Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Happy New Years Eve

Today Harry and I were invited to a friends for a New Years Eve party. Neither Harry or I are into big groups of people or parties but we thought it would be fun. But at the last minute I wasn't feeling so hot and Harry was having some tooth pain so we decided to stay home and celebrate the new year with just the two of us and Daisy. It was a quiet but nice night.

Happy New Years.. 2009 is going to ROCK!!!!

Star Trek The Tour

Today I started working on editing together some of the video from our wonderful three trip to Long Beach for Star Trek The Tour back in February 08. We took over three hours of video and watching it now brings back such great memories. Harry and I are such geeks.. we had such a wonderful time. If you want to see the videos you can go to my You tube video page and watch them there.. I have a few up now but plan on putting up more as I get them done...

2008 in Review


It's the last day of the year, time to take stock of the year gone by. What an exciting year it has been!

I created a number of artworks I'm proud of. I drove across and around the country with my wife, something I've wanted to do for many years. And I continued to immerse myself in painting and sculpture by visiting museums around the country and really enjoying many of the works I saw. I don't know which one to show on today's post, but I guess it will come to me before I finish the post. The museums I visited this year include:

  • Barnes Foundation, Merion PA
  • Philadelphia Museum of Art
  • Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA
  • Ross Gallery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA
  • University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA
  • Delaware Art Museum
  • Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts
  • Museum of Modern Art, New York
  • Metropolitan Museum, New York
  • Guggenheim Museum, New York
  • Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
  • Frick Museum, New York
  • Neue Galerie, New York
  • New York City Waterfalls (Olafur Eliasson)
  • Dia Beacon, Beacon NY
  • Mass MoCA, North Adams MA
  • Bruce Museum, Greenwich CT
  • Baltimore Art Museum
  • Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art (Louis Comfort Tiffany collection), Winter Park FL
  • Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College, Winter Park FL
  • Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens, Winter Park FL
  • National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
  • Phillips Collection, Washington DC
  • Corcoran Gallery, Washington DC
  • Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC
  • Laguna Beach Museum of Art, CA
  • Frederick R Weisman Foundation, Beverly Hills CA
  • LA MOCA, Los Angeles CA
  • Kimbell Art Museum, Ft Worth TX
  • Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Ft Worth TX
  • Dallas Museum of Art
  • Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas TX
  • Georgia O'Keefe Museum, Santa Fe NM
  • LA County Museum of Art (LACMA)
  • Broad Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles CA
  • Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach CA
  • Denver Museum of Art (including preview of Clyfford Still Museum collection)
  • Denver Contemporary Art Museum
  • Whitney Museum of Western Art, Cody WY
  • Sculpture Garden, Buffalo Bill Museum, Cody WY
  • Frederick R Weisman Museum at U of MN, Minneapolis MN
  • Walker Art Center, Minneapolis MN
  • Minneapolis Sculpture Garden
  • Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Aside from creating art and visiting museums, I also read Hilary Spurling's extensive 2 volume biography of Henri Matisse which I thoroughly enjoyed, Matisse's essay Notes of a Painter, Kandinsky's Concerning the Spiritual in Art, an illuminating collection of essays and letters called Writings on Art - Mark Rothko, and The Writings of Robert Motherwell. And now I've embarked on John Richardson's 3 volume biography A Life of Picasso! I also read several national art magazines each month.

I've finally selected not one but two images to go with this post, both colorful although created 500 years apart, and both from the Kimbell Art Museum in Ft Worth TX, our first scheduled art museum stop on our cross country trip (I visited all the art museums from the Kimbell to the end of the list on our summer cross country trip). Fra Angelico's 1429-1430 small painting The Apostle Saint James the Greater Freeing the Magician Hermogenes, and a late Henri Matisse from 1946, Asia.

I didn't know I'd done so much this year! No wonder I feel like I've been busy. A review really is very valuable for appreciating all one has accomplished. I hope you've had a great year too. Thanks for reading my blog.

I wish you all a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year!

You can view some of my 3-D paintings and mixed media works on my website, www.jayrolfe.com/.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Monday, December 29, 2008

Being Sick and needing Serenity


I've been sick on and off the past few weeks.. it's a cold that just won't leave. Well today it was at it's worse and I was feeling horrible. So I decided to rest on the couch in front of our new 60" big screen TV and watch one of my all time favorite movies Serenity. If you don't know it is, look it up online. It's a movie made from one of the best yet very short lived TV series called Firefly. It's from the wonderful mind of Joss Whedon.

It was exactly what the doctor ordered.. I relaxed, sat back and watched a fantasic movie.

I hope I feel better soon....

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Re-Digitizing The Guild

After the lose of my hard drive I had to start re-digitizing the 50+ hours of footage I shot for The Guild BTS. It's a slow process but I should be done in a week or so and I can start cutting together some cool BTS pieces for the DVD. Wish me luck that my drive doesn't crash again.

Dr. Horrible DVD

Today I was finally able to sit down and watch the Dr. Horrible DVD extras and listen to the commentary and I LOVED IT.

First of all if you don't know what this is you can go here and watch it for free.

If you are a Joss Whedon fan then you already know how AWESOME this show is. But what is extra special about this DVD is there is a commentary track that's called Commentary: The Musical and cast and crew sing their commentary while the show is playing.. it's totally cool. There is also a "regular" commentary which is also very fun. There are few BTS pieces and a very cool Evil League of Evil section where fans sent in videos of their characters. Some of them were so cool and interesting.

I know you can watch this show online for free.. but it's worth every penny of the $9.99 to buy the DVD and support such a cool and innovated project.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Christmas in Cape Town

Well Christmas 2008 has come and gone and in Cape Town, we had glorious weather to enjoy our usual outdoor Christmas lunch. This is a picture of our friend, Dawne - nuclear physicist turned cello maker - relaxing after a rather large meal.


And I have discovered the person who belongs to my painting. Her name is Jo Ann Elig and she lives in Rhode Island in the United States. Check our her blog. This is the original picture and I've posted my painting again as a comparison.

More Guildie Stuff

Success.. I was finally able to get the three Guild videos uploaded to my You Tube channel. The picture quality is okay but the more important part is listening to the singing. Later in the day I uploaded the videos directly to watchtheguild.com website and the picture quality was 100 times better, you can see them here. All in all I think the videos turned out pretty good... even the one that has me singing on it.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Guildie Stuff

Today I worked on getting The Guild mini wrap party karaoke videos up on you tube for all too see. First of all the clips were too long, you tube has a limit of 10 minutes now so I had to cut them up. I also wanted to have a high enough picture quality but the file couldn't be over 1gig. After lots of attempts and staying up till after 2am I finally gave up and went to bed.. I vowed to work on it the next day.

Dr. Horrible DVD and CD

Today I got my Dr. Horrible Sing Along Blog DVD and CD from Amazon.. I can't wait to sit down and watch/listen to Commentary the Musical and watch all the extras.. The Hammer is my Penis...

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone...

Today Harry, Daisy and I went to my mom and step dads and had Christmas breakfast and opened gifts. Besides my mom and stepdad, my grand mother was there as well as my brother and sister-in-law. Mom and Chuck got me my new podcasting microphone and audio usb mixer... it's very cool.

Around 3pm we headed over to my Dad, who lives with my brother and sister-in-law and we opened a ton of presents and then had a very yummy Christmas Turkey dinner with all the trimmings.

It was a long but fun day.. everyone had a very merry Christmas.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Gift Exchange

Merry Christmas Eve..

Tonight Harry and I exchanged gifts for each other. There weren't many gifts to exchange since our big gift to ourselves was our 60" Big Screen TV.. which we love. We got additional DVD's and clothes. We also opened the gifts that Harry's family had sent up for Xmas. They got us this awesome pet vaccum, Harry Potter A History book, Friends Seasons DVD and a flood light for outback. We videotaped the whole thing so Harry can show his family later. All in all it was a quiet night.

Should I Wait For Psp2

Adeste Fideles

"... en grege relicto, humiles ad cunas, vocatis pastores approperant. Et nos ovanti gradu festinemus, venite adoremus, venite adoremus, venite adoremus Dominum. Aeterni Parentis splendorem aeternum, velatum sub carne videbimus delum infantem, pannis involutum, venite adoremus, venite adoremus, venite adoremus Dominum. Pro nobis egenum et foeno cubamtem, piis foveamus, amplexibus; sic nos amantem quis nos redamaret?, Adoremus Venite, Adoremus Venite, Venite Adoremus Dominum "

Same beginning as previous years ...
Far from lack of creative thinking, think again at this time that invites reflection, in which We take the time to slowly open your eyes and look at the world we live in, look at the reflection in the mirror and look carefully every detail that surrounds us. This year it does not want to close my eyes or look away at everything around me .. . I can not help looking at the young homeless, broken homes, violence in the world, the big differences between my life and so many other lives and marked with red again my shortcomings. I would breathe cold air and feel of new ESO that just feels in this age when everything seems a new opportunity to correct the "wrong way sometimes, to fix ourselves and with them change our way of seeing the world.

This year my life seems so different from what it used to be, with new needs that are impossible to fill holes left, cold so deep that there is no blanket that entertains me and flavor gaps left helplessness also looked at me and I see in other respects so complete, so happy in the new role, as full and peaceful life that I can not stop thinking about the families who for some reason are not complete. I

again invite you to reflect on the meaning of the celebration tonight.

On this day before Christmas in which most of us share dinner with your loved ones, I wish each one of us devote a thought for those who will not, in those who can not dine in a home and who may not even dinner. I would like to raise you our thoughts about them and think about how to help, to help those who feel alone, to think of those words and smiles that can change a life. In this view we can change the world.

I invite you to also thank how lucky we are.

Leaving the other side of the door, my usual self, I sincerely wish for you peace and happiness that love will flood their hearts, we know we learn to forgive and be forgiven. Wish for the world to learn to understand, never forget that we are not perfect and know how to be humble. I wish you all peace and happiness and blessings they need they want. I wish you healthy enough and enough love, enough awareness of themselves and the world we live in, enough humility, peace eternal and infinite gratitude to you and your loved ones.

Again I invite you to take advantage of the time, the I invite you to look in the mirror, open your eyes to the world and stretch their hands to touch. I invite you to awaken and renew, to begin to change the world and try to be masters of what they are. This year again I call you LIVE!.


MERRY CHRISTMAS!



the tradition of previous years, the doors to the dinner tonight will remain open and the invitation is for everyone.



DSFDF - My Challenge

Ohmygosh I was so nervous about entering Karin's challenge, but thought if I don't do it now, then I'll never get past my misgivings about my abilities. So here she is, the artist I was sent to paint. It was certainly a challenge as I have no idea what she is like as a person. All I could see were those stunning eyes, and what an amazing mouth. I hope you like it, whoever you are.


HAVE A FANTASTIC FESTIVE SEASON !!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

The Guild Episode 4 & Gag Reel

They posted The Guild episode 4 and a gag reel from the first three episode up on MS Video. http://is.gd/9Zjj . I did a BT S piece for this episode but I'm not sure when they are going to post that.. I'll keep you all updated.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Please Don't Divorce Campaign

My friend Chris sent me this link. It's a photo campaign for folks to post pictures of you, your spouse, husband, wife, kids, family holding signs asking "people" not to divorce my mom's or dad's. There are some amazing pictures and my heart swells with pride to be part of such a loving community. Check it out here.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Lion Kings

I have been corresponding with an amazing artist in Austin, Texas. Her forte is sketching but her paintings are magnificent. Virginia's blog, V ... Vaughn is an incredible collection of wildlife and domestic animal artwork. Because she's so good at it, I sent her a picture of a lion taken at the Kruger National Park and she's already done a pencil sketch prior to painting it.

Before I started writing to V, I had done my own little watercolour of two lions, also taken from a photo from the KNP. Although I don't have V's ability, I thought I would post it just for interest sake.

Check our her blog and website. She's really good.




Saturday, December 20, 2008

DVD Screeners

One of the reasons I joined the PGA (Producer's Guild of America) was to get DVD screeners during the award season. Here is what I have gotten so far. The Tale of Despereaux, The Reader, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Milk, Madagascar 2, The Dark Knight, The Wrestler, Gran Torin, Changeling, The Visitor, Rachel Getting Married, Kung Fu Panda, Wall-E, Frost/Nixon, Slumdog Millionaire, Defiance, Bolt, Doubt and Revolutionary Road.

Friday, December 19, 2008

It's all about the Jeep

Today I got up super early 6:30am and dropped off the Jeep to the jeep dealer and then went to the car rental place to pick up my rent-a-car. While there the dealer called and informed me what the problem was. Beside they fact that my dash cluster is bad (which I already knew and it would cost $1200 to fix) there was a bad sensor throttle and to replace it would cost about $260.00. Which was better then the $700 I spent a few months ago and the $2000 I spent a year ago fixing this jeep. Many ask why I keep putting money into this thing and I tell them that I'm still paying on it and I have no choice. Having a jeep is great but I was warned that they could become a money pit.. and that is becoming very true as of late. The good thing is my car would be ready by 10:30am but I was already at work and rented a car so I am going to pick it up tomorrow morning.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

The Tales of Despereaux

Today for TV night we watched The Tales of Despereaux. I had gotten the DVD screener that day. This movie is based on a best selling Children's novel.

The movie is cute but there is something missing and I can't put my finger on it. It's not a blockbuster type of movie. The characters are very well done and endearing and I liked the story, but it was just missing something. I enjoyed the way the story was told.. following four different charactera then all coming together at the end. I didn't love it but I will defiantly watch it again, as it's a very cute movie.

A Sad Day for Us Trekkies

Majel Barrett Roddenberry, the widow of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry, has died. She was 76. Roddenberry, an actress who appeared in numerous "Star Trek" TV shows and movies, died Thursday of leukemia at her home in Bel-Air, Calif.

At Roddenberry's side were family friends and her only son, Eugene Roddenberry Jr. Gene Roddenberry died in 1991.

Her romance with Roddenberry earned her the title "The First Lady of Star Trek." A fixture in the "Star Trek" franchise, her roles included Nurse Christine Chapel in the original "Star Trek," Lwaxana Troi in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (Pictured Above) and the voice of the USS Enterprise computer in almost every spin-off of the 1966 cult series. She recently reprised the voice role in the upcoming "Star Trek" film directed by J.J. Abrams.

She was a very kind and sweet lady and always very warm and loving to her fans. This is truly a sad day for us Trekkies.

Could it get any worse.

I must have angered the Gods.. first my 1 TB drive crashes and is broken and I lose a ton of material then when I get in my car this morning and my check engine light comes on and my car starts having some acceleration issues and sounds like wants to die. I manage to get to work and of course it's another crazy day. I finally have some down time and I call the jeep dealer and make an appointment to have my jeep looked at tomorrow morning. I also book a rent a car for a few days not knowing how long the repairs will take. Can't wait for this day to be over... I'm saying that alot lately.

Pablo Picasso's "Boy Leading a Horse"


What else did Leo and Gertrude Stein hang in their apartment?

In 1906 they also acquired and hung the 7 feet tall Picasso, "Boy Leading a Horse." While not as avant garde as Matisse's two paintings featured in my most recent posts, it was not traditional. Leo Stein showed Picasso both Matisse's and Picasso's own paintings hanging in his apartment, encouraging a rivalry. When Picasso saw the three paintings side-by-side, Hilary Spurling in The Unknown Matisse says, "Picasso had been shaken by 'Woman in a Hat', and seriously perturbed by 'Le Bonheur de Vivre'." The rest, as they say, is history, art history!

Today Picasso's "Boy Leading a Horse" hangs in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Here's a link to the web page about it. http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?object_id=79994

You can view some of my 3-D paintings at www.jayrolfe.com/.


Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Finals


Finals just ended and I have pending updates, including Farrah Olivia, more Hell-Burgers, Kaz Sushi Bistro, and my obsession with Java Green. For now please enjoy my bev of choice--the non-fat, sugar-free vanilla (or caramel!) latte.

Tassimo
My Kitchen
Arlington, VA

Henri Matisse's "The Joy of Life"


Shortly after the 1905 Salon d'Automne at which he debuted "Woman in a Hat," featured in my most recent two posts, Matisse painted the large "Le Bonheur de Vivre" ("The Joy of Life") over the winter of 1905-1906. Rosa Arpino, an Italian woman who modelled for art schools in Paris, was the female model for all the female figures in the almost 6 feet by 8 feet painting.

"Le Bonheur de Vivre" was exhibited in April 1906 at the Salon d'Independants in Paris, and at the end of the exhibit on April 30, Leo Stein bought "Le Bonheur de Vivre." It's a beautiful painting, one I've seen many times at the Barnes Foundation in Merion PA. Although it hung in the living room of the Steins, it hangs above the landing of the staircase from the first to the second floor at the Barnes Foundation. It's interesting that there is a small circle of dancing women in "Le Bonheur de Vivre" and Matisse would produce "The Dancers" three years later in 1909 for Sergei Shchukin, the Moscow textile magnate, which was to hang in the staircase of his mansion. The second version of "The Dancers" now hangs above the staircase landing in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. What's with all these staircase paintings?

So the Steins had Matisse's "Woman in a Hat" and Matisse's "Le Bonheur de Vivre" on their walls. What fabulous paintings to have hanging in your home, although in that day they were considered scandalous.

You can view some of my 3-D paintings at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Crazy Day then Crash

Today I had to get up early so I could pack up all of the Christmas stuff we were shipping to Harry's family in Austria and then I had to take it to the post office and ship it off. When I got to the post office I was happy to see that it wasn't too crowded. Only took me about 15 minutes to get to the desk. The box weighted 19 pounds and they told me that there was no guarantee that it would get there by Xmas.. on btw it cost $90 bucks to ship.

I get to work a little late because of the post office and as soon as I get in it's run, run, run.. none stop. I don't think I actually sat down and turned on my computer until around noon. The rest of the day was busy, busy, busy.

Later that night when I was working on The Ready Room podcast my knee hit a cord that was attached to my new 1TB hard drive and it feel about a foot to the carpet. When I picked it up I noticed it was making some rather strange noises and sure enough the drive is damaged and I'm not sure I'll be able to get anything off it. If that is the case I lost 50+ hours of BTS of The Guild that I had digitized and a ton of personal stuff that I had backed up from my computer hard drive. I'm hoping I can at least get the material off the drive.. but things don't look good.

I just want this day to end.

After the Fire

As Cathy Gatland noted in her post, yesterday was a holiday here in South Africa. Now known as Heritage Day, it was originally known as Dingaan's Day in honour of the battle of Blood River when the Boers and the Zulus came to blows and so many thousands died. It has gone through a few changes - from Dingaan's Day to Family Day, Day of the Covenant and finally now, Heritage Day. But more importantly, it is still viewed as a day of peace.

It also heralds the start of the 'silly season' when we get hundreds of visitors from upcountry to our lovely beaches and mountains, where the beach parties are in full swing, sun drenched bikini clad bodies soak up the sun on Clifton Fourth Beach, tanned muscular bodies play beach volleyball, surfers in Muizenberg, hikers on Table Mountain, sometimes losing their way - and of course, everyone eats too much on Christmas Day.


But the summer 'silly season' is also Fire Season. The wind blows, someone throws out a cigarette butt and, whooosh, the mountain starts burning. It's just taken some very brave firefighters five days and nights to bring the fires in Gordon's Bay and the Strand, just outside Cape Town, under control. It wiped out three houses in the process. Out of control fires are also the nightmare of the informal settlements where not just one, but usually up to 20 shack dwelling
s can be destroyed.

The fires also have their uses. The king protea (which is the national flower of South Africa and the official emblem of our cricket team) and all the other species of protea, need fire to germinate. This also applies to a number of indigenous flowers in the Western Cape. Whilst walking near Greyton, I came across the result of a fire. These burned out proteas were so stark against the new grasses growin
g nearby.



Tuesday, December 16, 2008

It's all about The Guild

Today was all about The Guild. First of all The Guild released it's 2008 Christmas special which was FANTASTIC. Not only did I capture a tone of BTS footage I was also set decorator and helped with setting up the Christmas stuff behind the actors.. it was a lot of fun.

And then Felicia Day updated her Blog with a post about me and other fellow volunteers for Season Two of The Guild. She said some very sweet things about me. You can read it here.

And lastly, they have started to post BTS photos that I have taken on set while shooting the second season of The Guild.. you can see them here.

Monday, December 15, 2008

The Guild, Stargate and Sickness

Today I woke up still not feeling so hot. It's the kind of sick where it doesn't knock you on your butt so you're able to still do things.. you just feel like crap when doing them.

In the afternoon I finished editing The Guild Wrap Party Highlight Video. I think it turned out pretty good. It runs for 18 + minutes. Now I just have to figure out how to output it so the file size is fairly small and the picture quality is fairly good... wish me luck.

My friend Rico from the Treks in Sci Fi forums posted a very cool Amazon.com deal. They had all 10 seasons of Stargate SG1 on DVD boxset on sale for only $99. I watched this series on and off over the years but it's an on going story and once you fall behind it's hard to catch up. And I have always wanted to start watching this series so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to buy all ten seasons for such a great price... and though I really shouldn't have .. I bought the boxset. :)

Henri Matisse's "Woman in a Hat"


Henri Matisse's "Woman in a Hat", which was the subject of my post yesterday, was sold from its original showing at the 1905 Salon d'Automne in Paris to some American collectors. Leo and Gertrude Stein, brother and sister, telegraphed Matisse of their desire to buy it. Leo was actually buying it for his brother and sister-in-law Michael and Sarah Stein.

"Woman in a Hat" is now in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. You may see it on the museum's website. http://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/213

There is no substitute for seeing an original painting as opposed to a print. It's amazing the difference in reproductions. Today's image is taken from the SFMOMA website, while yesterday's image is from the Matisse biography, The Unknown Matisse.

You can see some of my 3-D paintings at www.jayrolfe.com/.


Sunday, December 14, 2008

A Cough, Shopping and Dinner

Today I woke up with a sore throat and a bad cough. The cold that was going around finale caught up to me. I feel horrible but we must continue to go Christmas shopping.

Harry and I went of the Fallbrook mall and managed to shop a few hours before we had to get to our friends John and Moises' place for Christmas dinner.

Every year John and Moises have us over for a home made Christmas dinner along with a few friends. This year beside John, Moises, Harry and I were Tom, Ervin, Bruce and Matthew. Moises always makes a wonderful dinner every year and this year was no different. This time around we did your traditional Turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Moises is a wonderful chief and we look forward to having dinner with them every year.. you could ask for any more.. Good food with good company.

Matisse, Picasso, Steve Martin, and the Lapin Agile





Last weekend we saw a play written by American comedian Steve Martin at the Delaware Theatre Company called Picasso at the Lapin Agile. It's a fictional story of Picasso meeting Einstein at a local Parisian cafe in 1904, before either was famous. In the dialogue, Picasso took a few swipes at his rival Matisse. It was hilarious and we really enjoyed it.

I've been reading a two volume biography of Henri Matisse, who gave up law to be an artist, written by Hilary Spurling. Volume one is The Unknown Matisse, A Life of Henri Matisse: The Early Years, 1869-1908. Volume two is Matisse The Master, A Life of Henri Matisse, The Conquest of Colour, 1909-1954.

After spending the summer of 1905 painting in Collioure on the French Mediterranean near the border with Spain, Matisse submitted several paintings the the Salon d'Automne in Paris, notably "Woman in a Hat" and "The Open Window, Collioure." Matisse and his experimental friends Derain, Vlaminck, Marquet, Manguin, and Camoin, had their paintings shown in what became known as the notorious room or gallery Salle VII. Spurling writes that while Matisse was inspecting the installation of the paintings before the opening with writer Louis Vauxcelles, "Vauxcelles noticed a couple of academic sculptures placed incongruously in the middle of Salle VII and made what became a famous wisecrack to Matisse: 'a Donatello among the wild beasts [fauves].'" Vauxcelles then published his quip in a magazine article and Matisse's group got its name, Fauves.

The critics had little good to say about the Fauves at the time of the Salon d'Automne. Spurling reports, "Even young artists eager to identify themselves with everything that was new and forward-looking found this latest work [Matisse's "Woman in a Hat"] hard to take. One of them was the writer Francis Carco, a friend of the twenty-four-year-old Pablo Picasso, whose reputation was already gaining ground in Montmartre in spite of the fact that hardly anyone had seen his work. Carco, hanging out at Picasso's local, the Lapin Agile, could make no sense at all of the Spaniard's pronouncements on modern art: 'And I was starting to ask myself if, in spite of his astonishing powers of persuasion, Picasso was not getting more pleasure from mystifying us than he was from actually painting, when the notorious "Woman in a Hat" [by Matisse] taught me more in an instant than all his [Picasso's] paradoxes.... there emanated from this singular work ... such an evidently conscious fixity of purpose that, after an interval of more than thirty years, I still have not forgotten it.'"

Spurling continues, "Certainly, the regulars at the Lapin Agile, like Francis Carco, were powerfully impressed. Picasso (who had not yet met Matisse) felt he had been decisively outflanked."

Well, Steve Martin knows his art history and was aware of Picasso's local cafe, the Lapin Agile. It seems that in 1904 Matisse, who was 35 and married, while Picasso was 24 and single, was more experimental and more of a leader of art movements than Picasso.

I find the interplay between Matisse and Picasso fascinating. You can view some of my 3-D paintings at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Karin's Boots

For the first time I decided to try Karin Jurick's project on 'Different Strokes for Different Folks' and this is the result. Her boots are delightful - full of character, and if you go to her post you'll see all the recent submissions of the same footwear!

I did, however, have endless trouble trying to photograph the painting. Maybe it's my colour choice of background, but they always came out so yellow. In the end, I used photoshop (which I'm a complete novice with) to try and get the colours more or less as the original painting.

I enjoyed painting them. Thank you Karin.




Saturday, December 13, 2008

Xmas and the Guild

Today was a busy day. Got up early so I could start making some Christmas presents for some friends. Every year I like to make a personal gift for family and friends. Being so busy as of late I got a late start and I'm very behind.

In the afternoon I went to my Brothers to visit Dad, brother and sister-in-law. Got to see the sonogram of my new niece/nephew. Only the size of an egg but it was still cool. Harry stayed home to work on his family DVD that he does every year so it was just me which was kind of weird since Harry and I have been together we have always visited my family together. Dad and I went Xmas shopping as I realized that I had many more family members to buy for. We then had some lunch and I headed home.

Once I was home I started to work on The Guild Wrap Party Highlight video. I knew folks were excited to see it so I wanted to get it done ASAP. It was tough as there were alot of people who sang and I knew I had to keep the video fairly short because it was going to be posted on You Tube. I got a good start on it.

Friday, December 12, 2008

How Do I Put A Salon Sink At Home

The Twelve Days of Christmas! There heavens

Continuing the tradition of last year ... here is the list of what you receive within 12 days of Christmas!



For the twelve days of Christmas, your true love will send you:




drumming Eleven Twelve robots carolers a-caroling
Ten midgets a-leaping Nine ladies baking cookies

Eight alpacas a-milking Seven
fruitcakes a-festering
Santas a-hohohoing Six Five golden necklaces

booty calls calling
Four Three Two French Tourists

bottles of whiskey And a crazy homeless person in an apple tree



Come!
I definitely will do better than last year but stress the indigent insane to give me the apple tree, I have to pay attention to that detail, certainly something I try to say. I can not say much about the singers but sure to be great so I hope and no way I should clarify that I am excited about the robots.

Moreover, again receive bottles of whiskey (thank you!), I also thank the "ho ho ho" from Santa because they always encourage the alpacas as much as I like the ladies who bake cookies and fruit pies are very good!

Finally! I think this year I do like my presents!

BSG and Office Lights

Today a new mini web series for Battlestar Galactica started today. There are going to be 10 episodes. Episode One Right off the bat they outed one of the semi-regular characters as being gay which I thought was very cool and it was done so matter of fact which I liked. I look forward to seeing where this goes and I can't wait for BSG to start back up in Jan. 09.

I also finished putting up my office lights.. now my office is decked out from floor to ceiling in Christmas. I love it.

ICT Assembly

Y3G had fun showing the Digital Document Camera in the sharing assembly on the Thursday 11th December. Mr G showed his Roman coin, which was 1800 years old.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

A Special Guild Shoot

Today was a very special Guild shoot and I was so looking forward to it. I had planned to take a half-day and film this shoot in the morning and come to work mid day. Well things didn't work out as planned. First of all the shoot was way down in Orange and would have take 3 plus hours to get down there by 9am and then it would take hours to get back and if I wanted to work at 1pm I would only be able to stay for an hour or so. Also there was a meeting I had to go to at 11am and since this job pays the bills I couldn't go to this shoot. But I did pass on my camera and tapes to my friend Jared (Gaffer for the Guild) and they said they would get someone to take some footage for me.. so I'll still be able to do a cool BTS about this very special and cool shoot day.

A Shocking Experience

Today I decorated my office at work. I put up all my Xmas items and started to hang lights. I was using a staple gun to hang the lights. As I finished putting up about 400 lights and I was stapling my last staple I hit the cord and put a staple right through the middle and the next thing I knew there was a loud pop and a flash of bright blue light then all 400 lights went out. I short-circuited all five stands and now every light is dead.. luckily I did not get hurt but now I have to go to Target and pick up 400 more lights and try again.

Tuna Grande Take Two

Well since my first set of photos of cast and crew with the large can of Tuna went over so well I took more photos of the crew with the big can of Tuna on the final shoot day for The Guild second season. Here is the link to the photos.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Big Screen TV

Well today our Big Screen 60" TV was delivered. Of course I couldn't wait to get home and open it up. Though it is a Xmas gift for Harry and I from Harry and I there was no way we were going to wait till Christmas to open it.

When I got home I was surprised on how big the box was and after some moving around of furniture I was able to open it and remove it from the box.

It was beautiful, I knew I wasn't going to be able to hook it up HD 1080i because I needed an HDMI cable but I did want to hook it up to my cable. And though it was just 480i the first thing we watched was a MASH episode and OMG the colors were unbelievable. We played around with the screen sizes, as there are about six different ones. I plan on hooking it up HD this weekend when I get the cable but this TV is huge and the colors are beautiful. Both Harry and I are very happy with our Xmas present.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Closing our Ebay Store

Well after a year and a few months Harry and I decided to close our EBay Store "Federation Outpost". For a year we did okay, didn't make a ton of money but enough to continue it but the past few months we haven't even made enough to cover the costs so it was time to shut it down. Who know if I decide to sell off more of my toys we might re-open it but for now it's best to close it.

Guild Mini Wrap Party

Tonight The Guild cast and crew went out to Dimples (Karaoke Bar) to celebrate the end of the The Guild season two shoot. They are planning a bigger and final wrap party in January when we are actually done with all the editing. But for tonight we all went out for drinks and singing. It was a blast, it's funny seeing folks who you work with let their hair down and rock on with the singing. Everyone had a great time and I have video to prove it. Felicia is going to post some of the video on The Guild You Tube channel soon. And I even got up there twice and sang with several others.. and I didn't have a drop of alcohol, because I was driving. it was a fun night.

Monday, December 8, 2008

The Final Guild Shoot

Today is the final Guild shoot for season two. Of course I had to work but I felt it was important to be there at least half the day as I have been with this gang since the beginning. So I worked from 9am to 3:30pm and then drove over to the location of the final shoot. I managed go hang out and shot a bit more BTS for another four hours before Sean Becker said, "That's a Wrap " for the final time.

It was kind of bitter sweet, on one hand this has taken alot of my weekends and time away from Harry but on the other hand it was great being part of something that I love. I'm a fanboy and always will be. This has been the best experience working with some of the nicest and most talented people in the industry. This wasn't a job for me, I volunteered my time and services because I wanted to be part of something special. Of course my part has just begun. I now have 50 hours of footage to go through and come up with some really cool BTS pieces for DVD.

I may not see everyone on a weekly bases as before but I have made many friends and hope to continue with the friendship once this is over.. and of course there is always SEASON THREE.

5 Wks Low Soft Cervix Pregnancy



Two years ...

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,

Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I Was Wrong.

The stars Are Not wanted now: put out Every One;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now to Any dog \u200b\u200bever eats good.

WH Auden

The blue sky can still look for all ... for the author is now a distinct blue, it's a different sky. The world is even a different place al que durante 24 años conocí.

Cada día sigue amaneciendo; el sol continúa apareciendo y eventualmente perdiéndose en el horizonte. La luna sigue orbitando... las estrellas son visibles desde cualquier punto y cada minuto alguien nace en este universo. Sin embargo hay cielos aún sin estrellas y mañanas sin sol; hay tardes de viento y hojas secas, hay días sin días, horas sin minutos y razones sin motivo. Hay logros sin compartirse, alegrías esporádicas y momentos perfectos que se nublan al pensar en su ausencia; hay cielos cambiantes que parecen cubrir todo con un manto de desamparo... el frío llega bones and numb the feelings, the tears freezing cold by rubbing the skin, voice breaking, crying becomes sharp swords stuck in the throat, chest is pressed against the cold metal plate is pressed, the Breathing becomes a feat and silence fills a world of words and letters suddenly demand to be reflected in a frenzy that could be compared to a drug ... there are gray skies, no more nuance than the pain. There are pale skies that taste absence is so dark skies that threaten to overshadow the memories and smiles. There are skies that look and others prefer not to remember that perfection is attainable and complete happiness is a path.

There are steps that must be taken, there are cycles that must be met and the time does not forgive, does not stop. Today they are the words of others who say what mine can not ...


"If God Could you see him tell you how much I Hated him?"

"It's an itch That I'll never stop scratching

It's a hole That I'll never remove fill"



Marius

Another portrait in watercolour. This one I'm quite proud of, as I stopped before I fiddled and overworked it.

I love painting these guys. He was also in Greyton and came to fix some plumbing job whilst I was house and dog sitting. He and his workmate (colloquially known as 'handlanger') sat on the edge of the verandah in the winter sunshine fiddling and fixing whilst I took photos. Marius has the gentlest of faces I've seen for a long time - such a gentle soul, and I tried my best to capture that. I am currently doing an oil of him as well and will post that when it's
finally finished - no 'painting a day' in this neck of the woods! Not just yet, anyway.



Sunday, December 7, 2008

Tuna Grande

While on this weekends shoot with The Guild we found this 4 1/2 pound can of Tuna. So of course me being me I had to take a photo of everyone holding the giant can of tuna.. above is Felicia Day. I took tons of pictures of cast and crew with the giant can of tuna.. you can see them on my facebook page. Click Her

Extra, Extra.. I'm an Extra

This weekend (December 6 & 7) shoot was alot of fun. It was for the final few episodes of the second season of The Guild. I had missed Friday so I was really looking forward to this weekend. This was an extra speical weekend as it would be our final shoot weekend and we had alot of extras on set. And another cool thing was I got to be one of the extras as well. So I think by the time this season is over I will have appeared in four episodes. I hate being in front of the camera, that's why I work in post, but I have to say it's fun being an extra.

This was a full weekend, I interviewed extras/fans for a BTS piece, I appeared on camera and meet some really cool Guildies.

Pole Dancing the Wrong Way

It was a long fun weekend and the last hour of the shoot on Sunday I found myself running sideways filming BTS stuff trying to stay behind the camera so I wouldn't ruin the shoot. Well on the second take I was running full out and the next thing I knew I was lying on my back.

What happened was when I was running sideways and so focused on keeping behind the camera I didn't notice the hard metal pole in my path and I ran right into it with my head. The force of the hit knocked me off my feet and the next thing I knew I was lying on my back and having Felicia Day and the crew rush over to me.

Of course I jumped up quickly and shook it off. Felicia kept telling me to sit down but I was okay. I had a headache and was more embarassed then anything.

On a good note my video camera that I was holding was fine, but on a bad note my still camera that was in my pocket was damaged beyond repair.

And another good thing was I was recording the entire time.. I can't wait to see that footage.

Christmas Light Blow Out

Up at 7am on a very cold morning before the Guild shoot fixing the lights on the roof as the entire roof "Merry Christmas" were out. Luckily it was the first strand in the line and once I replaced it the entire worked again.. so now my house is once again decked out in Christmas lights.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Missing a Guild Shoot

Today, Saturday, Sunday and Monday is an extra long weekend shoot for The Guild second season. But since I did a half day yesterday to shot some really cool BTS I couldn't take off work today to be there for the shoot today. This was the first time I wasn't able to make a guild shoot for all of season two and I was bummed out. But since I'm doing the Guild BTS for fun and need my job to actually live I choose to work. And luckily I did.. it was a crazy day at work.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Guild Shoot or Work?

Today the Guild was doing a practice/rehersal for a really cool and exciting thing that's happening in the last few episodes of Season Two.. of course I can't say much but as I'm doing the BTS of the DVD I knew I had to film it because it was going to be very cool and alot of fun. So I had to choose to take a half day at work and head to Inglewood to film this.

It was a lot of fun and I'm sure it's going to be a really cool part of the BTS for the DVD.

After I went to work for the remaining day. That's one good thing about being boss. :)

TV Night

Well after a few months off we finally started our TV nights again. This time around instead of doing TV series we are doing Scifi/Fantasy movies or anything else geeky. Tonight I got Madagascar 2 dvd screener and since none of us saw it we decided to watch that. It was pretty good, if you liked the first then you'll like this one. It was great to see our friends Tom, John and Moises as it's been a while since we all got together. We have TV/Movie night every Thursday at 7:30pm and starting next week will have our new 60" Big Screen TV... so if you would like to join us please email me.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Brown Eyes

I have discovered I love painting portraits, even though they don't always turn out the way I'd have liked them to. The expressions and character on faces shines through, especially when they think you're not watching. A photo taken when someone isn't watching can be priceless, but I guess the best is painting with a live model. I have done that once, wasn't happy with the result, but need to try it again. During these December holidays with the nice warm weather, we'll be going out into the forests and onto the beaches to paint 'plein air', so maybe I can catch some of my fellow artists unawares!

That's for the next few weeks. In the meantime, this little watercolour was taken from a pic and done in our watercolour Monday group. I feel, again, that I've overworked it, but I will get better with practice - that's what I've been lead to believe, anyway!

Check out Sharon Wright's, Susan Carlin's and Susan Martin's sites for some exceptional specialised portrait work.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Big Screen TV

Well we haven't had much luck with Big Screen TV's. My first 45" TV my brother sold to me for $200 and all it needed was a new screen but it cracked while they were moving it. I was assured that it would be easy to find.. well it wasn't and come to find out they don't make that TV or screens anymore so it became a great big piece of plastic.

Our second big screen 50" that my mom bought from a friend for my birthday last year. After a crazy drive from Newport to Reseda the TV was great and worked for a whole five months before it decided to break down. We paid $50 bucks for a guy to come out and say that this is what is wrong and by the way they don't make those parts anymore.. once again we have a great big piece of plastic.

Well today we decided instead of getting "used" TV's since we don' t have the best of luck we went and got a brand spanking new 60" big screen TV. It's actually a Christmas present from Harry and I to Harry and I.

It's a Mitsubishi 60" 1080p DLP HDTV

We were trying to get a LCD or Plasma but with the size we wanted we would have to spend three times the amount we got this TV for. Best Buy was having one of their cyber Monday sales and we got this 60" TV for a great price of $999.99. It should be arriving this Wednesday and the real question is should we wrap it up and open it on Christmas day... yeah right.. :)

World Aids Day


We must continue to fight this horrible disease.

Murky Coffee

First, I was skeptical of their Five Dollar Hot Chocolate. Later, after accepting Murky Coffee as a pretty quality occasional substitute for Starbucks for studying (free wifi is a blessing and a curse, but I don't leave Murky after three hours smelling like stale java), I was disturbed by some drama they had over the summer. It's the sort of place where if you let your guard down, you might feel like you are out of the hipster club or something.

Sometimes you just have to get out of your house, so I figured upstairs (the laptop space) would be the place for me to do some studying today. WRONG.

Announcement: The upstairs at Murky Coffee is CLOSED for renovation! You won't find notice of this on their web site. I should have known something was wrong when I walked in and saw the first level littered with laptops, with barely an open seat. Shrugging it off, I brazenly ordered my hot chocolate "for here." When she handed over my drink, I asked the barista if upstairs was open, more of a reassurance than an actual question. "No." No eye contact, so she couldn't see my despair.

To make this already too long story less long, I'll say that I ended up in the tiny "other room" where there are bathrooms, two tiny tables (taken, of course) and two couches (one taken). Sinking into the couch , which sat on their trademark, charming stonewashed, scratchy floor that was also quite filthy (dustballs, paper scraps), I started to feel tired. Overcompensators masked the smell of "bathroom" with a thick dose of citrus air freshener. Tired and nauseous from the smell, I left. Waste of time.

Murky Coffee
Clarendon
Don't bother, it's full