Return from E-Town!

Even though I wish I’d stayed another few days, it is good to be back home again.  Flying from Edmonton to Minneapolis, then driving 3 hours to my parents’ place in northern Wisconsin, only to leave the next day for 2 more days of driving to northeastern Ohio with 2 little kids on board, really left me pretty fried by the time I stumbled through my own doorway.  It took me the entire weekend just to recooperate.

The trip was worth it, however.  I would do it again in a second!  Hard to beat being “home” in the Northwoods during the summer months.  I was lucky enough to see lots of familiar Wisconsin wildlife: trumpeter swans, sandhill cranes, twin fawns, eagles, marsh hawks, coyote, a porcupine and my sister Amy.  Then to top it off with a whirlwind tour up to Edmonton, Alberta…  Utterly priceless.  Finally being able to hang out in the flesh with good friends Rod and Cherie Fuchs would have been reason enough to fly up there, but when you add on the fantastic Cosmic Power Workshop airbrushing class put on by Shane Baker of Baker Boyz Designs and instructed by world-class artists Dennis Mathewson and Daniel Power, it was an amazing experience.  I was able to meet many online buddies and make some new friends.

The class itself was designed for advanced airbrushers, and had more of a fine art flair than a standard automotive airbrushing class.  Students completed 3 panels during the course.  The first was an image of an underwater shark, where we tackled water textures, reflections, currents, bubbles and underlighting, taught by Dennis.  The second panel was Daniel’s, incorporating both portrait work and realistic flame.  (After almost 20 years of airbrushing, I had never been asked to do photographic flamework, so I found this enjoyably challenging!)  The third and final panel was a joint effort by both Dennis and Daniel.  We created a grizzly bear tiki (while getting a lesson on tiki structures and meanings) using multiple wood-graining techniques, surrounded and side-lit by a beautiful night sky filled with Aurora Borealis, stars and ghosted cougar eyes.  All three panels explored different image transfer methods, both opaque and candy paint applications, composition and some color theory.  All were challenging but fun to create.  If these guys decide to have this class again, I would highly recommend it to anyone considering going.  Not only did I come back with some new tools for my artistic arsenal, I have precious memories of good times with great friends and a renewed drive to do what I do even better than before.

Thanks to everyone who made my trip an experience to treasure!