When I work I have 3 mindsets: assignment, commission and personal. When I have a chance to do personal work I get everything set-up... I sit down, I daydream and reflect for a few minutes about my life and if I am feeling any stress I might make a piece that is an instant sell or if I am relaxed I might make a piece that expresses something more than the commodity. Either way, my goal is to let a work flow and not think too much.

Today I started to do a piece and then I remembered that my dad's birthday is this week. I was all set out  to make a male head and then I quickly saw a duck in the hair and I was instantly projected back in time when my dad and mom took their 4 boys out on a hunting trip to a lake. I was 8 years old and we were all sitting in a duck blind and my dad had these very cool fake rubber duck decoys tied to a rope and he would throw them out onto the lake waiting for curious and unsuspecting ducks to fly down to check out the action and you can guess the rest. I didn't have a gun and I was totally bored but I stayed there and watched but I definitely did not want to join them the next day and would much rather ride my Stingray around camp than sit in a duck blind without a gun. My dad was 45 years old when I was born and he would have been 99 this week.

I made this piece while thinking about him.

By the way, since I was so much younger than my older brothers and they all flew the coop pretty early our future vacations were spent in Baja California riding motorcycles and maybe a bit of fishing but no guns, whew!.