This was my first time experiencing the wonder that is the annual Beer, Bourbon and BBQ festival in the great New York City.  It was a wonderful evening of beer sippin’, bourbon tastin’, music listenin’, cigar smokin’, and barbeque eatin’.  With my admission ticket, it bought me a magical sampling glass so I could enjoy an ALL-YOU-CARE –TO-TASTE sampling of beer and bourbon.  I, of course, focused on bourbon as I’m really not a beer man.  Not to mention various nibbles, such as maple bacon, along the way. 

The experience, overall, was so much better then I thought it was going to be.  Yes, there were a lot of people, but going with a crew of friends made for a very special evening.  As did spending time with one of my absolute BEST friends in the world.  We went from the festival to cigar bar to karaoke and had an epic evening.  I didn’t take many photos to commemorate the weekend, but I did snap off a few.

To anyone considering going to the annual festival…DO IT!  You won’t regret it.  Happy trails.

Ah, the joy that is Cleveland.  Couple that with intensive training for 5 consecutive days was a recipe for madness.  But, the one redeeming factor was the fact that I would be experiencing all of this with some close colleagues and friends.  Let’s be honest, there’s really nothing terribly exciting about Cleveland, especially in the winter.  I’ve been there a few times now, and each time it’s felt as though there was a persistent overcast of depression.  But…I’m happy to report that despite all of that, I enjoyed my time.  Professionally, I learned a lot and personally I had a great time with some good people.

If you can believe it, as an evening “team building” event I was roped into some world class beer pong and Jenga competition.  Absolutely outstanding.  Below are just a few photos that were snapped to capture some of my experience. 

As thanksgiving began to draw closer, my creative juices really began to flow.  You see, I had come up with a concept, just a month prior, for one of my bucket list challenges.  More specifically, #25:  Draw a large mural.  I could have gone many different ways with this project, but I decided to do something bold and different.  The concept at it’s simplest form would be to create a large mix-media collage, with a grungy aesthetic, and have it represent three aspects of my life in some meaningful way.  I was pretty psyched about the idea, but I must admit that I was a bit concerned that I might not be able to pull off my vision.  To make it real, I added some pressure to myself by essentially picking out the exact wall space (in my office) where the piece would be placed.  I can’t tell you how many times I told myself the following words as my artistic adventure  progressed:  “I really hope this thing doesn’t suck when I’m done.  Last thing I want is to look up at garbage whenever I’m in my home office”.  Welcome to my journey!  I’m a very visual person, so before I embarked on my challenge I first sketched up a vision of what I wanted to create.  So I downloaded a pretty kick-ass app on my iPad called “Paper by fifty three“.  It’s a great sketch book tool!  On a side note, I just found out that it recently won Editor’s choice App of the Year award from Apple.

Anyways, my concept, as mentioned earlier, was to create a piece that represented three life themes.  I would later refer to them as the 3 Ps, which stand for Professional, Personal and Passion.  Each of them would be represented, in vertical slices, across a large horizontal canvas that would be split into thirds.

I liked the idea of a big sun, with rays, that would span across all three segments so there would be continuity when you took a step back and looked at the entire piece.  But if you looked closer you’d be able to identify three distinct themes for each panel, such as places i’ve worked or people that have inspired me, people I love or care about, and stuff I’d like to do or a philosophy i’d like to live by.

Here’s my original and very crude concept come to life:

Pretty ugly, right?  Yeah, it’s not much to look at but it gave me the structure I was looking for.  My next step was to find my canvas.  I didn’t want to go with anything flimsy as I envisioned bolting or gluing large objects onto the piece for depth and effect.  So, I went with a 3/4″ thick piece of composite plywood that spanned 48 inches and stood 24 inches tall.  It felt like the right size based on the wall space, and I knew once I added a frame it would make it look that much bigger.

I started by sketching up where I’d need to cut the plywood.  I also drew up the sun and suns rays.  It was at this point I decided to create another foundational bit of imagery that would span all three segments.  It would be a road heading off to a horizon across a desolate landscape.  Not sure if you can see it in the image above, but trust me…it’s there.

Next up, I started my first round of purchases for the materials I thought I would need.  Michael’s Arts & Crafts quickly became my second home for the weeks to come.  Holy hell is this shit expensive.  After purchasing various paints, stencils, stamps, blades, inks, pencils, glues, adhesives, hooks, wires, screws, nails, sand papers, brushes, sponges, tapes, etc I dropped several hundred dollars easily.  That’s not even including the plywood or the very expensive frame that I needed to place a special order for.  All told, let’s just say I spent a lot more then I planned to.  The thought did cross my mind as the dollars mounted that I could have just saved that money and bought a nice painting.  Oh well, go big or go home, right?

Measure twice, cut once.

Here we go, the three pieces side by side for the first time.

I started by building out the foundation or the landscape surrounding where the road would be placed.  I used newspaper clippings with key words or imagery that would tie into whatever of the three themes it would be placed on.  I used a lot of burned edging techniques to create a richer texture.  The paper was glued to the canvas with Mod Podge glue sealer.

Now it was time to fill in the road with black sand paper.  The texture, up close, really resembles that of pavement used on a street.  Street lines were painted gold on cut out pieces of card board.  Came out so much better then I thought it would.  Unfortunately I totally destroyed a pricey Exacto knife blade to make this happen.  Totally worth it though.

Next, I used a cherry colored wood stain to add more depth.

After that, I added my vintage-styled sun rays across the top.

Next, I printed out photos and began to lay out my collage.  Theme by theme, starting with Professional

Above is the finished product for the “Professional” theme I was going for.  There is A LOT of stuff in here.  My thought was to squeeze in as much detail as possible, so every time I look at it in detail I’ll recall a significant memory or thought when I put it together.  Such as the logos for the schools and companies I’ve worked for and arrows that show where I progressed from one spot to another.  It pays homage to two professional mentors that helped me with the biggest jumps in my career.  It’s makes reference to a few business executives that inspired me at key times along the way.  Not to mention it weaves in random business elements such as a Tumi luggage tag, Marriott platinum status card, pen, business card, money clip with different currencies, etc.  I know this is a snapshot in time, but it accounts for the inevitable ups & downs I’ll face in the future, not just what i’ve experienced to date.  As the career pyramid progresses from bottom to top, the apex touts a gold star (top right) with a series of question marks all over it, as if to imply a bigger question…what’s next?

Above is the finished product for the “Personal” theme I referenced earlier.  What can I say other then this is the heart of the entire piece…literally.  My family and friends.  I placed this theme directly underneath a powerful sun containing a small set of wings.  I was trying to convey that with the love and support of my family and friends, i’m enabled to fly.  In other words, I can fulfill my professional aspirations and follow my passions.  i.e. the two flanking themes.  Also included in this theme is a road that intersects with the horizon perfectly.  This was by design to portray that my family and friends are the center of my universe.  Without them by my side, my professional aspirations or passions simply mean nothing.  Honestly, I designed this theme to be a constant reminder to never lose sight of what’s most important in life.

Above is the finished product for the “Passion” theme, which really represents my areas of interest.  It makes reference to travel, blogging, soccer, Team in Training, fantasy sports, etc.  It brings a lot of attention to pursuing my bucket list or my top 100 things to do before I die list, which are shared on this very blog.  You might be wondering why I have a random picture of someone giving the thumbs up with the words “Give Back” on his shoulders.  Well, let’s just say he’s an individual that really made me see life in a different way.  His generosity and selflessly focus to help all others before himself is something I’ll never forget.  Something I too want to do more of in the years to come.

OK, once I finished each of the three panels, I then needed to add the finishing touch…the frame!  As mentioned earlier, this was a special order frame that took two weeks to arrive.  Once it did, I placed all three themes size by side on a flat table.  I then over layed the new frame to make sure it fit perfectly.  It did, so I then took careful measurements for the four cuts that would need to be made to separate the three panels, yet still give the illusion that it was one cohesive piece.  My weapon of choice was a hack saw and boy did I take my sweet time.  Kathleen snapped off this photo as I was so focused and intent on not screwing up.  Fortunately it worked as I had planned.

Next, I created a two inch lift for the piece so it wouldn’t sit flush to the wall.  I did this gluing two slots of wood vertically.  It was important to me to have lift from the wall considering I would have many objects protruding from the piece.  I felt the added lift from the wall would create even more depth to the finished product.  I then needed to create some way to hang the piece, so I added some wire across two screws and went through some trial and error before I got it to lay properly on the wall.

I know I’m biased, but the photos really don’t do the piece justice.  Most of the details you really can’t appreciate unless you’re directly in front of it.  I’m hoping the following help with showing off some of the depth:

Left

Center

Right

Zoom from left side

Zoom from right side

I’m happy to say that I like how the finished product looks in my office, which can be seen in the header of this post.  Thankfully my overall vision came together the way I had hoped.  I made adjustments along the way to account different moments of inspiration, which really made the process that much more engaging.  Overall, it was a very calming experience that demanded all of my focus.  Perhaps that’s why I had such a good time with it.  I mean, when I was in the moment, all the stresses and distractions around me seemed to fade away.  It was time well spent, and I’m very satisfied that I was able to take an abstract concept and turn it into something real.

Cheers!

Back in 2008, I was fortunate enough to obtain some extraordinary international experience in Germany.  Professionally, it was an amazing time.  Personally, it was pretty fantastic, too.  I managed to visit 14 countries in a single year.  I essentially traveled to a new country every other weekend, and had a great time.  But…it was also a very lonely time.  You see, it’s great to travel but traveling by oneself has it’s limitations.  Don’t get me wrong, I very much made the most of my time.  But at times it did feel a bit empty.  I find it far more enjoyable to experience a new place with a friend or loved one.  Not to mention, it was very tough being away from my wife, then girlfriend.  I told myself if a similar opportunity were to arise again in the future I would only take it if she could come along for the journey.

Fast forward three plus years, and the opportunity did in fact come again.  This time, the destination would be London and I was told the project could last anywhere from 12-18 months.  Wow, it sounded like a LONG time, maybe even too long.  After numerous conversations with my colleagues and my wife, I was convinced it was a calculated risk work taking.  As it would play out, the project would only end up running about  6 months before I needed to head back home for a variety of reasons.

I must admit, the first month and a half of the project was very difficult.  Long hours and a complicated work environment prevented me from truly appreciating where I was living.  This was an anticipated learning curve, which I didn’t mind all that much as my wife had not yet arrived.  Fortunately, around the time of her arrival the project began to stabilize.  Having her there was nothing short of incredible.  I can honestly say that we never wasted a moment in that amazing city without doing some memorable.  It was also probably one of the most fortuitous times to actually be in London.  During the peak of our summer, we experienced some truly special moments.  Such as experiencing the Queen’s Jubilee and the Olympics.  I couldn’t have planned a better time to be there if I tried.

As mention earlier, I was in London for about six months, three of which were shared with my wife.  I really can’t complain about the experience, as the timing all-around worked for the best.  During our stretch of time together (believe it or not), we managed to visit 7 different countries.  Looking back, I still can’t believe we were able to squeeze in so much over such a short period of time.  I decided to create a separate blog post entry for each of the countries we visited, even though none of them would have been possible had we not been living in London.

To commemorate the time spent in London, we created a video montage to capture the essence of our experience.  It was incredible, and I definitely would not shy away from heading back there in the future.

Enjoy the video below.  Cheers!

After over twenty years, I reconnected with an old child-hood friend over Facebook.  His name is Patrick.  We chatted for a while, and it turns out he’s blossomed into a seasoned artist.  This really didn’t come as a surprise to me as he had a very creative side growing up.  In fact, the first piece of art work I ever collected was from his father, who was an artist himself.  He gave me this incredible mountain landscape that I still have to this day.  So it’s safe to say that art is in his blood.  Now, Patrick’s style is vast departure from his father’s and is, shall we say, a bit on the “dark” side.  That didn’t detract me one bit though from immediately recognizing his tremendous talent.  Turns out he’s also had a pretty harrowing journey to get to where he is.  A journey which has undoubtedly fed into the inspiration of the master pieces he produces today.  To learn more about Patrick (STAR 27) Deignan:  Click here

Around the same time of our chance encounter, I was starting to move into my new home.  Little by little, my wife and I added our decorative touches.  My plan was to introduce some sort of new art, especially in my office, but I had no idea what.  So I reached out to Patrick to let him know I wanted to do something, and would get back to him when my own creative juices started flowing. 

About a month later, I came up with a concept.  It would be Wall Street (like the movie) inspired, and include myself and my father.  I wanted something that would have a business angle, and also serve as a portrait.  This would satisfy my need to fill a space on my office wall, but more importantly check off #58 of my bucket list:  “Have my portrait taken with a loved one”.

The idea would be to replicate the Wall Street II movie poster; a scene where the main characters (Shia LaBeouf and Michael Douglas) strike a bad-ass pose in their suits.  See here.  The only change I requested was having their heads replaced with both mine and my father’s.  We both have similar body types with the characters, so I didn’t think that would be much a stretch.

When I passed along the idea to Patrick to see if he was remotely interested in the project, he said the following:  “Yeah Man, I’m digging this!!”.  After working out the logistics, I passed along pictures of myself and my dad and the project officially got under way.  The project spanned about 6 months from concept to actually having it on my office wall.  Below is how it all came together:

Step 1:  Framing the subjects

Step 2:  Laying the foundation

Step 3:  Almost there, few more tweaks and we’re there

Final:  Beautiful matting and ornate gold frame put it over the top

This painting is extraordinarily ironic, which is exactly why I wanted it.  You see, my dad is the furthest thing from Wall Street as he’s very much blue collar and comes from humble beginnings.  But…he taught me the fundamentals of common sense business my entire life.  Couple that with the fact that today I work with clients and colleagues cut from the Wall Street cloth, and you have what I think to be the perfect piece of creative inspirational imagery for my home office.

I’d like to send a special thanks to my friend, Patrick.  His willingness to step away from his artistic focus to help an old friend with a special project was very much appreciated.  His talent, attention to detail and professionalism are the primary reasons I know he’ll continue to thrive at his craft.

Let me just come right out and say it.  I love Malta!  It is easily the most exotic place I’ve ever been to.  But boy was it hot!  I mean, it’s dangerous not to keep hydrated every 10 minutes kinda hot.  But that was a small price to pay for what was certainly an experience of a life time.

The Blue Lagoon and Azure Window were just breath-taking.  Words can’t do justice for such a special place.  Kathleen loved every second of the experience as well. 

Check out our travel montage highlights below.  Enjoy!

Malta from Kathleen Barbosa on Vimeo.

After receiving a few rave reviews about Bratislava, my interest was piqued.  When I was told it was possible to visit both Bratislava and Vienna in one weekend, I was totally sold.  To be honest, I’ve never considered visiting Slovakia at any point in my travels.  It also didn’t help when I find out that a sick horror movie called Hostel took place in Bratislava.  I figured, worst case scenario Bratislava would not be all that great.  But…Vienna would most certainly make up for it.

We were pleasantly surprised as Bratislava was fantastic!  It’s a small city, but the night life is outstanding.  Vienna put the cherry on top.  It was by far the most architecturally beautiful place I’ve ever seen in my life.  The style, spacing and scale is just stunning.

Below is video that captures the highlights of our trip.  Enjoy!

When I asked a few of my London friends if Cardiff was worth visiting, I received nothing but luke-warm responses.  I just chalked it up to some good old fashioned anti-welsch rhetoric.  Why not Wales, I thought?  Another country to check off the box is really all I had on my mind.  Plus, it was an easy trip last minute trip to do that wouldn’t require booking a flight.

After doing some research, it seemed at the very least worth an over night trip to see what it was all about.  I conferred with my travel partner and sweet princess, Kathleen, and off we went.  I’m glad we did as we had a rockin’ good time.

Check out our video highlights from the weekend.

Back in 2008, Kathleen and I experienced a lovely long weekend in Paris.  It was pretty much perfect if you ask me.  But, if you ask Kathleen, she’d tell you it was great, but she wishes she had more time in the Louvre.  As we had so many things we wanted to see, we had to keep our time there short.  I’ll be honest, once I saw the Mona Lisa, I was good to go as I was totally over stimulated by the seemingly endless halls of art.  She’s never let me forget about my short-changing of the Louvre.  In fact, whenever the topic came up, she’d constantly take unsolicited jabs my way.  So when the opportunity came up to head back to Paris, I saw it as a chance to make things right.  Long story short, our first day there went something like this:  I quite literally left in her in the Louvre for a full day while I checked out the catacombs.  I’m not kidding, she was there for EIGHT STRAIGHT HOURS!  I’ve not taken a jab since then, so the trip was well worth it in my eyes.

Oh yeah, we saw other stuff as well.  By far my favorite part of the trip was our voyage to the Loire Valley, where we spent the day hopping between Chateaus.  It was incredible.  The natural beauty and architectural brilliance of these buildings left me speechless.

We put together a video montage for our trip to commemorate our experience.  Enjoy!

Paris Again from Kathleen Barbosa on Vimeo.

It’s been over 20 years since my last visit to Faro.  When the opportunity presented itself, Kathleen was all for visiting family.  I was a little nervous as my Portuguese is very much out of practice, but the excitement of seeing family and spending time at some of the most beautiful beaches in the world was all I needed to move forward with booking our flight.

What can I say, the experience was phenomenal.  Freshly prepared meals every day, memorable anecdotes of child hood mayhem, laughing, eating, drinking, etc.  Everything felt like, well…being home.  The generosity of aunt and uncle, not to mention my cousins was absolutely incredible.

Hopefully it’s not another 2o years before I make my return.  The following “family edition” video to captures the essence of our trip. Hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed experiencing it.  

Family and Portugal from Kathleen Barbosa on Vimeo.