16 December 2012

Rockenbach Productions

In preparation for starting a company, I thought it suitable to design a logo.  It is based on a goldfish named Honeydew.

It was when I was sitting in my kitchen talking to my fish when I realized that he would make a perfect logo.  I'm not sure what instinct told me that, but I decided to go with it.

It wasn't unti later I finished the drawing that I looked up some information on fish/goldfish as a totem. Here is what I found:

Fish:

Goldfish:

Cool, its a good thing I listen to my intuition. Goldfish:


This is what the drawing looks like.  I use this as a template to create a Vector image that I can safely use for any occasion.

At one point I though having a more graphic oriented image would be better, but the translation from drawing to vector became sloppy.  This is still a Vector image, but with less of a blur.  I was happy with this translation and might keep it around for a while.

03 December 2012

Something for Enjoyment

Click Here

While in Istanbul, I had the pleasure of meeting this fellow.  Makes me happy to be alive.

30 November 2012

Totem Animal Series pt1

I enjoy an absurd amount of detail.  So anytime I get a small pen in my hand, craziness ensues.




A little while ago, I started asking people what their favorite animals are.  I will be working on this series until I've given out all the completed images.

27 November 2012

What is Home?

Possibly just another unstable condition...



Three days before arriving back in the town where I grew up, after living for 8 months out of a backpack, I happened to sit down with an artist whose work I've admired since childhood in a conversation prompted by the question "what is home?"

There are many different answers to this question, and quite possibly just as many places.  

So what is home?  Is it where you choose to put your stuff?  Is it where you grew up? Is it where your family is? Where your heart is? Your friends? Or just simply where you sleep?

Like any young person I thought I had all of life's problems figured out in collage.  I had a wonderful epiphany and decided that home is where the people you consider to be your family is.  For me those people are spread throughout Vancouver BC, therefore there is a whole city I call home!  How great is that?  But because I'm not a Canadian citizen, I have been booted out and can no longer live there without Visas.  So now what?

I know! A backpack became home and I traveled to many spectaculare places, sharing my time with one stranger after the next. Being places I had never seen, while at the same time feeling like I had lived there before.  Somehow I had slipped into new homes so comfortable it took no almost no effort.

Now that it has all come to an end, the next step is returning to the place where I was born,  meaning home-by-default.  But none of this answers the question for what home is to me now.

This is the point where a new dissection of this ever changing condition is required in order to come to terms with the problem.  In order to reevaluate this, one needs to clear all expectations and start from scratch.


Having techniques for bringing awareness to the present will be different for everyone, for me the solution is music and art. That is what makes my world turn.  Take advantage of the things that are within your control, except that everything else is left up for mystery.  Find the answers that work for you and remember these are not the simple solutions to the question, in order for this advise to work takes great introspection and disciplined practice.  The reward?  How much you will grow as a human.

For now, home will have to be within.

Life is always evolving, welcome the changes, go with the flow.

http://www.honshin.com/ is where you can find Nicholas' work, there are slideshows for all his paintings, ceramics, jewelry, and more.


26 November 2012

Gives Me the Gigglies

I haven't been talkative much recently, but that doesn't mean I haven't been brewing up something good.  I need to do research and sift through the ideas before I make a serious post.  Until then, here are some videos that have put a smile on my face; makes me want to take a road trip.




And if your craving some music, here is a nice follow up:

05 September 2012

About How to Dance

It has been a little while since I have been able or had time to make any new updates.  I do not have a computer or a camera anymore, so it makes it a bit more difficult to share my adventures.  But today I did stumble upon a great piece of writing.  If you've never danced like this, it's about time you try!

"We have come to be danced
Not the pretty dance
Not the pretty pretty, pick me, pick me dance

But the claw our way back into the belly
Of the sacred, sensual animal dance
The unhinged, unplugged, cat is out of its box dance
The holding the precious moment in the palms
of our hands and feet dance.

We have come to be danced
Not the jiffy booby, shake your booty for him dance
But the wring the sadness from our skin dance
The blow the chip off our shoulder dance.
The slap the apology from our posture dance.

We have come to be danced
Not the monkey see, monkey do dance
One two dance like you
One two three, dance like me dance
But the grave robber, tomb stalker
Tearing scabs and scars open dance
The rub the rhythm raw against our soul dance.

We have come to be danced
Not the nice, invisible, self-conscious shuffle
But the matted hair flying, voodoo mama shaman shaking ancient bones dance
The strip us from our casings, return our wings
sharpen our claws and tongues dance
The shed dead cells and slip into the luminous skin of love dance.

We have come to be danced
Not the hold our breath and wallow in the shallow end of the floor dance but the meeting of the trinity: the body, breath and beat dance

The shout hallelujah from the top of our thighs dance
The mother may I? Yes you may take ten giant leaps dance
The olly olly oxen free free free dance
The everyone can come to our heaven dance.

We have come to be danced
Where the kingdoms collide
In the cathedral of flesh
To burn back into the light
To unravel, to play, to fly, to pray
To root in skin sanctuary
We have come to be danced! We have come.”
~ by Jewel Mathieson

from her book "This Dance: A Poultice..." (jewelmathieson.blogspot.com)

28 August 2012

Welcome Home

The date is August 29th.  Today I have arrived in Berlin after four and a half months on the road around the world.  I started in Asia where I went to Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Indonesia.  from there I arrived in Europe where I sayed with many people and met many more. The list includes London, Athens, Hvar, Berlin, Malta, Malaga, Barelona, and finished it off by driving through the Pyrenees and along the western coast of France to visit all the old chateaus and castles until we arrived back in Paris for a second time. I loved every moment of the trip, including the ones I've forgotten.

I started the journey alone, and ended it around family.  I've been to dark corners and bright landscapes.  I've seen cities and jungles, island and mountains.  I've learned about myself and about the world, different societies and different cultures.  After all of that, what to do next?

As much as I've missed home on is trip, it is not the right time to return.  So today, on the 29th of August, I've been in Berlin less then 12 hours and I'm getting connections to find places to work and places to live.  I ran into a thousand signs during this trip all telling me to go, and now it's real.

So now all I have to do is test my luck and throw myself out on the line.  The first and hardest step is having the courage to show up.

08 August 2012

European Rendezvous



From here on out, I'm spending my time with friends and family, or friends who are family.  It will be just as fast paced as my time through Asia, the only difference being that I'm very distracted.

In order to remember a bit of what has happened while not giving away too much, here are my notes and special things to remember:

Hvar, Croatia.





Amazing place, glad I went, but will not return soon. What once was a cheep and exotic backpackers destination has sprouted into the new trendy yachters party destination.  There is nothing wrong with that, because even yachters need a good get-a-way.  I had more fun with the people I was with then the place itself.  So cheers to old friends, and new friends, and everybody in between.



France, Paris.








The land of romance.  First night, dressed up as much as a peacock and accumulated a whole bouquet of roses.  Second night, laughed at the peeping tom from a nearby balcony watching me shower.  Third night, danced madly in the park with headphones on under the Eiffel Tower.  Forth day,  met Tiggur and went bouncing around the city for the weekend.  I don't know why everybody says Parisians are rude, because they have certainly been more then wonderful towards two pretty ladies.


Berlin, Germany.




I'm in love.  With a place, a sound, a feeling, and that is Berlin.  It has stolen my heart away and the only thing I can do is go running after it.  This life is a chess game and this is my next move!  Everything about everything there is incredible, especially if you are an artist.  The streets emanate inspiration, from the sounds that echo from the old rundown warehouses and the colorful art that's plastered itself over every inch of wall.  The only word to describe it is Minimal, and in the most complex of terms.  Red, yellow, and blue are the primary colors they use to decorate.  The locals do not show excitement but will respond to something funny with a simple straight faced "ha."  Most people might be taken aback by this rugged industrial land, but it has captivated my heart.  Berlin, I will return soon.


Mellieha Bay, Malta.



The one thing I realized: As long as you start your journey with the purpose of getting lost then it never truly happens, instead you will be exactly were you want to be.  This part of the trip was reserved for sleeping, swimming, and visiting ruins.  Make sure to cover your shoulders when entering the Cathedrals, otherwise little men will come out of the dark shacking their fingers and going "tci tci tci tci tci tci" while scrunching their face at you.  Although, this also makes for a good laugh.

Barcelona, Spain.








Onward, forward, outward and upward!  Siesta in the daytime so the people get busy at night.  People walk slow, dress up nice, eat tapas late, and dance to the cha-cha!  This is the first time on the trip where I'm starting to act like a tourist.  I even got a map... looked at sites, climbed the parks hill to walk around the castles.  Took pictures of everything, and happily made fools of ourselves in public.  Many laughs where given that day.



...To be continued.
Next Malaga, to Marocco, then to Southern france to do wine tours all the way back to Paris.

16 July 2012

The Acropolis

The name of the first track is Hi Life (Ed Did It) by Monkey Safari.  i cant find a copy of the track anywhere on the internet, but its a great song.


Greece.  The home of philosophy as we know it.  Where reason is the leader towards truth, or as far as we can come to understanding this reality.  Even after thousands of years of evolutionary changes in the landscape, the ruins of the temple created for Athena, Goddess of Wisdom, still stands.  Maybe only in pieces, but the mountain itself where communities of thinkers congregated together to discuss ideas still peaks high over the surrounding city.

The colors of this place are blue, white and gold.  It's dry and hot, dusty and sweaty.  Lavendar, sage line around the gardens and orange, olive, and pomagranite trees line the streets.  The town is not a city, but more of a maze, with winding roads and walkways that snake their way between old buildings.  People are friendly and rude, giving and needy, happy and sad.  

Once again many ideas have come and gone, and yet another "favorite place" has been added to the list.