Other hobbies/interests?

[Frances McMahon]

Frances,

I am a big fan of watercolor and I really like your work.i am going to send a link to your website to my sister who lives with a parrot and has become obsessed with birds as a result. Your paintings do look like you live in an area with parrots. Northern Australia, perhaps? What puzzles me is this. There is a line on your website that says "Location, Oregon Wisconsin." This is a small town which is a suburb of the city I live in. What does Oregon WI have to do with your work? If you are showing art here I would go see it. Is it the location of your web designer? Instead of TMI (too much information) we have II (insuficient information.)

Hi Dory,
Glad you like the watercolours! Thank you.
I live in Canberra, the capital, which is in the more southern part of our Wide Brown Land. Australia is second only to Brazil for the number of amazing parrot species. They are all over the place!
I haven't seen the link about Oregon, but my website is powered by Fine Art America, which probably explains it.
FAA have absolutely thousands of artists that have joined. Anyone can join. However, for a small annual fee, you can get your own 'URL" so you are separated from all the other zillions of artists. It's a great site to be on, as they take care of all the printing and customer orders, while the artists get the profit from any sales. Noice.

[Frances McMahon]

I've been painting birds in watercolour since age 5. Entirely self taught.
I've never done this professionally (not enough market for it) but absolutely love it.
I've also been a competitive adult figure skater, giving up after 13 years, to take up guitar again!
Also love reading, sewing, and family time.
http://www.frances-mcmahon.artistwebsites.com

(Example shows a painting of a Pacific Black Duck, watermedia on museum board - 2003)

Wait a minute ! Hold the Phone ! That duck is a painting ? !! If you'd have said it was a Kodachrome shot I would have said " Wow, what camera did you use ? !!!!... If you don't paint these professionally, you could, and paint covers for the Audubon Society magazine and make a bundle !

Oops, sorry. I read your bio after writing the above. I see my suggestion is a mute point as you have already become highly recognized in the art world, galleries and schools.. Anyway Frances, you are an amazingly gifted talent ! .....

Hi Mark,
Thanks so much for the kind words!
Yes, it is a painting! It's one of my favourites and I am keeping it to pass down to my children. It looks just right in our home.
I don't think I am really "recognised" in the art world, but those things aren't very important to me. I love art, but couldn't do this 8 hours a day. I'd go insane! There is a huge amount of work in each painting, and my "turnover" is pretty slow. Probably about 3 paintings a year tops. Then along comes a CG obsession into the mix.....
And thanks for the good idea about the Audubon Society! I may just contact them. I have had my work in a few art magazines, but no commissions tend to come from those, as it's usually other (starving) artists that read them...lol
Have a nice day!

[Sandaun]

I help pull biplanes apart and put them back together again. And as a volunteer, help move furniture for Habitat for Humanity's retail arm ... it's something to do besides wishing I knew how to play flamenco and classical guitar as opposed to merely trying to sound like I do ...

[Tubbers]

I dabble in many:

Drums since the mid 60's.
Photography since the early 70's. (I'm currently doing my own Stereopticon pics.)
Black powder target shooting in the late 70's.
Motorcycles in the early 80's (all money pits).
Art in the late 90's. (I enjoy scratchboard art).
Classical guitar in the mid 2000's.

[Michael Tyson]

I have a few hobbies, otherwise.

I am a marathon swimmer, meaning I prefer swimming open water 10K or longer.

I love languages, and, to paraphrase a famous American: I never met a language I didn't want to learn.

I like orienteering, but I don't get to do many where I'm stationing right now.

I love homebrewing. I'm currently stationed where beer selection is crap, therefore I make my own beer. I love the process and I love tasting the results.

Just recently I started lifting with the wife. She's really good, I'm not. I can't say for sure if it is a hobby yet, but I like the challenge and I know it is good for me as I get older.

[rikart]

I love languages, and, to paraphrase a famous American: I never met a language I didn't want to learn.

Here's something to tease you -

delcamp.png

[zupfgeiger]

Guess.

Ummm, beer aficionado?

I'd say fermented grape juice with some alcohol residuals.

[zupfgeiger]

I love languages, and, to paraphrase a famous American: I never met a language I didn't want to learn.

Here's something to tease you -

delcamp.png

Here is some good expert advice for learning languages.

https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/poly ... resolution

[Jeff Whitney]

I enjoy fishing (surf fishing off the beach in Southern California).

Metal detecting, again on the beaches of Southern California. I find mostly coins (quarters more than anything oddly enough, don't know why that is), and the occasional ring.

Working on my 1975 Fiat Spider. At one time it was road-worthy, then I decided to do some engine work, one thing led to another, and it's on to an almost full-scale restoration. The only problem though, is that mechanical work can be very hard on my fingernails, I exercise extreme caution, but even at that, accidents happen!
Jeff

[MarkInLA]

WOW ! I CAN'T BELIEVE I AM THE ONLY MODEL RAIL IN ALL 7 PAGES !! No others out there into trains ? !! Very hard to believe. You must be out there !

[Jeff Whitney]

WOW ! I CAN'T BELIEVE I AM THE ONLY MODEL RAIL IN ALL 7 PAGES !! No others out there into trains ? !! Very hard to believe. You must be out there !

My 2 year old grandson is bigtime into them, and I , by extension am as well!

[Pat Dodson]

WOW ! I CAN'T BELIEVE I AM THE ONLY MODEL RAIL IN ALL 7 PAGES !! No others out there into trains ? !! Very hard to believe. You must be out there !

My 2 year old grandson is bigtime into them, and I , by extension am as well!

For Mark and Jeff; not model but full size. After a ten year, £4 million renovation The Flying Scotsman is back under steam and has a full schedule of long runs this year. Here's a BBC item about it:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35515743

[Jeff Whitney]

Thanks Pat, he is going to love watching that clip, steam trains are his favorites.
Makes me want to hop on a plane with him and get a ticket for a ride.

Jeff

[Debussychopin]

Chess (achieved USCF Master back in the mid 80's, but have not kept up with it much, except for endgames -- love 'em), piano, some banjo (but that pretty much stopped when I started CG).

Nice, I love chess too, I was really into it when I was in college, never achieved master level or anything but was a decent rating for a chess club.
Fascinating game, how a small simple board w simple pieces moving about can bring out so much complexity. That there are trends that come and go on how to go about things. Theories on position that you may think may have concrete data on such a simple board but these theories remain ...theories, just because there is too much complexity. I agree about the endgames, it is more about art and subtleness (and calculation) in the endgame more so than in the other parts of the game.

[Terry Simons]

Bass fishing, reading, amateur radio (KE6FY) and watching movies.