My Natural State

Recently got a call to do some carving on a theatrical stage set production for a show called "The Gypsy". It's been two years since I've done any work for the scene shop. Two years since I've done any sculpting of any kind. Two years too long. I got lucky in that the job was fairly small and simple, something good to warm up on and get the blood flowing. The job was to carve in styrofoam (the medium of choice in the stage production trade) a column of stylized leaves held together by ties of fabric. The column is eighteen inches wide and ran around a large portal about 18 feet high by 30 wide. The first day of work I was a little nervous that I'd forgotten how to shape the foam, but in no time I knew that the hands didn't forget and the foam started to fly. I had not realized how much I've been missing sculpting and working hard and physically with my hands until I was doing it again. My day job is mostly sitting at a computer, so to crouch and sweat and make art in the muggy heat was a joy.


By the end of the first night, I was working two-handed, a blade in each hand, blurry samurai dreams in the back of my mind and a deep sense of satisfaction rolling through neglected parts of my soul. Sculpting and art-making is a natural state for me. Too often I forget this as my life is consumed by job and house duties. Having said that though, I don't feel the urge to try and make a living from my art as I once did. I found it is a tricky balance between commerce and art; the demands to sell my creative efforts often smothered the good feeling of just making stuff. For now, I'm glad to have an outlet for my creative urges. In the future, when life is soft and grey and slow, I need to remember my natural state and pick-up the pen or knife and get down and create.

zahdah,

OK HW

Happy Does NYC

Happy Walter had it's second public screening at the Two Boots Pioneer in Greenwich Village in the fair city of New York. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend, but Zoje Stage, the fearless writer/director of HW was on hand and recounts the experience on her own blog. It sounds like it was a fine time and congrats to Zoje for the getting some attention from a production company. I am still working on getting a screening here in Virginia and will post with the news ASAP.

OK HW

On the Rot

Just added a link in my film stuff section for Karma Critic a web site started by disgruntled former On the Lot contestants. One of them wrote an open letter to AICN detailing the problems that contestants had with the corporate powers-that-be and decided to create something real, hence Karma Critic. The only thing that surprises me about this whole drama is the fact that Spielberg allowed himself to be associated with such a disingenuous and artificial "competition" served up as entertainment. Apparently, as the season rolled on and the ratings plummeted FOX decided to slash the budget, so the filmmaker's presented films made before the show was ever produced. Now I have no problem with that, as long as they were honest about what was going on and not imply that the filmmakers were still being given tasks that they were supposedly responding to. Frankly, one of the few positive things that could come from this mess is the producer getting booted Off the Lot.

Thanks' to Scott Eggleston's blog Film Flap for the great post that brought his thing to my attention.

OK HW

June hiking report

June was a good month for hiking, offering up some wonderfully cooler, spring-like days that made it easy to get a few miles down. I tacked on another 52 miles to my total, bringing my year-to-date up to 282, just 18 shy of the 300 mark where I should have been for the end of June. We are halfway through the year already. It'll be fall before you know it.

Get out and hike.

OK HW

Look what I found...

That's right, it's return of "Dead Thing on the Beach". Check it out:



Does anyone know what kind of fish this is? I think he has a cool profile:



He/she was around one foot long. Oddly, the seagulls stayed away from it.

OK HW

PS-- Hello Lucy!

May Hiking Report

I'm little embarrassed to be posting my May Hiking Report on June 17th, but sometimes that's just the way it goes. May was a good hiking month for me, reaching the 64 mile mark, my best single month total so far in 2007. That helped dig me out of the hole a far bit, but I'm still 20 miles off the average (230 ytd and I should have been at 250 by the end of May). June's looking very good and I should eat up more of that deficit.

OK HW