Time To Get Steamy

This week I will be running an art experiment!  They're my favorite!  I will be constructing a small steam-bending chamber to explore the feasibility of embossing wood flooring planks.  My earlier work with wood flooring involved staining images into the boards and working subtractively with sand paper.  I remember hearing a comment about how a pattern on one of my pieces looked embossed, and from then on I began to seriously consider embossment as a process.

Steam boxes do not have to be constructed with NASA precision.  All one needs to do is make sure it will not catch fire or explode from over pressurization.  This is avoided by not being an idiot about flammable things near open flames.  Also, one must drill in exhaust holes to allow the steam to flow evenly and continuously through the chamber.  I will be using a 3" diameter PVC pipe that is 4' long with a removable cap at one end and an adapter that will join to a 1.5" pipe.  The 1.5" pipe will have a 90 degree elbow that will connect to a funnel over a boiling pot of water.

The wood needs to be steamed for an hour per inch of wood thickness.  Once the wood is steamed and ready to be bent, one must move very efficiently.  Once the wood is removed, a person has only a dozen seconds to place the wood in the mold.  I will be using clamps to push the design into the wood.  I am glad that the ideal wood for bending is oak since that is the species of wood I use anyway.  I will build the contraption in a few days and have photos/updates as well.

WVA Application

Please Let Me In!

New!  Maxi Pegasus With Wings!

Lemon juice, graphite and nail polish on paper

38" x 38"

2011

New!  Maxi Pegasus With Wings!

Mixed Media Installation

7' x 5' x 1'

2011

Detail of above image

Anvil Top

Lemon juice, graphite and nail polish on paper

24" x 10"

2011

Nostalgia

Lemon juice, graphite and house paint on paper

24" x 10"

2011

Five Houses and Four Years

Lemon juice, graphite and house paint on paper

24" x 10"

2011

PM Nest

Lemon juice, graphite and oil paint on paper

100" x 50"

2010

Left section detail

Center section detail

Right section detail

Your Wrong

Oil stain on oak flooring

3' x 3'

2010

Poor Joint

Oil stain on oak flooring

3' x 3'
2010

Exercise #1
Oil paint on gessoed paper
10" x 21"
2010

Exercise #2
Oil paint on gessoed paper
10" x 21"
2010

Exercise #3
Oil paint on gessoed paper
10" x 21"
2010

Obstructions assignment

Prof. Tozer made us students pair up, interview each other, formulate 5 obstructions for our partner, and then make something in 24 hours according to the obstructions that one received from their partner.  It was a whirlwind of a day, but everyone finished and, like last fall, there were some significant discoveries.  Students who were in the doldrums seemed to catch a fresh breeze and those who were already well under sail found fertile shores.

My obstructions were the following:
-No computer
-No patterns
-Must use green and one other color
-Take three separate walks and jot down notes each time
-Wear someone else's shoes

I felt that these were not really obstructions, but were instead suggestions.  People often get the idea that I can only operate in a cage built of rulers, stencils and masking tape because they only see the hard line stuff.  My work has a wider range than that but I have to keep up with the pattern stuff until I flesh out this particular body of work.  I nevertheless faced this challenge as an excuse to let in a little indulgence to see if it could take me somewhere new.  I am not sure yet if I have found any new discoveries, but perhaps there is something in there that has a timed-release nature and it will slowly unpack itself in a couple weeks.  Anyways, here it is.  The images following the obstructions piece are in-process snaps of my final piece for the Summer session.

Untitled

Lemon juice, graphite and house paint

2011

Critique this work please!

Critique this work please!

Five Houses and Four Years

Lemon juice, graphite, house paint on paper

2011

This following piece is near completion.  Please critique it nonetheless!

Untitled

Lemon juice and graphite on paper

2011

Slowly but surely

Progress is being made eventually.  I am certain that I will meet the critique deadline of having something finished for Wednesday since I was able to get another 10" x 24" started.  Last night I also began my large drawing/painting and it feels nice to be on track.  Here a couple shots of some progress made tonight.

This one is still wet and that is why the light spots show at the top of the paper.

Back In Brown (work in progress)

Hello all!

I back for another attempt at routine self documentation practice.  In other words, I have to get better at posting my stuff on the web.  It has been almost a year since my last post and a lot has occurred.  My painting titled Your Wrong was part of the ArtsWest exhibit in Eau Claire last March, and I had new large work accepted titled PM nest into the yearly publication/art exhibit Prometheus last April.

Your Wrong

Oil Stain on Oak Flooring

2010

Triptych

PM nest

Lemon juice, oil paint and graphite on paper

2010

No. 1

Oil paint on paper

2010

No. 2

Oil paint on paper

2010

I am still into the lemon juice and the staining has gone on hiatus, but will make a reappearance late this summer.  Here is a peek at some current work in progress.

They are a bit more intimate.  The scale is 10" by 24".  The main idea for these smaller pieces is to stand as a sort of hyphen between the larger works.  A hyphen functions to simultaneously divide yet join two things.  It is my hope that through these I will be able to flesh out more of the peculiar narrative that seems to be heaving to the surface in my work.