New Horizons

nicaragua 033, originally uploaded by Mr & Mrs Speeed.

Things I love about 2008.

1. Lots of visiting with family in fun and exotic places like Nicaragua.
2. Making a baby.
3. Found new people to make music with and old friends too.
4. Working our garden and eating the bounty.
5. Painting murals on the wall of the house.
6. Working with the neighborhood to make it a better place.
7. Watching Little A get crafty.
8. Sunday night dinners with friends.
9. Electing Obama.
10. Motorcycle rides to work.

11. Returning to yoga practice

As far as next years resolutions? I'll quote some thing I read over at Catskill Cottage Seed which resonates with my attitude:

"I always look with anticipation as to where the flow of the next year will take me. More then plans, lists, or resolutions, my sincere intention is to remain open to the unexpected opportunities that will cross my path throughout the upcoming year."

How about you?

Blue Blossom

I made this digital mandala a while back but have never shared it. I came across it again not so long ago and still liked it, so here it is for everyone to enjoy. I'm working on a new painting for the baby's room. It may be a while still before I finish that, but when I do I'll post it too.

Yes We Have

Now that reality has had a couple days to set in I thought I'd try and jot down some of my thoughts about the recent election. I have to say I have never been so proud of my country and had more hope in my fellow Americans than right now. Little A and I had the opportunity a couple years ago to travel the country on a marketing job for a couple health care companies during the whole Medicare Part D prescription drug plan roll out. During that time we got to talk with thousands of Americans from the poorest to the richest and it was quite enlightening. Mostly it affirmed my belief that we are all very similar on the basic level of what we want and need. We may have different opinions on how to achieve those things and how we got to where we are but we all want to be loved, to be able to enjoy our basic freedoms and liberties, to be heard and to be safe.
The last 8 years have been a sad and disappointing downturn in our history and our standing in the world. I've seen first hand the negative effects of the (soon to be) last administrations policies on the lives of average Americans. I think it is really hard to grasp this if you have not traveled in the way I was lucky enough to be able to. It's very easy to get isolated in your little pocket of the world and extrapolate that experience to your view of the whole country or the whole world.
It sends a great message to the world that our country may finally be growing up a bit more and getting past our racial and xenophobic issues to not all fall for the sad and desperate smear campaigns of the McCain campaign and to stand up in great numbers to elect an African American president with a middle name of Hussein. A man who held his ground and did not bend in the face of criticism nor lower himself to the sort of negative campaigning that cost McCain the election.
Now it's up to us to hold the President Elect accountable and make him keep true to his word. And I am glad to once again have a president who looks us in the eye and tells us that we are needed to make sacrifices and pitch in to help steer this thing. I'm so tired of a president who tells us to just go to the mall in the face of national crisis.
We were in the airport on the way to Ireland when the first troops were getting on planes to go to Iraq. We were on the road traveling when we got to visit this memorial project which had placed an American flag for every victim of 9/11 and every victim of the Iraq war in a field. With a child on the way I hope more than ever in our future.

Waves on the Burren

This is a picture I shot when Little A and I went to Ireland many moons ago. The picture hardly captures the awesome magnitude of this landscape. We were standing out on the rocks on the Burren and the ocean was crashing onto them with amazing force. The ground below us was hallowed out and we could hear and feel the water rushing in and out of the ground beneath us. Getting washed off the rock would have been curtains for sure. It was very humbling to be in the throes of the raw power of nature.

Por la Mañana

I took this shot in Nicaragua in the streets of Grenada, the oldest colonized city in the Americas. I performed a little tweaking in photoshop to make it a bit grittier. Something about the combination of textures, light and shadow and the guy passing by on the bike came together in way I really enjoy.

The Amber Throne

This started a s photo of a chair my Little A pulled out of a dumpster. It seems to have evolved into an abstract deconstruction of itself. The digital realm has a way of doing that to you.

Morning Jettison

Morning Jettison, originally uploaded by Mr & Mrs Speeed.

I shot this photo of a native fisherman's boat and net on the beach of Ometepe island in Nicaragua. I worked a little magic on it in photoshop to try and get is to sit on the line between a photo and a painting. Click on the photo for a full view or to browse other photos from Nica.

Nicaraguan Sky

DSC01483.JPG, originally uploaded by Mr & Mrs Speeed.

We just got back from Nicaragua. I took lots of pictures and also many audio samples that I plan to boil down into some musical creations at some point. For now enjoy this sky.

Lotus Mural

So little A had this idea for the bedroom wall.



So to start off we'll need a wall then... Oh, look here's one.



Hmm this wall's not the right color. We'll need a little blue. Let's make it match painters tape shall we?



Then maybe fade into darker blue in the corners and some squiggly vine-y bits of glaze.



Ok, let's doodle on a happy little lotus flower shall we?



Then some color. This is really taking me back to the days of painting custom dance floor covers with ivy and roses. Yes I really used to do that for a living along with fabricating much wackier creations.



Ok one flower pretty much done. Little yellow bits in the center per Little A's request..



A couple more of those and detailing on the curly bits and we're done.



Well, almost done. Maybe some squiggly bits around the doors and windows.



And a lotus stamp on top. Ok I'm outta here...



I think it came out OK. But it's nothing compared to the mural this guy did.

Carousel of the Gods

The novel American Gods by Neil Gaiman is a favorite of mine. There is a part in where all of the old gods get together for a meeting to decide what to do about all the pesky new gods. They have this meeting at the House on the Rock in Wisconsin (not Missouri) which is a most bizarre and fascinating place. A and I had the chance to go there back when we were traveling the country and I shot many photos there. I took two photos of the worlds largest indoor carousel (which is also mentioned in the book) and overlaid them together. I then digitally painted over that composite to create this final piece. Careful, looking at it may cause dizziness and disorientation!

Bird Call

This is a painting my wife commissioned from me a while back. The theme of birds silhouetted on a monochromatic background is all the rage right now in home decor shops like Red Tree. (Which we love to kill time in!) Rather than buying one she asked me to whip one up for her to put in her office. I tend to focus on the one who is taking off on his own though the fat one alone on the right makes me smile with his slightly curmudgeon like posture. Maybe the rest are about to follow the one taking flight, maybe not. I'll leave that to you to decide.

Outside of the Box #1

This is number one in a current series of digital artworks. It represents man made compartmentalization being subdivided and stacked on itself. Symbolic of modern development, cubicle office life and the social tendency to place people and things into neat little boxes. However the more we try and place our organic and mysterious experience into stereotypical classifications, the more it becomes apparent that things do not fit so nicely and neatly into perfectly arranged compartments. In fact as we attempt to analyze things down to their core and classify them to the nth degree, nature has a tendency to break down under such scrutiny and present more interesting anomalies that challenge our previous deductions about the nature of reality. Tunnels and doorways open up into previously unfathomable dimensions and possibilities. Eventually our own structured belief systems must melt away to make room for these new and unexpected realizations.