Washington DC

Here are two pictures from our recent trip to Virginia and Washington that I liked. The first is of Michael and Me at Monticello although you would never know that by the background but I did wear my patriotic tee.


This next picture is of Motherwell and Me. He is one of my most influential Abstract Expressionist painters. I didn't take down the name of this piece but from the looks of it it is from his Elegy to the Spanish Republic series though it doesn't display quite the quintessential forms as some of this series, it's just a little loose. Judging from the scale probably dates from the 1950's. These were painted as a reflection on the brutal and savagely bloody civil war and Franco's subsequent destruction of the Spanish Republic. Personally standing in front of a painting of this scale is impressive. The deep black forms surround your field of vision and seem to envelop you. Unlike Rothco whose canvases were like doorways to a bright and meditative spiritual realm, Motherwell opens you to the overwhelming destruction and pain that far too often falls upon our lives.

Harry Potter

Here I am in all my geekiness. I went to the party and taught lots of little (and big) wizards and witches how to draw characters from Harry Potter. Nate and I traded off 15 min. shifts teaching essentially the same thing over and over. I had tons of fun. As volunteers we got to be in an accelerated line to buy the book. I got mine around 12:25 thinking I had waited for along time. When I walked out and saw the line still waiting to buy the book I was blown away. There were hundreds of people in a huge line stretching 1/5 of a mile or more.

I felt a tinge of sadness roll over me when I got home. That was the last Harry event of its kind. The end of a era.

Some Other Things I Want to Do

Before time runs out (see previous post) I want to:

1. Grow a long beard.
   
2. Go hang gliding and/or parachuting
   
3. Learn to sail
4. Climb a 17,000 ft+ mountain
5. Learn some type of musical instrument
   
6. Get a public art works commission
7. Play video games for 24 hrs straight
8. Have a 6 pack (body)
9. Visit every continent
10. Learn to surf
    
11. Live by a beach for more than a year (surfing regularly)
    
12. Write a novel

Things You May Not Have Known About Me

In response to Absolutely Plum


Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Window washer, carpet cleaner, janitor
2. Vinyl siding sales and delivery
3. Nursery man
4. Bellman, hotel van driver

Four movies I would watch over and over and over (In no particular order):
1. Star Wars (IV-VI) (not because there good but because of nostalgia)
2. Searching for Bobby Fisher
3. The Last Samurai
4. Finding Forester

Four random places I have spent the night
1. On the floor of the Gart Sports store in the Layton Hills Mall (work)
2. On the floor of Edit Technologies (work)
3. In my Honda Accord in a parking lot somewhere north of San Francisco
4. On my chair at Allen•Millo (work)

Four TV shows I love to watch:
1. Simpsons
2. The Office
3. Law and Order
4. Star Trek (the old ones)

Four places I want to visit before I die:
1. Patagonia
2. Scandinavia and Iceland
3. Borneo
4. The Himalayas

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Sushi
2. Fish and Chips
3. Blueberry muffins (which I never get to eat)
4. Beef Jerky

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. In a tent in the woods
2. In Venice
3. On the beach in Maui
4. Driving to Alaska.

Four people I wish I could talk to again:
1. Jason Dickamore
2. Cory Bowthorpe
3. Grandma and Grandpa Gibb
4. Dick Norris (Channel 5)

Four things I would like to do before time runs out:
1. Live in a rural location
2. Live in a foreign country
3. Build a 20 story residential tower
4. Have a show in a major New York gallery

Four things I am afraid of:
1. Drowning
2. Losing my eyesight
3. Small talk
4. Most bugs

Four places I've loved being on vacation:
1. Maui
2. Europe
3. The entire west coast (one trip)
4. Glacier National Park