Youtube: Bike to Burgers.

I just bought a "GoPro Hero 2" camera for my snorkeling adventures coming up, and I needed to play with it, test it out and see how it looks.  Chris and I took a ride through Minneapolis for Burgers and Beer.

Minneapolis is the #1 bike city in the USA...

...I have been an urban rider since 1996.

Artwork of the month: Married Life.

Married life is a big deal to me, being a new husband and wanting my marriage to be successful I tend to look at couples in happy marriages hat have lasted a very long time and wonder.  Everyone has a different view on what makes a marriage a success.  For me, I want to be able to always improve the quality of our lives as a couple, and to simply maintain our happiness.  That said I want to show you a work of art that I see as comedy, and brilliance.

The painting "Married Life" by Roger de la Fresnaye, depicts a man reading the paper smoking a pipe with his naked wife around his arm.  That being how the artist views marriage is funny, seriously funny, and I am sure that artist laughed at it.  If you can't see the humor in that I can not help you.  Oddly, this painting has had a profound impact on my compositional choices over the last 10 years.  I truly admire the composition, the placement and bend of the objects, and the line work on the figures.  it is a strong cubist work, and I'll bet the artist was proud of his little joke.  "Married Life" is hanging out at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts on permanent display.  I have been lucky enough to be able to spend a great amount of time studying this work.  

Roger de la Fresnaye

French, 1885-1925

"Married Life"

1912, oil on canvas

I am a husband...

...it is the best decision I have ever made.

Karma

While I have been going through my things in preparation for our move in September I have found that I own more than I will ever need.

It all reminded me of this quote...


Karma

Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
Follow the three R’s:
- Respect for self,
- Respect for others and
- Responsibility for all your actions.
Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship.
When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
Spend some time alone every day.
Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and
think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.
Be gentle with the earth.
Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

-His Holiness The Dalai Lama

The toaster I once painted with

My wife and i have decided to move to another state, so we have to get rid of everything we don't need.

I have been holding on to this toaster for over ten years.  I used this toaster to paint some very large expressionist oil paintings back in 97 and 98.  

So enough said, I threw this in the trash today.   

Good by old tool...

...I have never really eaten toast anyway.

I am back

The wedding was great.

I am back from our honeymoon and in the studio working.  Be patient, I am working on new paintings, finishing ones I started before I left, and prepping my mind for the great changes to come.

Thank you for checking out my blog...

...we have a big secret to reveal to you all soon.

My grandfathers drafting table

My grandfather Greg was an engineer, a problem solver for Honeywell.  In his spare time he did fine woodworking.  Pop built clocks, most of the furniture in his house, tools to do things he needed, and he designed it all.

This drafting table is one of his designs and it has been mine for the last 15 years.  

I use it for everything.

Its height is adjustable from 36 inches and it can extend to 60 inches tall.  Making it comfortable to work on sitting in a chair, a tall stool or standing.  I do most of my work on it these days standing.

The bottom of the legs are held by peg braces so it is easy to disassemble.

The adjustments are made by simple bolts and fly nuts.

                

The top can rotate its angle almost 180% and adjust to be flipped completely for working on complicated and tight compositions.  

His brother Rodney passed on a few years ago and I got his drafting tools.  This drafting arm is perfect for design and basic drafting.  I used it mainly for laying out tricky compositional elements when I wanted forms to coincide with one another.

I love this drafting table...

...I will be used until I die.

Today I am getting Married!

Today, February 29th, 2012 leap-day,

I am going to be Married to Athena A. Capen.  

(I pre-wrote this and had it scheduled to post today.)

My life is vastly different with Athena in it.  You may have heard this and just rolled your eyes, but I am twice the man now because of her.  In fact, I actually see myself as a man now.  I love Athena, she is beautiful, well educated, and completely herself.  

Athena is my best friend, we do everything together. 

Athena is completely loyal.

Athena is honest to me and all the world, she has nothing to hide and no regrets about who she is.

Athena is absolutely beautiful beyond words.  

She is tough, don't mess with her or she'll kill you.

Athena supports my career as an artist, loves my work, and is not afraid to tell me when she doesn't like what I am working on.

She stands behind my decisions in life, as I do hers.

Together we have been through personal tragedy, hard financial times, and of course way more good times than bad.  I have more good memories of the last 4 years than I can post in a single blog.  Through everything we have seen, we always came out on top, our relationship always was strengthened, and our understanding of who we are and what we are capable of increased.  

I am probably standing in front of my family and friends right now putting a ring on Athena's finger.

This is Athena, the woman I am getting married to as you read this.

At times she is an intergalactic gangster.

...she makes a pretty bad-ass princess Leia...

Chris (my best man), Athena and Philip.

Athena is a dog trainer, and she is good at what she does.  Her love for dogs, giving them the best life possible, and getting them to do cool stuff astounds me every time our pups know a new trick.  I have no idea how she does it.

Here she is on her last birthday, we went to her favorite restaurant, had her favorite drinks, and ate her favorite food.  I am not telling any of you where her favorite place is, it's silly american food and decor. 

Here we are at the State fair.  Its only fun when I go with her.

yep, you guessed it, the butterfly tent.

Athena is almost has the wingspan of an eagle... 

...or a trumpeter swan.

My vows to you:

I will do my very best to always make us happy...

...to always work to improve the quality of our life...

...as together we build a life based on our love and carefulness for one another.

Getting married to you is the coolest decision I have made to date.

Right now as you read this I am getting married.

Then I am off to my honeymoon...  

...I will see you all in a few weeks.

Progress has been made on my new painting.

I was able to get some serious work done this evening.  I started painting at 5:30 PM, and finished working around 3:30 AM.  Quite a productive night.  I expect my formal work on this piece to be complete by the end of March.  Albeit, there is a huge amount of work to do simply to establish the overall composition.

Minneapolis #? "Penitent Magdelene"

All of these new color-forms will have to be strengthened once they dry.

Here is my Subject-matter, an oil painting I have been observing for almost a year at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

"Penitent Magdelene"

Bartolome Esteban Mutillo    c. 1650-1665

Thanks for reading...

...More to come soon.

Artwork of the month: A recently restored masterwork.

This sculpture is truly amazing now that it has been restored to its assumed original orientation.  We used to joke about how it looked as if he was swimming, or diving into water rather than praying.  Turns out the jokes had merit.

Francesco Mochi

Italian, 1580-1654

"St. Paul the Hermit"

, marble

Before restoration.

Andrea Bergondi

Italian, 1722-1789

"St. Paul the Hermit"

1772, marble

Recently restored, repositioned and reattributed.

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts purchased "St. Paul The Hermit" in the year I was born, 1973. It was believed to be the work of Italian sculptor Francesco Mochi.

Eike Schmidt, curator of sculpture and design at the Minneapolis Institute of arts, discovered that the sculpture was by Andrea Bergondi in 1775.  The Midwest Art Conservation Center, restored the sculpture, removing cement that was added in the 1960s to create a solid base, cleaned it, and reorientated the sculpture so St. Paul would appear to be praying instead of diving.  

St. Paul is the first hermit saint of the Christian church, he retreated to Egypt to live a solitary life dedicated to the worship of God.

Regardless of its story, this sculpture is on exhibit on the third floor of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and is worthy of your time.  Go check it out, spend some time with this sculpture.  

New paint palette arrangement

I stated working with a new color palette tonight, and it is my hope that the discordant nature of my new palette can be effectively balanced out with complements.

In this palette I am working with; 

Titanium white

Portland grey light

Portland grey Medium

Portland grey deep

Cadmium red light

Cadmium red deep

Ruby lake

Sap green lake extra

Turquoise blue deep

Cobalt blue turquoise light

Kings blue light

Kings blue deep

Brilliant pink

Cadmium yellow light

Cadmium yellow deep

Thanks for checking out my blog...

...check back here soon.