Rickshaw Challenge

As all guys, I of course have a dream vehicle . For some it is a red Porsche, for others it might be an old school Camaro, or maybe a Benz or a sporty Beamer. For whatever reason we are born with inherited attractions to certain things ,whether it be a particular color, a flavor of soda, or a type of music. If you know me , or have had a good look at this blog and my art it should come as no surprise that my dream ride would be a pimped out Tuk Tuk or Rickshaw.

Ever since my first experience whipping around in one of these high powered go carts in South East Asia I have been obsessed with them. Not quite sure what it is about them that makes me so obsessed. Maybe it is the fact that they still embody the old school design relative to vintage vehicles of yesterday. In the modern world of today this style of design has been left behind. Except for in developing parts of the world, where this style still strives. Due to its small size, in large congested cities , old school Tuk Tuk's can be seen out maneuvering the most modern of vehicles. Perhaps my connection with this comes from growing up as the son of a guy who loved to drive old clunkers. When I was just a baby I was carted around in an old Chevy Vega, then an old Ford F 1-50, followed by a 1970's Bronco, a 1970's El camino, and in current times my Pop's still drives a 1970 Chevy Nova.

Vintage Chevy Vega

At any rate there is something I love about these three wheeled vehicles in which has driven me to create numerous pieces of illustration about them. I believe that in Thailand these little machines are referred to as Tuk Tuk's , whether they are powered by a motor or by a human. In India they are known as Rickshaws, and I am unsure of the name they go by in places like Cambodia and elsewhere, but different variations exist in many parts of the world. Tuk Tuks, and Rickshaws , etc. come in many styles and colors, and are commonly decorated to suite the drivers tastes. In this post I have included some paintings that I have done illustrating Thai Tuk Tuk's found in and around the Capitol Bangkok. Also included are numerous photo's in which I took of various Tuk Tuk's throughout Thailand and Cambodia, and an example of the Rickshaw found in India.

Bkk, Tuk Tuk Ride
24"x48"
Acrylic on panel

Tuk Tuk Driver
5"x5"
Acrylic on Panel

Tuk Tuk Sketches
Graphite on paper

Indian Rickshaw

Thai Tuk Tuk Taxi Bus in Ayutthayah

Cambodian Taxi Tuk Tuk

View of Angkor from Tuk Tuk

Bkk Tuk Tuk

Bkk night Tuk Tuk

Bkk Tuk Tuk 2

Bicycle Tuk Tuk , Chiang Mai

Southern Thai Style Tuk Tuk

Aonang

Currently I am trying to assemble a team to participate in something known as the Rickshaw Challenge, check it out at: http://rickshawchallenge.com/

If all goes well we plan to partake in the event this coming July. It seems like a wild, fun way to see India. So far I have a few friends on board and it looks like it is going to happen. Hopefully I am going to create a blog dedicated to this endeavor, as well as have a benefit art show to try and help fund things. I believe that a lot of the money that in which it costs to participate goes to charity in India, something that makes it more appealing to me as well.

Below are a few fun videos, one in which I slapped together quickly from some old footage, and another of someone doing some Rickshaw stoppy stunts!! Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAwenLnBnLs&feature=related

Thai Tuk Tuk Ride 2007

Wagon Wheel Preliminary Sketches

El Paso Sketch

3"x5"

My favorite part of the illustration process is the thumbnail sketch phase. This is the stage where the basic shapes that will make up the composition of the painting as well as the basic overall look of the characters, vehicles, etc., will be worked out. I try to do at least 20 to 50 tiny drawings that do not measure more than a few inches on either side keeping them very loose and free flowing. Next I will edit the sketches and pick a few that I like. I may combine different elements from the various thumbnails using tracing paper or photoshop to make a final composite image. Having thumbnails plus composites/variations of them gives me a lot of different compositions to choose from. I believe that when designing an image one must try all possibilities in terms of composition and design, include everything and edit the material later. Never should your first sketch become the final!

Once I have a composition that is working I will go ahead and work it up in scale and detail. In this post I have included some of the thumbnails recently completed while working on my initial plans for a painting I am doing for the Strongs and the Wagon Wheel Co-Opt in Hueco Tanks, Texas . The piece has gone through a lot of stages and I have done tons of sketches while working on it. Most of the skecthes in this post are minuscule not measuring much more than 1.5 inches on either side. I will post the final composition soon, which has moved pretty far away from these initial concepts, although elements of these will be found in the final.

Wagon Wheel rough 3"x 5"

Thumbnail1, 2"x 3"

Thmbnail2 , 1.5"x 2.5"

Thumbnail 3, 1.5"x 2.5"

Tiny sketch, 1"x 1.5"

Tiny sketch 2, 1"x 1.5"

Tiny sketch of a dog 1"x 1.5"

Utah Bouldering

Returning to a great climbing area after a long period of time has passed is always interesting. Arriving in Joe's Valley after almost 10 years conjured up memories of the place that had been long suppressed. Memories of my cross country journey's as a young lad with my dog Ira and my friends Josh, Phil, Nadeau, and Watson rushed through my mind. Details of certain boulders, trails, and trees resurfaced from deep within my memory banks and made it seem like it was yesterday that I last visited. As a climber it is always nice to return and to complete climbs/boulder problems that had been to difficult in the past. Revisiting a place and climbing things that were far to challenging in the past can certainly leave you feeling as if you have progressed in your craft,which is always nice!

In other ways it's somewhat tough to come back to these places after such a long time, as for me it makes me think about where the past 10 years of my life have gone. It's a reminder of the fact that I am getting older and those care free days of traveling , sleeping in the dirt, and living on tuna fish and pasta are long gone. So in some ways revisitation of these places are revisitations of my past which lead me to question my present. Questions about where I would be in life had I been a little more focused on things other than climbing rocks. While climbing in Joe's I began to analyze the amount of energy in which I have put into climbing a rocks, and began to wonder about the bazillion other things this energy could have been applied to.

Thinking about this put me in sort of a dark place for a bit, and I do not think it should have! In the end I truly believe that the rich experiences I have had as a climber, the people I have met, and journey's that climbing has taken me on have made me who I am today. The memories I have accumulated through my years of traveling and climbing are priceless. Although I am without a lot of money, a house with a white picket fence, or a fancy car, I still feel as fortunate as any!No amount of money or material objects can replace the great times that I have been lucky enough to have!

The current battle is now to find a way to stay active as a climber while continuing to dedicate the appropriate amount of time to creating Art!

Well then, let me end this rant and share a little video that my friend Will and I put together while climbing in Utah:

Utah Classics from w w on Vimeo.

Joe's Valley

The Scrawny and The Brawny

The Worm Turns

River Joe's Valley

Joe's Valley

Will on Smokin Joe's during a night session

From Colorado to Utah

The weather just didn't pan out!!!!

Snow and Ice in Emerald Lake

Pete Thizzin

Liv on Far Left El Jorge

Will on Golden Rows

Rob on The Aristocrat

The Tourist Stopping Elk of RMNP

 The high hopes in which I had to do a lot of climbing in Chaos Canyon were dampened a bit by the weather. With lots of rain, cold temps, and snow it seemed that we were resting a lot more than climbing. The snow seemed to hit early this year in Colorado, burying the boulders under a sheet of ice and snow. Good times for skiers, but bad times for climbers.  So we decided to bail, loaded up the truck and headed for sunny Joe's Valley Utah.

  Although things did not pan out the way we had hoped the visit to Colorado was still a lot of fun. It was great to spend some time in the mountains, see some old friends, and to climb on some of the boulder problems that  I had always wanted to try. 

Photos 9/25/09

RMNP Photos 1

Equipped with my new Canon G10 I set out for a day of hiking in the park today. The G10 is by far the  best camera I have owned , and I am eager to learn how to use it. Although I do not rely on photographic reference for the basis of my illustrations, I have come to realize the importance of photos and how they help to inform my paintings.  So I am posting a few of the shots I took while hiking in RMNP today, I hope they will lead to some new paintings in the near future.

Rocky Mountain National Park

RMNP

Chaos Canyon home to some of the best bouldering in the world!

Will on Veritas V11

Veritas V11