Birthdays, Masterpieces and a Space Dog

"60 Years of Peppers"

"Oceans Tridents Submarines"

First of all, I'd like to wish Jim Kirk, of Captain Jim's Sauces, a local hot sauce maker, a happy 60th birthday!  I was amazed, about a year ago, when "Captain Jim Kirk" signed my guest book at the Art Bank.  His wife, Kate, secretly bought "Oceans Tridents Submarines" from me for Jim's Christmas present, last year.  He was thrilled, declared my style to be reminiscent of 70's underground pop art, which caused me to go on a massive Google search to figure out what that was. This year, Kate commissioned me to paint a logo for Captain Jim, using their chili pepper pirate character. This was in the middle of my recovery from Ramsay-Hunt, so I used it as a welcome therapy opportunity. I'm pretty proud of the result.

"Postcard Masterpiece"

I was also dead-set on completing this painting, because I wanted/needed the art work-out so that I could be in 'shape' for the Masterpiece In A Day competition at this year's Art Squared, the Fountain Square Art Festival. This year, for me, has been nuts. ...Well, the last 2 years have been pretty nuts, but this summer has been exceptionally trying. I was crazy looking forward to MIAD, really really excited. I think I just needed the release. It was a great day, I created something I'm really proud of. It was really windy, and my aerosol finishing bit, the black lines in the painting, started to seem like not such a good idea, but I pulled it off. It's called "Postcard Masterpiece" and it's of the fountain that puts the "fountain" in Fountain Square. (It was also so windy that I was across the street and 4 doors down and I could still feel some of the spray from the fountain!).  I got to see a lot of good art friends, a posse of folks from my hometown (Kewanee, represent!), and meet some new artists, or at least new to me, folks that I hope I get to work with in the future.

After MIAD, I collected Remy and we marched in the Art Parade. She was an astronaut, a costume that got her the judges award at the Hog Days Pet Show, and I wore my Sonic the Hedgehog spiky hat and declared myself an alien. We were lined up in the parade behind a group of little kids dressed as cute little robots, with an adult playing They Might Be Giant's "Robot Parade" on an infinite loop (it was stuck in my head for 2 days) and we were in front of Family Video's float and a giant Chinese food box. Good times.

Astro-Remy

When I was a kid, my Grampa Weber would march in the Hog Days parade, dressed as a clown, repping the company he sold hog feed for, Agri-King. He would walk an invisible dog, ride my scooter, ride an adult tri-cycle, and eventually, as he got older, a riding lawnmower with a little cart on the back. Now I know why he would do something so silly: It's just fun. Why NOT do it? Remy and I weren't representing anything but neighborhood folk having fun. The weather held out, and I got to play.

In other updates, I got the final puzzle piece for my Ramsay-Hunt recovery: an eye check-up. I was really worried my eye took some damage from my inability to blink properly. It can seriously dry out your eye and change its shape. In my case, it did for the better! For now, anyway (the doc said it could revert back in a few weeks) my contact prescription has actually gone BACK as step! My eyes were hurting when I tried to return to my contacts, but that was because my current contacts were too strong! He gave me a sample on a weaker prescription, and instructed me to come back in 6 weeks, but for now, I'm glasses free! Yay!

New Stuff!

Which leads me to First Friday. It's October everybody! Besides my Masterpiece being on display at the Art Bank, all of my 16 in. x 20 in. paintings (of which there are many--I gotta stop painting in that size) are marked down from $150 to $100! Yup, a third off. You get some nifty Christmas gifts, and I get more space in my house! Also, I have fully restocked my Wee Paintings rack, and updated all of the postcards and Christmas cards (for those of you looking for some of the Star Trek themed pieces, now's your chance!)

So, despite the grey weather, come and see me tonight. Things are looking up and I'm in a great mood!