Music, arrangers, and more?

Just wondering what other things people do outside making music and playing arrangers?

Personally i am a huge cycling fan and try to make at least a 2 hour drive several times a week, currently every day because i am preparing to climb some of the famous mountains in the French and Italian Alps this summer.

Its also a necessity for my other hobby, thats cooking (and eating)

So what are your hobbies outside music?

Bachus, well I will jump in , as I have my garage set up with leather work and a laser engraver. I use the laser to cut and engrave the leather from the large hides to make multiple items. A lot faster now than when I used to do them all by hand. Plus I have two industrial sewing machines to do the sewing of some things like back packs and ground sheets etc. but do hand sewing for wallets and knife sheaves.
Also, I do acrylic and ply as well, but I love doing the leather.


Allan

That sounds like fun and potentially profitable at the same time.

Proffitable? Maybe.

For people that like to create things with their hands, definately a fun thing..

Fun is always in the doing, and and watching others do also. Like watching real musicians play real keyboards and guitars etc. Usually because the music and the musician draws you into the whole experience.
I also get to have lots of fun playing with the laser and leather, as leather is very tactile; just like playing music with an instrument - it is rewarding on many levels.



Allan

Most of my current leisure time is spent sailing my Morgan 33 Out Island sailboat in Chesapeake Bay and along the Atlantic Coast from Maryland to the Dry Tortugas. I also spend a fair amount of working in my gardens. Sometimes, I just sit in a comfortable chair on my deck at home and watch the birds and animals, which is the benefit of building a home on the edge of the forest. We regularly see wild turkey, deer, raccoons, possum, an occasional black bear, and dozens of different bird species on our feeder.

Good topic,

Gary

Music, arrangers, and painting - as in ART ...
We consider our daughter to be the artist in the family - she started doing really nice work at the age of 11 years and now as an adult has been commissioned to do paintings and wall and ceiling murals in peoples and a hospital.
My wife took up painting quite a few years ago and is also very good.
When I retired from the day job, I started taking art lessons with her and found it to be as relaxing and as much of an 'escape' from daily life as music is.
I think I've done some pretty decent work, some of which I have shared below.
Also, while I do not have quite the 'forest' Gary has, I do live in an area where the minimum lot size for a home is 2 acres, so we have a good amount of trees. I have seen up to 28 deer at one time going through my backyard, as well as wild turkeys (not the kind in a bottle ) , fox, hawks, but no black bears - yet ... although there have been reports of one wandering around the town next to ours ... Once we even had 16 dairy cows grazing in our backyard, as a result of a hole in the fence of a dairy farm not far from our house ...
#1 The Bridge of Sighs Venice IT
#2 Day Lily from garden
#3 Quebec City CA

Two more:
Isola bella lake Maggiore IT
Isola Dei Pescatori lake Maggiore IT

All painting were done from photos I took on various trips.

They look great to me! I once tried to paint from one of those numbers things and I even screwed it up.

Absolutely beautiful, Tony. You are, my friend, incredibly talented.

Gary

Nice Tony. I have no patience for that..I can't even paint my living room.

I am into copy, graphics, music, recording film production, statistics...all things I do for a living, but would do for nothing.

Life is good!

R.

Thanks, guys .. I really enjoy it, but our art teacher retired last year and I haven't done anything since. ... I really have to get back to it ...
Interestingly, I was looking through a cruise travel mag recently and saw a photo of that Quebec City location in the mag ... almost identical photo, just taken from a slightly different angle ...
Lydia has done some really nice work also, and our house is filled with our art - if nothing else, it saves on wall decorations ...

Don, I've often thought of getting one of those paint by number sets and changing the numbers of the colors just to see how it would come out ...

Nice words, Gary, thank you

sparky, try it .. it is very relaxing ... and as my art teacher once told me - "It's your art, it can't be wrong"

I'm still trying to play golf. Also enjoy fishing. Have a 19 foot bass boat and a trillion dollars worth of gear. Hard to say which sport is more expensive.

Tony, I'm very impressed with your art! Like Gary said, you are incredibly talented. Keep up the good work!

P.S. I've been to every one of those places, except your garden! Italy is so beautiful it inspires art!

Nice work, Tony:

Acrylic or Oil? Hard to tell on a computer screen. You have an eye for perspective and proportions. Do you ever wander over into the surrealistic side of art? Today's art collectors seem to be more into that medium... but do what pleases you most. Then there is portraiture... which can be the most rewarding... in so many ways if one possesses "the knack."

My college career began in art, migrated to commercial art, took a left turn into business... and suddenly, total misdirection and disinterest on a broad front. Next summer... Sailor Suit and four years in Naval Aviation. Went back to University after my career was nearly over and graduated with honors. Funny what a little experience and maturity can do to one's perspective on study. Majored in Management and History.

Automation systems design and product enhancement to enable automation were my specialties. Managed the Automation Division of a Fortune 500 Company and saw the world. Took up golf and played joyfully until no longer able to safely grip and swing a club. Now, it's song-writing, recording and playing chess. My appreciation for art has never waned but I can only do what my inner being demands. I enjoy writing short stories but that gets in the way of music. Used to fly mostly single engine aircraft but doubt I could pass a physical now. Once owned a Piper Tri-Pacer but most of my time was in Cessna 172's and 180's plus a Beech Bonanza.

Being a jack-of-all trades is not a good thing. Thanks for sharing, Tony. You are a "master of two rewarding "art-forms."

Man am I a bore! Never got into art. Poor eyesight with color blindness doesn't help. Don't do golf. Had a good friend try real hard to get mr interested but I could never find the ball. I'm not into hunting or fishing. Shame as fishing is big in Mountain Home, Arkansas. I've gotten into college in the past. Like to read. Bought a used set of Great books of Western Civilization and working my way through the classics. Am animated about politics but loosing interest as it seems no one really cares what one old man radical thinks. Of course I enjoy my keyboards, recording, playing and keeping up with the forums.

I think it is more common then most folks think.... that a person with music skills also has art skills.

Myself , I was into art (pencil drawings, and pastel colors). My mother was an excellent artist, and I learned from her work.. She started to draw in her early teens and I did the same.. She was way better than I
I also excelled in graphic arts (School). After high school I was offered a job drawing Bond bread labels (design). It did not pay much and was a bit boring... so I turned it down.

I also was offered a job with Bell Tele as a graphic art position.. It was interesting but paid a third of what I made in my summer job (sheet rocking).

I decided to continue education in music.

And forever balanced my music work and construction (contractor) for nearly 60 years.

If I can dig up some of my art from my early teens I will post it.

Mike, thank you very much ... nice to hear that you have been to those places ... Yes, Italy IS beautiful, and those of us who have been there are very fortunate ... It was most amazing to me to be standing on a bridge built by one of the 'Caesars' at the beginning of modern time ... it helps me realize how young the USA is is when I see an historic building that goes "all the way back" to the mid 1600's, when some of the buildings in Rome were built in double digit years ! ...
As you live in Quebec, do you happen to know the address of the building I painted? I never documented it.



Thank you, Dave ... Both Acrylic and oils ... acrylic is good for its fast drying factor, but oils allow for more texturing and, mixing of colors right on the canvas as the paint dries ... No, I've not tried surrealism ... I'm more of a 'take the photo, paint the picture' guy ... I think taking the photo helps because I have the real image in my mind as I'm painting ...
Portraiture is a whole other world - trying to capture the personality of the person on canvas ... We had one woman in our art class who wanted to do a portrait of her grandson ... the art teacher had her first work on drawing each component of the child's face individually - eyes, nose, ears, mouth, until the woman was comfortable enough to start putting it on canvas ... the finished product was beautiful ...
Water color is another medium I have not been too successful in ... My sister-in-law does beautiful water color paintings, mine always seem to have a 'grade school' look to them, and that could be an insult to grade schoolers

And being a "jack of all trades" can be very rewarding ...



That's very true, Fran ... Besides the obvious 'professionals' that are excellent at both (Tony Bennett first comes to mind), I know a few musicians whose art work is also very good ...

I 'dabbled' in pencil drawings in my teens as well, but don't have any now ... would love to see some of yours ...

My wife and daughter are both incredible artists, oils, acrylic, water color, colored pencil. The only time I painted was when I was bed ridden and recovering from back surgery. I'll try to photograph some of them, and hopefully, they will come out OK because they are framed and behind glass. I don't want to try and remove them from the frames for fear of damage.

Gary

That's like bar karaoke for painters ... and no, I didn't say artists ...

Tony, WOW have you come a very long way, I remember seeing the paintings you’ve done in the past. That was probably 5 years ago, you’ve improved tremendously and you’ve certainly are talented. As I recall Lydia was doing some great art work as well. Keep up the good work and I hope we can meet for lunch in late April early May when I’m back up north.

Thanks, Steve, and you should be talking about the great photography work you do ...

Tony, You’re welcome at some point I’ll post some of the photos I’ve taken . Thanks for the plug!

Tony I didn't locate my old art yet, but found this... my best art

My wife and two oldest kids, in Atlantic City.

Kathleen looks just like Candy!

Lovin' the '66 Chrysler Town & Country station wagon in background..

Fran, the motel in the background looks like one my wife and I and friends of ours used to stay at when we went to AC ... but then, most of those motels pretty much looked alike ... We used to go to a club called The Dunes - powerhouse rock bands every night of the week ...

Dunes 'till Dawn! My cousin worked as a bouncer/bartender there! That was during the hayday of entertainment at the shore. The club I play each summer (Crab Trap) was right across the street from Bayshores, and Tony Marts ... 2 other packed dance halls in the day.

Nice work t...You're a real Joni Mitchell!

Let's not forget the "500 Club" in Atlantic City...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/500_Club

Another sad commentary ...

BUT - the Crab Trap still rocks the shore as strong as ever!

Thanks for the compliment, zuki ... but I'm not nearly in that class in music or art ...
She certainly has a lot of color in her work ... and she absolutely LOVES self portraiture ...

How are you doing?

Good for you, Dave ...