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Big Changes

Posted in art, Festivals and Shows with tags , , , , , on April 13, 2011 by candlesandghosts

You may have noticed a new look for the blog- I figured it was about time.  I felt like it wasn’t looking as good as it could/should and so I’m in the process of making some changes.  The most obvious change will be the size of images.  Aside from making the page larger, I have also almost doubled the image sizes.  I hope this makes them easier to see.  I’m also tweaking a few other things, so if things change slightly over the next little bit, don’t be surprised.

Here’s an image of the booth from the American Craft Council show in Baltimore in February.  Overall, it was a wonderful show, and we will certainly do it again next year.

If you want to see the best in contemporary and traditional craft this is the show to visit.

Until next time,

-M

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Winter Show Season And Other Things

Posted in About My Work, art, Art Happenings, Festivals and Shows with tags , , , , , on April 11, 2011 by candlesandghosts

Yes I know we are technically heading into Spring, but I thought it might be a nice time for some updates-especially considering how much has gone on. We had a really successful fall show season which was great, but it left me with quite a dilemma…I had a number of upcoming shows scheduled, but literally almost no new work for them. So, the day after Christmas I set to work at a frantic pace; the advantage to working like that was that I had little time to over think and had to create more on impulse. As a result, I feel my imagery became more bold, and in some ways more abstract, but I’m quite happy with where its heading. I’ve also begun working with a number of new elements which I feel has given the work more punch.

First some images of some of the new work:

“Treeline”

“Big Wheel”

“Three and One”

“Balance I”

“GXM”

The piece “GXM” I’m really excited about because it was made using my new large format Epson printer.

The first show of the season was ARTfest Ft. Myers in Ft. Myers, Florida.  I can say that aside from being a nice location, there wasn’t much else about the show to rave about.  For us, it was a terrible show in terms of sales, but most everyone around us seemed to be doing well.  Go figure.

Otherwise we had a very nice time-

Jeremia was making new friends as always

and the downtown area of Ft. Myers was particularly beautiful.  I especially like this great piece of public art outside of the art museum there, and the way it reflects light and casts shadows.

I’ll have to continue this in the next post, Kristina and Jeremia are beckoning me to go with them for a trip to Home Depot, so who am I to argue.  I practically keep the place in business.

Until next time,

-M

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Crazy, Crazy, Crazy

Posted in About My Work, art, Festivals and Shows with tags , , , , , , , , on December 6, 2010 by candlesandghosts

So how are things? As the title implies, things have been a little busy

for us around here.  Since I last posted we’ve done 3 shows:

Festival of the Masters Booth  Orlando, FL

Festival of the Masters Booth Orlando, FL

I’ve worked on a large commission:

Manaus 1

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And I’ve even managed to get a few other new pieces finished,

including a another version of one of my favorite pieces:

“A Series of Minor Distractions” 2010

“Ferris Wheels and Polka Dots” 2010

“Four Dandelions” 2010

“Sanctuary” 2010

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Jeremia, of course, has been his usual hip self-still growing like a weed

and cute as ever (if I do say so myself).

-styling for the camera

-being chased by Zombies during the Zombie Lurch in Durham

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-going Trick or Treating for the 1st time.

He especially liked where we were staying while we were showing at the Festival of the Masters in Orlando.  There was a heated kiddie pool

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where we could swim day or night.  He could even fetch his own towel

when he was ready to go back to the room (well almost).

But nothing compared to meeting the Mouse:

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Up next for us is a home studio show this weekend, and I’ll try to get some details up a little later this week.

-M

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Tokens and Paper Lace Part 2.

Posted in art, jewelry with tags , , , , , , , , , on September 11, 2009 by candlesandghosts

To begin this new piece, I started with the paper lace image

Heart-Token-1 2

and a 3 foot length of 1/4 craft pine that has been sitting in my studio.

Heart-Token-1 1

I roughly cut out the image and traced its shape on to the wood.  I also traced a larger copycat shape which will serve as the piece’s outer frame.  I then cut the piece out using my coping saw.

Heart-Token-1 3

After much trial end error (and one broken but re-glued and repaired frame later), I ended up with the outer shape of the piece which was painted,

Heart-Token-1 5

then gold leafed.

Heart-Token-1 4

Next, on the top surface of the frame, I used a sgrafitto technique which is the process of scratching or stamping through the top layer of a surface to reveal the layer underneath.  You often see this technique used in traditional Christian iconography to highlight the gold leaf.  I will worry about the sides of the frame later.

For the next step, I cut out a solid duplicate of the frame from 1/64″ modeling wood.

Heart-Token-1 6

I then laid the pieces together to get my first look at what the pendant will look like when assembled.

Heart-Token-1 7

Happy with the results, its on to working on the back side of the piece which I will have to begin in the next post.  Right now, I have a 5 month old who is in dire need of a bottle and a nap.

-M

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Tokens and Paper Lace Part 1.

Posted in art, jewelry with tags , , , , , , , on September 9, 2009 by candlesandghosts

For several years, I have been fascinated with Victorian love tokens, and have been making pieces of wearable art based upon them.   In the age before photographs were commonplace, these were often given as gifts of longing from one person to another, much as my pieces are often given as gifts of love.

Examples include engraved metal tokens,

Victorian-love-token-4

nice calling cards,

Victorian-love-token-1

locks of hair,

Victorian-love-token-3

or even pieces of jewelry.

Victorian-love-token-2

For me, what began as a surprise Christmas gift to my wife several years ago

Kristinas-token

has blossomed into a whole series of pieces.

As of late, I have also started collecting antique paper lace Holy Cards.

Paper-Lace-Jesus

These were also often given as tokens of affection, or to mark special occasions, such as first baptisms or holidays.  Most of the pieces are quite small, say something around 2″ x 4″, but the detail, and variety to be found, is incredible.

I’ve started on a new piece that merges the idea of the love token with paper lace cards, and I began by using the card shown above.  Here is the image as I have modified it for use.  For reference the final pendant piece will be roughly 2.75″ x 3.5″.

Heart-Token-1 2

In the next posting, I’ll begin the process of taking you through step by step.

-M

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Starting another new piece

Posted in About My Work, art, jewelry with tags , , , , , , on August 30, 2009 by candlesandghosts

While working on everything else, I’m starting this new piece- it’s a little different from others that I’ve made, because it will be as much about the chain and metalwork as it is about the pendant.

I’m beginning with an antique cork-topped glass vial, and this brass Victorian drawer hardware piece.  For reference, the hardware is about 3.5″ tall.

new-necklace-1

Both are nicely naturally weathered, so a lot of the work is already done for me.

I’m making the chain out of annealed stainless steel wire and know that I want it to mimic the swirl shapes in the hardware.

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Here I’ve connected the hardware to the first part of the chain.  I decided to attach the chain on the sides of the piece so that it appears to float, but I’ve also connected it at the top so that it doesn’t move around too much.

new-necklace-2

At this point, I’m thinking about making a double chain  (a wonderful recommendation from my wife), and I believe I’ll hook it at both the sides and at the top.  Somewhere further up the necklace, I’ll bring the two chains together as one.

I’ll keep you updated as it progresses.

-M

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