Fleeting Moments of 2009

Bruno, Richard, and I shared one more hike in 2009 at Dupont State Forest. The waterfalls were in free flowing perfection despite a fun, slippery trail of ice.

A Storm

The long, anticipated winter break began a day early with an artic blast. Normally I don't believe the weather predictions and the hysteria that follows, but when Asheville City Schools gives you your pay check a day early, ya gotta wonder if they are on to something. The clear skies and balmy conditions seemed to justify my scepticism on that Thursday. However, I woke up early the next morning with a smile as i saw a light dusting of snow and more falling. I knew the plowless/ salt-truckless city of Asheville would be parallized. Still funny to this ex-snowbelt buckler. Ah, but I live in the Biblebelt now, where we buckle down with all the bread and milk available at the local bodega and beg for mercy.
School was cancelled for the students, but somehow teachers are expected to sled in for a workday. Luckily I have an all-conditions diesel, as in my "dez'll get you anywhere" boots. So I laced them up and leashed up my pooch Bruno and hoofed it the short mile from my place to the schoolhouse.


Above is the young pup trying to figure it all out. Yeah, I didn't get much work done that morning, unless you call sledding down a hill on a cafeteria tray work. Hey, I'm an art teacher and I was gathering inspiration.
As the snow kept falling an announcement was made for those brave educators who where there to head home.
Here's a shot of Montford Ave as I walked home.


That afternoon some friends came over to my place, the "Bro-Pen", for some sled riding at Montford park. The snow kept piling up, and my friends, being from Florida decided to hunker down.


We played games, music, cooked, and some creative holiday-inspired barbering took place.


We ended up walking through the snow to see what was open downtown. On are way we met lots of folks enjoying the storm. There were snowmen, snowballs, even a 4x4 pulling a snowboarder through the unplowed streets. It was truely a winter-wonderland.

Too much fun...

with self-portraits....Insert your own captions when required.







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FYI: I've been teaching printmaking the past week, so the hands and nails are a wee bit stained.
So, what's your favorite soap?

Works in Progress

A bird ornament and a playful pooch.


I start off with building the armature using balled up newspaper and masking tape (see poochie), then apply Sculptamold, a paperclay (see birdie). Will sculpt some more and sand as the paperclay dries. Next step would be the paint job.
Anybody have experience with this stuff? I'm planning to teach this, so any hints are most appreciated.

Whatever happened to...

Blow Up Your T.V. ?

An Epic Satuday

The day started off with a light dusting of snow. No need to panic and head to the grocery to stock up on bread and milk like so many locals do. Instead, Bruno and I took a nice walk downtown and checked out the storefront's holiday displays. There I met up with my friends Ben and Ashe, who works at a shop downtown. I was able to check out behind the scenes and the dusty, raw second floor space of the old building. I couldn't help but imagine converting it into a sweet gallery/ studio.
Later I met with the Chassner brothers Jon and Josh of the "Man Den", and their friend Stephen for the best Indian buffet at Mela. It was the perfect compliment to cure any remaining side effects from celebrating Jon's birthday the night before at my place, Jon dubbed, "The Bro Pen".
I ended up hangin with Jon after lunch, and took Bruno to the dog park, where he got all muddy. So Bruno had to have his first ride in the back of an open truck bed. He is a southern boy, thank you. He handled it well and we even took him on the highway to Ben and Ashe's place about ten miles outside town to meet their dogs and watch a little football. Good thing the pooch's handsome coat is warm.

Giving Thanks 2

I'm thankful for turkey and all the fixins.


I'm thankful for silly pictures.


I'm thankful for silly family.


I'm thankful for tryptophan induced comas.


I'm thankful for the gathering of generations around the table.


I'm thankful for dog training tips from my sister.


How could you not be thankful for this handsome face?

Giving Thanks

I am thankful for friends who are like family.






I'm thankful for the 17 hours it took to smoke a 22 pound bird.





Thankful for friends (k9 and human) who kept me company.





Im thankful for cheap beer and handtools.






Thankful for beautiful mountains.





Thankful for beautiful cottages in those beautiful mountains that allow beautiful pups to run and play with beautiful children.





I'm thankful for old VW pop-ups with comfy beds to sleep on while keepin the bird smokin'.





Thankful for front porch jamming.





I'm thankful for inspiration.




I'm thankful for expressive, regional mountain dialects.



I'm thankful for giving.

Life. Time. Choice. Yours.

A lot of time has passed since I've used this Blog. The events have been many. The directions have been changing. Friends have come and girlfriends have gone. Yet, through it all, I remain.

I guess so much has happened since I last wrote (check out Facebook if you're really that interested). I am definetly not like my sister, I don't feel the blogger itch. I just can't keep my readers (there are readers?) up to date. Shoot, I'm lucky if I call my folks each month (doesn't mean I don't love the shit out of them). I guess my birth sign has something on me. I'm half Gemeni (explains my Jeckle and Hyde bi-polar roller coaster of life) and half Cancer (explains my poor communication/ introverted/ sensitive/ hidden self).
Still, despite my habits/ routines/ neurological hard-wiring I have a burning (nagging) passion to create and shape my own reality. I believe doing that requires determination, hard-work, faith, and some luck of fate. Really if I could create my own reality EXACTLY how I would like it...I would probably be too overwhelmed with the choices I would have and not change a thing. I'm glad so much of life's facts are beyond my control. Of course, you always have choice. Thankfully, no matter how it might hurt sometimes, I love that we all have choices and how those choices effect everyone in some way. Somehow.

So my choice right here, right now, is to communicate to others, with this forum, my simple joys, sorrows, celebrations, worries, and probably most important, laughter.


Let's start with this little guy Bruno. I adopted him from the pound just a week ago. He has already learned: a new name, how to sit, how to eat rice with hot sauce, how to have diaherria from eating rice with hot sauce, how to fetch, how to return from fetching, how to drop, how to find his leash, how to take a duece in places I don't have to clean up after him, how to play nice with kids, how to chase chickens, and just today how to swim in the South Mills River. There's a lot to say about my new best friend, and maybe I will someday.

Until then, here I am. Wherever you go there you are. Live. Love. Laugh.

Window stars

Window stars, originally uploaded by locomotivated.

Faux Backs

UniWatch is one of my favorite blogs. I've always loved sports uniform design. As a kid, I did tons of drawings of athletes, and loved to design uniforms. As an adult, I check out UniWatch to feed my obsession with sports uniforms. Today had an article about a designer who took old uniforms and mixed some of those elements with the current uniforms, calling them "fauxbacks", because they aren't really throwbacks because they were never used before, but still have some slight nostalgia. Paul Soto, the designer does his fauxbacks using Photoshop. I was inspired to create one of my own.

I used to love the old Blue Jay uniforms when they were great in the early 90's. The new design on the left mixes the old 90's design with the current design on the right, by just having the word "Jays" along with the bird head.

Here is the road uniform. My new design on the left, and the current on the right. I kept the 90's font and logo, and added the color black, and made a couple different hats. I don't really know which hat would be better.

Well, there you have a little exercise in Photoshop and uniform obsession. A fun way to spend your time on a blustery morning.

Beautiful Lunch Break

Look what I saw at lunch today!

Big News

Can the world handle another Arnold?

Darby

I'm really into this paper-cutting process. I definitely want to do more. Any ideas? Requests?

Stencils!!

I don't know what inspired me yesterday, but I started some fun projects I'd like to share.

First I took a good picture of me riding in the little "camionetta"(aka-Mexican pickup truck taxi) from Spring Break a few years ago.







Next I cropped the image and put a photocopy filter on it in Adobe Photoshop, so it looked like this...
I then printed this image and selectively cut out the black with an X-acto knife, being careful not to leave any floating islands of paper that would not stay connected to the stencil.
After cutting everything out, you can use it to paint, although I would recommend a thicker paper or transparency sheet if you want to use it several times. I'm guessing if you take the time to make this you would want to use it more than once.
Another option is placing the stencil on a photo scanner with a piece of colored paper behind it. That is how I made these...This one I put bubble wrap behind the stencil, then a green piece of paper behind that. The possibilities are crazy. Scanners rock!

Nice Ride

Yesterday I went out to the Mills River area in Pisgah National Forest for some mountain biking on the Fletcher Creek trail. It's nice that the weather has been mild. I went biking last Saturday too, but it was much muddier. I had a nice wipe-out that made me sore all week. No wipe-outs yesterday, just a good workout in a very beautiful spot.