Happy New Year! Now to Get Back at It!

It has been a long time since I have posted on my blog. I was pregnant, then had my baby girl on October 17th. It is awesome, I love her very much! It can also be exhausting, which is to be expected since this is my first child.

I will be back with projects, I am starting to get back to normal and am getting use to toting a little one along with me. And, maybe someday, she will be my little helper.

My husband and I are Star Wars fans and named our daughter Mara Jade. He has read a lot of the expanded universe books, and that is how we came up with our daughters name. For anyone who has read the Star Wars books, they know Mara Jade is Luke Skywalker's wife. I won't go into her whole story, you can Google it.

Happy New Year to everyone. Happy Imagining!

Soon, I Might have Video of My Dad's Work on Here! Very Cool!

My Mom bought this machine which transfers VHS to DVD, it's pretty cool. I know this isn't new technology, but this is something we definitely needed. My Dad video recorded just about everything in the late 80's and early 90's, so, that means we have tons of videos. My Mom and I watched part of a video today to learn how to play with the tracking... and believe me, there are some funny things going on, also some cool things. I got to see a news story about my Dad's SFX space ship models, that was awesome. And, my Brother's high school graduation... gee, he had such a baby face... haha. Oh, and some of the family reunion in 1989, some crazy hairdos going on there.

My Dad took video of some of his paintings too, this is part of one that I caught. We don't have this painting at our house, so it must be in my Brother's stuff.

Well, once I digitize those videos, I might be able to put the news story about my Dad's models on here, that would be cool. Happy Imagining!

It's a Bird... No, It's a Plane... NO... It's a Space Ship! (Made From a Highlighter)

This is the coolest thing ever... and my Dad made it! Ok, I may have a biased opinion here, but, I still think it's the coolest thing ever... at least, one of the coolest things ever. This is a space ship made by my Father back in his SFX modeling days. This one is made from an old highlighter, specifically, the body is the highlighter. And, many other little objects are added to give the appearance of a space ship; for example, the "jet tubes" on the wings are drywall screws.

Here is a picture of the cap off the highlighter, it still has a tiny bit of ink and puts a little blue on paper.

Here's a view looking straight at it from the front.

And, here is a bottom view.

Well, I hope everyone has enjoyed this post of my Father's highlighter space ship. There are more space ships in my Mother's storage area that I'm getting to, bigger ones, made from old canister vacuums, they are very cool! Happy Imagining!

Space... The Final Frontier...

This is a painting that my Father didn't finish. As you can see, it is a space scene. I wonder if he was going to add a spaceship zooming by, another planet with more detail, a space station floating along or maybe an UFO. My Dad use to airbrush, which is something I would love to learn how to do. You can see in this painting that some of the background is airbrushed. My best guess to when this was painted is the early 80's.

Please stay posted and have a great day. Happy Imagining!

The Eagle

I really like this painting that my Father painted back in 1983, it's kind of a mix between a nature painting and fantasy. The eagle is my favorite part, I love birds of prey, they're so fascinating. Like I said before, my Dad went through phases in his paintings. This must of been towards the end of the fantasy phase which a main portion of it was in the 70's when he was painting on the sides of vehicles and motorcycle tanks.

Well, I should be going. Happy Imagining!

Damn It, Jim!

Here is the other ornament that was a gift from my Mom. Obviously, it's James Tiberius Kirk from the original Star Trek. My Mom bought Star Trek ornaments because my Dad was a huge fan, or, more commonly known as a Trekkie.

Well, I'm still working on different things. Kind of have a artist block going on right now, but, I have some ideas brewing in my head. Please leave a comment, let me know what you think. Visit me @ facebook.com/caliradan, twitter.com/caliradan, instagram.com/caliradan. Happy Imagining!

Live Long and Prosper!

One of our first ornaments for our tree, Mister Spock from the original Star Trek. I always joke around and say I'm half Vulcan, so it is logical that I have a Spock ornament. My Mom and I were walking through a thrift store when we spotted the ornament, along with other Star Trek ornaments. We also have a James Tiberius Kirk ornament, but, my camera died before I could get a picture of it; so, there will be another post with the Jim ornament.

My Mom bought the ornaments for us because my Dad was a Trekkie. I have fond memories of the Star Trek series because of my Dad. My Dad even taught me how to do the Vulcan Salute at a very young age; I can do the salute with both hands.

So, I must go. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Live Long and Prosper. Happy Imagining!

Thank You, Veterans!

In the mid 80's, my father liked to paint war scenes; and I also noticed that in the 70's, he would paint a lot of fantasy scenes. At that time, in the 70's, he would also paint on vehicles and motorcycle tanks. Artist go through different phases, for example, Picasso's Blue Period. One reason why I'm posting this picture today is because today is Veteran's Day. Thanks to all of you that serve or have served! And, thanks to my Dad for serving! Happy Imagining!

A Forest Scene

Since I just came back from a reception for a couple of my cousins and I was thinking about how much my family has grown, I thought about my Dad. Today I'm posting one of his paintings he did not finish, this is actually one of my Mom's favorites. I imagine that there would have been a deer on the rock in the center, or maybe a bear by the river; and he would have signed it in the bottom right corner and dated it.

The reason why I have two photos of this painting are because I couldn't tell if it looked better with or without a flash. The first photo is with the flash, the second is without.

This painting looks like some place that I would go camping in the Rocky Mountains, I swear that I'm going to find it someday. Until then, Happy Imagining!

Dad's Collage Piece

This is the first of many from my Dad. I figured this was a good day to start posting my father's work because it's my birthday. He is the reason why I have been so interested in creating... anything. He made models for special effects (SFX) in films, this was before computer graphics (CG). He painted, he could draw, he would take junk and turn it into something awesome.

This piece I posted here is a collage of some of his models and paintings. There is an article in the upper right-hand corner, the picture is of my dad and I (of course, many years ago). I think that he made this collage to promote himself at different conventions.

Well, I must run. Happy Imagining!