Tag Archives: newslettery

Renaissance Man, or, A Faire to Remember

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My kilt and wings

A couple of weeks ago, the family and I went to the  Texas Renaissance Festival and had a great time. My wife and I dressed up a bit, the kids went all out, and I got to spend the day experiencing fresh air like a true Scottsman.

Selfie with the fam!

This past weekend, while the wife and kids were in Oklahoma visiting the inlaws, I decided to take another trip up to the fair for the Yule celebration. Because I was on the bike (Azula) and also because it was 41F that morning, I did NOT wear my skirt. I bundled up nicely and even so, I was cold enough that I’m sure I could have been a glass cutter.

Me and Azula at the fair motorcycle parking lot

I fought procrastination the whole morning. I bought the ticket online the night before and all morning long I regretted it. I kept trying to convince myself that I shouldn’t have spent the money, that it was a long ways to go in the cold on a motorcycle, that it wouldn’t be as much fun by myself.

I couldn’t have been more wrong about any of it. I had a lovely time walking around, looking at the sites, meeting and talking with so many beautiful people, and eating some really good foods. It was a wonderful opportunity to fuel my creativity tank.

Link to all the photos I took at the fair that turned out good.
I created a page to upload all of the pics I took that turned out good

The link above has all the photos that turned out good, and the link below will take you the youtube for the video: https://youtu.be/PFl-V3zS_j0

Chicken Adventure

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Leghorn rooster

Recently I read a study about how humans mark time. Why Christmas seems so far away to kids, but New Years was just a few days ago to adults. It boils down to “core memories”. When you’re a kid, there are tons of FIRST TIME events. The first time you saw a duck was an exciting time for you. You may not remember the exact date, but it was a first. It was likely followed immediately by another first of being chased by a goose. Or the first time you kissed a girl. Or the first time you drove a car… There are a lot of firsts for kids. All of those firsts make the marking of a year seem like a very long time. As an adult, you’ve likely seen lots of waterfowl, driven lots of cars, and kissed plenty of girls. As the novelty wears off, so too do the making of memory anchors to mark time. One day you remember sitting at the table helping your son with his homework, and the next day, he has a whole little family of his own. And that time flies for everyone.

New flamingo exhibit at the Houston Zoo

To combat that, you have to have new adventures. You have to try new things and make new memories. You can do this in a lot of major or subtle ways. Try a new restaurant. Go to a new festival in a new town. Even something as simple as changing up your seating arrangements at home. All of these things create distinct anchors. The more anchors you have, the longer it seems for time to pass. Or, maybe it just feels like you’re living your life on purpose instead of it just being something that happens.

At the Clay Festival in Gruene, TX

A few weeks ago, I started having new adventures every Saturday. We’ve been at it for a month now. First, we went to the zoo. The next week, I had a volunteer weekend at work. Then Girl2 and I went to a two story bookstore and saw a movie in a different theater. Week before last, we went to a ceramic Clay Festival in Gruene, TX. And this weekend I went to a rescue farm to sketch chickens

Intense chicken staring

I took my sketches and used them as a reference for this little sketch I managed to knock out during a break at work.

And I did a color study for a larger painting.  There’s a video of that over on the YouTube: https://youtu.be/6qWQxZ9UFtw

Limiting Facebook and IG

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Pinup Practice

It has been a while since I’ve updated my website. Like so many others, I began using Facebook and Instagram to reach a wider audience. However, those platforms are zeroing in on creators and people with differing opinions. Discord updated their terms of service to say they could deplatform you for something you did while NOT on their platform. Imagine getting into an argument with someone and then trying to take a bus home, and the bus company won’t let you ride because they agreed with the person you were arguing with. It makes no sense.

Worse, they are closing in on risqué creators. If your art skills are good enough, the bots tag you. Once they start tagging you, the “punishments” compound, even if you get a previous violation overturned. One could probably argue that getting the previous violation overturned simply made them more intent on bringing you down.

With all that in mind, I’ll be doing what I should have been doing all along. I will publish on my website and share from there and through my newsletter. At least until my domain host and mail server decide to censor us too.

Weekly Roundup 26AUG2012

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The Art

 With all the craziness that comes with my beautiful, young bride’s school starting back up (she’s the art teacher) and me leaving for a week of training in Houston, there hasn’t been much activity on the Artistic Biker front, nor on the Oasis Gallery & Studios front.  We did manage to get a little arting in, but mostly it was about staying sane and not killing anyone.  While I was in Houston, I stopped in to the Ragin Cajun Oyster Bar and Grill and had TWO DOZEN OYSTERS!!! I love oysters and these were the awesomenest.  Those with six hushpuppies, dirty rice, two Blue Moon pints, a slice of bourbon pecan pie and a cup of spiced rum coffee and I thought they were going to have to roll me back to the hotel!

The Classroom

While we’re on the subject of sketching and painting in public, this week on The Classroom, I believe I’ll demonstrate and talk about the pros and cons of inktense over watercolor pencils.  That’ll be Tuesday night 7p central time at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/oasisgalleryok and the password is “arting”.

Daddy/Daughter Breakfast

Girl2 has really taken to drawing these doodle tangles that look like flowers, dragons, cats, owls..  Sometimes she colors them and sometimes she just scribbles something.  I encourage her to use her imagination during this time and she’s doing GREAT.  I have been getting a touch bored with drawing spoons and coffee mugs, so for the second week in a row I worked on the plastic flower.  My coffee mug is almost never empty at this cafe because the waitresses are all eager to see what we are doing each week.

The Video

Several weeks ago, I made a new art journal on The Artistic Biker Live.  Believe it or not, I finally got around to producing the You Tube video.  You can watch that here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnOPG2k9_2A

 Everything should get back to normal this week with the classroom, the show, and the progress on the studio.  There’s a lot still to do and a lot still in store so be sure and tune in each week for the craziness.