Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Monkeys!

The kids are alright

Queen Bella



Bella looking at me and Frankenstein looking out the window



Frankenstein still looking out the window



Truman ignoring a piece of mango and me, with one eye, with the other, she sees everything!

Happy New Year Everyone,
check in next year for more Monkeys, Monkey Faced dogs and Truman too!

onward..

Super duper Monkey Ball

small seated Monkey and small monkey head



Monkey Mask with no eye holes has ears now!



Monkey Ball getting closer



Detail Monkey Ball

I just discovered that Monkey Ball is in fact a video game, called Super Monkey Ball. I still like the name.

Holidays come and go but this elf just keeps on working! It seems like I have been working on these pieces forever. But progress sometimes comes in small victories, like one ear then a day later the other.

onward Monkeys!

Oops no eye holes

Monkey mask! I forgot to put holes in for eyes so it isn't a proper mask, but I am calling it one just the same. It needs ears but is getting very close to color time. I am thinking of using the colors/markings of a Cedar Wax Wing bird for him. I have been lucky to have Wax Wings come and visit my bird bath recently, each morn a small flock ring the birdbath. I think the encaustic will enable me to get the yellow and red wax of the waxwing just right!

Onward!

Monkey Ball

Monkey Ball! He is coming along and a bit further along than seen here. It is a slow process of sanding, adding new clay then drying and sanding again. I have plans to use broken mirror to mosaic the ball part of Monkey Ball. The monkey will be painted and sealed with encaustic.

Onward Monkeys!

Back up and running!

We are back! I had a bit of computer trouble but I have been as busy as an elf!



Bella and Frankenstein have been enjoying long naps in the the best sunny spots the house has to offer. Also playing in what is left of the snow.


Truman is in heat, so I hooked her up with a portable mirror, now she has a lizard buddy to hang out with on her perch. You can't see it in this photo but she also has a new plush rug on her perch, it is very fur like. She loves soft furry surfaces!


Over view of some of the monkeys. Check out the Monkey Ball in the corner, he is coming along and looking good!


onward Monkeys!

Mean monkeys and pretty birds...

A flock of migrating Cedar Wax Wings stopped by yesterday for a drink and rest. I didn't get a great photo, here are some pretty pics taken by other people, of Wax Wings. I am always thrilled when they chose my house for their rest stop.


More Mean Monkey Monday!

Our favorit real life Mickey Mouse Monkey.

best strategically places color on a monkey!

onward monkeys.....

After her tail fell off...

Truman is feeling much better now that her dead tail end fell off...she is sleeker and prettier than ever!

I left the tail end in the yard on a bench. I was considering using it as a real Reliquary object. But by day 3, something took it away. I think it was a flying squirrel, they like to collect all sorts of precious objects to line their home nests. But that is just a speculation. Honestly it seems weird for another animal to want a 6" long dead tail. But maybe it is even weirder that I was considering making something with it! What's next toe nails....wait one of my advisers in art school did collect his toe nails for a year and used them in a piece...I guess all is fare game, in art.

onward....

what's up Wednesday

I got a bit further along on this one. Notice the snake has eaten some of the oranges and has one in his mouth. He will also have stripes.




Monkey Mask just starting to take shape, the base is half a globe...




Globe Monkey also just starting to take shape...




2D-3D high relief. The ceramic pieces were drawn by me and made by my mom--there is a mobile made of the rest of the shapes that I am not quite happy with so that will be reworked along with this piece...




These guys are drying in my super hot bathroom. Most of the heat goes right to this room so it is the drying room. Yep, that is my first harvested Luffa from the garden! I picked and cleaned it yesterday.

I am moving forward on all fronts! Everything relates and is moving in the same direction. Yet each project has it's own voice and I am listening. Ears open, eyes open, all senses open--open systems full speed ahead!

Onward Monkeys!

As promised..

Here is a link to some photos I took at the Eric Schindler 50th Anniversary show. I got a bit lazy near the end and didn't label all of them, but it is a nice over view (the first photo is of me after the show, just keep hitting previous to see the entire show. I added this shows photos to the already existent Eric Schindler Gallery shows, I have photographed over the past few years. The opening was about as good as an opening gets, great food and drink, people, sales and art! Really strong art I might add.

Time to get back in the studio and see where the Monkeys take me...


onward Monkeys!

Full belly and Fresh breath for Thanksgiving

I found this awesome recipe and baked these cookies for the dogs. My little guys love them, as you can see by the look on Bella's face. Here is the recipe. They are super simple to make, healthy and they leave the dogs breath fresh and clean, (I doubled the amount of parsley in mine). What a perfect way to include the Dogs in the feast tomorrow! In the description, she says her Pug loves them, that is a very misleading statement. If Bella is any indication, Pugs love eating everything!

Happy Thanksgiving to all...
onward Monkeys!

Art show must see!

The photos are of our happy home, now that we have the new stove in place, Mr.Eleven is cooking up a storm! The colors are warm and inviting the smells intoxicating, sounds of a busy kitchen and killer tunes...this is art--this is life!

You know what is also art---a big deal art show!

I dropped of 2 pieces at the gallery earlier in the week. It is: The Eric Schindler Gallery's 50th Anniversary Celebration, A group invitational. I entered 2 of the small monkey sculptures, (sorry I forgot to take photos of them but will take some at the opening). I am very excited to see the show, on Friday.

I had a fantastic conversation with Kirsten, the owner director of the gallery, while there. I love hearing her perspective. Growing up in a gallery, learning from watching her parents deal with crazy artists. Then stepping into the roll herself. 50 years later here we are hanging a show, varied yet cohesive powerful yet, beautiful, all of it brought together through a life time of living with art. A life time of honing a critical eye and a passionate heart. Kirsten is a beautiful person and it is reflected in her choices. She nurtures her artists and gives us room to grow. I for one am thrilled and excited to be part of this very important exhibition. To me the gallery is like home, like a warm inviting kitchen alive with creativity, enticing our senses.

The Eric Schindler Gallery
2305 East Broad St.
Richmond Va 23223
804-644-5005

opening reception, Friday November
7-10pm
show runs through December 18th 2010

20% of all sales the week of Nov. 19th-26
will benefit ART 180
and Tricycle Gardens

Be there or be square Richmond. I will be there!

Onward...

better

I went back into this encaustic painting and am much happier with it. I am reserving the right to tweak it a bit more, but for now it is done. I learned a lot about encaustic on this panel...looking forward to starting a new one with the new knowledge.

I added little blue beads to the moon for eyes. They are really cool in real life. The combination of sculpture and painting in one media is exciting to me. It is a path I have been on for a while now. There is an immediacy to encaustic that leans towards expressionistic work, but there is also a lot of process and that calls for pre planning. I want to explore more of the innate qualities of the medium. I am attracted to the transparency and rounded edges combined with simple direct line.

Onward Monkeys!

nap time

Mr.Eleven sneaks in a few z's with Bella and Truman



The 3 amigos find their own soft corner of the bed for a mid afternoon nap



The littlest Murph about to drift off into dream land


Truman about to invade Bella's spot in the sun

One thing you might notice is I am the only one not napping! There is too much work to be done....

Onward Monkeys!

other things....

Our stove is dyeing. We decided to go with a new gas top stove so had to take some time to do some demolition (thanks to Mr. Eleven and Jarvis). We should be cooking with gas very soon! New stove is on it's way!


I dressed up as the Queen of Blue hearts for Halloween. Yes, it relates to the Monkeys. The blue heart of the little white Monkey sculpture...but no one at the party knew that.



My Luffa are almost ripe! Apparently you just peel off the skin, wash out the seeds and they are ready to go!



Yep, the Monkey faced dogs are here supporting every move I make. Lots of love from these Monkeys!

onward.......

The Monkey the snake and the moon....

So this is what I got from my journey to the Land of encaustic. I like the immediacy of the first few days, I felt like I was back in the 80's doing a cool expressionistic painting. Then I read this horrifying article about Courtney Love hanging out with Anselm Keefer!!! What? yuck! Oh yeah it isn't the 80's anymore! Does anyone do expressionistic work in 2010? Not that I care what others do. It just tainted everything! How could one of my your heros hang out with Courtney Love? OK I'll take a shower and wash the yucky off!

I declared I was returning to humanism a while back, and part of that is including feelings and expressions in the work. What makes us human. How to connect to that in 2010. So this side trip into expressionism is necessary in order to establish some perimeters.

Back to my Monkeys. Each of the panels has shards of the bowl I used in the Monkey bowl in the pervious post. Each has a 3-D moon with a face on it. The monkeys each have a bowl or cup of tea. one decides to greedily sit on it angering the snake and endangering the moon, spazing out at the situation he created. The other shares the bowl with the snake and lives in harmony with the moon safe and stable. At least that is what I see.

It took me about a month to finnish these panels. I took a lot of miss steps but in the process I learned a lot about what aspects of this medium I like. There is a lot of temptation to go decorative with wax and I rejected those up front, for better or worse. Each night after hours of applying wax, fusing it then scraping it back, flashes of the best effects hunted my dreams. The next morning I worked to find these special moments and recapture them. It was a first try at a new medium, 2-D. But it is also related to all the other mediums I have ever worked with. Like oil painting and sculpture combined with heat. Each medium has it's pluses and minuses. But it is empowering to have knowledge of many. More place for me to explore..

I am ready for the next big thing....because it is time to start a new project.....

Onward!......wait check out the mean Monkeys it will warm us up for the next project! Ok, proceed, ONWARD!!

The world of encaustic swallowed me up...

I last checked in to the Blog way back in the beginning of Oct. I have been wandering around the world of encaustic ever since. Yeah, like through the looking glass, it is another world!

At first I worked on just covering and building up surfaces on some of my sculptures. The experience is like looking through the opposite end of a telescope...inward, inward smaller little plane changes depth of surface, melting reforming and re-meling...Then I decided I must try something Big.

So I jumped right into 2 panels, 2-D encaustic painting. I am sticking with the Milk Pint for pigment. Notice the Monkey bowl above and the missing section of ceramic. Next Post: The panels.