Well, the mad search for a thrift store painting seems to be harder than I anticipated. I have yet to find the proper artwork to hack up into a 15x15 piece. I've started to think about making something completely different, something somewhat sculptural but small. This just might be as hard to do as finding thrift store art as my sculptural work tends to grow when I work on them. I don't really set limitations on that kind of work so this may be a challenge. If I finish something in time, something like ten to fifteen days, I will be happy, if I don't, so what.

I gave the cruiser bike, X1857, its first coat of paint. I'm starting off with a flat black base coat as I can not seem to locate my regular primer. I'm going to do a coat or two of gloss black and then give it a final coat of flat black to finish it off. I saw this done before on another bike; it should make the black really deep in color. Just with one coat on, it look great, no real bad imperfections that I can see.

It looks so much better than when I got the bike, it was painted a sort of yellow peach color with big daisy stickers, I forgot to take a picture of it before I started striping it, but I do have the old fender, untouched, so I think I will post it to show how it looked.

I realized the other day that I have an unmatched set of rims, but I guess that's what you get when you buy a junk bike. They will work for now in an unpainted form, but I think I will need to replace them sometime in the future with a nice new set. My plan it to run it with a coaster brake for the mean time, I like the look of the hub that I have, some English hub that is attached to the left side of the frame as opposed to the standard right side, like on the Bendix coasters. Depending on the new rims I get, this may or may not change, but I think I'm going to keep it cause I like it.

So, I'm thinking about this painting for "the school" and I have no clue what I should do. I had an idea, or I was inspired by something I saw in the new issue of Readymade, repainted trift store art. I guess The Wurst, an online gallery in Portland invited artist to do these things in a show called "Vintage Vandals."

I like the idea of painting over someone else's work like this, sort of graffiti one "fine art" kind of feel. So now I'm on the hunt for the perfect piece of trift store art to hack up into a 15x15 piece and paint something over it. I'm thinking about doing something similar to the swan painting, using spray paint and some paper. Anyway, I have no clue what I'm looking for, if I find something like a giant eyed cat, I just may have to get it even if I don't use it for this show.

I all most forgot, I picked up a new springer fork for the cruiser bike. It is chrome and matches the ape hanger handlebars nicely. I will post some photos as soon as I get the scanner working again. I think I'll just have a few in progress shots as I can't bring the bike out for paint yet due to the weather.

This bike has been in the works for some time now, I think I bought it mid to late summer last year and I've worked on it off and on since then, getting sidetracked every so often. I will be finishing some of the strip work this week when I'm not working on a painting for the 15x15 show, so I should have a working bike in the next three weeks. Then paint, depending on the afore mentioned weather as I need to paint the frame outside. My paint scheme is simple, flat black and little else with red rims in the future as well as antique white spokes and maybe red hubs. Depending on how I feel, I may not have a chain guard on it, I don't like the original, and I may end up fabricating a new one in the future.

I guess my plan is to get it ride able and then worry about making it cool. Even in its unfinished state, I think it will look cool, sort of ratty.

I just got an invitation from "the school" to participate in an annual alumni exhibition called 15x15, so named because the work can not be larger than fifteen inches in any dimension. This is nothing special really; all alumni are invited to do something. I guess I am a bit miffed because I just got the invite and its due May 15th or so, no real time to make something new and exciting. I think I will look at some of my older stuff and try to have something for the due date, or maybe I'll try to whip something out ready quick.

I found this drawing mixed in with some wood cuts and prints of my grandfathers. I don't think he made the drawing, I think it may have been a gift. I twecked it a little bit in photoshop, just for fun mind you, I got rid of the man standing next to her as I didn't feel he needed to be there.

I was flipping through a magazine the other day and came across some interesting items I thought I would share.

• The strida3, a folding bicycle with a gressless Kevlar belt drive. I've been looking at a lot of folding bikes for some reason, not that I need one; I just think that it may be something useful to have at some point in time. I am intrigued by this one because of its clean lines and affordable price, about three hundred dollars.
• This desk is something I would have if boxspring creative was a big time money making powerhouse in the greeting card market. This is something I think I would have designed; it fallows the lines I like in my sculptures very well. If only I had an office and about eight grand to blow on a desk.
• And back to transportation for a moment, The Royal Enfield Bullet Sixty-5 has caught my eye. I have never ridden a motorcycle, I don't know why I have a fascination with motorcycles, and I just do. This bike is a reproduction of sorts of a classic bike, clean and purposeful transportation, and reasonably priced to boot.

So just some stuff I've been looking at, nothing that I will buy mind you, but it is always nice to look.

I was driving home from work the other day, listening to crappy radio and being stuck in traffic when I looked over to the oncoming traffic and saw this tow truck zooming down the street through the intersection. This is nothing new mind you, people drive fast all the time, what made this different was the tow truck had a full load, one car on the flatbed and one towing behind. The driver seemingly didn't realize that the intersection he was going through to fast had a series of bumps and the car he was towing started jumping wildly. I immediately thought this guy was going to mess the car up and drag it a little, nope, the car just bounced off the hitch, broke the chains and dropped two to three feet to the ground.

This was all happening as I was passing right by the guy, so my thoughts were about me getting hit by a runaway Jetta and totaling my "car with no name" Saturn. Luckily, the Jetta in question slammed to the ground with a thud and a screech and rolled towards the curb without hitting anyone. All I could do was laugh and think about the damage that was done to this poor little Jetta, the front suspension was most likely wrecked from the fall, and I'm sure the frame has damage as well as the engine. I wouldn't want to be the driver of the tow truck trying to explain what happened to his boss and the cars owner.

So, I have done it again. I went to the working bike collective today, with the thought of getting a new head for the cruiser bike and couldn't find anything that wasn't attached to a bike; none were to be found in the loose parts bins that would fit my needs. Well, as a last ditch effort, I ended up buying an old schwinn BMX with the head that I needed. Now I have another bike to mess around with that's in almost perfect condition, for a junk bike, it's been painted gold, with spray paint no less, the original color was orange I think.

Now you may be asking: "But Christian, you already have two project bikes in the works and a jeep in a coma, what do you need with another bike?" well, nothing really, I don't need it at all, I just wanted some parts off it, but the more I look at it, the more I think it could be something cool to tool around on. Most likely I will finish the cruiser bike, continue working on the wood bike, and work on this one shortly after one of the others is finished. Or maybe I'll just clean it up and ride it in the meantime, no real work done, maybe just a little paint, I'm not a big fan of gold.

I've been thinking about the postal jeep a lot lately, mostly deciding weather or not it is worth the time to put it back together. It needs a ton of work, most of the floor in the front needs to be replaced, not a daunting project, but it can suck. I guess the determining factor on weather or not I will move forward will be if the engine turns over, if it does, keep it and work on it, maybe invest more time and some money. If it doesn't start, even with some work, I think it will be deemed as toast. If I do get rid of it, I don't think I will be starting any car projects for some time. Maybe I'll get a scooter.

Another thing that seems to be a factor in this is time. I don't seem to have as much as when I first got the jeep. I've been busy at work; I guess I've become the distribution guy for the bakery. We've recently bought a shortbread company and increased our volume by about half. More delivery stops, more shippers, more everything. So free time is at a premium with me and I'm not sure if working on the jeep is something I really feel like doing anymore, or even if i have time for. Who knows what I'll decide to do.

I may have one break though, I found a supplier of postal jeep parts and they have replacement floors and floor supports. This is good because I was going to hand fabricate a new floor and make a new support system myself. Buying it, cutting out the crap and installing a real new floor will be so much better.

It could go either way, but first I just need to see if it will start, and I can't do that till I dig it out from its auto cocoon. So sometime in May the decision will be made, and maybe I'll have my funky death wagon or just a lot of free space, who knows.

This is just a sketch of a recumbent bike. A wooden frame with some kind of chair like seat, notice the second view has a wider section for the seat support. This would be carved out of one piece of wood or laminated boards, no joinery. The frame isn't all that special, kind of similar to existing recumbent bikes. I think I was just trying to do something that flowed and the style seemed to work.

I don't plan on making this bike anytime soon, but I may in the future after I build the cruiser and the upright wooden bike.