onion

Pick a pepper or the onion one.

The onion one.

rain?

A tenth of an inch fell out of the sky this morning.

We'll take it.

By 11 am, the sun was blazing.

Hardly time to open the umbrella.

overboard

I don't know, but I may have gone a little overboard.

It's been known to happen.

Please take this as an apology if you need to, Coco.

Now leave me and my computer alone!

the boogieman

In 1797, Francisco de Goya did this creepy etching called,

"Que viene el Coco".

a.k.a., "Here comes the boogieman".

As far as I'm concerned,

spammers, hackers, and all manner of ghosts in the machine

are boogiemen.

Disguised as "Sharon", it paid a visit to Celeste Bergin

in a nefarious plot to purloin her art files.

In my case, the thug has grabbed my email files,

Don't try to send email to me;

I'll get it, but I won't be able to identify it or open it.

What a jerk.

By the way, I never knew the boogieman's name is Coco.

Did you?

dream house

Some people post a painting every day.

I seem to always post mine on Fridays.

Then it's back to the ranch to reload.

TGtomorrowIF.

driving after dark

Night vision is a freaky thing.

repeat

Last September 5th, almost 6 months ago to the day,

the infamous Lefthand fire started just west of Boulder.

I did this painting on my iPhone back then.

It seems like yesterday.

That fire was a horror, but it didn't burn everything.

Unlike most of you, we've had a dead-dry winter,

and the wind is howling 79 mph.

So here we go again...

Incident Information

Announcements

Closures

News

Photographs

Maps

INCIDENT UPDATED 1 MIN. AGO

Incident Overview

Firefighters are responding to a fire in the Lefthand Canyon area on the Boulder Ranger District of the Roosevelt National Forest. They are battling dry conditions and gusty winds. The fire is located eight miles north-northwest of Boulder.

Boulder Office of Emergency Management has issued an evacuation order. Please check their website (link to the right) for the latest evacuation information.

Basic Information

Incident Type	Wildfire
Cause	Undetermined
Date of Origin	Friday March 11th, 2011 approx. 10:35 AM
Location	Started in Chaos Canyon
Incident Commander	Dave Buchanan, Usfs

Current Situation

Size	200 acres
Fuels Involved	Burning in ponderosa pine with grassy understory

Outlook

Remarks	A heavy air tanker has been ordered.

PRAY FOR JAPAN.

mardi gras

Laissez les bon temps rouler!

patience of a saint

You know what they say.

Saintliness is next to Dogliness.

leftovers

I like how Celeste Bergin uses

the leftover paint on her palette

to paint a little something else.

The object is to use up what's left, not to do a masterpiece.

I'm nothing if not casual.

up or down?

For those of us who can't decide...

there is always bofum.

fairy tales do come true

I call this

"The Three Little Red Riding Hoods".

Here's a stylin' wolf in a tux.

seriously

I should take my Pollock app paintings more seriously

and give them the respect they deserve.

Like most art, some take hard work,

and some are pure serendipity.

Some of them stink and get deleted,

but I think some of them are quite good.

I should give those some air.

Speaking of which, these were done at Gate 42.

I did this next one recently before dawn.

I immediately recognized that it must be for Loriann.

yosemite sam

A sure sign of spring.

much too much

If the world was made of chocolate

but a river ran through it,

it would still be too much chocolate.

chocolates

It took a lot of chocolate to paint this.

Photographing it drove me nuts.

Personally, I don't like chocolate and nuts,

so I figured I better just close the box.

another medium

Here are more Pollock iPhone app pieces.

Some appear dark because I did them late at night,

and I can't take a bright screen after midnight.

First, some barns.

I guess you could call this next one a memory painting.

It's a blueberry bog in Maine at night.

Here's another memory.

This time of an old screen door on a cottage.

And another barn.

There's something I love about doing these.

They're good for me; I can't control them.

when color first comes

A week ago, Loriann Signori suggested

we all try to do a memory painting.

This is the one I sent to her.

I've never consciously tried a memory painting before, though I suppose that whenever I've painted without a sketch or photograph, with only an idea of a place or time which left an imprint, it could be called a memory painting. As it turns out, while trying to successfully render a likeness can sometimes be difficult, trying to not be specific can be a good idea. The ideal, of course, is for either process to inform the other.

On February 10th, Loriann generously posted paintings done by nine talented artists who accepted the challenge here.

I love how different they all are.

Thanks for doing this, Loriann.

first wave

I could've painted more in Hawaii, but it seemed superfluous.

Eventually the colors became irresistible, and besides, the humidity kept the acrylics workable for two whole days. Amazing. Here in Colorado, they skin over in less than a half hour. Ironic, since I sat on the porch and watched this

paint itself in no time at all.

beach life

Teach these guys to surf,

and life on the beach will never be the same.

culture clash

I'm B-A-A-ack.

From the sublime...

to the ridiculous...

When I opened the shade on the plane in the morning,

it was clear that it had snowed in the mountains.

Aside from that shock, re-entry was gentle;

the first day back here was 65 degrees.

Joke's on me.

Now it's 14 and going down to 15 below zero tomorrow night.

I'm humbled and holed up in the studio.

P.S. This my blog, so I get to make amends.

Both of these places are ridiculously sublime.

instead

Sorry, it was a NO GO on Thursday for the Eddie.  The judges judged that the waves were big enough but not consistent enough. If the conditions kick up again before February 24th, they'll call everybody back from around the world and do it.  As all the invitees said, they don't care where they are or what they're doing, they'll catch the first plane and be here.  No matter the cost. After all, it's the Eddie. 

Lucky for us, all of the world's best Big Wave riders were already here, all jacked up and nowhere to go. Apparently, word got around that there were monster sets up here at Sunset. By 4 o'clock, they all (40 or so) were here with 5 PWCs (jet skis) and began tow-in surfing.  For the next 3 hours, we got to watch the most amazing athletes do the most amazing things (vocabulary fails me here) and still live to tell about it.  It was absolutely breath-taking.

Instead, though we'll probably never get to actually see the Quiksilver, we did get to watch the best surfers in the world do stuff that was too crazy even for the Eddie.      

  

front row

I brought my sketchbook, 6 canvases, acrylics, 3 brushes, charcoal, a value strip and some red acetate for viewing. I haven't even done as much as a thumbnail, no notans, no nuthin'. I'd like to think I'll produce something, and I will. BUT... 

The computer models are all showing that the biggest swell of the season is coming and will be here by Thursday. The predicted 40-foot waves will guarantee that "The Eddie" will be held in Waimea. Meanwhile, today and tomorrow the Sunset Open is being shown on a live streaming feed for a $10,000 prize. Watch 80 great watermen surf elimination heats. It's also being broadcast on Time Warner so we've got it on the big screen, on the computer, on the iPhone and right off the porch. Front row. Take a look; the feed   

right time right place

Life ain't easy, but it always gets you to the right place at the right time.  Being mere mortals, we can't plan it.  It's in the lap of the gods.  Lap dogs.  Heh.  

In spite of that basic truth, I find it to be no small miracle that we got here to Sunset Beach 24 hours ago, and today the rumored return of the most legendary surfing event in history is riding what the National Weather Service is calling a extra large swell from the North Pacific directly toward the North Shore of O'ahu.  If it does indeed arrive here as forecasted on Thursday January 20th, it will mean that The Quiksilver In Memory Of Eddie Aikau will be held two years in a row. That link will take you to my previous post about the Quiksilver, where you can learn more about the contest and the coincidence.  Both are really quite phenomenal.  

Hard to believe, but for once, hyperbole fails me.  Like everyone else here, I'm waiting for the waves.  The moon will be full, the tide will roar up the beach and the surf will be stupendous.

 

stormy weather

I hope our scheduled trip to O'ahu is well-timed,

and the current storm will blow over.

Aloha.

This is my photograph.

I took it with my Sony DSLR from the porch of our house

on January 25, 2009.