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| One of the most talented and gifted custom Muralist that I have had the privilege to see work. Last week, I was able to see Ponchaveli finish the Mohammad Ali mural a couple of blocks from this venue. |
Last week end, while making my circuit rounds, a muralist that is noted in Dallas was working on a large mural of Mohammad Ali. It was the featured post for last week end. Today, while following the water discharge on the Trinity (the USGS has a great digital set of meters) that are published live on their website. The radar units measure the rate of discharge down stream. When the USGS Field Office in Ft. Worth was installing the units there was a post made. Ever since, especially with the rain we have experienced again this year, I have followed the "trash" pile-up that comes down from upstream parks, storm drains, ditches and the like. Yes, as one would guess, what you see along the Trinity near downtown is that very discharge of items from those sources. Today, was of special interest because the discharge rate was still very fast but the level of water had dropped some.
I did the shot of the typical pile-up points..... ever notice why the bridges have those little slots spaced evenly along the side barriers--the pile-up was deep,wide and high on the banks. It was solid for ten or fifteen feet from the bridge back upstream. As the water reached the height of the bridge, the slots allowed the water to continue to flow downstream, but all the wood and trash and what ever else (i.e., coolers, footballs,basketballs, many, many soccer balls, shoes, flipflops, milk cartons, etc.,etc.) that could be seen under the pile as well. Most of the paper labels were gone, having started their bio-degradiable cycle already. The only labels left on the plastic bottles were the companies that use the plastic overlay labels that are sealed and glued. When done, it was on to Deep Ellum. However, today, I never made it that far east. Being in the neighborhood of the most condensed and creative art canvas in the city, it was time to check out what had changed this past week.
A very interesting thing happened. I met an artist that was just about to paint a new mural. While the site was being prepared, we talked about the other cities in Texas that have such a like venue. The artist went about his work like a pro. Making the outline didn't take much time for him to sketch the full mural outline. Filling in the full mural was going to take some time. Before next weekend, I'll try to get down there again if my route doesn't cause any delays. Each day, I allow myself about 3 hours for the 38-mile route. Sometimes, the shoot time and the drive time get out of sync and my shoot list gets stacked up. The summer in Texas heat does limit my activities at my age and with the medication that has limits in the direct sunlight. Dehydration is a problem that can cause major problems with the meds so while I do drink a lot of water on the route, take brakes in the cool of the AC in the car, one does continue to loose that valuable hydration. Still, I could not help but think how lucky I am to have so much creative people around. The guy today even had a creative producer with him. That was a first and put this custom muralist near the top of the list of those that I will follow from now on.
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| Don't Mess With Texas message needs rebroadcast. |
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| The Flooded Trinity River's currents were discharging at a very fast rate today. You can see the current in the center ripples. |
