The Chase

"The Chase"
Oil on Canvas
11 x 14

Hello again. This morning I was looking though some of my older paintings to see if I had any used canvas that wanted a new face. I came across this one. This is a painting I titled 'The Chase' in 2006. I was revisiting an oil painting exercise from college. Painting with a pallet knife. (Thanks Larry) I can't say that I've every really enjoyed it. It is really hard to control and as someone who likes to mix paint on the canvas- it was really frustrating. It does however offer some interesting techniques. It's much easier to build layers and texture, it's easier to cut a straight line, and it's kind of nice to let up the need to control detail. So I said why not? Might as well challenge myself a bit and do some more pallet knife paintings. I found once again, I'm not a huge fan. This one painting out of the bunch though stuck out to me. I really liked this one but for the most part I've received negative feed back. That's okay, we artists can handle that- once in a while. My question now is, I haven't sold this painting in two years, should I just paint over it and maybe discover something someone will want? Or do I let it sit in my studio closet with many other undiscovered gems?

Doodles

I like to doodle. Here's what a lot of my spare paper looks like these days.

We got married

Ryan and I have been married for just over a year and this is what we've learned:

1. Neither of us are mind readers
2. Wii- Lego StarWars is a really good team work building experience
3. Bergmans travel. A Lot.
4. It's fun to wake up next to your best friend
5. Clothes don't wash themselves
6. Plants die if you don't water them.
7. Mac and cheese with hot dogs is for adults too!
8. The 'future' comes faster than you might think
9. Some of the best dates cost under $20
10. 'My side of the bed' is relative

Of course this is not a comprehensive list, but it gives you a taste. It's been a good year. We've been learning a lot about working together, learning about what makes each other tick, and figuring out how to make two lives one. I recommend it.

Pillars

Oil on wood.
$75.00

Sorry about the fuzzy picture.

(For purchase details, email me)

My Little Friend

I know it's been a while since the last post, but I've been thinking about which situations in my life really warrant a blog entry. This is what I came up with:

It was a Friday like any normal Friday. I was working at my assistant manager gig (try not to swoon) checking out all of our vacant apartments. I was on second floor looking out at our courtyard facing south. It was a pretty nice day, no clouds- pretty warm. (This is important because there was very little wind.) Anyhow, I was looking out at the courtyard and this blue, orange and white beach ball came rolling around the corner from no where. I didn't think much of it. Our courtyard is enclosed by 4 foot cement walls so it had to belong to one of the kids in our community. I went about my day. About 20 minutes later I was on the opposite side of the building, this apartment had all its windows facing north out onto the courtyard. As I was inspecting, out of the corner of my eye, I see the little beach ball making its way across the courtyard straight toward me! This time it was a bit deja vu-ish. It skirted around the pool to end up the in the corner of the building where I was standing! I kinda joked to myself ... that the beach ball was my little lost friend following me around to keep me company. Nice- laugh it up- Kim's crazy- working too many hours by herself... fair enough. (Actually- I was an only child with a wild imagination whose toys each had their own personality. Also crazy but much more endearing as a child) Moving on- that was my last check of the day so I laughed it off, and went back down to the rental office. After a few quite long hours, 5pm came and I shut down the office, turned the alarm on and locked the door. As I was about to head outside to walk back to our apartment, that same frickin' beach ball was sitting very calmly outside the door. Like it was waiting for me. Creepy. It was a bit- "the call is coming from inside the house..." Yeah, "My little friend" was actually an inanimate object stalking me. I'll admit, I have some irrational fears- but that little ball crossed the line... it came around a corner, then around the fenced pool, then over a 4 foot wall to rest under an overhang outside my office door. (With relatively no wind to speak of!) Needless to say, I went through the garage to avoid having to look over my shoulder to see if it was following me home. Next time you know it- it would be following me up the stairs or somehow freakishly figuring out how to press the 12 button in the elevator... I wasn't about to have that. It was a shockingly disturbing afternoon.


A close second to this unnerving event was the naming of our family car- "Thunderbelt!!!" She purrs like a kitten and squeaks like a mouse! Beep! Beep! (For those of you who don't know, Thunderbelt is Ryan's black vibe. If you've never seen a vibe, look it up. 4 cylinders of pure Thunder baby! (Disclaimer: Vibes are awesome and we love ours!)

Thanks for wasting your time on my non insightful post. PEACE!

Another memory

I was standing next to this little girl who had one bare foot and one pink flip flop. (We were watching the other girls kick our teams butt in soccer.) Anyhow, I asked her where her other shoe was... she looked at me a little blankly then walked away. I figured I either scared her or bored her... but she came back a minute later with one of the older girls blue flip flops to finish watching the game with me. It made me happy so I painted her.

Asante Sana Africa

I heard something in Kenya that I loved! Pastor Imbumi Makuku said, "Hospitality is the one thing we don't need to import." It's true. From the moment we arrived, we were treated as if we had just come home. They give southern hospitality a run for it's money.