It's been since April that I updated this thing. I fell off the blog roll. Straight off the back of the blog bus, took one bounce, and landed in the blog ditch where I sat for months NOT blogging.
My computer is old. It's a dinosaur. When I pull up Flash-intensive websites it stares back at me blankly as if I were playing some hip hop for my grandpa. So, it's just been a bit since I've made the time to do this on a computer that knows what's up.
Well, so here you have it. I'm going to lay this mother out like a smooth bead of summer hotdog mustard stretching from Asheville to Flagstaff. Just because I haven't been webbing it does not mean I haven't been out fighting the good fight. In fact, it's been the most insanely productive and celebration-worthy 4 months of my life. Sit. Cha-click open a cold one. Let's hang out a little.
First of all, this gnar-rad computer programming company in Durham known as Relevance hired me on to hijack their sweet new spot in a sweet old building downtown. I got my faux finish on in a major way.
When I finished hundreds of linear feet of 12-foot tall walls with nobody but Dick Gordon to keep me company, I went even more nuts and put a weathered mural on the wall. It's new. It looks old, but it's not. Psych. Joke's on the viewer. I think being hired to paint stuff like this for Disneyland would be extremely killer, aside from the $7 an hour paycheck and daily "Whistle While you Work" seminars. Anyhow - here's a quick blow-by-blow:
a little letter shadowing, and... done!
Thanks, Relevance!!!
Speaking of Disneyland, this rules:
Wearing a 4 year-old out at the most magical place on earth is the best. I don't care what kind of evil you think Disney is made of, a 4 year-old girl doesn't know jack about that, and when you let her get a peek at a "real-live" princess after making her cry on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, well, the special gets huge and memories are made.
What else? sheeeeeesh. Tons. I feel it's time for a commercial break. All kinds of wrongness hovers over this shot:
First of all, yes, we were at Target. Big whoop. Everyone goes. If you don't go to Target, you're probably the kind of social justice hardcore that also doesn't believe in computers or laundry detergent, you won't even read this, and I will completely avoid your admonishment. The real jacked-up thing is the fact that I was packing a cam. What kind of mallrat packs a camera at Target, right? So how could I not snap off a couple of shots of the --- wait for it --- 3 wheeled Segway? Couldn't help but think of this. Assets protection, it says on there. Pshhht. It made me want to fake stealing some crap just to see that thing light up. It definitely would have made for the most exciting day of someone's life next to the day they got their GED in the mail. In any case, it just seems like throwing another wheel on an already built-for-totally-helpless-americans "vehicle" seems to make as much sense (and is probably as common amongst its users) as ordering a bucket of Diet Coke with your SuperSize lunch. Whatevs. Break's over.
Next up - Some signage! First, for one of my in-town faves, Back Alley Bikes. The dewdz there run a tight shop giving the people of Chapel Hill and Carrboro what they need for successful and joyful 2-wheeled locomotion. That in mind, I worked up a little door signage that seemed fitting for their old-school-bent tastes. The step-by-step, briefly:
A printed-up cheater paper. It's good to be as exact as possible.
An inside-the-window, parallax-defying Frisket stencil:
A quick couple of coats of gold spray paint before removing the stencil:
And backed-up with a little burnt umber japan color. Werd.
And let's throw a T-shirt graphic in there for them while we're at it....
They're the best shop in town, betta reckognize. And what's a pile of bike parts without an empty 40 bottle hanging out of it.Hmmm. What's next..... okay. For another friend of two-wheeled devices, this -
They got married towards the end of a bike tour of the bride's homestate, Iowa. RAGBRAI, a rolling bike tour-party-goodtime week on bikes! And they threw a little wedding in there, too! Nice one, dewds. The art was used for their party-favor pint glasses.
Speaking of weddings........ Allison is not just my girlfriend, not just my best friend, not just my girl forever ..... she's my WIFE!!!! I told you the update weighs a ton! check it!!!!
It was the most beautiful day ever, and we had friends and family showing up from all necks of the wood. We keep talking about the joy and satisfaction that came from us putting on the most wonderful party of a lifetime. Allison and I tackled everything ourselves which made the whole celebration even MORE special. I even made our cake topper! LOOK!
Like I said, the best day EVER.
I got all macro on the spice cabinet. I really need to work on growing up a little.
Okay, back to work. New bar in Downtown Durham, WHISKEY. Great dudes. Great interior. Takes me to the era of Gentlemen's Clubs, maybe in NY or Chicago. Great name. Gold leaf surface gilded window graphics for them:
... and a little mirror work for them, too. They're keeping the local draft beers flowing, and they wanted to show them off by listing them on this badass mirror made from a copper window frame that came from the Cooper Union building, NYC. Ah, the history.
Lines is tight........
STILL GOING! (told you it's been a shredder summer....)
ICE CREAM BIKE!!!! So - sweet idea, having an ice cream bike in this town. The streets are sleepy enough to be noticed, but busy enough to rake in some bread if you are cruising a tight joint like this one. I was the most excited to be busting out some serious fancy for the project. The letters are outlined in 2 different colors, and the dots added serious flair. In addition, freestyling some filigree around the "whiteboard" zones in which she will be keeping the feet on the street in the heat posted as to the flavors of the day. Cap it off with a slightly irrelevant (but meanigful to the owner) eyeball on the front, and I think we have a pretty top-notch vendor cycle. Heather is a proud owner of her ice cream bike, and the popsicles she is selling are strictly the business. Get some.
I like bikes. We like riding them. Sometimes we pack up the little puppy, Scof, and go for a little ride. It ends up looking like this:
I also made this sign for the side of Back Alley Bikes, though not this summer.
And I think I'll round out the professional portion of this ridiculous update with a project for local cabinet makers, Aventine Inc. They are all awesome people and as a group, the most incredibly skilled and intelligent tradespeople I've ever met. I admire them tons, so working to beautify the facade above their building meant a lot to me. I really screwed up with my potential viewership by not taking "before" shots of this, so you'll have to take my word for it - it came a long way. I faux finished the bottom 3 rows of brick, as you used to just see nasty black asphalt above the roof flashing. I also fauxed brick over about 4 feet on each side of the weathered white field. Then, to top it off, the ICE sign as you see it was a more traditional teal color with a blue border around it. To raise the harmony levels between the graphic and the newly renovated front of the building, I tweaked the color palette to a warmer tone. Well, here it is. Fun times on a tin roof in the NC heat. Thanks, Aventine.
And for the last splash of personal greatness: Please welcome Ella Rae Robertson into the world. Born August 3rd, a little early, a little little, but a LOT cute. We couldn't be happier.
