How did you learn art?

[musket]

One more, but flatwork, as carvers call it. I did this pencil rendering of an ornate hawk eagle when I was thirteen, or maybe fourteen, depending on the month, which I have forgotten. Done with all the abandon and lack of self-consciousness of a teenager to whom it's all new. No painful attempt to render every feather. Almost abstract in places. Expression has always been paramount to me. In a raptor, it's all in the eyes.

 

[snoball]

Yes, I can see it is. I have a Dremel with a flex shaft, which fills my needs but I can see where you would need something a bit finer for details on the wood carving on the birds.

 

[snoball]

The "flat" work is excellent too.

 

[Artyczar]

Wow Musket! Those carving sculptures are absolutely stunning. I've seen most of them before, but it's so nice to see them again. You are very talented and detailed in your work. Of course, I wouldn't expect anything less from you and your eye for detail. The drawing is really great too. I am so sorry you can't do them anymore. Can you still draw a little? or sketch?

 

[Artyczar]

I don't have most of my very early work. I have a drawing I made when I was ten I think, but that's embarrassing to show because I had absolutely no skill. I have some small pics of some early watercolors.

I did this around sixteen

This one is about seventeen:

This is from a famous National Geographic cover I did about eighteen:

 

[Artyczar]

Right now I am finishing up a drawing for a print, but I'm not supposed to show it because it's going to be published in three months. I may have to take it down later.

 

[musket]

Terrific work as always, Arty.

No, I can't really draw or sketch, alas. My fingers trigger and seize up when I hold a pencil or pen. I suppose I could manage some very loose work anyway, but the amount of effort involved even with that... I just don't have enough drive to create anymore. It was always a battle for me even before my hands went south.

 

[musket]

I'll post a few of this one again because I think it's the best thing I ever did.

Tupelo
12.5KT white and 23.75KT rose noble gold leaf
Oils and amber varnish
Striped ebony
Cellulose nitrate lacquer
Travertine
Around 13 1/2" high

 

[Artyczar]

That's incredible Musket. Jeez!

 

[musket]

Thanks Arty. Spooky piece in the flesh. It gave some people the creeps-- the eyes seem to follow you around. Exactly what I wanted it to do, have that same spooky feel as Egyptian funerary statuettes without being a slavish copy. It isn't very large but it can dominate a room. By far the closest I ever came to fine art as opposed to purely decorative.

Although I always appreciated compliments on my more trad work, after awhile, "It looks so real!" loses its power to delight. It isn't that hard to make it look real, and there are carvers who are way better at that than I ever could have hoped to be. These people started when they were in their mid-teens. I started when I was forty-six.

 

[snoball]

Musket, any home would be proud to display that!

 

[Artyczar]

I forgot to mention that in my late 30s, I took a ceramics class at the local community college. I absolutely hated it. I hated how the clay felt on my hands, especially the dry bits. I made a number of coil pots. The teacher only taught the men to throw pots on the wheel and really discouraged the women. I didn't like him much, but he let me do whatever I felt like doing after he gave a short lecture at the beginning of each class about firing and glazes. We were mostly left on our own with the exception of him showing the others the wheel.

I only wound up with three out of fifteen things I liked from that class. Maybe I made more but I gave most of it away. I liked the coiled stuff I made and one little duck sculpture.

I found a couple of design things I did when I was fifteen. Abstracts I guess. They were made with colored paper and ink. Nothing too fancy. One was based on a drum key. Sorry the pics are so small. They're all I have.

 

[snoball]

Well that reminds me I took a few lessons on China painting and bought my own kiln, all the paints and some white china. I painted for quite a while but after a time I decided that I had my finger in too many pies. I was oil painting, acrylic painting, quilting, knitting, crocheting, sketching and doing pen and ink and china painting, along with various crafts. Had to pare it down a bit. I sold my kiln and all the paints. It was fun though.

 

[Artyczar]

Those are incredible.

I like to do sewing stuff too. Here's a doll I did of my father:

 

[musket]

Thanks sno. Considering who bought it, there's a small possibility it might actually end up in a museum someday. Long after I'm gone, of course. A large part of the idea with this one was to get away from all that detail, which quite frankly is an incredible bore to produce after you've done it five or six times. Here's what I mean--

 

[musket]

Very nice work, sno.

Arty, your work already looked like your work even when you were that young!

 

[snoball]

Just super Musket!

 

[Artyczar]

Arty, your work already looked like your work even when you were that young!

You mean like I didn't know what I was doing even back then? LOL!

 

[Artyczar]

Musket, that is just flippin' RAD!

 

[snoball]

I like to do sewing stuff too. Here's a doll I did of my father:

Well now you reminded me that I sewed dolls too in all that other stuff. I signed and numbered them and sold well over 130 of the things.