Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Bernard Buffet

I just discovered the art of Bernard Buffet today thanks to Fab.com. I spent some time browsing through his art on the internet and was really taken by his style. He created a lot of work during his lifetime and you can see changes to his style, but it remains very similar visually.

Check out his biography and take a look at his art. I don't think you will be dissappointed.

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Thursday, July 14, 2011

Thinking of Change

My eyes have been opened to the problems within my company the last two months. I have been getting more involved in all aspects of the company and I do not like what I am seeing. I feel like I am overwhelmed by the number of changes that need to be made. I feel like I am powerless to make some of the changes and am encountering resistance with most of my recommendations. People fear change!

I keep debating how much I want to talk about with the owner of my company and how much I want to volunteer to take on myself. My work is suffering because of the number of items I am trying to juggle. I can't do this alone.

On a much better note, the family and I had a great time in Seattle over the Fourth of July. It was my third trip to the city and The Queen's second trip there. We were able to see a lot of the city and surrounding area. The only think on my list that we did not get to check off was a visit to the Hoh Rain Forrest. I really wanted to go, but it was just too far for this trip. Maybe on our next trip we can make a plan to visit for a few days.

Seattle made me realize again what is missing in the Central Valley. Other than the fact that I hate the heat here, there is no sense of community. I often wonder why my cities downtown does not have the things that other cities and towns I visit have. Don't get me wrong, our downtown is great and has a lot to offer. It is just missing things that would attract more people to the area.

The entire valley is way too conservative for my tastes. Everyone is afraid to do something quirky because of the people they might alienate. The great thing about a bigger city is that it doesn't matter if you turn some people off because there are enough people that will like what you are doing to support you.

I really loved the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. They have the famous troll under the Aurora Bridge, but they have a lot more to offer as well. There is a full sized rocket mounted on a building, a chocolate factory, a statue of Lenin and some dinosaur topiaries by the channel. It also has offices for Adobe, Getty Images and some other large offices. They claim they are the center of the universe and even have walking tour maps and funny signs posted around the area. They have created a community and I love it.

The Queen and I talked to our good friends about this and they agreed with us. They have not been to Seattle, but agreed that big cities have much more to offer. They even told us that they have contemplated moving to Portland, but that we were holding them back. They do not want to leave us. That made us feel good, but also got me thinking about a move to Portland as well. I have visited Portland once many years ago, but that was before it stated embracing technology and green industries. The city has changed for the better and I can't wait to visit again.

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Friday, February 18, 2011

NYC Trip Review

We left for LAX on Friday evening and got to our hotel, Hilton LAX, by about eight o'clock. There was some conference going on about aliens, UFOs, meditating and other odd things. We had dinner in one of the restaurants before heading up to bed.

We had to get an early start on Saturday morning. Our flight was set to depart at seven forty-five. We took the hotel shuttle to LAX. The Virgin America ticket counter was a pretty cool experience. It is separated from all of the others and has some nice mood lighting. When we boarded the plane, all of the window shades were down and it also had some cool lighting. It was a great experience. I expected some very attractive flight attendants like something out of the movie Catch Me If You Can to show up at our seats, but that didn't happen. The flight itself was pretty uneventful.

We arrived at JFK at about four o'clock in the afternoon. We found a cab and departed for our hotel near Times Square. The cab ride was not very exciting and took longer than I thought it would.

We stayed at the Hampton Inn Times Square North because I have had a lot of success with the chain when travelling for business. They are all clean and most of them are recently updated. You also can't beat a free breakfast. Once we arrived at the hotel we freshened up a bit and then asked the concierge where we should go to find some local restaurants. He suggested restaurant row on 46th Street, so we headed out.

There were a lot of different restaurants to choose from. We ended up eating at Ristorante Da Rosina. They packed people into every square foot of the restaurant. The Queen and I sat at a table that blocked access to another table, but nobody cared. The food was good, but the restaurant was just a normal big city restaurant.

From there we walked up the street to the Village Pour House for some drinks. I asked for a local beer and the waitress told me they stopped selling them. Two beers later when we were ready to go she came back with some Brooklyn Lager. It was an OK beer, but I had already had to Blue Moons. From there we walked to Times Square to take it all in. It was an amazing place. I have seen it on TV and in movies, but it is something you have to experience. When I was in NY the first time, Times Square was still a seedy place that you avoided so it was nice to see it like it is now.

We decided to stop in to Planet Hollywood and have a drink like tourists do. We sat at the bar and ordered a couple beers. We started talking to the bartender, Josh from NC, and I asked him if there was somewhere locals hung out near there. He recommended Bourbon Street Bar & Grill. We finished our drinks and Josh gave us a few more recommendations. He also put our ten year anniversary on all of the screens in the place. I got a picture of that with my iPhone.

We walked back to 46th Street to Bourbon Street Bar & Grill. The Queen found us a seat that was right behind a bachelorette party. We ordered some drinks and some food, alligator sausage and chicken wings. We ended up talking to the girls at the bachelorette party and having a good time. We left the bar very late and walked back to our hotel.

We woke up late the next morning after our long day. We decided to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We ended up taking the subway there. I had never ridden the NY subway, so I had to do it. We ate lunch in one of the restaurants in the museum and then started exploring. There was a lot of stuff to see. There are several building facades that are inside the museum as well as a complete Egyptian temple. I really liked the museum, but we were still exhausted. We took a taxi back to our hotel to rest before going to dinner and a Broadway show.

We headed out to eat and I really felt like a hamburger. We ended up at Chelsea Grill in Hell's Kitchen. The Queen and I both had gigantic hamburgers and fries. The food really hit the spot. We walked a short distance from there to the St. James Theatre to see Green Day's American Idiot.

It was a small theater, but the show was fantastic. We both really enjoyed the show. It was a short show, there was no intermission, but it was great. We bought some souvenirs before leaving the theater. A lot of people were gathered outside waiting for Billy Joe Armstrong to leave, so we decided to wait as well. After about forty five minutes he came out of the theater. I got some photos of him on my iPhone from a distance.

After the show we wondered around Times Square again and started looking for someplace to get dessert. We walked over to Rockefeller Plaza and still couldn't find anything. We started to walk back through Times Square to our hotel and found Junior's Bakery. We got a slice of NY cheesecake and red velvet cake and headed back to the hotel. The red velvet cake was better than the cheesecake because it did not have a graham cracker crust. I started planning for the next day at the hotel. We both knew it was going to be a busy day if we were going to see everything we wanted to see.

We started out early on Valentin's day and met with the concierge to map out our day. We walked to Central Park and took a carriage ride through the park. Our "driver" was Colim from Ireland. We told him we wanted a fun ride with lots of information and he did his best for us. It was a short ride and we did not get to see much of the park since it was covered with snow.

Next we headed east to Serendipity 3. The Queen had to have their Frozen Hot Chocolate. We got there about an hour before they opened for the day and decided to move on and come back at night. We walked back toward Central Park and ended up stopping in Bloomingdale's for a bathroom break. The Queen ended up shopping some before we left. We hit H&M next and The Queen did some more shopping. Our subway stop was right outside.

We took the subway to the Empire State Building. We waited in line to go to the Observation deck. It was very windy up there, but I managed to get some good photos and we even had an employee take a picture of The Queen and I with Manhattan in the background. From there we walked to another subway stop and headed to Greenwich Village to have lunch.

The Queen had to eat at Gray's Papaya, so we went to the original in the West Village. It has been in several movies. We both got hot dogs with everything on them. They were really good and the hot dogs snapped with every bite. We walked around the Village for a while and ended up at the arch in Washington Square Park. The arch has also been in many movies, so I took a picture of The Queen standing at it's base.

We caught a taxi and headed to the South Street Seaport. We bought tickets to a water taxi ride on Pier 70. We past ground zero on the taxi ride, but didn't even know it until we were on the water taxi. There was so much construction going on that you could not even tell what it was. The water taxi took us along Manhattan on the East River and then onto the Hudson River. We came back down on the New Jersey side of the Hudson and then past Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. We then went back on the East River past Governor's Island and under the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges before returning to Pier 70.

When we got off the water taxi we walked to Wall Street and stopped briefly at Federal Hall and the The Stock Exchange before ending up at Trinity Church. We walked through the cemetery at the church and I took a lot of pictures. We then left and tried to catch a cab to SOHO for our dinner reservations. It was really windy that day and we had to walk for a long time before we found a cab.

Once in SOHO we realized it was early so we walked around some. We walked by DASH and decided not to stop in to shop. We ended up at some paper store and The Queen had a good time looking at stuff. We walked back to Osteria Morini just in time for our early reservation. The food tasted great, but the ambiance was a little lacking. The restaurant had rustic Italian decor and paper napkins and place mats. It also had some eighties music playing on the stereo. The food portions were small, but tasted great.

We caught another cab to Serendipity 3. We put our names in and had an hour to kill, so we went back to Bloomingdale's for another bathroom break and then walked around until we ended up at Urban Outfitters. The Queen shopped some and then it was time to head back to Serendipity 3. I ordered the peanut butter Frozen Hot Chocolate and The Queen ordered the regular. I am not a big fan of chocolate ice cream, but this tasted great. The Queen really loved it.

When we were done we walked back to the hotel and I picked up my tripod and we headed out to Times Square for some night photos. It was cold and windy outside and it was trying to rain. I got some nice photos and then we headed back to the hotel. When we got back we asked for some authentic NY pizza that would deliver to our room and got a recommendation from some of the employees at the hotel. When the pizza arrived I was disappointed that it was not the authentic thin crust. It was good, but not what I was looking for.

Tuesday morning we woke up really early and headed out to Rockefeller Plaza to try to get on the Today show. We succeeded! Al was the first to come out and shake our hands. He filmed some and then went back inside. About a half hour later, the whole group came out. Al, Meredith, Matt and Ann. I shook Matt's hand and got a photo of The Queen with him in the background. Meredith stayed outside and took photos with anyone who asked and shook hands with everyone. She was by far the nicest one on that day. I took a picture of The Queen with her and she told me that Meredith gripped her hand tightly and told her it was very nice to meet her. I didn't think she would have been the nicest one, but she was.

We went back to the hotel and had breakfast before packing and catching a cab to the JFK Airport. Our cab driver would not turn on the heat and even gave me a hard time about using my debit card to pay for the ride. He said if I used it I needed to give him a ten dollar tip and he watched me to make sure I did it.

The Virgin America ticket counter at JFK was not as cool as the one at LAX. We boarded the plane and headed back. Once at LAX we got our luggage pretty fast and went back to the Hilton to pick up our car. We were on the road about an hour after landing. Not bad at all.

When we got home, Chels and Meg were waiting for us. We gave them big hugs and started telling them all about our trip.

In hindsight, we packed a lot into this trip. We really only had two full days to see New York and we saw a lot. It was really fun and we both enjoyed it a lot. I would recommend a trip to New York to anyone.

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Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Slow Start to 2011

I have been a little busy so far this year. I had a wisdom tooth removed Monday and have been out of commission a little so far. I really intend to be more regular in my postings for 2011

A few weeks ago my dad pulled out his old Polaroid Automatic 104 Land Camera. I ordered a battery and film for it online. I just got the film yesterday and decided to take my first photo. It is a black and white image as you can see below.



I ordered both black and white and color film for the camera, but decided to start with the black and white as an experiment. I think this photo turned out OK, but the second one I took turned out a little dark. I thought I adjusted for the darkness of the first photo, trying to make it a little lighter, but I failed. I will play with it some more soon to see if I can perfect my process before moving on to the color film.

I think this is just a continuation of my obsession with photography that started at the end of last year. I really like the results of using old film cameras. I am about to send off a bunch of the film that I have used in my Diana+ as well. I can't wait to see how those photos turn out.

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Thursday, December 30, 2010

My Obsession

I am offically obsessed. I cannot stop taking photographs. I think that my interest has been sparked again by my neice. She has really embraced the art form.

I find myself taking a lot of photos with my iPhone and especially the Hipstamatic app. It is quick, easy and gives me great lo-fi results. I even stick my phone out the sunroof of my car to take photos as I am driving. The good thing about this is that it does not distract me. I just hold it up, aim it and click the button. I don't even need to watch what I am photographing.

The day after Christmas we went to see my family again. I told The Queen I wanted to make a couple of pit stops. I ended up taking a lot of photos with my Canon 7D and iPhone. She got annoyed with me for taking so long, but I was having fun. Even Meg got into the act with her new video camera.

It is great seeing Meg's enthusiasm. She is not as obsessed as I am, but she is having some fun. I might have to put together a photography trip for Meg, my neice and me.

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Thursday, October 21, 2010

I Received My New Camera

The Queen bought me a Canon 7D for our ten-year anniversary. (She is great!) I finally received it Tuesday night. I could not wait to try it out, so I just stared at the battery as it charged. It was finally ready at about nine o'clock so I popped it in and started shooting.

It was dark, which was a perfect test for the high ISO settings. I started shooting and messing around with different ISO settings and shutter speeds. All of my shots were taken in the house and some of them turned out pretty great after running them through Noiseware. The only downfall is that I only have the community edition so it does not save the images full size.

I will continue trying this great camera out until my trip to Chicago on October 30. I will really test it's low light capabilities on that trip. I will retake some photos around the Chicago River that I originally took in 2006. I can't wait to see how they turn out.

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Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Low Fidelity

I am obsessed with lo-fi photography. Several years ago I started playing with fact TtV using Photoshop. I really loved the results of this process. Last Friday I received an old Kodak Brownie that I ordered from ebay and I took my first test photo on Saturday. It turned out horrible, but I see the possibilities.

I have been scouring the web for any information about lo-fi photography, especially as it applies to the iPhone. We went camping overnight on Friday and I really went crazy taking pictures with my iPhone. It is just really handy to use. The quality is not great, but if you are going for a lo-fi look it is fabulous. I guess I am now obsessed.

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Friday, August 20, 2010

Photography

I have thought a lot about TtV photography for about the last three years. To accomplish TtV photography you get an old Kodak Brownie or similar camera and take a picutre through its viewfinder. The photos taken this way are slightly distorted and usually have a frame around them.

I have messed with TtV in photoshop adding the effect to some previously taken photos and have really enjoyed the results. I had not really thought about it for a while, until I got a Photojojo email that had a brief write-up about the technique. It renewed my interest and I started searching for a camera on ebay. I am now following an auction and hope to get it pretty cheap.

I am really trying a lot of new social sites lately. I first started using Blogger to write this blog. Then I joined Facebook to resarch it for work. I started using Twitter for the same reason. I moved on to Tumblr because I found that it works better with photos than Blogger. Now I have started a flickr account. It all ties together.

I started messing around with flickr because of the Hipstamatic app on my iPhone. I went pro so that I can upload more than one hundred megs a month. It is a racket, but I just felt the cost was worthwhile. You can view all of my photos. Book mark it and it will be updated with my new photos whenever you visit the link.

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Thursday, August 19, 2010

Hipstamatic

I downloaded a new app for my iPhone 4 a few days ago. Hipstamatic is a photography app that recreates the look of photos taken by a Hipstamatic 100 camera with different film and flashes. It really is a pretty sweet app and I am having fun using it. I have had so much fun that I even started a flickr account. Watch my Hipstamatic photo stream.

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Friday, August 13, 2010

Work of Art

I watched the finale of Work of Art last night. I have really enjoyed this show. It is the first show in a long time that I can't wait to watch each week. There were several people on the show whose art I just did not like, but I think the final five were really talented. I don't know how people get that creative.

Simon de Pury was a great part of the show. He was really excited most of the time and the combination of his accent and choice of words was great. I can see that he was really inspirational for the artists on the show. I wish I was like him.

Miles was the typical tortured artist for the entire show. He had some major social issues, but they did not make him come off as a jerk. He was one of the closest characters to what I perceive a true artist to be. I always think of an artist as a quirky character and that is what he was. I knew that he would make it to the finals, but hoped he would not be the winner.

Peregrine always made pieces that were more crafty than art to me. She was very creative, but I just did not like most of what she did. On the finale Simon visited the home of each of the final three. Peregrin's house was the closest to where I believe an artist would live. The house was filled with art objects and looked very inspirational.

Abdi was the person I thought was the most talented for the last three or four shows. He made a few of the most impactful pieces in my opinion. I think his nature inspired piece was the single best piece of the show. I really like his style and he always seemed to be in awe of everything. I think that personality or attitude or outlook on life or whatever you want to call it is what makes him the creative person he is. He truly deserved to win the show.

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Feeling Creative

I went for a walk last night to check the mail and on my way back I was mesmerized by the moon in the sky. It was about nine o'clock and it was not completely dark yet. The sky was a dark blue with the last vestiges of the sunset near the horizon line. The moon was in the classic shiver shape and there was a bright star directly above it.

I was inspired. When I got back home I grabbed my Diana+ camera and went to the backyard. I did not have a good view so I decided to take a walk to see if I could get a better view. I walked to the open field near my house and got some photos. I went back home and then went into the backyard again with my digital Rebel.

I tried to take one photo of the moon and was not successful so I started looking at the flowers and plants in the yard. I posted some photos on my tumblr site. I was really inspired last night for the first time in a long time. I hope my creativity paid off.

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Monday, August 9, 2010

A Creative Spark

While The Queen was out of town on Friday night, Meg and I went to a movie. We watched Ramona and Beezus. It was Meg's choice, but I also thought that she would like this movie.

It was a pretty good movie and it inspired me to help Meg with her creativity. Ramona really reminded me of Meg. They are both individuals and are each very creative. Ramona's dad really encouraged her creativity. Watching the movie made me realize that I have not been doing a very good job of encouraging Meg's creativity.

On Saturday morning, Meg and I bought some turpentine to clean oil paint off of brushes. We then got all of our painting supplies out of the garage and set up an easel on the dining room table. We talked a little bit about what the subject of her painting would be and she decided she wanted to paint a picture of Cocoa Bean. I told her that was very ambitious for her first oil painting, but she insisted.

I took a photo of Cocoa Bean and printed it out for a reference for her. I helped her sketch the location of Cocoa's head and told her to paint the background without painting where Cocoa's head will be. She decided that she did not want a realistic background and chose to just paint it blue. I think the color is a great choice because the image of Cocoa will pop off of it very nicely.

This is a learning process for both of us, but it will be a lot of fun.

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