kneed a heart... (thanks Pat!!!)

A small glimpse at a current work-in-progress.

I started working on this piece for Gary Reef's sardine can challenge. Then I realized my idea didn't fit the challenge rules. But I love my idea so much that I'm doing it anyways... just for me.
My piece will be called Real Boy. I will construct the body out of metal, pieced together like a quilt. The head I sculpted some time ago out of clay and various found objects. It resembles the Borg.

The heart will be embedded into the body, in a tin of some kind.

This will take some time but I'm in no rush.

work in progress - sculpture

working on a weird sculpture right now. lol yeah, it's pretty weird.

wow... think i need to clean my work table!!!!!! Then maybe i can use it as a "Work" table. lol

Sid's nesting instincts

We had an old-fashioned pink rose which got a terrible blight. But when we went to cut it down back in the spring we found a bird's nest inside. So we left the rose bush alone until the bird's had moved on.

Last weekend we finally had a vacancy so we took the rose bush out. I hate taking out rose bushes but it has to be removed anyways. It grows up the side of the porch and our goal is to screen it in this summer!!! :)

Below is the empty nest sitting in Sid's lap. Sid lives on our front porch as the focus of our outdoor alter. We like to leave Him natural offerings. And the nest told us this is where it belonged.

Parts is Parts

For part of our adventures in Tate yesterday we explored a train station and walked along the railroad tracks. We found a junk pile full of trash and old rusted metal parts. I would have liked to grab them all but they were HEAVY!!! So I got a few and hope to get more.

One person's trash is another person's treasures!!! I see great treasure's here! In fact the long skinny piece is already destined for a work-in-progress missing a base. I think this will be PERFECT!

trail magic (edit)

What a beautiful weekend! We had a busy one.

I did a lot of art... none of which I have pictures to share.

I started working on some collaged scrabble tiles. I also spent most the weekend working with a homemade paper clay... which i LOVE!!! Great product which works well with the kind of sculptures I do. I think I'll be using this product a lot!

First, I made 2 quarts of ice cream. The one of the left is Chocolate Almond. The one on the right is Green Tea. Both came out great!!!!

We explored backroads. Here is The Man and The Dog on a bridge over Amacalola River in Dawson Forest.

A country water park?

The high dive

Tate Ga. Blink and you'll miss it

The Man and The Dog at a very old graveyard in Tate Ga

95% of the grave stones in this old graveyard had the name "Tate". Small town...

the angel has a great view

railroad station... great simple architectural details on this treasure

same building. different view

spare wheels for the train?

I love old doors

whoops, my A.D.D. is showing

For my birthday a friend gave me a linoleum stamp carving kit. My first stamp was an attempt at carving my chop. I forgot the big rule of stamp carving: Carve Backwards!!! So now I have a backwards chop!!! Oh well, it was a great learning experience. I'll carve that one again.

My second stamp was an image from one of my paintings, called Voice. I originally planned to use it in the below collage painting but so far I've just done journal page with it.

I'm so easily distracted. I've been painting up a storm. Then i see the beautiful work of Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson and i decide 'I've TOTALLY gotta do that!' It was a fun technique that honestly I'd done in art school a few decades ago. But still fun none the less. Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson uses all hand-painted paper rather then decorative scrapbook paper. It's more archival. So using a mix of heavy bodied acrylics, fluid acrylics and acrylic inks I painted several book pages and coffee filters.

It's not finished. My original idea was to add a hand-carved stamp of one of my paintings as the central subject matter. But once it was carved and I'd done some test stamps I didn't think the 2 worked together. So for the moment it's just a work-in-progress.

Happy Birthday Joy!

Happy Birthday to my best friend Joy!!! I'm so happy to be able to call you "Friend" and for all the wonderful memories we've created thru the years! I hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Remember... there's nothing better than a pickle. :)

new post; old art

On a recent trip to a friend's house I realized how often I give away art as presents without taking pictures beforehand. So I quickly snapped a few to post here.

These are all old pieces... probably several years old. I've gotten much better about the picture-taking-thing. :)

a mixed media Mermaid
She swam along the ocean floor, looking for treasure...
And Sea Captains

(that's what I'd be looking for...)


Photo collage on canvas.
The dog in the car is one of my friend's pups Pepper. Yes, Pepper does drive a vintage Vette.

She's like that....

Dapper Gentleman Assemblage

2 pieces side by side

Please Don't Piss Off The Fairies

Always good advice!!!

Art and Soul Virginia - part 4

Jesse doing his demo
Jesse had tons of stories



Joy took the class with me. Her finished paintings are fabulous!!!




My painting at about the half-way mark. Still LOTS to go!!!






This is one which I finished in class. It's called I Have A Voice.

I started working on this one last week. Still not done but at the moment I call it Bear Hugs.

I finished this one last night. It's called Pachyderm On The Serengeti.

Day 4 was the whole reason I went to Art and Soul. Day 4 was the Freedom to Create class by Jesse Reno.

I stumbled upon Jesse Reno years ago in my beloved Raw Vision. Jesse's online bio said he was last published in Raw Vision in 2004. Have I been following Jesse's work for that long? It's quite possible. A time or two a painting of his has shown up at Slotin's Folk Art Auction where we are regulars (who have supplied 50% of the artwork in our house!!!) I check into his website on a regular basis. When I discovered he was teaching at Art and Soul this year I HAD to go!!! Just for his class.

I've been painting on and off since my teen years. I painted in my teens but it was easy to leave behind when I joined the service and started moving around alot... not like sculpting which I always feel lost without when I go too long without making something. The painting urge I was able to satisfy thru the years with drawing, collage and art journaling. I just started painting again about 7 or 8 years ago.

I've always felt slightly disconnected with the whole painting process. Detached. Removed. I just didn't loose myself in my paintings the way I do when I'm sculpting with clay or working with found object or assemblage. I did always enjoy painting but it wasn't that whole meditative experiance that I love most in art.

The first moments in Jesse's class and I felt that connection to painting again. Is it the whole primal process of painting almost entirely with our hands? (We didn't even pick up a paint brush until over 1/2 thru the 6 hour class!!!) Was it how he walked us thru the section on letting go of expectations, like a guided meditation? I can't say. Maybe a little of both. But since his class I've really felt the painting itch in a way I never have before.

Today at lunch The Man said my paintings had taken a very sophisticated turn lately. He is my biggest fan! But His words really touched me. And though the subject matter is still very child-like and whimsical, I too can see the sophistication He's talking of.

And it makes me very very happy. :)

Art & Soul Virginia - part 5

I'm skipping part 4 for the moment. I'll post more about it later.

On day 5 we took Wabi Sabi Wax taught by Serena Barton. It's an encaustic class using the Japanese design philosophy of wabi sabi. It's a hard concept to define. But the way i understand it, it follows the idea of living in the now, not dwelling on imperfections; using so-called mistakes (as there are really no such things as mistakes - only opurtunities to learn). It's very Zen.

I've used beeswax in collage before. But i had never done true encaustic. First off, the smell is heaven. It's heavy and rich and i think i could become an encaustic artist for the smell alone.

I know accomplished encaustic artist can do amazing things; portraits, precise landscapes, etc. But wabi sabi is perfect for beginners. I enjoyed the process alot but left thinking "this is fun but i can't see myself becoming an encaustic artist."

Well yesterday we spend the day gallery-hopping in Asheville. One gallery had a dozen or so pieces by an encaustic artist. These were less abstract but still very simple and Zen. I'm now iching to try it again!!!

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