Holy Cow! Time to Catch Up (330-326)

Holy Cow! Between slow internet, no art supplies, and way too much food and drink, I have really lapsed. The blog was on my mind the whole time. However, it stayed on my mind, not on my computer.

Ok. I could blame it on Ed McMahon, Farah Fawcett, or Michael Jackson dying, but that seems a little over the top. And now infomercial guy! Don't let anything bop you on the head! The truth is that I just didn't make the time to get things down on paper. Unfortunately, my art supplies were not very good and, after an extensive search, I found out that noone on the Outer Banks buys art supplies in a store. Sucks.

On Wednesday, I took a trip to Whalehead Beach Club for an arts and crafts festival. There were some really nice works of art and craft (along with some so-so stuff). I went with several relatives including my wife's cousin's husband, Ace. I really enjoyed spending the week Ace, Alice, Ryder, and Lilly (4 3/4 year old twins). Ace made the mistake of saying to me that he liked artwork, but didn't really get the whole still life thing. I railed on for about an hour until he relented. He is a closet artist as well. Get working ACE! I saw a couple of pieces that I really liked. I also spent about 20 minutes discussing some excellent watercolor paintings with the artist.

On Thursday, I was the family photographer. You've seen those vacation family photos where everyone dresses in the same color or white and takes the picture on the beach. Well, we're just not white clothes kind of folks. I took the big group and then individual families and smaller groups. Of course, I had to take a couple of my beauties! For years we used to take a picture at the beach of them. They look pretty cute!

Friday, we were pretty tied up with the Michael Jackson thing. We had a big dance party on Thursday night and I took this picture of some of the libations for future reference. Maybe a still life for my boy Ace.

Saturday was pack and drive. We had to hit the road at 6 am to miss the one way traffic jam, which we did successfully. Got lost in Virginia Beach and then was able to cut the 2 foot tall grass when we got home. We cooked some steaks out on the grill--our favorite.

Sunday was church and recovery. Worked on the deck for a while. Thought about painting. Maybe tomorrow. I know, it's weak.

Today has been a scramble. You work two weeks worth the week you leave and two weeks worth on the day you return. Oh well. I will try to create something today, but I am not encouraged that this will happen. This is living life.

Watercolor Mustang (331)

After taking the shots of the Mustang yesterday, I thought it would be fun to try to interpret it in watercolor. I tried to stay really loose with the paint and not get too tied down to reality. It looks like a horse on a dune.

Photo Safari I (332)

The Outer Banks has always been a source for interesting photos for me. The Corolla light is an image that I drew about 6 years ago and still get a great deal of pleasure viewing.

Early Monday morning, my brother-in-law Chris took cousin Alice and me in his 4-wheel drive car to the northern shore where you can drive on the beach in search of the wild Spanish Mustangs for which the area is famous. It was a little rainy going out, but not impassable.

We spotted one horse on the dune. As we pulled away, we could see that there was another horse on the back of the dune. These were the only mustangs we found in the morning. We were able to get a better view of them on the return trip.

When I got home, I used Photoshop to create some different effects on the images.

We also took a trip to Kill Devil Hills and the site of the first powered manned flight by the Wright Brothers. Six years ago, we were here when the centennial celebration was being planned. The flight was in December, so the celebration was planned to coincide with that date. But we didn't go to the Park then. This was a fun trip.

As many boys of the 1960s, I have always been facinated by air and space travel. My Dad was in the Air Force and liked to build models. We always had airplanes and spaceship models in our room and books about flight. When I was in the Air Force, I loved visiting air museums and seeing the static displays on the bases. So this was lots of fun for me.

An Epicurian Delight (333)

Definition:

"epicurean
Adjective
devoted to sensual pleasures, esp. food and drink "

I spent most of the day working with Lisa to prepare the evening meal for 18 people. Each summer, we try to have some kind of party. It usually takes three days to prepare for a couple of hours of eating. But we enjoy it. We decided to be the first family to prepare dinner for the two houses on the vacation.

We began Father's Day at an interdenominational Service. The nearest Catholic church is about 50 miles down the road, so this seemed a good fit. Barbara won a cookbook for having an orange dot on her bulletin. It was a different experience because our Mass is so ritualistic and this was more of a Bible study experience. But they were faithful people having time with God.

We went shopping for the food after that. For some reason it was a challenge to determine quantities. The menu was to be beef, chicken, and shrimp kabobs with safron rice and salad. We have been planning for weeks to try the "World's Greatest Maiti" recipe, so we got the remaining ingredients for that concoction.

Four pounds of shrimp needed to be shelled and devained. Marinade needed to be created. Vegetables and meats needed to be chopped.

Lisa's cousin from Seattle, Washington and family were due to arrive at around 7 pm. The schedule was created to align with that time.

It took all afternoon to shop, chop, cut, marinade, peel, devain, and cook.

All promises were kept! The potion was indeed the "World's Greatest" and the Kabobs were perfect. Everyone was well fed and lubricated and went away happy.

Saturday: The Long Ride to OBX (334)

Not too much time for making art today. Mostly spent the time preparing to go to the Outer Banks for vacation and actually traveling there. It was rainy when we left, but cleared up the further south we went. I traveling down the lower shore and Virgina side of the penninsula. Norfolk is very congested, however, when you reach the North Carolina border you immediately slow your pace and relax. The ride from Kitty Hawk to Corolla is very narrow and slow, but I don't mind that at all.

Our house is very nice and comfortable. We listened to a book on tape, some music, and sometimes just rode in silence. Not many people can ride in silence, but Lisa and I are very comfortable with it.

Hustlin to Get Out of the Door (335)

From 6 am until just now at 10:35, I have been compressing all of next week's work requests and preparation for vacation into one long day. We took time out to see Pelham 123, which I thought was excellent. Denzel is, well, Denzel. John Travolta has redeemed himself from his escapade as Irma Turnblat, the Devine role. He is one sick mofo in this one.

Anyway, not too much time for fine art today. I had to get the last business cards out, arrange for a plaque, write and publish a newsletter, and do some proposal work. I also finished the comp for the two postcards that I was working on and related in the last post. Just another day in paradise.

The shop that does our award plaques is a small cottage business that a friend from high school and her father have in their home. The name of the company is the Alladin Shop in Oxford, MD if anyone needs that sort of thing. I look forward to visiting them because they have a business that I admire. They put together boat-loads of trophies, awards and other memorabilia. and the shop is one big stack of brass and wood. Jane is one of the most agreeable and unflappable people I know and her dad, Plato, is a saint--or at least he is trying his honest best to be one.

After hearing the latest on Jane's mom--she had some health issues--she told me her 83 year old dad was doing some rennovations. He walked in and gave his usual genuinely welcoming Eastern Shore greeting, where he makes you feel like you are the most important person in the world. Not bad for a 20 minute drive.

Now for my creative moment. A long-time friend is literally living his last days. This creates in me an introspective moment. So I took the opportunity to ask a true philosopher and as near to an apostle as I could muster on a beautiful Friday afternoon--when did he become aware of his mortality? Jane rolled her eyes and said "you asked him." Then she cruised to the back of the shop while Plato lived up to his name. I enjoyed hearing him regail about Fatima as the most misunderstood Catholic phenomenom. We talked for a few moments about his journey and studies and I told them about this blog. I will draw from the conversation in a future work.

My friends Dwayne and Greg offer me an opportunity to bat around the meaning of life. But I am older than both of them and it was important to get the perspective of someone much closer to the end than my little group. (BTW Dwayne got his Brown Belt and Greg got a new daughter. Yeah guys.)

I will be thinking about my friend who is leaving us as I go about enjoying this vacation. I am happy to say that, although I will be sad to not see him again, he never was anything but kind and gentle to me. He always had time to ask what sport I was reffing or coaching (and always had them mixed up). He is a caring physician who worked way beyond when he should have because there were people who needed his care. It reminds me of my father's passing. He was prepared by living a good life, and prepared us to live beyond him.

I am fortunate to know so many good people. I appreciate that.

One from the J O B (336)

Every so often I get a chance to do something creative or artistic for my j-o-b. I needed a picture of a senior waiting and the customer wanted it to be colorful. In the "customer-art director" role, colorful attracts attention and black and white aren't colors. It is the same mentality that thinks you should make the logo bigger; bigger, bolder, underlined type can't be used enough; and a flashing magenta starburst is the key to any successful design. But I digress.

When I was a kid, there was a very successful artist that lived and worked in our town by the name of Laird Wise. He was a painter, but was better known for his photography. He also combined the skills by colorizing or painting portrait photographs. At some point in his senior life, he accidentally injured his hands. He was very skilled. I remember a friend of mine had a portrait of his uncle in his Marine dress blues that was done by Wise.

Not to compare, but I reached back into that memory and thought it would be interesting (and colorful--to attract attention) to try that approach for the picture I needed. Here is the result. I think it is kind of neat. It has an old-time appearance. Let's see what the customer thinks.