When a friend goes missing

When cribbage buddy and friend, Mike Ferguson moved out of the zipcode, the boys were starting to feel the pain. It's bad enough that they now don't have him to shoot the breeze over a competitive game at the local coffee spot (Jet City), but he gave up Renton for - what? Tacoma - it just ain't decent.


So, Don Hausken (center in photo) decided to paint an homage to this other fellow painter so that his presence could still grace the game (oh, and by the way Mike - the "fake" you is winning hands you never did in the flesh!). It took Don a month to complete and was just unveiled this very afternoon. It is a beauty. Some say even better than the original - naaahhh! just messing with you, Mike.




Mo, far left and Ron Hughes, far right are also part of the cribbage crew. If you like to play and don't mind the looks of this motley lot - come on down in the mid afternoon and pull up a card or two. Mike (check his out his mad art credentials here) - if you don't hurry back soon, the guys may decide they like the paint splattered one dimensional you better. And now where would that leave your cribbage game, hum?

The Book of Answers

Times are tough - we have all admitted that to ourselves and others within the last couple of months. Sometimes the right answers, the best direction to take, it can be elusive. Enter The Book of Answers. So easy, it's foolproof (?). Just close your eyes, and make a wish - I mean, think of your pressing question and then open the book to the corresponding page. Within seconds, life has become simpler. There, in black and white print, you will find the answer you have been looking for. Maybe even an answer that you didn't ever imagine receiving. Anyone can use this method of clarification when the road to life gets full of rocks and stones and you need to clear the way.

Here is our dear friend and local artist (here), Mike Ferguson, demonstrating his easy technique of divination with the book. Remember, levity is always part of the answer when using the book. I mean, if we can't laugh now - when will we ever be able to?

Unfortunately for all of us - Mike didn't get the "no, you can still stay and live in Renton" answer and it seems that he will have to move to Tacoma. Now, I don't like the book for that - but I can't stand in the way of the fate. Mike, we will all miss you. Please consult the book again - and think of our fair city. Are you sure it's time to leave the place that professes to be "ahead of the curve"? I think Tacoma just has some sort of dome thingy...

Artists Amongst Us!

They walk around, casually, looking like everyone else, but really they are talented painters taking their inspiration from everything around them, like the building site of a house up on Renton Hill(speak up if the painting on the left is of your home-to-be, Mike says that his work is for sale).
At our local little hang, Jet City, we have a couple of these talented folk, and sometimes we get to see the hard work and colorful expressions that they get up to when not shooting the shit, playing cribbage and drinking some hot joe with the rest of us.
Mike Ferguson makes his living as a painter and is featured in a few galleries about the area - American Art Co., Fountainhead Gallery, and the Howard Mandville Gallery to name a few. He says that he has been at it since he was a kid. His mother had a house full of paintings -"old, dead Swedish artists - I didn't even know who they were", but her collection surrounded him and must have filled his artist senses, because so many years later, he is still working at his craft.

Mike likes to play with paint and texture, building up layers using mat boards as palette knifes and sometimes house paint as cheap color to get a "nice, rough dramatic start you can play off". His color palette is not shy, but full of light and brightness. His landscapes are excellent renderings of nature, quite classic but for all of their color - but his story paintings are just plain whimsical. I love some of the topics - Popsicle, Thermos, or Get Out of My Room!

I feel like an explorer within the confines of a small island - Renton - and am enthralled by the little treasures that my search for blog topics can yield up to me. This is a rich territory that we live in, and I for one am out to explore it! And that is why I am Lady P of The Picaroon!