Fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada

Here’s my latest painting (with apologies to the good people at Kodak, and the fabulous city of Las Vegas, Nevada).

Trent: “They’re gonna’ give daddy the Rainman suite, you dig that?”

Mike: “Do you think we’ll get there by midnight?”

Trent: “Baby, we’re going to be up five hundy by midnight!”

Mike: “Yeeeeaaaaahhhhhh!”

Trent: “Vegas baby! Vegas!”

Mike: “Vegas!”

– Vince Vaughn & Jon Favreau – Swingers

About this image: acrylic painting on 16″x16″ MDF panel – ‘faux photo frame’ built from 1/2″w x 1/16″d wood strips, textured by pressing window screen into coat of molding paste, painted & distressed with acrylic

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Window Shopping

So… here is a painting… that… I… painted. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Shop assistant: “Hello, can I help you?”

Vivian Ward: “I was in here yesterday, you wouldn’t wait on me.”

Shop assistant: “Oh.”

Vivian Ward: “You people work on commission, right?”

Shop assistant: “Yeah.”

Vivian Ward: “Big mistake. Big. Huge. I have to go shopping now.”

– Dey Young & Julia Roberts – Pretty Woman

About this image: acrylic painting on 16″x16″ MDF panel – ‘faux photo frame’ built from 1/2″w x 1/16″d wood strips, textured by pressing window screen into coat of molding paste, painted & distressed with acrylic

Freight Train – Pacific, Missouri

Is anyone else craving beans, or is it just me?!

Charlie Kelly: “How do hobos fit all this stuff into a bandana? It doesn’t make sense, man! We’re gonna need a towel, or a tablecloth or something, but… ahhh! It’s not gonna look cool! We’ll look like a******s!”

Charlie Day – It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

About this image: digital photograph taken and modified with smart phone

From Russia with Love

I’m painfully slow, but this painting took f-o-r-e-v-e-r. Due to its scale I used a pin to paint quite a bit of the background (St. Basil’s Cathedral –  a building I’ve always had a crush on). Partially inspired by ‘From Russia with Love‘ and instant film  it seems pretty cool that 1963 was significant in the history of both… (according to my… um… ‘research department’, anyway).

Tatiana Romanova: “The mechanism is… Oh James, James… Will you make love to me all the time in England?”

James Bond: “Day and night. Go on about the mechanism.”

Daniela Bianchi & Sean Connery – From Russia with Love

About this image: acrylic painting on 16″x16″ MDF panel – ‘faux photo frame’ built from 1/2″w x 1/16″d wood strips, textured by pressing window screen into coat of molding paste, painted & distressed with acrylic – ‘date-stamp’ is a gel medium transfer of digital text

Nickel Plate Road No. 170

More train bits! Details below for fellow rail enthusiasts like Martin.

Dr. John Watson: “Did you just kill my new wife?!”

Sherlock Holmes: “Of course not!”

Dr. John Watson: “How can you say that, when you just threw her off a train?!”

Sherlock Holmes: “As I said, I timed it perfectly!”

Jude Law & Robert Downey Jr. – Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

About this image: digital photograph (Canon 300D) lightly modified in Adobe Photoshop

The following Information is from The Museum of Transportation, St. Louis:

‘# 170 – New York, Chicago & St. Louis (Nickel Plate Road) 1927 – Built by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO), this 4-6-4 “Hudson” type locomotive was originally used in heavy passenger service until 1947 when the Nickel Plate Road converted to diesels. It went to light freight and passenger service. Altogether this locomotive traveled over 2,000,000 miles which is the equivalent to 80 trips around the world. It weighs 536,000 pounds, has 74 inch drive wheels, 25 x 26 inch cylinders and has a tractive effort of 42,000 pounds. The smoke deflectors on the front along the smokebox, often called “elephant ears”, lift the smoke over the cab and out of the faces of the crew. Donated in 1957 by the Nickel Plate Road.’

Taj Mahal

A bit more vector art today… and I’ve taken the usual liberties, of course. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Peter: “I love the way this country smells. I’ll never forget it. It’s kind of spicy.”

– Adrien Brody – The Darjeeling Limited

About this image: digital media – vector art created with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop

Vacation Redux

It appears to have been deemed very short-notice-like that Annabelle and I are going to take one more shot at a ‘vacation’. After the previous fiasco I’m keeping my fingers crossed that things will go a bit better this time.

We won’t have internet access on this trip, so I won’t be able to catch-up with everyone until our return. In fact, if you’re reading this post we’re already… off… somewhere. So you get a well deserved break from me. For a while, anyway.

Also please don’t make too much fun of my fake Wayfarers… I did save around one hundred bucks on this deal, you know.

About this image: digital photograph, moderately modified

A Second Hand Travel Log

In an attempt to keep things balanced (as they never are around here) I’ve decided to post a mixed media piece today. Or four. But they pretty much go together. I think.

I’ve never been to any of these cities, but I did sell the pieces… so that was pretty cool.

Now where did I put that Dramamine?

About this image: mixed media – graphite drawings of structures / maps & solvent transferred ‘stamps’ – scanned / combined with digital type – gel medium transfer onto (4) painted 10″x10″ panels

Steel

Okay, I can admit it… I still think ‘trains is ‘perty cool’. Someday I’d love to have an extremely small scale 20’s era cityscape/train set (built-in under a glass topped coffee table). I might be alone in this thought, though; it’s probably my When Harry Met Sally wagon wheel coffee table moment.

Speaking of trains, I used to be employed by an architectural firm practicing out of a remodeled depot – where I worked diligently got to watch railroad stuff all the time. The trains would literally shake the building… it was pretty cool.

About this image: Digital photograph lightly manipulated. I think the shallow depth of field works well in this shot… although I doubt I can be credited for that. This was one of the first digital photos I took, and my camera was likely set on full auto. But I still like to pretend I’m responsible for everything you see here.