The First Post! Two Days!!

Hello World,

I want to use this blog to keep my friends and family informed about what I'm attempting to do with my life. Not being sure myself 100% of the time, this blog is an attempt at helping me process some of my thoughts. I'm starting this blog in part because I have an artist residency coming up this Saturday in Averill Park, NY near Albany @artsletters&numbers. This blog will be a written documentation of the work that I produce at the residency as well as my experiences in between my busy hours. For new readers (everyone), I should give some exposition as to who I am and what I do already, but maybe I can slip the history lessons into future posts when I'm feeling nostalgic. Before I digress into random thoughts and rants let me outline what it is that I'm doing (or want to do) at this residency. When applying for this residency I proposed that I would scour the rural neighborhoods looking for unique environments where humans interact with nature. My focus lies within micro-environments that humans create which allow different opportunities for the natural world. Do you have a koi pond in your backyard with bird friends or is it a dumpster full of raccoons? I don't know, but I want to! I want to meet the people who occupy these spaces and hear their thoughts and experiences. Will they let me paint in their backyard for a day (en plein air)? I also want to meet with naturalists and environmentalists in an attempt to get a larger picture of what's going on. I was considering looking into deer populations and also tics and lime disease but I am open to anything that presents itself within the first week of the residency. Did I mention that the residency is 4 weeks? I proposed that I would work on 3 new paintings and several charcoal drawings as part of my ongoing series. This is my first residency so I am playing it by ear. I am open to collaboration with other artists, poets, musicians, or whatever other vocation there is that refuses a life of actual work. I'm excited and slightly nervous. There's a part of me that's sad that I will be leaving my newlywed wife for the month (Just married July 1st). But they say time apart makes the heart grow fonder so I'm hoping that applies to this case. So let's get started with the rambling! My flight leaves on Friday and I just received a text message from the airline saying that if I wanted to, I could get my money back for the ticket because there are weather warnings and possible delays. I'm off to a great start! I spent the majority of the morning updating my website and editing recent photos of new paintings. I also replaced the bearings in my skateboard and went out for a ride just to find out that I'm getting old. Tonight I start packing and after hopefully I can persuade Justine (wife) to join me and a friend for game night @tigertiger; some hipster bar in North Park, San Diego. It's not all bad, it has vegan eats and freegan eats if you're willing to wait until someone throws out a fresh plate of nachos (just kidding, this isn't high school and people don't want to hear about my dumpster diving days.). Tomorrow is the last day to spend with Justine and with the beach so I will probably do both between packing and panicking. Any who, I think this is a good place to stop. Stay tuned.