Studiology

Hibernating- Not

Wintertime (for the gardener) is soft socks, oversized fuzzy shirts, and fat pants. There is the wonderful sleeping in with no alarm clock, except for a little dog that needs to pee. Most days are working in the studio or walking the dog who has taken a liking to a hike that crosses a creek. Yesterday she lunged over the creek, still tethered to her retractable leash, which caught me off guard and headfirst I fell down an embankment in slushy frozen water, with a face splat on rocks. My boots filled with water, my Tilley hat floated downstream, my face grew a giant, bulging bruise, and I still had a mile to walk to get home, very wet! Today the bulge is a light purple, I may end up with a black eye and there might be a fingernail that falls off. I will spare you the gross pictures, it hurts to smile, and I look like someone clubbed me. But, in the meantime there is time to restock the art gallery, which will happen slowly but surely, and time can be spent alone without explanation in my workspace. 

I have finished 2 pieces; both have parts that either move or can be altered. With the first one, the wheel rotates like a pointer. Titled "Star Guide", the center piece can be lifted out of the holder, once again I used magnets to hold it in place. 

Next was something more complex with 3 alternative inserts.  A wand of sorts with options. Partly inspired by a bumblebee jasper stone that was gifted to me, and grew into a citrine crystal, and third eye choice. Sort of like predicting your day or week with positive energy from 3 options. Magnets are also used to help hold them in place, both in the main piece and in a holder that is not quite done. To finish the painting, the background needed to agree with all 3 inserts, which really took more time than I had ever imagined. 

There will be a side piece that holds the 2 while they are not in use, which is also taking more time to paint than I thought it would. A few other projects are in the works, and oh how I love January!

Merry, Merry

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and warm wishes for good things. The challenges seem to keep on coming but I certainly have much to be grateful for. With a hectic schedule that is now in the rearview mirror, there will be lots of time for artwork, walks with Birdie, and cleaning the house (a continual struggle). The art gallery has had a stupendous month and our new artists are selling like crazy. On my end I eeked out some light bulb ornaments and another Krampus. Sales have been so good that my space looks very vacant, and no complaints here. 

The last Krampus is named Phil, and I continue to make them creepy but paint is applied in soft pastel colors. The Ying and Yang of Krampus!

Making arrangements at Merrifield Garden Center was also good and my return to the fold with my favorite working buddies was a blast. We cranked out work with a creative flair, and I wish I had some documented outtakes of our antics. Humor is always a good thing. Keep your spirits high, cheers to 2021, and our days will begin to get longer - a good thing.

Sup

So much is up, and it's all good. I am rearranging my life right now with a few major changes. I have retired from Oak Hill, after 15 years. The drive out of the estate on my last day may have been one of the saddest of my life. That job was so wonderful and such a happy place, it will be greatly missed. For me it was time and the physical aspect of the job was taking a toll, I would like to save a bit of that for myself and maybe my garden. I took this photograph on my last day at work, my view on a daily basis and a glorious one at that.

Then there was the jump over to Merrifield Gardens for my annual holiday flower arranging. That will end at Christmas and I encourage anyone that is looking for an arrangement, advent wreath, or outdoor pot decorations to come and visit. Of the 3 locations, I am at Fair Oaks on a full time basis. Few things cheer someone up like a bouquet of flowers. 

In my creative space it is time for Krampus. These were delivered to the gallery yesterday. 

Prior to that it was Thanksgiving with my daughter's family and grandkids. Felicity is sprouting up and a delightful person, Quinn is the constant zombie killer (yeah, no zombies here), and little Junie is just adorable. 

So for now, the wassup is all good, and the forward trajectory is filled with twists and turns. I hope your journeys and daily events are all positive. I know that's impossible, but maybe more good than bad, how's that?

Street Art, Plant Art, Art Art in Mexico

From the everyday meals or walking the cobblestone streets, art and color come in so many glorious forms in Oaxaca, Mexico. Elevated for Day of the Dead, as it is for the Radish Festival, the Guelaguetza  (Ethnic Folk Festival), or The Festival for the Virgin of Guadalupe, flowers are present in abundance, brightly colored dress is commonplace and decorations compete from door to door, shop to shop. These are some of the store fronts and large Catrina's set up along the main cobblestone street. The majority of shops and our hotel have a low tray for customers to step into and then dry as a form of sanitizing your shoes. Many also took your temperature and all gave you hand sanitizer as you entered.

The use of plants, particularly as architectural accents is amazing. This bench and climbing epiphyllum were in the stamp museum, the others in a small shopping mall.

Street art is rich and apparently wildly accepted.

I could add an entire blog just about the cooking class, which included a stop at the market for these fresh squash blossoms, among other things:

The house where the class was held, the courtyard, the table settings and food, everything was artfully creative.

And the reason for being there was a class for building a heart shrine. Our host, the talented and fun to be around Michael deMeng guided us through the various styles of heart symbolism and we set out to complete at least 1 project. I created 2 and was very happy with them, which is not always the case, but put me in a very good mood (plus a little mescal).

I added some ribbon down each side once home, so now it's really finished.

    

In the end, I was so happy that I bravely traveled to Mexico. Once I was deposited in the hotel and met my fellow art family, it was a week of companionship and art. I leave this adventure with a few more photographs of street people and ofrendas.

 

 

 

Show Time

October is my month, a deadline, a theme, and a purpose. My goal every year for my show month is to have 20 new pieces and I made it to 19. The show is in the gallery I manage and in the space as you enter the door. Who ever operates as manager is allowed to hang their art in this prime piece of real estate in a gallery that houses 24 other artists. Over the years I have covered various themes; dreams, sea, circus, travelers, and saints (with sinners). This year it's fairy tale with a focus on Alice in Wonderland. The real excitement for me is to see it all come together, when every piece is hung on the wall. 

But of course there is nothing like seeing it in person and taking it all in. The show will be there for the month with a reception on Saturday, October 16th, from 3 to 5. To help you understand, I am showing some process photographs, taken in the studio as early as January when I began the real building of various pieces. Alice falling took the longest because of challenges in the process. It began with a frame, Styrofoam, aluminum wrap, and a coffee can. The roots are rolled up paper held together with wall paper paste. The final layer was paper mache and mulberry paper. 

This masks begin as a simple plastic form and is modified with cardboard, bits and pieces of things and covered in paper mache with tissue paper as the last layer. I used some clay, beads, and a glass eye  and like the others, there is a wall hanger so it can hang like a piece of art, or be worn to a party.

Rabbits rule and are made of various materials. I'm extremely happy with this one with the background painted in an abstract pattern. 

With each show I learn something new and this show was filled with new techniques. Possibly my favorite was bending wire and then coating it with paste to harden. The process allowed me to create vines and filigree additions. Jack in the Beanstalk was really good for this and the little pea pods dangly loosely.  

The Mad Hatter's hands were also made this way as he holds his tea cup.

The piece de resistance is my crazy March Hare mask. He should be worn with a large wig and a crazy outfit. I painted bravely and it scared me. But it worked.

As one final note, this is as colorful a show as my circus themed year. I humbly believe it's a real joy to behold and something that will bring a smile to your face. 

 

 

Down the Rabbit Hole

I think we are all falling down a rabbit hole of one sort or another, caught in a voyage or an escape. For myself it's been a delightful escape into fantasy and fairy tale, all happening in my small studio to prepare for the fall show of the same title. I have shared a bit of the rabbit builds and now I can share some of the other characters, all slated to be for sale from October 1st to the 31st at Art A La Carte Gallery in Occoquan, Va. A "Meet the Artist" evening is scheduled for Saturday, October 16th from 3 to 5 and I'm sure there will be discussion on how things were built. 

These first 2 are in boxes that rotate, so Little Red Riding Hood becomes the Big Bad Wolf and the crazy March Hare becomes the White Rabbit.

Knowing the title, there has to be a Mad Hatter, in this case we've caught him on a tea break.

And just finished, the piece that is quite literally the fall down the rabbit hole, Alice and the White Rabbit. Her skirts are made of mulberry paper, layer after layer of treated mulberry paper.

This last piece was started in January and measures 34 inches tall and 18 inches wide. The tree began as a coffee can, the roots are rolled up paper treated with wall paper paste and covered with many layers of paper Mache. The core is Styrofoam, foil, and some cardboard. The painting literally took weeks as I swung back and forth on low and highlights. As mixed media as any one object can be, this was a real stretch for me, a project that left me with more questions than answers but ended up just as I imagined it would.  So look at your calendars, take some time to come see these and many more in October.

 

 

 

Rabbits

In October I will once again open a show and this year the theme and title is "Down the Rabbit Hole". I began in January to design pieces and begin the build process. The obsession with rabbits has been pretty bad, I have made them from tissue with paper and then wire with clay. I believe the count is 12 so far. The real challenge was to make the perfect rabbit for the scene with Alice falling down the rabbit hole with a rabbit below her that doesn't look like he's looking up her skirt. A realization that caught me mid-rabbit making as a big mistake. 

The best rabbits are created with a wire armature or skeleton, then covered with foil, and finally covered with clay to sand and paint. The idea of using foil is for building up the body without using just clay, which is expensive. I've gotten pretty good with these wire armatures, and am finally excited about my last rabbit, he is perfect. 

The process of finding the right rabbit design began with simple drawings which helped tremendously. Initial bunnies were badly postured, he had to look like he was falling.

The body is sanded (after the clay hardens), the jacket is not and a pocket will have a pocket watch falling out. The size was also important, not as big as Alice and good with the scale of the piece, which is very large.  

Next Saturday, the 21st of August, I will be giving a demonstration with my rabbits (the process and the paint techniques) at the gallery in Occoquan from 5 to 7 PM. If you are at all interested in sculpting with epoxy clay or painting with layers on 3D objects, stop by and see how I do it. 

The gallery is Art A La Carte in the historic district of Occoquan, Virginia at 310 Mill Street. 

Shoe Sanctum

I've begun a journey into shoe art, specifically shoe assemblage art. Part of an online class, another trip into obscure art but definitely a fun one. My first shoe is finished and I'm on to more. Finding the right shoe is a big part of the undertaking, the funkier the shoe, the more entertaining the venture. So I present "Shoe Sanctum", and the initial paint step with the rusting technique. I wanted the finished shoe to look like it was made of metal. 

And may this serve as a request for your funky, (I'm done with it) shoes.  

Robots

There has been little time to build assemblage pieces, between my estate jobs and walking Ms. Birdie, but I squeezed in time to make some robots. Triggered by an online class and a desire to leave the "rabbit hole" of the fall show, this was a very refreshing change. The idea is to build robots, droids, or cyborgs. They may have jobs, be part human, or superhuman. The act of putting sundry parts together might be the most fun, if not outright hilarious. So far I have finished 3. 

This was my first and still my favorite. I loved working with metallic paints with a hint of rust. The arms go up and down and the little eye is from a taxidermy shop, it's an alligator eye. 

The parts here are a mix of microscope bits and toy cars. The head swivels up and down, I think of her as a security assistant. 

This one was the most fun to build. The base is part of a battery operated massager, I chopped the round helmet head off, added my own and this helmet-like top. Bits of mosaic glass and metal objects are also there. 

All are available at the gallery in the quaint little town of  Occoquan.  And by the way, there's a new set of "Star Wars" droid stamps, in keeping with my theme of artificial intelligence.

Small Stuff

With time on my hands, one would think that the artist might be working on something really big. And there is something really big, but it will be a part of the October show, so I have spent the other hours making small stuff. Another online class was offered by Michael deMeng on sardine can assemblage which I watched and collected tiny sardine cans. The challenge is working in such a small framework (so to speak), akin to creating light bulb or "Hot Wheels" art. But I will admit to frustration, I have beheaded and usurped most of my small items and have not felt like going anywhere, particularly the thrift store for more (there's been a lot of ice and snow). So I try this and that and read a book when it seems too overwhelming. I have finished 3 books and that's all good, winter is a good time for reading. 

Despite my stalling to finish, I did manage to complete 2 sardine cans, which took way more time than it should. They are funky and funny art which I posted on Instagram and for those that chose to heart them, you really don't have to. Even if I heart what you post, which I tend to do with my artistic and gardening friends. So here is "Emergent" and "Ice Dancing".

There is another smallish piece I finished and it represents my love of green for 2021. Her name is "The Lady of Green".

She represents my recent work with mulberry paper, which I find fascinating. There is potential for incorporating the paper with the process of assemblage art and you can believe that there will be more of this experimentation.