The catch all

I haven't posted in a while; there has been much going on and my little brain takes a while to process these complicated things...

I've got almost all of the paintings for the Motorcycle museum finished, submitted, and, I believe, accepted. I'm working on one more for this show, then falling back to try to catch up on gifts I 'gave' to my brother that I've never finished.  Sorry, but I'm not posting those until they are hanging in the show: that'd be bad mojo.

Moving on; I spent most of the day in the Bronze studio yesterday, SoliloquyII is really coming along. As the goddess Helen says, 'Shiny!...

I just put in applications to the Greater Columbus Arts Council for a supply grant. I'm thinkin' I make too much to qualify; actually, I'm thinking I make too much to be applying, but I do want those folks to learn who I am, and this seems to be step 1...they really oughta have an operating manual for 'how to be in artist in {insert city}'...

One of my coworkers's SO had an accident some time back, and they asked me to create a sculpture with the rods they used to hold her legs together while she healed. That's the kinda piece I love, but I warned them my process could be glacially slow. I've come up with a concept that takes a couple of long steel rods and imbeds them in a rock, then attach the rods to the two rods in a sculptural fashion...Here are the raw materials, arranged in a random fashion:

Speakin' of operating manuals, I'm about to go get one of those, too. I'm finally back in the gym for real, and now, it's time to figure out how to eat. The problem for me since surgery has been that every time I make some progress towards fitness goals, my back would go out, or my hips would jack me up. My little pea brain finally realized that the only way I could change this cycle is to lose some weight...lots of weight. So, my dude Ric Stewart hooked me up with his Doctor, and I'm off to see the Wizard. Video comin', but don't expect P90x...I'm not THAT dude...

Back to Artin', as my fried Daric says

Peace

Soliloquy II gets poured

I cut the pouring of Soliloquy II down to about a minute. There was actually a days worth of building the box and filling it with sand so the mold was pretty much covered, except for the top, which we set on fire when the bronze hits the side of the box. No danger, tho, the sand and fire brick around the mold keep the box from doing much. Check it out.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=274123146050680

I've mentioned it before, but it's worth repeating; this was a recreation of a piece that was stolen from me a few years ago. My sculpture teacher, Ric Stewart, talked me into remaking it, even larger. He's the bearded Gent runnin' things.

This piece doesn't have that sense of movement of the original, but it was definitely gratifying getting it cast. I posted progress earlier, and will continue.

A short update: Working on multiple art projects right now, and trying to implement cashflow management software.  I'll get more into the artwork soon...I did get to spend some time helping Ric trim gates and vents off Soliloquy II.

Our progress so far:

Long time y'all!

Happy 2013!

I'm sorry, it's been a long time since I posted. It's been all good, tho. Still Cancer Free! recently accomplished a few things from that first post, so I had to shout it out.

Soliloquy II, right out of the mold; cast Bronze.

Two years, one month, I believe...since I said it on this blog. It had been stolen from an art show, originally. This is her big sister.

It's still kind of difficult to see her in there, but this is the alien baby, basically. Tubes attached everywhere, with a central tube running down page right. She's posed with her left arm and leg straight out, right leg straight, right arm across her chest. She came out with all her fingers, all her skirt, right down to the dreads...That is a tough tough casting job. Thanks Ric Stewart, Bronze god for walking me through every step. Most of my peeps know that I'm gonna make you do that whether I know what I'm doing or not...just a li'l quirky.

With that, tho, we cast the largest piece Ric or I have every done, and she's got no holes, and everything cast. I'm gonna predict we'll even be able to see my fingerprints on the skirt...
The original:

Pushing many many buttons right now, so I'll still be hit and miss, but thanks for hanging in there.

Whew...

I haven't posted in a while. Still trying to get in the routine at work. I'm posting to document my most recent experience, as in, I'm still ailing...a bit.

This one rattles the bones folks...quite literally. I have no idea what manner of ailment this was, but all it came with was a fever. The hotline said come to the ER if it goes above 102, which it did not. It bumped right against it the first time I took it, but after flushing much water through my system, it started normalizing pretty fast. With the fever, though, came chills, sweats, and aches from every scar or pain I've ever had...especially the recent ones.

Whew...

But, it is apparently over, though I am still flushing my system with water. I'd been sleeping on the downstairs couch, and will probably sleep on the couch again...and a couple of those new scars are very very tender, but I'll save you the details.

I expect to be good as new; well, old, things are moving the way I want them to, and I do need to learn some patience...Wish me luck with that.

trying to get my mojo

Several days since my last post, and I'm still trying to get my energy to a sustainable level. There are many many positive things happening, and I'm mindful of those.

Here are a few images of the last week. The painting is a progress photo of a piece I started last year. It's kind of interesting to note that painting is hard work for me right now...I'm overthinking it. Have you ever not been able to get out of your own way? That's me painting right now...easy solution; paint more. easier said than done.

The sculpture is progress of a sculpture I've been fooling around with for some time. I recently decided this needs to be one of a series of religious icons, reinterpreted, of course...

The last one is a look behind the veil. This is my work table. In person, it looks a little like Frankenstein's Lab, as I may have said before. Parts of bodies, heads, scraps of wax. Wax is a very sustainable material to sculpt in. I save all the scraps and reuse them in another sculpture. I've actually still got two others sitting, almost ready to invest; their status, unfortunately, goes toward that energy issue I've noted.

On that note, I've come back to almost the beginning; easy solution; exercise more. Easier said than done...

For all of these things, I just need to stay on task. Keep one foot moving in front of the other, as a good friend just reminded me. Before too long, I'll be walking. Maybe, just maybe, someday, I'll be running...

T + 60 days

I'm going to look at this as an anniversary.

It's definitely a change of phase, to use an engineering term. I've gone from having pain I'd never experienced before to, now, a simple feeling of fatigue, though a strong one.

I'll take it

I say that just to frame my thoughts, because 8 weeks from surgery, I am working out, have moe progress in some areas than expected, on target in the others, and still cooking like I mean it. I started going more organic, partially based on some of the foods my brother bought for me while he was here. I even thought briefly about raw foods. I just decided I would need more kitchen to get that serious. But I did think it...

I've been a little too fatigued to really make art, but I always seem to have projects; I suddenly realized it's time to build the outdoor studio, if I expect to use it this summer. So, at least I've got goals...

Right now it feels like I get about 8 great hours a day; as I said before; I think that's awesome. I have no idea where most people are at this phase, but I am aware that there is a lot of discussion about Cancer Related Fatigue...

Back to art. I have managed to get two sculptures to a pretty advanced state. I need to get one of them ready to go to the foundry (Soliloquy II), and another unfinished bizness type piece needs to have molds taken before I move to the next phase. For some reason, tired for me means I can't seem to drag my ass over to the camera to load the images, so I'll hitcha back...

I've also been working on a painting; got it to that '2 hours left' stage I feel I'm becoming famous for, in my own mind. I may have posted on it. It's in the Ohio State footballers series. Most of these only have tenuous names, and this belongs to that category. Right now, it's Tone.

Back to healing. In summary, healing seems like it takes your full attention sometimes. I've managed to pull that off, with the gracious assistance of The Many. So, I am grateful. We are grateful. And, it ain't even CLOSE to being over.