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.

Way Over Yonder In The Minor Key

It seems like it's getting harder to type my inner and outer thoughts of the day. Especially since my darling Mia (who's currently asleep) has had some rough nights. Teething sucks. There should be many shirts sold with that statement. We did however, get a shirt with a shark on it from my bro in law that said "teething bites" so yeah...that works too. I'm not sure if Mia's got some coming in on her upper mouth, or if maybe the tooth next to her right one was fully emerging but whatever the case, she's been a monster lately. Sunday I worked 6am-2pm, and when Jill was making a delicious vat of dinner/lunch we'll eat throughout the week, Mia was turning into some sort of possessed creature that I couldn't for the life of me settle down. Jill had to eventually take her up stairs to feed in our dark room and I finished dinner. Yesterday too, she wasn't very happy, but today she's a lot better. Smiling more, and exploring the world as much as she can.

We played on my bongos today as well. Something I really really look forward to when she gets a little older is teaching her music and art. Music and art are such big parts of both Jill's and my life and it'll be beyond amazing if she picks up an instrument. Yes, I'm biased that I'd like her to play drums, but I'll let her pick anything. When you're younger in elementary school you pick something (orchestra/band/choir) and a lot of kids don't stick with it very long, but I am very happy I did because it brings me all happiness in the world to pound the drums with every ounce of passion. I can only hope for the same experience for Mia.

The Brightest Bulb Has Burned Out

So currently, any 'free time' that I have that I'm not changing/playing with/feeding/rocking Mia, I'm brainstorming and researching ideas for Nick Berg's solo record; The Lesson & The Bandage. It's been tough and stressful, despite there is no rush on it. I always put the heaviest of pressure on myself in anything I do. Whether it be playing a show, when I recorded with Clean Hands, or simply any and every art project I do. It's just who I am. I think any great creative person tends to do that, otherwise we'd just settle on doing things half-assed. When I have to draw up a sign with some old-ass markers at work in between customers at the counter, I unfortunately have to settle most of the time, despite wanting perfection. So I've got about 7 different drafts and ideas I did in Photoshop, with probably 5 or 6 more to do. I want my boy Nick to be real happy with the finished product. I wasn't exactly thrilled with the Clean Hands cover EP. Mainly because the bassist demanded we use his friend's photography as the focal point. It looks fine, but I'm not sure it was GREAT, you know?

When we played shows every weekend, I was constantly going over my drum parts on the way home thinking "could I have done this fill better?" or "Did I rush this song?". Same thing when we recorded. I did a handful of takes and on the way back from the studio I kept thinking how I could have done a better job. Blah. Oh well. As Salvador Dali put it Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it.

On The Way To Your Hotel

Been a busy week. Thankfully, I've been off the last few days and will be off Friday and Saturday for a wedding in Fond Du Lac. I think this is my first time there, and obviously Mia's. Jill's parents are coming up to keep an eye on her at the hotel, as Jill and I attend the evening.

Yesterday, my good buddy Jay came over and installed a new side garage door. It fell on top of me I believe last summer and since then, we had a ghetto tarp cover the hole and it was starting to look real real sad. Jay's been doing construction and carpentery for a very long time and could have probably done this with his eyes closed. Then he noticed something sketchy.

When we had our garage doors and the openers installed, the guy who did the left side didn't raise the top steel part as high as he could have, and when we picked up the side door, it would swing IN and hit the metal frame. CRAP! Luckily, Jay could take the door frame apart, and re-do the side door to make it work. Such a genius. Hole=closed. Door installed. everything looks great. In the future, we'll get him to rip up and put in new bathroom tile. The man loves what he does, and it's real inspiring to see this guy so proud after a great job. You aught to see his bathroom he worked on in his own house. While he was working, we caught up with what was going on in each others lives, talked about music, etc etc while Mia slept most of the time. When she was awake, she was cracking up Uncle Jay. Today, I stopped on my way to my parent's house by his place to drop off some beer and a gas gift card for a great job he did. I could easily recommend Jay to anyone needing anything done on their house.

Tomorrow, it's off to Julie (Jill's co-worker)'s wedding. Hopefully Mia behaves.

(NOTE) the picture in the corner was from when Mia was napping outside as Jay worked on the door. Cute eh?