There and Back Again – Spain

While I know this is totally off topic, and that it probably belongs under this heading in the blog called Wayward Pioneer (which is also me, just in case you missed that…) I have been doing some traveling lately.  What I have learned is that I miss my guitar when I am gone.  In Spain, I had the use of one for days, which was nice, but in Utah, I did not.  As it seems that there will be several trips to Utah in my future, I already have someone scouting the pawn shops for one I can leave there.  Come to think of it though, I could totally see myself doing a Wayward Pioneer Guitar Shops the Pawns.  That would make a better transition to consolidate the blogs, for certain.

Anyway, there has been a call from Germany for me to get back to writing.  I was going to stretch that lone call into something like a wild clamor, but that is really too much of a stretch, even for me.  So here I am, for my own pleasure, and because a persistent nagging from a certain small German is a common thread for my life, and I’m caving in.  (My Grandmother was likewise a certain small German, and She Who Would Be Obeyed.  Are you following me here?)

Anyway, Spain.

It is difficult for me to organize all of my thoughts about Spain.  I loved visiting that country before I had family there, and now that I do, the experience of being there is just that much richer.  I have been in most parts of the country by now, except the northwest; a deficiency I intend to remedy sooner than later.  But this trip, planned around Elisa and Juan Carlos’ wedding, was made very special by the time I spent with Concha and Juan, and with the young couple as we went from the wedding in Madrid to Barcelona together, laughing, eating (every 20 minutes) and drinking both enough wine and enough coffee to keep both agricultural disciplines happily enriched.  I was able to gain a wider circle of acquaintances, and to get my fill of art every day – well, except for that day after the wedding…nothing was happening that day.  I do love how, in Barcelona, you can set yourself up for a Gaudi-A-Day…not to mention Picasso, Miró, street artists, musicians, swirling market color and, did I mention, something to eat every 20 minutes.  So what follows are photos – almost, but not quite random- because by this point in time, everything is melding into a happy, happy memory that will eventually require refreshment.

Okay, I’ve been loading photos for awhile now.  Barcelona will have to wait…life is getting in the way 🙂

Madrid:

          

Alcalá

        

 

 

 

2 June 2014

The guitars keep coming – out of the goodness of my friends and readers, and out of my head…I’m going to say there is a chance I won’t ever get away from them entirely.

The contribution from Cheri in California is backstage at the Grand Ol’ Opry – a very nice line of guitars indeed.  I’m wondering about getting one of those racks for home – although it would be something between never and no way that I would ever need such a thing.  It would be a wish/dream thing only…and perhaps not the one on which I should focus first.

 

The painting, on the other hand, is called “Muses” and was produced for an upcoming show at the local arts league gallery show which is about art and music.  Hmm.  I wonder just where my head is supposed to go with that one?  It is mixed media – the guitars painted on paper which was then applied to the canvas.

 

Create Every Day

Okay, it sort of goes without saying that my days don’t really come with a handy template.  I have a million things to do, but usually a flexible enough schedule that I can chose which of them I will attempt to accomplish.  The last three days have been dedicated to the relocation of tadpoles and frogs from the pool cover to their very own woodland pond.  It is a bigger job than it should be.  I didn’t open the pool last year, opting instead to wait for the frogs to hatch and then the tads to get to a point where I could move them – and then never quite getting around to it.  This year – I’m wondering why I didn’t procrastinate again.  There is no exercise at any gym that can prepare you for botanical muck dipping, sorting and tossing…well, alright, I wouldn’t actually know that, but I can assume.  I have definitely awaken some monsters that are roaming the musculature of my body…loud, obnoxious and inconsiderate monsters that make me glad, for the nonce, that I don’t have anyone here to share the pain.  It would not make for a relaxed evening at all.

BUT, I captured and moved both the King of the Frogs and the Frog Prince and about 10 dozen tadpoles in all stages of development.  I kept wishing I had a kid there to help me – they would have loved to see evolution in action.  Of course, I say this thinking of myself as a kid.  There is no electronic component to tadpoles….

But it was a lovely thing to day these past couple of wonderful spring days….if not for the screaming muscles, I would be like, so totally zen right now.

Frog Prince

King of the Frogs

The new palace

 

 

May the Fourth…

I am having a morning when I am frustrated with the limitations of art.  I want to be able to paint the smell of the choke cherry in bloom, the sound of the bees, the color of the spring garden, the feel of the sun on my back, the taste of the coffee, and the abandonment to joy that is the play of the dogs.  I want to put them all on canvas in one place, at one time so that I can relive this small moment of contentment over and over.  Sometimes I picture the inside of my skull as a canvas, and it is on this that I paint.  Success is only measurable when I have to pull this memory out to ward off unpleasantries, so until I see the completed picture, I remain somewhat frustrated.  Nothing another cup of coffee won’t fix, mind you, or an amble through the woodland garden, but the painting is just meant to be as perfect as this moment.  So let me set frustration aside and be grateful.  This moment is a gift.

A ferocious attack on a cowering animal? I think not – Branagh is simply leaning back to assume her ultimate form – as Chainsaw…

I Just Had To Share

 

Alright.  Coming to me via Jesper in Copenhagen, fresh from The Voices of East Anglia (http://www.voicesofeastanglia.com/2014/02/voxmobile-bizarre-guitar-car.html) is this image – and while I sort of get the feeling that the article is dissing the VOX-mobile, I would love to have one.  I’d love to have one.  (For emphasis.)  I’d love to go to a drag race with a bunch of them.  I’d wear that dress with pink go-go boots, though.  That’s just who I am…

I am beginning to get a nice collection of images of guitar cars.  I went the other night to a party where the guy had an enormous collection of classic American convertibles (“I’m down to about 80,” says he) and a couple of Rolls Royce.  I think I’d like to have a similar barn full of guitar cars.  Hmm.  I’m going to have to sell a whole lot more paintings.  Okay.  While I’m at this, I think I’ll also wear Patsy Cline’s pink cowboy hat…can’t be too careful about the sun…

Electric Blue

So, show of hands.  Who did not know that I would get back to making guitars some day?  Okay, I may have been the only one, but I was wrong.  A week ago or so I remembered that as of tomorrow I am to turn in something for a local show called “Electric Dreams” which was just intriguing enough for me to want to get involved.  So I rattled around in the studio and came up with any number of guitars, but only one that would really lend itself to being wired to light up.  I found lights on Amazon and went to work.  Turns out that sewing a string of lights onto a rat wire guitar is at the very least tedious, but I was on a mission.

Remember the rat wire guitar planter thingy?  Not terribly successful as the peacocks seem to think that it is a foreign object that must be regularly assaulted, but the extra piece I cut was hanging around.  It turned out to be a fun project in the end, though I went to work on it this morning by 9 and was informed that it was 4:30, it would seem in the next hour.  So the piece is ready for delivery tomorrow…”Electric Blue”.

As a bonus, I have the paper I used to protect the table top while I painted.  They bring back to me the entire 365 Project, and the Blue Guitar series, all at once.  Feels good.

 

Electric Blue as a Night Light

Electric Blue Very Poorly Represented

Side Effect

 

Still Missing the Daily Grind

Greetings and good morning!

I had thought that after 365 times of getting up to create a guitar and coming up with something to say with my creation that I would be so over it when it was done.  I’m not.  Curiously I miss the discussion more than the creation – as I’m off creating something else most days anyway.  So I always appreciate a random guitar if for no other reason than I might get it “out there” and have a chance to reconnect with some of the people who were reading 365 Guitars on a steady basis.

So I was delighted to come across this photo of Guitar Lake somewhere in the Sierra Nevada.  I have a new destination for my list.  I think I’ll try to find it on Google Earth and pinpoint the location a little better – and I’m going to guess that it will look pretty good from space.  

What is it about Thursday?

In a just and perfect world, this would be my driveway.  I’m not sure I want quite all of the rest of the place – a side effect of living in a 300 year old house is that I am able, with laser-like clarity, to recognize the maintenance nightmare that is a place any larger than 950 square feet set on a postage stamp.  Still, the driveway would be really, really cool.  But just in case any of you are in the market – it could be yours…Many thanks, Morgan!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2563475/Americas-largest-available-mansion-grounds-shaped-like-guitar-bargain-price-of.html

And the Hits Keep Coming

It is Thursday

I have something to do if Spring ever arrives.  This was posted to the Face Book page “Guitar Control”.  Now I want one.  Zen, musical, all kinds of happy things.  Yes.  I will dig down and set the stones properly.  I will enhance the soil and plant grasses mixed with chamomile.  I will contemplate.  I will do some of those things.  Really.  The fountain is a nice touch.

Some Things Cannot Be Passed By

Sunday

Yes, I am aware that it is all over.  And I’m painfully aware that there are moments that I miss the daily-ness of writing and guitar-ing.  It’s only been five days but feels like an eternity.  I am adjusting to how days actually pass by, and it is still strange.

But the universe keeps giving me guitars.  This is not my fault.  I mean, at MY house, even the birds drop guitars in the driveway.  Was I not meant to share?