2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 3,100 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 52 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

El Vado Days

El Vado is the name of one of our Northern New Mexico lakes, part of the NM State Parks, Heron and El Vado Lake State Park.
El Vado is also a place, once a lumber mill boom town for harvesting the massive forests from our area. All the old growth forest is gone now. Only 90 year old stumps remain. Stumps everywhere.

This was a good event, put on by volunteers from The Friends of Heron and El Vado lakes. Arts, crafts, guest speakers and fish put into the lake.

August 27 was the El Vado Day celebration. Same time next year. Worth the drive.

Atlanta Braves store sold my painted baseballs

I heard from the Atlanta Braves merchandisers this week. The Bobby Cox baseballs are sold and they are ready to get more painted word balls. The Braves are celebrating 10,000 franchise wins. As a SF Giants fan, I’m happy for the Braves but wonder what my Giants are doing… Time to talk to them about paintings too.

Chama Valley Studio Tour & Arts Festival

Another project for me, more marketing but this event is close to my heart.
The Chama Valley Studio Tour is coming up Labor Day weekend.
I’ll have displays of sport art, a painted Michael Jordan jersey, some Manny Pacquiao painted gloves, Tiger Masters Pin Flag plus framed landscapes and portraits in the mix.
Everyone is welcome to this free event. Over 45 artists are represented.

The cover of this year’s brochure is posted here as well as a photo of a Jordan jersey I painted long ago for a great client, Theo. I think he sold this part of his MJ collection so I do not know who owns this jersey now.

Base from Fulton County Stadium

Watching a Spring training in the AZ sun is one of the most relaxing things I can think of… But Spring training is a distant memory in late August. Also a future vacation.

Here is a base from Fulton County Stadium I did for my favorite client in Arizona. This is the real deal. No red dirt on this one. It had been painted white, “refreshed” a few times. Easier to paint on but I do paint with the dirt on. This client lives in AZ and gets his collection signed at Spring Training. Nice.

Latest Michael Jordan painted jersey

Just shipped another custom, one of a kind, painted Michael Jordan jersey. The client chose the 1988 slam dunk pose. MJ still had hair

then. I did some research on his shoes. The photo in question is not really a clear image. It is too bright. His shoes are not in detail and his face is too dark. In my painting I try to bring some of those details back into the pose.

Bears in town

Friday night fun in a mountain town. We parked northeast of town tonight to watch the clouds turn colors with the sunset. A young bear was cruising the oak brush and we spotted it a couple of times.

Bears have been spotted in town often this August, looking for something to eat. The lack of rain and a late freeze in Spring have limited their food supply.The bears have been a real problem on the Jicarilla Nation this year. They are caught and relocated…

Bears are a popular image for local artists. My friend Beverly uses the bear in her glass art. This painted bear sculpture sits in the garden of Local Color gallery. Maybe I’ll do some bear art too.

We saw one young doe tonight too. Last night we saw many. Jim clipped one on the road between Chama and Pagosa. Only damage was a broken turn signal for his truck. We did not see any dead deer near the spot so maybe that buck got away with a bruised haunch. Hunting season is weeks away for the bigger critters.  No more hiking in the woods for us once the hunters come in.

Still no rain in Chama, Clouds come in like they should during the monsoon but they only bring shade.

Marketing a sporting event, Skiing in Chama

In January, on Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, Chama hosts the Chama Chile Ski Classic. I’m the marketing coordinator for the 2012 event. I make ads, design the tee shirt and pin, write press releases and tell everyone about this special race. www.chamaski.com
3 days, 7 races, Clinics, Family events, Chile/chili contest, yurt tours by ski. Snowshoe races… all at about 9000 feet elevation in our southern Rocky Mountains. This is a beautiful region, summer or winter.

Painting on odd objects, more than sports art

I have painted on pigskin, cowhide, horse hide, bats, hockey pucks and canvas. This project is a first. I got a commission to paint on a satilite dish. Not sports either, a steam engine from my little town of Chama, NM. The source photo is from the client, who takes great photos. The train and hunting are big here in the Rocky Mountains.

Second Michael Jordan painted statue

This is the second Jordan statue I’ve been commissioned to do. Same client, different look. Pinstripe jersey and white shoes based on MJ’s fashion  around 1996. See for yourself. The client is happy but shipping costs have doubled since the first statue was completed. Shipping is outrageous.