Feeling Springy

Howdy, looks like the days are getting longer and the sun is getting stronger. One thing we don't get a ton of here is 'California Skiing/Riding'. Most days on our mountain get socked in and we only get to see the sun for a few hours in the morn and early afternoon. Yesterday was a major exception. That bright ball of fury was on stage all day long and we rode as long as we could stand it. I wouil like to take a moment to say that no, I never did take my exam written or on-snow this season. Part of it was lack of snow, part of it was my work injury, and still some of it is my own lazy-ness. It's fine though, there's always next year. I can't imagine the world will stop skiing and or needing instructors. I can say on a wildly positive note that yesterday's sesh was one of the best since...well, the last time. Being from Cali and growing up skiing the sierras, from the late 70's all the way up to when I moved away in 06' there is one thing that gradually became worse. Crowds. Even when I left almost 20 years ago lift line waits were 45 mins. Hopefully I don't shoot myself in the foot here and considering I have under 20 followers I don't really see that happening. I snapped a couple of shots off the lift of the lower mountain yesterday. Keep in mnd that this is at 11:00 a.m. on a Monday the day after Easter. I gather that a lot of people probably had their fun on Fri-Sat-Sun, but still. The groomers were where it was at yesterday, it gave us a lot of time to work on form. Here, check out these shots of our home mountain yesterday...

Not a gosh dang soul in sight, This is one of the many reasons we love the Inland Empire/PNW. It was our last day going up for the season as well, so the send off was perfect. All that being said, I'm going to take this opportunity to re-read the PSIA's tech manual this summer. I might as well iron this stuff into my brain, especially if I plan on being an instructor sometime soon. We did have a lot of fun this season and we're already looking forward to next season!

The night was capped off with a fire in the backyard, some bbq chicken, and fetch with Stan.

Kat and I have some camp trips already lined up to Priest Lake in ID. One of our favorite places to escape and relax. So, I am pretty excited to get some shots of the surrounding area for those that are unfamiliar with that area or just interested in seeing it. Alright, lets talk art for a few. I'm still working on Stormshadow, I am about to go back in to the outline and darken it up. I think I stated that this was inspired by 80's comics and registration lines were pretty heavy so, I will need to re-visit that. I still have quite a bit of 'tuning' to do on this one, but of course I'll keep you abreast of the situation. Here is where the Stormshadow piece is sitting as of right now;

It's been a fun piece to work on and this one tested my color mixing as far as skin tones. My color theory teacher from AiLV Amanda Farrar would be proud of the research I had to do to try and balance our multiple tones on one person. Anywhoo I do as always appreciate you taking a moment out of your lives to check my blog out. A lot of things have changed for me in the last few years and I am happy with those changes. It can be hard getting old without the family structure I was raised with. Neither of us have anything in the way of support, in fact it's quite the opposite. I guess what i'm trying to say is that sometimes you are the support even for yourself. It starts with understanding who you are and what drives you.

Stormshadow

Hello, we meet again. Just an update, I'm trying to be more consistent with my posts. I realize I have like 10 views a month and 5 of them are probably me. To be honest though this blog is more for me than for you. It has become a sort of spot for me to reflect and to realize who I am as an artist, a lover, and a human effing being. I think my art refelcts a happer time in my past. Comics, movies, watching 'Friday The 13th' for the first time. Not that I'm not happy now mind you, just a time when money was less important but worth more, a time with less 'influencers' and more 'doers.' Even then though, most doers weren't concerned with who could see them and like them. Theirs was to build a bank of memories to take along with on this nutso adventure we call 'life.' One could draw on these memories at any given time and create that bit of euphoria and adrenaline only etched memories can. I always expected things to change, for people to change. I just thought we would keep our connection to nature and one another. Between my wife's job and myself we both deal with a lot of different kinds of people because hey! everyone needs to eat, and everyone needs to drink. In our industries we deal with rich people, poor people, old people, young people, drunk people, religious people, hateful people, happy people, even those that are too happy. My point being is that I see a lot of new faces everyday in my industry as does my other half and the amount of hate and anger we experience is overwhelming these days. We are both happy people from loving homes who lost our fathers when we were young. Our fathers were our connection, our love. Luckily that love and morality has persevered, it has given the both of us a reason to keep going. I paint pop culture of the 80's and 90's because for me it has flavor, pop.

Here is my update; Stormshadow is coming along. I started the fleshy layers today and hope to get more shading/black laid in there at some point later. So far this had been one of my favorite pieces to work on. I feel like my technique is getting cleaner and the pieces look more like I envision them. I know that it's art and part of its taste lies in its imperfections. Its 'Happy Accidents' as old Bob Ross used to say. I will also plug another King novel I just finished. This one is (as far as I know) King's ONLY non-fiction he's ever written. 'Danse Macabre' and I recommend it to anyone interested in writing/reading novels, scripts, or just a fan of horror in general. King wrote this book back in 84' (I believe) and of course as we stated times have changed. Fundamentals however, don't. The book is a kind of recipie for horror. In it King gives highlights on the best horror writers, and directors over the last 30 years. This would have covered the 50's through the 80's. King points out the successes and shortcomings of some of his most influential horror writers (yes, even his own). I inserted a link above that will take you to the cheaper version of the book (same one I have). With that I will thank you once again for scanning these cerebral spillings, take care and don't forget to smile. :-)

G.I. Joe, and a lack of snow.

Heyo! hope you are doing well. I have a quick update on my art and wanted to share it with you. When last we connected I had shown a rough sketch of Snake Eyes. I did 'finish' it and thought it turned out pretty cool. Stylized for sure, but I thought It worked with my style/vibe. The piece is acrylic and pen, my usual go to. I did however experiment more with adding layers of guesso in certain areas to see how it affected paint absorption and texture. One thing I did like about the guesso is its ablility to help hide sketch lines going into the blocking/painting phase. I have a heavy hand when it comes to sketching. I have always liked heavy registration lines probably from comics and cartoons. I found that the guesso really hides those superficial lines and leaves the important ones. This is the 'finished' version of 'Snake Eyes'. As usual i'm still tweaking it when I notice things that need fixing. For the most part though, it's done.

Now, If I am to paint one I felt the urge to paint the other...yes, 'Stormshadow'. The inspiration on these is 80's comics. These colorful pages were our Marvel movies. It's kinda funny when I look back on high school. I was often bullied for wearing a 'Spider Man' tee shirt because of its childish stigma. Now, wheew, studios are making millions regurgitating old storylines and bringing them to life via computer animation and post visual effects. Don't get me wrong I do love the marvel and DC movies, just funny how times, trends, flavors....change. Alright, enough of that; here is a rough sketch shot of my next piece. I want to work the same BG as the previous 'Snake Eyes' as the two were inspired by one piece.

Other than that, I'm still waiting to take my level 1's for PSIA. It's been a light season for snow. If we don't get another good couple storms my local mountain will probably be closed by mid March. It's sad but what can ya do? Anyway, I know this was a short one but I really just wanted to post an update on my new piece and sketch for my new one. As usual, thanks for taking the time to check out my blog and I hope to get another update on 'Stormshadow' sooner rather than later. Peace, my friends.