Freak O' Nature

My second mother has called me to her kitchen for some refreshment of the soul. Maybe she sent me to my bookshelf and urged my hand to pick up Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold. Maybe she winked at my inner child that started stacking stones on my morning dog walk in the wash. Maybe she had me going through my topographic maps looking for a new area of discovery to plumb. Maybe she spoke through my dog Scout and gave me that forlorn look.

Most people know I live in the desert but I really live in Arizona which is an incredibly diverse group of bioms only part of which are desert. Southern Arizona is criss-crossed by 'sky islands.' These are large mountain ranges that rise out of the hot dry valleys and sport all the ecosystems you would find in places like the Rockies of Colorado and Utah. The Catalina Mountains define the northern boundary of Tucson. When it's in the hundreds down here in the valley, you can count on some escape up in the Catalinas where the alpine temps will be in the 60's or 70's. An hour and 10 minute drive from my house I can be up at 8000 ft in a totally different world. One of the great reasons I love living in Tucson!

Not sure what has entered me but I have made my journey to mountain tops 3 times in a week! Each time entrances me more and I can see the allure is becoming addictive. There is a relationship starting. Scout isn't sad about it either. As soon as he sees the pack come out, he starts milling around in anticipation. I had him hiking when he was just a pup and he's totally at home on the trail. I gave him that name because of his skill at finding an easier path. He really does!

My painting thoughts have also started gravitating towards that last one I started then stopped more than a year ago. "Earth Island" was based on natural subjects but in an abstract way. (link) Might have to wait till I have the new studio set up in the new house. There's always the sketchbook....

I took these photos with my iphone so not that great. Is that Scout at the edge of the Grand Canyon? Nope, looking north towards the White Mountains. Also, new boots. Wore out the last ones.

Looking for a House

Last weekend I was working out with Jane how we would rearrange the workspace so that I could paint again. Clean out storage to make room for more important stuff? A shelving system with pulleys that pull things towards the ceiling? Then I thought, why don't we just get a house?

Could I get a house? I dunno. On Monday I met with an agent. On Wednesday I had the paperwork. On Thursday I was approved for a loan. On Friday I had a long list of properties to look at. It's Sunday and our group of 3 has boiled down to one. For now. So, we'll have to go look inside soon.

House hunting is supposed to be a fun thing to do. For me it's been very stressful to boil down what exactly I cannot live without. Size became the most important thing. We need a studio for painting, room for the computers, a yard for the animals and room for Jane to store and work on her vintage and designer clothing. Would be nice to take my shop tools out of storage and have them available. Then there is location. I like to take the dogs to the wash or desert trails for a before breakfast hike. I'm so spoiled by my 10 minute commute I don't want to let go of it. I'm also used to my side of town. Feels like home.

Driving by one house, we noticed the door was open and walked in uninvited with our morning hair and weekend clothes. The agent was a bit alarmed and followed us around shooting us dubious looks. Turns out that although a nice deal can be found in a suburb, we don't want it. I really have nothing to worry about. I have the construction skills to work with most any property. So now it's all about fishing and waiting. And yes, it really is a good time to buy! : )

Meatspaceweb.com is Live!

With only 3 weeks from idea to completion, there is a community website for Kyle Beltran (Kyle Bronsdon) and Quota Soon's (Tom Baumgartner) virtual reality music club and gallery in Second Life. It seemed only right to create a website for the 600+ members of the "Meatspace" group, where they can contribute, share and keep up to date with each other and events.

The site features all the social media web 2.0 widgets you need to keep up these days: Google Calendar, a forum, Flickr pool, Twitter, and IRC chat. Members can also advertise for free on the site! Visit

I like it because anyone interested in my artwork can get to know me a little better. It is also a logical place for people interested in purchasing my artwork to learn more. I'm glad to be completed with this missing link to my virtual gallery. Now on to making more artwork!

Second Life Art Show: of Deities and Demons

Second Life is getting some good press lately: Second Life is Dead. Reuters Pulls Journalist Out of Second Life. Second Life Rampant with Prostitution and Gambling. Corporations Leaving Second Life. Harvard Business School Model Fails in Second Life. What-Ever!

Gives me time to get my game on. Saturday May 2nd, I got some game on. I put on an art show. Yup, in Second Life. I have a virtual gallery called "patterntology". Put up some framed work. Biz partner Kyle Beltran put his piano in the gallery and treated folks to a 2hr set. My avatar "Quota Soon" (my inworld name) fielded questions from the crowd and joined in the shin-dig.

Did I make money? Hells yeah. I wasn't really intending to though. You can buy one of my virtual works of art for about $1.25. I made about $10. Not shabby. BUT, I also sealed a deal for one of those pieces to be printed and installed in one of my lightbox constructions and shipped off to a happy customer. In real life.  Previously, I've sold two paintings in real life through exposure in Second Life.

Now, I'm not much of a pro at marketing in Second Life but my friends Kyle Beltran and Callipygian Christensen (Second Life photographer) are. They pretty much made it happen. I'm thinking, more or less to prove something to me. Callipygian was able to use her connections and got me in "New World News" by the official CNN reporter in Second Life. Most people showing up at the opening were showing up to see Kyle who already has a decent following but some did come to see the art. One was a gallery owner who would like to show my work in his gallery soon.


Named "of Deities and Demons," the show was comprised of six dark characters I had been working on. Exploring my dark side. We all have a collection in our psyche. Think Tarot Cards. I'm inspired to develop more characters though not necessarily dark.

All in all, it made feel like an artist again. I haven't really been trying too hard either. How much easier can it get? No gallery fees, no printing costs, no snacks and drinks to buy, yet there is an audience from all over the world. I just sat in front of my computer for 2hrs. The world is overlooking the possibilities of virtual reality. I have a feeling though, not for very long.

Float Tank Session #22

I've been in a wildly creative upswing lately. In pursuit of the strange. This float session reflects some strange! Yes it's my twenty second float in a sensory deprivation tank in Tucson.

Visions seen while in the tank:

Banquet, and I'm the Table
So I'm at the head of a long royal banquet table. Am I king? A royal feast is underway with all order of gold and ruby encrusted goblets, plates, trays, and bowls. The table is filled with a number of strange guests (see next sections) all laughing and cavorting. Then my field of vision lowers and I realize I'm the banquet table. How did I know this? I felt each of the plates, goblets etc, lifting and being placed back down. I felt everyone drinking my wine as if it were one of my bodily fluids. I was a banquet table cow with gold and ruby encrusted utters in the shape of a feast!

I just have to pause a minute here for reflection. I have NEVER in my wildest imagination ever become an inanimate object. This is certainly a first of strange for me!

Monkey Headed God
One of the feast participants was a monkey-headed man dressed in 18th century swashbuckler clothing. Sword and lace collar included. If having a monkey head weren't enough, he also sported some ample deer antlers. Quite charming. I added some deer antlers to Matt Coiffi's brilliant CG work for this posts illustration. Check his site, he's pretty masterful.

Jackal Headed God
Anubis? I've seen him before in dreams. This time he ate at the banquet that was me. He wore some eastern robes of gold threads and red velvet. Some paisley in that robe. One of the more demure guests, he held a relaxed gaze being more of an observer. I could feel his super natural intelligence leaking off into the air.

Float Tank Session #21

I'm beginning to think that floating in a sensory deprivation tank is something you can get better at much like meditation. I'm also beginning to think that music can greatly steer your experience while floating. The tank I float in has underwater speakers that you can control via a large rubber button on the side. For the second half of my 90 minute float, I listened to some of the house music featuring Buddhist monk flute and singing meditation bowls. Classic New Age sounds? I experienced some classic new age imagery.

Visions Seen While In The Tank:

Flaming Lotus
I was circling my body which turned dark, hollow and tar-like. Then it became like ash. Arising from the hollowness of my skull (LOL) appeared a glowing lotus. New Age imagery! The lotus turned to dark pink and vivid blue flame and rose out of my head into the aether.

Bamboo Sign Post
Walking a path through a forest, I came to a crossroads. In the center of the converging paths I saw a bamboo post. Bands of pink, blue, orange and yellow dyed string wrapped around the post at eye level. Something told me what this meant. Each wrapping ended in a knot that pointed down one of the paths. The number of times the string was wrapped around the post was proportionate to how far down the path you had to go to get to the next destination. I apparently went down the blue path.

Zen Temple Fence
As I approached the temple, I never looked up. The only part of the temple I saw were dark wooden steps leading up into it. I couldn't bring my gaze up from examining the temple barrier. Large, smooth, white river stones about a meter high each and set 4 meters apart ringed the building. Towards the top of each stone was drilled a 3in hole. Threaded through the holes was a bright blue rope 3in thick. The outside of the rope was wound in thousands of threads in a criss-cross pattern. I just could not take my eyes off the simplicity and beauty of the 'fence' construction.

Artwork by Elena Colombo

Float Tank Session #20

Float #20! Twenty times depriving my senses of this world and entering another one. I've earned my floatist merit badge. Yup, still floating at Still Waters in Tucson. One day I'll have my own float tank, but for now this does just fine. My visions in the tank will probably continue to be SCI-FI futuristic. Guess that's where my mind is!

Visions Seen While Floating In The Tank:

Jewelry Level Female Android
I'd been gawking at Scott Kays jewelry design the day before noticing it's sometimes asymmetrical, sometimes organic qualities. The image for this entry shows some of Scotts work (and a sexy android.) In the tank, I examined the details of a sterling silver female android as if it were designed by master Kay. Tooled, cast or etched, I'm not sure. Every surface of her body was coated in fine detail. Around the naval and nipples were gold inlay. She did some slightly ballerina moves displaying her facets. This was accompanied by a subtle ringing sound. You know, the sound when metal bends but the silver rang at a higher pitch.

Crude Oil Planet
Perhaps an interplanetary oil spill? (ridiculous, I know) Imagine a giant sphere of liquid crude oil large enough to walk on and have it's own gravity. This planet never rotated, so the side facing its' sun grew a hardened shell you could walk on. When I hit the surface in my space suit (see next vision) I didn't know what to expect. The surface was a waxy brown substance that gave under your foot and left dull prints. I walked to an outcropping. It was made of brown crystallized blades sticking out at regular angles. The ends of the feathery blades were paper thin and nearly white.

Space Suit with Bell Shaped Helmet
On approach to the crude oil planet, I did a space walk. My space suit was so simple. The entire body was made of one seamless piece of material, black, textured like rip stop Gortex, and very thin. The pads of hands and feet had a thin rubbery material on them. My helmet was one piece of clear material, glass thin and shaped like a bell. It fit to the suit by an eighth inch metal ring with a simple latch to clamp it tight. In orbit around the crude oil planet were smaller globs of crude oil. I touched one with my hand. I could feel the weight of the glob and watched it break apart and parts of it stick to my suit when I pulled my hand away. Little black BB-sized globes shooting off everywhere.

Crystal CPU with Liquid Circuits
Briefly, my mind revolved around a clear, cut crystal diamond shaped object. As I zoomed in on the image I noticed thousands of little channels inside with a bluish liquid flowing. Channels near the surface fanned out and took on pink or yellow hues. I wondered how that would happen? Temperature changes within? Now that I think about it, rather than a CPU, it might have been some kind of crystal life form!

I'm doing a little experiment. I'm offering this blog entry as an audio file. Maybe you like it? Easier to listen to than read?