Studiology

It's Complicated

My computer has struggled of late, it kicks and screams, refusing to contribute when it comes to photographs (photoshop completely shuts it down) and a few keys don't work. I think its time is short. So I finally went back to Macintosh and am still struggling with some items but have gotten far enough to conquer a few and with time, it should get easier. I wish technology was less complicated!

My little man, who is balanced on a ball is a new piece. He is part of a show for November of 2025 and I will try and be quiet about that until much later. He is only two inches tall! Made from wire and clay, I was very proud of the fact that I could make such a little man. The title is "And the Crowd Roared", so I painted little people in the background. 

There is also a new heart and a smallish piece with a lemon tree. These are available at art galleries in Charlottsville, in fact I have finally restocked everywhere after the holiday sales.

and sadly there is still the issue with the right side chop of my photographs..

Outside is still snow covered but it has been interesting to see the difference between mowed areas and gardens. The front meadow and wet meadow have been left to feed the birds and there is no doubt as to how well that works. The front meadow is always filled with birds, and I suspect a vole or two for hungry hawks. Little footprints in the snow are testament. 

I continued to play with frost orbs and have a long way to go, but it's been fun.

And lastly I wanted to share these orchids. I purchased Brassavola nodosa, or so I thought, and it ended up a hybrid with no scent at night (the reason I love it). She is commonly known as Lady of the Night, so I recently bought the real brassavola and behold, with only one flower, she is incredibly fragrant and lovely! I can't wait for her to get bigger.

As I switch computers, it should get easier! Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Krampus Land

It's been a couple of years since I've been able to build the larger, fourteen-inch Krampus's (Krampi?). After finding a source for these bigger, blank, wooden nutcrackers, the season has begun. The official Krampus night or Krampsnacht is December the 5th, but with the close friendship between St. Nicholas or Santa (Krampus takes care of the bad kids), they are often displayed together, right through Christmas. It's been a whirlwind season, and they have sold as I make them, so Krampus Land is what has become of my studio time and space. 

As raw nutcrackers, they come as drummers, or giant lollipop holders, so the ball shaped hands are removed as well as the drum. The biggest obstacle has been replacing the hands with something that has creepy long fingers. It's been a couple of years, but I have come up with a method using wire, epoxy paste and clay. 

The best creepy hands to date have been on this masked Krampus. Just enough expression and matchy, matchy to make it outrageous. The fingertips are now black to add to the creep factor.

There are several in the works which go to McGuffey Art Center or C'Ville Arts in Charlottsville, VA. Complete with chain or cowbells, I'm always surprised how popular they are.

I learned a new technique for creating small, free standing characters from Michael deMeng, which is illustrated here. Two thin wood panels are cut (I use a scroll saw) to carve exact replicas and then cut the top one down to create a skeleton half. The bones are built with clay and then the painting finishes it all. This is the drawing and another subsequent Krampus character.

It will soon be time to get back to more innocent items, but I did finish this small "Shell Collector". He is forever searching for the perfect shell.

And back to work I go. 

And So It Came To Be

Two years have passed since I was juried into the McGuffey Art Center, although it seems much longer. I am part of the Associates group, artists that don't occupy a studio in the building but work in their own space at home. Most months we have a theme, which works for me, I like a direction. For the month of September, the theme is "self-portrait". I thought it a bit weird, most self-portraits are created to keep, so my plan was to abstract the art, not make it overly personal. So ta dah, this is what I created and it took a very long time.

Next in the line of recent work I completed a consignment, an octopus coming out of a shoe. The customer recently purchased the whale in a shoe, so this may be a companion piece. Working in spurts, it took 2 months to complete, and I was satisfied.

Lastly came the masks. I might be incapable of not making masks in the fall (it is September). So with some more fun and whimsy came these 3. Delivered to C'Ville Arts today, it's not too early to start thinking about masks!

 I recommend a large wig to accompany them. Each comes with a wall hanger so they can be displayed as a piece of art as well.

Art Projects

A lot on the table, works in progress and completed pieces for July. A work in progress is coming along and exceeding my expectations. Here are a few photographs:

Another wand was completed, titled "For the Birds, a Wand", the back is actually a bird house front, the rest had fallen apart and rotted. The wand is held in place with the help of magnets.

On the back I added the watercolor eye, peering through. A little surprise.

And lastly was this small piece made with a doorknob plate and small antique box. Simply titled "Knock, Knock".

August will also be busy with some pieces in their beginning phase. One is a self portrait, something new and challenging. 

 

If the Shoe Fits

In Mary Jane style shoes, I finished an art piece. The shoes were fabric, so there was a bit of uncertainty as to how the paint would cover and hold. After a few coats of gesso, all worked out well, really well. Like so many recent projects, I have a head which is usually something I fabricated from wire, clay and aluminum foil, and the right head guides the direction for scale. The shoes were adorable, but tight in the toe box - as shoe people say. My direction was loose, my thoughts were only on building until it was done and then I would think of a name or theme. In the end she became a young Lady that Lived in a Shoe, Alone. The title hinting to one of the oldest of nursery rhymes about an old lady that lived in a shoe with 12 children (and that had to be a tight fit!). 

Next up was a shoe with a whale coming out of it. To really do it right I decided to work with a humpback whale, the largest and most gentle of sea creatures. Their accordion like underside or chin can expand to collect large amounts of sea water which is then filtered through fibrous plates which take the place of teeth. To make it a bit more interesting, a baby humpback was added to ride on the side.

The third of my most recent builds was not a shoe. Maybe one of the weirdest things I have ever created, just a zombie and his pet dog. The title is "Even a Zombie Needs a Pet". 

Of course I do spend some time thinking "who would ever buy this?". Well applications are not too farfetched, the lady in the shoe would be great for a funky hotel lobby and the zombie would be perfect in an animal shelter. Perfect!

New Work

Studio time has been spent making smaller pieces. My quota for weirdness may be rising, it was around 30% before but has escalated, and new work is wonderfully strange. I can't wait to share. This one is finished, only about 8" tall. Built from a plastic dinosaur head and various metal parts. She is available at C'Ville Arts in Charlottsville, Virginia. 

The theme for May at McGuffey Art Center was Myth, so I build this winged lion. His wings are gold leaf, something I haven't worked with in a while. A large piece, about 2 feet tall. An antique clock case is the foundation.

More new pieces coming soon. 

The Whir of April

A month with 30 days, April was full of changes both in the gardens and with rotating visitors. I learned many things about Charlottsville, Virginia; music scenes, culture, gardens and restaurants.

Monticello is very close and the gentleman that represents Thomas Jefferson is outstanding. I recommend joining him for a chat on the lawn which incorporates questions from the audience. Our days questions included topics from banned books to woman's rights and voting restrictions of the day. He is always in character! As much as he was the highlight of the day, the gardens and house tour make it well worth a visit.

The Paramount Theater offered a documentary about John Singer Sargent, the American painter, best known for his portraits of wealthy socialites. To see his work on the big screen and understand the scale of his work and skill was incredible. If history and art are of interest to you, catch this if it comes your way.

A small private tour of Morven Farm was also part of April. Home to the University of Virginia's Sustainability Lab, it is used for teaching and research. Many of the gardens are set up with boxwood hedges or rooms which are typical of Virginia gardens at the turn of the century.

My own gardens, only in their second spring, made me smile every day. Here are photographs that span all of April.

The only thing lacking was rain and I feel it fitting to complain publicly, that is often the cure. We are abnormally dry as are parts of North Carolina, and I hope that changes soon.

On a positive note, I did find this beautiful orchid on a recent walk. It was a very special moment.

New Shoes

A few more shoes were pulled out of my cache to become something entirely different, each with their own story. Two were men's shoes, patterns on the side were the reason I bought them, fully intending to give them a new life as a piece of art. This first one is made with a porcelain doll head, a small lion head (pseudo door knocker), lamp parts, lion's foot for a table leg, ribbon, and clay beads (and of course a shoe). The clay work for the mane took a few days but was well worth it once painted and completed. I titled this one simply "Son" with the adult lion at the top of the shoe and younger (human lion form) at the bottom.

The next one is built with a paper weight that highly magnifies. Behind the paper weight is a face, taken from "The Invisible Man" puzzle toy. It's a bit disturbing to suddenly realize that you are looking at a see-through head, and it is only realized when you look at it from a certain angle. All the better in my opinion. He is hard to photograph without reflections, I did my best. The title is "The Path You Choose" largely because he reminds me of a soothsayer or diviner and the linear piece on top goes to a star. There is also another face, more like an owl's face, holding the round paper weight in its mouth. 

And that was one funky shoe!

 The woman's shoe includes parts of a trumpet, another porcelain doll head, and a wooden parrot that was made of wood but was in rough shape and needed sanded and repainted. Naming a piece can be a large struggle and this one defied any clever ideas I had. In the end she became "Just a Woman and Her Parrot". 

In the end she reminded me of Catherine O'Hara as Delia Deetz in the movie Beetlejuice.

One of my favorite things about working with shoes is how they hang on a wall. I often call it skinny art and it's also the reason I like making wands, they can hang almost anywhere, in a corner, next to a door jam, next to a closet, above a lamp, etc... 

 

Carnival Update

The alarm went off at 2:30 AM for the beginning of numerous flights to Oaxaca, Mexico. The first airport was right here in Charlottsville, which was a pleasant surprise, easy in and out. Once in Oaxaca, there is the happy search for food because it's hard to find a bad meal in this beautiful place. Some of my most memorable meals have been here, sometimes accompanied by Spanish singers with guitars, or a view of the Cathedral of Santo Domingo de Guzman. 

The art group and its participants were almost all there, and tours around the city would begin the next morning. One of the wonderful things about traveling to this part of Mexico are the many art forms, from fabric, print making, clay, and wood carving, days if not weeks could be spent on just one - inspiration comes from them all. It was also Carnival week, so numerous parades were passing on the streets. Clowns, devils, and a few skeletons serve as evidence of the power of evil prior to repentance.

 

One of our tours led us to Zoologico Magico, home to one of the only female Alebrije carvers which are the colorful wooden animals painted with insane detail. We learned about the symbolism of patterns, colors, and animals as well as the long period of internship in all facets of building these creatures (and on a side note, almost all tours begin with a bit of local Mescal).

This is probably my 4th time to visit the shops of Alebrije makers and it's always a learning experience. I noticed that the smallest bit of paint detail came from a syringe filled with paint.

Between class time there are the walks into the center of town. A large part of what made this trip so wonderful were the lack of big crowds. For the Day of the Dead festivities, it's very, very crowded. For this trip we were able to walk into restaurants that are usually booked and/or overcrowded, even able to pick excellent seats with vantage points for people watching. 

On Fat Tuesday or the true day for Carnival, we visited a small village were men and woman, young and old, cover themselves in used motor oil. The parade begins early and cowbells hang from their waist as they dance their way down the acala. Most are covered in black oil, a few use orange or red oil. Masks are made of everything imaginable; skulls, wood, Paper Mache, and cloth. A band travels along and the beating of bells and music make it hard to miss. In our circle they are called the "Oily Boys" and we were warned about wearing old clothes in case we were hugged. We literally ended up in the middle of the parade, but with some quick maneuvering, only my purse was oiled (I see it as a pleasant reminder of a crazy day).

We also visited some incredible cathedrals, an art installation of Raku vases, and of course admired the crazy array of street art.

So much happened in the space of 10 days that it seemed like a month. Oh, and we made art too. The theme for this visit was "Altered Egos" with interactive art or a way to move or add heads. I had hoped to finish a male and female piece but was only able to finish one. He turned out better than I envisioned, so it was a successful art trip.

His extra heads fit into slots on the bottom, and there are a total of 4. Hopefully I will be including more photographs of the finish and his female counterpart.

The trip was hosted by Michael deMeng, and our daily tour guide was Mija Matriz, both of which made this my favorite trip to Mexico so far! 

 

 

 

Carnival

For numerous years I traveled to New Orleans for pre-Mardi Gras celebrations, always home before the real Fat Tuesday. This year I'm headed to Mexico for Carnival, or their Mardi Gras, traveling to Oaxaca again with Michael deMeng and attending his class with a lot of structured tours to take in the celebrations. The theme is "Altered Egos" and the art focus is on characters with multiple heads and the ability to swap them out. I've spent some time on the pre-build, hopefully avoiding the rush to finish a project before heading home.

All of my trips to Oaxaca have been for Day of the Dead, so I'm excited to see the city in a different season. Of course, it's also nice to head to the tropics in February! So, while the lenten rose are just starting to bloom in my garden, I look forward to their happy faces when I return, and the true Lent has begun.