Art: 2 pieces, a futuristic piece based on a recent vision and some early work ...

February 29th, 2008

BTW, happy leap year! :)

Love this quote

February 27th, 2008

Life is short, Break the rules, Forgive quickly, Kiss slowly, Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably, And never regret anything that made you smile.

I figured out why we have Spring and why I hate business travel so much ...

February 27th, 2008

Funny how it's been only a few hours since I left Boston and already I'm missing home. It's not that I dislike traveling to other teams and spending time, in fact quite the opposite. It's fantastic to be able to travel and meet with my team members who are geographically dispersed. What I hate is the wasted time on the plane and the hotels etc.

Many people ask me why I feel that face to face is so important in a day and age when video conferencing, phones and email are so pervasive and in many people's eyes', effective communication tools. While I don't disagree that email and video conferencing are effective tools for communication you cannot beat face to face conversation and quite simply, human interaction.

Many people stridently comment that face to face communication and interaction is not important. In my experience those are the same people that do not travel and in fact do not have successful teams. In my opinion, I believe there is no replacement or substitute for face to face discussion and interaction. So many discussions cannot be had effectively over the phone and so many team members leave face to face visits feeling energized and with a renewed sense of purpose not to mention crisp and clear alignment around the goals of the organization.

All of those reasons aside, we all broadly accept that traveling is an inconvenience to the individual and a cost to the organization and acknowledge that it takes us away from our family, friends and in general our lives. So, if for no other reason a face to face meeting says that we're committed to the individual(s). That we're making a special effort to demonstrate to them how important they are to our objectives and how important they are to the organization. I know many managers that disagree with me on these points also and that's fine, they're also usually the managers who are failing and the same managers who check their emails during their 1:1s with their team members, enough said.

Aside from the above complaining about airports, hotels and planes, I am fortunate to be traveling to locations that are significantly warmer than Boston. California is for example, 65 degrees right now. I almost collapsed when I stepped outside having come from the harsh cold of Boston. Although I'm a heat lover I must admit it usually takes me more than 5 hours to acclimate myself to the warmer weather. Perhaps that's also the reason mother nature implements Spring each year? Hmm, figured that one out on this trip also!

Last night I updated the blog with one last piece of art work. For now I'll be dividing time between work and work so hang in there for a little while with the expectation that updates will be sparse ...

PS - I also think there are far too many updates in February so not updating the Blog for a few days might be a good thing.

Road Kill

February 26th, 2008

Another one of my own creations for you to enjoy.

... some more ...

February 26th, 2008

I couldn't resist posting some more cool sites I found:

Scruffs Game.

Kung Fu Panda.

Art of Elan.

Church of the Rock.

Snapple! Who knew?

February 26th, 2008

I'm always on the lookout for cool new sites. Not just Web 2.0 sites but sites that are just cool in general regardless of how they're coded. One such site I stumbled across is the Snapple site. This truly is a pleasure to visit. The transitions and the layout are phenomenal. Check it out Snapple.

I decided, retrospectively, to augment this Blog update with additional sites that I think are cool. The Snapple site is excellent but there are other excellent sites out there. Here's a few that I really like.

Here's a cool site that looks VERY much like mine. I wonder who copied who? :) Who cares, they both look good! Check it out Not Your Average Joe.

I really love the images and background in this one. Simple affective layout that's brought alive by the artwork. Check it out Yeah Style DG.

Another simple layout brought alive by some creative art work

The legends of the sky brought down to Earth in a very stylish way, Legendary Aircraft.

Wonderful, wonderful bouncy Vectors all over the place, I Love Dust.

This is a very different type of Vector work that I'm a huge fan of. This takes Vectors to a new level, clearly created by a professional, Satsu.

The world that floats. Stretch and expand your imagination as far as you can, Rakugaki.

KISS, keep it simple stupid. Isn't it so amazing that you can take an almost boiler plate template and create something so cool? Dark Light Art.

Cleary this is an artist that understands depth of field and how to compose a great website. This is the final recommendation. It's a little difficult to navigate, it deviates a lot from web concepts but still is worth a visit. I'm a big fan, Prospect Denim.

I hope you all enjoy that little journey and that you keep an eye out for some cool sites. If you find any cool sites you think are worth mentioning let me know. Bri...

A little house in the sky ...

February 24th, 2008

Can you still see the nursey rhymes and the visions you had when you were a child? Can you remember a time when the world glowed and the feelings you felt were all in color? If you can, then maybe one of your memories look like this one ...

Nothing ever turns out the way you hoped/anticipated

February 24th, 2008

I'm always on the look out for new music. Years ago when I was heavily DJing I'd lock myself into a style of music and listen to only that style. Noticing occasionally other styles. I'd always notice a fantastic song of course, no matter what the genre, but wouldn't always listen or even play in the club.

In my old(er) age I've become wiser and much more diverse allowing life and music to pass through me so I can experience it for all it has to offer.

Having diverse taste requires a great deal of searching and unfortunately a great deal of disappointment as it's often difficult to find inspiring original and fun music. Tonight I sat down to find some harder rock than I usually listen to Eisbrecher, Rammstein, Disturbed to name but a few. I'm a huge fan of German Industrial rock. Tonight, instead of finding some harder rock I found almost the opposite, VAST. Wow. Check him out...

Somewhere over the rainbow, the rainbow is gray ... WHAT?!

February 24th, 2008

Bright, vibrant, Summery, FUN! My latest creations. Two of what seem to be the same creation but with a twist, literally. I couldn't decide which way I liked the rainbow best, so I decided to make both distinct creations :)

SNL is killing it tonight and I'm posting some more completed Art work to sip your early morning Sunday coffee to ...

February 24th, 2008

I thought I'd post two more images for you all to enjoy :)

What does it all mean? It means whatever you want it to mean and it means different things to different people. Art after all is in the eye of the beholder.

February 22nd, 2008

I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge all of the many kind emails I've received giving me feedback on my work. Some from friends but the majority have been from people I have not conversed with before. I'm delighted you all enjoy my work and somewhat said that I didn't post my work sooner. Had I have been aware of the welcome response things might have been different.

Almost everyone asked me similar questions about my work. How can it be categorized and what do some of the pieces mean? To be honest, I believe they fall some where between abstract and vector art but I'm not positive as I have not studied art for a very long time and what I did know I've forgotten. I simply play around for the therapeutic benefits. Art is in the eye of the beholder; if you think it's good, then it is ?.

As for meaning, I'm sorry to disappoint but they don't have some deep meaning. That especially includes the very dark room with the inverted crucifix; it doesn't mean anything other than I wanted to create a really dark scary room and experiment with perspective and shadowing. Adding the inverted crucifix worked with the composition and also afforded me an opportunity to experiment with hues and shadows.

The white room is perhaps the only composition to remotely have meaning in the sense that it was the first image that I successfully transferred from my imagination to paper without losing fidelity.

In some near future posts I'll be talking a little about my new iBike, my knee injury and the 2008 cycling season that is now underway with the Tour of California. Until then, take care.

Another room and some boxes ...

February 23rd, 2008

I thought I'd post two more images for you all to enjoy :)

Another variation on a theme ...

February 23rd, 2008

Not quite finished, but another variation :)

An early look at the evil side of my art ...

February 21st, 2008

This is a piece I've been working on for a little while. Obviously it takes my gradient, drawing, shading etc to an all new level. It's a very dark piece that has had many evil elements removed. The finished image is actually pretty freaky. I'm not quite sure I love it though so I'm going to continue working on it. If anyone has suggestions on what might work please let me know ...

... and now that I'm well and truly burned and exhausted from working on this I'm off to bed.

That didn't last long!

February 18th, 2008

LOL, what was it I said? "What on earth am I talking about?", you say!

Well, if you've read the recent updates you'll know that I updated the web site giving it a fresh new look and feel. A look that I felt represented my skill as an artist. The look was unfortunately short lived. If you didn't check the site this weekend for updates then you have already missed the old design. It was heavily based on vectors and silhouettes and was pretty good, but wasn't good enough.

Hopefully this layout lasts longer than 1 day as it takes a little while to create different templates :)

Layouts aside, if you're looking for excellent new music to listen to and you haven't already discovered an artist named Mazzy Star then you should make your way to your favorite music download site and get plugged into some of her work. Notable songs to listen to first are, Fade Into You, Blue Flower and my favorites, Halah and Flowers In December. Really excellent stuff!

After 3 days on the bike I took a rest day today. I'll be back turning the pedals tomorrow morning. Things are going good, fingers crossed.

Many of you have asked me to post some of my influences, to that end Radim Malinic is an artist I discovered recently. His work is incredible. He is a UK based artist that has already been featured on several Photoshop ... covers. His work is heavily abstract and he's done some incredible commercials for O2 in Europe. Google him ...

If you're in the market for some great art work and are willing to splurge on some fantastic amateur and professional artists you can check out, DeviantArt. Here's an example of something that caught my eye tonight, Jim Sweet

... and finally - really this is FINALLY - if you're a Manager Tools fan and want to attend the next conference I may have some good news. They're coming to New Jersey in May. If you're a fan, you should see if your company will pay. All expenses included their conferences total $1,800. If you can't make the conference then check out the podcasts. If you want to know what I know about leadership, listen to these guys. They're hands down, the best!.

Until next time, stay dry.

In between Kung Fu Fighting and God is an Astronaut I found time to post some art and reflect on my knee damage ...

February 16th, 2008

The second consequetive day on my bike and all seems to be going well. I'm still being cautious as I still have some pain in my Medial Meniscus. It's doing better and I'm taking it easy as I don't really need to workout because I don't really have any more weight to possibly lose and racing season is still a little way away.

Just a quick note on some cool music doing the rounds on my iPod lately; M83, Pink Floyd and God is an Astronaut.

It's not like I hated it ...

February 16th, 2008

As you have all see by now, I've updated the website, given it a fresh new look. It's not like I hated the old design, in fact quite the opposite, I did like it and for some reason didn't become extremely bored with it in a short period of time.

The reason for the change though had more to do with the place I'm at in my life and a need to truly represent who I am and what I'm about. I'm not thrilled with the new colors but it worked at the time and so I went with it. I'll get bored and update the site again, but this time it will be easy as the markup has been greatly simplified and so a change will be easy to rollout.

This new look represents more of my artistic side - the side that's been focused on art and is representative of some of that work. My art work is improving almost daily and I'm sure within weeks I'll view the site and want to throw up because I'll have learned all new techniques and could probably do a much better job, when that time comes, I guess I'll just update again :)

I hope you all enjoy the new look and as always, feel free to send me your feedback.

The 70's fascination ...

February 13th, 2008

I've always been fascinated with all things retro. That's what starting life and growing up in the 70's will do to you I guess. My decor and sense of taste comes from that time. The things I find cool are in some way rooted in that era. So it's only fitting that I explore some Vector art based on that fascination. This one, like almost all of the others, doesn't have a title. The reason this doesn't and they don't have titles is because they don't ever start out as 'pieces', they simply start out as experiments or an escape from life and the world around me and somehow meander until I'm pleased sufficiently to allow them to be seen by others. This in no way implies that I think I have talent. It means I'm letting you all see my scribblings.

Vector ...

February 12th, 2008

As promised, more Vector art.

just a few more ...

February 9th, 2008

I decided to throw up a few more images. One vector (my first) the other some editing on a photo. Again very early work I'll post some of the better stuff I've done later.

The Gallery section ...

February 6th, 2008

Many of you have expressed an interest in seeing more of my art work. So, I've created a Gallery section and will upload some finished existing art work and continue to upload newly created work. Enjoy

Some more photoshop before I got back to my abstract fun ...

February 6th, 2008

What a wonderful litte subject? Some more fooling with photoshop before I go back to my abstract work ...

Who says I can't take pictures?

February 4th, 2008

Since I posted my other art work a number of you sent me some emails teasing that I could work only in abstract; now you can check out some of my photography, just to prove I can. Additionally, there is another photo with some cool effects. I couldn't resist!

Brit Pop; dreams of death; a new injury and an obsession with Mandarin oranges; bizarre has indeed, come to down...

February 2nd, 2008

Does anyone really know why we infatuate or fixate on the things we choose to? Maybe it's a state of mind or an exploration of self, maybe it's just a phase or perhaps all of the above. Who knows?! Lately Oasis have been sound tracking this bizarre world I occupy. (for only a short period more?) Nightmares of dying still a front. Not that I'm afraid of dying, I'm just not ready. But the dreams continue. Which will end first? Night terrors aside ...

On the music front I'm experiencing an infatuation with Oasis. When I was much younger, DJing, collecting music, frequenting clubs that played 'serious music' I had a love hate with this band, more hate. U2 were also in that category. U2 have closed the gap and I'm deeply saddened I came so late to the party. Oasis have experienced a late surge with songs like, Supersonic and of course all of the classics that have made them famous through the years. It doesn't stop there! The experience continues with The Verve and their wonderfully sculpted, Sonnet. Adam Freeland and UNKLE bring up the rear with Now & Them and War Stories respectively. War Stories indeed. Trafik have a single offering to finalize the sound track to my life with Dum Dum from Club Trafikana.

My right knee seems to be acting up. Diagnosed as an MCL sprain, that's not going to help cycling all that much. R.I.CE., Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation. If I hear that one more time! Pass the coffee and I'll continue my addiction with NSAIDS while I push myself through another 99% all out effort ... and hopefully burn the remaining fat from my body. Or maybe I'll just get sick again and that will do it for me ...

Mandarin oranges, this defies explanation. It is what it is ...

Saturday night 1:23am and I missed SNL, suffered with knee pain, listened to music and will now retire this evening that's been shrouded in disappointment, pain and exhaustion. Brit Pop, check it out! If it gives you night terrors or dreams of dying you can wake up and eat Mandarin oranges in the middle of the night. Just don't sprain your MCL getting out of bed ...