Reel to Reel

 On Friday I finally had my ceiling fixed, patched, and repainted. A little over a year ago, the 2013 flood that brought Boulder to a standstill also showed me that the roof above my head wasn't as watertight as I was led to believe. For three days straight I was draining water from buckets I placed under the holes I had poked in my ceiling with a pocket knife. The good news is that, because I poked the holes in the ceiling to drain the water, my ceiling was pretty much left unharmed and intact. The bad news is that, because my ceiling was sound, I was put on a low priority list by my HOA to have the holes patched and the water stains taken care of.

But, finally, on Friday, I had a guy come by and take care of the problem.

Because I had to be awake so early to let him in and because I had to hang out all day with someone in my house I knew I'd have to do something to occupy my time. The problem is that it's hard to be creative and ink and get into your art groove when a stranger is in your house hanging up sheets of plastic and spraying your ceiling with odorless kilz.

So, I created an OilCan Drive reel to reel tape machine in Photoshop.

It's been something I've had on my mind for a while. I wanted to create a header that I could use when I put OilCan Drive music on YouTube and I didn't want it to be a static image. I wanted it to move. So, I thought, what better thing to make move than a cartoon tape machine that spins as the music plays.

I created the tape reels first and made sure I built them in a way that they could spin. Then I built the tape recorder to put the reels on. I didn't need to go all out on it because I knew that it would be cropped in such a way that the play, rewind, and stop buttons wouldn't be seen. And, I made sure the reels spun correctly on the tape machine. Finally, I created the header itself, complete with logos and a bit of design work to make everything look fun.

Finally, I put it all together with the OilCan Drive version of "Season of the Witch" I did last week and put it all on YouTube.



I think this will work well. It will give me a nice visual as the music is playing on future singles. Now, of course, I just need to record some new music.

Oh OilCan Drive, there is always something to do with you. You definitely never leave me time to be bored.

And, the ceiling is looking good. Just one more round of the guy coming out on Tuesday and we should be all set. Of course, now I have to figure out something to occupy my time on Tuesday. We'll have to see what I can come up with.

For now, enjoy the art, the spinning reels, and the music. Have a great day. I'll talk to you soon!