28 July 2009

Painting Update #3


I added a little oil pastel to highlight and darken some select areas. I think I'm about finished. I'm going to let it sit a while and revisit it next week with a clear head. I can't wait to take some pics in NYC. I'll post about the trip when I get back next week.
Posted by Unknown at 7/28/2009 1 comments
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27 July 2009

Digging Up Santa Fe

San Miguel Pastel


Santa Fe Watercolor

The Dallas Morning News had an entire section in yesterday's paper about one of my favorite places to visit, Santa Fe, New Mexico. You can't beat the natural beauty, art galleries, and restaurants in Santa Fe. Here are some old paintings I dug up with the Santa Fe train logos on it and a pastel of San Miguel Mission Church, said to be the country's oldest church structure. Speaking of favorite places to visit, my wife and I are leaving on a trip Wednesday morning to New York City. We can't wait to experience all NYC has to offer and hopefully make it one of our new favorite places to visit!
Posted by Unknown at 7/27/2009 2 comments
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26 July 2009

Deathray Davies at Sons of Hermann Hall

Double-Wide decor

Deathray Davies

Last night my brother and I were able hang out in some of our favorite spots in Dallas. I'll give you the quick rundown. We had some burgers at the Lakewood Landing. They were good as usual. Then we headed down to the Double-Wide for some cheap PBR. If you've never been to Double-Wide then you need to go check it out. It has wood paneling, stuffed animal heads on the wall, bed sheet curtains, felt paintings, and bad TV. The TVs had WWO wrestling on last night...in Spanish.....classic! One time I was there they had footage of tornadoes on constant loop....even better. After a few drinks we headed over to Sons of Hermann Hall to watch the Deathray Davies play. DRD is one of my favorite bands and they have been on quite the hiatus as of late so it was good to see them back on the road. It was a great show.
Posted by Unknown at 7/26/2009 3 comments
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24 July 2009

Painting Update #2


I added the sky and painted in the grain silo yesterday. I'm happy with it so far , but I'm not sure if it is living up to the vision I had before I started. Sometimes that happens in the art world. It did give me a few ideas for the next one I start.....so that's a good thing. I'm gonna dabble a little more and see if I can't spruce this one up some. I am very happy with the underpainting on the silo...I like that effect.
26:43
Posted by Unknown at 7/24/2009 2 comments
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23 July 2009

Buried Treasure - Digging Deeper - Star Chart Collage Revisited


Here is another buried treasure from my blog. This is all a part of the Buried Treasure experiment put together by Seth Apter at The Altered Page. It is a great opportunity to see some great artwork and great posts from bloggers all over. Check out the full list of participants here.


Here is the original post for the image above from New Years Eve 2008:


This is a collage I did a few years ago. It is a combination of a star chart from an old atlas and some magazine clippings. The movie scene clipping is James Dean in the movie "Giant".......filmed in Marfa of course. Have a great New Years Eve!
Posted by Unknown at 7/23/2009 8 comments
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22 July 2009

Painting Update #1


Yesterday, I drew in the grain silo and painted it in with a red-orange. I'm going to block in the sky soon and then begin the detail work on the silo.
Posted by Unknown at 7/22/2009 4 comments
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21 July 2009

New Painting - Frisco Grain Elevator - Step By Step

#5 The backing is finally off. I accidentally tore up some of the logo while I was removing the paper. That is okay in this project because I'm going for a banged up rustic look and it will be painted over anyway. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow and not worry about those little things!




#4 Once the logo has been attached to the collage and has fully dried, I wet a small rag and soak the back of the transfer paper. I then rub the paper backing off very carefully. You have to keep it soaked to get good results.



#3 After both are dry, I take the logo and place it face down on the collage. I then put a piece of transfer paper (wax paper) on top and begin to heat it up and iron the logo down to the collage.




#2 Coat the collage with Golden Polymer Medium. I also coat a reversed image of the Frisco railroad with the GPM. This logo is printed on a special Acrylic Transfer paper I ordered from Jonathan Talbot.



#1 Glue down old maps, train schedules, book pages with Golden Acrylic Gel.



I'm beginning to work on a series of Frisco, Texas inspired collage paintings for an upcoming show in the fall. I started a small 12 x 12 collage painting Monday night. I wanted to start smaller for some practice before I moved to the larger scaled ones. Above is the step by step process of the early stages. I have no secrets, so use these techniques if you like or let me know if you have any better ways of doing this. Let me know if you have any questions. I learned these techniques from a book by Jonathan Talbot.
Posted by Unknown at 7/21/2009 4 comments
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20 July 2009

New Shelf

Normal setting
Lounge vibe....

Here is my new bookshelf with the LOUNGE sign giving off it's lounge vibe. The record player has a new home as well as the albums. Finally this room is straightened up. I'm starting a new painting tonight! I'm excited!
Posted by Unknown at 7/20/2009 1 comments
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17 July 2009

Estate Sale Finds #2 - 2009


I hit a couple of estate sales yesterday in the north Dallas area. At the first sale I picked up about 10 old maps of Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado from the 1950's. They have some great collage potential. At the second sale I bought an entire box of 1960's train schedules from around 30 or so different railroads. There were 167 in all! I plan on selling some of these in lots on EBAY and using the other ones for some new artwork I'm planning out. I also bought an old Scrabble game. There are tons of crafts that you can do with those old Scrabble pieces. Overall it was a successful outing. Thursday and Friday mornings are the best for estate sales in Dallas. I love the thrill of the hunt.
Posted by Unknown at 7/17/2009 5 comments
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16 July 2009

Buried Treasures #2 - El Cortez Casino Sign Watercolor

Here is a buried treasure for the Altered Page special - Buried Treasures

Here is the newest painting in my 5 x 7 watercolor series. It is a painting of the El Cortez Casino sign. It is also one of the inspirations for my "El" painting that I'm working on.....well not actually working on, but one I've started. Scroll down if you haven't seen it yet. Like I've said earlier.....I really like these small paintings. They are a blast to do and take no time at all to finish.
Posted by Unknown at 7/16/2009 12 comments

Buried Treasures #1 - Horseshoe Lounge Collage Painting



This is a painting that I did about a year and a half ago. It is a painting on an old Texas map. I glued the map down on to an 8 x 10 canvas using acrylic medium and then drew out the sign. I think the map background adds a cool and unique look. The Horseshoe Lounge is a little dive on the south side of Austin. I've always liked the sign, and thought it would make a great painting. It was my first attempt at doing the old neon signs. I have done quite a few more since. I'll post them later. Slaid Cleaves has a song called "Horseshoe Lounge". It is usually in my head when I look at this work. Good stuff.
Posted by Unknown at 7/16/2009 9 comments

15 July 2009

Summer Gumbo


It was 104 yesterday here in Dallas...and no, it's not a dry heat. I decided to make a huge pot of gumbo. I have had a recipe that was burning a hole in my pocket ever since I got it in June. My cousin's girlfriend...well fiancée now is from Lafayette, Louisiana and she made up some gumbo while we were in Colorado a month ago. It was delicious! Some of the best I've ever had. I of course hounded her for the recipe. She was nice enough to share it and write it out for me. I decided last night was as good as any to give it a whirl. It was very easy to make and turned out great. I may play around with some of the ingredients to put my own spin on it. I think I'll have some for lunch today too. E-mail me if you would like to try it for yourself....I'll send you a copy of the recipe.


Tomorrow Seth Apter of the very cool blog The Altered Page is doing a feature called Buried Treasure. He will be showcasing numerous art blogs and posts from the past. Be sure and check it out. I'm going to put an older art post or two on my site for tomorrow for the project.


25:28 - The hill was tough today. I'm hoping that the 5K course in McKinney is flat....I don't think I would know what to do if I didn't have to run up a large hill to start my run every morning.
Posted by Unknown at 7/15/2009 1 comments
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14 July 2009

Lone Star Beer Bottle Cap


Here is a watercolor painting that I did many years ago of one of my old Lone Star Beer bottle caps. I found this under some old books while I was cleaning. What a gem!
17:22 - 2 mile run today. Felt very sluggish. I played some basketball Sunday night....legs felt a little heavy. I did register for an upcoming 5K race in McKinney, Texas on August 8th. I now have something to shoot for and a time to beat. I like the t-shirt design and the fact that the race is in the historic district.
Posted by Unknown at 7/14/2009 2 comments
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13 July 2009

Studio Clean Up Day #2

Tomorrow's work...need any sports pages from any big Texas Tech victories? I got em.

The corner of doom.

Am I the only one that has 4 shoeboxes full of postcards, coasters, ticket stubs, decals, and other small paper items? I love these boxes.


The new bookshelf.....can't wait to fill it up....neatly of course.

Well I decided to go ahead a dig in a little today and see if I could make a little progress with cleaning up my studio/office. I tackled two more sections today. I was trying to organize some of my books. I have a lot of books that I keep around for future collages. I also have tons of art, sports, Texana, and history books that I enjoy having around for my personal use. Around lunch time today we went over to IKEA, which is about 5 minutes from the house. It's our annual trip to browse. I caved in a bought a new book shelf for my room to help "clear the clutter" if you will. I put it together in about 2o minutes and then I started going through my other bookshelves to divide up the books. Tomorrow I'm going to hit my newspaper, magazine, and program collection. I'm also looking for stuff to possibly sell on EBAY. Above are some pics of the new bookshelf and some of the paper stuff I'm going to sift through tomorrow.
Posted by Unknown at 7/13/2009 1 comments
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11 July 2009

7-11 - Free Slurpee Day


Don't forget to go pick up your free 7 .11 oz. Slurpee at 7-11 today. We've gone twice already....and it's only 5:19.

7/11/09 - 25:50 - Felt sluggish today, but my time was the best yet....even after that huge Tex-Mex dinner at Luna De Noche last night....yum!

Posted by Unknown at 7/11/2009 0 comments

10 July 2009

Lone Star Texas Flags - Cleaning Out the Studio




I'm in the process of cleaning out and organizing my studio/office....ugh. All of you artists know what I mean. I have so much stuff packed away because I may use it sometime.....yeah right. I got to one corner of my room today and I did actually find some stuff to trash.......but this was the easy corner....the least cluttered. This is going to take a while but I'm determined to comb through the unwanted or useless stuff. Today I found a ton of old paintings and drawings from 10+ years. The pics above are some of my favorites that I haven't seen in years. I'll post some more old school stuff later on...this might be fun to reminisce.
Posted by Unknown at 7/10/2009 1 comments
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09 July 2009

The The King Bucks - Dallas, Texas - Honky Tonk Music At It's Best.


Tonight I went and watched The King Bucks play at Hank's in McKinney. All I can say is wow! I saw these guys open up for Ryan Bingham back in May at the Granada and I liked what I heard....so I went back to make sure my ear was correct. It was. The King Bucks play old school honky tonk music that I can't seem to get enough of. They are all very talented musicians that share the spotlight throughout the show. To all my Dallas area readers...if there are any out there.....get out and see these guys....you will not be disappointed...and let me know if you go because I'll go too.


I promise that next week I'm going to start a new painting. I've been entertaining my two children all week, which can be a challenge at times.....but fun of course! Next week I should be able to get a little more time for art in my life. Seems like recently all I've had going on is food, music, and food. Which is not always a bad thing!
Posted by Unknown at 7/09/2009 0 comments
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08 July 2009

Colorado Purchase - Elk Antlers


While we were in Castle Rock, Colorado we did a little shopping at The Barn.....you know looking for junky trinkets and such. My wife and I had been talking recently about finding some antlers to put up in our house.....to kind of give it that Georgia O'Keefe vibe. I wanted an old deer skull with antlers, but Carrie wanted just antlers. We found a good compromise in Castle Rock at The Barn. A huge rack of elk antlers mounted on the wall. They were a little bigger than we had originally planned on, but he price was right and I thought they looked cool. The picture above is the rack a few weeks ago when I bought them. I'm going to take all the fur off of the skull before we hang them inside. I'll post a pic of the antlers in their final indoor resting place once I get it finished.

7/8/09 - 26:27 - One full minute off of Monday's run. Don't think I can keep that going too long before it levels off somewhat.
Posted by Unknown at 7/08/2009 2 comments
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07 July 2009

Chicago Hot Dog


One thing that I was most looking forward to when I visited Chicago was having an authentic Chicago style hot dog. I can now mark that off the list. If you are unfamiliar with the Chicago style hot dogs....here is a quick run down.

Steamed poppy seed hot dog bun
All beef hot dog- Vienna Beef
Yellow mustard
Chopped white onion (raw)
Neon green relish
Sport peppers
Tomato wedges
Crisp kosher dill pickle spear
Dash of celery salt

I had my dog within the confines of Wrigley Field and it was delicious!
Posted by Unknown at 7/07/2009 1 comments
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06 July 2009

4th of July - New Braunfels, Texas

Tom Gillam at Gruene Hall on July 4th in the afternoon.

Me and John Evans.....I knew I should have worn my other glasses!

The John Evans Band - or J-E-B

The 4th of July Parade

Tubing the Comal River....and no those are not my feet.

My family and I just got back from visiting the folks down in New Braunfels, Texas. It was a great week. It was over 100 degrees everyday. Some of the highlights include:

* Seeing the John Evans Band perform for free at Billy's Ice House.
* Going to Gruene Hall to catch Bo Porter on Thursday afternoon and Tom Gillam on Sat.
* Tubing the Comal River - very refreshing. If you've never done it....what are you waiting for?
* The New Braunfels 4th of July Parade and fireworks...this town knows how to celebrate.
* Hitting the San Marcos outlet malls with my wife.
* Celebrating my 37th birthday on July 5th with my family...mom's homemade ice cream was
off the hook!
I'm also determined to get into my running routine again. I have a 3.15 mi. course that I jog around my neighborhood. I'm going to try and post my time everyday that I run this course. I try to do it every other day. Maybe this will hold me accountable for going.
7/6/09 - 27:28
Posted by Unknown at 7/06/2009 3 comments
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01 July 2009

Week Off

I'm hanging out in south Texas all week with the family. Enjoy the your 4th of July. Next week, I'll get this thing rolling again.
Posted by Unknown at 7/01/2009 0 comments
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