Identity part II.

"You are who you choose to be, your fate is in
your hands...if you want to be a bum be a bum,
if you want to be a millionaire be a millionaire,
don't wait for others, do it yourself, for he
who gets ahead stays ahead."

You are your own destiny.

"In the end it is only about you, the choices you make,
who you choose to be, and how you handle yourself.
You are the master of your fate. It has nothing to do
with the other guy or what other people think....And
when it all is said and done and you look back at what
you did, it's all you...and what will you do with that?
Share your successes...share your faults. You are only
human. Give back to man kind for it gave you all it
had to give...take others to your world and help
them shape their own."

My philosophy...maybe its others as well.

"I'm not going to change people by what I do or
say or because of who I am, people will follow
me because of me...I am Paul Schoeneck...
I am Legacy."

Coming Soon...

A new site/blog with my own watercolors. I hope you are excited
because I am!

The secret to painting with watercolors

I have been painting with watercolors for 4 years now
and let me tell you once you get the knack of it watercolor
is a wonderful medium to paint with. The secret is simple;
practice and find your style. My style has come from
learning and watching a man by the name of Luvon Shepard.
He teaches painting at RIT (NY) and Geneseo among other
places. He started with me in 2005 when I took a beginners
class with him. Ever since I have grown to love the medium
and have done a lot with it. Let me tell you it's an excellent
talent to have and it is a great to give as a gift and just
very gratifying.

For me it was my ability to draw and my sharp attraction
to my color pallet that got me hooked. Luvon gave us a
list of about 10-12 colors he found to be the most useful
over his 30+ years of painting. The true key is
finding a nice mix of the pallet to create hundreds
of new colors. Next, is finding a balance between
lights, mid tones and darks. Over exaggerate at bit,
show off the power of the colors, it's amazing!!
Don't forget to frame your piece, it just
creates a professional clean feel and takes your
work to the next level.

I enjoy doing baseball portraits like these by Mark Chiarello. Look at
the face he painted, see all the layers and the over exaggerated use
of lighting, that's what I'm talking about! He's good.

Why Reebok was on the decline and might now be rising

Reebok is an interesting company. I don't know the whole history
behind the company but I think I learned a lot when I worked
there last summer. Before going to Reebok I really only knew one
shoe brand, Nike. Nike's were cool and there was something
fascinating about that large swoosh. Adidas and Puma were
clearly second in a Nike world. Reebok was just another surviving
brand in my mind. Until I started working for them. Of coarse
I got a bunch of free stuff but that's not my point. My point is
I got to see all the cool stuff they did with the company. All
the cool designs that you never see in stores.

There lies the problem. When you think Reebok you might
think NFL because they have a huge license or maybe hockey
equipment which also en lies another huge license. I have talked
with several people and where Reebok problem lies is marketing
and just on shelf dominance. I found that Reebok had a ton
of cool designs that you just never see on the shelf at a local
sporting goods store. I'd just like to know why that is? Why
can't they get there stuff out there?

I also has to do with brand identity. Before I came to Reebok,
Nike was the clear shoe to have, it was just cooler. Somewhere
along the line of 1990-2000 Reebok just lost power. When I
worked at Reebok I did a lot of graphic work for their baseball
equipment line. Yes, they have that! You might see guys like
Josh Beckett for the Red Sox or Joe Nathan for the Twins wearing
their gloves but how many kids actually have a Reebok glove
because those pros are wearing them. A few I would presume
but not too many, Why? Because you can't find a Reebok
glove anywhere; in stores at least. The one place I found
them was Marshalls; a discount clothing store not a sports
shop. For those of you who don't know choosing a baseball
glove can be tough and to choose one it might be good to
get a feel for it before you buy it. There's the problem, no
touch no buy. You can have all the online stocks you
want but if a kid can't get a feel for a glove he ain't buying it.

Another thing, Reebok just got bought out by Adidas which
is actually a good thing in my opinion because they actually
have a clue in the footwear industry. Recently this spring
Dicks Sporting Goods came out with a few baseball equipment
TV commercials. And you might think since Reebok sells gloves
online the store might have a commercial on them but no.
How could they, they don't sell them in stores because isn't that
the point of commercials to make you want to go to the store
and pick up that glove you saw on TV while maybe buying
a few extra things because "you might as well." Yeah so
that commercial you saw was for Adidas baseball equipment.
Adidas baseball equipment? No one owns or did I ever
hear of an Adidas ball glove. But somehow they are making
gloves and are in stores anyways??!! Still kind of confused.

Well I still think Reebok is going up but in a slow way and
people will never know about their cool stuff unless it
come sin stores and the brand reinvents it's identity. I've
grown to like to brand but really only because I worked there
and got to see all the cool stuff that come out; otherwise I would
still be with Nike. So we will only see where the brand goes but
hopefully it goes up. So when you are in stores or online check
out Reebok you might be surprised about what you will find.These are great running shoes and so comfortable. (Reebok premiers series)