May 24, 2015

| Instructor Basic SUP course flatwater...

whoaAaah that was an intense weekend, we have just completed an Instructor's course in basic SUP flatwater Level 01 with Julien Nantais from Pop Spirit and Unda. He was assisted by Jodi, Rosaire and an apprentice as it was a large class of about 10 students.
It was very windy and chilly at the start of the day on Saturday but the weather gradually improved, there were tiny rolling waves which were pretty fun to surf. The class was very interesting and we all learned a lot, whether it was about pure technical gestures, fundamentals, water safety or about managing a class of beginners. On Sunday we primarily focused on short teaching exercises (using awesome tools like KISS or IDEAS) and we learned 2 efficient safety rescue tricks.
Nice people, beautiful spot and lots of fun that's about what SUP is all about, big thank to the instructors for their knowledge, passion and their patience!
It gave me the opportunity to try the surf quad fin setup that i bought in L.A and it felt great, better tracking than the tiny whitewater fins for sure, plus they look nice right. I can't wait to know if we are certified so we could move on to phase II.

May 6, 2015

| Expedition Art in L.A - Part 02...

In the following days we had quite a busy schedule. On Friday, after a yummy seafood breakfast stop, we paid a morning visit to the California Wildlife Center and checked on the rescued baby elephant seals and sea lions. 
the center is located in a dry valley on the beautiful hills of Malibu and we had a great time talking to the local scientists, staff and volunteers, very brave and friendly bunch! This is the main reason why the Gnomon Animal Show was started, because Travis and David wanted to do something for all those starving baby seals washing up along the beaches of Southern California.
cute and super noisy pups, marked and cared
we then left to go back near Universal Studios to get prepared for the gallery show and to pick up Terryl. She is such a great person, quite sure she is an elf and I'm glad to finally meet her, we all headed back to the Gnomon workshop in Hollywood. It was a nice cosy event as usual, with lots of interesting people and some beautiful oeuvres d'art were presented. I have been a big admirer of Claire wendling for a long time and here she was (accompanied by Stuart Ng), trying to move around incognito, but Manny wouldn't let her stay that way :) she is super cool and so humble it's unbelievable. I've let her try Art Rage on my Galaxy Note 4 and... voila, her first cellphone sketch! Pretty nice no? even though she is not proud of this digital doodle, Claire you're the best!
Joined by the amazing Claire Wendling and Terryl Whitlatch!
Damn I really missed you Kristy, David and Manny, so much fun it's weird as time stops when we are hanging out right? Hey everyone you should check David's excellent little documentary about the seals, it's worth it. The demos and line up of instructors was once again top notch, I've learned a lot, met some incredible people like Ms. Mallory, Kory Heinzen and Jonathan Kuo. Thanks a lot Gnomon (Alex, Travis and the whole crew) for hosting such a meaningful event. See y'all again soon!
Manny's moving talk...
See the Gnomon Animal Livestream here > http://livestream.com/gnomon/animal

May 1, 2015

| Expedition Art in L.A - Part 01...

It's good to be back in the city of Angels, i booked a place at Venice Beach Suites & Hotels which is conveniently located near the skatepark and it was great to see my old buddy David Levy who is now happily married and the proud daddy of an incredible cute baby! We had a great day walking around Venice Beach and Marina Del Rey.

Marina Del Rey dry canals...
The area has certainly changed and improved, there are now hip coffee places (like Café Collage) next to good vegan restaurants (Seed) beside the usual surf shops and heteroclite crowd, i also found a nice quad fin setup for my SUP at Mollusk. It was a long and tiring day since Montreal but it was worth every second, tomorrow the show will start at the Gnomon Gallery.

| Snowskate quiver...

This winter has already broken all the records in terms of cold, snowfall and ice storms, thank you  El Niño ! We have been snowskating quit...