#11, but 1st Bamboo

This is the newest creation in my world of hand planes. This hand plane is made out of bamboo. I wanted to try bamboo b/c I am intrigued by the aesthetics of its interesting grain configuration. I took 12 squares of bamboo plywood (each one roughly 3 1/2"x3 1/2") and glued them together to make my blank. I rotated every other piece so the grains would be facing the opposite direction to make a checker board pattern. After I shaped the hand plane I soaked it in red wine for 24 hours to give it a darker sort of burgundy tint and I was very pleased with the outcome. I used UV curing polyester resin to seal it. Then polished it up, put on an adjustable velcro strap with neoprene on it and thats it. Its ready to go. Its heavier than any other hand plane I have made but I think the weight and the pin tail will only help in more powerful hollow surf. Just waiting for the right day to use it and hopefully I will have a good review and photos to post later.

The way the end grain looks on the rails is my favorite part!

Recent Sketches

Here is a couple sketches out of my sketchbook from this summer.

- the top one is a random guy hanging out at the bay and the bottom is my girlfriend getting one more nap in under the summer sun before fall comes.

This is a mountain goat that was mounted on the wall of a cabin I stayed in at Bass Lake this summer.

Handplane #10, double digits

This is the diamond tail model that I have made a couple times before. I recently got to use this model on a left hand point break in Mexico and it worked great. After telling my boss at Harbour Surfboards in Seal Beach, CA how well it worked in Mex and he wanted to me to make him one for the fun shore break of laguna beach. So here is the one I made for him. This one has a new adjustable strap on it too, so its ready for sharing. The new strap is two pieces of velcro that fasten tightly for a nice fit. There is a piece of neoprene sewed to the bottom of the velcro to keep it nice and comfortable.

R & D in Mex

New adjustable velcro and neoprene strap

Diamond Tail

Crux Surf Order

This hat was recently painted for an online order through cruxsurf.com.

Thanks for the support!

From Sketch to Finish

A small drawing in my sketch book...

turned into this...

48''x66'', torn canvas glued on plywood, acrylic paint

I got the idea to tear up canvas and make a small type of collage thing with it from a my Production of Art class I had last semester. The assignment was to make a self promo mailer and I used torn canvas for that because the texture of the fibers on the canvas gave it a "homemade" aesthetic.

This is so much more fun than just buying a pre-stretched canvas and painting on it. I enjoy the building process of just making the canvas itself and then painting on it afterwards. It is gratifying to make an entire piece yourself. The torn canvas just helps show the handmade quality of the piece.

Acoustic Tidal Artwalk 2011- Colorado Lagoon

- 66''x48'', torn canvas and acrylic

Last Saturday, July 16th, was the 3rd Annual Acoustic Tidal Artwalk at the Colorado Lagoon in Long Beach. It was the biggest one yet. Seven different community organizations were a part of the event this year including Surfrider Foundation, Green Long Beach, Produce Exchange, and a few others. Along with the organizations there were about 6 live bands that played none stop from 5-10pm and over ten different artists displaying all different types of art such as, drawing and painting, photography and installation pieces. I was fortunate enough to be a part of this event.

The Acoustic Tidal Artwalk focuses on using art and music to bring awareness to the beauty and benefits the Colorado Lagoon has to offer the community. Friends of Colorado Lagoon has been working for over ten years to clean up the lagoon and help stop the pollution that has plagued the lagoon for many years. The biggest improvement is soon to come. As of November 2010 the Colorado Lagoon was granted permission to connect an open waterway from the lagoon to Marine Stadium. This small open water channel will run through Marina Vista Park to connect the two bodies of water. This will be about a 5 year process but once the channel is complete it will provide the lagoon with a better circulation of water. Which will help keep the lagoon clean and user friendly to everyone in the community.

Boat, Lure, Fish

My final project in my illustration class last semester was to illustrate an alphabet. The alphabet just had to have one overall theme, so I chose fishing. While painting this alphabet I was trying to think of a way to make this into more than just a school project, but more of something I would enjoy myself or possibly sell to others. So I decided that within my alphabet I would take certain letters and spell out words that related to my theme of fishing. Here is what I came up with:

- the individual paintings are 3 1/2" x 5" painted with gouache.

Finally Finished!

After about 6 months of school work and other priorities I finally finished board #9, 5'7'' fish. I posted more about the design and shaping of the board in early january and this is the finished product. This was my first time doing glass on fins and a resin tint. The resin tint was tough because the pigment accentuates any flaws you may have during lamination. So to cover up my uneven lap lines I decided to paint the bottom :). Glassing on the fins went pretty well to my surprise. I set the fins with hot glue to get my angles even and then used UV resin so I could take my time laying up each one. Overall I am happy with the board. It certainly has its flaws but I think it is going to be fun for the small summer swells. Can't wait to ride it!

- Glass on fins. Al Merrick wooden keels.

-top

- bottom

Projects From Last Semester

Here is only a small portion of the work I did last semester. There is more coming soon.

These guache paintings were meant to illustrate a short sentence emphasizing something different in eat painting:

- The man

- in the yellow submarine

- sank

- to the ocean floor.

Costumed Figure Drawing-

- 2 minute gesture

-ink w/ brush and bamboo pen

- more ink w/ brush and bamboo pen

- and more ink / brush and bamboo pen

-graphite

Feel free to comment on or critique anything you see. I know everything on here has its problem. But I would love to here some feedback.

2 new custom hats- SOLD!

Summer is finally here. Sorry it has been so long since the last post. School was the toughest its ever been this semester. Having 4 studio classes makes it nearly impossible to do anything besides school projects and homework. (Stay tuned, I will post some of my many projects I completed this semester) But summer is here so I can finally catch my breath and enjoy what I am doing. Here is the first product of summer. Two new custom hand painted hats for a repeat customer.

2 More Hats Sold on CruxSurf.com

-2 Jellyfish hats painted to order for a worthy customer at CruxSurf.com

Black & White Barrel- SOLD!

This painting was recently sold for $300. It is acrylic on 30"x40" canvas. It going to the good home. Thanks for the support Todd!

2 Hats Sent to Oregon

These two freshly painted hats are on their way to Oregon right now. A smart customer purchased these hats on cruxsurf.com. You can find these hats under the brand Designs by Shane Bowman and the one on the left is called left lines and the other is called perfect peak. All of the hats are painted to order so not one hat is exactly alike.

News Update

Well its easy to see school is back in session. The updates are getting less frequent. Sorry its been over a month since the last post.

News update:

-3rd Thursday artwalk is still going well and slowly gaining some momentum. Feburary's artwalk had a better turn out with more of my friends showing up. Thanks to everyone who came to support! This months artwalk falls on March 17th! so hopefully there will be a much larger crowd.

- My next art show coming up is on March 5th, 2011. I will be displaying art in the Artist Village of the 2nd Annual Long Beach Mardi Gras Parade. There will be about 10 other artists of all different mediums and styles there as well. The show is being curated by my friend Tim Dunham of Some Things Creative. For more info about the parade and festivities go to www.lbmardigras.com

- newest painting. (acrylic paint on an piece of wood from an old piano)

3rd Thursday Art Walk @ Shoreline Village

Last thursday was the first ever 3rd Thursday Art Walk at the Shoreline Village in Long Beach and I was lucky enough to be a part of the event. This event was put together by Tim Dunham and 33 Degree Pub. It was kind of a last minute invite for me to even be in the show but I managed to pull things together and show my work. I am glad I did. It was a fun little event with my work, as well as Tim's, displayed out on the boardwalk and other artists displaying inside the pub. This is one of the newest art walks put together in the Long Beach area and it is slowing starting to gain some attention. Hopefully each show will grow larger and larger. The next one is on Feb.17th and there are already other restaurants in the village that are recruiting artists of their own to add to this coming art walk. 33 Degree Pub has a great menu and vast selection of draft beer and wine. Come check out the next art walk and get there early for the awesome happy hour prices. The event is from 6pm-9pm click here for more info on the art walk.

Thanks again to Tim Dunham of Some Things Creative and 33 Degree pub for letting me be a part of this local event.

- My artwork on the left and Tim's on the right, set up on the boardwalk.

- Tim makes these great portable art displays that work well for outdoor showing. They are foldable making it an easy set up and break down.
- 33 Degree Pub

#9- 5'7'' Fish

There has been a 5'10'' fish blank sitting in my room for over 3 months just begging me to do something with it. Now with winter break in full swing I have finally had time to shape it. I was fortunate enough to get to shape it in the FOAM EZ shaping box. Its a great set up, there is literally every tool in there you need to correctly shape a surfboard. There is good lighting, the planer is hooked up to a vacuum for minimal foam dust, and even a small radio and c/d player to get your jam on. It got all the bells and whistles in it and its a convenient place to shape if you don't have an ideal set up at home like myself. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to shape a surfboard whether they are first timers or veteran shapers. Thanks Brad @ FOAM EZ for letting me use this great set up!

Because of the portable shaping bay this was the best surfboard I have ever shaped. Granted this is only my 9th one and I am not ashamed to say there is still probably some problems with it. Before using the FOAM EZ shaping box I would shape at home under insufficient lighting and making due with my limited tool resource. But now I can see after using the shaping box how much it helps to have proper lighting to see all of the lumps and imperfection in the blank when you are shaping. So it is for that reason that this surfboard has turned out better that the ones before.

I shaped a 5'7'' keel fin fish. 17" nose, 21 1/2'' wide, 16 3/4'' tail, and 2 5/8'' thick. I carried the thickness throughout the entire blank so it is a full shape and very buoyant. Which is what I intended because this is going to be my small wave board. After doing some research and looking up dimensions and outlines of other fishes my board is pretty standard, except for the tail. I came across a popular Australian shaper Daniel Thomson of Tomo Surfboards. He has studied the aerodynamics of fighter jets like the F-18 and has applied the same theories to surfboard design. This has allowed him to come up with some very interesting shapes and designs that seem to work very well. For fear that I will not explain his ideas correctly go to his website here tomosurfboards.com for more info. One particular aspect of his design that seemed to make sense was in his tail shapes. You can notice in the first picture the tail is not a traditional swallow tail. I turned the swallow design into two straight angles instead of a singl curve because Daniel Thomson's theory is that water flows faster off of straight edges and should therefore get a little more speed out of the board. I know that there is a lot more going on as far as foil and rocker goes in Daniel Thomson's shapes than what I did on this fish but I like his concept. I don't know if this tail shape will make a difference or not but the nice part about shaping your own board is giving this stuff a try because there is no lose if it doesn't work.

Next stage is fin placement and installation then onto glassing. I have decided to try my first resin tint on this board. So stay tuned for more updates on the process of my 5'7'' fish. This resin tint is either gonna make or brake the outcome of this board for me.

***All photos are courtesy of my friend Brian Kucera, check out his website briankucera.com**

-Daniel Thomson inspired tail

A couple more from my anatomy class

-Life size

Collection of School Projects Last Semester

The previous semester of school was a busy one. Here is the product of all the hard work.

- 11 weeks, 2 oil paintings a week= 22 oil paintings for homework

- Here are some of the more notable ones

- Other oil painting projects from this semester