Solstice Celebration

Yo.

You know, I have been interested in doing something masky and dancy on the solstices for some time now but have never gotten it together.

I have had the masks, but not the interested people--or the weather was too rainy  (Escondido)--or something else, but nothing much has ever happened!

But THIS winter solstice--almost exactly on December 21--my masks and interested people FINALLY came together--and I wasn't even there!

The location was The Panda's Garden, an outdoor classroom project at Virginia Peterson School in Paso Robles. CA.

Mr C., one of the good teachers of the Special Education classes at the elementary school, saw my masks and said he would be interested in doing something with them for the 2013 winter solstice with his students.

So here they are! (TAH-DAH!!).

 

Everybody likes the frog, and my portrait mask of Lauren Eisley?--well, wouldn't he be surprised!

And here is my "Grampus" mask which I modeled on the traditional
Grampus of the Bavarian Grampus and Nickolaus legend.



I was working in another classroom at the time these kids were in the garden, but I was told they had had a good time--so the celebration was a great success as far s I am concerned. And who knows--it may become an annual event!

Oh, and for your contemplation, here are photos my myself and Tanya (Mrs. Wold) posing recently by the scarecrow which we helped create in The Panda's Garden.

Best wishes, you-all, for a very happy and prosperous NEW YEAR!

 Tanya and Tom, 2014


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Paso Update

Yo.

We are still in Paso Robles, or El Paso de Robles, California. Halfway between L.A. and San Francisco

We are getting to know this nice little town better.

I have been spending some hours with Special Ed kids and their adult teachers and aides, fitting in some artwork as well as I can--sometimes with the kids and sometimes just doing what I like to do with sketching and modeling salt/flour clay. I am working as a teacher's aide so I don't have a lot of classroom responsibilities and I do get paid for my time which is nice.

Here is a sketch of one of my students: he is working out a math problem--poor kid!--But I guess we all have to suffer through this part of our "education"..

And, of course, I have been spending some time in the garden of the school where I have been working, Virginia Peterson Elementary School. (Its a quiet place to eat lunch and Tanya and I helped create the featured scarecrow..)

See ya around!

TW

Ramon and Calaveras

Yo.

I saved another tiny scrap from young Ramon:

He loves to draw this figure and does it again and again with minor differences. The pencil sketch is about the size of a postage stamp. I like it.

I personally have been up to my old tricks making papier mache calavera masks:

Both of these masks are adult sized and wired to be used as wall decorations, though they could be worn, of course.

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Goi Boy

Hello,

I have spent the first two weeks of the new school year as a substitute sixth grade teacher. The pay is good and it is something I like to do but I haven't had time to blog.

There was a 12 year-old student in one of my classes who must have been born with a pencil in his hand. His name was Ramon--bilingual English and Spanish as so many of the kids around here are.

Ramon would dash through his classwork as quickly as he could so he could get down to his real work--pencil sketching!

He carried a separate notebook for sketching and several ready pencils. He is simply a born artist.

The regular teacher is coming tomorrow to takeover the class so I said goodbye last Friday. As he left the classroom Ramon handed me a farewell sketch which I will show you here. He has a very unusual style which as rather Picassoesque and he only uses pencil--he is not at all interested in color at this time.

Aren't people of all ages interesting?

,,,

More Birds

Yo,

Well, the Paso Robles shop lady didn't think my bird masks were quite what her clients would buy so I have four new cool bird masks in my very own mask collection.

Here are the last two birds: one black-beaked one and one orange-beaked one. I had painted both of them but then got going with my torn magazine illustration colored papers and got carried away as usual--so they are almost entirely covered with magazine colored page bits! 

Just can't help it--I DO like the effect!

See? I told you so.  One has a black beak and one has an orange beak!

Visit again when you have the time.

Tomasito

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Vineyard One

Hey there,

I finished another wall decoration.

The weather here in Paso Robles is so good for the type of art I am doing--it dries the cardboard, paste, paper and paint so muy pronto.

So I am taking the pictorial and the color elements of the work farther than I ever have before in "pictures". There are so many watercolor and the usual medium artists cranking the same old landscapes with perhaps some minor departures like substituting a lavender tone for blue or a pale green (now called "apple green in the car sales brochures) for the deeper greens of nature.

Well!

I would far rather have fun with my art even if it be wild.

I call this work: "Vineyard One"

And I can hardly wait for "Vineyard Two"!

You too.

Tomasito

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three wheels

Yo.

Today I finished a small wall hanging--I hesitate to call it a "painting" since all the colors are color paper from magazines and it has an actual sculptural depth dimension.

The entire decoration is made of cardboard layers and other recycled materials--but I hope the statement made is not "This is a good way to recycle materials." but  "This is good art."

The size, including frame, is about 14 by 18 inches.

I call the piece "Three Wheels".

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Foundation

Yo.

Some years ago I was a rock musician. No kidding.

I still like music--all kinds of music and sometimes I even get the urge to write a song! Also no kidding.

(Well doesn't everyone?)

So. though you have come to expect, and get, words about crafty projects on this blog--today I hope you will enjoy reading the words to my new song. I am getting a cool tune for the song with the help of my ukelele and may sing it for you sometime--with a LOT of help from my geekish better half, Tanya.'

Of course I drew a cartoon accompaniment for the song and will display it here too! (It is a little pale, but looks better if you click on the picture.)

The song is called:

FOUNDATION

And here is my draftsman-like drawing of a real foundation--built, as you see,  on bedrock..

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Days of the Dead

Yo.

The climate here in Paso Robles is very good for papier mache work. What would take a couple of days of indoor drying in Eureka takes a couple of hours in the sunlight on our apartment porch.

I like it!


You know that way down south (not so very far away) in Mexico, one of the celebrations most enjoyed by the people is El Dia de los Muertos--the Day of the Dead--a celebration honoring the dead--sort of like our old "Memorial Day" or "Decoration Day" when it was customary to decorate the graves of family members and friends which had passed away.

Here Memorial Day has been pretty much taken over by patriotic fervor for military personnel killed while in the service. Not such a bad idea, of course, but since all of us will die and since not all of us are military people, I think it would be a good idea to celebrate Dia de los Muertos here in the USA for everybody. Perhaps we could also call it the Day of the Dead. As long as we are at it, I think it would also be a good idea to celebrate our dead for a nice ten-day period every year--say from October 23 to November 1 (The traditional DOD is November 1 following "All Hallow's Eve--or Halloween.)

Without being too gloomy about it, death is a rather serious matter which should be seriously considered--though I really enjoy the cheerful mood of the Mexican Dia de los Muertos celebration. Probably the subject of death should not just be kept quiet and not thought about like some taboo subject.

Papier mache masks and decorations--including a traditional altar--are very often set up in village churches or markets and I think this is also a good idea. I have seen some examples right here in southern California in Escondido and in Petaluma, for example where temporary altars have been decorated with crepe paper and papier mache figures and photos of the honored dead--even pets honored by the family children.

Anyway.  I plan to celebrate the Days of the Dead or Dias de los Muertos this year and invite you to do the same.

And also, my dear readers and friends, I wish all of you a very long and productive and very happy life!

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Bird Masks

 Yo.

One of the gift-shop managers in our new  Paso Robles "hometown" said she would lke to see some papier mache bird masks--so I have been trying my hand with the birds.

I have done a bird or two in days long ago, but I have not done a REAL bird for ages.

So--here goes:--some:

BIRDS by Tomasito

Baseball Bird

Blue Bird

Speckled Bird

Hey! Making birds is FUN!

You guys are the Best of the Best.

 

See you again soon.

 

Tomasito

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Cooperate

Yo:

Every day I have been making a few little calaveras for the coming Dia de los Muertos celebration.

The climate here in Paso Robles is great for papier mache and dough sculpture--hot day and cool nights and a good drying wind every afternoon, so I am in my element.

Here is a bundle of my finished necklaces---or pendants, if you like:

Most of the masks we carried with us are still unhung (unwept and unlamented too!) but they look sort of cute jumbled into a corner:

Everything seems to go a lot better when people cooperate instead of compete--so I drew a cartoon to illustrate this idea and sent it off to my big brother, Joe, who is family reunioning with his kids and grandkids in Guatemala so  I'll share it with you internet viewers too::

See you again soon.

Toamsito

Pendants

Hello.

Welcome back!

It is SO nice to be blogging again after our long journey south from Eureka!

We are now completely moved in and our Paso Robles apartment is nicht schlecht--as they say.

In fact it is very good!

Today I started my almost annual papier mache project--making little dough calavera pendants for this year's Dia de los Muertos celebration.

I'll show you what I am up to , but first I would like you to see a couple more photos of our new little town--then a couple of shots of us and then the project.

Here is the cool little Andrew Carnegie library in the central park which is now the town history museum presently featuring locally made and historic patchwork quilts:

Next we have this telephoto of "P" Hill,  which is visible from downtown, by Tanya --it was "P.R." Hill a generation ago now half restored by a local old boy.

Here's Tanya posing in a farm tractor we found in an equipment supply parking lot.

And here is me clowning as usual. As you see, I could use a larger size in gnome hats.

Now what you have been waiting for--the calavera pendant project.

Here are pendants from 2008, 9 and 10, and then some of the dough pendants which are now drying in the sun and which I will paint for this year's Dia de los Muertos.

Thanks for stopping by and best wishes for all YOUR projects!

Tomasito and Tanya

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Paso Robles

Tanya and I are movers if not shakers!

We love to live in new places and learn new things and we have moved again--this time to Paso Robles in central California--in fact almost exactly between LA and San Francisco.

Tanya chose the location--I knew El Paso de Robles (Oak Pass) existed because I have driven the 101 freeway north and south in California a lot, but I never stopped to see the town.

Turns out to be a very nice place.

Days are warm, bordering on hot, and nights are naturally cool. Just right for grapes and I love it so much Tanya claims she married a grape and I guess she did.

Here's a view of the countryside:

The little town has everything we need. WalMart, Food 4 Less and, best of all. a very nice, clean apartment.

I have not done and papier mache work here yet, but hope to get started again this week.

Thanks for checking in with this blog and we'll see you soon.

Best wishes, you guys,

Tomasito and Tanya

Ouroboros Bowl

Hello again,

We have finished another papier mache project .


I think I was living in Flagstaff, Arizona in the '70s when I first read about the "Ouroboros " symbol--that  "cosmic snake" or dragon shown in the act of eating it's own tail.

Ouroboros is a very old symbolic representation of "eternity" or perhaps "endless return and repetition", cyclic renewal--or perhaps the ancient idea of samsara.

The snake on the rim this bowl is about to swallow it's own tail

On one side of this large, tipped bowl there is a snaillike figure--a spiraling symnol which may also represent "endless growth and development"--the idea of evolution.

The whole thing is made of recycled materials--newspaper and colored magazine pictures.

 Side View Showing Spiral.

 Top View.

The bowl is pretty large--about 15 inches in circumference by 12 inches in height and it weighs a couple of pounds--a sturdy construction.

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Boogie Dancers

A couple of papier mache projects have been finished over the last few days.

I love good old rock n roll music, of course, since I had a band playing same some years ago in Hawaii--and I am happy to see that an early form of r&r music--boogie woogie, is still very popular both in performing of music and dance.

There are a series of world championship boogie dancing videos on YouTube which I like to watch and which have inspired the creation of a little papier mache boogie dancing statuette and a papier mache mosaic 3-D picture.

 

Boogie woogie Dancer statuette.

Boogie woogie Dancers papier mache mosaic 3-D picture.

I wanted to express in papier mache art the fun and excitement--and the athletic skill--of these wonderful contemporary young dancers moving to the equally great pop music of the mid-twentieth century.

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Redwood Spirit Mask

I have been working slowly (as always with papier mache) on a basic framework for the Redwood Spirit Mask the inspiration for which came during a walk in the redwoods on Easter as mentioned earlier in this blog.

This morning I have started the work on what will appear to the viewer of the dancing mask. (Oh yes, all my masks are "dancing masks".)

I will be pretty large--well, what the heck, the ancient redwood trees are as tall as a football field is long and more and my mask won't be THAT big?

Here is the working drawing for the concept:

As you see, the wearer's head and eyes will look out from the "forehead" of the mask.

A very interesting project, yes?

See you around.

TW

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Sidewalk Chalk

Hello.

It seems that EVERYONE is an artist!

Some neighborhood lids with  sidewalk chalk decorated the sidewalks leading to the apartments in our complex all the way from the parking lot behind the buildings to the street in front.

Here is a good example:

NOW--lets get busy with our own!

Good work to you-all too!

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Alastair Sooke

Hello.

Since you are looking at this blog, you must be an art lover so here is a YouTube video link you might enjoy as much as I have.

The BBC presenter Alastair Sooke has made a very interesting series about modern art
--"Modern Masters"--and once you get into the series you will be guided to further episodes.

Alastair is quite young. At first I thought: "What could this kid know about modern art and artists  that I don't--but he is well-placed and well rehearsed and knows a LOT more than I do.

I have found everything done by Alastair Sooke for BBC very interesting--click on this video  and see if you don't agree.




I made this sketch of Mr. Sooke for fun.

Art! (Even lowly papier mache!)

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Disney and Mouse

Hello.

Now here is one I am happy to finish.

Good old Walt Disney's portrait as a papier mache mosaic plus frame AND his great artistic offspring Micky Mouse!

I had the fun of making MM frim wire, papier mache and clay dough--then painting the whole figure.

Would you believe this is the first time I ever did a Mickey Mouse? For some reason I always was satisfied with Disney's expert artists, but this time I wanted to do the whole thing myself--and here he is: Ta Dah!!

 

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Mache Flowers

Hello.

Yesterday you saw the newly created "face vase".

What kind of "flowers" would go in this papier mache vase?

Odd papier mache ones, of course like those you see in this sketch

:

Now to MAKE said "flowers"!

See ya,

Tomasito

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Face Vase

Hello.

I finished this vase yesterday.

Its papier mache so you don't put  REAL flowers with water in it--but you CAN put nice artificial flowers in it--so there!

And I am just the one to MAKE the peculiar kind of--artificial flowers to put in it--and I WILL! (Or, as they say, I HOPE to!)

 

The vase is about ten inches tall--sort of a stubby blue face with stylized "hair" in braids behind. It's cute.

I think.

See ya.

Tomasito

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Boogie Dancing

Boogie Dancing!

That's the stuff!

Inspired by some boogie dancing on YouTube, I am working on some papier mache dancers. 

Here is the fast sketch

And here goes for the 3-D papier mache dancers:

(

And if you want to see the inspiration click on this! (Man...jitterbugging was NEVER this good!)

See ya.

Tomasito

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Boogie Jam

Hello.

There is some great music on YouTube.

Literally something for everyone!  And this is the first time in my life I have been able to find music done by some of my favorite musicians without having to buy a record,  pay a heavy cover charge at a club or buy a ticket for a concert.

Not such a bad time to be alive after all.

I was listening to some boogie jam music and started doing what I like to do best but can't do very well in a club or concert--make sketches inspired by the musicians and the music and here is the product--Ta-dah!

Well, I like all kinds of music but I am SO fond of old-fashioned boogie woogie and rock n roll!

See ya.

Tomasito

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Albert Lee

Hello again.

I was listening to one of my favorite rock n roll groups and got inspired to sketch some of their fine musicians.

Some of you will know that way back when, I was a rock n roll drummer  in Hawaii with "The Tidesmen", "Bruce Denny and the Plainsmen", "Eddie Suzuki and the Royal Sushi" and others (Heck, white as I am, I was even the drummer for "The Original Ink Spots" when they toured the service clubs of Oahu) and wasn't that fun!

The group I think makes the same kind of noise we did back then, but a whole lot better, is "The Refreshments".

They are really cookin', as we musicians say, in these YouTube videos--really enjoying each other and their music and don't the people love it too! Sure they do.

If you like great old fashioned rock n roll click this link to YouTube.



And here is my sketch of Albert Lee, one of the finest rock guitarists you will ever see or hear!

I hope to finish this sketch as a painting  or paper mosaic soon.

See ya.

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Easter Redwood Spirit

Happy Easter you-all!

We took a break from the workshop a couple of days ago and visited a nearby town, forest and marsh.

This time it was the little town of Crescent City, their nearby wetlands and the Jedediah Smith State and National Park.

We had a beautiful sunny day and a rainy, foggy day as is very much the way things are here on the northern California coast in the spring..

Tanya in the rain.

Tanya loves to photograph flowers and she found some new specimens for her photo collection.

I was looking for a "spirit of the redwoods" to use for the workshop and found a burl which is definitely right for the job:

Redwood Spirit. (Tanya photo)

I snapped this photo which shows the huge size of this mysterious redwood burl face.

Have a good Easter and a happy and productive Spring!

Tomasito and Tanya

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Statuettes

Hello again.

Here are the finished statuettes of Brer Rabbit and the tar baby from the Uncle Remus stories.

The portrait of Walt Disney with the shelf-frame for these characters will be ready in a few days.

You may recognize several of the books behind the statuettes.

"Earthprobe" is a book I wrote after a round-the-world backpacking adventure I made some forty years ago--and don't time fly?--which is now available in a new paperback edition geeked by my fascinating and talented wife, Tanya. (Click this link: Amazon  NOW to check it out, heh, heh).(It's a good read.)

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