Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Black Mountain Leaf

     Last weekend I was in Black Mountain for the Sourwood Festival. Sunday afternoon I was at the back of my tent when I saw a woman carrying a leaf. I asked if she would mind if I took a photo of her leaf. Here is that picture:
On Monday I decided to make a painting of it. Here is the process:






The original photo next to the finished piece.
This series of progress photos is my favorite so far. I'm pretty pleased with this one.
Thanks for looking.







M is for Marlin

     Last week I completed a Marlin for the alphabet book. Here are the process photos:
I decided to do a grey wash and here you can see the beginnings of the machine works inside my sketched outline.

I decided to make my central colors blue and green with golden accents.



Not the best photo of the finished work, but there it is. Right now it is at the print shop, so that I can have it for the show in Banner Elk this weekend.



Sunday, August 4, 2013

Saltamontes

     Saltamontes is spanish for grasshopper. This week I completed a new machine towards the alphabet book. Here is the process:
Rough sketch from a photo I took on our trip out west.
Beginnings of machining. I like to study the forms of the different body parts and then imagine how they might be materialized and connected.

Wings are often difficult to conceptualize because there is so little structure.
For the grasshopper, I saw a palette of oranges, reds with bits of green. I like the contrast of those colors and felt that they were also representative of the insect. 
Dramatic lighting.
Nearly finished. I decide to add some black to the leg, reflecting the actual animal. Then I will work on glassing.
Here is the last photo I made before I shipped it off to the printshop. I'll post the finished piece when I get the image from Henco. Thanks for looking. 

Friday, July 5, 2013

The Owl

My brother requested an owl for their nursery. Here is the process of that work as it was created. Start to finish, I knocked this guy out in a day.











This is a fun fella. Measures 11" x 14" and really has a bright life in front of him. 
Thanks for looking.

Summertime

     Well it has been a while since I have posted and I have been very busy creating all kinds of work. Here I will post a few and next I am going to post a process piece for a new owl.


 The giraffe here is a part of a small series that I have been doing of animals who are a part of a circus. At some point I expect that I will share more of their story. 


I did this leaf this morning. I have a series of leaves and plant bits that I have been meaning to paint stored away in my phone.  

Newest birdhouse here. It is a bit of a mashup of two styles that I have been making. My verdict isn't out on how I feel about it. I'll post a better photo once I have put the finish on it. 

This is a bit of what has occupied time for me. My dad and brother and I completed this deck on Tuesday. Special thanks to Katie's brother for his help too.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

In the Pipe

Here are a few projects that I've completed of late. I must do better with maintaining this space. Special thanks to Juliette for the lovely photo.

First sold ring, post delivery.

This orchid invaded a birdhouse. 


New ring... it doesn't light up.
Love this one. I may keep it.

Mock up of a new orchid home. Pre-finish.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Birdhouse X & XI

Even with the snow day, I still managed to do a little birdhouse work. Here they are slightly instagramed and pre-finish.




Monday, March 4, 2013

Dodecahedron and the Machine

Well, I started the morning with a little geometry. I started by sketching the dodecahedron onto the page, then I masked it so that the watercolor would not get on to that part of the canvas.
  I have been experimenting with some liquid watercolors lately. That may sound oxymoronic, but generally watercolors come in either a dry tab of pigment, to which you add water or the semisolid form in a tube, to which you also must add water. The new liquid watercolor is highly concentrated and I have only added water to dilute.
Anyhow, the background is with the liquid watercolor slightly diluted. I like the contrast of these two colors.

After that I ran a few errands then came home to settle in to this little friend. It took a while to set up the iphone so that it was at the right height and so the cat wouldn't knock the whole apparatus down. All in all it worked out for a pretty cool time lapse of my process.
Then here is the finished piece. That dodecahedron snuck in to this one too.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Been a Long Time

It been a while since I've posted here, though the work has continued at nearly the regular pace. Here are some fun works that are new to my portfolio.
 As you'll see below I recently did a few illustrative works for Zapow. They were simply graphite. I really liked the aesthetic, so I decided to do a machine in this vein.
 New abstract. This is watercolor with a silver pen. It is small at 5" x 7" and something about it I love. I might keep this one for myself.
 A few of the pots I've just finished which are lined up now for the birdhouse process.
 One of my new rings with copper and turquoise inlay. I love this wood. It really could easily speak for itself.
 Katie calls this one the cheese slicer. The top of this ring resulted from cutting the round for the ring I'd just made.
 Golden monkey for the alphabet book. I wanted the white background so that I might better manipulate the image digitally. I miss the color and don't think that I'll do another one like it.
 Rhinoceros. Of course he has a glass horn.
 I call this the Ringmaster and I made him for a circus themed show at Zapow.
Also for the circus show.