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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Andy Warhol

Hello.

Andy Warhol.

An American artist in every way.

New York was his long-tine home and his talent as a commercial artist bloomed into a downtown factory situation producing his own unusual brand of product.

He wanted fame and got more than his predicted fifteen minutes thereof along with all the perks and problems of same.

Though physically gone, he is certainly not forgotten. He is a present strong influence on most American artists and seemingly many artists world wide.

From shoe ads to Campbell soup cans and the mass produced celebrity portraits to his signature dress, unique behavior and peculiar movies, Andy Warhol was one of the great artists and personalities of the twentieth century.

When he did his Campbell Soup cans he said; "Everyone thought it was a joke." --a joke which is now worth millions at the Guggenheim, and he remarked that since we are now dealing with "consumer reality"--"In art, anything goes."

I made the below sketch of Andy Warhol from one of his you-tube biographies:

 

 

 "Everyone thought it was a joke"

 Andy Warhol

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Uncle Remus

Hello.

Another rainy afternoon here in Eureka, CA.

Since.  it was sunny this morning I took the opportunity to work on some papier mache projects

It will take them a little longer to dry for the next step, but as Paul Klee is supposed to have said: "Nothing about art is quick."

Above is my colored pencil sketch of Mr. Baskett as Uncle Remus, the star of the Walt Disney film "Song of the South" which I probably first enjoyed as a teen-ager in one of those long gone but not quite forgotten "passion pits",  a drive-in movie theater in Albuquerque.

The film is memorable as a historic piece and you may now see it on U Tube which may or may not be as much fun as going to the drive-in.

I have mounted this sketch in a papier mache frame with a shelf for displaying three of the characters from the original Uncle Remus stories which mom read to us little kids before TV or Walt Disney feature movies. I am making these figures from salt dough--a cheap and very good art medium.

So far I have made Brer Rabbit and the famous "Tar Baby" and will soon make Brer Rabbit's nemesis, Brer Fox.

Here are the unfinished  Rabbit and the Tar Baby (with the rest of my creative workshop junk):

The crafty fox will appear soon, I hope, and I will show you the complete Remus set.

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Juan Miro Finished

Hello.

My Miro portrait sketch you saw in this blog a couple of weeks ago is now finished as a mosaic of recycled magazine picture collage and included into a papier mache frame. This treatment gives it a satisfying (to me!) coherence which I hope you will enjoy.

Here is my original pencil sketch:

Miro was such an interesting and original artist.

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1.  

Around the Workshop

Hello you--all.

There are some other pieces here in the workshop which I would like to show you:

Well, this can only be called my dharma frog. I made the mask a few years ago and it is still around.

When I want to entertain kids I put it on and have them sing "I'm a Lonely Frog" with me while strumming my ukelele.

 Behind the frog are two big pieces--one of president Obama and one of the dharma wheel surrounded  by remarkable telescopic views of some of the wonders of space, while under the frog is a cardboard box mounted portrait of Senator John Boehner surrounded by blue papier mache magazine colors.

And, of course, very nearby: my ukelele.

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Work in Progress

Hello again.

I thought you might like to see some of the work now in progress in my workshop:

Desk pen and pencil caddy with face. 

I am using both papier mache and salt and flour dough in the construction of these caddies. They will be colored with recycled magazine paper color, latex base paint and  acrylic finishing color and varnish.

Exuberant female nude figure on a beach.

 Made with iron-wire armature, recycled  newspaper and magazine page color, the figure is about 12 inches high mounted on a cardboard and papier mache frame of about 18X24 inches.

This three-dimensional figure is diorama-style posed against a two dimensional beach scene.

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