Journal Entries by group; refer to date for updates
• Pieniny Mountains - Spring 2008 (123) last update May 1, 2008
  
• Poland Trip - Summer 2006 last update September 3, 2006
  
• Oakland House - Summer 2005 (123456) last update October 1, 2005
  
• Oakland House - Summer 2006 (123) last update December 1, 2006

I've been experimenting with anaglyphs and stereograms. These are 3d Images. Its quite a simple theory, but it gets a little tricky in how I want to apply it. Right now I'm just goofing around with a single camera system and editing software. Eventually I want to remove any camera and computer technology from the work. My first round of results can be found at the anaglyph picture page which doesn't have a place yet so it'll just be linked from here for now. I would not recommend getting glasses just based on my page, but there is enough other content on just the internet to validate buying a pair of glasses. I'll add more to the above page as I progress with this.

Above is a link to the pictures with brief comment from my Pieniny Mountain trip. It went perfectly. Driving down from Warsaw was rather long as the 2 lane road to Krakow was under construction. We also hit Krakow at rush hour and then arrived in the mountains after dark. We awoke Saturday to quite a view.

Now that we have a car we've been using the shopping carts at the store a little bit as we can buy more than my backpack full of groceries. I've noticed that the general shopping cart technology is essentially the same as in the states except all 4 wheels rotate on a vertical axis instead of just the front two. This makes the shopping experience more physical and it seems to increase product damage too - from the rear of the carts swirving into the shelves. I'll have some more info on this as I get used to this design/feature.

I'm back to making the bed normal (no abstraction).

I'll have a Pieniny Mountain update soon here with lots of fun pictures - once I get back. On a side note its really cool being an artist. I don't ever consider myself actually working, but then again I never get a vacation or break. Every moment is used looking at little bits of light and in contemplation of composition and color theory. The Pieniny mountains will be a creative challenge I am sure. There was a broken link to youtube below that is now fixed; it was for the jozin z bazin song.

I'm back from Dublin. The Irish are very nice. I had some delay with the customs guy. He wanted to make sure I wasn't going to stay in Ireland longer than a couple days it seems. While there I talked to quite a few folks just to get to hear them; it was a treat. Since I was solo I didn't get to enjoy a frosty guiness at one of the many pubs. There will be some art from here at some point.

I've figured out a way (as an artist) to save time. Its called abstract bed making. Since I live with my fiance its important to make sure the bed is made everyday and this has proven to take quite a bit of time when you add it all up. So instead of hospital corners and perfectly arranged blankets I've been experimenting with an abstract method of layering of the sheets and blankets. Often a minimalistic approach can save time. I'd recommend it to anyone that lives alone, but its not working out well with a fiance.

I don't really have much of a creative journal update so here are two movies first one is creative and the second is funny. The second movie is performed in Czech, but its become popular in Poland and has Polish subs. Of course czech and polish are similar and the native speakers think each other sound funny so I think this is why this is doubly funny.

Its pigeon breeding season in Warsaw now. Its tough being a pigeon. I don't have much of an update today, but I did find this little gem - its the schematic for the first video game which happens to not be digital and was made in 1958. Space war happened some years later on a digital system.

Also check the Scientific study of spider web building while taking different substances.

It started snowing in Poland tonight. It has snowed in the the past this winter, but it never really amounted to much. It didn't snow very hard, but the balcony got just enough snow to make a small snowman. I ran out of coal and small carrots so I added the features in photoshop.



The food here is quite fresh and doesn't tend to last as long as it does in the States so people go to smaller markets frequently rather than doing the grocery shopping once a week or so. I seem to stop at one store or another just about every other day to get bread, bananas, coke, or mandarines. Marcpol is closest and has a good selection of about everything. Often times people park their dogs out in front of the store (pictured below). Sometimes its a chance for me to visit the friendly ones, but all of the dogs have the same confused look on their faces as they wait outside for their owners.

It seems I'm getting joe jobbed. Between yesterday and today I received about 30 emails returned to my domain (whiteheadgallery.com) from someone who is using "identities" based on my website address. Basically thats when someone uses for example, "freddy2@whitebreadgallery.com" as a sender and sends out 20 billion spam emails; some of them get returned to me since they marked me as a sender and. My host provides a type of certification on outgoing emails which is now on; I'm not sure how it works at this time or if it works 100%. After some research and confirmation the actual sender is from the domain, opoular.com; and is selling pills for you probably can guess what. Its in China. I signed up at http://www.openspf.org to register my spf.

Stuff! My stuff is here :)



I feel completed now that I have my box of M&C, clear plastic puzzle thing, screaming chicken, and tornado in a bottle. None of my crap was really important to my everyday living, but it feels good to have my computer with english OS, coats, sentimental stuff, tablespoon/teaspoon measuring gizmo, and that box of Kraft M&C. Pretty much everything has fit into place and there seems to still be room to walk around; we'll see what happens once I've got 75 paintings filling it up.

One thing I've been paying attention to is stuff technology while here. Some items in Poland are more advanced than in the states and likewise. Below is a chart: number value indicates more advanced in that country with 1 being slightly more advanced and 10 meaning the other country is basically neolithic cave people.

Technology:	U.S.A.	Poland
Potato Chip	5
Window		2
Bread		5
Frozen Food	3
Bus		2
Banana	Same in both countries
Christmas Ornament		2
Retail Christmas Sales Strategies	9
Refrigeration and Ice	10
City Centers		10
Cheap Beer		2
Wine	3

I'm sure there are some items missing so I might add them later. If you some reason you want me to examine a technology let me know - perhaps cheese or door knobs.

I rated refrigeration and ice technology in the states so highly because quite frankly its impossible to get anything more than a sliver of ice in your drink here. Perhaps when it gets real cold outside I can snag some icicles. Also the indoor coolers one might find in kiosk type stores are always off or not working and actually increase the temperature of the beverage because of the lights inside. Potato chips technology here also needs some work - basically there is 1 type of chip cut and 3 types of flavoring and 50 different brands of the same thing. Window technology in Poland is quite good. I have not seen anything that is not at least 2 panes. Our apartment has one wall that is basically all window and one can not feel a draft and these windows are original to the building (20-30 years old). One thing I actually kind of miss (in the beginning) is the Christmas music and displays on anything retail oriented - Polish Retail will catch up quickly without the political correctness in the states.

This past weekend we went to Piotrkow to visit Justyna's parents. All went well and we've decided on a wedding date of April 18th or 25th, 2009. Polish weddings last 2 days with activities and food planned for Saturday and Sunday with band. There is no dinner on Friday for family. I delivered a pumpkin pie for Justyna's parents which was well accepted and there was none to bring home. We'll see exactly how good it was when they come to Warsaw next time and see if they request another or not. On sunday we went to the small airport in Piotrkow which was not so small... atleast in flat land area. Below are a couple pictures worth posting. Also be sure to download the take off and short movie of the 1-person paragliding thing; its a little large at 118MB.





For a laugh check out this video from The Onion


Preemptive Memorial Honors Future Victims Of Imminent Dam Disaster

I've figured out what an American misses most this time of year in Poland.

Pumpkin Pie. I bought a 5kg pumpkin from the store. I have no clue why they sell pumpkins at the store, but they are there in small quantities and it doesn't seem anyone is buying them either. The one I got is mostly orange, but the others are mostly yellow or greenish/orange. At 90 grosz per kg it cost about $1.50 for the pumpkin which is a great deal. After some conversation with my grandmother we figured out a game plan for preparing the pumpkin for a pie.

The pie is in the oven now, but it was quite an ordeal getting everything needed. Firstly Poles don't eat traditional american type pies (9inch pans with flour/butter crust) so it was a slight challenge locating a pie pan. The pumpkin was not a challenge to find, but nutmeg proved to be very elusive. MarcPol had nutmeg, but the exotic food store in the Arkadia Mall only had the actual nut that is ground into nutmeg. Justyna was quickly able to translate the ingrediants for me so cinnamon, ginger, sweetened-dehydrated milk, and cloves were easy. I bought a cheap measuring cup in metric units and Justyna and I marked off 1, 2, and 3 cup levels based on ml.

Here is the recipe I used:

Artist Quality Pumpkin Pie (Real American Style made abroad)

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups pumpkin mush*
2/3 cup suger (white or brown)
3/4 cup condensed sweet milk
1+ tbsp flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon + 1/2 tsp for the top to make a nice pattern
1 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
3 eggs

To make pumpkin mash cut your pumpkin into several pieces and remove the fuz and seeds on the inside. Place pieces in a large water tight pan and cook at 325 F for 2.5 - 3 hours. Remove and check to make sure they are soft and pumpkin is easily removed with a spoon and no tough string is present. Freeze excess pumpkin in 2.5 cup bags; use 2.5 cups of mush without excess water per pie. Mix all ingredients together and blend with a blender for a couple mins. It should be orange and smooth. Cook at 400 for 1 hour and do a shake test (middle should be firm and a toothpick will come out clean). Allow to cool and serve with real whipped creams.

Here is a picture of one of the only pumpkin pies in Poland. Also another picture of a piece of red bell pepper shaped like a heart that was found inside the pepper after cutting.

This page is taking too long to load and I don't have image size tags; I've seperated it out into 3 pages and will continue the same format, but of limited page size and link back to older pages on the end of each.

Here is a recipe for Justyna and Bryan Polish salad
Polish Cheese and Cabbage Salad:

• 6 medium large leaves of cabbage (white best)
• 4oz feta cheese (cut into small uneven cubes)
• 3 small pickled banana peppers diced
• 1 large tomato diced

Cut and mix all items in a bowl and sprinkle with your house dressing or ours which is made from olive oil, vinegar, and salt/pepper/garlic. Add a little fresh ground pepper to the top.

Links to youtube videos below from about 15 years ago. Quick background: we painted this car and removed the roof and put in a 3rd row of seats in back. Local police, led by Chief Slaughter, harassed us and pulled us over on site which was several times per day. We got word they might try to impound the car so we secretly went to the county sheriff and had the car tested for road worthiness and it passed. Several days later it was towed out of our parking spot - on camera very late at night. We called local news and here are the videos. First one is me and friends and is on the light side. The second one is my brother and friends and is on the more serious side.



We got the car back several days later because the greenhills Police is crooked and have ego problems. Chief Slaughter is now retired.

In Poland. The next chapter is now being written. I've been here for just over a week and still feel I haven't been with Justyna as much as I would like to. We went to her friends wedding over this past weekend in Gdansk. (see pictures below) We arrived late Friday night, slept in a 70s style hotel on the Baltic and got a bus to the church on the other side of Gdansk in the afternoon. The service was very nice and was fairly quick and then we bussed back to the Hotel where the reception dinner was. It started soon after. Not knowing much Polish kept me in the dark on some things, but the night went very smoothly. I've never seen so much food put out and on top of that is the vodka. Interestingly I've found that my peer group in Poland seems to think that American folks can't drink or hold any amount of alcohol. I think this is based on the few fruity beers that have made it to Poland like Budweiser and MGD. One event at a time I'll prove them wrong, but hopefully not more than a couple a year as hangovers limit painting time. Below are some pictures from the weekend. There is a picture of the Baltic, one of the final part of the wedding, and one of a KFC that I found interesting.

Why I have two coffee makers and two irons is beyond me. I don't drink coffee and well... I don't iron much. I'm down-sizing in a big way and there is a ton of stuff that will get donated to my neighbors. If anyone in the Cincinnati area wants a fairly nice pine coffee table with a drawer, a 3 piece vertical halogen room light, a very nice painted gray bookshelf, or a parsons table (painted multiple times and is currently a distressed deep blue) - its basically a sofa table that I use to hold all of my painting supplies - Let me know. Ask for pictures if interested. I'm also selling my car soon; its a 93 honda accord with 109k miles and runs great with ac, power windows, etc. The body has dents here and there and the paint is weathered, but no rust other than a scratch. Its clean on the inside and very reliable. I'm asking $1500 for it.

I've also seemed to have acquired quite a collection of canned tomato goods (paste, diced, etc). I won't have time to eat all of them. If you want them let me know.

Before meeting someone cool for the first time have you planned out what you are going to say and how you are going to shake their hand and etcetera? Then to only blunder, change plans to the less impressive default, and basically make a potentially neat opportunity into something rather commonplace. It happened to me the other day. I had this totally cool-guy handshake planned out, but didn't follow through. Basically it starts as a normal hand shake, but with your left hand you make a soft fist and with the side of it you gently hit your counter-person's right shoulder 2 or three times depending. Oh well. Maybe I'll get Lech Walesa with it in Poland.

Useless Journal entry #3. Truck drivers drive faster when the road conditions get worse Last month I had a chance to drive from Cincinnati to Middletown (30 min drive on I75). Interestingly there was a rain storm pretty much right in the middle of the drive both on the way up and back that lasted about 10 mins of the drive. On the way up I drove exactly 60mph in moderate to light traffic. In 20 mins of driving up there I carefully paid attention to the trucks I was passing; I overtook them rather slowly, but I managed to pass 12 trucks in this time. Then the rain started.

I maintained 60mph and noticed something odd. Several of the trucks I had just passed started catching up to me. 4 of them overtook me in 2 mins and 2 more before we got out of the rain. There were no hills or speed traps in any of this test area. Once completely out of the rain and still driving 60mph I passed 3 trucks that I had passed previously.

On the way back to Cincinnati I opted to pick a group of 3 trucks to study. 2 of them were the same carrier. They were driving between 55 and 60 depending on slight slopes on dry road. When we got to the rain storm they increased speed to 65 and even hit 70 for a stretch. I had problems keeping up in my little honda because of the decreased visibility, but I persevered. Unfortunately for the truckers the rain only lasted a couple minutes and they reduced speed once we got out of it.

I guess I should come up with a sniglet or something to give a name to this happening or perhaps a mathematical formula. 18 wheeler speed is directly proportional to posted speed limit + a multiple of precipitation. speed (mph)= posted speed limit (mph)+ (inches of precipitation (h) * 6.4 (mph) ). I did a google search for this and didn't find anything, but it did confirm a theory I've had for some time. More testing will be done.

Useless Journal entry #2. Before bed each night and to relax after painting I've been watching some star trek next generation and voyager episodes on the computer. And to retain my semi dork statis, but don't tell anyone. Some of the episodes have been quite good, but I'm starting to notice a trend. It appears that seat belt technology has not been carried over to the 24th century. Nearly 75% of all on deck injuries are from crashes or similar. Quite often a scene has actors flying from one side of a shuttle craft to the other, broken bones from falling out of chairs on the bridge, and etc. I've been trying to postulate a real life use of this information. It seems a clever person might be able to get out of traffic citation. One might also be able to persuade peers to wear their belts because if they don't they might get thrown from the 1st mates chair and through the silicate protection screen and into other early 21st century combustion engine vehicles traveling on inverse vectors.

Random painting from China critique #2. These can be quite negative and slightly comical.

I'll start with good qualities of the painting first.

• Seller is offering a 100% satisfaction and they have 808 feedbacks at 100% positive.
• Horizon level
• The work is signed
• The distant hills are distant and yellow reduction is correct
• Water technique is solid although not well executed

Now some of the areas of improvement

• Lighting - Based on all forms there are 4 suns lighting the painting in multiple directions
• Whites in the painting are straight out of the tube
• Greens are abnormal; I think the painter should attempt to mix green with colors that aren't green for a proper palette
• The water color is not a function of the sky, but a directly same palette as the sky. Usually there is a blue shift and its atleast 1 tone darker.
• Forms are symbolic - house, boats, clouds, flowers, etc. Careful study of these items will yield correct representations
• Rhythm is way off. Greens were painted first and then topped with a predictable warm hue on each tree or bush.
• Technique isn't horrid, but there is no direction I can feel from palette knife or brush. Texture is random and not based on formula or plan.
• Total lack of perspective on house thing
• Flow - there is no flow in the painting. The viewer is challenged incredibly as there is no focal. Personally I'd rather look at wall paper.
• Lastly, the upside down miners pick is not working in this painting. I'm guessing its supposed to be a boat, but I feel like its a dentist tool or something a sea captain will have. Maybe its a giant washed up anchor that is trying to be a skinny super model. I think this painting could go without it. The other two boats on the left aren't as bad.

If for some reason you want me to do a serious critique on a certain painting let me know and I'll post it up here. I don't consider the above critique valuable.

Useless Journal entry #1. I've started adding useless journal entries and this is the first one of many more. Please skip it if desired.

After some research on urban dictionary I've found some interesting things for formal names. I'd recommend seeing what your name yields. You might have a name of a hustler or one who provides a safe house. Personally I, "have a reputation for holding his own, getting the job done, and/or having a fat wallet. Bryans are also know for their ability to be able to talk to niggas AND speak 'white'" I don't fit this description at all - for one I don't know white man trick talk and I also have a hard time understanding the African American youth that live in my neighborhood who make creative use of the N word. Maybe this is an indication I'm in the middle years... everyone is older or younger, but I imagine this is always the case as long as your aren't just born or Edna Parker.

I now have my ticket to Poland. I'll be leaving Thursday September 27. It feels wierd not using a plural for ticket.

I like the useless journal entry ability. I was stressing myself because I didn't have anything fun and exciting to report. I wonder how many people actually read my journal though... Lets try this. Use this $10 gift certificate in the future or email me. Have a great Labor Day!

Why learn Polish???

I'm getting ready to make my move to Poland and I've been part time studying Polish for over a year now. I'm still quite horrible, but I was thinking... Why should I learn Polish? To be able to communicate with people. To be able to order that piece of cheese from under the glass thing. To be able to understand Justyna when she is mad at me. To be about to buy my own subway ticket thing. To be able to read and write better than a sausage. All of these are good answers, but they lack excitement so after some research I've decided that it would be best to learn Polish in order to read the longest palindrome. From my novice understanding of Polish word order is not as important as it is in English which would make it possible to really be creative.

I really need to come up with a good journal entry; you probably can tell I'm digging hard. I've just been too busy downsizing, painting, and practicing how to replace the cap on the toothpaste. After review of old pictures I have this one to share. This one is the converted impala with 3rd row of seats. It has a long story to go along with it I'll share at another time.

I know what you are thinking... It did take a little time to park in order to get the rear tire to match up just right :)

I felt violated

This past saturday I went to drop off a painting in Indianapolis and then drove down to Madison Indiana. Madison is a turn of the century town that has kept most of its charm. The buildings are interested, well maintained, and there are lots of interesting things to paint. The day was perfect (only happens twice per year in the midwest). After walking around for a couple hours, taking pictures, doing some work, and trying to find a bathroom I happened into a side alley. The alley was nice like many of them there. An old lady came up to me and started complaining about her neighbors garbage pile in the side alley's alley. It was about 5pm when we started talking. It was actually one of those 1 sided conversations and I listened and asked questions. Mrs Sauley was 80 years old and was a middle child of 12; she had lived in Madison for most of her life. Not once did she ask me about anything which was okay and I kept her going about herself and learned a few things amongst the complaints about this and that. After listening to her for an hour and a half her husband started walking up the alley way (he just got back from church - she had told me this would happen earlier). She had turned to notice him and then mid sentense she stopped talking, turned back to me, and said, "okay bye."

I know we didn't go out on a date, she is not my mother, she owes me nothing, but damn... after having listened to someone and show interest in them for that long I was hoping for more than a "ok bye". Maybe a "it was nice talking to you," or "nice to meet you," or "it was my pleasure, have a good evening" would have been nice. Instead I got nothing. Maybe I should be happy with, "ok bye." oh well. Madison was nice anyways and the sun was lower.

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