Untitled Diner Photo

"Adam and Eve on a raft and wreck 'em!"

Ever since I was a kid I have been in love with the nostalgia of the 1950's diner. This was the result from years of watching I Love Lucy reruns and any black and white movie I could find. As an 80's/90's child, I don't know much in terms of what diner's were actually like in the 1950's but I am intrigued. Wimpy's and Johnny Rockets are two such big name establishments you will commonly stumble across, both of which I've been a frequent customer of.

Whenever I enter one of these places I am so drawn to the art on the walls. The old Coke ads are some of my favorite. They remind me of how awesome Coke in a glass bottle is. I cannot stress how much I love Coke in a bottle. I believe that pop tastes ten times better when it comes from a glass bottle. But that's just me. And speaking of Coke, there's nothing I like more than a good float. The classic float is usually made with Root Beer but I'm not really a fan so I go with Coke. It's the more expensive beverage on the menu but I think it's worth it. It suits the atmosphere perfectly.

While I enjoy eating at these places they clearly are a tad off on the details of 1950's popular culture. The last time I ate at a Johnny Rockets I heard "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gee's several times. In fact, the jukebox at our table had many classic hits of the 70's, 80's, and 90's mixed in with the oldies. Some places I've been to don't even have any 50's music options which presents quite the question mark in my head. I don't really need to hear a No Doubt song while I eat my hamburger. I want to hear some Chuck Berry or The Temptations.

While a lot of fake 50's diner's have a bizarre mixture of modern and retro elements, it might be why I like them so much. It's a black and white world with splashes of color.

Updated Fire Alarm Photo

So I was unable to leave this photo alone today (big shock). The fact that it didn't feel quite right was driving me crazy. Now I have but one issue. That damn red square. Being the only unfilled space, I feel it needs something. However whatever I put in there seems to be pushing it too far. So I'm torn as to what to do with it. I like it a lot more since I made the small changes but I'm still going to wonderful about that square.

Untitled Fire Alarm Photo

Leonardo da Vinci once said "Art is never finished, only abandoned". I agree with this because you can keep picking at the things you don't like about your art until you die. It can become a vicious cycle that you'll never get out of. I think it's best to make note of these "mistakes" and keep it in mind when you begin you're next piece. The best you can hope for is to learn from past experience and move forward.

Having said all this, I'm not sure if this piece is done. I feel as though it's missing something yet I can't figure out what it is. That's the most frustrating part of the creative process. Outside of the annoyance of starting something new is finishing it. How do we know when art is done? With other pieces it was just a feeling in my stomach of not being able to go any further with it. In this case however, I feel like there are a couple more steps I can take but I'm blind to them.

Perhaps I've been staring at it too much. Andy Warhol once said "...if you look at a thing long enough, it loses all of its meaning". So I shall leave it here and go about my business. We'll see what happens.

Untitled Red Bull Photo

"If it weren't for caffeine I'd have no personality whatsoever!"

Caffeine is a very important element in everyone's world. Whatever your poison, we all crave the jolt that starts off our day on a good note. We all joke about the fact that we can't function without that morning coffee but of course we know we can. It's just not much fun.

There are some mornings where I just don't feel like having coffee but an hour into work I find myself yawning uncontrollably. So I give in to the caffeine. Now that it is so integrated into my morning routine, it is very difficult when I decide to skip it. I try to think of the time before I drank coffee and wondered how I ever got by but then I realized that I've never been caffeine free. Before coffee was Red Bull. It was my drink of choice in University for late night studying and last minute essays. When I think back to amount I use to drink it almost makes me sick. I'm sure twenty years down the road I will experience some weird long term effect of drinking too much. Oh well!

THE POINT IS:

We all have personalities outside of caffeine, we just choose to ignore them.

Untitled Walk Thought

"MAKE YOUR FEET YOUR FRIEND."

After another painfully boring day I arrived home only to discover I had left my blackberry at work. I had already changed into some incredibly comfortable pajama's and was making myself some dinner. On top of this was the fact that it had been raining so you can imagine how unenthusiastic I was to get dressed and go outside again. But I figured I'd bring my camera so this walk wouldn't go to waste. After picking up my phone I journeyed down my favorite street to find I wonderful array of fall colors. There was just such a rich array of yellows and oranges both in the leaves and the street lights. I had to stop and take a couple pictures. Recently I've been in a black and white mood since I've been unable to find anything worthy of using color, but tonight I went back. The few pictures I took have me really excited for fall and all of the interesting things I will capture.

Untitled Popcorn Photo

I really like this picture. Change that. I love it. Like most of the projects I take on, it started out completely different. I began this one several weeks ago but gave up quite easily. Then I went on vacation and came back with a great deal of unusable pictures (at least for now). So I went back to the ones I abandoned before I left. That's where I found this.

The biggest challenge I had was finding a color scheme which now seems so obvious and simple. I went through a ridiculous arrangement of colors that looked nice but wasn't quite right. I don't remember how I came across the simplicity of black, white, and yellow but I have no doubt it was the right choice.

I am very proud of this one. It's so funny and perfectly articulates my world right now. I will surely put this one on my wall.

Untitled Joker Thought

"Wait till they get a load of me!"

I honestly have no idea where this fear of mine originated. In the summer of 1989, a movie by the name of Batman was released and became a hit with moviegoers of all ages. All except one. Somewhere along the line I developed a confusing love/hate relationship with this film. Jack Nicholson's performance as The Joker is what perturbed me the most.

Spanning over two decades now, my heart still stops dead when I accidently stumble across an image or clip from the film. [I'm writing about this now as it has just happened to me and I can still feel my heart in my throat.] I have come a long way since childhood however. When I was a kid, I would have nothing to do with his face. The cover of our VHS was eventually torn to pieces as I did not trust it in the house. I couldn't so much as watch a frame of the film. It soon became the complex my peers used to make me squirm. If they had that movie in the house, they would put it in my face.

Twenty one years later, I am now able to enjoy a viewing of this film. It actually stands as one of my favorite films of all time, perhaps because of this intense relationship. However, I am only at peace with this fear when I know it's coming. It's fine when I choose to watch the movie or google Jack Nicholson because I know what I'm getting myself into. But if I'm channel surfing or looking at movie related images and I see that face, I'm reverted to a child-like state. It's actually amazing how this has stuck with me all these years. I have no idea what the root of the fear is because it's not clowns [though I don't trust them or their smile] but a very specific thing related to this movie.

I may never understand why this happens to me but it is interesting to analyze.

Untitled Peephole Photo

KRAMER

Newman and I are reversing the peepholes on our door. So you can see in.

ELAINE

Why?

KRAMER

So I can peek to see if anyone is waiting to jack me with a sock full of pennies.

Untitled Lemonade Photo

"When life hands you lemons, just say 'Fuck the lemons!' and bail."

Untitled Frame Thought

"Art consists of limitation. The most beautiful part of every picture is the frame."

This weekend I took a big step as an artist. For the very first time I printed one of my photos and framed it. I did this as a gift for another but in a fun full circle way it has become a gift to myself.

I was very frightened to see how these pictures would look once they were in front of me in a physical form. Some part of me thought that they only looked good on the computer and once I printed them, I could see the flaws and by extension, the amateur within. But to my surprise, it didn't look half bad, decent even. And boy what a difference a frame makes. All of the sudden I saw the professional in myself. Now I can't stop thinking about all the work I've done and all that I will do and how I will display it proudly in my home.

For once, I feel like I have accomplished something and I feel swell.

Untitled Bounty Thought

Walking home from work today I stumbled upon something rather intriguing. It caught my eye and made me stop. Uneaten and collecting dirt, I pondered the interesting nature of it. It perfectly expressed my feeling towards this candy bar. Coconut filled enrobed with milk chocolate, Bounty stands to be, in my opinion, the worst chocolate bar there is. And I believe there is some mystery surrounding it's existence because I never see people eat them or meet those who do. However, somehow they're still being produced. Who is buying them often enough to keep the assembly moving?

Untitled Arcade Photo

"Films have degenerated to their original operation as carnival amusement - they offer not drama but thrills."

From a recent trip to the CNE comes this. I'm still quite new with the techniques of both camera and photoshop but I really enjoy the whole trial and error process.

This image consists of but two photos. First, a sign into a small tented area known as the arcade. And second, the light bulbs from the carousel, an amusement park classic. I very much enjoy the simplistic nature of this creation. There's plenty to look at in the texture but not so much that it hurts the brain.

When I was a kid, I loved going to the arcade. I was very much into video games and spent hours in these 8 bit universes that gave me a unique sense of amusement. Born in the 80's and growing up in the 90's, Nintendo NES was an absolute staple in my world where I masted the classics, from Tetris to Super Mario Bros. 3.

Somewhere along the line I stopped playing video games. When the new systems came out and technology began to advance, I just didn't bother to keep up. I was no stranger to Super Nintendo or Sega but it was no longer such a vital element in the home. I moved on to other interests because that's what kids do. I was never able to be interested in several things at a time, instead there was only one thing to devote my passion to. From video games I turned to something that took up much more time and certainly cost me a lot of money. That was the beginning my teeny bopper phase. A stage that lasted a long fucking time. But hey, that's me!