artist Martin Rollins, as well as to two of my former university professors, Ying Kit Chan and Guinever Smith.

Here’s a picture I took yesterday when I was done putting up the artwork. It’s a cell phone photo, so it’s not very high quality.

Glads in winter

2012-01-30T07:44:00.001-05:00

I have glads coming up, and not just barely poking out; this one is about eight inches tall. I noticed it when I was playing soccer in the back yard with the girls over the weekend. It looks like the only ones coming up are ones that were in a bare patch of soil; I actually can't remember there being glads there last year, but I know there were some the year before last. This is a spot in which I tried to dig up all the bulbs two autumns ago, and I don't know if I planted bulbs there since. So these are either ones that I missed when I was digging (and which where dormant until now), or I planted them there last spring or summer and they never grew until now. I really don't remember. Anyway, I piled leaves around the glads to give them some shelter from the cold.

I did some garden work for the first time in months: cut down the dead fennel, tore up old tomatoe vines, raked out some dead vegetation, poured some old compost into the garden, cut down the asters. It was a pretty day yesterday, but windy.

Still more old student work

2012-01-24T10:17:00.001-05:00

I don't have any new artwork to put up. I have just been commissioned to do a pen-and-ink drawing of some people using an Ottawa dragsaw (I had no idea what that was until I was commissioned to draw it.) I'm working on another local landmark drawing. I'm still working on the oil painting I started on Shippingport Island back in October. And I'm slated to begin some mural work over at Candy and Will's house. So I have a lot to do, but nothing finished to take pictures of.

Here's another really old student drawing. This is a painting of a model from one of our classes, back around 1992. I thought it was coming along OK, but I was very unhappy with the face, so I wiped it off to repaint it. Our time for the day ran out, and we put up our work for discussion. I explained that I was still working on the face, but my instructor, Ying Kit Chan, said, "Are you sure? It's kind of interesting like that." That's why I never finished. I was frustrated and my professor gave me an excuse to stop.

The painting of the buildings was done outside on campus at U of L. This was done with large flat areas of bright color, which contrasts with my very painterly paintings of the same time period. This one ended up with Ed and Loraine, and they might still have it somewhere.

Jan. 17 Tornado

2012-01-18T11:44:00.000-05:00

I lifted this off of John Belski's blog; it's a map of the path of the EF-1 tornado that came through the area yesterday. I just thought it was interesting. This passed along the edge of my neighborhood. The map shows it ending before it reached Brian's neighborhood, but his street had a fair amount of damage anyway. There was nothing damaged around our house at all, just a few twigs down, but all along Brownsboro Road and Highway 22 it made a mess.

At work, pretty much everyone in the building was in the lower level for 20 minutes waiting for the storm to pass. That's the first time I've ever seen so many people from my building at once.

Very very very very very

2012-01-13T14:38:00.001-05:00

I got this rock last Fathers Day. It was found by my youngest daughter on the playground. In the couple of weeks before Fathers Day, she told me she had a present for me. I pressed her for hints as to what it was, and she finally told me it was a "Very very very very very very blank blank."

What a surprise! A very very very very very very orange rock!

The funniest part is, she didn't even paint it. She found it this way. Such a treasure!

Three (old) self portraits

2012-01-10T15:12:00.000-05:00

Here are three more of my paintings from 20 years ago. (And by the way, I do acknowledge that it’s especially narcissistic to post pictures of my old student work on my blog. However, I just haven’t had anything else worth posting.)

The first painting is probably my first self-portrait in oil. Again, the raw meat look. Pretty harsh lighting.

The second is titled “El REY del MARk.” I don’t remember what inspired it. Aaron McQueen had it for quite a few years; he might still, unless Michelle very sensibly convinced him to throw it out.

The last one is actually life-size, and was never finished. The thing that I’m proudest of is that I manufactured the stretchers for it myself, and assembled it with corner nails and braces. It’s pretty heavy-duty. I tore off and threw away the painting itself 15 or more years ago, but I still have the assembled stretchers in my garage; someday, I’ll paint something huge on it!

Research

2012-01-05T16:23:00.001-05:00

Here's a small section of old map compared with a recent satellite image. It looks like in 1912 there was a building next to a pond in what is now a vacant field. The field is now reported to be caught up in lawsuit between a bank and a developer; it was slated to be condominiums until the recession hit. It's been untouched for years. Sounds like a good place to go detecting to me.

…and still more old paintings…

2012-01-04T13:35:00.001-05:00

These two paintings are early favorites. The painting of the chairs was done on paper, and it's one of the very first paintings I did in college, so it's probably 1991. I was quite proud of it at the time, and I still find a lot to admire about it. The biggest problem is my handling of the background shadow. Regarding composition and paint application, I'm still pleased with it and sort of wish I still had it. I dumpsterized it when I was moving to Wyoming.

The tree painting, dated 1991, is a counterpart to the tree painting that is currently hanging in Chris and Helga's house; they were painted at the same time. I think this was first. I was also very proud of this one. My boss at St. Matthews Blueprint bought it from me. I wonder if he still has it?

More old paintings

2012-01-04T13:01:00.001-05:00

Here is some more of my student work from 20 years ago. The "raw meat" effect is interesting.

The highlight of the painting of Suzanne, the woman in black, is the cigarette ashes on the table. Unfortunately, you can't see them in this picture. They looked realistic and had little shadows. I remember this as being a pretty large painting, about 36 x 48 inches, but it's been a long time and I don't have a written record of the dimensions.

The painting of Erika, who looks raw and angry in the flower dress, was also large. I think she looked angry because I painted her looking raw and angry, and with football player shoulders. I think the paint was an inch thick.

Food order

2012-01-04T12:37:00.001-05:00

Two Saws

2012-01-03T10:52:00.001-05:00

Here's some 20-year-old art.

For this blog post, I owe thanks to Chris Gilbert times two. First of all, on one night back in the early Nineties, he very generously set up his camera in the photo lab at U of L and spent a few hours with me shooting slides of my artwork. He was a photography student; I was not.

Second, he recently loaned me his slide scanner so that Kim and I could make digital scans of some old slides we had sitting around. Kim scanned some old family pictures before Christmas. Yesterday, I dug out my old painting slides and scanned them. So thanks again, Chris!

These are slides from back when I was a student at U of L, and I think they all date to 1994 and earlier.

The pseudo-folk art I created as a joke; "The Great Louisville Earthquake" is a painting on a circular saw blade and given to my friend Mike.

The other is a portrait of the same Mike, holding a saw. Note that I used the same saw to cut partly through the hardboard panel on which it's painted. That's what the brown line is descending from top center. I like how Mike appears to have just cut the panel upon which he's painted, and is inspecting his handiwork.

It's also interesting to me to look at these to see the quality of my work. I still have room for vast improvement, but it's hard for me to understand how I could have painted in such a clumsy way as this. It's so imprecise and insensitive. At the same time, I admire the way I really attacked the subject. I popped the paint on there and forced it all to hold together despite my lack of finesse.

New Year update

2012-01-03T07:56:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year! We celebrated New Year's Eve by staying up too late and eating too much food at the Gilbert's. The place was awash in merriment, cookies, chips, and pleasant company. I lost at Scrabble, took our sleepy daughters home, and slept late the next day.

New Year's Day we mostly hung out in our pajamas and played games. In the afternoon I finally put on some work clothes, took down the outside decorations, and crawled beneath the house to close up the ventilation for the winter (normally I'd do it earlier, but it's been so mild I was able to delay.)

I finished reading The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver, yesterday. I thought it was excellent. I would have finished it sooner, but I had to put it down for a while because it was getting to me. I suppose that's because it's well-written, but I'm worried I'm just getting more emotional as I age and soon I'll be crying while reading The Guide to U.S. Coins or watching reruns of "Parks & Recreation."

I've started Game of Thrones. I've never heard a bad review, and the series is very popular; so far, I find it enjoyable but not great. I'm only a little way into it, though, and I gather the main attraction is the complexity of the characters and the story, not necessarily the style of prose, which I find acceptable but not compelling.

White elephant

2011-12-28T14:45:00.001-05:00

Here are the pointy shoes and hat that Kim ended up with at the Jerus white elephant gift exchange the weekend before Christmas. Apologies for the crummy photo, but Kim's adorableness makes up for it.

Riding helmet

2011-12-28T14:43:00.001-05:00

Painting a horse

2011-12-28T13:27:00.001-05:00

I've drawn horses before, but I've never drawn *on* a horse. Here's my daughter painting a horse. All the kids at the birthday party, about a month ago, took turns. Quite a canvas.

House portrait

2011-12-19T10:43:00.000-05:00

I logged a bunch of drawing hours the past couple of nights, scrambling to get this finished. Now I’m very tired, but I’m pretty pleased with how this turned out, and happy to be done. This is 11 x 15 inches, drawn with several brands of disposable and semi-disposable pens, as well as sumi ink and brush.

Latest house portrait

2011-12-14T10:05:00.000-05:00

Such a pretty little house! This is black walnut ink on paper, about 8 x 10 inches.

New things

2011-12-08T21:33:00.001-05:00

New things to me, at any rate.

1. The word "concerning." Of course I've heard the word all my life, but over the past year--and I'd swear, never before about a year ago--I've been hearing it used to mean "alarming" or "disturbing" or "unsettling," as in "News of all the burglaries was concerning to me," or "My cholesterol levels are quite concerning." I've always heard, and said, "I'm concerned," or "That concerns me," but I don't remember anyone using "concerning" that way till recently.

2. That "I saw three ships come sailing in" song. I'd swear I never heard that until a year or two ago, four at most. Is it new? It doesn't seem like it would be.
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Wanted overseas

2011-12-08T07:31:00.001-05:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16081337

The King of Thailand is a giant asshole. He is a major jerk and a waste of oxygen. The Queen of Thailand is a vampire twit parasite, and also ugly. I say this.

I guess I better not ever go to Thailand.

Artist statement, finished, for now

2011-12-07T15:53:00.001-05:00

Here's my first completed artist statement. I've never before actually completed one to my satisfaction, but I needed to turn one in with my submission to the Mazin Annual Art Exhibition at the Jewish Community Center, so I worked this out as best I could. It's specific to my pen & ink work.

"Of art media, I love oil paint, but a few years ago I became curious about making my own black walnut ink. I was quickly drawn into pen & ink. Almost without intending to, I developed a sideline of drawing house portraits, and recently began working on a series of Louisville landmarks.

"The whole process of working with ink intrigues me; making ink, experimenting with homemade drawing tools, watching how the ink changes as it dries, and building up drawings with layers of pen marks and brush strokes. Most especially, I love to look at that borderline between the whole work and its component marks--to be far enough away to see the illusion of the whole image, but close enough to see how the illusion is constructed."

"I am most satisfied with my art when I use it to document my experiences and explore my environment while also seeking nuance and subtlety in my medium. I primarily see this exploration as intellectual, as opposed to emotional, though it is based in my sense of wonder and appreciation for nature's beauty. My favorite subjects are landscapes and old architecture, but I prefer to combine both. Places and things that have been worn or aged by both nature and humans catch my eye, and I always want to learn the history of the area in which I draw or paint.

Gift idea

2011-11-27T13:06:00.001-05:00

Here's something I completely forgot to add to my gift wish list! A weed whacker! Mine is broken!
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New Blog

2011-11-22T15:33:00.001-05:00

I have considered the idea for quite a while, and now I've finally done it. I have started a second blog for my artwork:

http://marktablerart.blogspot.com/

I'll still post to this blog, and I'll still post art stuff on this blog. However, I've noticed ever-increasing traffic on this site relating to my art activities, and I think for both professional and personal reasons it's better for my artwork to have a blog just for itself. This blog never really was an art blog, it's just a blog about me, and it often has my artwork.

There will be a lot of cross-over, but for professional reasons it's past time that I had a dedicated art blog.

Art, Books, Cooking

2011-11-22T09:27:00.001-05:00

Art:

I just finished a new house portrait, this time in walnut ink; but photos will be unavailable to post for quite a while. So that's what I've been working on.

I have another house drawing to get to work on, and this one needs to be done in the next two or three weeks. This will be black and white, which usually seems to go a little bit faster.

Books:

I settled on The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver as my next book. I'm about fifty pages in and enjoying it so far.

Cooking:

Today, Erin's class is having their "Taste of Kentucky" celebration, and Erin volunteered to bring an entrée. She wanted to make burgoo. Why? I don't know. Maybe because it's a funny name.

We had never made burgoo before, but we sure made it last night. All recipes for burgoo are big. I picked out a recipe that didn't seem too difficult and didn't contain any ingredients that I thought were particularly repellent, and bought supplies at the store last night.

The recipe didn't say how many servings it made, and I'm a bad judge of quantity, but I should have been a little more prepared for the volume. I knew it would be a lot…but by the end of the evening, we had filled our three largest pots and had them all simmering on the stove. (The biggest hint that I missed: the recipe called for four large onions. What kind of recipe calls for four large onions? If people just ate onions, then four large onions would be twelve servings in and of themselves. And onions go a long way. So "four large onions" should have been a tip-off that this was going to overflow a single pot. I mean, I knew there was a pretty good chance that I'd have to branch out to a second pot. I thought it was likely, in fact. But three? Sheesh.

Erin did a lot of work. I had her peel the tomatoes after I briefly boiled them to loosen their skins. She also cut up the matchstick carrots into smaller bits, peeled onions, and diced potatoes with a sharp knife until I got so nervous watching her that I made her stop. And, of course, she dumped ingredients in and stirred.

Late last night I decided that it was done enough to sample, and ended up eating three small bowls.

Painting on Shippingport Island

2011-11-11T13:16:00.000-05:00

and another

2011-11-09T12:57:00.001-05:00

Add to my book list below the following: Leaving the Atocha Station, by Ben Lerner. Just heard a review on the radio, sounds very interesting.

Reading

2011-11-09T10:03:00.001-05:00

I need get back into reading again. For about a year, ending last spring, I was doing fairly well. I read a number of books, both fiction and non-fiction, and really enjoyed it. However, over the past six months I've really only been reading on the internet and in magazines.

There are a lot of books I want to read, but the process of getting into a book is difficult for me due to distractions. And by distractions, I mean, other priorities. Whenever I think of starting a book, I always feel like there are more important things for me to be doing.

I feel that less with non-fiction, because with non-fiction, I can at least use the excuse that it's educational. Therefore, it's easier for me to pick up books on art, history, or science.

Non-fiction, to me, is primarily entertainment; and while I acknowledge that it's just about the most deeply absorbing entertainment there is, it's also a magnificent time investment. That means when I'm in bed thinking of reading, I'm likely to decide instead to just watch TV for 15 minutes until I fall asleep, or skim a magazine article, or just sleep. Or watch part of one of the backlog of movies I've wanted to watch.

Now that daylight is short and temperatures are dropping, I think I'll invest more time in reading. Wish me luck in that. Here's a random list of some of the things I've been wanting to read:

The Poisonwood Bible by whatserface

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Huckleberry Finn (re-read)

Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

History books about the Greeks, Romans, and the Mediterranean area generally; I have a couple to read

Bible and New Testament research such as Who Wrote the Gospels

That cute little biography of Squire Boone that I bought at the Squire Boone Caverns gift shop

Moby Dick

Non-fiction books on Israel and Palestine, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan

…just to name a few. There are lots more.

Two pictures

2011-11-08T13:25:00.001-05:00

Next painting subject

2011-11-08T13:03:00.001-05:00

I have two more house portrait commissions in the works, so if it's cold or rainy this coming weekend, I guess that's what I'll try to focus on. Commissions should take precedence, right?

I also want to get in some more painting. I'm happy with how that last one turned out, and I'm itching for more.

However, I don't know what the subject will be. Here's how my internal debate runs: I want to work outside, but the weather this weekend might not be so great. I want to work larger, but that requires perhaps a little more time, and makes finding room to finish up at home a little more difficult. I also have an idea I've been thinking about for a couple of years, but it would be working from a photograph (and so can be done indoors) and would be more detailed, and so require more planning and more sessions to complete. I can save that one for when it's definitely too cold to work outside. But I like working outside because ventilation is an issue in the house, besides the fact that there's not a lot of elbow room. The trees outside are interesting right now, and they would be kind of nice to work with. But I haven't settled on a subject, so I'll probably need to do some driving and looking around to figure out what I'll do. This could waste a whole day. I also want to mess around with other subjects. I'd like to paint a giraffe or some other animals, which I can do from my own photo references. I want to paint some buildings. I want to work on a small canvas because it's quicker and more portable, and I want to work on a large canvas because it's more versatile and dramatic and, if successful, satisfying. I want to work on something that someone might want to buy, but most of the subjects to which I'm most attracted are things that most people wouldn't consider great subjects to hang in their houses.

So… I don't know. Regardless, I stretched a canvas this weekend. I'm not sure what size, something around 24 x 36. I also cradled and primed a panel to paint on. It's around the same size. Those are larger than the several canvases I already had prepared, which are all kind of small.

I also have some very irregular sized pieces of panel that I'd like to prime and paint. I'd have to think hard about how to use them, because they are long and skinny (around 8 x 24 inches).

Besides all that, I also have another pen-and-ink drawing idea to work on for myself, and to be later turned into prints for sale.

"Big Rock - Beargrass Creek" reproductions

2011-11-03T11:41:00.001-04:00

I had prints run of my pen and ink drawing of Big Rock in Cherokee Park, and now I can offer them for sale! The image is 10.5 inches x 17.5 inches, on 12 x 18 inch paper. $18 each. I'm very happy with how the reproductions came out.

Floyds Fork landscape, done

2011-11-02T13:09:00.001-04:00

Here's the painting I started at the park in Middletown; I put a few finishing touches on it on Halloween afternoon. I'm pretty happy with it. It's 16 x 20 inches, on canvas.

I've got to finish getting all Halloween references out of my system. Here's another: One of my very favorite things that I experienced this past Halloween was during the parade in St. Matthews on Monday evening. Right at the end, at the parade destination, I heard a small brass band of high school students (I'm not sure what school, but I suspect Waggener) perform a strikingly slow, somewhat off-note rendition of Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" from the Peer Gynt Suites. It was simultaneously cute and sinister, awful and stirring.

And another: I got a real kick out of Jill running excitedly from house to house, skipping and whistling in her Frankenstein's monster outfit, and yelling out to me, "Let me know if you see any candy on the ground that someone dropped! And if I don't hear you, just pick it up and put it in my basket!"

Science is a scam!!!!!!

2011-11-02T10:49:00.001-04:00

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-october-26-2011/weathering-fights---science---what-s-it-up-to-

Costume Contest link

2011-11-02T09:24:00.001-04:00

http://louisville.metromix.com/events/standard_photo_gallery/halloween-2011-at-4th/2891220/content

Paul's Zombie Claus is 4th in the slide show, and I'm a little farther along.

More Halloween

2011-11-02T09:12:00.001-04:00

On Halloween evening we went to Len's neighborhood for the Halloween parade and some trick-or-treating. Here is a photo of Jill and me walking in the parade (actually, trying to intercept the parade at it's destination, since we got there a little late). Then we went to my parents' for a little while. We got home late, and I lit the jack-o-lantern on our porch, even though it was well past trick-or-treating time in our neighborhood.

This little pumpkin from our garden glowed right through his skin.

4th Street Live! Halloween Costume Contest (part 4)

2011-11-02T09:06:00.001-04:00

The purple people eater was my favorite costume of the night. You can see the woman's head and arm hanging outside of the costume, giving the appearance that the beast has her in its clutches. The costume was huge. I asked her if there was another person in there with her, and she said no, but the back of the costume was built onto a cart to support its weight so she could just roll around with it. Regardless, this is another costume wasn't particularly mobile. She didn't move around much.

I asked her if she made it herself, and she said her mom did most of the sewing. It looked like a lot of work. I don't know what the "fur" fabric was built on top of.

I think she should have won a prize, but I don't think she would have made it up onto the stage.

The other picture shows two of the many people who asked me to be in a picture with them.

There were quite a few costumes that were great, but I didn't get photos of. There was a group that came as the Sherman Minton Bridge, there were two great looking silver-skinned aliens with silver basketball heads, some overly-tall techno-demons, Colonel Sanders with fangs, a guy in a Tron suit, quite a few very well made up witches, a woman who could place herself into a life-size cardboard Barbie doll box, and lots more.

4th Street Live! Halloween Costume Contest (part 3)

2011-11-01T16:22:00.001-04:00

There were a few costumes that were as big or bigger than mine. The contest's grand prize winner was a giant werewolf, which was a guy on quadruped stilts. The movements were creepy, and he was enormous. There was also a winged demon who was almost as tall as me. He was in the center of our tall-guy group photo, but he walked off (and can be seen in the photo at far left) before Paul could get the photo. He looked quite creepy, and could spead out his wings very wide when he wanted.

Then there was the lady in the peacock costume. She had a long, very colorful train behind her, which rendered her a little immobile. Paul talked with her and learned that she never had sewn before she made her costume. Her feathers were spread out wide, and her mask was painted plaster. She looked great.

4th Street Live! Halloween Costume Contest (part 2)

2011-11-01T16:10:00.001-04:00

More costume contest photos. One shows some "steampunk"-inspired outfits. They guy with the pipe told me he was "steampunk Han Solo."

Also, Beetlejuice and the striped worm. The lady in the worm outfit made her costume out of paper mache. I was impressed. If you look closely at the worm's throat, you can see the lady's eye peeking out.

4th Street Live! Halloween Costume Contest (part 1)

2011-11-01T16:03:00.000-04:00

On Saturday night I went downtown to the 4th Street Live! costume contest. Paul, who was dressed as Zombie Claus, went with me. I regret that I don't have any good pictures of him, but I bet I can get him to forward me a photo of himself.

Going in, I thought I had a decent chance at a cash prize, but I wasn't even a finalist. There were perhaps a couple of thousand people down there, with a large percentage of them in costume; and of that percentage in costume, a significant fraction of them were what I would call "really done up." I only got photos of a few of the good ones, and I'm thankful to Paul for his assistance in snapping photos. He was great as my spotter all around, letting me know if I was getting to bump into someone.

These first photos show Frankenstein's monster, who looked pretty decent, and two guys dressed as the extraterrestrial hunters from the "Predator" movies. They looked very good, and were finalists in the "Best Couple or Group" category.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T16:53:00.001-04:00

This was one of only two pumpkins in our garden that grew to adulthood, and the only that was fully orange by Halloween. He was happy to get carved, can you tell?
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Fun with static electricity

2011-10-29T13:00:00.001-04:00

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Costume work

2011-10-26T20:29:00.000-04:00

My oldest daughter is staying up kind of late working on her costume.
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Costumes and pumpkins

2011-10-25T15:04:00.001-04:00

I recently learned that there is a large costume contest down at 4^th Street Live! this weekend; I think I'll head down to compete. Maybe, with a little luck, I can turn my Halloween-themed work into a cash prize. The only trouble is, I'm not sure I'll actually be able to enter any of the establishments in-costume without bumping light fixtures.

I'm really not very familiar with 4^th Street Live! since I don't have little money or time to spend drinking in downtown nightspots. Therefore, I'm not too certain of the layout. I'm guessing walking around in my costume would be a little more awkward than walking in the Baxter Avenue Halloween Parade.

I'd love to see what other costumes show up; I bet competition will be stiff. In light of that, I may have to do some tweaking of my own outfit before the weekend. I'm thinking of adding an eerie glow to the inside of my skull, some painted decorative trim to the robe, and improving the paint job on the chain. Maybe I'll add a little ornamentation.

Yesterday I went to my girls' school and gave an art class demonstration on pumpkin sculpting. I brought a couple of pumpkins that I had started, and let the nine or so kids in the class finish them off. We ended up peeling the skin off the backs of the pumpkins, too, so that there were a total of four faces to work on. The kids really sailed into them, gouging and scraping. They seemed to enjoy it. Only two of my fine-point tools were broken, which is better than I dared to hope beforehand. I had fun with it.

By yesterday afternoon, I felt a little burned out on pumpkin sculpting, but it's coming back. I could do another tonight, if I had time.

Pumpkin sculpting

2011-10-20T08:09:00.001-04:00

I tried my first sculpted pumpkin last Halloween; it was crude, but I was pleased with the results. This photo is of my second attempt, last night. It, too, is crude. I need to refine my technique. I like it, and I'm proud of it, but it's far from the dazzling, polished ones you can find online.

I also need to get some better tools. I hope I can find some that don't cost too much. My one ribbon sculpting tool started falling apart last night (I'll have to try super-gluing it, and maybe sharpening it.) Reading on the internet also just taught me that a scouring pad would really help.

Free book

2011-10-19T08:03:00.001-04:00

http://machineofdeath.net/ebook

My friend Ed alerted me to this free on-line collection of short stories, readable as a PDF file. I've only read the first couple of stories. Odd, slightly ghastly fun.

Dining room table artwork

2011-10-18T21:00:00.001-04:00

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Halloween costume and parade

2011-10-18T09:54:00.001-04:00

Well, I finally walked in the annual Baxter Avenue Halloween Parade this year. My dad helped out; not only did he hold the chanin that was around the neck of my 10-foot-tall monster, helping me present a ferocious appearance, he also helped out in driving back from the end of the parade, and provided back-up in case I had costume trouble. It was very helpful to have a "spotter" to let me know if I was falling too far behind the float in front of me, or to let me know if there was someone I needed to pay particular attention to (or avoid) along the route, or to simply point out an object I might trip over. The costume is manageable as a one-person affair, but assistance really makes it easier.

We got a few photos, but it was dark and people were moving, so the pictures aren't great. The last photo here is actually from last year. The first one is from the parade last Friday.

I've been trying to find a few photos of my costume as it was under construction, but I think most of them are on our external hard drive at home, and that is inaccessible right now because our home computer is out for repair. I do have, however, a picture of the arm being made. As you can see, it's made with a framework of scrap wood and cut-up wire coat hangers. To this, I hot-glued cardboard and shreds of cloth. I used lots of hot glue. Then I added a little paint.

The head of the costume is a plastic pretzel bucket to which I glued stiff packing foam, sculpted to a general skull shape.. Over that went a few layers of paper mache, then latex caulk, then paint.

The whole skeleton is scrap wood held together by screws, with eye-screws and carabiners for articulated joints. The beige fabric is an old bed sheet combined with the remains of the fabric from a collapsible gazebo that was destroyed in the Hurrican Ike windstorm, given to us by the Schrodts; most of the black fabric is a sheet given to me by the Ailstocks. It's held on by glue and staples.

It's awkward, and I worked up a bit of a sweat in the parade, but it's really not very heavy or uncomfortable. I guess my years of on-and-off planning and experimentation paid off in that regard.

I keep getting ideas for improvements, or for whole new costumes. I'd love to make others in the same vein, if I only had the time.

Stilts

2011-10-13T15:04:00.001-04:00

I took these a couple of weeks ago.

LICINIVS

2011-10-12T16:20:00.001-04:00

This was a great find for me. I picked up this ancient Roman at the coin show last weekend for $8, which I think was a great price, considering the detail and full legends. The photos don't do it justice: in real life, it has a nice, even, clean look to it, although it's very dark (I think someone cleaned it with olive oil, which often darkens old bronze.)

Anyway, it was unattributed when I bought it, but the legends are so clear that researching it was quite easy.

This was minted under Emperor Licinius sometime around AD 321-324. It was minted in Heraclea, in present-day Turkey, on the Black Sea.

The legend on the obverse ("heads") reads: IMP C VAL LICIN LICINIVS P F AVG, which is the abbreviated "Imperator Caesar Valerius Licinianus Licinius, Pius Felix Augustus." The portrait strikes me as having a little more natural feel than some of the ones I've seen.

The reverse says IOVI CONSERVATORI, or "Jupiter the Protector," and depicts Jupiter holding a statue of Victory. To his right is an eagle holding a wreath, and to his left at his feat is a captive. Beneath his feat, in exergue, is the mint mark: SMHA, representing Sacred Money of Officina A of the Heraclea mint.

Next to Jupiter is an X over II plus a broken I, referred to as "mu" (as in the Greek letter.) This is the denomination: 12 ½. The thing is, nowadays, no one really knows for sure: 12 ½ of what?

Licinius ruled a divided empire. Toward the end, his big rival was Constantine the Great. Licinius held out for quite a while (he became emperor in 308), but Constantine was always looking for ways to undermine him. In 324, after a war, Licinius was captured, but briefly spared due to the pleading of his wife, Constantine's sister. A year later Constantine had him hanged on suspicion of plotting against him.

Ah, history.

Costume

2011-10-12T08:12:00.001-04:00

Two nights ago I got a call from a lady affiliated with the annual Baxter Avenue Halloween Parade. She was apologetic; she was having to call everyone who had signed up for the parade and explain to them that the reason parade starting details (float order, starting point, that sort of thing) had not yet been sent out because the parade organizers were scrambling to find a new venue. Their normal starting point and the Midcity Mall was unexpectedly unavailable, and they were trying to work it out. I hope they do.

The day before yesterday I worked a little on my Halloween costume. It's the same as last year, but I had to replace a carabiner that held an elbow together; it had been taken out for one of the girls to use at day camp this summer. I also added a little more paint to the fabric in front.

I also bought a long plastic chain to go with it. The chain was white, but I spray painted it. I decided on black, since I could also use black on the fabric, and it was cheap. I'm afraid it might have been too cheap, because I don't know if it is adhering well enough. About an hour after I sprayed it, I could easily scrape it off with my finger nail. Maybe a little more drying time has helped "cure" it, but I have my doubts.

In spraying all the paint, I got a newfound respect for graffiti artists/vandals. My wrists are sore from holding down the button on the spray can. How could my arms be sore from spray paintings?

Metal detecting on lunch break

2011-10-06T08:12:00.001-04:00

The past two days, I metal detected on my lunch break in a yard near where I work. The house, which is now a business, is one of the older homes on the street it's on, but it's hard for me to gauge the age; I'd guess it was built in the 40's. The first day, I only found scrap and nails and a car ignition switch.

Yesterday, I found another car ignition switch, and small piece of metal from a Packard (I assume that's what it is, since it has the word "Packard" stamped on it), a 1950-D cent that would look really nice if it weren't all dinged up on the reverse, and an 1873 British penny that is very, very worn.

I feel pretty confident that the British penny was lost more recently than 1873, and it's too worn to be of use in any coin collection, but it was still fun to find.

Another house portrait

2011-10-05T07:56:00.008-04:00

I have completed the black and white version of the same house I drew in black walnut ink before.

This was done on Bristol paper with Pigma Microns, a Staedtler pigment liner, and sumi ink wash. It's about 8 x 15 inches.

Wedding photo booth

2011-10-04T09:12:00.000-04:00

Cover up

2011-09-28T07:31:00.001-04:00

I saw this on the BBC web site yesterday, and I wondered about it, but didn't read the news story. It just caught my eye because I (vaguely) wondered why a farmer somewhere would be talking to a famous young pop star about a government conspiracy to hide the facts. I figured she must be in Africa or someplace (the picture looked like that, to me) on some humanitarian outing.

Then I saw this again today and realized, rightly, that some guy was just telling her to wear more clothing.

I can't name any Rihanna songs, by the way, and I'm not entirely sure I'm pronouncing her name right.

Five Churchill Downs wedding photos

2011-09-26T15:28:00.002-04:00

My youngest brother married his wonderful bride this past Saturday at Churchill Downs. Right now, all I have are some low-res photos from my phone camera; these five are the best, I think. We have more photos on our regular camera, and look forward to seeing every else's photos, too.

My favorite of these is of the five standing as a group at the open gate.

Plein air painting

2011-09-21T16:10:00.000-04:00

Here are some work-in-progress shots from last Friday, when I painted out in Middletown. There's a pretty park out there. I think I'm off to a good start with this, and I'll be able to finish it at home.

I walked around the park a little before I left. In one spot, where they are doing construction, I had fun looking around the unearthed chunks of broken limestone for fossils. There were lots of them. I brought some home to show the girls.

It a little thrilling to think that these ancient signs of life--from when, 300 million years ago?—remained completely hidden and preserved in remarkable detail, and then accidentally unearthed, and I was the first person ever to lay eyes on them.

I think I also located one or two former house sites that I could metal detect.

The Mantis

2011-09-21T15:55:00.001-04:00

Surely this is one of the tiny babies that hatched in our living room earlier in the summer.

I noticed this mantis while I was cutting the basil. I was reaching around the wooden stake to cut back some stems, and had been working there for several minutes, when I suddenly realized there was a huge mantis right next to me.

Plein Air Painting, Early September

2011-09-20T12:28:00.001-04:00

Here's my plein air painting site from a couple of weeks ago. It was a pretty, peaceful spot, but I'm not happy with the painting itself. I probably won't finish it. It turns out that having a misshapen jumble of rocks in the center of a painting might not be wise, at least if I'm the one doing the painting. Trying to resolve it so that it reads right is a heap of trouble that may or may not pay off, so I'll probably cut my losses and stop while keeping open the option of returning to it if I get a mixed spark of inspiration and insight.

On the right is an old stone bridge. I don't know if the main flow of the creek used to pass beneath that. Now most of the creek flows to the left, and whatever continued from the bridge is now gone.

There were plenty of fish, and some blue herons.

Temporary Architecture

2011-09-20T11:02:00.001-04:00

All the cards they could find...

Big beet, reclining

2011-09-13T14:51:00.000-04:00

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Kentucky's biggest pumpkin for 2011

2011-09-13T14:45:00.000-04:00

This is from the state fair last month.
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KFC Yum! Center drawing prints for sale

2011-09-12T16:15:00.001-04:00

I have had prints run of my drawing of the KFC Yum! Center--they are now for sale! I think that the next thing I have printed will be my Big Rock - Beargrass Creek drawing, since it have received such an enthusiastic response.

spreading thin

2011-09-09T09:22:00.001-04:00

I have a lot of my artwork hanging in my cubicle at work; where else am I going to keep it? Some things are hanging in front of other things to save space. For much of the past year, I've had two old drawings hanging in front of the two reduction cut linoleum block prints I did last year (the Masai giraffe and the garlic bulbs).

I just switched them out. I took down the drawings so that the two lino block prints are visible. Seeing them has re-whetted my appetite for more block prints. However, I don't even have enough time to work on my pen-and-ink drawings or to get some painting time in. Uh-oh, what do I do?

lawn and garden

2011-09-07T08:12:00.001-04:00

Our weed-whacker had a heart attack and died a couple of months ago; my attempts to resuscitate it were futile. I think it's little motor burnt out, but my technical knowledge of what's beneath the hood of a weed-whacker if pretty limited. I should take it apart and look at it and see what I can learn, but my track record for fixing motorized contraptions is practically non-existent. Therefore, I'm sure I'll be searching for a new (or used) trimmer to purchase sometime soon.

This one that broke arrived to us second hand; Chris and Helga gave it to us when we got our house. It worked quite well for me for seven years, and I don't know how old it was when we got it.

I've tried to keep the worst of the yard-edge in check with little hand clippers, but that's a lot of work for one wrist.

There are at least two pumpkins growing on the vines in my garden. There might be more that I haven't spotted yet. I don't know what the odds are of them maturing before Halloween, but they are growing quickly, so I have hope.

The fennel has all gone to seed. I harvested some to use in baking (I've discovered that the immature seeds are a great addition to bread), and I'll keep some to give away, and I'll try to get the rest out of the garden because the self-seeding is excessive and tough to manage.

Over the past couple of years, when the chrysanthemums that we've had in front have died back, I've transplanted them to a back yard sunny spot. They've flourished there, and are about to bloom again. I'm always much more excited about my own flowers than about other peoples'.

Current art projects

2011-09-07T07:44:00.001-04:00

Last weekend I went out for my first attempt at plein air painting in a few years, despite the forecast high of 100 degrees. I got an early start and painted alongside Harrod's Creek. There were some things that worked out, but overall I'm not sure the painting can be completed; I believe I erred in my selection of composition. If it's going to turn out, I'll probably have to do a major revision of the center third of the painting.

I am also working on another pen and ink house portrait.

detail shots

2011-08-24T12:57:00.001-04:00

New house drawing

2011-08-24T12:54:00.000-04:00

Here's another black walnut ink house drawing. This one was a fair amount of labor because I found the perspective very difficult; I worked from multiple photographs and had to deal with all the distortion diffulties that slightly different camera angles can bring. I'm satisfied with it.

Obrigado, Bianca

2011-08-23T14:44:00.001-04:00

I thought this was interesting. I got an email from a Brazilian lady named Bianca who explained that she and her brother were searching the internet for ideas for a new tattoo for him. They encountered one of my walnut ink drawings of trees, and he picked that one.

Unexpected, and flattering. I requested that she send a photo, and she kindly complied.

Garden tomatoes and other

2011-08-23T07:43:00.001-04:00

This has been a strange year for tomatoes. In every other year, I've tried to keep them watered, and let the hose soak the soil a couple of times a week in July and August, when it's hot and rainless. And I'd get a lot of tomatoes; but there would also be many split tomatoes, a result of uneven watering.

This year I have fewer plants (three, as opposed to five in years past). I've watered them only four times, I think. The tomatoes aren't exactly pouring in, but I've had a few to pick every day, the plants have been growing large and green and healthy looking, and – this is the strange thing – not a single one has been split. Well, there might have been one, I'm not sure. There has been an extremely low splittage factor this year, though. I don't know why. Maybe there has been just enough rain to keep them healthy, or maybe I just watered too much at a time before.

Or maybe a big difference has been the mulch? This is the first year that I have put down layers of newspapers all around the plants. That helps retain moisture. Now that I think about it, this might be the real difference. Hmmm.

My pumpkin vines are growing and flowering, but I haven't spotted any fruit growing on them yet. I think that if I'm not seeing any pumpkins growing on them by now, my chances of having some to harvest by October are slim. I'll keep hoping.

My fennel is the other thing that is doing really well. I've been picking young green seeds and baking them in the loaves of bread in our bread machine; the results have been great. A little more than a half-teaspoon of fennel seeds in a loaf really lends the bread a pleasant flavor, especially toasted.

One of my mammoth sunflowers is blooming, but the other two had their heads eaten off early on. I'm hoping that flower buds will still form on side branches, but it's beginning to seem unlikely.

My asparagus is delicate and green and looking pretty good, but small. I'm hoping that this will set the stage for larger, stalk-producing plants next year.

The two basil plants are doing well. I can make more pesto whenever I have time for the labor.

And now you know what going on in my back yard.

KY State Fair balloon sculpture

2011-08-21T13:32:00.000-04:00

I like this.
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They have assembled

2011-08-21T11:39:00.000-04:00

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After the storm

2011-08-17T13:47:00.000-04:00

Fallen Tree

2011-08-17T09:53:00.001-04:00

On Sunday night we went to the concert in Willow Park, and I was saddened to see that Saturday's storm had toppled a very large tree that I had stopped to admire on more than one occasion. This tree stood at the entrance to Cherokee Park right across from Willow Park.

We were lucky; there was no damage at our house, and we kept power. A tree in the back corner of our neighbor's yard broke about 8 feet up the trunk, but it fell away from our yard, sparing our fence. This same tree overhangs our yard, and I've hung birdhouses from it. Some trees and large limbs were lost down the street from us. We fared better than my parents, who lost electricity for a couple of days, and whose neighbors had a large tree crash into the back of their house. Two cars in front of my parents' house were smashed by a large oak limb.

Night fishing, Kentucky River

2011-08-15T15:39:00.004-04:00

These first two pictures are from early morning, as the sun was rising, right before we left:

These next four are evening photos, as it was getting dark, shortly after we arrived.

Towards the bank:

Looking downriver:

Across the river:

Looking upriver:

I fished the Kentucky River for the first time this past weekend, going out with a friend to a spot near Campbellsburg in Henry County. This is property belonging to a co-worker’s father. We got there later than I wanted (I knew we would), but we still had a little daylight left to get set up and start fishing.

It was around 8:00 when we arrived, and I gave the owner a small bottle of E&J brandy as a token of appreciation. He then led us back through the property and showed us how to get down to the rock bar on the river. When he found out that we had 8- and 10-pound test line, he told us we might be challenged. “And if you’re after catfish,” he said, “they’ll start biting around 3:00.”

The river bank was not just treacherously steep, but the only reasonable path down also led through a bed of poison ivy, so I was extra careful going up and down (and now two days have passed and I haven’t broken out, so I must have been successful).

It was a very beautiful spot. The weather was calm and pleasant. Daylight was quickly leaving and I spent a little while casting around with a beetle spinner, but nothing chased it but some little fish close to shore.

When it got so dark that it was getting hard to see my footing clearly, I baited some circle hooks with chunks of bluegill and started fishing the bottom of the deeper water upstream from the rock bar. My friend used a spinner bait and an artificial worm for a while before switching to a nightcrawler straight out in the river.

We had a few nibbles early in the night. The mosquitoes were a nuisance, but around 10:00 or so they all went away; I think it got too cool for them. Bats swooped around us all night long. Once or twice they bumped my fishing line, which I think has happened every time I have fished at night.

The moon was full and so bright that we could see around out pretty well. Not well enough to tie a knot in fishing line, but well enough to walk over the large uneven rocks.

Right about midnight my friend caught a freshwater drum. We didn’t measure it, but I’d say it was 14-15 inches. I caught one about the same size a short while later, and then he caught another smaller one. I can’t remember if he caught two or three in all, but I know I caught just one.

We heard various interesting bird calls. One that I heard I have since identified as the horse-whinny call of a screech owl.

Around 2:00, the first partial tank of propane ran out, and we sat just in the moonlight as we waited for the lantern to cool so we could put on a new tank. It was very quiet, then suddenly something went CRASH! in the underbrush along the riverbank nearby. I think it must have been a deer bounding up or down the bank through some bushes.

I had nibbles on my two lines all night. Finally, something took one of my hunks of bluegill, and I fought with it a couple minutes as I reeled it in. It didn’t feel big enough to be a monster, but I knew it was a decent size. I got it in close and could barely see its pale body thrash near the surface in the moonlight, but then my line broke. I examined the break in my line and saw that my other pole was twitching. Then I checked the time; 3:03 a.m.

I didn’t manage to set the hook in whatever was eating at my other line. It pulled off most of my bait. I had similar nibbles and near-hookings on-and-off until the sun came up.

With the full moon and haze and clouds, I didn’t see any meteors, but my friend saw one.

We left at 8:00 a.m. I wanted to stay longer, but we were pushing our limits.

Creek

2011-08-11T13:47:00.001-04:00

Today is our office picnic at a nearby park. A few minutes ago I was making a supply delivery to the park as part of set-up, and I walked past the small creek that flows through. With the exception of during and after heavy rains, the creek is quite shallow. I can see the bottom of it throughout the park, and in many places I could probably jump across it.

I dropped off my delivery and was leaving when I noticed a little boy and his mom walking up with fishing poles. They studied one spot, then started moving along the edge, studying the water.

As they passed, I said, "I wondered if anyone ever tried fishing here." I'd considered it and dismissed it because it's so small. I've never seen anything bigger than a minnow there.

But the mom said, "He caught a catfish here recently, a big one." That surprised me. "Good to know," I answered.

I don't know what "a big one" would be. Maybe not very big at all. However, big fish do end up in surprising places. I've seen two-foot carp in ridiculously shallow stretches of Beargrass Creek, and I've heard of similar sized catfish being caught in places like that, too. I suppose they are more likely to be found after a period of really wet weather, such as this past spring and early summer, when water levels have been high and fish can swim far. That particular section of creek is probably cleaner than most streams in Jefferson County, and that counts for a lot.

Or maybe the lady was crazy. A lot of them make it this far upstream, too.

Ancient Roman coin: Hadrian

2011-08-09T14:59:00.000-04:00

This is a nice coin issued under Emperor Hadrian, who ruled the Roman Empire 117-138 AD. It's a silver denarius, Rome mint, struck 118 AD.

Obverse: . IMP CAESAR TRAIAN HADRIANVS AVG, laureate bust right, drapery on left shoulder.

Reverse: P M TR P COS II, CONCORD in exergue, Concordia seated left, holding patera in right hand, left elbow resting on head of Spes who stands facing left on a low base behind, cornucopia under seat.

(RIC II 39b; BMCRE 61; RSC 252a)

Master of Illusion

2011-08-09T08:33:00.000-04:00

More portrait stuff/Rockwell

2011-08-03T07:54:00.001-04:00

Well, I wasn't done with the double portrait, after all. Not technically, anyway. My customer loved it, but I noticed that a little paint was flaking off in the bottom left corner. Some of the green had flaked away, revealing the white-primed panel beneath. That absolutely should not happen!

I probed the area with an X-acto knife, and surmised that my thinned-down acrylic underpainting, with only a little thinned-down oil paint on top, was the problem there. I decided to facilitate mechanical binding.

To that end, I scored the area with my knife, then applied another, slightly thicker layer of green paint with no medium or thinner added to it.

Last night, just for fun, I set up my new French easel. Mom and Dad found it at a yard sale--along with dozens of tubes of student-grade acrylics, lots of brushes, and five or six palette knives. Very, very nice! I've never had a French easel before. It ought to be very useful for plein air painting.

Last Sunday, Kim's cousin Matt came to town for a brief visit. We went to the Kentucky Derby Museum and to the Louisville Slugger Museum.

I'm not a baseball fan, but I think I actually enjoyed the Slugger Museum more. It was just more interesting, and more engaging. It also had a Norman Rockwell exhibit, which I really enjoyed.

As a child, I liked Norman Rockwell. Then at some point (around the time I started college?) I started really disliking Norman Rockwell; I saw him as too hokey, cute, and sentimental.

In recent years, though, I've started appreciating him more, and now I like him again. The exhibit at the Slugger Museum was great, including not just reproductions but also many original drawings, watercolors, and oil paintings. They were a lot of fun to look at; Rockwell had a level of craftsmanship and skill that I can only dream of.

Handing it over today

2011-08-02T07:48:00.001-04:00

Here is a scan of the for-real finished portrait. There are some minor changes since the last time I posted a photo of it, but you'd have to be very observant to spot the differences. The person who commissioned it hasn't seen it yet; I hope he likes it.

This was a real learning experience for me, and it has whetted my appetite to do more portraits. I have a lot to learn.

Pesto

2011-07-29T17:39:00.000-04:00

I'm finally making some pesto, the first since last year. Step 1: rinse and let air-dry.
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Be a marrow donor

2011-07-28T07:35:00.001-04:00

This might be one of the easiest ways in the world to save someone's life:

http://www.marrow.org/JOIN/index.html?src=tabjoin

It would be nice to be a hero with so little effort.

Churchill Downs

2011-07-27T10:43:00.001-04:00

This is about ten inches tall. I drew it pretty quickly; this was about 6 hours of work.

The most dangerous game: trotline version

2011-07-21T10:43:00.001-04:00

As I've mentioned, I've recently become obsessed with fishing. However, I don't really have time to fish. One impediment is my regular office job.

It just occurred to me that I could incorporate some catfishing trotline techniques into my daily routine. Quite a few people--the majority, really--here are at least a little catfish-like in their eating habits (I am, too). By which I mean that if any edible substance is left sitting around, it'll eventually get nosed out and consumed. Many of us circle, circle, circle the office prowling for food, then retire to our little cubicles for shelter as conditions change, or to digest our food, or to hide from predators or bright light.

I might satisfy my desire for angling by hanging fishing line from the ceiling in a few spots around the office, enticing morsels dangling...doughnuts, carrots, little packs of cheese crackers, Twizzlers, strawberries. Then I'd sit back and wait for a bite.

I guess maybe I shouldn't use hooks. I can tie the food on, and tie the other end to a camera. Or maybe even just a bell.
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Double oil portrait: Done, or nearly so

2011-07-18T14:47:00.000-04:00

Well, a couple of days ago I started saying I was done, but now that I've photographed it and seen it enlarged on my computer screen, I more clearly see a few tiny areas I might touch up. I'm pretty pleased with it.

This is 8 x 10 inches, on wood panel.

Rough house sketch, rejected

2011-07-15T14:59:00.000-04:00

This is part of the preparation of a new house portrait commission. As part of getting ready, I often do some rough sketches, then forward them to the customer so they get a basic idea of what it will look like. This is a quick sketch at an angle I liked, but the customer asked me for a more frontal view (the house is so broad across the front that I'll have to change the aspect ratio from what was planned, making it longer but not as tall.) So this is the first sketch, done in black and white. I have done a second one in walnut ink, which has been approved. I'll try to get that posted soon.

Lunch break sketch

2011-07-15T14:52:00.001-04:00

I always lag behind in posting lunch break sketches. This one is from more than a month ago; it's the old Bellevoir estate (again!) in charcoal. It's very quick and rough, but I sort of like it.

Oil paints and brushes

2011-07-11T21:38:00.000-04:00

Per an earlier request, here is a photo of my paint tubes in my paint boxes. Sorry, I wasn't going to get them all out and line them up. Maybe I'll do that again later.
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Portrait progress

2011-07-11T12:13:00.002-04:00

I am still working on the eyes, hair, and clothing.

First fishing trip (part 2)

2011-07-06T15:10:00.000-04:00

First fishing trip (part 1)

2011-07-06T15:09:00.001-04:00

Campfire

2011-07-06T15:07:00.001-04:00

I'd rather be sitting in the rain by a campfire than sitting in a tent and dry. (And for those of you who wish to comment that you'd rather be sitting on your couch at home--spare me.)

More camping photos

2011-07-06T15:02:00.001-04:00

2nd cave tour

2011-07-06T14:58:00.001-04:00

These are a couple of photos from our "Frozen Niagra" tour at Mammoth Cave.

Clouds after the storm tonight

2011-07-05T21:09:00.000-04:00

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Weird fishing occurrence

2011-07-05T14:28:00.001-04:00

I don't know if Brian remembers this.

I was fishing with Brian at Long Run Park quite a few years ago (late 80s, I guess) when he caught two fish at the same time.

He threw out a line (a worm under a bobber) and after a few minutes he his bobber went under and he reeled in. As he pulled it out of the water, we saw that he had not one, but two bluegill!

It's hard to explain how the second one was hooked, so I have added a crude illustration.

I had to look at it hard to figure out how it happened. At first, I thought that he had somehow cast out with two hooks on his line, or that he had cast out a baited hook with another snelled hook accidentally stuck to it, and had caught fish on both. This, however, was not the case.

The only way I could think that this could have happened is that he threw out his line as normal. A bluegill grabbed it and was hooked as normal, with the hook going through his lip.

Meanwhile, there was another bluegill nearby who had a snelled hook (complete with looped leader) sticking out of his mouth after escaping the clutches of another angler. This fish swam close to the first struggling fish, and the leader from his hook got caught on the point of Brian's hook. And there he remained until he reeled them up into the air on the bank.

My art studio

2011-07-03T13:44:00.001-04:00

At least for now...
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

first cave tour

2011-06-28T08:44:00.001-04:00

Here we go on our first cave tour at Mammoth Cave. It was a beautiful morning as we waited outside the historical entrance by the visitors center. Then when we came out it was pouring rain, and it just kept on raining.

leaf

2011-06-27T14:19:00.000-04:00

I love this photo. She found this at our camp site. It was the only leaf in the entire place that looked like that, and it matched her shirt perfectly.

Setting up camp

2011-06-27T13:49:00.001-04:00

Here are some photos from our camping trip the weekend before last. These first three are from the first hour or two we were there.

Walnut ink lunch break sketch 6-23-2011

2011-06-23T15:04:00.001-04:00

Black walnut ink on paper, about 11 x 15 inches.

I did this one today, again over at E. P. Sawyer State Park. Most of this was done with my homemade bamboo pens, but I also used a large brush to roughly darken a few areas, and I did a little bit of shading/drawing with a fine metal nib, too.

I sat in a small gazebo, and it was very nice out. Nearby, five women gathered under a big tree and discussed plans for an upcoming wedding in that spot.

Mammoth Cave National Park camping

2011-06-21T14:52:00.001-04:00

We camped at Mammoth Cave over the weekend, from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning. Kim's dad put up a tent next to ours, and my parents got a cottage nearby and planned to hang out with us for a couple of days, too.

The campground near the visitors' center, Mammoth Cave Campground, is large and nice. There are 105 sites on loops of road, and the campground can be pretty busy, but it was woodsy and pleasant. I think the campground can get filled up most weekends in the summer, but it wasn't full while we were there, probably because of the weather. The restroom facilities were well-kept and appeared to have been remodeled within the past few months, and the whole place was surprisingly litter-free. I liked it.

About that weather…it was nice when we got there, partly cloudy and it felt good out. After Kim and the girls put up the tent (while I took pictures of them and spectated), we went on a 1 ½ cave tour. When we came back out--surprise!--it was pouring rain. It kept raining, and didn't stop until the next afternoon. By then, the inside of Kim's dad's tent was wet (he had slept more or less in a puddle on Friday night). Since the rain didn't appear to be nearing an end, he decided to cut his losses and head home. My parents did the same. Why stay when all the activities (apart from cave tours) are outside, and it's raining?

Well, my daughters voted to stay, saying that they would still have fun in the tent even if there was nothing else to do. Fortunately, the weather cleared for Saturday afternoon and evening, so we got to fix campfire pizzas and corn-on-the-cob. We took a drive and crossed the Green River on the ferry, and went on a short hike with a park ranger, who talked about the cave systems, springs, the river, etc.

Before Kim's dad left, we went on a fun (and only slightly rainy) hike around Sloan's Crossing Pond, which was full of pond lilies and singing frogs. We all went on two cave tours, which I enjoyed quite a bit.

I dozed off late Saturday night, sitting by the fire. It was gorgeous out. I finally went to bed in the tent, but was awakened a few hours later by more rain and thunderstorms. It rained all night. Then, around 8:00 a.m., a real bad storm hit. We quickly got the girls into the minivan because large limbs were falling around the campground, and Kim and I packed everything up in a downpour. Then we drove home; it rained the whole way.

These photos are from my phone. I didn't take any photos with our camera, but I think Kim took a few. I'll try to put some more up later.

Despite the weather, I had fun. A lot of the fun is retrospective; it was sort of annoying or uncomfortable while it was happening, but not toooo bad, and it makes for good stories afterwards. We only found one tick and, amazingly, I never saw a single mosquito. I want to go again.

Lunch break drawing 6-16-11

2011-06-16T16:03:00.001-04:00

Here's a black walnut ink drawing I made at lunch today. This was over at E. P. Sawyer State Park. I like drawing trees, but I wish I could find something else that interests me. I wish there were some more older houses close by.

This was on 14 x 17 inch paper, with one of my homemade bamboo pens and a brush (the brush was much easier to use than my finger.)