So today instead of staying home and prepping for my classes on Tuesday, I allowed Mickey to talk me into participating in the MD Tag-O-Rama game.  Tag-O-Rama is basically a form of Geo tagging except with motorcycles.  To claim a tag you must be the first person to correctly decipher the clues and then post a picture of your bike in the location.

After the tag has been claimed, the person who claimed it is responsible for creating the next tag location and posting clues to help others find it.  To see our "claimed" tag  and the new tag go here: www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php

I'm hoping it takes you directly to the right page.  If not go to the last page and scroll to the bottom.  Mickey's screen name is Dynamick (it refers to his bike not a weird spelling of dynamic).

Hello all-

In case you thought perhaps I had squandered my summer on video games and homework, I decided it was time to send out an update.

After the show I threw myself back into grad school, did another bowling pin for the Pin Projekt (photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/JHooverArtwork/PinProjekt2009?feat=directlink0) and worked on a couple of commissioned pieces.

One thing I did not do was update my Shop.  I have FINALLY taken care of that little detail and with the exception of about 4 large drawings, everything I have is now online and available for purchase.  Please visit: www.jodihoover.com and click on SHOP.

I don't have much in the way of upcoming events.  I am finishing up my second summer class and will be starting my last semester of grad school this Fall.  Hooray!  

Keep an eye on the shop section of my site.  I will soon be offering various drawings as high quality digital prints.  Feel free to peruse my online photo archive (first link in the LINKS section) and let me know if there is a particular print you'd like. Of course, they would be reproduced without my watermark all over them.  My goal is to have a price schedule for a couple different sizes worked out by the end of the month.

For your viewing enjoyment, I'm attaching the two new drawings that have already found their new homes. 

I hope you all are having a wonderful summer!

Jodi Hoover
www.jodihoover.com

  

Hello all-  Just wanted to let you know that I have a couple of pieces in the Mt. Royal Tavern Annual Salon Show.  The show opens Thursday night (yup, tomorrow) from 6-9.  I will be there from 6-ish until I need to get dinner, so 7:30-ish.  Perhaps longer. 

Seriously, the Salon show has a little something for everyone so swing by sometime this month to check it out.

The Mt. Royal Tavern is located at 1204 W Mount Royal Ave in Baltimore.  It doesn't have a website but these reviews are kind of dead on: www.yelp.com/biz/mount-royal-tavern-baltimore  I have a lot of love for the Tavern and maybe I'll see some of you there.

THIS WEEKEND- I am updating my shop.  I'll send out the usual emails, blog entries and Facebook cries for attention......

After our return from Alaska I drove headlong into summer classes, a couple of commissioned pieces and actually managed to complete a few small household projects that have been hanging over my head for awhile.  Okay, so mainly it involved hanging some art that has been floating around my house for awhile but that counts right?

( Read more... )

Our Alaskan adventure has come to an end.  After the whirlwind of the Beard and Mustache Championships it was nice to take some relaxing time for ourselves.  We left Anchorage and headed to Sitka for a few days and then took the ferry to Juneau.  We spent a wet day or so in Juneau and boarded the loooong flight for home.

We are re-inspired to start some sort of beard pub night in Baltimore so stay tuned for more beard (and art) related fun.  The rest of our vacation photos are up and even labeled! 

http://picasaweb.google.com/JHooverArtwork/Alaska02?feat=directlink

I will try and cover what I can with regard to the show but in all honesty it was so overwhelming that I'm still trying to figure out how to write coherently about it.

The day started with pre-judging at the Dena'ina Center in downtown Anchorage.  Pre-judging is not used to weed out contestants, instead its purpose is to make sure that the many bearded and mustached faces enter themselves in the right category.  Any and everyone gets their chance to show off on stage.

(the line for registration)

The judging for the mustaches and partial beards started at 2pm.  The competiton was held in the third floor ballroom in the Dena'ina Center.  One of the most impressive things about the space is the beautiful bead chain walls.  You can see it in many of the pictures. The whole time we were in the room I was fascinated by the gentle movement of the walls. 

Anyway, the mustache groups always have far fewer participants and so are usually run first.  Everyone goes up on the stage and in this case down a huge catwalk to stand in front of the judges.  Behind the judges were camera crews from all over the world.  Mickey said there were so many flashbulbs that he couldn't even really see the cameras or the people.  As the contestants stood in front of the judges their images were projected on two giant TV screens that hung above the runway.

There were many notable contestants but special props to Ben from Hanover, PA (now LA) who won for having the best Imperial Mustache.

There was a break in the action from about 5:30 to 7pm.  At 7 there was a grand entry of all the participants divided by country.  There were over 300 contestants in the Championships.  They came from Italy, Germany, New Zealand, Spain, Canada, Austria and many more.  It was really amazing to see the pride on everyones faces as they marched in.  The Euopean teams in particualr take this event very seriously and it's a big deal to participate let alone win.

Then came the full beard judging.  These categories are huge.  I think there were over 40 in Mickey's category of Girabaldi. 

Mainly I was happy that Mickey got to stand next to Fritz from Austria, who spoke no English and didn't place despite having one of the most impressive Girabaldi beards I have ever seen.  Mickey did not place but as you can see had a great time anyway.

Let's see, there were the natural full beards, Verdi, natural full beard with styled mustache and free style.  As a point of interest for reality TV fans, the dude dressed in flowers and leaf costume is BJ, the Amazing Race season 9 winner.  The winner in freestyle and the overall champion was David Travers of the South Central Alaskan Beard Club.  Although, it did seem a little weird that the overall winner was from the host club, the guy wove a snowshoe pattern into his beard.  I have no idea how he did it but it was impressive.  Here's a link to a better picture of it.   http://www.tmz.com/2009/05/25/2009-world-beard-champion-the-wicker-man/

We had a great time at the event and don't regret any part of it.  The next Championship will be held in Trondheim, Norway.  We have two years to save our pennies and for Mickey's beard to grow even larger.  We are even hoping to entice some other Baltimore beards into the world of competive beard growing by starting some sort of Baltimore facial hair club.  Although, I will say my ultimate dream is to have Mickey featured in one of those "weird people in Maryland" lottery commercials. 

I will be posting some more Alaska pictures so check back soon. 

http://picasaweb.google.com/JHooverArtwork/Alaska?feat=directlink

 Well it was amazing.  Mickey did not place in his chosen category but there were over 40 competitors and he was up against some really impressive beards.  He still has the distinction of being the only Marylander in the competition.  Something we hope will not be the case when we go to Norway in 2011!

We are leaving in about 15 minutes to go on a day trip glacier cruise.  I have uploaded a bunch of new pictures but with no editing and I don't have time to write an explanation.  I will do so as soon as I get a chance.

Last night was the official kick-off party for the World Championships.  Anchorage has it own traditional beard competition called "Mr. Fur Face".  This year they decided to hold the competition as part of the Kick-Off Party. Instead of being divided into particular styles the categories have more to do with the color of your beard.  There was Red Fox, Honey Bear and Polar Bear to name a few. Mickey was, of course in the "Black Bear" category.  He seemed to be a crowd favorite.  In fact the people next to me were cheering for him to win even before they knew he was my husband.  Alas, this particular honor went to a gentleman on the Canadian team.

After the competition, the Australian band The Beards took the stage.  They sing songs about beards for people with beards and they are musical genius.  Our friend Ty said he would have come to Anchorage just to hear them play and I must say I agree with him completely.  You can check them out here: http://www.myspace.com/thebeardsclub

I think my new theme song may be, "Beards Don't Kill People, People With Beard Kill People".

Pics from the parade and the kick-off party are posted: http://picasaweb.google.com/JHooverArtwork/Alaska?feat=directlink

Our evening began with a delicious dinner at Glacier Brewing Company.  Salmon just plain tastes better in Alaska. I totally keep sending pictures of my dinners here to my friend Miriam to make her jealous.

 Afterwards we met up with my friend Jeff, who I haven’t seen since I left the North Carolina School of the Arts.   Jeff grew up here and has been living in Anchorage again for the past several years. 

As it turns out, Jeff’s friend Ben was also in town for the championships.  They came to pick us up and we all headed out to get a drink. In a completely weird “the world is such a small place” moment I realized that Ben grew up in Hanover, PA and knew my cousins.  Crazy.



So going to a bar in the summer in Alaska is a pretty weird experience.  Number one, it doesn’t get dark.  That doesn’t sound like a big deal but it totally is.  We were standing outside talking and completely lost track of the time.  It was 10:30 or 11 pm but still looked very much like it was maybe 7.

Also, the people are super friendly.  We had more than one person, show up, put their drink on the table and proceed to hang out for a while.  At first I thought maybe they knew Jeff, but no they just wanted to know about the beards. 

The beard competition is a pretty big deal here in Anchorage.  As we walk around town people come out of stores or stop us on the sidewalk to ask where we are from and about the beard.  It even made the front page of the local paper. 

Anyway, after we had been at the bar for a bit Phil Olsen, head of Beard Team USA and half the German beard team wandered in.  So now its 11:30 pm, still light outside and I’m surrounded by German dudes with beards, none of whom speak English.  It was right around then that jet lag really set in and we decided to head back to the hotel.

This morning we got up, ate breakfast (reindeer sausage is excellent) and wandered around the town some more.  I took a bunch of pictures of buildings both because I liked them and because they will probably turn up somehow in my artwork.  We attended a Beard Team USA meeting and a World Beard and Mustache Association meeting.  Apparently there is a certain level of beard politics.  I won’t go into it here but I think Mickey and I were happier being unaware.

 


The afternoon activity was the parade of beards.  I don’t have words to describe it.  It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.  I will sort through and upload the pictures soon.  I took so many I'm not even sure what I have.

Tonight is the official kick off party and tomorrow is the World Beard and Mustache Championships.  Whewww…

I almost forgot the most important part- tomorrow an article about Mickey and the Championships will appear in the Baltimore Sun!!

We arrived in Anchorage last night around 6:30 local time or 10:30 EST.  We were pretty exhausted but did some walking around mainly so we could find somewhere to eat.  The first thing that struck us both about Anchorage is how much it reminded us of an east coast beach town.  There is just a certain feel to the place.  It could be the numerous T-shirts shops, the amount of tourists or the fact that it is actually on the water, I'm not sure exactly.  Mickey already loves it. He loves beach towns, especially off season but he HATES the feel of sand. So for him, finding a beach town with out the beach is a dream come true.

We woke up fairly early this morning, got breakfast and the made our way to the Tony Knowles Coastal trail.  We ran into fellow beard team USA member Marty,( http://www.beardteamusa.org/btusa/martygehringer.html) who was not up for a bike ride but did walk with us to the start of the trail.

We rented bikes and made it about 2.5 miles out before turning around to come back.  Although it was no great trek, I was happy that my knee seemed to hold up pretty well.  Hooray for physical therapy and the elliptical. 

After our bike ride we wandered in and out of a couple of stores.  You might not know this about Mickey, but he absolutely loves to look at stuff in crappy souvenir shops.  If its got novelty t-shirts in the window, animals made of tiny shells or any other bits of junk from China, he wants to go in.  So be prepared friends and family for some very tasteful presents from Alaska.  Mickey is also a huge fan of penny smashing machines and finally purchased his very own Penny Passport.  Sometimes I feel like I am vacationing with a small child. 

Anyway, the first round of pictures from our morning out and about are posted here: http://picasaweb.google.com/JHooverArtwork/Alaska?feat=directlink

Enjoy!

Our beard adventure has officially begun. We have successfully made it through BWI security and are waiting for our first plane of the day.  Overall a fairly painless process and after breakfast and coffee I’m feeling ready to deal with the plane.

There are several main questions Mickey always gets asked about his beard.  “Is it itchy?”, “Is it hot?” and my personal favorite, “Is it a problem at the airport?”  I don’t know if beard related discrimination is a big problem for people going through airport security, but Mickey has come up with a perfect way to head off any problems. He always wears a Harley Davidson t-shirt. 

It’s not just any Harley-Davidson t-shirt.  It’s the only one he owns with a giant American flag on the front and a huge eagle across the back.  He feels that way people look at him and think “biker” rather than “shady scary dude with a giant beard at the airport”.

The special airport shirt was a present from Mickey’s mother and is from a Harley dealership in Lancaster, Pa.   Last weekend Mickey wore it to Indianapolis for the Do-It-Best Hardware Spring Show.  He said several guys walked up to him at the show and made some variation of the following statement, “Hey man, we saw the beard and then we saw your were from Lancaster and it all made sense.”  Apparently people saw beard and Lancaster and assumed he was Amish. 

My question to them, how many Amish men do you know with a Harley?

Hello everyone-

First of all, a big thank you to everyone who, supported, stopped by and sent good thoughts to my show at Minas Boutique and Gallery.  The show went really well and I had a blast at the opening.  A special thanks goes to my Dad who surprised me by bringing most of my aunts, uncles AND my grandmother who is 96. 

I will be updating my online shop soon.  The goal is to have it done before I leave for vacation on the 20th, but we'll see....

Some upcoming art related events:

May 17th (that's right this Sunday!!)  Mickey and I will be attending the Tour de Vine MS Fundraiser at The Parkside Fine Foods and Spirits (http://www.theparksideonline.com/).  I will be donating two prints for their silient auction, so if you are in the area come on by!  There's no cover for the event and ALL proceeds will be donated on behalf of Team S’Myelin Peddlers to the National MS Society and Johns Hopkins Project Restore.  The flyer should come to you along with the email.

May 29th Fifth(?) Annual Pin Projekt Auction in Durham, NC. The auction benefits the Troika Music Festival.  This auction is always fun and as usual I had a great time creating my pin.  For pictures of the finished piece and the process photos visit the NEWS section on my site.  This year's auction will be held at Pinhook (http://thepinhook.com/), it starts at 6:30 and there is a five dollar cover.

Sadly, this year I will not be there but if you are in the area swing by and bid on my pin!

Beard News

For those who are interested in Mickey's beard growing endeavours-  We are leaving for Anchorage, Alaska on May 20th to attend the World Beard and Mustache Championships.  I will try to update my blog (better known as the NEWS section on my site) everyday so that everyone can follow along with our adventure.  The direct link is here: http://jodihoover.livejournal.com/   For those of you who are also my friends on Facebook, the blog should update there automatically. 

For more information on the Championships- http://www.worldbeardchampionships.com/

I hope everyone is having an amazing spring and I'm looking forward to a pleasant and productive summer.

Jodi
www.jodihoover.com

Here are the pics of the finished pin:

 

Now that its finished I guess I don't really have much more to say about it.  i'm really pleased with the way it turned out and as usual I'm completely surprised that it came together at all.  As soon as I have it, I will post information on the Troika Pin Projekt  2009 Auction.

And in case you've missed any part of the process or you'd like to see all of the finished photos- a complete slide show!

Here's the run down of what I accomplished last night.  I want the "face" of the creature to look sideways rather than front.  I realize that it will mean the piece will be directional with regard to placement options but since it's so long with the tail I think it needs a little twist.  So the challenge became, how to make it look like the creature is twisting its neck.  I ended up making some neck stripes that will be lightened up to be more visible when I do the touch up paint.

  

Then I went on to create a neck ruff.  I'm sure there are a million ways that I could have done this so that it would have gone faster but as I said before, I'm not much of a seamstress. Right now its removable and I haven't decided if I'm going to attach it or not.  It sits on the pin rather nicely and if it gets dusty the ruff could be removed for cleaning. 

   

Tonight comes ears and maybe even a face!

and so now he has a tail.

   

I'm probably too tired to write coherently about this.  The tail is canvas and has a cute little tassel tip.  It is sewn in segments so that it curves.  To soften the line where the tail joins the pin I added an extra spine piece and two canvas stripes.



When I go back in and redo the paint, the line will fade and blend into the body.  There will probably also be more stripes/spots on the final. 

The pin has been primed and so now we move on to the color.  This year's pin will be an orange-y red sort of color.  I used a layers of two different reds and then dry brushed a light orange color on top.  The result is below.

      

The dry brush layer always picks up the scars and imperfections in the pin.  I try to leave some of them so that the history of the pin is still visible. Now on to the additions.  These are done using a combination of canvas and fabric.  One of the questions I am repeatedly asked, is how I get the canvas to match the paint on the bowling pin.  That is actually the easiest thing of all- I paint the canvas when I paint the pin.  I make sure I use the same paint colors in the same order. 

    

Above are the little canvas "pants" I made for the front feet. The canvas additions are attached to the pin using an acrylic adhesive caulk.  Do not fear- the caulk is completely paintable.  I will go back in once it dries and paint it to match everything else.  I've even learned not to fret about the caulk getting on the sections that are already painted.  Its just another surface texture and always ends up looking just fine once its touched up.

I should also mention that I am not much of a seamstress but I try to make my extremely basic skill work for me.  The sewing is all done by hand and progresses sloooowllllyyyy.  Oh, and the colors in these photos are off.  Once the pin is finished there will be actual photos with decent lighting. 

Now its time to make a tail.

Yesterday's project- priming!!  An acrylic self-leveling spray primer does the trick nicely.  I also have rounded up a couple different canvas weights, some fabric scraps and a few other odds and ends.  Now comes attempts to put it all together.

Remember how I used to actually update this blog? I mean, I've never been a consistent updater but lately I've been extremely neglectful. So to get myself back in the habit I've decided to let everyone follow along with my latest project (or projeckt).

The Pin Projeckt is an annual auction that benefits the Troika Music Festival (http://www.troikamusicfestival.org/#home). Each participating artist is given a retired bowling to transform in any way they like. The pins are then sold in a super fun live auction. If you'd like to see my previous pins click here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/JHooverArtwork/PinProjekt2006?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/JHooverArtwork/PinProjekt2008?feat=directlink

So that brings us to this years pin. I have most of an idea together but I am not sure how it will ultimately work out. With this project in particular, past and present, I rely on Mickey to help with the logistics of getting pin together. Basically, I tell him what I want to do and magically he comes up with a way to do it. Crazy!



So this is the pin as it arrived.  I didn't think to document this until we had already made the first cut.  There were some extremely deep gouges on the neck that I wasn't quite sure how to deal with.  Luckily Mickey had the answer, in epoxy form. I used the epoxy to fill in the holes and then as it was drying I carved away the extra.



I wanted the head re-attached at angle. This was accomplished using dowels and and some wood glue.  Next came the legs.  This process took a little while and if you want to see more of the pictures, then please click here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/gyJvCpr0kC17wlJOOjisvw?feat=directlink





At any rate, here is my base.  Next comes priming and figuring out how to make this look like something someone might want to own.  In case anyone is wondering, yes I do have a sketch.  I have already drifted away from it a bit, but I'll probably scan it soon to share.

Last week Mickey and I made a very last minute decision to attend the New York Beard & Mustache Competition. I was reluctant to go for several reasons having to do with a work overload and feeling that I could use some rest, but the main reason was that it was being held the night of our four year wedding anniversary. Now overall, I have been extremely supportive of beard related endeavors and not very princess-y about wedding stuff (we got married in Vegas after all) but who wants to spend their anniversary in a packed New York bar with a ton of bearded dudes? Apparently I do.

In the end I was glad that I went. The competition was a huge success, very very well attended and a ton of fun. Since the on-line registration had filled for the full beard categories before we made our final decision to attend and so Mickey had decided not to compete. A choice I was relieved he made when we arrived I saw that the full beard judging wouldn't begin until 1 am. There are limits to my good nature and my ability to stand on concrete.

Because I left my camera battery at home, I don't have any pictures of this particular event although I am sure I will be able to get some from friends. To appease those that may be dying for more information here are some links. Please take special note of our friend Leon Lutz from Lancaster, PA who won in the sideburns category. He's a fellow Oil City competitor and all around good guy. For those who watched the later parts of the Today Show and the first part of Regis and Kelly, you might have seen him forced to explain on national TV that his full beard was transformed into sideburns about two weeks ago due to a tragic fire pit accident....go ahead laugh, I certainly did. Sorry Leon, I can't help it. Here's to turning tragedy into a rousing success!

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2009/03/14/2009-03-14_harried_contestants_brush_with_fame_in_n.html

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/around_town/the_scene/Beard_and_Mustache_Bash.html

http://english.ntdtv.com/?c=258&a=8357

I keep meaning to write something about the opening last Saturday but somehow it just didn't happen. I have been busy, I suppose. Grad school stuff had been sadly neglected and I needed to catch up, I also had a real illustration gig (more on that later) that I needed to complete but mainly I just felt too tired and overwhelmed to write about it.

But don't let that fool you, the opening was AWESOME! I had a great time. It's always a thrill to see people that I haven't seen for awhile and to meet new people who are enthusiastic about my work. The show will be up until April 26th so if you didn't make it to the opening, swing by and check it out.



Hooray for embedding images!