Heading out Today

Well, the time is near. I'm still not feeling nervous, but undoubtedly I shall. This morning, I'm doing some last minute stuff. Early this afternoon Jen, the dogs, and I are off.

New Blog: The Mississippi River in Minnesota Project

For everyone who is interested, I have started a new weblog to document my upcoming kayak trip from Lake Itasca to the Iowa border. Here is the link:

http://www.mississippiriverinminnesota.blogspot.com

Winter Kayaking in Minnesota

It's December now and the Mississippi is still virtually free of ice. With a drysuit on, I can kayak very comfortably, although I get a little hot. I've been taking weekly paddles from Hidden Falls Park near Fort Snelling downstream to downtown St. Paul and back upstream again. It's about a twenty mile trip both ways and usually takes between three to four hours to complete.

The first photo above was taken at Hidden Falls. The second was taken at the north end of what used to be the Bohemian Flats below the University of Minnesota just downstream from the 35w bridge that recently collapsed. The paddle from the 35w bridge/lock down to Ford Dam/lock, which is just upstream from Hidden Falls, is about a thirteen mile trip up and back. It is one of my favorite little Mississippi paddles.

Since mid-summer, I have been thinking about going down the Mississippi River in Minnesota from its source at Lake Itasca to the Iowa border (about a 650 mile trip).If everything goes according to plan, I should embark on the trip sometime in early June of 2009. There are many issues to work out: logistics of the trip, camping needs, video bow cam set-up, dslr outfit, a capacious portable hard-drive, a solar panel to keep the necessary equipment powered, whether or not to take pledges to be donated to a non-profit organization, whether to build a long, very narrow skin-on-frame kayak to make the voyage as efficient as possible, etc.

In the next couple of weeks, I am going to start a new blog detailing the whole process of planning the trip, buying or fabricating the equipment, photo/video documentation of the river, juxtaposing my photographs with similar historical photographs of the river, etc.

Outer Banks

Back in late March of this year we took our annual vacation to the Outer Banks, NC. We drive out so the dogs can come along and run on miles of empty beach (more than 70 miles). One day the waves were breaking bigger than we have seen. Watching a couple of surfers from our hotel balcony, I decided I had to get out there. I went down the street, rented a kayak and wetsuit, carried the kayak to the ocean, and threw myself in with gusto. Unfortunately, at the spot I put in the waves were breaking on the shore. I repeatedly got going only to face a five foot wall of water that threw me and the kayak over backwards. Denied. It was like being in a washing machine. After a few tries, I was pretty bruised up and had to settle for some body surfing. Jen and the dogs came out after a bit to witness the debacle.

I decided I would buy a kayak when we got home and that I would try again next year. I can't wait to get back in there.

Snapping Turtles in Lake Como

Well, I bought a small sit-on-top kayak like the one I rented at the ocean (see post above) at the end of May and have been taking kayaking every day I can. It's been close to 10 years since I have boated. My two pirogues are out at Rosalie's. I really like the new kayak, but I miss my old boats a little bit.

One of my first little excursions was down to the little lake about a half a mile from our home. I was a little surprised to find about a dozen large snapping turtles sunning themselves out in the weed beds. When I used to run around the lake at 2 or 3 in the morning, back when I stayed up half the night drawing, I would often encounter them on the walking paths trying to find a place to lay their eggs. It was always a bit of a surprise to be suddenly shocked from reverie by a snapping turtle three or four feet in front of you.

Marziart: A warning to other artists

In December, I participated in a group show at the Marziart Internationale Galerie in Hamburg, Germany, operated by one Marion Zimmermann. She invited me to participate in the show. The contract I signed was: the artist pays gallery fees (in this case $700US) and shipping and handling. I expected to take a loss even if I sold paintings, but agreed to do the show in order to bolster my resume. Part of the contract stated that Marziart would unpack and repack my paintings. I assumed my paintings would be repacked in a professional and responsible manner.

I packed six paintings in a very sturdy, thick cardboard box, tightly packed styrofoam around each painting, and sealed the box with standard reinforced packing tape. My paintings are heavy, each weighing about 15lbs, framed, so I made sure to pack them well (package weighed about 110 lbs total). I assumed Ms. Zimmermann would repack my paintings in the same box with the same amount of care I had taken to ensure the safety of my paintings. She did not do so, as the pictures above show.

After the show, Ms. Zimmermann emailed me to tell me UPS in Hamburg couldn't ship out a package as large as the one they had received from me. That sounded a little fishy to me. She informed me that she had already cut the box in half and packed the paintings in two separate boxes.

When the boxes arrived at my home in St. Paul, I was surprised at the rough shape they were in. You could even see one of the paintings from the outside of the box (second photo, green/black area in top right corner). As I started to unpack the box, it became clear that the boxes had been very loosely packed. The worst part is that, instead of replacing the missing box sides with cardboard, she just taped some corregated paper over the open sides of the two new boxes(third photo). As a result, two of the painting frames were slightly damaged. In my opinion, this was not the fault of UPS, the damage resulted from the irresponsible and completely unprofessional packing job. I can only assume that the purchase of a couple euros worth of cardboard would have cut too deeply into her profit margin.

I have posted this as a warning to other artists.

UPDATE (3.6.08): I just spoke to a man at UPS about the damage to my paintings. When I told him that the gallery owner had used corregated paper to seal one side of each of the boxes, he said, "Corregated paper, not double walled cardboard? What, IS SHE NUTS?" He told that I could file a claim with UPS, but because the packing job would almost certainly be ruled insufficient, the claim would most likely be denied.

Wave paintings FC #141 & #142

Last month, after doing several shell paintings, I decided to do a couple of paintings of waves, or abstract approximations of waves. Here they are.

Marziart: A warning to other artists

UPDATE: In a more recent post above, I uploaded photos of the completely irresponsible way Marion Zimmerman repacked my artwork after the show as a warning to other artists. For Ms Zimmermann's response, read the comments to that post.

Above are three photos of part of my painting exhibit at Marziart International Gallery in Hamburg, Germany. The show, which ran throughout December and part of January, just ended a few days ago.

Fluid Chromatic #110: Saguaro

Fluid Chromatic #109: High Noon Saguaro

Fluid Chromatic #108: Saguaro

Fluid Chromatic #107: Saguaro

Fluid Chromatic #106: Saguaro

Fluid Chromatic #105: Saguaro

Fluid Chromatic: Ribbon

Fluid Chromatic: Frond

Fluid Chromatic: #64

Experimental Photographs for New Painting Compositions

Hay


Oak Bark


Flowers


Plum tree

I took these photos in our yard the other day at a slow shutter speed with the camera in motion. I'm planning to do a new series of Fluid Chromatic paintings in a new style this fall based on these, and other, photos.

New Portfolio at Absolute Arts

Visit my new online portfolio at www.absolutearts.com/portfolios/p/patrickblaine/

Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

The Japanese tea garden in San Francisco is a great, serene place to spend an afternoon, wandering around and drinking tea. The gate in the photo above gave me some ideas about frame design for my paintings (See example on my Web site). I love Japanese design and architecture.