So another year has rolled around and I’ve been busy as hell. Between running Noir dating the wrong people, trying to keep the business together, longboarding, and taking up painting again, I’ve been running flat out since September.

I suppose all and all, it’s been a good last few months, but honestly the tail end of 2010 really sucked. I lost one of the great loves of my life, lost some friends, had a very bad holiday season, had a number of problems with work and cash flow, and was sicker than a dog for a couple of months.

However, 2011 started making up for it all. It’s been great since the year started. Work has been more interesting, Noir is going great, I’ve been more creative than I have been in years, and have been in great health.

So, there isn’t a lot to write about at the moment, other than to say that the new night is fantastic, and if you live in Van, you have to make it out, and that there are a bunch of new pics in the gallery that might be worth checking out. I’ve taken up techniques in photorealism lately, and have concentrated mostly on racy or erotic images. As far as DJing goes, I still haven’t managed to remember to record my sets, but I’m making a promise to get some of the Noir sets up, starting this month.

Recent Paintings
Bikini – 2011
24″x36″ Acrylic on Canvas

Lolipop – 2011
24″x36″ Acrylic on Canvas

Cherries – 2011
24″x36″ Acrylic on Canvas

Recent Flyers

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It’s been a while since my last post. I guess I’ve been busy. Work was getting pretty slow near the end of the summer, but it’s been crazy for the last few weeks. In my spare time, I’ve taken up longboarding on top of the heli, painting, and getting a new kink night off the ground.

Longboarding is the most fun I’ve had legally in a long time. I skated a bit in my late teens and early 20′s but somehow it just didn’t keep my interest. Longboarding however seems to be different. It seems to appeal to a lot of folk in their 30s and 40s that were skaters in their teens and 20s. It more relaxed, better speed and there’s a lot less poser snottiness, and just more folk that like cruising and exploring. It’s true that a lot of my friends have told me that I’m insane for getting back on a board, but honestly they should try it. It’s hard work to get back into it, but it is amazing how much fun you can have, and how great it feels when you see how quickly your skills improve.

Then again… On my first day out, I did manage to injure myself pretty badly. I wiped out practicing breaking on a hill, and came down hard on my left elbow, dislocating it, and my arse, tearing up the upper part of my right glute. As a consequence of this bit of stupidity, I spent the last few weeks of the summer pretty much out of commission. So, although I had time to do stuff, I was unable to stand or do much with my hands.A nasty turn of events, but not unexpected. After all, I’m 39 and haven’t been on a skateboard in 20 years. It was bound to happen sooner or later, and I’m glad I got it out of the way early on. Since then, as soon as I was well enough to stand again, I started going out every chance I get. I’m having a blast, and I’m pretty much covered in protective gear. Yeah, I probably look like someone that came to earth on the starship quotnerdquot but the wrist and elbow pads have saved my ass since, and a helmet is just plain good sense. I don’t care how hardcore you are, falling down can happen so easily and unexpectedly and concrete is not nice on the ole’ noggin.

I’ve also been back into flying my heli. Strange that I didn’t get around to it most of the summer, but between painting, working on some tunes, getting injured and sucked into a couple of video games, I really didn’t have the time. Now thatmy bud is into it again too, and I have someone to go out with, I’m getting back into it.I’ve been flying a few times, and have ordered a new 500 class kit (about twice the size I have now) and am waiting for it as I type this. I’ve been checking out FPV systems, and over the next year I think I’m gonna have to try to build one into the helicopter. I think it would be pretty radto have a full UAV of my very own.

I’m also back into working on some music, but that’s taken a back seat to getting stuff ready for Noir, the new club night. We’re looking forward to it, and it’s likely to seriously kick ass. We’ve needed an alternative to the costume party scene that’s come to dominate adult themed parties in this city, I mean… Pirate night? Seriously? It’s definitely a fun idea for a costume ball, but for an adult entertainment friendly event, it seems just a tad disney to me. Might as well have muppet kink. Frankly I also need to get out and spin some vinyl again before I forget how. So this is gonna rock.

Anyhow, I gotta go eat some food, I skated something like 20km, and I’m starving.

Pictures and stuff soon.

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Another concept drawing of a mechanical spider is done.

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Just finished a fun litte drawing done on my new Intuos4 drawing tablet.. Mechanical spider concept sketch. Inked in Adobe Illustrator.

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Well, my weekend was a blur of pain. Friday I picked up a longboard, which I’ve been wanting for the last two years. I finally ran out of excuses, so I took the plunge.

Of course, we all know what happens to people who pick up a sport again after years and years of not doing it, they get stupid and wipe out. I’m no exception. Mind, I did know it was going to happen, it was just a question of when. Glad I got it over and done with early on, and that it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

I managed to dislocate my elbow on Friday night while practicing breaking on a hill that was, in hindsight, rather too steep for my feeble and rusty skills. I nursed it thinking it just bruised until Saturday which I spent mostly in the emergency room waiting on x-rays.

Luckily I didn’t break anything, but as I said, I dislocated it, so it’s been a weekend of ineffectual pain killers.

I’m pretty happy to report that it’s healing really well, and I’ll soon be back out there with some new protective gear to try again.

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Well, the latest painting is done. It’s another freehand airbrush on canvas. I rather like the way the textures and color worked out, but as it wasn’t well thought out, I’m not 100% convinced on the final outcome. Still, it’s rather interesting, and gave me a chance to try a bunch of techniques on canvas, and to refine some of my approach.

I’ve recently taken to experimenting with airbrush on canvas instead of illustration card. I have to say that it’s been a real challange. I’m not fussy on the results so far, but I’m learning a hell of a lot.

I usually try to use a techique that is light on the paint, and allows me to correct, or texture with an electric eraser, knife, or similar, as well as detailing in pencil crayon or conte. However, the rough textured surface of a canvas presents unique challanges to an airbrush artist.

The rough texture of canvas requires that more paint get used for certain light effects, and makes it virtually impossible to get clean light effects, texture with a knife, or touch up with crayon, so many of my renderings feel flat and lifeless to me. I’m having to learn to layer textures very differently, and how to get the most use out of transparent extender. I’m also finding it very difficult to control the exact position of paint, and finding that colors fade very quickly in the drying process. Even with a well gesso’d canvas, the amount of pigment that seems to get soaked up is astonishing.

Still, I am finding new ways to do things, which is always a good exercise. However, after I finish the piece I’m currently working on, I may have to go back to illustration card for the next one, just to soothe my badly bruised artist ego.

Monday morning once again. I’m looking over my task list for the week, and discovering that some of the things I needed to get done last week have sort of bled over into this one. I can’t seem to find my 06 tax returns, I’ve forgotten to mail my GST remittances, and so on.

I feel rather disorganized.

I suppose it’s not the end of the world. I’m far more organized these days than I was 6 months ago. I sorta feel like I’ve been slowly climbing out of a big giant hole.

Still, Monday mornings suck. I always end up feeling like Sysyphus looking up at that boulder, realizing that I’ve gotta start pushing it up that hill again.

I suppose that I rather like painting and working on tunes, because at the end of the day I can look back and actually see something I did. Unlike tech work, which pretty much means that I look back and see pretty much what I saw at the start of the day.

I guess I gotta find some time tonight to look for tax returns, and get some mail out the door after work. Also, now that they gym is paid off, I think I’ll get my butt out there tonight. ‘s been a while.

Oh, reminds me…. I gotta charge the iPod.

Well, it seems that the upgrade of Apache on my box did not go as planned. Pretty much everything, and all dependencies had to be rebuilt from scratch. So, it was a bit of a process.

Well… We’re back up and running now, so what’s been up….

Work was insane for the last couple of months, but it’s quieted down in recent weeks. I’m actually getting a bit of time to work on personal stuff, and catch up on paperwork and the ole tax thing, which is a bit of a mess frankly. The simple truth is that I’m behind in filing because quite frankly, I can’t afford to pay them what they want and still keep a roof over my head. The business has been brutal over the last couple of years. Expected payments weren’t there, we had to lay off staff, and every damn extra penny got grabbed by one damn emergency or another. So it’s been trying. Now, that I’m not hemmoraging cash so quickly, mostly cause I’m completely out of it (lol) I thought I’d get caught up on the paperwork and see how bad it’s gonna be.

Well, the accountant is bad enough. Its $2400 bucks for them to file everything, which pretty much means that I’m absolutely penniless for the next month, and that’s BEFORE I deal with Rev Can. This so serious sucks. 10 years in the IT business and all I have to show for it is an increasing debt load to the government. *sigh* Well, I’m gonna try to keep some humor about it. At least I have a roof over my head, most of the gear I need to get things done, and I’m starting to get some time to do creative projects, like more painting and some audio work. I’m just hoping that I can get them to make a bit of money over the next while, cause I’m gonna need it!

I’ll be posting the latest projects in the next day or so.

It’s been increasingly hard to find time to do creative work over the last couple of weeks. The day job is keeping me insanely busy, and by the time I’m done for the day, there isn’t anything left. I’m burnt out. So it’s been hard to keep up with posting, because frankly there’s been nothing to post about, other than ‘work sucks’ which frankly everybody already knows, and nobody wants to hear about.

I did finally about 3 am last night get struck with an idea for a painting. Not sure I can pull it off, but it’s something to try. Gonna start sketching it out tonight after the gym I think.