iTunes

He Came Down now available on iTunes.

Just be thankful I'm not on iTunes for my singing.

CD Cover

I made a CD cover for the wifey's church choir. I made an oil painting and was happy with the results. However, after photographed it looked absolutely horrible on a screen or in a printed format. It's the nature of painting and is not uncommon to have this happen, as photographs can mess with colors and pick up textures in unforeseeable ways.

So I took the best picture I could, and added some photoshop effects. After a lot of trial and error, I found a nice combination of filters that kept the original look, but cleaned up the photographed effects. Once I made the realization that this is a digital project, things got much better.

And the music is good, too. If you are interested in ordering a copy, click here.

Don't Be This Guy

I recently found out a previous employer from many years ago had cancer, and it seems to be terminal. I will not mention his name or what he did, but I am not alone in condemning his actions. Suffice to say, think of Kevin Spacey in Swimming With Sharks and know that this man was worse.

When I heard the news, I have to say there was no voice that said, "He deserved it". Instead, I felt sad. I tried to remember his good qualities and the laughs we shared. Regardless of how evil people can act, nobody deserves cancer.

I think what makes me sad is that he had potential, but was so weak he was abusive. He is alone at this point and lost most of his friends and contacts because of pettiness.

On the positive side I met my wife at his office, and made some close friends there, so it is not all bad.

All we can do is learn from this and not be this person. I pray his suffering will end and he will be ok. Maybe he just needs a second chance.

12 Benches from Cambria, and one from Harmony, CA

Keeping track

Benched

Scenes from a bench in Toluca Lake.

Amgen Tour of California, Stage 8

Met up with the San Fernando club today and rode up Mulholland past Rock Store to watch the 4 lap circuit race. I don't think I had ever ridden up that part of Mulholland, and didn't expect it to be as steep as it was. The crowds showed up early and the place was packed. Other than climbing the hills, being on a bike was the way to go, although you had to put up with people that already started drinking and yelled at anything that moved on the highway. I passed a guy wearing speedos and and an American flag riding a huge bike, a guy dressed in a green outfit like a pea, the pope and a gladiator. Finally got up to the top and hung out with about 25 of us in the club.


After a while, CHP cars & motorcycles drove past, then the race referees and a whole motorcade of cars involved with the race. It was like a huge party, everyone was having fun and even the cops were really cool, letting us know when the riders were coming.


Then we saw the peloton coming up the hill, making the climbs look easy. Fabian Cancellara rode about a foot away from me as he passed, and I spotted Andy Schleck, George Hincapie and many others. That was cool. In the bright sun I took photos, but without looking through the camera so basically I was yelling like everyone else and pointing my camera and clicking as many photos as I could.


After they went by we rode a few more miles up the hill and found another place to watch that was not crowded at all. We were again treated to great action of the peleton going right by us. Then we descended the steep hill on Westlake and made our way to the finish line, which was an absolute zoo. Afterwards I got home and watched the final lap on tv.


Here are some of the photos that came out ok.


Top of Mulholland

Fabien Cancellara Frank Schleck (?) on the left

Floyd Landis, liar, doper, cheat

It seems like May always has the most drama when it comes to bike racing, and this year is no exception. The latest is Floyd Landis, who for four years adamantly denied doping after being stripped of his yellow jersey in the Tour de France. Now he admits he lied. And he directly accused many big names in the sport of doping when he was teammates with them, including Lance Armstrong, Johan Bruyneel, George Hincapie and others.

Obviously Landis' credibility is shot. But I am inclined to believe his accusations of others, and so is Greg Lemond. I do not think things will ever be proven against Lance, and it will continue to be a heated debate among cycling fans.

Without getting into all the arguments, I just hope cycling will purge itself of dopers. It is one of the few sports that makes an effort to rid itself of steroid freaks. How boring to watch a race where nobody appears tired and puts in amazing performances every day. It completely removes passion. Any and all dopers need to be kicked out, and the system that forces athletes to cheat needs to be fixed. Otherwise, the sport will be destroyed.

One Step Beyond

I just read a book written by a friend of mine, whom I have not seen since I was a teenager. Mike Pearson's  One Step Beyond is about growing up in the 80s on the westside of Los Angeles. He captures life during that time perfectly, and there are a few stories that had me laughing so hard I wiped tears out of my eyes. Of course, he changed the names to protect the innocent, and I had fun trying to guess who the people actually were in the book.

A couple stories that cracked me up were one where his friends shaved part of their dog and glued the hair to their faces to look older so they could get into a club, but were underaged. Another was when they partied and could not find one guy, who they later found in the back of Mike's truck buried in stolen lawn furniture, and nobody had a clue what happened. There are also great stories about working at the Chevron station on PCH near Rustic Canyon. That place has seen it all, and then some.

It is amazing to think how much things have changed since then. Pacific Palisades is unrecognizable compared to how it was in the 70s and 80s, before everyone built huge houses with gates and landscaping alone that costs more then my house in the valley. One thing that has not changed is the toxic alpha need to crush the competition and the me first attitude that exists there. I remember after leaving that part of town, being surprised that not everyone was like that. What a relief.

Sad news from Orlando Gallery

I stopped by Orlando Gallery today, and sadly found out they are closing their doors in 2 or 3 months. This is their 51st year in business, something that is unheard of in the art world. I had the wonderful opportunity to show there for the last 8 years, and met some amazing people and made some close friends at the openings. I was in 6 group shows and 2 solo shows, and always had new art every month or two in the gallery.

I am not sure whether I will pursue the gallery scene, as I do not like scenes. As Agnes Martin reminded us, "If you come in with the scene, you go out with the scene." At some point I may seek out a new gallery, but in the meantime I will make more art available for purchase online. And, of course, there are many other venues to show art.

And there is still time to show a few more paintings and attend a few more openings at Orlando.

Santa Fe Art Colony Open Studios

Well, that's a bummer. This year at Santa Fe (not in New Mexico but the one just south of downtown, Los Angeles) decided not to allow visiting artists to use the nice wide hallways to show their art.

I have shown there every year since 2004. The hallways are nice because it keeps everyone out of my friend, Raul's loft. Raul lives there and has been more than generous in letting my friends and I show there. When we started out, we all crammed into Raul's loft. This meant building temporary walls and totally upheaving his home for a weekend. And now there is really too much stuff to make this work. And there's the issue of lighting all the walls we built and cramming a whole weekend full of artists, collectors, strangers and partiers in the place all at once.

So if you get a chance, stop by on the weekend of May 16th, it's really a cool place to visit.

Website

Completely redesigned my website.

It's fascinating how designers have distinctive looks to their sketches. The fashion industry always shows models delicately drawn, sometimes only as outlines and even missing parts of arms or other major information, yet the clothing is rendered with a flowing, exaggerated style. Beautiful drawings.

Architects show buildings as looking like a scribbled mess. It shows a building and communicates its intent, but without any detail. Yet, it too, has a stylized beauty about it.

Both styles look deceptively easy, like somebody just grabbed a pen and loosely threw some thoughts on paper...

Golf

When I was a kid, golfers wore silly plaid pants, smoked heavily, drove Buicks and never smiled. A boring, up tight sport it was. Then along came Tiger Woods. He was fit, he dressed like a human being, worked out and could drive the ball further than anyone. He was exciting to watch and made incredible shots under extreme pressure. He is clearly the best.

So glad he's back for the Masters. Golf is not worth watching without him. Who wants to see anything less than the best?

And why does he need to apologize to us? His personal life, although deeply flawed, is between him, his wife and a host of empty headed bimbos.

New Paintings

I finished 2 new paintings today.

No Karaoke

Belt and Suspenders

Websites + Image

I was thinking about the value of a well designed website. I looked at Dish TV to compare with the DirecTV satellite companies. When I got into Dish's website, I almost immediately gave up on them. It is loud, juvenile, confusing and hard to navigate or understand. Whereas DirecTV has a nice site that works well and easy to navigate and looks good. I'm not saying one is a better company than the other, but that if you are running a business your website says a lot about you.

No great website or logo will make your company a success, but it will add to an image you worked hard to cultivate. You wouldn't show up to a black tie event in ripped jeans, would you?

Years ago, Japan was little known for electronics. They made great products and sold them inexpensively, constantly making them better and better, and used no frills advertising. But even then the companies started working on image. Reliable, inexpensive, well made products that almost sell themselves. The logos, etc. created matched the companies. If Dish TV is a great company, they are selling themselves short by marketing with a total lack of taste. If the site is difficult to navigate, image what the customer service will be like when you try to call them. All this, with a budget that allows for advertising on television.

Fun with Photoshop

Photo taken at the Huntington Library over the Summer.

Lillies at the Getty Villa

I took this photo about a year ago, posterized it in photoshop and dropped it into illustrator. Then drew it & added colors. I'm finding that I really like working with illustrator, as it is a lot like drawing. Although I have no intention of replacing my physical oil painting with computer graphics, it is simply another art form to explore. And one art form helps another.

And you are...

I was sure it would rain today, so I didn't get up to ride. And, of course, when I wake up it's a perfectly sunny day. So we headed to the Corner Bakery for breakfast. There are a few cyclists outside and one of them is a good friend I ride with. It was funny because I started talking to him and he had no clue who I was until he heard me talk a little more. Hard to recognize anyone without cycling clothes.

Tomorrow I will ride, and my friend will recognize me from 20 feet away.

Superbowl

Looks like I got talked into hosting a superbowl party. I haven't watched a single game all year, and am still trying not to call them the Baltimore Colts. Oh, and our tv is tiny, no big screen. I pointed this out and was reminded out guests live in Topanga Canyon and do not own a tv.

All the makings of a good Sunday.

Color Quiz

Here's an annoying quiz. I got a 31, which is ok, but not great. I was surprised that I didn't do better. Many of the compliments I get about my paintings are about the colors. Maybe I just see them differently. Apparently, monitor quality & the excruciating black background do not play a part in this.