J. Wellington Wimpy

8" tall, and weighing in at 1.5oz!
Next up: Brutus; aka Bluto

Har de har har

My work in a museum!

OK, I have to admit I got totally hooked on this timewaster. It's just so goofy. What the hey - Try it yourself at: www.dumpr.net/museumr.php

"Sprout"

Amelia and I were both asked to submit pieces for an upcoming Art Auction, "The Totoro Forest Project," an international charity effort to preserve Sayama Forest, also known as Totoro Forest. This endangered sanctuary on the outskirts of Tokyo is where director Hayao Miyazaki got the inspiration for his much loved movie "My Neighbor Totoro.” From what I gather, protecting this forest has been a pet project of Miyazaki's since 1990, and since Pixar people hold Miyazaki in the utmost highest esteem, they decided to do something to help out by organizing this art auction.



This is such an honor; I still can't even believe it. I don't feel worthy of being in the same company of the artists involved in this project. But just the fact that I was invited is just about the biggest compliment I've ever had.

I was asked to do a felt sculpture. Anyone who's been around me for the last two weeks knows how stressed I've been about my piece. We were invited sort of late in the game, and therefore had very little time. My biggest problem was narrowing my focus to one good idea. My brain was exploding with ideas - I went down numerous dead-end paths; everything I did ended up looking over-worked. I finally decided to tame the wild ideas, back up, slow down, and focus on simplicity.

In the movie, the Totoro hands a gift to Mae and Satsuki. It is wrapped in bamboo leaves and tied with a "dragon's whisker." When they get home and open it, it is full of acorns and seeds. My piece represents an acorn from the gift which has dropped onto the forest floor. Resting on a decaying leaf, it eventually sprouts, bringing new life to the forest.


"Sprout," Needle-felted wool

And here's what Amelia submitted: an amazing watercolor of the Camphor Tree from the movie, with it's garland of paper tied around the trunk. I love the way she captured the knarly wood, the billowy Miazaki-esque clouds, and the perspective looking up into the tree and off in the distance to the valley below. The hat at the base of the tree belongs to Mae, one of the little girls in the movie. This movie was originally released in 1988, the same year Amelia was born. Amelia's middle name is May. And you already know this, but Amelia likes hats.



The auction will be held on Sept. 6th at Pixar Animation Studios. There is a website with more information, and a gallery of the artwork at http://totoroforestproject.org/

Wimpy is Waiting ...

Poor Wimpy. I didn't get time to finish him before getting waylayed on another project. Here he is with his necktie unfinished, no arms, hands or shoes, and NO HAMBURGER! Poor guy! Every time I walk by him, I feel bad. He looks like he is patiently waiting. I promise to get right back to you, Wimpy, as soon as I can!

Photos from a great weekend

Food, friends, an 'ukulele jam - who could ask for anything more?

Friday night, Doni and Michelle arrived and we went to see Amelia play at the Occidental Farmer's Market L-R: Pat, Amelia, Eva



Simmering vats of Paella!



Doni, Dave & I had the Seafood Paella. mmmmmmmmm




Oh, man, it was so good to get together with Michelle & Doni again.




The next day Doni & Michelle joined in on our 'ukulele workshop. Not shown are Dave & Amelia, who also accompanied us on bass. Brian came by, we had a great pot-luck, and then more 'ukulele jam; complete with a bit of hula. How lucky we are to have such great friends. L-R: Sibyl, Ross, me, Michelle, Doni, Ron, and Carol in front.

Sketchcrawl #19

I love Sketchcrawls! It's such a gift to allow yourself the whole day to just draw. Fort Point was the location this time, right under the bridge. About 40 people showed up. The weather was beautiful, as always. This was Amelia's last crawl before heading off to College.
We were merely the San Francisco contingent of the Worldwide Sketchcrawl. If you would like to see the results of what people sketched all over the world on Sunday, you can see as people post their work at www.sketchcrawl.com/forum/. Just go to 19th Worldwide Sketchcrawl, and then click on the city/country RESULTS post. I think it's fascinating. I'll put mine up eventually. Sweden posted some great photos along with the art. I want to go to Sweden. I loved Australia's. And I want to learn to sketch like Gabi Campanario in Seattle. That'll never happen!

I'm so HAPPY that Sib, Ross, Diane, Ruth and Ernie came down!!! I've always wanted them to come! Yay!

The North Bay/East Bay gang: L-R front row: Jeff, Amelia, Ronnie, Gerin, Ruth, Sibyl. Back row: Ernie, Ross, Nancy, Diane

That bridge is breathtaking from any angle...


Concentrating...


Summer in SF and no fog! Diane and Sib upon our arrival:


Amelia and "the man" Enrico Casarosa. Dig the blue hat.



I don't know where the time went. The day FLEW by, and I only did these two sketches!!





Afterwards, we went to Presidio Social Club for dinner, and then to the Ethnic Dance Festival at the Palace of Fine Arts. What a great day.

felted Popeye and Olive

I'm working on Wimpy now. I want to do Swee'pea, Eugene the Jeep, Brutus and Alice the Goon, too. They take a long time, though, so we'll see...

Robin's Nest Update

This is the same nest I posted a week or so ago. I was really surprised to see 4 eggs in it! Momma and Daddy Robin are not at all happy with us being anywhere near it, so I haven't peeked in since last time. The nest is only about 6' up in a tree; right outside the chicken coop. I can't quite reach my camera high enough to focus correctly.

(as Ry would say) "Good God Almighty!"

Thank you Youtube!Whew!
Ry Cooder, Santa Cruz, 1987. On vocals:
Terry Evans(in blue), Willie Green Jr., Arnold McCullen and Bobby King.

Sad Chicken story

Last Saturday I went out to Penngrove Hay & Grain and got 2 more baby chicks; an Ameracauna and a Barred Rock. They were 3 weeks old. Penny and Ginger accepted them immediately, and, at only one week older, took on the "mother hen" role of sitting on them when it began to get dark. After a couple of nights in the cat carrier safely in the garage, I thought it would be ok to let them sleep in the coop with P&G. I had nailed an extra layer of chicken wire around the base of the coop, because they warned me at the feed store that animals can reach right through chicken wire. Well, they were right. Something, - a cat, we're fairly sure, reached through both layers of wire and got the Barred Rock in the middle of the night. I came out in the morning to find her head and her heart in the coop, and a pile of feathers outside. Sickening. So as soon as I came home from work, I nailed another layer of chicken-wire to the outside. I'm still nervous, because for some reason, those silly chickens like to sleep right up next to the sides of the coop. I go out there right at dusk and move them further back, and hopefully they stay there the rest of the night. Chickens go brain-dead after dark; they typically can't even walk, so I'm hoping they stay put. And if they don't, hopefully 3 layers of chicken-wire will keep the predators' stinkin arms out of there.

Robin's Egg Blue

I didn't know Robin's egg blue was so vibrant, but here it is, the real deal. Right in our backyard.

New Job!

Tomorrow I start my new job! I'll be the graphic artist at Arcturus Marine in Rohnert Park. They manufacture parts for boats -- big boats! Stabilizers, Thrusters, and Hydraulic systems. Nice that there's still some manufacturing in Sonoma County! So it's back to the 'ole technical illustration, which I really love. Training manuals, specifically. Only this time it's on a mac with Illustrator, Photoshop & InDesign.

So bye-bye to my life of leisure, and hello 8:30-5!

Here's the url to the new company: http://www.thrusters.com/

Introducing ... Penny and Ginger!

Ta Da! The newest additions to our Family! Penny and Ginger are 3 weeks old. Penny is a Speckled Sussex and Ginger is a Buff Orpington. The coop is all set up for them, but the weather has suddenly turned cold, so they're temporarily housed up in the cat carrier, inside the house. They are super mellow little girls and they hardly make a peep! We'll be adding a couple more in a week or two...

Here they are with a couple of College Girls. Penny behaved herself, while Ginger left a little deposit on Amelia.

Dave and Ginger watching Utube
Meanwhile, Buddy is ignoring them, and Blue is scared...

Clematis Garden

Yesterday we drove out to Chalk Hill Clematis Nursery. The clematis were a little late blooming this year due to frost, so we were a little early, plus the plants had been invaded by a family of hungry rabbits, but it was still beautiful. We had lunch afterwards at Jimtown Store.

Iris Garden

Last Sunday, Sandra, Velva & I visited an Iris Garden, "My Wild Iris Rows" in Santa Rosa.

Sandra, out standing in her field.
Velva, Sandra

Sandra & I each bought some.

Felted Soaps

Felting soap is delicious!

Mango

Rose

Lavender

k-12

Time flies...

Photo Restoration Final Project

Tomorrow is the final day of my Photo Restoration class. I'm sort of sad, because it's been by far the greatest Photoshop class I have taken. I've learned so much, and at the same time, still feel occasionally overwhelmed. Sometimes I think the more you know about Photoshop, the more you know you don't know. It's just endless. It has been a challenge that's for sure. Tomorrow we have a final exam, and turn in our final project. It was a tough one. We were given this photo to restore and colorize:


I'm not entirely happy with it, but after over 9 hours and 28 layers, I'm done with it!

Costa Rica Dove

This was an accident. I was studying all the different ways to convert a color image to b&w, and I did something wrong. I really like the way it turned out, though.

Those silly cats!

These are priceless.

theramin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ONJfp95yoE

treadmill:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=yVjzd320gew