Friday, February 8, 2013

Things and Times.


I have been consumed with boat building.  Or boat building is consuming me... Something like that i guess. I have been getting odd little twinges in my gut for a week or so. My left eye now twitches with some regularity. 

The cause of this affliction have remained, until this week sort of unclear. As if trying to decipher a a photograph xeroxed over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over.

A quick cruse on the ol' intro net found the problem. There is paddling and flowing water here but i seem to have other things i would rather do. A ten hour driving day for four hours of paddling isn't great bang for my buck.

Made me think of the Elkhorn and my BWA peeps.

Whats up BWA, Eh? Here's what's been up out here. 

First, well first lately is polishing off the NPFF 30th Film Festival Awards...  Only William Nealy really knows the brain warp that goes into one of these things. Layer after layer of creating shapes and pulling them together. 

The tough bit is to create something that someone would be happy to have after all they have created something to make judges say things like, "Woooo!!! Crush it Bro!!" or "I cant believe someone would have even thought about that trip.." and my personal favorite,  "dude that big slide in the second montage, yeah the one where that dude...  Yeah Bro!!! Oh,? Oh,????  I was talking about the slide... Hey do you think that was in Norway????  Shut up, there is no way that shit was in Wet, by God Virginia. Had to be Columbia. No dammit i was trying to say that i would a run the little lefty fader on top of that big pour-over in the run-out."

anyhow.


Just to let all the NPFFers out there know all the character elements in the award this year were created in computer with a digital pen. It was like being in Buck Rogers! and watching Red Dwarf. Two of the most fun things that can be done in front of a computer. I have always in the past tried to do things by hand, black and white like Nealy. I wanted color in this one. I thought that this media would be the most fun and best served for the award.




Ok ok, lets see the dang thing!! Too bad folks you gotta wait till the winners see it first. But here's a taste.




Then the I.R.H...

Born out of a little bit of an obsession i have with whitewater rowboats from days of yore. But still fresh enough in our sub-conscience that these boats have been kept alive. Everyone who has enjoyed a river dory needs to give a high five to fishermen! They gave us the form that took white water rowing from the huge Powell Boats into the realm of hard chinned plywood boats.


Strong work fishermen!

My revelation however wasn't with fishing, but with the dorys of the Grand Canyon. Built by fisherman for pure exploration, roots boats.  Built in garages and back yards. Built by people who had other jobs. These boats were amazing! These boats may be of the Genus river dory,but they are a entirely new species.

I.R.H. is my first attempt to take a wooden hull form and adapt it rivers once only run by kayaks and a small group of specialized inflatables. Its early on, but the going is sweet.




Finally I have been working on these Powell boat replicas. Attending the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building has been made even sweeter by working on Replicas of Powell's first grand canyon expedition for a BBC documentary. Here are the latest pics from that adventure.




















So the gut twinges and the eye twitch? I had been chalking them up to a lack of rivers. Now i think its just anticipation of rivers to come.


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