I used to worry a lot about the stuff that I put online. Was it okay to post a blog entry about my sinus infection or my haircut or how I laid out my studio? Should I or should I not swear on my blog. Do I post that drawing of a nekkid person? These are all questions that have gone through my brain on one occasion or another.

I’ve read stuff, online, telling me I shouldn't do any of the above. My language should always be professional. I should never blog about my personal grooming habits, or illnesses. It’s unsafe to blog about the layout of your home.

So I question, what the fuck can I write about? (see what I did there?)

I started blogging anonymously under a pseudonym and changed all names to something funny. I gave no one I knew in real life a link to my blog. I didn’t want it to be associated with me. I wrote openly and honestly about my life. The blog was huge to me. It opened the doors for me to learn how to keep a “real” blog like this one but it also blurred the lines as to what is and is not appropriate.

I try and stay mostly professional but I’m not afraid to curse, I tell you all about my hair, if I’m sick, you know, and frankly I blog about my opinon if I want to.

Still I get people saying, “Should you have blogged that?” To that I say, “Man, life is a journey. If I should have blogged it, I’ll know somehow over time.” This blog is part of my journey.

But for those of you with questionable online experiences you can go and have one of these guys clean up your online presence for you. Me, I’m glad that my first blog was deleted when the server was destroyed.

Morning Cloud Study
Originally uploaded by lessherger

One of my cloud studies. This one painted on my back porch in Beverly, MA. I'm working simply here, just a few colors of paint, a couple of layers, the clouds don't give me time to do much before they are gone. All my cloud studies are available on my artfire page here

This guy's work is dark, creepy and very very good. Check out the 2 videos.

Sometimes I feel a little like "two monkeys on a davenport in their parent's basement"-ish about my UStream, but tonight not so much. (If you don't know what movie that quote is from I don't know if you should read any further.)

At the last minute I decided to wing it and work on a hegehog (aka moleskine binding) for my new "weight weenie" traveling* watercolor set. The weight weenie reference is 2 fold (see foot note below) first it's a biking refernce and secondly it's a weight loss reference. My recent personal goal is to loose another 20 pounds by the end of the calendar year. To do this I need to add exercise to my routine. I figure that the nest way to do it is during the cool autumn days to hoof it out to the trails right down the street from work walk 10 minutes, paint 10 minutes and walk back 10 minutes… Or something like that. I need a goal, like being able to do a sky portrait while I'm out to actually give up my only free 30 minutes a day. So I make a small light weight travel watercolor set (never mind that I have 3 or 4 already…)  out of a mint tin. The whole kit fits into a small bag that is pocket sized and light.

The goal is to have it so small that my coworkers don't ask me questions when I leave the building. If It's small and light I can hide it in a pocket. That way I don't have to answer a million questions when I start my walk. I'll eat while I'm working at my desk. It's not like I can't chew and do data entry at the same time.

So while I was talking during the ustream Eveline of EverlineTimeless was wonderful enough to  to collect the links and email them to me. She's pretty awesome!

The first link leads directly to a PDF description of the hedgehog, smythe or moleskine stitch.

I buy all my thread for bookbinding at JohnNealbooks.com For a variety of reasons. Their customer service is great, shipping fast and reasonable and their prices are not bad. Any higher price is made up by their professional attitude and super fast shipping. I love these guys. I used 35/3 thread for this book. If you are interested in coptic or decorative stitching you should use 12/3. Lineco has a nice linen thread that comes in a smaller amount if you don't know how much binding  you will do.

I use blunt tapestry needle either a 16 or an 18. You can get those anywhere. Don't buy super expensive bookbinding needles. It's a waste of $$$ and the sewing needles you can get at the drug store are just as good as long as they have a nice wide eye and are sturdy.

Tomorrow evening I will list the painting for Jonathan Manning's studio on eBay. 50% of the proceeds will go to Jonathan's studio to help him put on a roof. I'll get it listed and I'll post the links then. I can't wait to see how it pans out.

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A few Fluffy Clouds
Originally uploaded by lessherger

One of my cloud studies. This one painted on my back porch in Beverly, MA. I'm working simply here, just a few colors of paint, a couple of layers, the clouds don't give me time to do much before they are gone. All my cloud studies are available on my artfire page here

As a kid I used to stare at the clouds. At my mother’s urging my brother and I used to imaging them fantastic creature- unicorns, knights and dragons. How much of it was stuff we really saw and how much of it we were making up is up for debate but even as a child I Ioved the sky. A couple of months ago I was getting our mail, the banality of bills delivered to my front door and the urban surroundings was a stark contrast to the sky as the sun set over coastal Massachusetts.

The sky was bright cad orange and magenta against deep purple clouds. I vowed I’d do some sky paintings.

What I learned was that the sky changes fast as the sun rises or sets, giving you about 15 minutes to complete a sketch, study or thumbnail before the scene completely changes. Capturing the sky is harder than it sounds. I moved to smaller sheets of paper, working fast and loose in acrylic on 5×7 inch pieces of gesso’d paper or watercolor paper. I’ve grown to love the challenge.

What I hope to do is capture a great deal of sketche3s and turn them into finished paintings like this one I’ve put up on artfire. It’s larger size of 11.75×8.5 inches is small but still larger sized than the sketches, allowing me to work loose and freely. I’m more able to capture the glow of the clouds than I can in the small size. I’m hoping to do a lot more of these in larger sizes. The sketches are the first step, the next step is bigger stuff!

I have PVD also known as Post- Vacation Depression. I’m sure most people with a DayJob know the feeling. You return from vacation on a high note only to return to the humdrum reality of the DayJob and it gets you down. Gone are the days of waking up when you want and doing what you want. Let’s face it there is a build up to vacation where you’ve been waiting and waiting for it until it’s a reality. Vacation is a brief light in the tunnel, only to be snuffed out when the scheduled time ends, leaving you back at work.

It does not help me that my first week back was not normal I was greeted by an attempt to get an exhaust leak and strange noise fixed in my ’08 car. I was also scheduled for some forced socialization with my coworkers. What I like to call “everyone nervous drinks and the next day we all gossip about who drank too much.” I have a rule about work social functions; no more than 1 drink for every 2 hours of forced socialization. That way I remain sober, I nurse a drink like I’m social and I can leave at any point and be able to drive. It’s worked for me for the last 5 years.

I woke everyday last week with the “Man, I have to go to work, again?” feeling and really wasn’t ready for it, what I really need at this point is another week off. I also try and schedule my vacation to coincide with the Machias, ME blueberry festival, but miscalculated and scheduled a week in advance, this was due to many issues but the major one being Christie heads back to school for real next week. This week was all orientation and she would not have been able to go to Maine with me had I scheduled for this week. I’m bummed because the last Blueberry Festival I attended was sparsely attended by vendors and was brutally hot.

I love Maine in August, but Maine in September and October is even better so I’m hoping to schedule myself off for a long 4 day weekend in which Christie and I can head to Maine get in some hiking and photos as well as some more relaxation.

All that being said, I think this week will see an end to my PVD.

Dark and light
Originally uploaded by lessherger

One of my cloud studies. This one painted on my back porch in Beverly, MA. I'm working simply here, just a few colors of paint, a couple of layers, the clouds don't give me time to do much before they are gone. All my cloud studies are available on my artfire page here

I’m up super early this am. I woke to use the bathroom and happened to look out the window at some of the most amazing skies so I knew I had to go to the beach and paint. Last night I had bundled everything up so I could simply pick up my bag and head to the beach. Sure was glad I did. I’m not sure I should have driven in my “I just rolled out of bed” condition. The closer I got to the beach the more glad I was that I rolled out of bed that early. I set up and realized that with the sun rising so quickly the light was changing fast. In the time I was at the beach the sky changed colors a million times.  I managed to churn out 3 small sky studies and then it was full day light.

I’ll get some pics up of these later.  Right now I’m going to go paint some more!

Clouds Roll In
Originally uploaded by lessherger

ONe of my cloud studies. This one painted at Dane Street Beach in Beverly, MA. I'm working simply here, just a few colors of paint, a couple of layers, the clouds don't give me time to do much before they are gone. All my cloud studies are available on my artfire page here