Here And There

The name says it all. I just noticed that I haven't updated my blog in a little while. Not, at least, with anything solid. This is due to everything that has been going on lately.

My wife and I have found ourselves back here in Chile, and with much work to do. I've made a couple of shelving systems and have some plans for others. Not only that but, I've also found another hobby. As if I need one more interest to take up my non-existent time. My new hobby is photography.

My photography is not that great, but I'm learning. I just keep practicing. Only thing is, there's not too much MCM here in Chile. There are a lot of modern buildings and houses, though. I mean, I live in the middle of nowhere and there is this super Moderno casa aca. It's just kinda crazy. Don't worry though. I did think of each and everyone of you while in the States after I had purchased my camera. How so? Well, my friend, let me explain you.

Once I purchased my camera, I took every photo of vintage interest I could find. That includes a few buildings, dishes, silverware and just random old stuff. A bunch of the photos I took are just quick snapshots, but some of my others are more composed. Also, not all of my photos that I want to show are up on flickr yet. They will, however, be put up over time. For now, here are some to get you going. You can see more here.

Did You Ever want It?

If you did, now is the time to get it. I only have 2 more days before I leave for my great home away from home in Chile, and to try and help in these hard times, I am offering all wood art at tremendously discounted prices. However, these prices will only last until Friday evening (Oct 30). So, if you ever wanted it, go and get it.

Be sure to use the links on the right hand side of my blog to get to my etsy store.

Cool, But Not Particularly Modern

I have noticed over the past couple of years that there are some really cool Mid-Century and Mid-Century modern homes in the metro Atlanta area. However, it seems that I have never found the time to photograph them. This past weekend I took a few photos of some of the cool MCM inspired, but not so Mid-Century Modern homes that I like in the metro area. I only took a few photos though.

These few homes where built in the early 70's and don't fall into the truly modern category. They are nice though, and I consider them to be very cool. Each one has something that shows the direct influence of the 50's and 60's. For instance, they have the vaulted ceiling over the entry with the celestial windows, long skinny windows, or stone work. These features give each home character that I really like.

I hope you like them as well, there are a few more photos on my flickr.

Lesson To Be Learned...

When this past weekend started, it was good. Not great. Just good. That was until about 9:30 a.m. Saturday morning. Why 9:30? Well, that's when my hard drive decided: "I've had enough work in my life. I'm going to quit now. BYE!" And quit it did too. It quit with all my latest creations stored on said hard drive and no where else. So, I guess, there are always lessons to be learned. In this case, it was at my expense. Really though, it's my own fault. I, well, I just didn't use my little grey cells like I should have. I, however, only have a portion of the problems that Micro Soft has after they accidentally lost a bunch of AT&T's customers information. You know, like email contacts, and other crucial information to each and everyone of us. So.... Goooo Micro Soft, make that Mac stock sore. If only I owned some....

Originally, I was going to explain how my new series of art was inspired by my interest and intent observation of embroidery from mens sport shirts of the 50's and 60's. While that's the short of it, my new series is now, even more like those cool old shirts. Why? Well, because my latest series of art is as illusive as those old shirts are. It was right in the tips of my fingers... when, wham! Hard drive CRASHES!

Here's kinda how it went. I saw. I spent HOURS drawing, designing, and generally pulling my hair out. I lost it all.

As it is, I..., I am not made of money. So when we came back to the states this time we thought long and hard about what to bring with us. We wanted the maximum space available to carry things back to Chile. That was really important to us because, many of the, oh... how do you say it? Good things, aren't available in Chile. That being the case, we just don't buy much there. The idea, however, was to definitely buy things here to take back. Remember now, we moved to Chile with 2 suit cases, 2 carry ons, our backpacks, and our snowboards. You can only imagine that we really do need a few more things. Therefore, even though we could buy clothing down there, we don't. We just don't really like their clothes, and they're expensive. Not to mention that I lost 4o pounds down there and nothing fits anymore.

What does all this have to do with anything? Well, I opted out of bringing my external hard-drive with me. That's what. I know... 3 months of not backing up? Not smart, I know. The original idea though, was that I would buy another external for my wife's machine, as a backup here and I could use it temporarily. Except, after spending bunches of money on clothes and things we needed, it made me sick to spend more on a "unnecessary backup". Yeah not so unnecessary, huh!

So, now I've lost all my stuff until I get back to my backup in Chile, and all my new designs. Sorry, Tikimama! I even lost the one that you liked, "Polyface". I can, however, recreate some of them. Polyface will be one of the first. However, I don't think that I will recreate all of them.

You know though, the most aggravating thing is... My wife asked, very kindly I mind you, do you think you should take your star point screw drivers? Of course, I was like, naaa... I won't need those there. I only use those when I have to change my hard drive out. Well, anybody got a star point set I can use?

Moral, ALWAYS LISTEN TO YOUR WIFE! SHE DOES KNOW BEST!

Here's some photo's of what I lost.

More Karl Benjamin

This is not the first post that I have posted on Karl Benjamin. In fact, my first one can be found here under "You Just Never Know". Even though I have posted about this incredible artist, at the following link you will find an archive of Mr. Benjamin's art, interview and interesting information. See it all here.

The Past Few Days...

Video source: Salton Sea Doc

Over the past few days I have found so many cool new contacts on Flickr, or just new (to me at least) sites and topics. It's just funny how endless Mid-Century design stuff seems. For that reason, I want to introduce some of you to something I stumbled upon this morning, "The Salton Sea".

Evidently, this was California's version of the French Riviera for a time. What happened to it? Well, that's a whole different story. To be honest, I have not seen the documentary film about this once, lush and jetset scene. However, what interested me more about all this is the possibilities for nostalgia that exist with the extras DVD's at the www.saltonseadocumentary.com website.

Don't get me wrong, the documentary about living in the Salton Sea area, PLAGUES & PLEASURES, seems very interesting as well. I just think the for our interest and purposes, the extras DVD is a bit more interesting with all the vintage footage and photos it says it contains.

Bottles and Abstract

So.... I tried to paint a few canvases this morning. That went horrible awry, then I got depressed for a few hours. After that I looked at study color theory for a while and this is what I came up with. What do you think? Do I offer it as print for sale? What do you guys think?

So now... It's for sale on Etsy. Go buy one. Please......

It's also on my flickr with other stuff.