OT - Show Me Your Art

nolaegghead

I made a new friend this past weekend.  He lives near me and he's around 83.  But sharp as a tack, can't walk without a walker (Texas Ranger), but he's led a colorful life and an accomplished artist.  He wants to teach me some casting and help me build a furnace.  Of course I would have to do all the heavy lifting.  He stopped by and hung out at my shop on Sunday.

Anyway, google him - Al Sprague

took some pics of his stuff around his house

Ozzie_Isaac

@nolaegghead I would like to commission a 1/4 scale version of this bronze I saw this past week.

GrateEggspectations

@nolaegghead

So cool. Really neat to discover and share in someone else’s talents. Bet he is over the moon to share his passion with you. We have a neighbour who is well into his 80s and used to by paint. Almost all of his canvases are nudes of women. I told him I wanted to buy a canvas or two once he was ready to part with them. 

Ozzie_Isaac

Saw this at a small cafe I stopped in at.  They had a for sale sign on it, so I bought it.  Really dig the colors.

Corv

I've got this hanging in my office. The artist wouldn't sell it to me since it didn't have her signature. She didn't know where to put it. I suggested that she put it on the inside of the eyeglass stems, she did, and I got it.

Hardly ever use this particular zoom setting and hadn't realized there would be so much distortion. Huh.

WeberWho

This past summer I attended a weekend Dave Matthews Band concert that was outside of Milwaukee. I was able to grab a couple posters from it. 

The first night was this poster:



The second night was this one:



I made sure I was 3-4 hours early both days as posters are limited to usually around 500 per show and they sellout quick. Unfortunately by the time the second show was about to start a tornado touched down within 15 miles of the venue and was ultimately cancelled. Within 24 hours of the show being cancelled they band said they would reschedule the show at another time. Most assumed they might try to squeeze it in the fall or reschedule it sometime next year. That following Monday the band announced it was returning the following weekend. Which no one saw coming. The venue is surrounded by cornfields in a little town. It takes a village to host and to find emergency responders for the venue and traffic. Somehow they were able to put it together last second. 

Now I had to figure out if I was going to make another 12 hour round trip the following weekend and have to take the time off from work once again. My gut said to stay back but my head told me to go. Good thing I don't make good decisions! I head back the following weekend to see the show. My bucket list song from Dave Matthews Band is, "Halloween" and it's a song they hardly ever play. They might play it one time the whole tour or have gone years without playing it. I figured it's a song that I'd never hear live. You can probably guess at this point what song they played....They closed with Halloween. It was instant goosebumps and awe. Something that I never thought I'd be able to hear live. In shock to say the least. I could hardly sleep that evening. I went online and checked out some forums about the concert and seeing what others were saying. That's when it all came crashing down. 

Video of DMB closing with, "Halloween" if anyone is interested:

https://youtu.be/l9sC6qypF1s?si=0lE5zWqGAFyPhsxV

I was following the DMB forums prior to the show and everyone was saying there wouldn't be a poster made for the show as it was only 6 days later after they announced it. So I only showed up a couple hours early to do a little tailgating before the show which was a ton of fun. No hassle or long lines trying to get a poster before the show because there wasn't one to get. So I thought. That night after the show I was reading DMB forums about the show and someone mentions that they got the show poster. Wait what? No way. They couldn't have. I was told all week on the forums that they wouldn't have any available given the short amount of time. Turns out they were wrong. They released a smaller amount for the show. I didn't let it get to me as I really, really enjoyed the show but I was bummed to say the least about the poster. Not all was lost. I learned the artist who lives in England who made the poster for the show was going to release something like 75 additional posters on his website as a one time release. So things were looking good until they weren't....

I have my alarm set and ready at 11am sharp on the artist website to purchase this particular concert poster. I want to say it was 11:01 when I submitted my info and payment only to informed that it was sold out. They sold out in under a minute. Ugh. It just wasn't meant to be.

I check in almost daily over at the Dave Matthews Band Poster forum to see if something pops up for that particular concert and even made a post seeing if anyone was willing to sell their concert poster. I knew my chances were slim. My post pretty much went unanswered. (The numbers of posters were small from the start and someone willing to let one go this early was unlikely.) There was one available on eBay for $300 but I couldn't justify the cost. 

A few days ago a foil version popped up from the show but it was a little too steep for what I was willing to pay. I even put it in my cart to see what it was after shipping and sales tax. As much as I wanted to pull the trigger I passed. I woke up this morning and eBay must have let the seller know that I had it in my cart. The seller ended up messaging me and said he'd take 10% off. He got me! I couldn't pass it up. It's still stupid expensive but it's within $20 of what I would have paid getting it shipped from England from the artist. It's also the foil version of the poster that makes it even more limited that was released the day of the concert. So I'm now patiently waiting for the poster to arrive. I know I'd be kicking myself if I let it slip away. 



Sorry for the long read if anyone made it this far...

lousubcap

Life is a sequence of windows of opportunity-way to jump thru the window.