Artists@Work: day 6

Saturdays have a more laid back feeling at the Arts Center.  Since I was unable to participate on day 5, it was great to see the other artists progression.

Kendal went to town with recycled items.  Her main table space was filled with multiple ongoing projects.

Below are several recycled material mosaics.

Below she used plastic coated wire and staples to create an interesting design.  Makes me wonder what will happen next with that piece. The white and black dimensional design was originally “sketched” using black electrical tape on white paper (visible in the top image in the center of her table).

Like I mentioned earlier, Saturday was a bit looser feeling as visible in the below image. Hester was very kind and brought in an afternoon treat from our local gellatto joint. Elaine pulled up her dust mask and posed next to a ceramic sculpture by Alexis Spakoski. Party time!

Her blind drawings are really taking form. She draws a different section of the gallery space each day.

More of Elaine’s work in progress. The crouched nude is one of my favorites.

Julia Lont was busy today. Part of her artwork was bringing in an edible creation: a wonderful fresh baked Marion Berry pie! So tasty! With her 2D collage, she started incorporating fabric.

Her table space is looking very active and alive with creativity. Very similar to Kendal’s space.

Artist friend Carol Chapel came to participate in Julia’s Laundry Line of Memories and it was a perfect opportunity to document the process. Below, Carol is receiving instructions about the transfer method.

Outside, Carol starts using a solvent marker over the back of her toner based photocopy. Under the photocopy is a piece of fabric that will receive the transfer.

Carol takes a look at how things are transferring onto the fabric.

Getting there!

Finished image is on the fabric.

Since I was gone yesterday due to an ill dog, it took me a while to get into the swing of work again.  I managed to produce three smaller branches with extra twigs. Hope to get them attached on Tuesday if all goes well with the dog.

I really enjoyed talking with the people who came by the center Saturday. Great to see new faces come into the arts center for their first visit. Equally good to see old friends! A very enjoyable day.

Seizures Weekend with George

Many of you who know me realize I have a great passion for my pets. Our vets shake their heads at how old our critters reach before their date with death. A geriatric household is the norm. The cockatiels are all over 20 yrs at this point. The past two dogs, a basset hound and german short hair pointer lived to be 15.5 and 16.75 yrs respectively.  Our current old dog is just past 12 yrs, has had 2 TPLO surgeries, darthroplasty on both hips and numerous other adventures in his long life. Yesterday morning we started down a different trail, seizures. It’s not like we haven’t experienced them before. Barnaby the cockatoo has one about once every 2 months. The GSP  had them on and off throughout her life. Lance, the store cat from Animal Crackers (where I used to work) ended up having multiple ones before we put him down. With him it was a brain tumor. Now it’s George’s turn.

They started at 6:50am on Friday and we’re now at 9:30am Saturday and experienced a total of 7. They are progressivly getting longer but not up to 5 min yet. It takes almost an hour before he’s really back to semi-normal. The last three have affected his vision for the first 30+minutes. Floor space is getting well cleared thanks to the stumble bum. How long will this last? We have no idea. Blood & urine samples were taken on Friday. Results should be in Monday to help rule out certain  items on the list of seizure inducers. I’m hedging towards cancer of some form. Rather pessimistic of me, but things have been changing over the past 3 months.

Will he stay clear of the emergency vet? Will we have to venture into administering liquid Valium up his, well, you probably can guess where. Will I really make it into work today? Most likely if Dave can handle the seizures without me around.

The Amazing Geriatric Dog adventure continues!

Artists@Work: day 4

Does it work for all artists to be out of their comfy studio and into a public venue for a month? Is it easier for a 3D artist to create vs 2D while on display? It’s too early to tell for our group of four but it will be an interesting conversation for next week. I’m guessing it just depends on the artist.

Kendal really took off with her mosaic, cutting & clipping her shapes of glass.

Elaine took lots of photos of people today during work hours and the reception. Unfortunately I didn’t really get around to seeing what she worked on today.

Julia was in and out of the building with her great photo transfers. She had several blocks in progress with transfer images and egg tempera. I’ll try to get a photo on day 5.

By the end of the day I had branch #2 up for display, but not yet finished. Spent time attaching new smaller limbs and creating a change in main branch diameter (smaller).

The reception was full, but not overcrowded. Elaine’s husband Greg played piano, Hester set out a lovely spread of munchies along with punch and wine. I had a chance to see Shannon R, a very sweet friend who is going through a major health battle. It was so great to see her come through the archway into the main gallery, walking tall and looking beautiful! So many friends came to visit and I spent the entire time visiting. It was a lovely event. Below are the 4 photos I took during the reception. The hazard of talking to folks is not being able to take shots. Oh well! Bill Laing was running around getting good pictures of the whole event.

Below: Ed Case, Joni King & Dave Stahlke

Below: Lauren Ohlgren & Dee Yarnell (back to us)

Below: A nice couple I met from Albany, Ken & Lucy(ceramic artist). David Huff’s wife in the yellow dress.

Below: Hester Coucke, Elaine Green, Brian Egan, David Huff (AC Director) & Bill Laing

Since the event went late I didn’t get around to posting until the morning of day 5. Having a tough morning with our old dog who had a seizure at 7am. Not certain when or if I’ll be in to work…

Artists@Work: Day 3

Even before taking off to the Arts Center, I had to snap one photo of all the vultures in the back field. Grass seed farmers were cutting crops today which stirs up a great commotion in the avian world. I counted over 20 turkey vultures, 3 red tailed hawks and one immature bald eagle getting ready to enjoy the bounty of the grass reaper. In the below photo  there are only 7 vultures visibly soaring. Our Umbrella Cockatoo was very upset by the raptors! Screamed all morning til covered!

Ok, on to the art!

Day 3 felt like we had more visitors, or maybe they were just more talkative.  Elaine starts her day off with a blind contour drawing of a different section of the gallery space. Today she had moved to my zone.

Later in the day she was hard at work on a charcoal drawing.

Kendal Hathaway worked on a large design today. Typically her work is fairly small and easy to manage, but given this opportunity she is going BIG! Can’t wait to see her progression!

Julia Lont got right down to business after arriving. One of her projects involves a strong chemical so she was in and out of the building due to extra ventilation requirements. I think she is using  Xylene as part of her photo transfer method.

Julia working on her computer images later in the day.

Finally, images of Julia’s ongoing project.  She had her first outside participant today! Hurray!!!

Ok, on to growing creation!

In the first image the initial branch grew an extra branching limb towards the wall. The following photos are of a new main branch that splits. I have it hanging on the wall so a photo could be taken. Felt pretty good about today’s progress. Tomorrow we have the open house at 5:30-7:30.

The below image is of the rest of my wall space. I brought in a few more items that reside around my studio for inspiration. Everyone else has had their “studio space” so full and my space has been… well, minimalist. It’s still feeling that way, but with a few more items of influence. In my smaller studio at home I utilize numerous cork boards to pin up potential ideas, prints in different stages and commission work scheduled. There are also 3 or four large bins filled with ash & oak tree leaves, wasp nests and dried daffodil leaves. To represent these elements I placed a basket containing ash tree leaves on the stand. Also a cow vertebrae, deer antler, fir cones, and a lidded glass jar containing seeds, rocks, shells and a squirrel tail (one the cats left behind) rest on a separate stand.  All great influences in my work. A few cards reside on another stand for sale.

Hopefully my fingertips will forgive me by tomorrow morning. They received a bit more torture from working with a lot of 16 gauge wire today. Gloves change tomorrow for something less smelly and potentially softer!

 

Artists@Work: Day 2

Kendal joined into our group today and it’s a pleasure to have her! The gallery finally feels full now. It’s funny to see people’s responses to the show. Most folks don’t even want to venture into the space even though there are big signs saying “Please come in!” People are expecting that the exhibit is getting installed and don’t want to interrupt. Who would expect working artists on site? Pictured below is Kendal who arrived from Arizona last night.

Day 2 images from Julia & Elaine’s progress

Julia Lont: Two beautiful works utilizing her photo transfer method and egg tempera mixed on site!

Elaine Green had several subjects pose for her. Local art celeb Bill Shumway was her first. She had Bill strike a couple of poses for her camera then set to work sketching.

And one more of Elaine’s wall images

So where did I manage to get today? Not quite as far as hoped, but something is resting on the wall waiting for tomorrow!

The next two images are of the sculpture with the start of a branching structure. It had been growing over the 4 hrs of work today and I just needed to get it hanging to figure out the next step. It also got me wondering if I would be able to support the work well enough when leaves & flowers are attached.

Looking at it makes me think of some organic tentacled creature, maybe a hydra, growing from the wall.  So, it has quite a ways to go. I did get two steel wires strung corner to corner to assist branch support. Don’t really like it but it will have to do for now.

Tomorrow! I can’t wait to get going on it again and figure out some of my problems. More branches of varying sizes to be created &  attached to those already in place.  It’s like a giant mystery that requires solving and it will bug me until it does. Oh, that reminds me about a bug who came visiting….

This little guy/gal rode into the center on a visitor. A young girl noticed it and the father said it was a stone fly. I’ll take his word for it. It hung out on my sculpture for a little while then moved on.

Artists@Work: Day 1

It was our first of many work days ahead in the month of July for the four artists involved in the Artists@Work exhibit.

Below are some of the images from my work space and co-workers.

This is a shot of my “studio space” surrounded by a few of my works. I brought in a charcoal drawing of rosehips,  gut & wire bug conversation, pod lamp and my maquette for the corner. Kind of sparse feeling but eventually my sculpture will take over the right corner.

Me standing next to the Pod Lamp.

Dave was kind enough to drive me in today. We hit Robnett’s hardware store for more wire supplies and cleared them out of 19 gauge stock. I managed to get a good start on a 6′ section of branch today. The tables I’m working on in the below photo are 6′ and the armature certainly extends past that point. A second limb jutting off the main branch was just getting started when we reached 5pm. My technique is slow and sloppy looking at the moment. I’m mainly trying to get the forms created quickly so they can be “fleshed out” with the paper skin.  Still contemplating lighting the main branch section with outdoor LED strips. Just not certain at this point.

Elaine Green occupies the East section across from my space. She is an incredible artist working in charcoal for this exhibit. I can’t wait for her to really get going on her drawings of people. Today she held a “blind drawing” tutorial at 2pm. Only a few folks came to participate, but we all really enjoyed ourselves! Blind drawings are always fun to create and humorous to look at & decipher. However,  Elaine is quite good at keeping the connection between her eyes and pencil so that the image really does look like what she’s observing. You’ll need to check the Art Center’s website for shots taken by resident photographer Bill Laing.

One of Elaine’s works below. Elaine Green: charcoal drawing

Julia Lont is situated just north of my space.  She works in oil, photo transfer, collage and egg tempera. I can’t believe I didn’t get a shot of her great community clothesline project.  I promise to get one on day 2. Anyway, Julia will be working on her photo transfer collages with egg tempera that she makes on site. Very exciting! She was grinding pigments in preparation for day 2. The eggs she will be using are fresh from her own hens.  Wow, actually putting your pets to good use… something I should consider!

Julia Lont oil painting of a pea pod. Yummy colors Julia!

Kendal Hathaway  will be arriving on July 5th so mosaic techniques and photos will have to wait.

By the days end my feet hurt from standing, fingers and thumb pads ached, mentally tired and very ready to go home. We had 14 folks come through to check out the show.  It was a perfect way to start off this exhibit.

Sleep Deprivation and Demon Dogs

This morning started early due to “Demon Dog” Moby jumping on the bed. 70 lbs of leaping dog is  something you can’t miss, especially when it’s on your sided.  Nudging, pushing, standing over the top of me staring, stepping all over my legs, the Beast was making his point loud and clear. Hungry! Food please?! He was actually quite kind in waiting until 5:15 before starting in. Fast forward to 8:30 am: I’m walking out of the bedroom and an foreign object caught my eye and made me jump! The Beast had brought in a 20″ snake friend. Holy cow! Having a slight snake issue, it’s a sight I really don’t appreciate viewing in my home.  Don’t get me wrong, I love them dearly for all the good they do in the world, consuming mice, rats, slugs and various other critters. I used to have to clean snake cages and sell them during my years at Pirate’s Cove.  I’m always glad to witness them in our yard and make sure to keep them out of harms way when lawn mowing. Sometimes it doesn’t work and EEEW! What an awful experience. Anyway, our visitor on the carpet ended up being rather limp. Not a good sign.

Yesterday morning was rather bad. I woke around 1:30am and couldn’t get back to sleep. Spent some time working on projects, read some Mark Twain, and finally drifted off around 7am. Dave tried his darnedest to let me sleep. He fed & medicated the dogs, tried to keep them calm while he got ready for work. Then the barking started when he was about ready to leave. Not good! Basically all three dogs were full of vigor and drove me from bed. This tends to make for a very grumpy person even after some big mugs of coffee.

I did manage to drag my tired ass to Salem. Why Salem? Well, it happens to be the closest location of a good paper store. We used to have the best paper store located right in Corvallis, but the owners (friends Shannon & Ed) decided to retire. C’est la vie! So Maggie & I took a quick trip north, found the replacement paper (the Beast ate the original purchase) needed for a consignment box project, plastic sleeves for the new cards and an excellent cardboard shipping tube perfect for building wire armature branches around! At least something went well yesterday!

Below are the images of the completed & bagged cards. Remind me next time to take photos before bagging. Glare from the bags is too much!

card back

Pre-Show Work

My mission today was thus:

#1: Take a couple of photos of my designated space in the gallery

#2: Work on a maquette to better solidify my visual concept.

With a barking Maggie waiting in the car, I  took a couple of photos and did some quick measurements of the west facing wall in the Main Gallery.

The long wall is right about 15′ then does a little jog at the northwest corner (right corner of the image). This is the area I plan to build the branching forms out of. If you look to the left of the long wall, you will encounter the double doors leading to staff work area and the Corrine Woodman Gallery II.


Since this area is well traveled by staff and art patrons, I’ll need to keep a clear pathway. At about 8ft up the wall is a small 2″ ledge with nails. Ahh, this is how I’ll string/support my forms using wire strung between the walls.

With this knowledge, and some pretty good guessing, a foam core maquette came together.

Initially constructed prior to today’s measurements, the long wall should have an additional 3″ added to represent 3 feet. But I think you can get the main idea. The branch forms are not to scale either. They are constructed out of twisted paper to represent the paper & wire armature. The “person” is just under 5.5″ so almost representing an average person’s height (give or take a couple of inches). The push pins represent nails along the small ledge.

Above image represents a bee’s eye view, or maybe it’s a fly’s view.

Below is what would be viewed looking through the double doors  from the staff office.

The branches shown are definitely too large and I have yet to represent the leaf and flower structures. Seed pods are still mulling through my brain. I’m actually thinking they might be scattered on the ground under the structure rather than hanging from branches. Lots to keep working on before starting in Saturday at noon!

Studio Photos & Card Making: day 2

Since there is often quite a bit of down time waiting for screens or paper to dry, I thought it might be nice for you to see my printmaking space prior to finishing the screen show.

The slat wall helps hold many printmaking supplies along with journals and a mish-mash of items. The flat file draw was created by my dear old dad. It’s the best workspace ever!

Directly to the right of the flat files is the press. It’s often covered with a cat or two, but I uncovered it for the photo. More slat wall makes a studio very happy!

Above is the third wall (visible if you turn  a 180 from the press). It houses finished good  and items waiting for completion.

Ok, now here are the remaining photos from the botanical screen print extravaganza!

Screen filler applied in above image… below is after the washing out of drawing fluid.

I chose two colors for the background, robin’s egg blue & a green.

Here is part of the green run. Here is part of the blue run. I tried to print a dark chocolate brown over the blue but failed to make the ink opaque enough and it didn’t look good. Mixed in the black and it covered better.

Now I have the job of cutting up all the squares and placing them on card stock. Possibly a job for tomorrow.

Moby really enjoyed the sunshine this afternoon before the rain showers arrived.

Tomorrows posting: How do I really fill the Art Center space with wire branches and stuff? How creating miniature spaces can help…. or so I think!

Creating Cards

I have been looking around the studio in search of cards to sell during the upcoming event in July and discovered only one left. Wow, guess it’s time to get cracking on more!

The last set were actually scrounged leftovers from a different project. Too many House 4E prayer flags created on paper so I found other ways to cope. Just cut certain parts down into cards! Hurray! I’ve mainly used them for thank you notes and stuff like that. Several were sold to a friend. This time I’m blocking in my screen for true card production.

How I begin- Step One: choose 9 images from my silhouette collection that might make interesting cards…. and draw them on a screen.  Step 2:  fill in the line drawings with drawing fluid. See the below images for the progression.

Now moving on to row 2…

Turn the frame and make it more legible for the viewers….

The view from my outdoor work table…

The completed image ready for overnight drying then a coat of screen filler.

Now for a couple images of my official “Table Bumping Group”.

Below are George, Maggie & Dave’s legs.

Next up is Maggie hiding in the ferns from Moby. Smart girl!

And now, the grand Table Bumper himself …  MOBY!

Actually, that’s not quite correct. I think Dave bumped the table more than the dogs did all afternoon. Oh, Maggie is just staying for a week. Kind of nice to have a 35# Border Collie around (half the weight of Moby) and a perfect height!

Tomorrows Project: Screen Filling! Will it be a disaster or not?