This is Jeff. I've had to sculpt him from life a lot in my sculpture class. And now I've painted him from life. This is a bit of a departure from my past approaches to painting the human figure,
as seen here.
Male Nude
roughly 18x24"
Oil on panel
Some dear friends of mine had a baby a little under two weeks ago. I was very excited about the birth of their child, which is an unusual feeling for me. I'm not a huge baby-loving fan, though I wouldn't say I'm a baby-hater either. I guess it might be because two people that I respect and admire quite a lot, who weren't sure if they were going to have kids at all, had a beautiful little girl, together. I know they will be good parents because they at their core are good people. I'm looking forward to learning from them what their child-rearing is like because they hold many ideas that are in line with my own.
Some dear friends of mine got married yesterday. The ceremony was at dusk in the hill country overlooking Lake Travis. It was really scenic, with nice weather, and it was simple yet elegant. They really took good care of their guests, more so than I've ever witnessed at a wedding before. The speech the groom gave made me cry, because what he said rang so truthfully about my dearest friendships that I hold with my fellow performers. The reception was warm and fun, and I really believe that the bride and groom are honest, genuinely good people. It's nice to celebrate when good people get together, they deserve it.
A dear friend of mine was believed to have taken his own life a few days ago. It has not been officially confirmed yet...I have heard news through the grapevine and am waiting for further word. I doubt further news will be good news, but I am hopeful. He was a fellow performer, and of his personal life I knew very little, and now I am scouring my mind for past details that might give me a clue as to WHY, but it is hard, as I don't even really know the HOW. We worked together on some sketch shows, and he was one of the first people to ever welcome me into the community. He bought me cheesefries at the Dog n Duck pub after an improv jam in the summer of 05. I didn't have much money on me then. We talked about improv and life. Throughout the past few years, I had had many good conversations with him. I never suspected this.
I have this bottle of wine he gave me on my 21st birthday. Someone told me at the time that it was really good wine, and I hid it away. I still have it, unopened.
I feel really optimistic today. I think it might help that I've caught up on sleep.
But still, I don't think I'm just imagining things.
We're going to be alright.
The festival is over, it was great, we had awesome shows and our workshops were sold out and went well.
Now we're off to a luau! Seriously!
I'm here in Hawaii, soaking up the sun and sand. Soon we will head to the theatre via a bus, and our show is tonight at 10pm.
I have not yet had an alcoholic beverage. Crazy, I know. I must have a fruity drink inside a coconut soon.
No time to talk!
My Kitchen
18 x 24"
Oil on Canvas
And! The canvas it is on I made myself from a pile of wood and cloth.
Hey guys!
I'm now Southwest Airlines new "Blog-o-spondent", or, video blogging corespondent.
Thanks so so much for your cheering and support and help from afar. It was a fun and hectic weekend we had here, and now we're about to head to the airport for a flight back to Austin.
I'm already thinking of the cities I want to go to in the coming months...Chicago, San Francisco...all places they said I could visit (they are major Southwest carriers).
Roy was so fantastic and I think he'll get to be my permanent cameraman/editor, they liked his video work so much. That makes it all worth it, so that the two of us can travel around and goof off.
I seriously tried to have as much fun as I wanted, with the idea of the contest only on the back burner. I'm glad I did it that way.
God, I'm exhausted.
See you back in Austin! (and then it's off to Hawaii on Thursday, woah)
The challenge was to make a video that shows me "Living the Southwest Way". That means demonstrating three qualities while out and about around Vegas:
1. A FUN-Luving attitude: We take our work seriously, but not ourselves.
2. A Servant's Heart: We live by the Golden Rule, and treat others the way we want to be treated.
3. A Warrior Spirit: We believe in doing whatever it takes to succeed!
So Roy and I got this challenge and then romped all around the Las Vegas strip getting footage. We had a total of an hour by the end of the day, and then had to cut it down to 5 minutes.
In 15-20 min the three finalist videos will be up on
http://southwest.spigit.com, where the people of the world wide web can vote until 12pm PST (2pm Texas time).
Wow. We are so tired. We edited/shot this baby all night and day. We had some issues with the uploaded quality, which Roy loyally obsessed over.
ENJOY! VOTE!
We have footage! Now to upload and edit.
*phew*
I'm excited about what we've got to work with.
PS: This place is freaking exhausting.
Last night in Vegas was pretty fun.
Paula Berg (southwest airlines marketing person) picked Roy and I up at the airport. She seems nice and spunky. We checked into our room and I changed into something more night-lifey. For me, unlike many other Vegas visiting patrons, that does not mean glitter or sequence or a free view of my non-existent cleavage.
Roy and I walked several miles down the strip trying to get to the Mirage/Treasure Island from the Monte Carlo. It looked really close from our hotel but then kept getting farther away as we walked.
I was wearing heels, now I have blisters. Eep!
We picked up our Blog World badges at the Mirage front desk. We are categorized as "exhibitors" for Southwest Airlines. We finally sat down and put $10 in a slot machine. I was really confused as to what was supposed to happen in the game and so was Roy. We talked about black jack and stuff possibly taking more skill but both thought those tables looked intimidating. We probably won't be gambling very much.
We ran into the Macy's at the Fashion Show Mall just as it was closing and I snagged a long sought after Tokidoki bag (eee!). It's so awesome. We then searched for water for too long and then jumped on a double-decker bus to head back towards our hotel. There was no way we were going to walk that distance all the way back.
As we were getting off the bus the overcom person was calling out nearby attractions and hotels at that stop. The said, "Coca Cola World..."
And Roy and I immediately both shouted at the same time, "Coca Cola World!!"
Apparently no one else was surprised or enthralled or intrigued by the idea of a Coca Cola World because they did not shout aloud along with us.
We then went into the New York New York casino, and I was pretty enthralled by the indoor decor. We bought fancy drinks and watched Zumanity, it was a cirque de soleil show revolving around the theme of sex and sensuality. I don't think glittery man-thongs are sexy. Is that just me?
I liked the acrobatics and comedy acts. The dance acts were pretty okay, felt like a dressed-up strip club. There was an act where two men dance/fought and then made-out with each other. That seemed pretty progressive. Two mostly naked women swam around a giant champagne glass, that was pretty neat too.
It's been a long week, so after that I was pretty damn tired. Roy and I looked for food and settled on grabbing something real quick, we plan on having a fancyish meal tonight.
We played another cheap slot and scratched our heads some more at the point of it all.
Then bed.
Ok, I have to get dressed RIGHT NOW so I can head over to Blog World and get my video assignment.
I wonder what it's gonna be!
We're at our hotel, the Monte Carlo. We have tickets for Zumanity, the other cirque shows were pretty much sold out. We have VIP access to a blog world party later.
Things are good so far!
take a picture of yourself right now.
don't change your clothes, don't fix your hair... just take a picture.
post that picture with NO editing.
post these instructions with your picture.
I about to do a show!
I was so on top of things in Modern Art History today!
I could see an early painting by an artist and figure out the other artists that he hung around and painted with. Neat!
I had an extremely productive weekend.
Some Like it Improvised opened to a sold out house and we had a really fun show. Kareem and I had some great whitty insult banter back and forth as the mix-matched couple that was so genre appropriate. I can't believe I was actually able to do it, normally that is not my thing in improv. Love the challenge, though!
On Saturday I watched a rough cut of a documentary about two great improvisers, TJ and Dave. It was pretty swell to watch, and they showed an entire 50 min show of theirs. I have always wanted to see them perform (they perform mainly in Chicago and NY), and it was a pleasure watching two extremely well connected professionals work together. They felt a similar spiritual connection to improv like I do, and I loved hearing them talk about it.
After that, I picked up some dance tights (they're good and durable for improv shows) then I went to the Austin Museum of Art's current exhibition, Modern Art, Then and Now.
The THEN exhibition was fucking fantastic!! Impressionist, Expressionist, and Fauvist artists all on display in our very own city. There was Gauguin, Matisse, Picasso, Cezanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh, Degas, Signac, and so many more! I think I gasped aloud over and over again as I went through the gallery. It was prefect timing along with my Modern Art History class.
Such amazing work is there right now. I think I'm going to go back.
The NOW exhibit left something to be desired for me. I think I'm not particularly interested in what they thought Modern art is right now.
After that I walked back down the street and did two shows. One was alright and one went fairly well. Maestro is interesting. Because it is set up where everyone is competing against each other for the title of "Maestro", often after the show audience members will come up and whisper to you, "You should have won, you were the best." And then you have the feeling of, "Yay, older man with glasses thought I was the best!" Little ego boost, but then again, it's only maestro. Nice to know some stranger rooted for you for an hour and a half.
The next day was spent preparing for the PGraph fundraiser. We're going to the 3rd Annual Hawaiian Festival of Improvisation on the 25th of this month, and it's going to be a much more costly trip than we're used to shelling out-of-pocket for, so we had a fundraiser. We did almost everything ourselves and got a lot of wonderful community help and support. Jastroch was an awesome host and Val and I even pulled him into our Adventure Squad! show for a cameo. He was so fantastic as our school's principal.
We had a silent auction with art, jewelry, crafts, pies, and such. We had 3 fun improv sets. We ended up making about $800 ($1000 before taking out money for the venue and misc. expenses), which will help a lot in plane ticket/hotel costs.
After that was over, I was pretty exhausted, but I still had more to do that night.
Roy came with me at midnight to the St. Ed's painting studio where I stayed and painted until about 3:45am. The painting only needs a few minor touches and then it will be finished!
Also, some of Roy's family has been staying at our house since Wednesday (they fled the hurricane). I think they'll be here a few more days. It's been alright, especially since we're so busy we're not home much so it doesn't feel like we're overly crowded, but still, some extra stress.
So much to do and prepare for.
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