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!

I keep starting!

Well I'm still in the start mode it seems. Oh well better than the not do anything mode. This applies to this blog. The art, on the other hand, is constant and just keeps on going! We have done a few little community shows and have been selling a tremendous amount of Cheri's jewelry out of the house. So much in fact that we do not have enough to take to the stores. Just means more to make and this means more beauty to see!
I have been working on new display's (picts. soon), ornaments and a new Altoid picture! Just having great fun, fun, fun!!! The Altoid picture # 2 is in pieces right now as I let things dry and work through the permanent assembly steps. Takes a while. Then pictures!
We also had our first snow. Here in Oracle Arizona that means 1/4 inch and gone in an hour. It then rained for two days. We call that a BIG WINTER STORM EVENT! Tells a lot about our weather doesn't it?
Oh well off to the art factory.

"I be wanting to dance in the winter sun, in the dappled light, in the golden day." said the elf with a wicked grin to the maiden quite fair. She smiled her sweet quiet smile with arched brow. She knew about elf's that danced in the winter sun with maidens fair and little ones with summer smiles that appeared that same year. She held out her hand....... and they joined their smiles for all the rest of their years.

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.

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 "

Still at the Gem Show ... But.....

Well while we are negotiating with China for additional funds to buy MORE & MORE, not really, though that might not be a bad idea, hmmmmmm, here are a few of my lovely wife's creations that went to Wyoming. These are a very popular series of match box shrines. I should say the match box shrines are a popular series. Better you think? Well anyway, she has been making these for years. In fact one of these were one of the first creations I saw of hers. I looked with amazement at the detail and quality of work man ship. Not only are they completely encased on the out side when you open the inside they are also finished. She also places a charm on the inside that goes with the theme of the match box. Vincent Van go has a little silver ear on a chain!  She makes a lot of lotiria card ones, saints of all sorts,themed ones and then there are the " fancy " ones. I love them all but the fancy ones are totally exquisite!!!!!

 

Elvis of course. With all the do-dads of the music industry. Then theres Ms.Monroe with her diamonds and the Mermaid with the treasures of the deep and the icon of all girls in the whole world! The one and only ( Trade marked plastic doll ). Do not want to be sued for using the name or anything. But I believe that you can figure it out Can't you Barbie?

Theres More coming up latter. Ms. Cheri Mossie is forever creating gorgeous works of art! I will post more as time allows. I often tell people, you are people right? I guess I can tell you anyway, I live in a land of wonder where Xmas is every morning. See, she works at night and when I get up she has a beautiful new piece of art for me to see. How great is that!!! I LOVE IT !! ( by the way our Xmas tree is still up ). Till later we are again off to the show, fossils I think, for fun.It's all fun. For you artists sketch one of the above, now thats a way to spend an after noon. Now where is my Indiana Jones hat?

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.

Zebinezer and stuff

These are old but ... wait a minute! I was slipping into "accept me Please". Kiss my paint brush!

These are friends that I am not embarrassed of. Rule- never have doubt its all good. Right? Soooooo right!

Way to much coffee.

This is a fellow that came out one day. Laid back and country. Got to wonder though. There was a lot going on with this gentle man of the chair. Well it seems that smile was telling because a bit latter, Alice, his wife appeared. They are a couple. I like them. Makes me wonder about those country folk. Think they know a secret about living life. Thats a good thing.

This one is called the bride. A bit of steam punk. Not sure who she is marrying? Wait a minute yea I do. Unreal! I will find the sketch. "William is dressed to impress" I believe is the name. I did it sitting in a parking lot this year waiting on a Dr. appointment. Seems William impressed! Three years and I have the answer. I have always felt some what sad that she was alone and going through the motions of a marriage but there really was no one. Not no more. Now wheres William!

Last one for today is a piece that I did playing with chalk. Also used ink and acrylics. I actually saw the wings many years ago (30+) on an angle in a grave yard. they must have impressed me. The lady is a development from a picture I did about 15 years ago called "all angles aren't always nice". That one was about the ravages of AIDS. Very loose and impressionistic. so here she is proud and strong. Now if your going to have a guardian angle one that can kick but would be nice.

I'm off to find William and some others. Oh and that vampire.

Keep on smiling she said its all good.

One year latter! WOW!

How time flies!!! It has been a year since my last post. A very busy year I might add. Priorities and all that.

I know that every one has been holding their breath waiting for the next post and pictures. Well Breath Now!

Weird that once I stopped the harder it was to restart. My son shamed me into starting again. Tell me how does that work?

I digress. The year has been about work. Lots of work but not art. Sad but true. I have not stopped the art in fact I will be posting some new stuff. Most of what I have done is small quick and done in the rare time where I am able to stop for a moment. Sketches and such. Ms. Mossie though has been working and selling like a mad woman. One of my work projects is a light box to take pictures of her work. The box works great and her art really shows very well now. I will be posting a bunch of her stuff to. And another bonus of wandering around the world is the unbelievable art I have seen. So much that has inspired me. So much to do.

Metal Clay! Took a class and am looking for a Kiln! Waaaaaaaaay coooooooooool ! Ideas are and have been running rampant.

Production will still be some what slow, a bit more to do on the house, but then......

To the artists: Practice practice practice and learn learn learn. Thats what I have been doing and hopefully it will show.

I will be posting on a regular basis, somewhat, maybe, some times, more or less.

I do want to share what I have been experiencing in the world of wonder that is called "ART"

Now where is that vampire?

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!

Dancing

Here is the still unfinished picture called " The dance of the Thunder Storm". Notice the dots? I love dots! I do a lot of paintings with dots. Dots, Dots and more dots! My daughter, Stacey, lays claim to introducing me to dots. She is my be loved daughter and I as a father would never correct her, but........... well OK, Thank you Stacey.

Dancing is also another theme that I enjoy. All my paintings are of people. Well most the time. Faces are my love. But dancing holds a special place. One, I can not dance!!! More than one person has drug me out to the dance floor saying such naive things as " it's simple anyone can dance". A few have attempted to even instruct me. They usually last about five minutes. All have never danced with me ever again. A few, I hear are still in therapy. Do I make myself clear? I can not dance. But I love watching dancers. I love the feel of the body in motion as it expresses the feelings of the moment. The paintings of the dancers are just that. I feel the elation and focus. the joy and the body bending, twisting or simple hopping in happiness.

The Dance of the Thunder Storm is 18" x 24" Acrylic. The second one is " Betty Boogies" 8" x 10" Acrylic.

Betty popped out one weekend when I wanted to try a new Golden Paints product. A slow dry acrylic. Just like oils the add said. Close kind of. I have worked in acrylics for years. Maybe I'm just use to them. I love oils but the different mediums have different pluses. I have worked years and years in a bunch of mediums. I am almost 60 and have been doing art forever. Starting with the cave walls in France. Well maybe not those cave walls. I love all COLOR!!!!!!

Any way, Betty just popped out and brought such joy to the day. She is having such a great time flying with the universe.

Just thought you would like to see The Dance of the Thunder Storm.

I enjoyed showing them both.

Adam and Eve

These two paintings grew out of a story that I was reading about Van Gogh. While he was resting in the sanitarium he asked that a picture that he liked by Delacroix be sent to him. The picture that he requested was the Pieta painted in 1850. Van Gogh received a small printed copy, as I understand it, and he proceeded to paint a picture from this copy in his style. Unfortunately or not the copy that he received was reversed! So he painted a reverse image of the original. I just thought that was just to insane. I love both artists and being an artist I thought that I would add another chapter to the story. ( this will all have relevance when I'm extremely famous ) ( 200 + years ) I used the reverse image of Van Gogh and instead of depicting the death of Jesus, savior of all mankind, I thought that the beginning of all mankind would work for me. Van Gogh's painting is dark and tortured. I wanted hope and light. Sooooo here's Eve. Crouched, vulnerable, gazing out at the new bright world. The blue wrap is so often used with religious paintings and seemed to be appropriate for signifying Divine action and presence. I have always loved this painting.

All was well for a day or less. Eve is here wheres Adam?

Well Adam came with a blast! Quick and violent, Uncontrolled and daring. The opposite of Eve. Confident and adventurous, he flew on the canvas. Raw and powerful. Adam was man. Eve in all her beauty was woman. The nature of the genders, as I see them, sometimes, more or less, were placed on canvas.

My paintings are my emotions and understandings on the subject being depicted. I'm sure that there is a lot of psycho babble that can be attached but the truth is ............ there is supposed to be a point? right? oh well maybe latter.

These and others to follow are older paintings, to be defined as done before today, that always enjoy visiting with others. I will be posting some of these from time to time. They are all a part of my body of work ( I threw that in because it sounds so scholarly) ( there really paintings that I enjoy) Have fun and give the wold some beauty like a smile.

The Mornig had not yet arrived.

The morning had not yet arrived.
Art to me is an everyday, all day experience. Much more than the skills and procedures. These are necessary to express the person that an artist is on a canvas or art creation. Similar to a banker, baker or candle stick maker. They each see the world according to who they are. It is who you are and how you see the world. With that thought in mind I am also going to put in here where the art comes from and why.
The morning had not yet arrived. I however, had arisen (how often do you get to use that word? is it a word? Is to me.) earlier than the sun and slipped down to my studio. I could feel the excitement of the day in the darkness and quiet. Today was to be a full day of painting!!!! As I stood in the quiet looking at all my artistic endeavors in their different stages I smiled. ( Artists have artistic endeavors we do not have stuff or junk! Each piece is waiting to be included as part of an artistic expression. We also do not have disorganized clutter. We have a mysterious arrangement of moving items in the process of transformation. My studio is like this. Some, who are not artists, would call it a terrible mess, with bits and pieces, of all sorts of things, piled every which way. Wait my wife is an artist and she thinks it's a mess. Well........ her creative "eye" is different from mine. yea, that's the ticket.) As I was saying, I smiled. This day needed to be engaged! Mystro! Music!
I strapped on my CD player selected the music that fit my mood and walked out into the darkness. Around the house and up the hill to the front patio. Facing East I waited. The sky was a band of bright crimson low on the horizon. A prelude of the energy and colors of the day. As the music swept along with my inner excitement I started to dance. A dance ( read this as uncoordinated movements usually associated with epilepsy) to the morning sun rise. And then came the song! Rich powerful and full of emotion matching my own energy! I sang.( our neighbors are not very close or out at this hour. A very good thing.) Complete! The day was beginning! The sun was rising and the world, as I knew it, was unbelievably fantastic!!!
With this elation I turned and wandered back to the studio. I smiled from deep inside.
The paint and brushes, today, were my friends. The entity of the picture was happy and reminded me of what needed to be done. The work was easy and the joy of the morning was there in the colors and brush strokes. All was good. This was why I am an artist.
The goal has always been the same. When I was about 18 some one asked me why I did art. My reply then and now is " I want to take all the beauty and feelings of joy that are in a rose that I see and feel and give it to another and have them experience the same thing." I'm still trying. All that I experience becomes my art. Each and everything I see enters the catalog in my mind and becomes part of the picture when required. The feelings that I have are infused in what I create again from the catalog. This is not a conscious process. It is more of a melting pot of intuitive reaction to the art being created. It is who I am. I believe that the banker, baker and candle stick maker do the same thing. Well they probable dance and sing better, but you get the idea.
This is a bit of where the art comes from. Thank-you.

ps: Pictures that may show my studio are not part of a government disaster area. There is no state of emergency in my studio. Objects that are unidentifiable and do not appear normally on earth are not a threat. This is Arizona after all we have lots of visitors :)

The other two.

I am going to try to post the other two pictures that are in process. I am still learnig to take photo's and how to make this blog thingy work. Please excuse the mistakes.

The first one is called Stacey's. This is a request by my daughter for a 36" x 48" painting. "whatever you want to do Dad" dangerous words. I do not have a "voice", which means to me paint the same subject the same way, I have a "learning curve". What ever comes into my mind and however it wants to be expressed.

This picture came to me after her request and simple said "I AM THE ONE!". As I said before these painting entities can be quite forceful. The picture came together and gelled in my mind. I usually "see" the picture before it actually starts. This in no way implies that what ends up on the canvas is what I "saw". The picture entity hasn't really become involved. Blame it on the "picture entity" if it goes bad and take all the credit if it goes right. Rrrrright. I will be the first to admit that I have only so much to do with the finished product. I learn technique and such, practice all the time but in the end I simple hold the instrument that renders the finished product. So blame it on the brush!

But anyway, this is the sketch of the picture to be. At this stage I simple move fast and work out the idea. Moving items, trying elements, taking suggestions from the developing entity. I should mention that all my art is done with music. Another blog on that!

The second picture is "Diane enters the Engineering section". 75% done. This is a result at looking at way to much Steampunk stuff. Both me and my wife have become fascinated with this whole concept and art. Most of my art is not "realism" so it was a natural step for me to delve into this. Diane was an entity at the very start. I do not always know the names at the beginning but she was present and accounted for at the beginning of the process. The elements flowed and there have been a few modifications, but the details take hours and hours. An hour a square inch is not unusual depending on all that has to happen to get to what you see. This is also why I work on more than one painting or project at a time. That's another blog.

So watch the process and ask questions and we will see where all this leads to. I love and "adventure". Old saying " the adventure is only an adventure in the telling. The living of the adventure is quite often quite a laborious undertaking."

Trying to delete this picture. Oh well. More learning curve stuff.

Vampire Girl 2

Don't you just love her!!!
Well here is the next step. I call it blocking in the background. There is no fast rule as to when this gets done. Most times I will block the face and main items in and then do the background. this time I am planning to keep the face somewhat pale and delicate. I decided that it would be best to work to a strong background to achieve this. The boldness of the strokes and the colors are meant to be a contrast to the peaceful still face. I love movement in a painting. Reflections of the world I live in.
I should define "blocking in". To me this is when I establish the color, composition and feeling of the picture. I do not have a formal education in art so the words that I have derived to express what I do may not match the text books. I have read and studied a tremendous amount. Learning is a constant process. I use to live in Norfolk Virginia not far from the Chrysler Museum. There is not a number that will encompass the times that I have visited there. Standing and studying an effect, composition or detail. Trouble with an eye? Head to the museum and study all the eyes. How did the masters and very very good artists do it? Where are the elements and effects in this style. Then of course a favorite of mine for practice and training the eye, mind and hand, is live drawing. I have hundreds of sketch pads, of all sizes, filled with these quick drawings. When I did the laundry at the laundry mat I would sit and sketch faces. People do not sit still!!! In fact they will move away if they see you looking at them and sketching. So this means that you have several seconds to see what needs to be seen and then draw it. Great fun!!
I use the five second rule. This teaches myself that I must know what the important main elements are that I am looking for. Shape, size, proportion to the whole, relation to other items and the importance to the overall feeling or expression of the subject. What are the unique details that make it stand out from the standard?
I have another rule "all sketches and paintings are practice!" I do not dally on perfecting everything I do to a "finished master piece". Got over that! Some are bad, some are good, there are always elements that are very good. Most importantly I always have developed more skills. Even mistakes lead to discoveries. There are no failures. I do not beat myself up worrying about not being good enough to show what I do. I live in the glorious feeling that I am doing and am better than the last year. Or so I think. I'm putting it on the Internet for all to see and I do not even know what it is that I am doing in the painting until it actually happens.
Coffee done got to go.

Vampire Girl 1

In this picture I wanted a vampire that wasn't all deep dark and Goth like. sweet, tender and...
yea..... we will see what happens?

I am using this blog to show what it is I do and maybe how and why. This Picture is the result of a request by my girl fiend(who is also my wife). We never got over that first love thing. However.... She, of course saw the "movie" and needless to say vampires were a must. I painted two art card sized ones that she liked. They are similar in the position of the face. I really liked what had appeared and decided to refine the idea and do it in oils. So here is the start so to speak.
Idea's come from a variety of places. Some times fast and some times they perk in the brain for a long time. In this one I just had to wait while I finished another step in a larger painting. Now I can devote the proper time to it.
The sketch, as you can see by the pencil lines, is composed using very classical methods of facial measurements. I use photos to work on muscle placement and lighting issues. I will also do clay sculptures when a problem presents itself and this is the only solution.
After the sketch I like to do a value study type of under painting. I may or may not work out all the elements of the painting.
A lot of my painting is seat of the pants. Colors are mixed at the time of their use. Elements are moved where ever they feel right and most importantly I let the painting tell me what to do.
Every painting comes with or develops a entity of it's own. This personality becomes involved in the process. Some time very forcefully. There are paintings I labor over and then there are paintings that I stop thinking and just respond to what is required next. I love these painting sessions. One side of my brain watches the picture unfold as an observer. " Wow red there? who would have ever thought that would work there? Perfect Wow" All great fun. I know that I'm well into this type of painting when I do not even look at the color of the tube. Just reach, grab, squeeze, paint. The color becomes evident as it is being applied. This is not a frequent thing.
Enough already.
I will post the other works in progress once I take a good photo of them, (face book picts very bad) and show them as they develop. I will also post some of the completed works that I and my wife enjoy.
Till then. Enjoy life's treasures.

And then there was Art

Well this is the beginning and in the beginning there was the word and the word was ART.
Like so many before me I am going to subject the world at large to the view from my much misunderstood perception of events.
It is not true, or it could be if one was to close their eye's, that I was born on a starry night. But it is true that at the first feeling there was the flow and swish of the bristles through all time into my soul. A yearning that has always been present to share that joy, beauty, feelings, thoughts, both good and bad and yes the excitement of elation beyond words that I found myself thrust into. Quite often tears were the results of all this as I became overwhelmed. Does beauty hurt? Quite often. Pain unmeasurable only sated when at last it would burst forth on to the page or canvas. Waking up and dashing RED on anything just because all the world required that at that moment. There was no waiting. Sleep then returned. Long I fought this need to express. After all society really considered this quite useless. I didn't listen.
So here I am today 59, still filled with this wonder of creating that I have had uneasy truces with, complete immersion and the most fantastic journey I could ever ask for.
My opening line to my wife to be was "I am an artist". Her response "I am to". Nine years latter, 3 married, we live in a world filled with life, love and all that art brings.
So now I step out! Hello world. Wait I have done this before in the way of shows, outside and inside, website, and stores but this is different. This time I shall present the road from my slightly different perspective.
Enjoy or not, maybe find that the atoms can exist in weird and wonderful ways.
Come on in at meet my friends.