Boba Fett N' Bananas!

Hello! I am back with a quick update on my new Boba Fett acrylic. I also have a special treat for you today! I had to divide my Musa basjoo before the winter smacked us with snow up here in the inland empire. So, I'm gunna focus on something a lil' different...horticulture. One thing about me that I don't really mix up here on my personal journal/blog/vlog is my background in horticulture. I have been working in the horticulture industry for well over 25 years. You name it, I've probably done it. I maintain an instagram account by the name of Hort_Thirsty. I usually don't mix the two online personalities, but today, were gunna. I went ahead and inserted a link above if you want to check out my 'other life'. The photos I have compiled on there span about the last fifteen years of my 30 plus hort experience. Most of the shots are from various nurseries I have had the pleasure of working for over the last couple decades. First off, let's talk painting. I have a shot of my current working piece. The going on this one is a little slower than expected, but I have been a lot busier with winter coming on. The job fair on Mt. Spokane is right around the corner, and I am stoked to have access to two resorts this year.

The piece is still really flat as I am still in the blocking phase of the painting. I need to finish with the color blocking, then I can start to add layers upon layers to create different lighting and depth effects. I started on October 6th with this piece, so we can see that I'm just over two weeks in. I would say the amount of hours put in thus far is approximately three to four. I am excited to see this one grow as each piece teaches me something new about art, as well as myself. OKAY! Let's talk Bananas, primarily the Japanese Snow Banana. The Musa basjoo as it's knows to plant geeks like myself has always been one of my favorite ornamental tropical plants. When we lived in Portland OR. I had many in our backyard. The heavy rains were perfect for them. If you've ever been in or around these plants in heavy rain you know how awesome and amazing the sound is. It reminds me of a jungle paradise, particularly the movie 'Romancing The Stone.' I have video of our previous backyard in a heavy rain back in Portland, I will see if I can drum it up for a future post. For now though I want to walk through the steps to divide an ornamental banana, so, I will stop my mental walk in the park and get down to some plant business!

First I get all my poop in a group moved close together. The plant is about to go through surgery and we want to make its transition as easy as possible. I have my mother plant/the plant, I have my additional containers of which I need two, I have available fresh soil which I'm just gong to pull from my veggie beds here in the background, and I have my cutting tool which should be very sharp. You will also want to water all plants immediately to help with the transition.

At this point I like to add soil to my new containers. This prevents the plant root ball from resting on the bottom of the new container. We want the root ball completely surrounded by soil. We can tweak the amount later but for now I fill em about two thirds full. Okay, next we want to nest or plant the new root ball into its new home. As I stated earlier create a pocket for the new root ball so all side are covered by soil. This is a shot of how much of the root ball I felt was enough for a successful transpanting.

Boba-Dacious!

Okay, I have my new piece figured out. I hemmed and I hawed at a couple of different ideas, but in the end I went with Boba Fett. I'm currently on season 2 of The Mandalorian and find it to be a pretty good show. I take a little longer to jump on board with a show, sometimes years will pass before I like a song or a movie. Like life needed to let you experience something before you can really appreciate it. I thought of painting The Mandalorian but felt like it would be wrong somehow. I was raised with Boba Fett and naturally gravitate to him. Anyway here is a shot of the sketch from this afternoon.

I am hoping to get started sketching the piece out on canvas tomorrow. Once I have it sketched out I can guesso the canvas and get ta paintin' Super quick update for my online journal. I'll post some updates of the new piece soon.

Finished Venom

Hey yo papa jo, I have here my finished Venom Piece. This one was fun. The palette was limited and layering really brought this piece forward and gave it depth. I originally wanted to have the paint drip away to the bottom of the canvas, but I feel like at this point it might ruin the cleanliness of the finished piece.

Anywhoo, I wanted to start sketching my next piece that I am a bit conflicted about. I'm trying to decide between 3 characters I want to paint. Other than that I cant say things have been too exciting. The weather here is changing and the snow will soon fall. I will be spending a lot of time riding this year, with working on one mountain and freeriding the others. I have one more webinar to hit this years credit quota. Which will keep me current with the PSIA for another season. I am about to take in my new K2 Reckoners to get the bindings mounted and should have a couple shots of the new planks. Also, we won some free passes to Schweitzer this season, four to be precise. I'm stoked to ride there as it's normally too rich for my blood. Oh yeah also, hockey is right around the corner. I'm gong all in for the Kraken again this season. Take care, I should have a new update soon as I want to get started on another piece quickly.