Balancing the in Between

I realize that I tend to write about learning to balance life. Many of my friends who are artist are also workaholics. This past fourth of July I found myself in the studio, painting. On my birthday I am usually always in the studio. Since I have been sober for the last year and a half I have found myself in the studio more than ever before. Learning how to keep life balanced seems it will be a life long practice for myself. I have started to go to meditation about once a week to keep me on track with a more balanced life, going to yoga and getting outside in nature as much as I can are all great moments I can do to keep my life balanced.

 So, balancing the in between, huh? Well in between painting and drawing making food and enjoying natures color palette are top priority. John and I are working on the Calgary Canada mural and putting the finishing touches on a mural in San Bruno for Skyline College. Below are some images of some of our process in the studio.

Here is the project for Canada. We are mixing colors for the glass tube. I enjoy this color palette so much! There are images of swimmers that are on the non woven media that we will paste onto the mural once the tube is ready for them. I am excited to learn how to make this tube really look like glass.

Next up is the mural just about ready for installation, Skyline College in San Bruno, CA. This is the first mural I have worked on from cartoon to finish. I am very excited about installing Skyline. This mural is about 15 x 16ft. We will be installing Skyline in about five days from now. One of the wonderful things about working with the non woven media is the ability of being mobile. If you have been following you will note that this mural was once in a different studio. We rolled it up and brought it to the Truckee/Lake Tahoe studio further North of the Santa Cruz mountains. Once Skyline is ready we will roll it up again and take it to its home. Although I am excited about installing the mural, this part of the process is always a high adrenaline rush, being up on scaffolding, rolling out the mural, and working it into its place, where it will live for the next 100 years, or so.

O, hey, let's not forget, this whole, balancing the in between. Here are a few shots from outside the studio, soaking up new inspiration and smelling the sweet California air. I hiked up Squaw Valley, three hours and took the little lift down. It was real different than hiking in Big Sur, which I am most familiar with. I have not skied and going up all the way to the top was real interesting and thinking about what it would look like with snow was, cooling.

This three hour hike, where my patience started to wear out, not knowing where I was going, but I was along for the ride, really was a treat. When I got down from the mountain, I heard amazing soulful music. It was a band from New Orleans, tearin' it up! It was so awesome! I dont know where I got any additional energy, but I just could not stand still, I hopped into the crowd and started to dance with the crowd. It was just such an amazing experience and the icing on the cake!