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THIS WEEKEND - Art Fair Off the Square, MLK Blvd., Downtown Madison, WI / July 10: 9am-6pm & July 11: 10am-5pm
This will be the third year I have had a booth at Art Fair Off the Square (which is adjacent to Art Fair ON the Square). What is the difference you say? Here they are: Off is half the cost to exhibit, is strictly Wisconsin based Artists, has less foot traffic, and is on MLK Blvd. instead of around the square. I have been pleased with my experiences at the fair and it has proven my previous imagined experience of hosting a booth false. My story about having an art fair booth used to be: "This is going to be a sweaty, miserable experience in which I sell only a little bit of work and not be worthwhile". My ACTUAL experience has been: It can get hot, but is manageable, it is definitely hard work but worth doing, interacting with viewers and watching them watch my work is a delight. Here is a map to my booth location this year, hope to see you there. Booth #54
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This may be the beginning of a new series, or perhaps just another random experiment. I like the idea of mixing words and imagery. This is not a children's piece.
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Flora is complete! All the vines and flowers painted, then two coats of clear acrylic gel for strength and then two coats of UV blocking varnish. Even fiberglas goats have to block the sun's damaging rays, you know.
Thanks for following the process and be sure to visit her in the Vilas Zoo. Animals will be on display from June 19 until August ?? (I think this information has not yet been determined) Animals will be auctioned for charity Oct. 22, 2010. For more information visit: www.artzoobilee.org
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First I made a layer of blue to create shadows on the vines themselves. Then I put on a couple of different coats of semi-transparent green for the vines, finally I used a violet color to create some cast shadows for depth and also to add a bit more color. The hearts and flowers have two shades of red.
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I have painted the first coat of vines onto "Flora" and will make some thinner fine vines and add glazes of color on top of the whitish coat, this will again, add a richness that could not be achieved with just one layer of paint.
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I have completed the faux stone painting of the goat.
In the past I have made the assumption that on a thickly painted surface I could just wipe away any fresh paint. Not so. While most of the paint would wipe away, the layers of paint have some slight texture which would trap the white paint in every little pit and crevice. Not on my goat! So, as I prepare to paint the vines which will curl and twine around the goat's figure I am using twine and painters tape to plot the placement and design. Presto
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Why so long since my last goat post?
I was helping produce the 1,000 Mile Journey. The inaugural event of the Rainbird Foundation, a non-profit committed to the end of child abuse.
See their story at: www.rainbirdfoundation.org
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More coats on the goat. A very light blue, almost white, and a blue-violet more sparsely added.
The acrylic gel medium I have been using also allows me to have varying degrees of transparency of the colors, this way you can see the color itself and also some areas where colors blend like sheets of stained glass which creates a different end result than just mixing the two colors on a palatte and painting them on. Iindirect color mixing is the semi-transparent layers technique and direct color is mixing on a palatte, then applying to the canvas. (or goat)
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Another coat on the goat. Light blue.
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"What's with the colors that don't match?" After I added a coat of tan, I added a speckling of red, green and yellow. These are not the dominant color of the goat. In fact, most of those three colors will be covered or patially covered by the time it's done. The purpose is to have little flecks of the color visible, but not noticed. Having these "extra" colors added in will contribute to the overall vibrancy of the piece, without being directly noticable. I have been using a sponge to apply the paint and using acrylic paint thinned with acrylic gel medium and a bit of water.
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Here is the first coat of paint on the goat. I will continue layering paint on to create a stone-like finish.
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Friends of UW Hospital and Clinics and the Henry Vilas Zoological Society are partnering to present Art Zoobilee, a public art display and auction event to be held at Henry Vilas Zoo.
The art display will consist of life-size and small fiberglass zoo animal sculptures painted or decorated by local artists. The animals will be displayed throughout the zoo from June through August of 2010.
The art will be sold at a live and silent auction event on October 22, 2010 at the Madison Marriott West. Proceeds from the event will be split evenly to benefit American Family Children's Hospital and Henry Vilas Zoological Society.
I will be painting a life-size Nubian goat. I have named her "Flora". I'll be painting her to look like stone with vining flowers growing all over her. New photos will be posted as the painting progresses. Enjoy!
Here are a couple photos of her as she arrived, a blank, goat shaped canvas.
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We got around 15 inches of snow last night in Madison. Wow.
Here's a reference of what that looks like on top of a car as it landed by Mother Nature, and then shown as cross section. See if you can guess the model of car by the first photo, answer is the second photo.
Give up? Of course you do. It could be a pile of cardboard and a couple wheels for all you know.
Here's the answer revealed under the snow.
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Today is my parent's wedding anniversary. If you are someone fortunate enough to have had good parents, and even more so, one's who sustained their marriage, you might want to take an opportunity to thank them. My parents have been married many years now and it has been a real priveledge to have had the experience growing up with both mother and father under one roof. As a man with only one year of marriage under my belt, I have a sense of what it means for a couple to make it work for years. Congratulations Mom & Dad! - and thank you!
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Due to the popular response on my Facebook page regarding an egg discussion, it has occurred to me my site could be a lot more fun if people get involved. So in the midst of whatever other artsy stuff is on the blog, I will post some random discussions. Enjoy - today's topic: What dish is a favorite when dining out, or purchasing premade, that you attempted to make with disastrous results?
For me, I'd have to say breads and/or pizza crust. The last time I tried to make a pizza crust it ended up being glue-like smear on my counter top. Mmmmm. Who doesn't want to eat their pepperoni or sausage on top of a nice clumpy smear. Bread, not much better. I have experimented with wheatless bread, a challenge in and of itself, and made some loaves with oat flour. Did I say "loaves"? I meant bricks, which roughly resembled a loaf of bread. Their density was like an oaty little collapsed star. If this reminds you of any of your cooking forays, chime in with the details.
Shown here is a groundhog shaped cheeseball, from a previous Groundhog's day party, which was actually a food success, but is funny enough to include here.
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Here is a sneak peek at the latest paintings in development. This is a series of the alphabet, very basic but just something fun. I have completed letters up to "P" and will soon have the rest of the alphabet finished too. Not sure where I'll show these first, but I will post in on the blog when I know.
 
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Yesterday I was in a glum sort of way and thinking about how I have been working hard and not having anything to show for it and "woe is me" sort of garbage. I had a brief conversation with my wife which got my perspective turned around and at that point I looked out the back window to see a huge, beautiful hawk hanging out in a backyard tree.
I watched it for some time, wondering why it had not swooped at this rabbit or that squirrel scurrying past. It later dropped to the ground and I saw it had a rabbit carcass in the leaves. This reminded me of how to achieve our goals it takes hawk-like focus. Also, sometimes our opportunities sit concealed right in front of us. How can we view our current circumstances with fresh eyes, what opportunities might we be missing by making assumptions about people, things or organizations? What can we take responsibility for making anew out of something old? Good luck catching your own personal rabbit!
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I hope you've all been out enjoying the beautiful colors of fall. As an artist and graphic designer, color is one of the tools in my world. As a human being, we are all prone to the impact that color can have on our mood. There is not a lot of the fall color left here in Madison after we have had a couple frosted mornings, but there are some diehard trees that are still turning. Get out and spend some time reading a book or sipping a hot drink under one of these beautiful trees and soak in the last benefits of fall. If you are South of Madison, you may have more time left. Here's a photo from my time in the Arboretum this weekend.
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Here is my newest painting. It's another of the reflection series. The story behind this begins with a coffeepot. I knew I wanted to create a painting with a coffeepot as the reflective object, and I thought I'd also like a basket in the still life. I tried some preliminary collections of objects at my home in Madison, but nothing really grabbed me.
Soon thereafter, I traveled to Missouri to visit my parents home, and what should I see in the corner of their kitchen? A coffeepot, basket, an aloe plant and some other stuff all on a cart. Voila! I removed a couple of the items and did some minor readjustments to the positioning of the objects but the still life was largely preexistant, waiting for me to photograph it. I love it when stuff like that happens. I have included the photo I worked from and an image of the finished painting to illustrate this.
I also revised the image after taking the photo, the greatest difference being that I chose to make the walls a vivid color instead of using the wallpaper which was the actual background. It made the overall image too busy, especially when placed with the texture of the basket.
The tag was on the basket when I photographed it, I chose to leave it in for interest and also to give a "tip of the hat" to the craftspeople who made it. The basket was woven by Joe & Alice Dudenhoeffer, of Linn, Missouri. They are super-nice and extremely talented people. If you get the chance to purchase some of their weaving or woodcarving, I highly recommend it.
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