"For Me, It Was The Adventure Of A Lifetime."

Cuttin' Up with my electric eraser...

 

Good Monday Morning, all bodies.

Last Wednesday, I finally took a friend's offer to checkout my Husqvarna chainsaw. I've been complaining... no, bitching, about the fact that my old Husqvarna that I purchased used immediately after Hurricane Katrina, never needed such "babying." 

 

Herb has heard my complaints for over two years now.

 

Anyway, I finally brought the barely used saw to him and after some minor adjustments and a little TLC, the saw worked like a charm. Herb took the chainsaw out to the wood pile and tested the blade with a few quick cuts. He also showed me the best process for keeping the carburetor clean and in running shape.

I kinda knew all that already, but...

 

The McCulloch artwork was one of eight storyboard frames I created a long time ago. The model had a brand new look so the ad agency gave me the saw to draw from. It was also one of the first times that I actually used an electric eraser to render with.

 

The storyboard was rather personal for me. As the story goes, this rain drenched man climbs the trunk of a huge tree and cuts it away from the house. As a sixteen year old, my mother asked me if I could climb our front yard magnolia tree and free the house's electrical line from a branch that had broken and hung precariously on the line.

 

I don't know what my mother was thinking, but my grandmother went "apeshit" because it was at the height of Hurricane Betsy. For me, it was the adventure of a lifetime.

 

So, with a kitchen broom in my hand, through wind and rain, I climbed the tree and dislodged the branch. I remember after doing so, a feeling of such satisfaction as I just sat in the tree to take in a birdseye view of the neighborhood being blown around in the storm.

 

I also remember that, like a cat stuck up in a tree, having the realization that it is easier to climb up a tree than it is to climb down... especially in a hurricane.

First Giddy Up cup, y'all...

 

Copyright 2023/Ben Bensen III

“It's Guy Deel, dammit,” I said to myself "...

Good Friday Morning, y’all.

“Guy Deel!”

“Guy Deel, dammit,” I said to myself as I drove to Giddy Up yesterday morning.

In a conversation with some friends on Wednesday, one friend mentioned that her husband loved to read novels about the Old West. I believe we all arrive at that topic because Dennis’s wife loves the Rodeo Channel and old Westerns.

“Well, Frank loves to read Western novels by Louis L'Amour, and that McCarthy guy,” Maureen said.

Attempting to participate in the conversation having never read one of the many Louie L’Amour books, I said, “Oh wow. I knew one of the Illustrators that actually painted covers for Western novels.” I know that he painted quite a few Louie L’Amour covers.

“Yeh, his name was…”

At that point, I went blank as Maureen appeared a bit miffed that I had hijacked her story with a story that I couldn’t complete. I apologized and then, just listened to the many stories that cropped up over a second cup.

I sat there ruminating over my entire relationship to a man that I first met, mid semester at Art Center, as a replacement for George Bartell, who’s young son suddenly died in a skateboard accident. I was not a big fan of Bartell’s style of illustrating. It was sad that George had lost a son in such a way, but I grew to like this new teacher’s style.

I think I got an “A” in that class… Ha!

Every now and then, later in my career, I’d bump into the man at one LA art function or another. He, like I, was an artist for the Air Force Art Program, (with 17 paintings created as a member from 1978 to 2000) and that’s where I really got to spend some quality time with him over the years.

But, for the next 24 hours, I struggled, in vain, trying to put a name to the art and the face of someone I knew well enough to call him a friend, and one of the many who had an influence on me and what I wanted from my art.

I remember him telling me about getting the details of your painting correct right up front especially historically. "The right pistol in the wrong holster just won't do to those who are knowledgeable buyers!"

Guy nodded in affirmation when I mentioned that aviation art is very much like Westerns.

Then, out of the blue, for no reason whatsoever, the man’s name popped up out of my head… 

Guy Deel. What a deal!

https://www.facebook.com/.../guy-deel.../2591775350929110/

First cup before the deluge!

"Galleries and Moms!"

Hunting...

 So funny. I just sent a prospective gallery some of my latest Plein Air stuff just to let them know I am kinda producing. The galleries retort was,

"Thank you for showing me what you are doing! Bright and graphic! Might be too bold for this gallery... Best of luck in Abita Springs.

Now, there's nothing wrong with that comment. It is really professional for them to even respond. Every gallery has their niche, and that's the beauty of art. I understand... I think there wrong, but I totally understand!

It does bring back a time when many of my friends and relatives were worried about me because many of my images were so dark and moody, and foreboding.

"Who would want to have that in their homes?" my mother would say. She once, because I was in a funk about a guitar chord that I could not play, practically gave me permission to go to Bourbon Street and..."try to have a good time!"

Mothers... who can figure them out!

Galleries, too!

Copyright2023/Ben Bensen III

"Well, Mothers Do Have Their Ways!"

Claes Oldenberg Lives...

 Good "foggy and humid" Wednesday Morning, y'all.

I didn't know Claes Oldenberg was fond of making model airplanes... If you know what I mean. Claes was artist/sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring large replicas of everyday objects.

I saw this photo a couple of weeks ago and cracked up. If you were a model maker back in the Fifties and Sixties, the design on this tube of cement will send you way back.

It also reminds me of a story that I might have mentioned before where against my mother orders, I bought for 29¢, maybe 49¢, Aurora's kit of the Lockheed F-94C Starfire. I hid it inside the upright piano that no one has ever played on for years.

Long ago and far away, this model costs .49¢.

Well, mothers have their ways, don't they. I have to assume, in spite of my surreptitiously covert action, that my mom found out about the stash. It was really hard to lay low till the heat was over, but when I returned to my secret hideaway few impatient days later, the model was missing!

Where could it have gone?

I lifted the piano cover and practically climbed into it sifting in between the felt hammers thinking the small box may have slipped way down below them. I pushed down the foot pedals hoping doing so would pop up the hidden gem. But, to no avail.

Swallowing hard a month or two after I "filed a missing person's plane report", I asked my mother, with slight trepidation, if she had seen this model of the famous Lockheed F-94C Starfire. She looked at me rather confusedly. Even at an early age, I was about eight years old at the time, I knew my mother was known for her practical jokes.

But, after repeated inquiries over a series of months, I could see in my mother's eyes that she wasn't joking and was starting to show concern for my loss... and my emotional well being.

"Poor baby!"

The mystery still haunts me sometimes in my dreams. Did I actually get on my bike and ride three miles to the strip mall hobby shop between the cemeteries and the Gentilly Branch of the U.S. Post Office.

I was a regular client there. I showed up every other weekend from a weeks worth of cut lawns with money burning a hole in my pocket.

But that part of the dream never occurs. It was only of me opening the piano top and setting into the hammers the model of the Lockheed F-94C Starfire, and returning to find it gone.

A few years later, belonging to the American Society of Aviation Artists,( ASAA ) and having forgotten all about the mystery, I found a picture of the wonderful illustrator that stole my aviation soul to sent it to some nebulous dream world. Where DID that illusive 1/82 scale model of the famous Lockheed F-94C Starfire go?

Thank you, Joe Kotula... I think!

Second foggy cup!

Copyright 2023/Ben Bensen III

"Come-a, Come-a, Come-a, Camelia... You come and go!"

Come-a, Come-a, Come-a, Camelia...

 My first Plein Air painting for the Abita Springs Show in Abita Springs, LA on April on the 21st-23rd... Three more on-site paintings to go.

                                                                          Copyright2023/ Ben Bensen III

"Wanna Read The Paper," He Asks?"

 Good "early morning shout out" Tuesday, y'all.

Tom Burns one of the many octogenarians that, on occasion, shows up at the opening bell and beats me with his buddy, Herb, to my favorite chair. It's a friendly competition... GRRRRRR!

The diminutive Tom, I'm told, is a retired judge which is maybe the reason he keeps it close to the vest. On this day, Herb did not show up so, Tom's hiding behind the newspaper, every now and then, taking a sip of his coffee. Nothing is said.

I guess, nothing needs to be!

Twenty minutes later, Tom gets up, gathers up the local newspaper and tosses it onto the table that separates us.

"Wanna read the paper," he asks.

"I'll just leave it here for you," he says as he moseys on over to the microwave oven to warm up his small cup of coffee.

As he's waiting for the microwave to do its thing, I venture to make a comment.

"You do that often, don't ya?"

He grabs his paper cup, pauses for a moment as he attaches the plastic top back onto his cup, and then, heads for the door, turns, smiles, and blithely says," I don't care for cold coffee!"

The newspaper is the St. Tammany Farmer and as I page though the different sections, I noticed an article that interested me.

About two months or so, Tee and I met a good friend, Peggy DesJardin, at a downtown grocery store. We stood out in the parking lot as she spoke of spearheading the building of a labyrinth in Covington for Lent.

There's lots of history behind labyrinths. The stories abound, but my knowledge extends only with artistic and graphic versions. Apparently, there's much more to it, but for the sake of this post, I just wanna thank Peggy for her tenacity and resolve in getting this approved and completed. Pretty cool...

Lately, there are many things that I say I'm gonna do, but don't!

Props to you, Peggy...

Third cup!

Copyright 2023/ Ben Bensen III

"S'what Happens Before My First Cup Of Coffee"...

 

Good "wishful thinking" Wednesday Morning, y'all.

S'what happens before my first cup...

I got a lot of stuff to do today, so I have to make a few promises to myself.

It's time to get TOUGH!

I promise to not stare out of windows and think about stupid things.

I promise to not listen to that German "do-wop" song I posted a while back.

I promise to tuck my shirt in my pants and keep it that way and wear socks.

I promise to not let hangnails ruin my day.

I promise to not open any tortilla chip bags, nor the really out-a-sight Dutch cheese which always leads to me opening another bottle of wine.

I promise to stay in the studio focused for at least one full hour.

I promise to drink more water, which means potty breaks to leave the studio!

I promise to not allow the birds to distract me.

I promise to not curse at my Mac, or lovely little pop ups reminding me that I'm a out of date loser!

I promise to not listen to the song,"Every One's Gone to the Moon" cuz it gets me down.

I promise to not let Joe Walsh's high energy have me "boogalooing" all over the house ( although that German do-wop post is pretty good!")

I promise to not watch MLB on the "telly". Nor PTI reruns.

I promise to stretch and do my "yogi" thing even though it hurts like hell.

I promise to not get depressed over the fact that "yogi" thing it hurts like hell.

I promise to not get upset when telemarketers hang up on me first!

I promise to not open the refrigerator door and stare into it.

I promise to ignore my mind when it reminds me of things I'm not getting done!

I promise to not spend the day waiting for Facebook to make my day.

( although that German do-wop post is a pretty close substitute!")

Did I mention drinking more water, which means more potty breaks!

I promise to use CS6 Photoshop, which I hate, instead of CS3 which I love.

And finally, I promise to not open any wine till it's five pm... somewhere!

No real coffee yet!

Copyright 2023/Ben Bensen III