What are you working on?

[JStarr]

Stunning work with such detail and feastings for the eyes. I believe the word is "gobsmacked"- yes, that's it.

Truly amazing.

 

[Terri]

A beauty, SLG! I remember when you lost your friends and the studio space. Congrats on getting this done!

 

[Marksmomagain]

Beautiful

 

[stlukesguild]

Thanks

 

[Artyczar]

Nice work St. Luke! Take a day off. And take a bow.

 

[Hermes2020]

I have started the physical work on my bird feeder sculpture that I have been designing in Rhino 3D software for a number of months now. It is going to be a life size nude man kneeling on one knee and holding a tray aloft with both arms. The body will be half abstract and half realistic and executed in concrete. I've decided to concentrate on the tray that will hold the dishes of bird food first. My initial idea was to buy a suitable stainless steel tray, but I have searched high and low without finding anything suitable. The problem is that it must be 500mm in diameter, but that size is just not easy to find. I have had the circular base cut out of 3mm aluminium plate on a CNC machine, while the edge strip is 2mm aluminium. This is the design:

I brazed it together over the weekend, using a MAPP gas torch and fluxless HTS-2000 aluminium brazing rods. I want it to be a satin finish, not shiny, so I will soak it in a 0.2 to 0.5 molar sodium hydroxide bath for an hour or two until it looks right. I will continue with progress updates and photos in the Sculpture Forum.

 

[Artyczar]

I'm taking an old painting from 2003, turning it upside down and sideways, and painting over it. This is how it looked, and how it's looking at its start as of yesterday. I had to pull out all the sewing pins that were well-glued into the canvas. It wasn't easy.

You can hardly tell what it's going to look like from here, but it will be another abstract piece with blue, yellow, white, and red added. Hopefully, it will look the way I have it in my head.

I decided to paint over it because it's not one I was particularly fond of. It had a lot of "bad vibes" and heavy meaning from some past experiences. I've been doing this with a few of my old pieces. I'll be working on this one today.

 

[Artyczar]

Here's where I left off as of yesterday. I had to walk away because the top section of white is all underpainting (sketching white), which is super toxic-smelling. It will be covered in yellow today and then scraped through. That takes some time.

The bottom portion is just white oil paint with some room for blue stripes and probably a black outline. I haven't decided on all of that yet (if it will be outlined). It probably will, to some degree.

 

[pcj]

I have started the physical work on my bird feeder sculpture that I have been designing in Rhino 3D software for a number of months now. It is going to be a life size nude man kneeling on one knee and holding a tray aloft with both arms. The body will be half abstract and half realistic and executed in concrete. I've decided to concentrate on the tray that will hold the dishes of bird food first. My initial idea was to buy a suitable stainless steel tray, but I have searched high and low without finding anything suitable. The problem is that it must be 500mm in diameter, but that size is just not easy to find. I have had the circular base cut out of 3mm aluminium plate on a CNC machine, while the edge strip is 2mm aluminium. This is the design:
View attachment 33115

I brazed it together over the weekend, using a MAPP gas torch and fluxless HTS-2000 aluminium brazing rods. I want it to be a satin finish, not shiny, so I will soak it in a 0.2 to 0.5 molar sodium hydroxide bath for an hour or two until it looks right. I will continue with progress updates and photos in the Sculpture Forum.

This is very interesting. Thanks for giving the construction details. Looking forward to seeing the progress updates in the sculpture forum.
Cheers,
Patricia

 

[Hermes2020]

This is very interesting. Thanks for giving the construction details. Looking forward to seeing the progress updates in the sculpture forum.
Cheers,
Patricia

Thank you and rest assured I will give updates on the process.

 

[Artyczar]

I want to see your process as well Hermes. Looks pretty intriguing! But you always make dynamic work.

Here is the "orange" painting today. I'm ending for the day because my legs are about to break off.

 

[stlukesguild]

Arty & Hermes... it is interesting watching both of your creative processes. I wish I had documented the development of more of my works... but I think that I often got lost in the process and forgot.

 

[Hermes2020]

I am glad to hear my processes are of interest! One of the things I love about Creative Spark is learning about the nuts and bolts other members use behind the scenes to create the many superb works they show here.

 

[Artyczar]

Arty & Hermes... it is interesting watching both of your creative processes. I wish I had documented the development of more of my works... but I think that I often got lost in the process and forgot.

Thanks St. Luke. I'm actually forcing myself to take more pictures of my progression now. I used to take them more, but that was at my last studio when I had room to leave my tripod set up, which would remind me (maybe?), I'm not sure. But I'm taking them now because people do like to see the artist's process. It's very true. I know I love to see other artists show me theirs. So, because I recently decided to change the frequency of the newsletters I send out to my mailing list, I was thinking of giving them new "interesting" content. News for the newsletter is not so easy to come by! I'm hoping plans and progressions will help fill the hole in what I report every other month instead of seasonally. I'm changing that schedule after more than twenty years, so good luck to me.

 

[Artyczar]

EDIT:

Here are stages 7 and 8 on this piece. After making skinnier blue stripes, I realized they'd look better to me if they were super thick:

I'll have to come back in a couple of weeks to clean all that blue that smeared into the white stripes. But maybe it will dry before then.

 

[stlukesguild]

Arty- I'm actually forcing myself to take more pictures of my progression now. I used to take them more, but that was at my last studio when I had room to leave my tripod set up, which would remind me (maybe?), I'm not sure.

That makes sense... but it seems to have played out the opposite for me. I had far more space and also had a tripod in my old studio... but I often forgot to take photos at the end of the day. Instead, we would sit around talking about our art and art in general (among other topics) often sipping a beer. I took process photos of some of the last few paintings I made in the studio because I was taking a class needed to renew my teaching license, and I thought some documentation of how the works were developed would be useful in discussions in the class... especially as many of the students were beginners. When I started working in my home, I was always able to grab the iPhone and take pictures at any time of the day. No pictures right now... because all I have at the moment is an empty wall. I plan on hanging the next paper later today... then lots of measurement lines.

 

[Hermes2020]

EDIT:

Here are stages 7 and 8 on this piece. After making skinnier blue stripes, I realized they'd look better to me if they were super thick:



View attachment 33249

I'll have to come back in a couple of weeks to clean all that blue that smeared into the white stripes. But maybe it will dry before then.

Oh yes, I agree with you. I love the thicker stripes. They look good against the complementary orange field.

 

[Artyczar]

Oh yes, I agree with you. I love the thicker stripes. They look good against the complementary orange field.

Thanks!

 

[Artyczar]

Sorry, these pictures aren't the best. I think it's because the sun is shining on the wet paint. The sun blares in here by this time of day.

But here's where this is at now. It needs two more colors (well, black and raw sienna--is black a color?) and it will be "finished" until dry. Then I have to do white touch-ups.

 

[Nelson_H]

I am playing with this mini-sketchbook. 4" square. Trying to stop drawing details and work on tone.