alrighty

Back in Odessa, after several hours, miles, and stops. Once I get my camera downloaded I'll post about it all. Right now it's just nice to be in a comfort zone for me.

travelling...

I'll be heading back to Texas tomorrow - stopping in Houston to see family and job interview, then on across the state for more interviews and to stay with Amber & Bobbi (and grapefruit margaritas, so I hear... which I'm looking forward to!) Then on to Odessa, and a few more job interviews lined up in the Midland-Odessa area.

This means about a week of travel, this means I've got to load my car with a few things, this means that for now Rob will not be traveling with me - and that sucks.

So - to those I'll be seeing soon - see you soon! And to everyone else - can I catch you on the next trip? 'Cause if Rob is gonna be in Florida, I'm gonna have to find one of these great jobs so I can go back and forth and see him more often!

back to the art stuff

Since I'm sure that's what you came here for.

This one is an 11x14 pre-stretched canvas, picked up at either Michael's or Hobby Lobby, since those are both relatively easy to find and procure canvas' like these.

It started off as white, really.

I had picked up a remnant of wine and blue colored fabric and some wine and blue colored little woven roses, miniature ones that come in a little bunch for like a buck.

Gina had told me about this magazine, Cloth Paper Scissors, and I was a little inspired to try out this form of mixed media. Sorta. In my own way.

So I have a canvas, some fabric, some roses, and some 12 inch dowels... oh! and some muslin, can't forget the muslin!

Of which I have glued one edge across the back of the fully painted canvas. (Note: when painting the front and back, it is not advisable to be like me and try to accomplish both sides at once, because this ends up with wet paint somewhere- hands, knees, carpet... Best to do one side at a time so something is dry when you lay it down.)

Anyway - I painted the whole thing with black, with squirts of wine and blues to pick up the colors I plan on using. Glued the muslin on one side on the back, in preparation for attaching other stuff to it. I've made a four inch cut in the center - opening it up like doors.

The plan is to roll the "doors" onto the dowels - attach the dowels to the canvas with wire or glue and ribbon, open up the center to show the layout attached to the muslin behind it. Does this make sense? It does in my head. Hopefully it will in reality...

the sky is falling!

Seriously? I'm not used to trees. This is crazy!


So that's what falling sounds like...

it's the displacement of the air of an object falling, moving through space pulled by gravity.

Tree branch came easily down - the crunch - and the falling sound of a large object heading downward. On to what? Us? Unknown till it hits.

The landing - somewhere - roof? No thud. Yard? Driveway? Street? Still too dark to see out the window.

Don't move. Do not move. Stay with me here in bed. The perceived safety of being in your arms. Don't go look just yet - just wait a few more minutes. Until the dust settles. Until the boughs are done falling. Until my heart stops pounding.

oh, is that what today is?

Happy St. Patrick's Day - go drink green beer or kiss someone Irish or eat corned beef or talk with a fake accent at your own whims!


And if you know The Gina - go wish her a Happy Birthday tomorrow - She's super-busy in her final stretch of semesters for college and kinda crazy with all the art and work and keeping Lawrence and the beagles coordinated. So drop her a "Hi!" or a "How's it goin?" or a "Sup?"

whirlwind weekend

YUM!



Oh, you should try this!





Our friend Steve had told us of this little place down in St. Augustine, this little place that has Chocolate covered Key Lime Pie on a steek (We heavily reference Jose Jalapeño when saying this... and if you have no idea what I'm talking about and want a laugh, click here.)

It was a lovely day Saturday, windy, but sunshiny, and after a lot of rain here recently, I was enjoying it. We went and wandered some of St. George Square, along with hundreds of others out savoring the day. Lots of bikes on the roads, lots of shorts and sandals, lots of people wandering about.

Some post-it art found on random signs along the streets:



Which is cool to me, I love random art in random places. But these post-its were all over the Square, not just near the local Art Society building or the art galleries in the tourist square streets.

Since St. Augustine is historical to the point that the whole place is a museum, and it's right there on the ocean and inter coastal, there area a lot of influences in the local artist's work shown here. Lots of blues. Lots of glass.


We took full advantage of the lack of plans for the afternoon and stopped at this little pizza & beer place with a nice little courtyard.

Shade, beers, and just the two of us chilling out discussing the "what we might do someday" thoughts that rolled past.


More meandering, wandering shops with clothes or books or jewelry or art or chimes or whatever goods were being sold. We tried to grab dinner at a cafe on A1A, but they were closed for a wedding, so we stopped at a sea side diner place and had more! beer (and a piña coloda), chips, and peel & eat shrimp. Sort of an appetizer, because we then came back to town and grabbed burgers for dinner.

All in all a great, random, art-filled, meandering, relaxing day.

Today we ventured out to the beach for a walk, again beaucoup of folks out and about. We kicked off our sandals and walked awhile, turns out long enough to get us both a little sunburned. Eh, it happens. I kept singing made up songs about the shells and the beach. We watched wind surfers and little kids and puppies and seagulls, while splashing in the water.

Now we're hanging out, watching the Pirates trilogy, and drinking rum. Seemed like a good day to do so, after being at the beach and having sand between our toes...

a bit more

I'm about halfway down the board now. Lawrence asked if I was gonna use this for printing purposes. Umm, nope. While using relief carving for printmaking is where I first saw this technique used, it's not what I look to do with the pieces.

I enjoy the carving process the most. It's the smell of the wood, the feel of the wood, the feel of the hand tools, the movements, the texture of the finished carved piece. Usually, and what I'll be doing with this one, I then stain or paint the piece of wood - laying in color into the grooves, painting the color on the surface, then outlining the cuts in effort to make it "stand out", so to speak.

To me this makes the final piece dimensional. It's texture. I want these pieces to be touched. For you to run your fingers over them. I want it to be about the color and sight of the piece as much as about the feel. It's about the tactile impression as well as the visual.

Oh, yeah. That.

The Bubbles! They are FINISHED! (Eh, except for sealing it, that really will have to wait till there is a day where the humidity here is less than 40%. It may be awhile.)

Used eye hook screws and hanging wire on the back, and now this piece is hanging in our living room.

Rob's comment was "I feel like an adult now, with art on the walls."

wood were it that easy

I'm attempting something new for me with this one. Instead of carving out the design I draw in, I'm carving out the stuff around it. I've started to attempt this before, but that was on a large 18-inch chunk of wood I was attacking with a mallet that is still sitting in the garage in Texas.

This one is another remainder board, 1x6, white wood.



I'm using #4 and #2 gouges.

The #2 is V shaped, the #4 is more U shaped and wider to get the larger areas. The #2 gets in between the lines and edges easier, then I scoop out with the #4.

I haven't quite decided what to do with the spaces on the other half of the board yet, so those are blank for now.

I'll sand down the pencil lines and all the rough scooped out areas later.

are the lines moving?

Basic white wood - usually pre-treated white wood found at the local wood- and- tools- and- paint- and- general- building- of- things- stuff store. Picked up a few of these cut off remainders for like 50 cents each.

This piece is roughly 2 feet long. It's a 1x6 board. It's a softer wood than some, so in between the veins is a soft and fairly malleable stretch of white wood.

I picked up a lattice stencil and drew it on in pencil. Am using gouges in #1 and #2 size to cut the wood out with. The drawback to the soft wood is that the gouges will tear more than cut in some places. This leaves a final cut that may go off in another direction completely. It happens.



This is a long work- in- progress. Each leaf, each line.
It's kinda zen like to be doing it this way.
Each line is drawn on, each line is cut out, one at a time.

Sure, I could look down the stretch of the piece and see how many I have yet to go, and see what I have yet to paint, or stain, and edge, and seal... It can be overwhelming...

But the part of me that is holding that very sharp gouge in one hand and holding the wood in another is just there. In that cut. In that moment.

Like I said, very zen like.

and there was this one time...

I'm finished with the painting of Bubbles - I need to seal it, if it ever stops raining long enough. The sealer won't work with humidity, go figure.

Have a handful of other projects am working on - need to get photos of them for this. One is a piece of wood with a lattice type stencil I'm carving.

The other thing rolling around in my head is hardened resin in a particular shape, but again, does not work well in humidity, so this may have to wait till I'm back in Texas. Also working with this stuff needs plenty of ventilation, and there's not much of that here. Anyway - I also want to use barbed wire for this particular piece - probably easier to get in Texas than in Florida...

Anyway. Carving, sealing, and finishing a few other small projects. Will post pics again soon!