The Window Is The Door

Well, this weekend was choked full of coughing and sneezing and stuffed noses and amazing times. My recent illness (which I'm pretty over with now) spread to my darling Mia and my better half. Luckily, they're both doing better but Thursday evening Mia was super stuffed up with hardcore crying from the teething and Friday night, Jill was sick. After some much needed sleep this weekend, we're all doing much better. Mia's dealing with teething on her own terms. I've got stacks of art projects coming. 1/4 sleeve for a co-worker, Marine tattoo for another, I've got a fun sketch I'm planning on doing this week of every one's favourite punch-line, Milhouse from the Simpsons, an Arcade Anonymous logo for etsy, and of course Nick's solo album. A lot of these projects aren't major do-or-die things. Just art projects. While we're on the subject of art, it reminds me of why I do it in the first place.

Art, is one's expression when words won't do. Words can sometimes confuse and over-step a feeling, but art is something for the mind and the heart. I love love love going to art galleries and shows with Jill. Every place we've ever traveled, we always stop somewhere and look at art. Most of the time, we buy something. In New York through a small art sale, we picked up a neat piece. In Hawaii, we met the nicest local painter that sold us three beautiful pieces that was super friendly to talk to. In California (I think Monterrey) we looked at some expensive galleries (obviously, we didn't buy anything) Looking at other's art, inspires me in so many ways. I may not paint that day, or week, but I know every time I look at it'll spark up some creativity down the road. The creative mind never dies, and I hope mine can stay sharp for as long as I live.

Spotlights

Running on fumes as I type this late night blog post. The last few days I've been feeling ill. Tuesday night at work I felt like my throat was dragged across a cactus. Wednesday was my day off and I didn't feel much better; more stuffed up and congested. Which sucks because I had the entire day with Mia and she's the LAST one I want to get sick. So last night I spent the night in our guest bedroom. Jill told me that if I cough once I'm otta there and I'm not mad about it. I don't want to wake anybody up, nor get them sick. Mia's got TWO teeth coming in now. Twice the angry cries. Yesterday she was so freakin upset when she ate. She didn't even want a bottle anymore. Just something for the pain. Hopefully she can pull through it and we can move on to the next few teeth.

Tomorrow (despite the fact that we don't really celebrate it because we're married) would mark our 7 year anniversary when we started dating. 7 years is a long long time, but it's totally gone by so fast. One minute we're studying for an accounting test, the next we're giving Mia a bath. It's pretty nuts. I can't imagine my life with anyone else. When I hear from other guys how great it is being single and how they can do whatever they want (or whomever they want), with no one to answer to, it just sounds like a shallow meaningless life. I, however enjoy coming home to my family at night. Waking up with a happy baby, and spending my off nights just simply relaxing with Jill and Mia. Walking with Remi in the morning is the ultimate way to relax before starting my day. I miss playing shows every weekend, but I can't wait till Mia's older and can watch me play music live or paint in my studio. When I see how curious and interested she gets in everything, it just makes myself and Jill smile, and that's what really matters.

Landed

So this weekend was pretty busy. We had Jill's parents visit over the weekend. My one day off on Saturday, it rained all day so that was of course absolutely amazing right? Poor Remi (our dog) spent the storm trying to find a good hiding place. Today, they headed back home, which of course made Jill cry. She always tears up when they leave. Even though I was at work before they left, I knew on my drive to work it would be a tearful goodbye. Every time we either leave for WI, or see them head back to IL, It's always a hard goodbye, and every time I always feel bad for my wife. After college, she stuck got hired full time in Wisconsin instead of going back home and of course, we moved in together. I sometimes wonder if it would have been better to have moved to Illinois so she could be closer with her family...but she reassures me that she is quite happier in Wisconsin and doesn't regret the decision on staying here. I defiantly love being close to my family, but I think I could have lived with living 2 1/2 hours away. It would have been tough for my parents being far from Mia, but I know it's tough for Jill's parents as well. They have told me in 5 years, they'd like to move up here, which would be great. They are without a doubt, some of the nicest people I've ever met. Her Dad let me marry is only daughter for crying out loud! Her brother is a witty, creative and a caring guy that I will always treat as another brother. Of course her mother gives unconditional love and support only a mother could.

My parents came over today for a Labor Day brunch we kinda threw together. I always love it when they're all here in one place; getting the chance to hang with Mia and visit. Well, enough of all that seriousness for now. Fall seems to be coming quicker then usual. Which means that dreaded Winter will be here before we know it. Good grief.

Endless Miles

Well, Mia's asleep which is good because she hasn't slept much today. We tried rice cereal again today and she wasn't having it. Maybe swallowed the tiniest bit, but that's it, really. I love off days. I can't stress that enough. Even when Mia was real little and cried 90 percent of my wednesday off, I still would rather be here then anywhere. Work drains me every day. It still leaves me in disbelief that I'm at Kwik Trip still after 14 years of employment. Some days I wish I had taken more risks with other jobs in my field (the few that there were) but I just never felt good about certain job postings I saw. The few graphic design jobs I did take ended up being pretty awful in the end. So now, I'm left to doing art of all kinds freelance. It's just what's possible for me. Currently, I've got some album art, a logo for an Etsy store and a 1/4 sleeve tattoo on my plate so in any spare time I'm not feeding/changing/playing/rocking Mia, I will work on that pile.

The Rice Cereal Experimentation

So This blog originally was my canvas to talk about my art and music. Well, since I haven't been able to do much art in the last 5 months since my daughter Mia was born, I'd like to open up the blog to include all the adventures regarding parenthood and the pursuit of happiness.

Saturday, we tried rice cereal with Mia. We knew we were in for a messy experience but hey, that's okay right? I mean, she craps and drools everywhere so what's a little rice cereal all over herself? First attempt went pretty well for the most part. It appeared that she ate some of the mushy stuff, even though most of it wound up on her face and hair. This morning, we tried it again and she didn't care for it. She was rather cranky and wanted nothing to do with eating the smelly stuff. We'll try it again maybe tomorrow when she's in a better mood.

2011 Goals

Hey all! It's going to be a busy year for myself. In March this year, I'll become a father. (no not some sort of priest) My wife and I are expecting our first child and we couldn't be more excited. With that in mind, I've got a lot of goals and achievements I'd like to accomplish this year.

1) Finish an oil painting I started in 2010.

2) Design a popular shirt for Threadless T-Shirts

3) Design a new shirt for my band

4) Feb 1st, I'd like to start an art piece a day series where I draw/paint every day start to finish for a month. It's going to be super difficult because it takes a lot of time to come up with something THEN to finish it. ALL in one day. I think I can do it.

5) I'd like to finish my website for Thrill Factory. I started working on it quite a while ago, but it hit a dead end.

6) Re-learn the art of acrylic painting. I haven't touched acrylics in a long long time and have been ignoring it. I bought some small canvases on sale last year in December so I'd like to get some work going on those.

7) Design some new TFD logos.

8) Take some amazing photographs. It's been a while since I actually did some photography. Actually since probably my Hawaii trip last March. I need to take advantage of our newly-fixed SLR camera and capture some beauty.

With a kid on the way, these are ambitious but possible. With hard work and determination, I can accomplish them.

Meeting Kat Von D

Last week, I was lucky enough to have the evening off (from band practice) to meet tattoo artist extraordinare Kat Von D. Waited at Barnes and Noble at roughly 3pm for her book signing. Quite a few people showed up. Probably 200 plus. It was crazy. She gave me a hug, signed my book, and just as I was about to take a picture with my camera, the battery died. LOVELY! But thankfully, my current phone has a good camera feature and I was able to get a very nice picture of us. I showed her my tattoo as well since I know she digs skylines. She loved it.

In other news, I've got quite a few projects started. Oil painting of a dark sunset is currently drying right now. I've got a color pencil sketch of Jill (also in Hawaii) started...and plan on doing a good sketch of a close-up of Remi.

Over the last week, I designed my band's ep album cover too. Turned out good.

Stay tuned for updates.