Mad William

Monsters, Love Sleep Overs...

Tonight was our first sleep over. Mr. Man had a friend over late in the day, and in the midst of playing, they asked if Friend could stay the night.

Now the only thing wilder than a sugared up five year old boy is the addition of a sugared up six year old boy.

After a couple of strange glances at one another and a, "It's alright with me, if it's alright with you?" We agreed.

So we called Friends mom to make sure she was alright. She was extremely nervous. Much more so than Friend.

We let them play and stay up late. I started off being the strict Dad and tried to reel them in a bit. I was quickly reminded that they are small boys having fun. No harm. Yet. With in minutes Mr. Man was crying. They were rough housing on the bed and some one hit their head on the solid wood head board.

No blood, no dents, no blurry vision, everything's good. Carry on.

Then the girls from across the street decided to drop in. Kid count: 1 - 6 year old boy, 1 - 5 year old boy, 1 - 5 year old girl, 1 - 4 year old girl. We are officially suburban parents. How the Hell did this happen?

That's right. Sheer disaster waiting to happen. With in a few more minutes the 4 year old girl was crying and wanting to go home. Fine with me. They are kind of little Princesses. Back to two boys.

Then we end up with Friends dog as well. It was across the street, some one's gone, long story short, we now have the dog too.

Well the new dog is terrified of our cat Fat Louie, which we now call "Cat", an other story.

With in a few minutes Friends dog has taken a leak on the bath room floor while the boys are taking a bath. Great.

Friends mom realizes that now she is missing her son and her dog, calls us to see if she can at least have her dog back for the night. After the wizz, you bet. The sooner the better.

A couple hours after bed time, around 11:30, Friend wakes up and wants him mommy. We try to distract him with a movie and some laughs. He falls asleep on the sofa, rolls over and lands on the tile floor. Now he really wants his mommy. We do a group hug thing and some more laughing and diversion, but Friend has had enough. He wants to call home.

We did. Friends mom didn't even hesitate to say, "I'm on my way". She only lives two block away. I swear she was here in about 45 seconds.

Honestly I felt bad. I was wondering what we did wrong. Then I remembered my first sleep over. It was a frightening thought to be away from your family for the first time. I don't think I made it all the way through.

So in the morning I will try to explain to Mr. Man why his Friend is gone.

Monsters, of course.

The Studio Plunder...A History, Part Eleven...Fini

I will apologize in advance, this is going to be a long one. But its also the last of the studio plunder. In no particular order.

It was toward the end of 2003 that we found that we were about to become parents. I will never forget how fast that stick turned blue. All three times.

A few days later, after I regained feeling in my limbs and started to think about it, I became fascinated with all things tiny. Having always been big, small was something new to me. All of my work for the next year became small. Tiny. Miniature.

My work had become an exploration in mini. The largest of the works was about 4 x 6 inches, which felt too large for them at the time. Most of them were about 1 x 2 to 2 x 3 inches. I explored all kinds of subjects. A few in color, most in pen and ink.

I still produce a mini now and then, just cuz. You can make minis any where. On the backs of business cards is one of my favorite places.

This was my sisters pet pig, Bacon Bits

A Giant Lamp Post

A crowd of people on the Champs Elysee.

A doodle page, 4 x 6 inches

Venice

A bridge ornament in Paris.

The space Needle, Seattle.

This is supposed to be water lilies at Giverny, France.

A park in London. We watched this guy feed squirrels for hours.

Rome

Notre Dame

The Parthenon, Rome.

A church in Paris.

Piazza del Popolo, Rome

Where the Turf meets the Surf, at old Del Mar.

Bacon Bits

Sam

Ivy

One of my old apartments in Ocean Beach.

A lawn chair

The Hotel Del Coronado

The Gaslamp Quarter, San Diego

Sacre Coeur, Paris

Moulin de Galette

Moulin Rouge

Space and time

Notre Dame

Eiffel Tower

Cafe de Paris

Marilyn

Girls in bikinis and heels

Three day old Mr. Man

One of my Sorrow series.

Precious and I in Amsterdam. You can't see it but we were standing in giant wooden shoes and holding bags of cheese.

And thus concludes the Studio plunder series of 2009. We'll see how things go after we move and I find a new studio space.

The Studio Plunder...A History, Part Ten

It was in 2001 that I painted my very first work in oil. It may be a little graphic for some so it is at the bottom of this post. You get a bit of warning before you scroll down.

I had started to spend much more time practicing my craft and things started to improve. At least I thought so. I was still working in pastels, soft and oil and now in oil paints. The subject matter was all over the place although I still preferred to use women as a main subject, I became fascinated with my pets and architecture.

The following works range from 2001 to 2003-ish. I have realized that I should date my works if I want to remember when they were made. My memory isn't so hot.