Steam Powered Crescent Wrench

There I was minding my own business and doing a light morning work out in my studio. The music perfectly matched my joyful feeling of being alive. I threw open the door and stepped out side to welcome the gorgeous day! Hello Day! Hello World! You are looking mighty spectacular this morning!
I looked down and shouted with joy. An old rusted crescent wrench was sitting there and at that moment I saw the most neat steam driven crescent wrench. Oh how I love the eye's of inspiration.
I decided that I would share some of the processes in the making of this new artifact from the Captain Bland's air ship crash site. Enjoy.
The first thing I did was weld the hand guard on. Appropriately rusted re-bar. Cool right? Then I met the first obstacle.  It is very difficult to drill into tool steel so all items need to be mounted in  another way.
The second pictures show my solution as to how to arrange, measure and place all the items. A 2' x 6" board covered with paper. Now I can drill and move and lay out the total project before I have to actually assemble the units to be mounted on to the wrench.
This is just the start but just this much gets me all excited about what will develop. It is like having a ring side seat to creation! Sounds weird? I mean I am the creator and at the same time I am watching it be created. Not really because I have no Idea what will happen next! Now it is sounding weird! But I love it!!
So here is the beginning of a fun artifact creation.

Original with added re-bar. What a great rusted wrench!

The lay out and start of fantastic!

This is shows the lay out better.

Well captain Bland Sir?

The morning was just a whisper of the day to come and the beetle smiled from it's lofty perch on the milk weed pod.

The new YEAR! News of ....

Well this is the first post of the new year. Boy I feel lousy! Crap really. I can see I need a bit of a boost. Hold on I'm going for coffee and a change of music.  Twenty minutes latter.... then some more... and a bit more......Ahhhhhhhh! Coffee! Music!!! All better now!!
Sorry, bit of a barracuda in the "out look on life at this moment" application. Now where was I? Yes Wess! The enviably great Mr. Wess has sent a bunch of pictures of his creations. The latest is of a Indian lady dancing with High heel moccasins. Rather nice high heals, really. I mean if they did not have high heal moccasins then they should have. History would have been a whole lot different now wouldn't it?  This particular sculpture has a control man inside and a bunch of sophisticated control mechanics in side. 

High Heels Moccasins! 

The Man that is driving the woman. Yea Right!

Close up of control room. Way Cool!

My hats off to you Mr. Wess! Always totally awesome!! He is obviously still working on the hair and other components but what a great sculpture as it is!
Ain't it great that inspiration flows freely all around all the time. Mr. Wess always motivates me to push the boundaries a bit harder and keep working.
 thank you sir. Keep up the good work.

Altoid Painting # 2 & MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!!!!

Yes it is Christmas and I hope that this finds every one full of love and joy. And as MY GIFT to YOU (read as self promoting with great amounts of ego) I bring you the 80%, more or less latest altiod painting. The first pict. is from a post in August, before, and the second is.......... the after!

Putting the elements together

And now!!

Getting Better?

And now as a super Christmas bonus heeeeeeres Cheri's!!!!!!!!!!

Most Magnificent!, Unbelievable! Super Fantastic!

I love my wife so much and all the unbelievable inspiring gifts she gives me every day. Every day is Christmas here. We are constantly building joyful art for others to enjoy. Does not get any better than that.

HO!HO!HO!

Lets start With living Life

Well I am now a full time artist, again. Twenty two years ago I set out on a journey to become a full time artist. Many adventures have been my companion along the way. Now I am an Artist 24/7.
I am sitting in my studio that is in the side of hill, in the foothills of a 9000 ft mountain, in a small town, elevation, Heaven. I have been doing this for over a month now and we, the wife and I, have been going non stop since we started. Meaning I started. She has always been a full time artist.
Every day I awake to joy, wonder, beauty and lots of work. I had a dream and now I am living it.
A note to the world, it is true. You can have your cake and eat it to. Dreams do come true.
Love is real, peace can go on and on. My life has been full of all that you can imagine and then some, good and bad. I made it, so can any one. I am not special just not smart enough to stop. ( Insert smile here ) (There's a cool story about that, but latter)

Today I am finishing up several display's that are going out with an order. Then I will start building several copies of a new item in our product line that my lovely wife came up with. Thank you also to Nina for the "box" breaker. I wish I could share them with you, the items that is, but we are afraid that others will rip off the products. We have seen this happen a lot. I will try to have more pictures, we will see what we feel comfortable with posting.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change, the courage to change the things i can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

"Why not me?" said the sparrow to the elephant. The elephant shrugged and smiled. "Why not indeed" he said as they sat and watched the sun slip behind the hills. A breeze came by carrying the sent of wild flowers all aglow with the day................. There was no reason why not.

Metal Pictures - Evolution

A long time ago and in a far away land there was a maiden that had the magic of the mystical arts. Beauty beyond words was the world she lived in. Many came bearing gifts of wonder and asked her for her blessing and acceptance. One day a young man came bearing a flower that was filled with indescribable depth and power. The maiden saw the beauty and clapped her hands in joy and wonder. " Boyfriend!" She called. "Come see this gift that Jason has brought!" With that look of wonder,that I so loved, she placed the flower in my hands. "Where is this going to lead us?" she asked."It surely will be a places of joy, happiness and beauty." She whispered.

This is the first Metal Flower Picture! Great fun!!

Now the face has a way to see you.

This is number 2 of the Altoid Metal Flower Pictures. Throwing a bit more in to it. Steam operated? 

The center detail. This will be aged and such.

This is just starting

She was right. The simple flower has grown and grown. The flowers that it has sprouted and the new flowers that it has manifested and are still manifesting keeps growing. the latest in this evolutionary process are the melding of a bunch of my joyful endeavors. Metal art, Steam punk, flowers and pictures. The first of these grew from an Altiods box that wanted a window. You give it one thing then before you know it bam! Gim Me Gim me Gim Me...... on and on .... oh sorry, I like that part. Creating the unknown. That's why I do this. Always something new. And with no further ado here are the Metal Flower Pictures. #1 finished and #2 in progress. As you can see the power of that first flower is still growing.

ANOTHER YEAR !!!!!!!!

Well there goes another year! WOW! I am about to start a regular blog and am pushing to post at least more than........ It all started innocently I was walking along minding my own business when he stepped up to my side. Not unusual you say? Well unusual is about four and a half feet tall. Twisted over and around so I'm looking down as he is looking up. NOT an imps face, but some what miss shapend. You know, the eyes are not in line and spaced a bit far apart. The nose is quite crooked and hooked. Whats left of the eye brows are well a mess! Well anyway. Looking down at this apparition I almost stumbled. In fact it felt like I was  always about to fall over this wildly gesturing and bobbing.... did I mention smelly! Now there is a challenge, describe the smell. Nope can't do it. Oh well you will learn about the smell. Where was I? Oh falling, almost, as I tried to avoid stepping on the animation of peculiar gestures and personal proportions. It croaked! Yes I said croaked it did! " croake, croake, tit, tit, tau, Bit sir, Bland's come eh?"
Now that stopped me quite cold.  Now he was standing in front of me flailing his arms, long and loose jointed. His face contorted into a snarl at first then hope then total fear. All in a flash then " Time oh! oh! tit, toh, slup, be time he want's see hear the winbings"  He grabbed my right arm by the elbow and for just a second all movement stopped and he looked intently into my eye's. Was that stars I saw? Clouds? what shapes are these I see? He blinked and there was nothing but blackness in the orbs most of us call eyes. " You see muck much low. Oh yes he be! Ha! Yow tik, tee!" With that he released me and swirled around and danced a jig, I am sure, Laughed with another croake and puff gone!
I rubbed my arm gingerly it felt as if an electric shock.... NO! ever bump your elbow and it tingles all over an dosen't work right. Thats it! What had I just encontered?  I knew why but what was it they were warning me about? Was it ? No way! Well maybe? You see I was on the expedition. I had better start from the beggining and then you will understand a bit better. You see I have it and it's just about fixed.  

 From an article published in the Air Heart Daily.

The Steam clock of Captain Mortimus B. Bland as recovered from the almost unreachable and precariously positioned wreck site of the air ship Demistictus. This clock was recovered during an expedition to the site where the Air ship Demistictus finally found it’s last mooring. Untimely and as unexpected as it was, it was not a fatal crash, as it probable could have been. The surviving crew‘s accounts of the last excruciatingly dire events all agree it was only with the actions of Captain Bland that the outcome was, well, ok.

Of course, as was reported, Captain Bland was not present to join in the relief of a safe landing. Unfortunately the Demistictus was completely destroyed and the Captain was never found. Which may not be a bad thing or a good thing, I’m not sure which. After all Captain Bland was not a Captain, as we later learned, or a Bland! And there are more than a few questions surrounding the cargo the  Demistictus was carrying on what was to be the last and fateful voyage and what of the extraordinary astronomical calamity that appeared to only be located in the immediate vicinity of…… You see why this artifact is so mysterious. Even the gentleman that supposedly assembled it is quite unavailable for comment.

What exactly was the function of what appears to be an ordinary steam powered clock that however includes many unclock- like features? And what of the eerie glow what emanated from the Captain’s cabin right before the crew heard the Captain bellow “ABANDON SHIP PLEASE!”. Although there was one fellow that swore what was said was “A BACON SANDWICH  PLEASE”. The crew to the last man and woman took the first interpretation to heart and scrambled over the side and dropped unceremoniously to the rough terrain below. Whether or not this course of action precipitated the coming events or if a bacon sandwich could have changed the outcome is still hotly debated. The outcome was really  quite a splendid meeting of airship and a rather large forbidding bit of granite. Splendid, in this case, meaning quite a site to see. Of course I’m sure that Captain Bland might have disagreed.  But we will never know now,  will we?

From the Kitchen

Well we have been working like crazy on "products" (translation- extraordinary art objects for the sale to exceptionally gifted people of the arts.) It is always such a joy to be working away and realize that the art object that you have been so diligently working on starts to come together and it's beauty appears. I have heard people at shows make comments like " Oh I can do that!" or " That didn't take a whole lot of time". Both true. My thoughts when I hear this is " yes you can make it, but make 100 or more, day after day" and "This one required 1 hour and countless more to get to this point" " How much is an hour of work worth?". Artists are specialists. We work constantly at improving what we are doing. As I mentioned in an earlier post I have been constantly improving my recycled metal flowers for ten years. WhOOOOOOOOO! Where was that going? We do art because we love it and the payback is that others love it. It is fun. There are some long hours and frustration but all that disappears when you are looking at joyful beauty. All people in all professions go through the same thing. We are all artists!
Back to the "products". I am placing a few more "samples" on this page to boast I mean show what we do. I am very proud of our work. As you can see I do the flowers and Cheri takes them to a new level. I love her work.

Printed Irish

Sun Flower

Rusted Irish

Sun catcher Small Flower

Sun catcher waiting for flower

So there you have it a few more special items.
It's easy to see that all these years and years and .............. we have had a whole lot of fun.
And there is more and more all different and beautiful.
I guess that is what this blog is about. Having fun. It just so happens that it is art that we have fun doing. Very convenient since this is an art blog, don't you think. Well it's back to the kitchen of creation and whip up a new "item"! I can't wait to show you the boxes and there is this one piece that Cheri has done..... I won't spoil the surprise. And speaking of surprises we have this friend, UNBELIEVABLE WORK! Wess you there? I'm really having fun with this.
"Enjoy the day!" the mouse said as he sat in the shade sipping his sweet nectar tee. The mole nodded her head in agreement and slipped under the leaves. " A good day it will be indeed "

11 Degrees of ?

Well the Gem show has started and we are running like crazy. More on that later.

The buyer came by and loved our stuff. The store is in Jackson Hole Wyo. Beautiful art in a beautiful place! We are going up there in the spring. Big trip! First ever for us! I'm not much on vacations and things. I enjoy working. A very " you get things done if you do them " mantra leads me through life's paths. We do take Sunday afternoons off to explore the desert and fossil hunt and of course fish.

Following is a series that I did some time ago. I decided that a portrait that was composed with the angle of the head at 11 degrees of tilt was absolutely perfik' (spelling from a BBC show, Loved that show) So I made this series and I as you can see I was so totally successful. They were all done with the under painting and then layers or washes on top. Bunches and bunches of washes. Well to make a long story short ( wife waiting to go spend the national debt at the gem show ) the lady from Jackson Hole loved them and wants to put them in her gallery. So they must be framed and sent out into the big world. They are all excited about this. When I did shows they, meaning the paintings , would all clamor for the best spot in the tent. That's why I did shows. It was because the paintings wanted to get all fancied up and show off. ( loose translation not much sales but great fun ) My art has been described by a gentleman at one of these shows as " the artist has some serious mental problems". He said this to me not knowing I was the artist. He was also a shrink. You should have seen the backpedalling on that one when I said ' I'm the artist"! I grinned for days!!!! I do what I want because I want to do it. I do not paint to fulfill some unknown expectation. I have done that and was always very miserable trying to reach the constantly moving bar.  But any way I'm Off to the gem show to find treasures of wonder and joy.

Love you all and you all love life! OK? OK!

Arizona Dreams

Indian Feathers

Past, Present and Future

Loosing her marbles

Vampire # 3

About a year or so ago, before the great flood of my studio and subsequent repairs, I had started the "Vampire Girl" I posted the beginnings in several earlier posts. Well the studio is back up and running and there was this day that.... I mean well..... anyway I pulled out the old picture and she said " it's time " and so it was. The last post showed the background and the base color for her face. I used blue to model the face. This sitting I worked over that color with more blue then burnt sienna and raw sienna. The darker areas was painted with a combination black. In this picture I combined blue, burnt sienna and crimson. After modeling the face I then started over this with a series of washes that were made of various amounts of yellow, red, white and raw sierra. Presto! Face. On top of all this there is a clear coat with a very light blue tint and gold glitter. Just a hint. The last coat shows up when the light is just right. OOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Coming along nicely I think.
She still has more to be done but I'm not sure when that will be. THE GEM SHOW IS COMING !!!
And this year we have a buyer that Cheri is selling to that wants to stop by and see what else we do. And that means I have to get busy putting together samples. Feel the pressure!!!! Ya right. I do a recycled tin flower ornament that people love and sells rather well and I have only once had them ready for the Christmas season. They do sell all year though. There are actually quite a few different styles and sizes of the recycled tin flowers. A big seller is a rusted series that I do. Now try getting something to rust in Arizona! There is no humidity at all. I make it work though. And then there is multitudes of other things that need to be touched up and readied. I feel really good about working on art again.
 I have a day job that pays the bills and helps us build what we need for the day art will be 24/7. I have taken off for a year or more several different times to do nothing but art. I learned a hell of a lot about the "art" business in those times. I decided that I needed to be prepared to do art full time on my terms and that I needed to become properly set up. So I work. Making a living doing art, as Cheri has done most her life, requires dedication, self discipline and a health dose of reality. Learn to love the art you do for sales! Learn to work as never before to produce those items that sell. I came to the realization that right now I was not going to be an instant, overnight world wide art sensation. Kind of like a rock star. There are very few of the rock star types but mostly there are a hole lot of garage bands. I may never be a "rock star" but I will be a damn good garage band. After all it is the small good bands that bring untold millions joy and a good time. I like that. After all to me it is all about the good times and passing it on to others. Rich is good, famous not so good, being who I am not terribly bad.
So off to the art mines to work work and laugh!

William Arrives

Arrive! William did that with a bang! Well I found " William was dressed to impress. Would she care? He thought so. " As we now know she did.( See previous post or close to it.) Some day I will tell you about William and his bride. They have a wonderful life together now.

This picture started with the eyes, as most of my faces do. Then the nose and smile. I use the a proportioning technique where the width of the eye is used to lay out the face. One eye width between the eyes. 3/4 or one eye width to the outside of the head from the out side corner of the eye. 1 1/2 from the center of the eyes to the end of the nose and so forth. I'm sure that a visual diagram would work better. The Internet probable has it. It has allot of good stuff and a lot that I really do not want. The point is that things work because they are done right. Which means that you learn and practice. William is a sketch that is the result, more or less, maybe, of literally thousands of sketches. I have books and books of sketches. I have always sketched. It does not matter what you use. Trust me on this. Any thing that will put a mark on something else or create a loose idea of a picture will work. I lived near an ocean once and would go to a section of beach, find a stick, and sketch 50' tall pictures. Now that is fun!!! The dirt, sidewalks, twigs, leaves, stones, old boards. It all works. It is about getting the pieces that you are trying to bring together into a semblance of order that conveys the idea or emotion that you are trying to express. I obviously have a broad definition of Sketching. Oh well. It's all practice to me. I have never completed a master piece. I have completed a large bunch of practice pieces. All of them lead me to the next adventure. All the parts of William are probably somewhere in the sketches that I have done.

Which brings me to the sketch that I really like because its so happy. I just had to bring her here.

"The Cap and Coveralls". Country folk again. Whats with that? But she is loving the fun in life!!

Ink, pencil, water colors and maybe other stuff. If you look closely the pencil is loose and fast. Then the rest was applied. She always makes me smile. Thank you lady of smiling days.

What have you seen to day? Did you sketch it? Remember the 5 second rule from a previous post? ( Nov. 27/09 Vampire Girl #2)Picasso used light to sketch. A wet finger on a desk or table. So tell me what did you sketch today?

"Once you start to sketch then you will start to "see" what you are looking at and it will be the beginning of beauty in your world". I'm sure that this was said by a very famous important artist, Or me. Still good and very true.

Tucson Gem show !

Well it has been a fast and furious week. We have been attending the Tucson Mineral and Gem Show. For those that are not aware what this is, well let me tell you. This is the worlds largest show of all items under the sun pertaining to anything closely related to the sale of beads, jewelry, tools, glass, fossils, minerals,art, artifacts and much more. All this stuff that you can't live with out comes from all over the world to this show. We have met people, all of them nice, from every corner of the earth. If, for some unknown reason, you wanted to walk the whole show, in the two weeks it is here, you simple could not do it. Football field sized tents abound. Hotels are completely filled with vendors. Smaller venues filled with show tents are to numerous to mention. The size and magnitude is beyond description. Traffic is also challenging but not impossible.
I have stood and stared at dinosaurs skeletons and dinosaur replica's in full size and color. Some fossils are thirty feet long or smaller than a quarter. T Rex? Seen him. There is even an alien skull! The real thing I'm sure. Piles of pearls and precious jewels filling hotel rooms. Minerals that I would swear are from a different planet and some are. Artifacts from Egypt, Rome, China, etc.etc. Metal jewelry art, Glass jewelry art, Fabric art, art, art, art. No paintings or large sculptures though. Totally unbelievable!
So far this year we have spent 6 days shopping. First the overview of the vendors. We have many that we have dealt with for years. Price and quality comparison. Then the purchases and carry, carry, carry. I am at least 2 inches shorter and 10 pounds lighter with legs of steel.
Now you may ask what does all this have to do with art? INSPIRATION !! Yes, Ladies and gentleman the mind is completely filled with all the wonderful colors, styles and endless possibilities. This little red doohickey will look so perfect with that other dark brass .... oh wait! look at that! what a color for a ....... my god! who ever would of thought those items would work.. The creative part of my brain goes into overdrive. All the old clutter is thrown out and a renewed feeling of "anything is possible and it will be GREAT!" is infused into my creative soul.
And then there is the entrepreneurial spirit. Big companies all over place but the mom and pop vendors are there in force. These people come here to sell and buy all sorts of unusual items. You get to see, meet and talk to these artists and vendors that are making it work. They are all a great bunch of people willing to take the time to talk about their love and how they make it work. This alone makes the long, long days worth it. The tricks of the trade are freely given. There is no class or book that can even begin to encompass the experience of what these people know.
Yes it has been a long week. I love going each year and maybe one year you will see us selling there. Stop by say hi. For now there's art to be done and we are preparing to start a store on ETSY. More on that latter. So much to do and so little time to ..... what the hell we will just do it all!
Stay motivated in what you love. Do not let anything stand in the way. After all, this is not a dress rehearsal. This "is" the time and you have it. Use It!

Side tracked

Well everything was going well and then...... WHAM!! I looked at the pile of Altoid boxes that were , I thought, sitting there innocently and the inspiration bug swiftly hit me between the ears. I have to say these boxes were from an earlier time when I had come up with an idea to make wire gears to have them open and such. Very neat idea and with great possibility. Unfortunately this got mired in technical problems. But now!!! Altoid boxes with out gears!!

I had a proto type box sitting there for quiet some time and I had just stopped at the metal crafting table to see if anything was new. The table does have a habit of acquiring odd bits and such. I picked up a box that I had previously aged and as I looked around all the parts laying about they all of a sudden started fitting together. What you see is the beginning of a " flower box". The base is part of a rusted flower that I make and sell at the Tucson Museum of Art Gift shop. The smaller flowers on the top are flowers that I make for a whimsical item called the "bullet flower". They are usually used with an old found shell casing. Other items are and will be items that we find at the Tucson Gem and Mineral show or out and about the area where we live and wander.

The first challenge was how to attach these decorations. This was a real stumper. I tried soldering, silver soldering, bought several glues but non of these were working. The quality of the work required a different approach. I had reached an impasse so to speak. Then providence decided to intervene as it so often has a want to do. I had gone over to a neighbor to look at his progress on his new work shop. As our conversation wound around building problems and solutions I realized here was the person to help in my problems with silver soldering on my flower box. After all he is a silversmith. Duuu... He told me that what I was trying to do just would not work. He then suggested rivets (picture on the left) Eureka!! I knew that was the answer. After some trial and error I found that a 14 gauge copper wire works great to make rivets. Who would have ever thought copper wire rivets! I must say I am thrilled with the results. This method combined with regular solder has opened up all sorts of possibilities and ideas.

I envision using this rivet idea in numerous applications. I am going to try smaller wire and see what else develops.

If some one wishes to know more about the rivet making procedure, that I use, I will be more than glad to give a more detailed explanation. It is very simple.

So I have become side tracked, held hostage by Flower Power! All art is just so exciting to me. Every project has elements of the new discovery. Of course with my terrible memory every day has lots of discoveries.The lesson learned here is, when a problem just does not have the right answer ask. I, for one, seem to get caught staring at the same brick in the wall and wonder why the brick does not change ( real bad metaphor!!!!) It is at these times it helps to take a moment to ask the the universe, in this case my neighbor. I can't count the times when what I am working on reaches a dead end because it no longer feels right. I have a painting called " The dance of the thunderstorm". I have been working on it for quite some time. Each part of the picture comes to me by an out side answer. Forcing the completion of the painting would just make a really bad painting. It is said that a wise man knows that he does not know. I am not wise but I do know that if I search and be patient the answer will come when I am ready to see it.

In conclusion ( official sounding :) ) Never stop and admit defeat just realize that the answer is headed your way. Keep your head up and allow yourself to be smacked with an inspiration!!!