Darrel the Barrel

Brightscapes: The Way To Beauty

Darrel the Barrel

acrylic paint on canvas board

5" x 7" (12.7 cm x 17.8 cm)
201912117

© copyright Mike Kraus

To purchase, please visit: https://www.etsy.com/listing/923499262/darrel-the-barrel-original-digital

or

https://society6.com/product/darrel-the-barrel-by-mike-kraus-art-milwaukee-wisconsin-muskegon-michigan-great-lakes-traffic-cone_sticker?sku=s6-18579538p65a211v751a212v753

Most epic journeys are unexpected.  An anonymous traffic barrel in Milwaukee accidentally fell into Lake Michigan and became a celebrity 120 miles (194 km) away in Muskegon, Michigan.  This unexpected Wisconsin ambassador has been highlighting the craft breweries, festivals, museums, and beaches easily in reach by the Lake Express fast ferry.  More of Darrel the Barrel's adventures at:  https://www.mlive.com/news/g66l-2019/10/a90f3970e43847/darrel-the-barrel-washed-up-on-beach-becomes-instant-muskegon-celebrity.html 

Having Fun During Coronavirus

https://mikekraus.blogspot.com/p/covid-19coronavirus-resources.html

Mike Kraus was born on the industrial shoreline of Muskegon, Michigan. After earning his Fine Arts Degree from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, he attended Grand Valley State University for his graduate degree. From there, he gained varied experiences from the Chicago Architecture Foundation, Art Institute of Chicago, Hauenstein Center For Presidential Studies, Lollypop Farm Humane Society, and the Children's Memorial Foundation. And every place he worked, he had his sketchbook with him and found ways to be actively creative. In 2014, Kraus became a full-time artist by establishing Mike Kraus Art. Since then, he has sold hundreds of paintings that are displayed in nearly every state and dozens of countries. Currently, Kraus lives in Rochester, New York with his beautiful wife and goofy dog.

For more information or custom order, please visit:

Store: MikeKrausArt.etsy.com

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LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/mkraus

Memorial Day In the Mitten

Just got back from Memorial Day in Muskegon, Michigan.  We had a great time visiting everyone.  Wish we had time to see more people. This is a pic of my sister, mom, and Megan at Hoffmaster State Park (http://www.michigandnr.com/parksandtrails/Details.aspx?type=SPRK&id=457)

Frances and I taking our traditional beautiful people pic.  Noah and Frances' house is awesome.  The style and artwork come together perfectly.  Also, very happy to throw a frisbee to Paxton.  Funny pup. 

 New shopping Chalets in downtown Muskegon.  It's 12 semi-permanent affordable retail spaces that give the area a "art fair" vibe.  It's a great idea that seems to be finding success.  It's been a few years since I've been back home.  But, I'm impressed that things seem to be improving.  There's quite a few new local businesses, people walking around downtown, various activities around the new Farmer's Market and at the breweries along Western Avenue.  It's exciting to see. (http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2017/03/12_retailers_to_rent_downtown.html)

 More chalets with the former Comerica Bank building in the background.  The former bank is in the process of being converted into condos (http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2016/05/new_highpoint_flats_apartment.html).  We were able to see the Edward Curtis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_S._Curtis) exhibit at the Muskegon Museum of Art (https://www.mfah.org).  It was very well done.  And it was much larger, expansive, interesting, curious, educational, and fun than many shows that I've seen.  It was completely unexpected.  I wish I was still an intern at the museum so I could spend a lot of time with the collection.

 Oddly, Raggedy Ann's red hair is thicker in real life...  

On a sand dune overlooking Lake Michigan 

 Lisa and my mom

Spending some time at the beach 

 Wandering around Lake Harbor Park.  (http://nortonshoresparks.org/Home/Parks)

Spent some time at Pigeon Hill Brewing (http://pigeonhillbrew.com/).  Great selection of craft beers.  Also went to 18th Amendment Distillery (http://www.18thamendmentspirits.com/), and Unruly Brewing (http://unrulybrewing.com/).  We had a lot of fun wandering around checking out all the new places.  Apparently, a lot of other people were too.  It's probably the most people I've seen downtown without a festival or other event going on.    

 A couple of wild turkeys wandering around the old neighborhood.  

The beach at Duck Lake State Park (http://www.michigan.org/property/duck-lake-state-park)

There is no family resemblance.  It's just an illusion created by our grey sweatshirts...  THANKS AGAIN for hosting us.  We had a great time.  It went by too quickly, as usual.

So a Priest Walks Into Bellhurst Castle...

Bellhurst Castle (http://www.belhurst.com/) on Seneca Lake.  Father Jack had his 50th anniversary of being ordained as a priest.  


For those who don't know Father Jack, he's the priest that married Megan and I.  Here we are dancing at our reception.  It was a great 50th anniversary celebration and we were honored to be invited.


A view of Seneca Lake


Mr. Fussy looks like a teacher I had in high school...


Athena seems to be waiting for 5 o'clock to roll around...


I can't wait for her to try to make this happen when she's 70-80 lbs.



I call this "Still Life of a Future Blog Post."  

That's all I have this week. 

APRIL FOOLS!

Seriously, this is the worst April Fools joke ever...


What a weird day for weather.  Half the day sunny and beautiful.  The other half was a blizzard.  In between was whatever this is.


It's a good thing Karen didn't see this guy.  Look at his sad little face.  He wants to eat my sandwich so bad.  


"Do de do de do...  Wonder what they are going to do in here next?" About 20 minutes later...


"GOODBYE WALL!"  Who knew making a waiting room for admissions would look so destructively fun?  You never know what will be built or demolished when you walk around Lollypop Farm these days.  Kinda fun


Prince Fielder looks really cozy wearing his snowmobile suit under his uniform during Opening Day up in Minneapolis.  It could be a good year for them.  Just another 161 games to go to see how it ends up.

Went to Sinbad's Restaurant (http://mysinbads.com/) over on Park Ave. this weekend.  Pretty good food.  Probably the quickest food service we've ever received (including fast food places).  It was as if they knew we were coming and what we were going to order.  No pics though, sorry.  No pics of the other fun activities with our friends either.  What a slacker/not allowed.  You poor blog readers have been ripped off...
Hope everyone had a good Easter.

New Digs

Here's "Call Me Maebe," a newborn horse at Lollypop Farm.  She was less than 24 hours old when this was taken.  What a great event to have around the office!


Speaking of events, here's the new wall that went up in the lobby to protect visitors, staff, and volunteers from the construction.


ATTENTION!  New cat sanctuary being built behind this wall!!!


It's been a long time since this office was this spotless.  Our old workspace will be a good space for others in the near future.


Goodbye old friend!


Hello new friend.  Here's my new workspace.  Still waiting for some new supplies to come in and complete the space.  But, it's shaping up and it's very exciting to see some of this renovation and expansion at Lollypop Farm come to completion!
That's all going on right now.  Been very, very busy lately with all kinds of projects.  So, it will be nice to watch some Modern Family (and possibly Lincoln) tonight.  Adios!

Movers and Shakers

This is the look of a sad little girl who's husband won't let her move into her new house earlier than planned.  


Almost all of our junk fits into the living room.  And moving is the best way to fight post-Thanksgiving turkey coma


Everything has a place and every place has a thing (except the 2nd floor, which is vacant)

So, for those of you that really want to know, our new address is:

41 Woodside Dr

Rochester, NY 14526

We'll be moving soon at Lollypop Farm too!  This is the exterior of the new clinic with siding and all.


There will be lots of happy cats looking out these windows soon


Cats-eye view


Nice masonry!


For all you HVAC and other system fans out there...


Interior of the new training center.  Quite a vast expanse!


The walls about to go in the new office space.  In front is open office space for desks and other equipment.  Offices on the left side.  Kitchenette straight ahead.  Bathrooms slightly to the right.  And the far right and back will be meeting rooms.  A lot of progress and it won't be long before it's all finished!

That's about it for now.  As things stand now, the next episode will be "how to fix insulation problems in your home."  Good thing it should be a nice, warm weekend...


A huge THANK YOU to a lot of people:
Terry Clar for letting us into every home in Monroe County and being patient with two idiot first-time home buyers.  To Bob Schreiber for teaching us about houses, all the running around, and generous support in trying to find a place to call "home."  To Megan's dad for storing our crap at his house for longer that we'd like to admit and so, so, so much, much more.  To Dave and Alison for working the morning shift of the move and moving the armoire into its final resting place (+ coffee).  Rich for letting these homeless bums squat at his place, move us in-and-out-out-and-in, and countless other ways big and small.  Erin brought the sugar high of Girl Scout Cookies and pop to finish out the move.  Marianne, who is pimping out our apartment (more on that later).  Mike Renahan for a couple great home inspections.  To Rachel for moving in a dining room table and breaking in Scrabble at our new house.  I'm sure I'm forgetting lots of people and apologize if I did.  THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!  None of this would have been possible without you!!!

I'm Mike Kraus and I Approve This Message

YEAH!  The bricks are in at Lollypop thanks to all the good people at Zaretsky and Associates Landscaping http://www.zaretskyassociates.com/!!!  Between injuries and hurricanes, it took a lot to put these in the ground.  I can't wait to tell our excited donors they are in!






And a quick update on the construction.  It's going up fast.  I saw some masonry on the clinic in the back and the roofing being installed.  It won't be long before these will be occupied!
Not much else to report.  I've been super, super busy lately.  So, I'm boring...

Another Lollypop Construction Update

The walls are going up fast for the new training center




A lot of work to go as you can tell by the sheer amount of cinder blocks around


Crisp fall day with the trees changing color behind the new animal clinic.


And, the trees haven't quite changed color or the salmon start to swim up the falls at Corbett's Glen

The trees around Allen's Creek are about to change.  Hopefully, it will be better than last year when they were about to change and then a severe windstorm knocked all the leaves off.  It went from summer to instant winter.  Then, there was no snow.  Last year was weird.
That's it from here.