Upcycle-ReUsed Vintage Lumber Folk Art Dogs And Cats

I've been in the process of tearing through a heap of vintage lumber that I moved three times in the last three years. The big pieces are becoming table tops and rolling work stations. I'm left with small scraps and I just hate throwing good wood away. Here you go--I'm in the process of building little dog and cat folk art gee-gaw statues. These are in the rough right now. I will throw some paint on them and embellish the eyes and such. Stay tuned, I'll put finished images up here. I work on these in my kitchen (on the counter) while watching episodes of whatever I can find on Nextflix and Hulu and Amazon. My favorite thing to do is to find a series so I can "binge-watch" while working on art or craft--go figure, it works for me.
I'm still working on the Cat Scratchin' book you can click here to jump over to that blog. I'm on schedule and happy.
I also have a small kickstarter project going to create posters from the Dog Scratchin' book. You can click here to see that.  I used some super cheap poster frames from the big box hobby store to show them off. Here's an image below to give you an idea of what they look like.

It's hot as hell, my ac is working overtime, my electric bill just came and it's almost double what it was last month. I'm remembering when I lived up on the mountain three years ago with no ac and only two windows that opened, during the summer! It was a good day when it was only 80 degrees in the house. How did I survive that??
Hey, have a day!

Making Folk Art Birds and Such

Please join me Sunday, April 7th for an all day fun-filled workshop making folk art birds in San Marcos, TX. Go here to find out more. Small fee, lunch included. Really great art center out in the beautiful Texas scrub-brush country south of Austin.

Making Things From Nothing

When things are slow with art--meaning sales, inspiration and such--I make things. This is a little blue stool. Made with some reclaimed redwood and one hundred year old long leaf pine flooring and some oops paint from Home Depot. I've moved these stacks of lumber about 5 times, now I'm working through the stack to get to a point of no-stacks-to-move-no-mo. The whole point for me is keeping this great lumber out of the landfill or burn pile, and to create something new with it. A way to give it purpose, or keep it 'alive.'  I can't explain why it is I do this, but I do identify with it closely. Feeling kind of old myself these days, like maybe I'm out of the loop and yet, not ready to go to the burn pile. I do everything I can to stay relevant and aware, tweeting and instagraming, facebooking etc...still, this world is geared to the young. (of which I am no longer) Oh jeez, I'm waxing poetic now, eh? Here's the deal--I believe in making something from nothing. The above is just an example. I'm fixin' to go out into the warm workshop (because it's in the upper 60's today for chripes sake) and make a lot of noise and sawdust.  Check previous posts for scratchboard workshop info. I'm goin' to Texas next month!

Little Houses, Purple Hearts

I just finished this little house. It was a birthday gift for a very good friend. This was a tough project. She gave me a shoebox full of things that belonged to her father. He was sent over to fight in WW2 and died July 4, 1944. She was in her mother's womb when he died, and he didn't know he had a child on the way when he was shipped out. Well, he never knew he had a child period, and his child never got to know him.
Originally she said I could glue the purple heart on it and paint it black.  I couldn't do that, so instead I rebuild the original box it came in (because it was falling apart) and turned it into a door.  Some of the objects glued on are from my collection since she didn't have enough to cover the house. The roof lifts up and inside are some items I couldn't embed, like the official letter from the government and a card he had made for her mother. The chimney is his brass lighter, the roof is a feather hat that belonged to her aunt. I built all of this, the house and the stand. It was an honor to be entrusted with these items, but honestly I've got to say, the purple hearts our government gives out should be solid gold for the price paid in order to receive one. They are really kind of cheap looking. Don't get me wrong, I have great respect for those who go and fight and get injured or killed, I just don't agree with all of our endless wars.
The title of this is: "Daddy Johnny Comes Home."

Makin' New Animals

I'm busy, busy, busy. Cutting up old books full of animals, Oprah and Vanity Fair magazines, and any other pictures of animals I can find.  Getting ready for a 45 minute workshop that I'll be giving at the Texas Art Educators Conference in San Antonio next month. I'll be there teaching and selling Ampersand Art products.  I put if off long enough. It was much easier just coming up with the idea, now I have to put it together. This is one of my first finished pieces that I'll use to illustrate the process. Let's hope I can write a good lesson plan and present it in a understandable way. Just another "performance". This is either a Prairie Dog or some other rodent with a sweet little Doe head. Red tie and Red Fez!! I'll also be doing a scratchboard workshop called "Scratch Happy." That one is a piece of cake for me!
Meanwhile, I'm taking Dog Scratchin' books tonight to the For Pets' Sake meeting and to Petco on Saturday during adoptions event, to sell a few. So far I've raised about $100.00 each for the above group and the Fayetteville Animal Shelter.  I'll give them both a check at the end of the month. I hope I can bump them up by having more sales. If you are interested in one or two or more, you can contact me or just send a check (I'm old skool) to PO Box 8963 Fayetteville, Arkansas 72703.  Books are $25.00 each and I'm donating $2.00 of every sale to animal rescue groups.
Ok, that's it for now. The show at the Anne Kittrell Gallery on the campus of the University of Arkansas until the end of October. Open M-F 10am-6pm
Next dog event will be in Austin, TX Nov. 13th at Wally Workman Gallery from 6-8pm.

Dog Book And Little Houses

Still raising money to make the Dog Scratchin' book. It's going great, 54% raised so far. Plenty of time to pledge folks!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1547701634/dog-scratchin-book-stories-and-drawings-of-rescued
In addition to working on the above, I've been assembling little houses...and building stands for them. All of this is vintage, antique, and what- have- you wood and pieces parts of misc. stuff I've had in my stash for years. I'm working on getting rid of it all. What better way than to make art from it. At least that's what I think. Tell me what you think.

Crystal Bridges Museum Joseph Cornell

In continuing my exploration of the new Crystal Bridges Museum here in NW Arkansas: This is the Joseph Cornell piece in the collection. The installation is great, they have a mirror so you can see the back which has collaged paper on it.  Have I told y'all how much I love him?  Maybe not. Here goes...I have read everything I can get my hands on about him.  Quirky? Odd? Eccentric? Yes, indeedy. All of the above and more.  Amazing, self taught artist. He hung out with Duchamp. In fact some thought he might have been in love with him...He lived and worked in the house he grew up in in NY. Lived on 'Utopia Parkway' in Queens. I love that street name. Perfect.
 I got to see a major retrospective of his a few years back, in Salem, MA at the Peabody Essex Museum.  180 of his works, many which had not been in museums. Thanks to Lynda Roscoe Hartigan who curated it, put together a wonderful book for it, and is one of the foremost experts on his work. I even managed to communicate with her via email and got feedback on my work and a personalized signed book. I admit, that put me over the moon!
 I spent over 3 hours in the PEM exhibit, and went back twice for more. I wish I had photos of it. They didn't allow them, at all. This is a major difference so far at Crystal Bridges. Of course they don't allow tri-pods or mono-pods or flash photography. And some of the special exhibits don't allow it. But for the most part, snap away. The above and the former post are photos I took with my smart phone, a samsung galaxy.  Not too bad.
I'm going to CB again this Friday with friends who have not been there yet.  I wonder what new/old works I'll see with new eyes? I have a feeling I'm going to spend a lot of my time up there wandering through. I've already spotted some snooty east coast types (what does this mean? Hard to describe, but I used to live in Boston, and was involved for a while with an 'old money' crowd for a bit thanks to a former relationship) who seem to be amazed and slightly stunned at what we have here in the Ozarks. Am I upset that this collection is associated with Walton money? Hell no. No more than we should be upset at the Guggenheim money or any other robber baron who financed art institutions. Get over it, and come visit.
It has taken me most of the morning to write this.  Sorry, I'm groggy from going to sleep way too late (early?) at 3am and waking up way too early at 7:30. My system is off somewhat due to the strange weather.  It's mid-January and 60 degrees here in NWArkansas. Something really wrong about this. I moved north from TX to get real seasons...Oh well, today I'll go work outside and put together some box assemblages of my own.

Finished Assemblage Chickens Counted

I finished this commission in record time. God, I love making these assemblages...I love selling them even more though. I stopped making them, for awhile, because they were stacking up in my studio, taking up more space than I have to spare. I hate to be so driven by monetary concerns, but the reality is, art is not selling as well right now and I'm in the business of making and selling art. I have no desire to be a starving artist. Never did, that's why I dropped out of art school to become a plumber. There is nothing glamorous or desirable about poverty to me. I once knew someone who's father is very wealthy and he would buy her a car, tv etc...in addition to paying for her college education. She turned her back on all of that (after being done with school of course) and basically took a vow of poverty. So interesting to me, that's the last thing I would have wanted to do as I struggled to pay rent and tuition with little help from my family. Seems to me, those who choose a 'vow of poverty' don't really know poverty. Or haven't been raised in poverty worrying about bills being paid or food to eat and so forth. Even my poverty experience is still much better than the majority of the people in the world who have so very little in comparison. Oh my, I'm on run with my opinions now, eh? What better place than my blog.

Counting Chickens Under The Tree Of Money Assemblage

Working on this commission for a client at Wally Workman Gallery. This is a 2d sketch that I put together using pieces and parts of photos, and then painted and drew on, etc.. Kind of a collage of sorts. I'm so psyched up to be doing this. I love assemblage work, just haven't done much lately because it doesn't sell very easily at the galleries. The finished product will be 3d and around 11"x14". As I said in the above title, it's currently known as; 'Counting Chickens Under The Tree Of Money'. After weeks and weeks of scratching away at scratchboard designs for Ampersand Art ,I am relieved and happy to have this break. I'll get back to scratchboard soon enough as I've got 15 new pieces that need inked.
It's cold here, sounds like it's cold just about everywhere. I'm hunkered down in the little blue house on the highway. Stay warm and healthy folks.

Monkey Assemblage

Here is the other version of the Monkey assemblage from found objects for today's Daily Monkey. I was walking in the woods along the creek and found these round stones, rusty metal piece and the deer jawbone. The ears are a wooden heart that I cut in half a while ago. The tree that used to belong with this stump almost fell on my studio a few months ago. Whew! Close call.

Austin has had the most beautiful weather for the past few days. Cold front blew in bringing rain and real spring like temp. Soon it will be unbearably hot...I am savoring this current condition for as long as I can.

Nightly Monkey

The day got away from me so I'm posting my 'daily' Monkey this evening...I changed my usual daily pattern so it threw me off a little. Had a lovely visit this morning with a friend, met up with my neighbors and took a walk down by the creek (we had considerable rain so it was up!) While walking I found some objects that I decided to incorporate into a Monkey 'assemblage'. Fun stuff. Hope you enjoy. I photographed two versions of this. Will post the 2nd one tomorrow.

Healing Heart Learning to Let Go

This medium size found object assemblage is at Dahlia Woods Gallery in Dallas. http://www.dahliawoodsgallery.com/ The origin of it is that I had somehow ended up with a corner desk that belonged to my ex lover. She had it when she was growing up and for some reason didn't want it any more when we split up. I kept it around thinking that I could always used the drawers and lumber for something else...art, furniture etc...When I ran out of room in the garage I finally put it outside and watched it deteriorate in the weather. Kind of like how our relationship went. When I couldn't stand it anymore I kicked it apart and realized what its real purpose would be. One drawer became an assemblage piece called 'Bird Outside My Window'. Regretfully I did not get a chance to get a photo before it sold. The other drawer became this piece, 'Healing Heart Learning to Let Go'. It went through many incarnations before I finally settled on this one. I know it's not scratchboard, but this is my other passion. Well, ok, besides collage houses...

I'm hovering on the edge of change in my work. I've got a few more 5X7's to frame and take to Wally Workman Gallery www.wallyworkmangallery.com because they are still selling. But I am feeling a need for a change.

Evolution and the new gallery

This assemblage is one of my older ones that is still hanging around. One of my favorites. Title is 'Evolution/Through the eyes of a child'. Thought I'd put it up here just because.

I met with Dahlia and Jonathon Woods of Dahlia Woods Gallery in Dallas. Signed a contract to show with them. I'll be getting work in there in April and will be in a group show in June with several pieces. Their website is http://www.dahliawoodsgallery.com/ They are interested in showing the scratchboard and assemblages. I'm pretty excited about all this. Now, I've got to get busy and produce some more pieces. We talked about doing a Spring 2010 show with the 5X7 collage houses I've been working on...made 3 more today. Hope to have at least 100 for the show.

Have also talked with my buddy Joshua at Progress Coffee (www.progresscoffee.com) about maybe hanging some pieces there. I continue to sell the 5X7 scratchboards at Wally Workman Gallery. www.wallyworkmangallery.com All in all 2009 is looking to be pretty good....in spite of the economy etc...