Tag: Wasnt

by David Burgess on May 26, 2018 0

My favorite paint brushes that can be purchased online

Find Artist Brushes and Why I Like Them.

I had joined the Rocket Moms group on Squidoo, and our second weekly assignment was to write about a prized possession. We were to take a walk around the house and determine what was really valuable to us.

I’m glad I took that walk. My first thought of what I thought would be my most prized possession, while still sitting in front of the computer, was different than what I actually picked.

So walking around the house, I opened up to what it could possibly be.

I browsed upstairs. There was the piano which I very occasionally play. No, that wasn’t singing to me. Could it be the great knives on the dining room table that I purchased as part of a new selling program I was going to do? No, that wasn’t cutting it. So I took a trip downstairs to the basement. Ah, I saw it! My art studio. That’s where I get creative; other than when I’m making lenses on Squidoo. What is it that I would take with me. My artist brushesartist brushes. I have a bunch, and I have favorites, ones that are my first choices to use. Yes, I would pick my artist brushes. They are one of my favorite tools of creativity.

The Rounded Art Brush

My first favorite is a flat filbert brush. It is a flat brush with a rounded edge. It comes in great for laying down backgrounds, and blending colors while having a more rounded touch to the background. They’re great for creating clouds.

I also use it for filling in and adding successive layers. I really like that rounded touch.
I have this brush in at least four sizes, that I can think of right now.

Filbert Paint Artist Brush

The Liner Brush

My next favorite brush is the liner brush. I use it a lot for adding details and fine lines, Teeth just wouldn’t be the same without a liner brush! Huh, you’d have to take that smile to the dentist! Yes, I do like the liner brush. Oh, I probably have a good six or so liner brushes. Lines do come in various sizes, you know.

Liner Paint Brush

Paint Brush Cleaning Tips

Use cool to cold water for cleaning paint brushes.
Finish with a bit of soap to press on the end to help maintain the shape of the brush.

The Painting Knife
My next favorite isn’t a brush at all, it’s my painting knife. Sad to say, I haven’t used it much for painting at all, at least not up to this point. I use my painting knife quite a bit for mixing the paint.

I used to use a brush, but then I had to rinse the brush, and watch wasted paint get diluted in the water. Heaven forbid! I wanted my paint to last longer than that! Then I started using my knife for mixing. This one with the rounded part of the handle works great. I’ve also used painting knives that were flat, handle and all, and the handle laid too close to the mixing surface. The rounded stem of the handle keeps my fingers up off the painting, mixing surface, and the narrow tip allows me to grab just the right amount of paint color that I want to mix into the other.

So two thumbs up for the painting knife being a mixing knife! I can also dab paint right off the knife with my brush. Aaah, I get to use my extra paint up. Now, that’s a sweet song in my heart.

This is the whole kit and kaboodle!

Except for the one’s I’ve recently used. I lay them out flat to dry before adding them back into the mix. I keep them sorted, all the rounded brushes together, all the liner brushes together, all the straight edge brushes together, etc.

I have my painting knives in the smaller container. I received that little flower container as a pencil holder when I was a clerical person. I think it’s much happier now holding my artist painting supplies. : )

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by David Burgess on May 9, 2018 0

The Artists of the Old West

Capturing the Wildlife (and Scenery) of the Old West (Recent West, Too!)

When explorers started their journey from the Eastern United States to discover the Western United States, they encountered Native American cultures and communities and wildlife they may have never imagined.

They encountered various Native American groups such as the Lakota Sioux and Blackfoot, the Comanches of the Western plains and mountains, and the Apaches, Navajo, Pueblo tribes of the American desert Southwest, to the groups of Pacific Northwest tribes such as the Bella Coola, the Haida, and the Kwakiuts. Most of the time, their encounters were friendly… although many times misunderstandings caused later conflict.

The explorers also encountered the numerous critters of the Wild West–grizzley bears, wolverines, timber wolves, antelope, moose, elk, deer, skunks, porcupines, great horned owls, flying squirrels, bald eagles, turkey vultures, and other critters.

In those days, photography wasn’t yet well developed (sorry… bad pun)… so those in their exploratory groups who had any art skills wound up drawing a lot of what they saw in their journals. Some of these artsts came to more fame because their art was so realistic and dramatic. And many more modern artists came into the field to further this capture of images from the wild west.

This Squidoo lens explores some of these artists and provides links and resources to more information on these amazing folks.

Charles M. Russell by the Bay…. eBay, That Is

I was born in Montana — and my adopted Grandpa, who normally worked as a logger in the deep forests of the Montana Northwest (near Kalispell and Flathead Lake), was also a wilderness guide for hunters. My Grandpa had some wild stories about his adventures in the Montana boonies–many of his stories were unbelievable.

One of his wilderness guide “clients” when Grandpa was younger was an artist named Charles M. Russell. And he had an original painting by Charles M. Russell in his living room that illustrated aspects of some of these adventures (the painting he had depicted some Native Americans going after a grizzley bear). (Grandpa Lloyd also had a huge bear rug on the floor of his living room–I used to play on it when I was a toddler and still remember it.) He also had some paintings by other western artists decorating his walls in other rooms of the house. His house was a veritable museum of animal trophies (most of the animal had been used for meat) and western art and other decorations. Maybe it helped that Grandma was a member of the Flathead Indian Tribe–Grandpa had an “in” with the backwoods of Montana.

You may find your own Charlie Russell artwork here for your own western-themed office, den, home, or cubicle!

The early wilderness and explorer artists created their work in a rough way…

Sometimes they had to make their own tools, inks, and surfaces…
The Mountains of the American West – Aspens and PinesCarrying art materials on the long journeys in the early days wasn’t easy… and having the right tools for drawing sometimes meant having to make them on the spot. Some charcoal from a campfire or the carbon from a lamp was used to create a drawing tool or ink. A tanned hide of a deer, elk, or antelope may have been used to make a flexible, foldable surface for the artwork. Pigments from the wildflowers, tree barks, and different mineral-content clays may have been used to create the various inks and paints. But most of the travelers most likely also carried their journals…. handing books of blank pages on which they could capture their notes as well as their impressions of the striking scenery, events, animals, and people they were seeing.

Athough some of the first wilderness old-west artists were Charles M. Russell and Frederic Remington, later artists carried on their tradition of capturing the adventure of the American Wild West.

Elmer Sprunger by the Bay… eBay, That Is…

After World War II, Elmer Sprunger came to Bigfork, Montana to live and work. His experiences with the wildlife of Montana became the theme of his drawings and paintings. And since my folks and I also lived in Bigfork, Montana for a while, we got to know Mr. Sprunger and his family. My Mom and Dad were teachers in Bigfork–and probably got to know Mr. Sprunger through his kids at the Bigfork school.

No matter how they met Mr. Sprunger, my folks developed a friendship with him such that they were able to acquire some of his paintings. Mr. Sprunger passed away in 2007– but he has left his legacy of beautiful wildlife paintings and drawings for others to enjoy.

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by David Burgess on May 3, 2018 0

Balance by Nik Wallenda: Family & Faith

A review of Nik Wallenda’s astonishing story

Nik was just two years old when he started walking on a tightrope in his back yard. He was simply doing what his parents – circus performers – did. Two years later, when he was four years old, he watched the video of his great-grandfather, Karl Wallenda, fall to his death from a highwire.

Karl and the famous Wallenda family

Karl was seventy three years old when he fell. He was promoting his show – not enough tickets had been sold – and he fell 120 feet; the video still exists and can be seen below.

A very honest, open tale of faith & family

Although I have been fascinated by the Wallenda family since I was child, I was truly surprised and how moving and inspirational this book is. Nik, far from being a conceited celebrity, is a humble and loving man.

He’s dedicated to improvement – not just improving his professional life and abilities but also his own self-improvement as human being and his spiritual life.

I was moved to tears

Strangely enough, that wasn’t when I was reading about the tragedies that have befallen the Wallenda family. (Seven of the family have been lost in aerialist accidents.) No, it was the man himself, his humility, his faith and his determination to carry on his family’s tradition, plus honouring the achievements and the fortitude of his great-grandfather.

From the backyard to the Grand Canyon & Niagara Falls

Nik is well-known now for his stunning feats such as walking a high wire above the Grand Canyon and the Niagara Falls on live television. These, and other fantastic feats are reason enough to read this book plus, of course, the history of the family.

Videos

The video of Karl falling is horrible, but I’ve included it here. Skip it if you wish. But I do recommend that you watch the others, especially the one where Nik and his mother complete the walk Karl never finished. There’s a heart-stopping moment.

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by David Burgess on May 3, 2018 0

A band being Blue Man Group for Halloween

How we turned a band into Blue Man Group for Halloween

This page shows how one of my bands went dressed as Blue Man Group for Halloween. It starts with the background, tells some of the issues we ran into, tells how we did the makeup, and more! This is a reprint off my website www.susanszoocrew.com

The beginning.

We were scheduled to play at a big Halloween party and were told we *had* to play in costume. Only makes sense to play in costume at a Halloween party, right? We wanted to do something where all three of us were the same theme but couldn’t decide. It had to be something we could relatively comfortably play/sing in, that wouldn’t get all over our instruments, and that didn’t require a huge outlay of time since we had to set up equipment and all. This is a little harder than it may seem to come up with! At our last practice before the gig I was showing a video of Blue Man Group doing part of one of the songs we were covering. My guitar player looked at it and say, Hey, that’s it! Let’s go as the Blue Man Group! Considering that two of us are women, and all three of us play guitar, it was a bit of a stretch! Blue Men with figures and no PVC tubes? Well, we all have a good sense of humor so that sounded like fun! In the days before the gig it rained…and rained..all around town outdoor gigs were being cancelled or shortened. So I didn’t have high hopes for staying dry at the party even though we were on a covered porch. As it turns out, the porch faced west and the rain would come from the east so even in the rain we would be dry. Wet costumes and equipment would not have been fun! To our collective delight, the rain held off for the rest of the night and we stayed nice and dry.

We had decided that setting up equipment is hard enough working without trying to keep makeup on, so we headed out and set up the equipment first. This ended up being a really good idea, allowing us to just come in and start playing. We did discover one bad feature about a house that was between the river and the ocean: bugs. Not just bugs, but biting bugs. I’ve lived in Florida almost my whole life and have never been eaten alive by no-see-ums so fast! They were even eating through bug spray! After being nibbled on for a while, we were finally all set up.

Makeup!

For the rest of this story, Keith = guitar player and Evelien= the singer. 🙂

Then it was back to the house to put on the makeup. Keith had ordered liquid latex from an online supplier, with the idea that it would be flexible and we could paint our faces and the bald caps with it at all once. We all changed into our outfits (black long sleeved turtlenecks and black pants) and got ready to put on the makeup. When Evelien and I opened the jar, we were wondering what the layer was on top%u2026 then we realized that it was dried latex. Hoping that what was underneath was useable, we pushed aside the top layer. What was underneath was chunky and definetly not liquid, more of a cream-not good. We tried using it anyway, even tried diluting some of it with water-no go. The brand new, freshly ordered paint was no good! Here it is, almost time to leave, and no latex and no blue men/women.

Luckily, since none of us knew how the liquid latex would stay on while singing, we had a backup plan. I had bought two cakes of blue greasepaint and brought with me a can of blue spray paint that matched the greasepaint. Keith and Evelien picked up some hair dye spray in case that worked better. I had some experience with grease paint from watching clowns do their makeup and participating in talent contests, so I knew a few methods of working with it and knew we’d be able to play and sing in it.

We decided to put on the baldcaps first, which took a bit of doing. Cutting out the ear holes was a bit of an adventure in trying not to give unexpected haircuts to each other! We decided to do Evelien’s costume first, so with a few dabs of spirit gum and judicious tucking in of hair, Evelien had her bald cap on. Keith went off to figure out which paint would work best, figuring we’d spray the other two caps before putting them on. Meanwhile, I painted Evelien a nice shade of blue%u2026 ears and all! The hardest part is getting the paintee to relax while fingers are smearing makeup around near their eyes.

Working with greasepaint isn’t bad, you just have to watch how much you put on. The fun part was setting the makeup..you use baby powder and pat it all over the greasepaint. Evelien wasn’t quite sure how baby powder was supposed to work and seemed a bit reluctant at having it put on. As we were running out of time, there wasn’t much room for discussion. So, I got to poof Evelien’s face with baby powder%u2026%u2026.judiciously! It was a bit tricky keeping it off the black turtlenecks, even with a towel, but it brushes off pretty well. Just make sure that the person brushing off the baby powder isn’t the same person applying the blue greasepaint or you’ll have black and blue clothing (oops). Also make sure the powderee doesn’t breathe in while being powdered, powder between breaths.

Keith came back with the paint results during the powdering process-we’d have to paint the caps after they were on or the paint would flake off. Keith asked why Evelien was blue and white- I explained that the powder sets the top layer of makeup but not the bottom so it stays flexible and doesn’t crack; although we might have to repowder as we sweat because it will get shiny. I showed Evelien how to flick off the extra powder and pretty soon she was all blue with no white. Powder discussion over, it was time for painting Evelien’s baldcap… soon to be another lesson in trusting the people doing your makeup.

We quickly found out four hands are better than two, one person holds a sheet over the parts you don’t want to paint while the other carefully but quickly sprays the baldcap%u2026 and the paintee holds their breath so they don’t breathe fumes. We ended up using hands to covers ears but a bit of blue spray paint on our fingers just added to the costumes. We managed to keep most of the spray paint off Evelien’s skin. Once Evelien was done, we surveyed the results%u2026%u2026.not bad! Then it was mine and Keith’s turn. We had a bit trickier of a time with putting on the bald caps due to having long hair. We ended up not gluing the backs down and just ran our ponytail/braid down the backs of the turtlenecks. Long hair makes the spraypainting harder too, the flap of cap down the back has to be sprayed away from the hair. Somehow my cap was a different construction than theirs and had a lot less side flap-this worked out fine because I needed to wear my glasses and the extra material would’ve made this tricky. We quickly got our makeup on and powdered each other up. I did learn it’s easier to powder someone who is sitting down than someone who is standing up when they are taller than you!

By now it was time to go, so we grabbed the spirit gum in case anyone came loose and everyone piled into the truck.

The gig!

We quickly got to the party, and since it was time to play walked straight on stage and grabbed our instruments. Our percussionist was a friend named Andy who had come in a giant bunny costume. So we had three blue men/women and a bunny! Bunny didn’t last too long because Andy couldn’t see to play, so we used the dolly and set it up next to the bass amp. We did find one awesome side effect of our costumes-since there wasn’t much skin exposed the bugs pretty much left us alone, attacking only bare parts of the feet.

The show itself went off well and everyone had a great time. It was funny to see how many people mixed up Evelien and I in the blue faces when talking on breaks%u2026..considering that I wear glasses and she doesn’t you wouldn’t think it was possible! The makeup ended up working out well, the caps stayed on and only needed minor touchups at the end of the night behind the ears mostly. By the end of the night some of the blue makeup had worked its way onto the turtle necks, but not as much as I had thought we would have had. It was rather amusing watching grownups dancing around in costumes%u2026..watching men dressed as fairies sing along %u2026.. people trying to drink / eat through masks%u2026

After the show we packed up the equipment and headed out to a local place (Jetty Lounge) to join the rest of the crowd. Once we were through there (the full moon brings out some interesting people%u2026) we headed back to the house to remove the makeup. It had been a while since I had to take the makeup off, but I knew I’d always used baby wipes, baby oil, and baby shampoo-I just couldn’t remember which order. Evelien was first, and the baby shampoo didn’t do much. Then I remembered the right way, and we finished getting the makeup off. You take a baby wipe, dump a little oil on it, and smear it on the makeup. Pass number two wipes off the makeup and you repeat until wipe is full of color. Grab another one and keep going! The hardest part is getting it out of your ears%u2026..I think we all had some left over the next day.

All in all we had a great time, learned a few lessons along the way (always have a backup plan!) and got to play some awesome music for appreciative people and friends. What more could a band ask for? Except fewer bugs that is ….. 🙂

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