'Eye Full Tower' (Via Power Washer)

These photos were taken on May 25, 2020 at 1:48 PM.

The location was in the driveway of my home in Beltsville, Maryland.

The "Take It!" came as I finally found the right day ( warm and overcast ) to get out there and do that long deferred chore of power washing the walkways and driveway surrounding my home.

I always enjoy this exercise as one can immediately see the good results of their labor.  This application was no different with the exception of having heightened expectations as these areas had not been spiffed up like this in quite a while.

I have to confess - this chore is perfect for me as there are few rules in how to do it.  I suppose one could do the standard back and forth/side to side motions and get the job done in an orderly fashion.  Well - that just is not my style - lol.  Up until today - the way I have played this game is to go all over the place - making strips, circles, slashes , and other goofing around, clean up swipes with the "Wand.” I have no idea who came up with the brilliant idea to name the nozzle apparatus for this machine delivered process as one of the instruments used in the delivery of magic. It could not be better described.  Thanks for joining me with this aside tribute - lol.  To finish with the of my usual style - after going all over the place - I then connect it all with "Wand" brush strokes to finish out the cleaned slab or whatever the surface is made up with which can include bricks, concrete, and even asphalt (which must be carefully done). I have even put the pressure to plastic surfaces and sometimes from a distance - where there is paint with dirt on it that needs some sparkle - lol.

Returning to what made today's game different.  It all started out in the same erratic "Slash and Clean" fashion - when an idea struck me to try to make shapes with the wand in the dirt on the walkway.  I am hard pressed to call my experiment "Skill Building” but for the lack of anything else - will go with this label.  I then went on with the making of a head from Easter Island. from which a random human head emerged as side figure that needed just a few shape up strokes to have it be somewhat recognizable - lol.  I then went on to do some pyramids under a moon lit sky.  These were quickly followed by a cake, which will get some assist using chalk after everything dries to get some more detail on it.  I have named this section with this image  “The Cake Walk.”  Next came a misshaped but recognizable “Heart.”  Last but not least - a tribute to all of those sour dough bread makers who have found the baking skill during this Pandemic - a round loaf which will also get some more definition using chalk when the concrete dry's.

At this point - I invited a neighbor who was repositioning her car in the asphalt driveway next to my house to come over and take a look at the images I had put together.  It was my first meeting of her - and turned out to be lots of fun. She was able to recognize the intent of each of the images - and got a  kick out of getting in on the exercise.  I then told her I was going to do an image of the 'Eiffel Tower' on to the concrete driveway in front of my garage.  She suggested that I look it up before taking this idea into hand.  In a moment of immodesty - I thought I would be able to do it - as I had been there and remembered it well.  Thankfully - she was graciously impressed - and said she would look to see it later. We parted and I started to make that famous shape. I decided to add the moon into the upper right corner.  I then opted to make a frame for the piece with the result being a totally lopsided rectangle - which I decided to not try add any attempt to better square up for some perfection - as thought - what I had done was, crude, but recognizable enough To attempt any perfection - was to flirt with disaster - as by this time I was getting tired - and was finding my accuracy diminishing.  The quest for perfection was abandoned and I went on to do some mundane cleaning of a nearby area which had been a location I had been looking at for a long time wondering how it would look with a cleaning (I am happy to report - while not able to get it fully clean due to some sort of chemical spill from a while ago - it does look a lot better).  

It was at this point the sun had come out - and the day - while far more beautiful - was getting hot - so I stopped my work (now really redefined as" play") and put everything away. 

There are areas left which have not been cleaned as of yet.  I have an hunch there may be another creativity flare up - lol

With the above in mind - I went inside the house and took off my dirty and drenched clothes - and took a long refreshing shower.  I followed the clean up with a glass of ice water (to hydrate) and a slice of sinful Tiramisu (bought at Whole Foods) before brushing my teeth and going for a nap. I awoke five hours later - and came right into my office to write all of this up while it was still relatively fresh in my mind. The reliving of this has brought many smiles while putting it to print.

As always - it has been a priviledge to share this experience with you. 

With my very best regards to everyone,

Bruce

PS: Rather than have this be "A dirty little secret" - lol  I am inviting everyone to give this easy game - a try and send me some photos of your results.  I will share your photos and give full credit to any artist that engages in this medium.