Casey Jones Study

Hey readers. I have 'finished' yet another piece and am moving on to my next project. I'll kick off this post with a pic of the finished 'Alley Logo'.

The idea was to make it look as dimensional as possible. Not sure if I pulled it off, but to my eyes it's working. Thge logo gets lost a little in it so I may experiment with some contrasting colors to make it pop a bit more. Other than that I think I'm pretty happy with the outcome. I've already pumped out half a dozen sketches of my next idea. I never really collected TMNT comics the way I did Spidey, but I've always loved the concept. I mean I grew up with Leo, Don, Raph, and Mikey. I always really liked the Casey Jones character. I mean we have the same first name, and we both love hockey...I guess I identified with his character as a bit of a lone wolf and vigilante. I'm going for more movement in this piece. Not sure of the scale, but definitely working in acrylics and probably some pen/marker. Here are a couple of studies I sketched out in prep for the upcoming painting.

I'm hoping to start on this piece tonight or possibly tomorrow. Also, I finished 'Never Flinch' a couple of days back. If you remember my previous post I had started King's new release which revolves around Holly Gibney. A private investigator from the Stephen King multiverse. It was a great read with a lot going on. It's essentially 3 stories wrapped into one. Fans of the Mr. Mercedes trilogy and subsequent Holly sequels will not be dissapointed. Next up I am diving into a novel written as a collaborative work between father and son. It's a book called 'Sleeping Beauties' and it was released back in 2017. The plot centers around a 'virus' that effects only females. The sickness causes them to sleep as well as become covered with a spidery web like film that seems to grow like fungus. I've only chipped away the first sixty pages of a novel that keeps up with Kings' standards. The book runs just over 700 pages including an author's note.

I can only imagine where these two are going to take this story in a world inhabited only by awake males and asleep females. His two part novel 'Under the Dome' was amazing. I didn't really care for how the television series completely ran off the rails. Even making the serial killer cop a somewhat likeable character. Meanwhile in the novel he's keeping female corpses in his pantry to do with what he pleases. Just didn't have the impact that the book did. I know, I know, it's not a little known fact that translating his books to film has had some terrible finished product. The Dark Tower is always going to come up first for me. Cramming half a years worth of novels into 1.5 hours of cinema!.....Wha?! They completely left out HUGE characters and rushed the film too damn fast. The best part were Matthew McConauhey as Flagg and Idris Elba as Roland Deschain, (our gunslinger). I hear there is a new project in the works with Mike Flanagan as a new Amazon Prime series. This is exciting, as Flanangan has relayed his intention to stay true to the source material...Thank god. Flanangan has released King based product before with Gerald's Game, Doctor Sleep, and the upcoming Life Of Chuck. I liked his previous releases and am lookin' forward to both Life Of Chuck and The Dark Tower series!

New art, new skis, new ideas.

Heya folks, hope y'all are doin' well and enjoying the warmer weather and longer days. I know I am, but...I would be lying if I didn't say I'm counting the days to snowfall. Yes, I want to ride again! and it looks like I will be probably cutting my instruction teeth at one of the local mountains, I just haven't decided which one. I have also been working on my art and of course my accredidation which I need four more credits to clear the 25-26 season. I want to start with my most recent acrylic I've been working on for a few weeks. It is nearing the final stretch.

I have more work to do on the drips and detail of the brick, but I think I'm pretty happy with the direction it's going. I am hopin that it looks gritty and old. I am however looking forward to my next piece which I believe I decided on this after noon. I should have and updated sketch for my next post to show along with one possible other project I woud like to try and get off the ground at my job. We'll see what happens with that...stay tuned. Next up lets talk books, in particular my favorite author King. I recently acquired King's new book 'Never Flinch' which takes us into world (once again) of Holly Gibney.

This picks up a couple of years after the events of 'Holly' King's last release. So far it hasn't dissapointed but I dont think there's any published King work I hate. Some of his novels are good, some are great, and some you can't really explain. I think true King fans will agree that certain stories of his are like a fine wine, I could read them again and again and again...they just get better with age. Course they're also amazing at transporting me back to the first time I read a certain book. An age if you will, or a year. The older I get the more appreciative I am of my past and the amazingly fun and loving life I have lived. Okay enough of that, lets talk skis for a moment shall we? I just received my new Reckoner's in the mail today along with my new look bindings and, F#@C* yes!!! My Mindbenders have been simply phenomenal. So great in fact, I switched from Rossignol which was the primary gear I used until a few years ago.

I have placed the new planks next to the Mindbenders I had purchased in 24'. The break on the Mindbender is up which makes it look a little shorter, but holding up the new 184 Reckoners to the older 177 Mindbenders we can see the difference. I went with these for many reasons, the most important of which is increased versatility while riding. I love groomers, but I also love freestyle and creating my own lines and finding hidden gems like drops and pops. These new reckoners are also twin tip giving the skier the choice to ski backside or forwards. The Mindbenders are a directional ski generally moving one direction. I have gotten edge lock skiing backside on my Mindebnders and trying to butter. I hope theses new bad boys are easier to release during little maneuvers like butters and smearing spines down steeper terrain. The graphics are pretty dope (pun fully intended).

As, usual thanks for reading my journal/blog thing...I hope to have another update sooner rather than later. Take care my friends.

Last Day Session!

Hello friends! Hope all is well and nobody is whizzing on the wheels of progress. Yeah, I'm not exactly sure either. Anyway, we had a great final day on the mountain. We may end up going again next weekend. Today's session was awesome though. Free refills all day long and once again our home mountain was all but barren. A ghostland shrouded in white fog and anywhere from 4 to 6 inches of powder in most spots. There were so many fresh tracks to be had and tree skiing was untouched in a lot of the areas. We had a great day and even if we end up staying home next week, it was still a fitting send off to the season.

Also, I picked up a new tee-shirt and I just wanted to share it, cause it's dope! This was the first R rated movie I ever saw by myself in theaters. I was 10 and my sis and her friend told me they would see it with me, then bailed and saw something else. Anyway, I saw it and loved it! The punks were awesome and Tarman scared the shit out of me. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen, and launched me into a zombie movie immersion which hasn't really slowed to this day. I own the movie on blu-ray and watch it once or twice a year. I'll never forget the first time I laid my eyeballs on tarman...probably (IMHO) thee coolest zombie to ever grace the silver screen.