Hockey Ramp Up!

The season is ramping up and the hockey creativity has found root once again! Today I bring you a patterned wallpaper/wrapping paper design worked from available Caps imagery from the official website in various places.

Wouldn't it make for a fantastic way to present that new game sweater to some loved ones this holiday season? Ted, we should talk :).

Hockey Wire Sculpts and A Neat Surprise

For my 3D Design course final, we are required to put together three sculptures of similar size and shape but differing materials. I was slightly stressed over just what I was going to put together since learning about it. Then out of the blue, I remembered that I already had two wire sculpts that I had done on the side, my Hockey Players!

So today, I took a bit of time out of my morning to head out to Home Depot and finally pick up the proper wire, from the concrete section and get to work on the last of the family. I also picked up a can of metallic spray paint to give my final sculpt a different finish, this time in gold. Overall the idea worked, three similar styled sculptures with three varied finishes. Similar aesthetic with a different feel to each.

The best part is that I now have the proper wire to make more and will likely see about putting these up for folks to order who'd like a unique, fun, but great looking decoration. I've also had a friend point out that he'd love to see one 6 foot tall in bronze outside an arena somewhere someday, and I'm inclined to agree with him. I could easily see something like this outside of Verizon in the future. I wonder who I would have to approach for a project like that :)...

Speaking of people I'd have to approach, after my sculpt was finished, I made my way lazily through the hockey blogs this afternoon and to my surprise, Ted Leonsis, owner of the Capitals, had linked my little corner of the hockey blogosphere. It's always fun to see something like that. Oh and Ted, if you're reading now, see my ideas in the paragraph above!

Hitting the ice tomorrow at Kettler for Open Hockey at 1130-1300, hope to see ya there, I'll be in red as always ;).

Stick and shoots, Caps games and a new 'Piece'

The leaner me. Thanks Hockey!

It's been a bit of a hectic life these past few weeks. I've been terrible about updating the blog and I while I know I should update daily to get the most out of my hockey experience, there just isn't enough time! We might see a bit more focus from me on the daily hockey front come the summer and into the next season as I settle into things a bit more.

I've been making some time every week or two for a few hours of ice time, and would you believe it, I can sort of stop to the left! It's such a momentous occasion! I should probably buy a cake and ice cream to celebrate. It's not pretty, and I can't do it at all times, but when I'm thinking about it, going in at the right angle, and am not going too fast, I can make a hockey stop to the left side. With a few more times out on the ice to practice, I can see learning to use it mid play as well.

Other things I've started to see about my play have been getting frozen while on the back peddle playing D. I feel I commit too much to a forward push when I should be looking to turn and burn with the opponent instead. I've had a few too many bad (see: unforced) turnovers when moving in zone as well. Both of these make me realize just how new to the game I really am. But as a little boost to the old ego, I've mentioned a few times that this is my first year ever playing ice hockey and many people have said that's really impressive considering how I play already. Still, there is a lot of 'in progress' when it comes to my on ice play.

I'm still hovering around 187-188, depending on the amount of water/food in my system. I feel really good about it, as my workout time has diminished some with school. I usually get one or two good runs in a week and as mentioned above, a hockey day/night once every week or so. My eating habits have only slightly improved from before, but I'm far more active and busy than before. Even when going to school, I get a bit of workout from the quarter mile hike I have to make from my Jeep to the classroom (CCBC parking is a miserable situation when you need to be in the art department!). Doing this 3 of the 4 times I go to class gives me a little bit a workout that seems to wake my body up just enough.

Here we go...

Caps games have kept me glued to the television every few days and I've even been able to attend two since my birthday. One against the Stars and this past Friday versus the Thrashers. The game against the Thrashers was the most fun I've had yet at a game. The feel inside Verizon was just intense. A really great experience from start to finish with a beautiful girl by my side the entire night.

The Presidents Trophy Presented to the 2009-10 Washington Capitals

Seeing the Presidents Trophy presentation was a special extra, and the Fan Appreciation hockey stick sale was a great chance to pick up a brand new or used stick from the players own stock. I dug through the sticks during two intermissions and finally found one that I was going to call my own, a Keith Aucoin Warrior Dolomite composite that will routinely run you a cool $170 I picked up for $99. With a blade with a near identical in curve to my CCM Ovechkin wood stick, I just need to cut it down to size and throw some tape on. There were a few used sticks that I had considered picking up, but I felt I'd much rather a new stick that I wouldn't hesitate using for my own game instead.

My new 'piece'

First Star Alex Ovechkin

A few Red Hooks, a pizza, and a win later, my wife and I headed out to the concourse to pick up my stick and then hit the store for some swag for our last game of the season. My wife made out like a bandit picking up a zipper sweatshirt, a reebok capitals hockey shirt, and a old school looking hat. The hats section is where we spent the majority of our time, taking photos of her in each so she could see what they looked like. They really need to put a mirror next to the rack...

My beautiful Date

So with the regular season coming to an end yesterday, the beard is begun and I wait with baited breath for the coming storm that is the Stanley Cup Playoffs. If last year was any indicator it's going to be another amazing couple of months worth of hockey.

Artwork signed by Eric Fehr

I hope to get down to Kettler sometime in the coming week or two to try and get with Jose Theodore and Alex Ovechkin for their John Hancock on the pieces I worked up for the Saves For Kids foundation. With any luck I'll have them up and online for bidding before the end of the first playoff series. For those of you with connections/access, if you can help in this regard, I'll be looking to promote these auctions all around the web/community. And if anyone can get me a few minutes of face time with either of those two players, I'd love to hear from you!

Caps Art/Story Book

I've finally finished my 2D Design project. While it's not 100% as great as it could be, it's good for what time I had to invest in the project. I think the text could have been a bit more inspired and the innards layout could likely be tweaked a bit for a nicer look, but on the whole I'm proud of it as a change of pace piece that I really put a lot of time and thought into. From start to finish I had a lot of fun and stress with this project. Now that it's over I'm looking forward to hearing the critique on it and moving on to my next project.

The photos to follow show the entire project as it's supposed to be viewed in sequence. Enjoy!

Leafs at Caps in Sharpie

Here's what I've been knee deep in for the past week. You've seen some stuff before but these are the actual scans of the images instead of a photo. Note the two extra pics (ovi and theo), the more detailed, larger pictures are hopefully bound for signatures in the near future, and if all goes well, auction for Saves for Kids.

Enjoy!

Artwork Signed

A trip to Kettler for the Morning Skate this morning turned out rather well. I hung out for a while and watched the warm ups to start off. I brought a sketchbook along as well and drew a quick sketch of Varly since he was the most stationary figure out there! Nothing special, just trying to get used to drawing things in more constant motion. Much more fun than say still life! Eventually the ice began to clear after what looked like a good start to the day. The players all had smiles and looked to be having a good time just being out on the ice. I was quite jealous, and was bemoaning having left my skates at the house as a Public Skate had started up as the caps were finishing up, but I'll get my fix come Friday at Rockville I suppose.

I decided that since Fehr had agreed to sign the piece and I needed to catch him after he'd already changed, I would be best served by heading to the Caps front desk. I was met with a bit of skepticism as expected, but I explained the situation some and the lady made a call to the back, and I was asked to have a seat. I did so, and did my best not to get 'starstruck' as player after player and even Ted Leonsis roamed the hall. I had a meeting set, and they were kind enough to let me stick around while I waited. So I stayed on my best behavior and didn't hound every person that passed for their autograph!

Eventually Eric came out, I stood and greeted him with a handshake. To start off I handed over the copy I had made for him, the cheapo frame job made it a much nicer presentation. I then pulled out the other that he agreed to sign, and he did so. Showing him the others I was working on he asked if I wanted him to get Mike Green to sign one, which I couldn't have been happier to hear! I handed it to him and he headed to the back to find Green and returned art signed.


I can't thank Eric enough for his help on this. I'm hoping to get the other two with Theodore and Ovechkin signed as well, but that's going to have to be another day. In the end I want to get these put up for auction and put 100% of that money to Theodore's Saves for Kids fundraiser. If anyone has any info on how I can get in touch with either of those two, past standing around hoping outside of Kettler, I would appreciate it. Stay tuned for more!

Art for Fehrsy

Was able to get all of the pieces finished this weekend. The above is for Fehr, who asked if I wouldn't mind making one for him. I hit up Micheal's earlier today in search of a cheap way to frame the piece, found this one on clearance and think it works wonderfully for the 3.99 price tag! Much better than handing it over and saying 'Good luck getting it home in one piece!' I'll likely get similar frames for the others I've done.

Hope to get with a few of the other guys, namely Theo, Ovi and Green who are prominent in the other three. We'll see if they're not too busy considering it's a game day.

Project Update

I've gone back and redone one of the images from my project. I'm thinking that the ones I've done previously will end up being for the school project where these will end up as solitary pieces.

I was also able to get in touch with Eric Fehr about signing the piece, who said he would gladly sign it, even asking if I wouldn't mind making one for him as well. I'll be busting my butt to finish the ones with the boys in them by Monday morning and get down to Kettler for the morning skate. The singles will just be mounted on plain backgrounds and hopefully, I can get them out to the community for auction to support Caps charities.

My wife and I will also be attending the Caps game Monday! Can't wait! See you in Section 100!

Running with the inspiration.

With my last project (which netted me a 100/100 btw), I was able to capture a bit of inspiration from the Caps, most notably, Theodore and his fundraising effort. Another project in much the same vein was laid out for us just the other day, so I decided to follow this line even further in creating more hockey art!

Here are a few work in progress shots of the stuff I'm knee deep in right now, enjoy!






All of the work is done by taking photos from the Caps/Leafs game my wife and I attended and desaturating the color and ramping up the contrast. The photos are printed and laid under tracing paper where I picked out the details using a sharpie. Text from the game recap and some additional sources will be laid in the background with varying fonts and sizes to emphasis the sense of story. They'll also be laid in a format yet to be determined. Stay tuned for more and finished photos (eventually!). I had considered trying to get the boys to sign the pieces, we'll see if I can make that happen or not, Ted if you're reading, hook a young artist up!

Theo Saves!

Read an article today by WaPo about Theo and his Saves for Kids fundraising efforts and was inspired to work him into a project I'm working on for 2D Design.

Goalie Wire Sculpt

At the behest of my lovely wife, I found some time today during 3d Design to work on a quick Goalie for the end of our entertainment center! These are just too much fun to make!

Wire Sculpt

Found myself sitting in class today with not much to do for a bit and started to 'doodle' with some wire used on our projects from last class. I started off just making a wire armature of a person but wanted to create something a bit more dynamic, so he quickly found himself in a hockey stance and gained a stick to top it off. Oh and the curve? Ovi-esque. ;)

He now stands atop of one of our entertainment center cabinets. Maybe a goalie would be nice for the other side?