feather2pixels

I recently spent two weeks as destroyer-in-residence at the Breg-man family workshop in Santa Cruz, California, a wonderful coastal town with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of dreadlocked caucausions and aesthetically perfect fences.  Here are some of the items I completed during my time there.

Hillside Supperclub sign: Fabricated from reclaimed wood and carbon steel.  Screenprint to follow.

An armada of steel frames: For my imminent invasion of a gallery near you.

I must acknowledge the huge amount of assistance from Jonathan.  Without loads of his smithing assistance, this would not have been possible and  I would probably be in the hospital with third degree burns.  But not him:

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OK The image for the Cowboys and Indians pieces is ready.  I printed out the exposure mask from on two 11×17 inch sheets, which will be joined to burn the screen.  This will be a two layer print and this is the top layer.  From the western sand dunes:

After I print the image on the 4 quilts I sewed out of 1970’s Italian comix, the final pieces might look something like the following artist’s conception of the artist’s conception.

On second thought, I hope not. That kind of looks stupid.

These are a few urban panoramas I have shot in the last week or so.  You may note that industrial construction equipment and freeway 280 have become the apples of my left and right eyes, respectively.  Anyway the best shot or two might become raw material for new work.  I think I know which ones I like but, hey,  if you feel like it let me know if any strike you. It would be most helpful.

Hi.  I have returned from a long satisfying voyage, visiting friends and family in Israel, Berlin, France, Slovenia, and Scotland.  I  have a lot of work to do on feather2pixels, but for now here are some pictures waiting for your tender mousecliks.

Nicest

January

Ever.

My next panels. Satisfyingly, my images are starting to take on a theme which is indicated by the billboard here. What word could better represent the city in flux? For this piece, I was excited to find a site in San Francisco where twin buildings were being constructed. After biding my time, I finally got a shot in which the first building was finished and the second was still under construction, just a skeleton of the structure to be. So I’m excited about this one. It’s going to be really hard to find an image that captures the transformation of the city in a better overall composition.

I might not even try:.The unfuckable-with perfectness of the billboard and the depressingly slim chances that such perfection will strike twice got me thinking that (when this series is done) maybe I will start constructing these scenes from scratch, so every part of them is perfect. Certainly sounds like something I’d do.

Almost-done panels! The color mixed out more blue than the green I planned for, but sometimes life gives you blue. Just have to roll with the punches.

Incidentally, I visited this site again today. It’s at the Pier 66 boatyard, down a small path from Illinois Street, next to The Ramp restaurant. Definitely one of my new favorite spots in the city.

Tomorrow: video from the first day of spring in the Mission.

Saturday was good. Me and CW started the day at The Grubsteak, the old rail-car restaurant where dining options fall into two distinct categories: diner food and fine Portuguese cuisine. We got the greasy breakfast. Recently, CW has been revaluating how much of me she wants to see around. It is a complicated question and many factors, such as her new rescue dog who wants to devour my leg, are working against me. For the moment, though, I had the undevoured leg up on the little bastard for long enough for a waterfront ride along the Embarcadero to the Ferry Building farmers’ market, where the determined cheapskate can fill up on locally grown organic miscellany, one quarter of an ounce at a time. And Pier 39. A more determined version of myself would have the energy to explain why the dude who jumps on glass reminds me of myself. Needless to say, there are some good things about Fisherman’s Wharf:

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And later, alone, I rode to the ocean, where it turned out to be one of those days you have to be kind of crazy to be there. I couldn’t keep my eyes open because the entire beach was engulfed in a small sandstorm and later in the shower I was rubbing the California Coast out of my hair for at least ten minutes. I needed it, though, and that’s what I love about cold, slightly disgusting and dangerous Ocean Beach–I haven’t done anything that deliberate in weeks. Plus, there were driftwood sculptures.

I’ll cut to the chase: the most important thing that happened on Saturday was Pitt’s dominating Big East Tournament championship. They were simply unstoppable. It was totally unexpected. Why, it was just two weeks ago that I was sitting alone in the Pinole Valley Applebee’s parking lot, sobbing to myself after a fourteen point spanking by West Virginia in what must be the most pathetic snapshot from the last couple of years of my life.

I’m happy now, though.

I am not above web-logging about the weather. It was a real nice weekend. Nice enough to wear shorts to Adrienne‘s house on Sunday morning, where she made:

(a) breakfast.
(b) a laytex cast of my right ear.

Then, by the light of the rotting Cellspace skylights, I finished the principle printing involved with the first of my first large format panoramas. For reasons too boring for even a weather post, this has taken two months! That’s a long time for something so unremarkable. As I was cleaning it all up, I ripped one of my $40 screens. That’s a lot of money for something so unremarkable.

I biked to a bonfire at ocean beach with CW, where the air was much less wet than it was at my last ocean beach bonfire experience and where we witnessed a child double his body weight by eating marshmallows. Totally outdone, I drank merely 1/70th of my body weight in discount beer.

I could also mention bluegrass, thai noodles, and unhealthy amounts of time on craigslist, but I wouldn’t be telling you anything you didn’t already know.

Success!

Kind of.

I went ahead with my next CMYK experiment : a full page print with ever bigger halftones–they are really big now. And it worked. Up close it’s just clusters of large dots in four colors, but from across the room the image focuses and the colors mix:

The image is actually a small section of a panorama of Balboa and 34th Ave (a key intersection in my life, within sight of the essential Balboa Theater and the Dumpling King) I photographed this week:

So my next step is to print the whole thing in the four CMYK layers. The print will be about five feet long.