mountainFrugal Journal

[mountainFrugal]

Lucky me. A few of the Lightman books are at my library and all the above mentioned Stegnar books are available through inter-library loan. Thank you all for the recommendations.

@calamityjane - That is an interesting strategy. I think with field work heavy disciplines like Archeology/Anthro you almost have to align with an institution in some way to do that work in a careful and respectful way. Am I right in that assumption?

My main question is what does this look like further afield for the overlaps of art/design/illustration/data? I think that (as mentioned above by @Ego) that becoming your own patron is the way to think about it for the arts. Learning the money skills so that you do not have to rely on others people's opinions as input to all the projects that one pursues. I think a nice balance is doing at least some commission work because the external constraints put on you by another person can lead to creative solutions within whatever you are making. There are also creative solutions lurking by exploring the constraints of projects that are a 20/80, 60/40, 50/50 etc. blending of art and science. (I look forward to reading through Alan Lightman's work on this although it does not appear he was creating visual art).

Add: I had to bail on the Blender learning for the skillathon this month. It was not a zero, but learning all the shortcut keys to get competent enough to make something requires too much additional time on the computer. My time is really constrained right now and I have been spending too much time on the computer wrapping up projects and doing communications work. The last thing I want to do is spend more time on the computer learning blender shortcuts. So the learning blender project is punted to the fall after my contract wraps up. However, I have been working on the other two skillathon mini-projects - my 4 page comic and working on consistent faces.

[calamityjane]

Yes, I would agree that affiliation is important, but probably even more in the form of cultural affiliation with tribes than with institutions when we're talking about archaeology. I guess I'm really thinking more broadly in terms of the Renaissance/lifelong learner mindset, which is where my thoughts go these days. While I have my particular passions, I also love just strolling through the physical or virtual shelves in pursuit of whatever intellectual query strikes my fancy. Whereas academia insists upon specialization and is usually coercive towards specialization that is within the institution's financial interests.

[mountainFrugal]

All the mFin' ART (and other integrations)

Two of my 5 year goals are doing a soloprenuer art business and a partnership art business. These two complimentary businesses will fulfill that. But how to combine other interests?

This weekend was sunny and unseasonably warm. I was able to do a test commute on my gravel bike rigged up with some bikepacking gear. The commute is 10 miles with 1550ft of descent/ascent. 30:05 down/54:10 back-up with a cycling pack, water, and fully loaded main triangle bag. I want to be able to go off on side forest roads on the way there/back to plein air paint. Up next is prototyping carrying a tripod and small block of wood with a tripod attachment epoxied to it for a travel easel. Another piece I need to figure out is powerful lights for riding at night on gnarly forest roads and remaining visible to vehicles that are not used to night cyclists when closer to town. Open to suggestions.

We made an advanced financial model that has us each teaching a class a week in addition to an event/workshop or two. I plan on teaching two classes - Illustration and Nature Journaling. My business partner will teach oil painting and lead life drawing workshops. To round out the team we interviewed and agreed to hire our first teacher. She has an art degree, teaches various youth art classes, and is a great landscape painter. She is a perfect compliment to our skills and art interests. We have one additional teacher to interview in the next week and one that agreed to workshops.

We have a number of students already interested in each of the classes. I need to finish setting up the payments for the business so we can pre-sell the rest of the spots before we open in May.

We have it set up for employee perks that the instructors will have studio space, can take the other classes, and will get discounts on our bulk art supply orders (slightly above cost to the studio). I very much look forward to learning from these two artists that have very different skills than mine. My business partner and I take frequent breaks from the remodel to talk about art. It is a super fun way to spend the weekends (although I am very much feeling the cumulative effects of working 7 days a week).

We found an art supply wholesaler that will work with us. We are writing a small business/arts grant to see if we can offset some of the start-up costs for easels, paints, brushes, and stools.

Friday nights are going to be "art gym" where we open up to students and to the broader art community to hang out and work on skilling up. This is not really a class, but more like a formal hangout to collectively get better at art. My business partner and I are going to treat our art time together as if we were in art school. Friendly competition and all! .

I picked out my spot in the back warehouse where I will set up my studio. Other than a nice easel that I will wholesale with the bulk order I have or can build the rest of the desks and set-up.

I have a soft long term goal that each business will pay for my expenses multiple times over with a bulk of my discretionary/gear spending offset from doing bike repairs and some seasonal alpine hut care-taking (more on this in my monthly update).

Overall it feels great to be investing time and some capital into this project. Barebones...I have an art studio space, cool people to learn from, and a gallery to host events. More build pics soon. We have a made a ton of progress in the past two weekends.

[J_]

You are a real poly! And inspiring. Thank you.

(I have made my first 8 p zine, 4 pages tekst explaining 4 p drawings of the four serial places I live each year)

So I am a kind of on line pupil of you.

[mountainFrugal]

Thanks @J_! Please share your zine (on the forum or PM)!

Zines as a medium of expression are great. Do you have a piece of paper? Do you have a pencil? Can you write? Write one. Can you draw a stick figure? Draw one. Possibilities are endless for content.

[basuragomi]

I'm not sure if it'll work on a gravel bike, but isn't a bike+kickstand already a tripod? Seems like you could get away with a bit less work by using the bike for gross positioning of the easel.

[mountainFrugal]

I'm not sure if it'll work on a gravel bike, but isn't a bike+kickstand already a tripod? Seems like you could get away with a bit less work by using the bike for gross positioning of the easel.

Love the thinking. Could be. I do not have a kickstand currently, but worth some experimentation. Depending how the bike is packed with stuff it is less stable for a kickstand. Ideally my setup would work for both trail running with a pack, biking, or a combination of the two. DW has some good back country tripod skills for her much heavier camera on very uneven surfaces. I will ask her advice as well.

[mountainFrugal]

# WINS
[x] Art Panels Built, drywalled, textured
[x] wooden beam installed
[x] raw concrete slab
[x] milled trim, shelving, benches

I started staining the wood using extra fine steel wool soaked in vinegar for a week. It oxidizes the fresh wood surface and makes it look weathered to match the beams that have sat out for a few seasons.

# IMPROVEMENTS/INSPIRATIONS
The practice of "Looking behind" at all the people that would trade places with you rather than "looking ahead" at who is ahead (except the number of times @mooretrees has skied ).

New thing... musical inspiration: Iguana Death Cult - I Just Want A House - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiWrFST5W_I
(note - I had not watched the video until just before posting this and it is also relevant....haha)

We need to decouple our ideas of having enough money (to spend) from the bottomless desire that it serves as a proxy for status in this society. We can derive status from other activities that require very little money.

# NEW DIRECTIONS
We live in a rural and relatively economically depressed area. There is a decent amount of grant funding available for arts and small businesses, especially for ones with tourism potential. We have started one for up to 20K of funding for Darmera. Fingers crossed for submitting it next week.

I met the women who manages the caretaking of a backcountry hut in the area. The hut is open to the public during the summer months for day visitors. On Fridays-Tuesday they pay caretakers to hike up from the trailhead, tidy-up, hang out as long as they want, talk to tourists, and take down any trash. This hut is situated on a spring that I often run up to from my house (~2 hours). The manager is fine with me leaving from my house (on foot or bike) instead of the trail head because it takes some of the other workers that long to hike up! ha! Anyway I am going to take some weekend shifts this summer that correspond to my training schedule. I will run up, recover, paint, draw, talk to tourists, remove trash, then run down. I plan on doing a series of smaller plein air paintings (so I can carry the materials). The manager said her organization would promote any and all artwork that I do on their social media. I will make all the originals for sale. 2025 will have more dates available for more exercise and a larger painting project. The post work plan is MTB wrenching in the fall/winter for overhauls, hut maintenance in the summer/early fall, and art creation/teaching everywhere else. Living the fucking dream.

# DRAWING
Bailed on the Blender learning until the fall. I did however work on cartoon faces, clothing, character design, and a lot of imagination drawing. I finished a larger format sketchbook that I started last year in February. Many of the ideas in the beginning of that one are now becoming reality.

I completed a 6 illustration commission for @theanimal's book project. It turned out dope.

# OUTDOOR ADVENTURE
Various stats including PRing my 25km and 30 km routes for skate skiing with 680m gain/loss. The conditions were perfect two early mornings this month for attempts. I check the conditions and weather first thing every morning and decide if it is worth a full attempt. I put on some fresh wax both times to match the snow temps. The second attempt warmed to quickly and got a bit sticky in the last 5 km. My legs were also gassed from doing hill repeats trail running the day before. Both times I got to 25 km and thought... fuck it... 5 more... damnit. haha. Until next season as the conditions will not likely align like this again. Top speed 39 kph.

# WORK
Finished up a newsletter and continue working on various reports. The comms is getting boring because it is pretty boiler plate what I can write about. Fortunately, the avalanche forecasting data science project is going well. We identified some more targeted questions with the data I aggregated relating to avalanche history, size, and the conditions leading up to them. I am working on that to present at the end of March and again in April.

My personal art business (Montology Studios) is banked and I received my first official payment from a commission.

In addition to the build out I have been managing the finances for Darmera using my PF skillset. As mentioned in my last post I will be teaching illustration and nature journaling classes. The class is called GCIPP - graphite, charcoal, ink, pigment, paper. All the combos! I have my first 2 students.

# SOCIAL
Monthly drink and draw as per usual. DW and I made a few hundred dumplings with some friends for lunar New Years. We ate some fresh and split the rest to freeze.

DW and I went to a backcountry film fest. We volunteered last year, but just attended this year. I recruited my first two students there, met the women who manages the alpine hut and got another poster commission! Yields, yields everywhere!

March is Montology ZINE focus month!

[J_]

@ mF, as you asked, here the images of my first zine, (not the text copied because dutch language):


living below sea-level, cycling, near the coast of the Netherlands in spring/summer



boating, kayaking, rowing, cycling in the Netherlands and Belgium in summer




swimming and walking on an island in the mediterenean in late autumn


walking and cc skiing (skating) in the Alps all winter

comments appreciated

[mountainFrugal]

comments appreciated

It seems like you have really optimized the adventure nomad lifestyle. I really like that your zine is in color and has all these different landscapes that you visit on your yearly circuit! I especially like the alps drawing and the tulips along the sea shore. I would love to visit the alps someday during the winter and do a hut trip (and skating!). I wonder if for your second zine you could tell a similar story of these different places, but focus on some other aspect to expand your visual story telling skills. For example, what would the same places look like focused on smaller objects? (e.g. a cup of coffee, a post ski meal, your cycling water bottle, etc. Zoom in AND zoom out. Then mix and match. Endless. Have fun and thank you for sharing.

[J_]

Thanks a lot mF. In winter the high Alpine huts here are closed, due to avalance risk and adverse/dangerous conditions. I stay always below tree-growing level.

[Bicycle7]

For example, what would the same places look like focused on smaller objects? (e.g. a cup of coffee, a post ski meal, your cycling water bottle, etc. Zoom in AND zoom out. Then mix and match. Endless. Have fun and thank you for sharing.

This is great, I'm adding this to my art tools! I like the idea of having a focal point that anchors a landscape drawing, I think that has been missing from my failed attempts. I'm currently working on integrating perspective 101, overlapping objects, shading, foreground/background, etc.

I like how you're integrating the commute to your art studio, with gravel riding and art along the way! As far as visibility goes on gravel roads, I agree that it might be a surprise to people that someone would be biking in the dark on backcountry roads. The obvious suggestions of having the maximum amount of reflective gear on you and your bike would help along with powerful lights, one could be (annoyingly) flashing. I just imagine visibility might be low for drivers around blind curves. How often are motorists on the roads at night and how fast do they go?

[mountainFrugal]

This is great, I'm adding this to my art tools! I like the idea of having a focal point that anchors a landscape drawing, I think that has been missing from my failed attempts. I'm currently working on integrating perspective 101, overlapping objects, shading, foreground/background, etc.

How often are motorists on the roads at night and how fast do they go?

You can use the object as the foreground object that is put in the context of where you are with middle ground and background. The focal point is usually the highest point of contrast in an image. That can be value, shapes, detail, color, etc. Then you can have secondary points of interest. Composition is where all the thinking gets done in image making and is usually done with loose thumbnails (small images). By keeping it small and all in your field of view you can take in the entire composition at once. It will scale when the image becomes larger and maybe you have to step back and to even take it all in.

On the forest roads there are hardly any motorists, but the roads are very rough. The lighting problem there is being able to see the potholes especially going down steep short hills. The motorists become a factor when coming into/out-of the towns. Fortunately the speed limits on the roads I have chosen for my route do not exceed 35 mph. That does not mean people do not speed though! ha! ...So I would say 35-50 mph. There is at least a small shoulder on the non-forest roads until I actually get into town and then there are bike lanes, but not very well lit streets.

[mountainFrugal]

Trim Stain



Panel Install



Beam wrap install

We have made significant progress on the studio remodel the past few weekends. I sanded and stained 3/4 of our milled wood using 0000 steelwool dissolved in white vinegar. The mixture makes a perfect oxidization catalyst for the fresh wood surface. You can see how dark the wood gets compared to milled stack in the left image. The bottom right wood comparison image are slightly red (still layer of rust on top), partially wiped (middle), and freshly stained (right). It makes it look like the wood has been sitting out for a few years like our beam (pictured below).

We painstakingly created flat wall panels for the artwork. I first leveled each end to top and bottom and then my business partner taught me how to use tight string as a level line. Anywhere where the string raised off the ends was planned. Anywhere where there was a gap was filled in with drywall shims. The final panels turned out great and even better than expected once they were textured. The dry wall texturing is the only part of the remodel we paid for (business partner's other business partner is a drywall expert). The final image is everything site protected ready to paint!

Before the final drywall texturing we did a beam wrap around the central gallery wall. My business partner has an absurdly large beam skilsaw that can cut up to 10 inch beams. They use this frequently for their other carpentry business. The offcut of the beam shows how tight and consistent the grain pattern is in this old growth tree that was a blow down before being milled. Once the concrete slab got cleaned up we allowed the job site therapy doggo to hang out. He loves: sticks, brooms, rolls of tape, balls, pets, belly rubs, and turkey jerky. The final image is of job site doggo, his recent stick, and the beam install.

What remains: paint, trim, seal concrete floor, install lights.

[shaz]

Another impressive monthly update! It sounds like the hut caretaking is a perfect fit for you. Be sure to carry business cards to hand out to the tourists who see you drawing and painting and want to buy your work. Maybe make some postcards that you can carry with you and sell on the spot?

It's nice to see your plans coming together.

[mountainFrugal]

Be sure to carry business cards to hand out to the tourists who see you drawing and painting and want to buy your work. Maybe make some postcards that you can carry with you and sell on the spot?

Thanks @shaz. These are both great ideas!

[Scott 2]

Thanks for continuing with the updates. I continue to be impressed at the sheer volume and diversity of work. You're playing beyond where I even aspire to, but it's a great window into what is possible. While I'm sure it doesn't feel this way, to an external observer - you've made the transition seemingly overnight.

[mountainFrugal]

Thanks for continuing with the updates. I continue to be impressed at the sheer volume and diversity of work. You're playing beyond where I even aspire to, but it's a great window into what is possible. While I'm sure it doesn't feel this way, to an external observer - you've made the transition seemingly overnight.

Thank you for the observation @Scott 2. From my perspective it is as if friction points in my life are gradually dissolving as the subsystems I have built up are working all in the same direction. That is not to say there is no friction, just that I am having more and more days where everything appears to line up just in time based on past effort. Past me had been passing pucks for current me to be in the right spot to accept them.

[mountainFrugal]

Paint finished - Trim stock complete

We finished painting the gallery and classroom (not pictured) along with finishing up staining and washing the milled trim stock board. It was a sunny weekend so we moved the boards outside to dry (top left). The rust colored board in the middle is still wet, but they dry just like the reference boards around it. We did a final scrub with a diluted bleach solution to clean off the excess rust and lighten up the value. We stained half the stack. The other board will be used for other projects.

The middle vertical image is the slightly warm white paint on the gallery walls - trim board - weathered beam. The final look is a weathered mixture of warm and cool colors depending on how the sugarpine wood interacted with the vinegar/steelwool. I purposefully left white boarders around the images so you can compare to white. The final image is the painted gallery and beautiful concrete floor (also slightly warm).

The trim will border the wall panels and act as a very large frame for them. We decided to do MDF for the baseboard as it comes in longer sections and can be manipulated easier to match the wavy floor.

Remaining: finish trim, clear seal concrete, lighting.

[7Wannabe5]

What fun! I look forward to photos with artwork hung on the walls.