Lets Here It For Love

Hello ghouls and zombies. Halloween is here. Typically, my favourite holiday. Why? Because I always enjoyed the fun of trick or treating around good ol Wales when I was younger. Then as I got older, I took out my lil bro on our skateboards. Got to houses a lot faster and could hit up some of the farther streets. I think last year was the first time Jill and I didn't do anything at all. Used to hit up parties (sometimes my buddy's when we lived in our apartment) This is the VERY first time in...well a LONG time I get to take my own kid out on Halloween. That is, if the weather stays good. I'm working 6am-2pm, then around 4, my family is coming out to visit and take out Mia and her cousin Alex trick or treating. She's not really going to get any candy, but we're gonna walk around the neighborhood. Should be a good time if it doesn't rain. It's amazing how you go from drinking PBR's with your friends to taking out your kid dressed for success.

In other news, I've been diligently working on a picture of Mia. I've been drawing the picture of Mia with my Maple Leafs hat on. I love her eyes and the lighting and shadows. HAD to draw it. So far, it's coming along quite nicely. Can't wait to finish it. I keep putting other art on hold so I can get this done. It's not even for anyone. I'm just happy to be putting forward all my passion in this beautiful picture of the kid who makes me the happiest.

Usually by Friday night I'm ready to explode at work. Hopefully that doesn't happen.

Skips A Beat (Over You)

Hello dudes and dudettes. Art Update-So I've been working here and there on my Milhouse drawing. Nailed the outline and layout of everything. The other night I started dropping some colour into it. Made some rather unpleasant mistakes and currently, am scrapping it for now. I dropped the colour a LITTLE too thick for the picture. Too much all at once. Not happy with it at all. Next attempt (when I get the chance) I'm going much lighter. For now, I'm putting the drawing on the side and plan on working hard on Nick's album (which I've been saying for weeks and weeks and weeks) Thankfully, he's freakin' patient. Has to be for all the different people we've played with over the years.

Oh, do I miss the nights of staying up real late and drawing or painting into the wee hours of the morning drinking bottle after bottle of Guinness and listening to beautiful music. But at the same time, I need to sleep at night. 6 a.m. comes too early, and even though I'm writing this at 11:19pm, I'm still sorta wired from the usual hectic day of work. No big deal. Nothing new. Speaking of art, you ever look outside in the fall and notice how unbelievably gorgeous the trees are lined with amazing bright colours? It's like a piece of art. Hell, it IS art. THAT's why I like Fall, folks. It's beautiful scenery all around. Don't get me wrong. Wisconsin has great scenery most of the year. Winter has it's moments. One time, Jill and I were driving back from her parent's house in Illinois, and she looks at me and says "hey that barn looks amazing can we stop and shoot some pics of it?" So of course we did. Sometimes even in our hectic days of work, we need to stop, and enjoy the scenery. Take it all in and breath.

Keep posted for new art. Hopefully in the near future.

Alert The Audience!

So I stumbled upon a movie coming out in November that I REALLY hope comes to the South Eastern WI area. The Other F-Word is a documentary (directed by Morgan Spurlock who did Supersize Me) about punk rock/rock musicians (and Tony Hawk for some reason) dealing/handling with fatherhood along with playing music. Sounds pretty similar to myself, except these guys are much older and have been playing and touring for many years. I find myself relating to them because even though I haven't played on countless albums and toured the world, I know balancing is pretty tough, but the rewards of fatherhood is beyond amazing. Flea (from the Chili Peppers) tears up in the trailer about how his kids gave him life. Bingo. Sometimes the simple life is preferred for these fine musicians and your family will always be there for you.

Even though I miss playing music so so much, I still can't believe I'm a father. Mia's even giving hugs now. Seriously!! Ask my Mom or Jill. Hugs them too. Today she was looking out the window, turns around and gives me a hug, then turns around to check outside again. She knows what makes her happy and it's having two loving parents in her life. I hope she can see me perform some day. It'd be so fun to ask her "so how did Daddy perform?" Even when I'd play in some packed places (rare) I'd be way more interested in what Jill thought. She's more blunt and honest. Thankfully, she rarely could tell if I missed something for some reason. :P

Working more and more on my Milhouse drawing. Hopefully finish it in the next few days or at least before Monday.

Annihilation Eyes

Beautiful day out. The kind of weather that helps you forget all the problems you have. Well, at least that's what I'm thinking for the time being. Anyways, recently my friend Micaela and I were discussing our favourite art mediums we use. Here's my thoughts on the different traditional mediums I've used.

I typically use pencil/graphite the most because it's the most comfortable for the subject or object I'm drawing. I tend to do mostly portraits, tattoos, some nature work in pencil.

Water colour used to be my number one enemy going through HS and college. It's real tough, with having to let go of some some of the control when painting. But luckily the last few things I've done, I've had great success including that tree picture I posted a while back and the Hawaii one I did. So it's a medium I've enjoyed exploring over the years.

Oil painting surprisingly, I really enjoy doing. It's a pain in the ass for a lot of people, including myself, but I LOVE the finished product in the end. I've got a few good pieces, but I know I can do something epic. I've got a sad unfinished piece sitting in my studio/2nd bedroom. Every time I look at it, I think "ahh some day I'll complete you". I first worked on it last winter in the wee hours of the night/morning. Just layers and layers and I hope to work on it again.

Charcoal I've used a handful of times. Like water colour, you have to sorta let go of some control, or at least try. You have to let the charcoal dance across the page in smooth strokes and hope to execute the vision. I've got two portraits I did of Remi hanging in my living room. One I really like, the other one 'eh'. The 2nd one I did with some graphite for a little detail. I really like charcoal and hope to do some more work with it in the future.

Pen/ink/marker I could probably play with more. During my 28 days of Art series, I did a portrait of Van Gogh in some markers and ink that turned out pretty rad. It's sorta tough, because unlike pencil, you're laying down permanent strokes on the page, so you have to make it count. Unless you're doing something less detailed and more abstract. I enjoy it, and probably should do more of it.

Colour pencil like graphite, I do sorta more often then the other ones. Jill REALLY likes my attention to detail and colours when I work with colour pencil. I treat colour pencil like I'm painting. I use lots of layering techniques to get sort of a brush stroke feel.

Acrylic I've used quite a bit, but I'm not the biggest fan of. At least at the moment. I think the paint dries to fast for my liking. I like going back and working and mixing in some of the colours and it just doesn't work for me half the time. I'll get better at it more and more I hope.