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This post is about the ability we have as artists to create objects that are out side of the normal definition of art. This is a topic that can some times be controversial. It often leads to a debate over what is or isnt art. That is not what I am going to discuss today. I don’t know the definition of art or if a definition even exists. I do know that the lines are pretty fuzzy for me. So now on with the topic.
I am self taught. This means that I didn’t go to art school I don’t have a piece of paper that states my abilities. This is important because it allows me to work out side of the word art in a very artistic fashion. I feel that this should be common practise for all artists BECAUSE it makes you work in the real world for a time. It will force you to work with people who have set rules and you will have to make your art serve a purpose. Let me give you an example. Lets say you get a commission for a gate. Lets say that you really need some money and you really don’t want to work at that liquor store to get said money. What are you going to do? Smart artist says I am interested. BUT I would like to make this gate look cool. Buyer says…ah OK but I already have some ideas… Artist ” well let me do some drawings and then you can decide if you want me to go ahead” Buyer ” OK that sounds like an idea” Artist “great can I get some measurements and can you send me any ideas you have so far?”
So here you are you have an opportunity to grab some green and eat something other than Kraft Dinner for a change. Now what do you do? You have never done anything that had to fit or function. They never taught you how to measure or install your work at art school. Crap Cant you feel that wad of cash melting out of your pocket already? Now you see my point. You have a buyer that wants something specific. You need to know how to make this happen. Cause really what is a gate but a giant flat artwork? All you have to do is make it keep out or in what ever the buyer has in mind.
Here it is, look at the drawings or ideas buyer gave you. Is it all square and conservative? This is good now you know what sort of gate to design.
I had these lovely people come and ask me to make a gate for them. The ideas they gave me were square and strait lined. He was an engineer or something like that so his measurements were precise. I did drawings not square or flat but fairly ornate. I kept in mind that they are conservative so I designed a gate that was my idea of a grotesque. A creature meant to keep the bad ones out.
The Monster
He placed the posts he placed the hinge bolts all I did was build it to his measurements. It fit well and they loved it! I made some money, exorcised my creativity and built a functional Item. I expanded my portfolio. NEXT
I have made fire place tools, screens, tables, signs for corporations, mailboxes. All of these things help you as an artist. You will gain new skills, work in a more precise fashion, and expand your clientele. Now we all know its not really about the money! Guess what after you build that precision mailbox… the one that you have to weld properly and has to be a certain size. The one that has to have square corners and a lid with hinges that work. After that you will love your next sculpture. you will appreciate the freedom sooooo much more. Some times its good to get out of your routine. You have a creative soul, make it work for you.
Past here are some of the other functional items I have made.
business card holder
Granite With stainless steel base.
Range hood
Steel, Copper, Stainless steel
Wood burning stove
Steel, Steel, steel and fire brick.
Head board
Foot board
I could go on but I think you get the point. Functional Items do not have to be normal or boring. Now back to the beginning. Art or not art? I will leave you with a thought… Brancusi made log holders to get through the tough times. I don’t know about you but I would love to have a set of them! Da Vinci made war machines. He was an artist right?
Jan 23, 2011 | Categories:Blog | Tags: custom range hood, functional art, granite, grotesque, ornamental iron, steel gate, wrought iron | Leave A Comment »
Since the last time we talked…
It seems as tho its been quite a long time since I posted. The holidays and the holidays and the holidays… I started to paint again. Its just sort of a reaction to all the Xmas presents I made during the holidays. It all started like this…
IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT… ( insert ominous music here)
I Inherited a box of oil paints from a friend who inherited them from a relative. They had been sitting around for a very long time and almost fell into the trash bag when I thought “that would be a shame to not try them” so I did.
What you are about to see is something you should definitely try at home!!
K so you need to get a canvas (get a cheap one to start) then you need some Paint (I strongly recommend inheriting some) and brushes help too. Next step DRAW or not…
I don’t usually draw to heavily. I did this with an HB in my pencil. This doesn’t have to be really detailed or any thing. I would however say that you should start using a babe with a sword for your subject matter.
Ok now we are talking!! blow in some color and a snake and it could be biblical.
She could have been stabbing a pumpkin but where is the fun in that? It looks good but it might need something more.hmmm
AN OWL thats it!!
Oh yah and that needed to be a “not a cobra” snake. This one really just happened to me as I was doing it. I did however have a lot of fun. So much that I did several more.
This one Is an over paint. Its a canvas I have had for years that I decided to paint a goat over. You can see that the drawing is heavier than the last one. Its cause I wanted to show what I was doing. I did this in public.
I didn’t stop to take too many in progress pics. I really got into this one.
Another over paint on unstretched canvas. You can paint on it if you want to. I kind of got used to it.
this is a terrible picture. Good thing I am not a photographer. I have done a wet thinned out runny background cause I like the look of drips. Between this and the finished product I put down two more layers of thinned out oils. Man really sorry about the quality or lack of in this photo. All of these can be seen finished with way better pics in the Flat work section of my portfolio.
If you cant get enough of me and want to get more regular updates follow me on Twitter @thegorilladidit
If you are worried that I have stopped sculpting don’t be. I just stared a new piece today and its gonna be really cool!
Jan 19, 2011 | Categories:Blog | Tags: goat, Nude, octopus painting, OIL PAINT | Leave A Comment »
This is how I carved an Octopus from lime stone for the Kingsbrae garden in New Brunswick.
To start off I entered a contest that had a national call for sculpture. In order to do this I had to make a maquette (a small version of the sculpture I proposed). I did this out of terracotta clay. It didn’t take very long as I had a good idea of what I wanted. Then you get a big block of limestone. This one came from Texas.
You can see the maquette on top and some drawing I have done to start blocking out. I do this by first lightly cutting the lines I have drawn. For this I use a electroplated diamond disc on my Metabo 5 inch angle grinder. I did all the cutting for this dry . I use a water feed for granite or basalt carving but don’t find it necessary for this soft stone. This stuff cuts really fast so I moved along very quickly and got the head roughed out.
Right side
Left side
In this last shot you can see how I am cutting into the stone. Some times I am making parallel cuts then breaking them out with hammer and chisel. Other times I am flush cutting to get an inside curve using the round of the blade then just knocking the cuts out with the hammer.
Way off in the corner you can see the Maquette that I still reference every now and then.
Mostly done here
Tenticalishious
To give you an idea of the difference between Granite and Limestone, that grey Granite in the background weights about 1500 lbs where the much bigger Limestone block only tips the scales at about 600. From here I only need to cut a bit deeper and smooth it out for it to be finished. The smoothing is done with a sintered diamond cup wheel and a silicon carbide sanding disc at about 60 grit. I rely pretty heavily on power tools to do the hard work . Some like the idea of hand finishing but for me it just takes time and doesn’t make much difference in a piece like this. I am at about 10 hrs at this point with 5 hours of finishing left to do. I will do a final sand on sight at the garden after transport in case anything breaks or gets scuffed during installation.
The Ancient Mariner
Installed and finish sanded signed and thats that.
From the path
Left
Back
Right side
That is my shipping crate in the background. It took 4 days to get from Calgary to St Andrews by truck. It was a great drive a super fun trip with my Father and Shadow. The maritimes are beautiful and fun with lots to drink and great food. The concrete was just poured the day befor so the forms had to stay. A great big thank you to the Algonquin hotel.
Nov 18, 2010 | Categories:Blog | Tags: how to carve, limestone, octopus, Octopus sculpture, sculpture, stone carving, stone octopus, stone sculpture, work in progress | 2 Comments »
Left off just about to solidify the Rams nose
now I can really get to work on this
shoulders and horns
The sun really plays games with you when you work out doors
got shoulders and some detail roughed in here
I am pretty much good with every thing going on here. Just some final details and its done
just have to do rings on the horns and its done
done
Now for the Wolf
ran out of blue marking stick but the marks still do the same thing for me
done
thats it any questions? All of the above were done with an arbour tech disc and a lancelot disc and sanding discs on my metabo angle grinders.
Oct 13, 2010 | Categories:Blog | Tags: bear, cedar sculpture, ram, sculpture, wolf, wood carving | 3 Comments »
About 2 weeks ago I had a great opportunity refered to me by a friend Kurtis Kristianson. He is a photographer and many other things. Check out his website .#mce_temp_url#
The project was to carve some cedar logs that are holding up the deck at this amazing house that’s being built in the woods.
So I met with the owner and we came up with some ideas of what to carve and I started the next day. In my opinion it is very important to jump on commissions as fast as you can. So I gathered up every wood tool I own and a few that I don’t and set out to the site. Its a beautiful custom home being built by a very unique couple. They have focused on quality work in every aspect of this home. Not relying on expensive materials but on very talented individuals and for the most part letting these artisans do what they do. They are the rare type of people who believe that it is important to have a dialogue exist between them selves and the people they have working for them. In short if you have talent and a good idea they will let you work with very little interference, confident that in the end they will get a superior result. And they definitely have gotten this.
So what did I do there?
I carved a bear a ram and a wolf. I am going to show progress shots of each piece with a little bit of description.Starting with the bear.
the log with some basic land marks
now some quick sketchy lines
3/4 profile
deeper cuts
working around the shoulders and chest now
squared off with the snout mostly placed just little things to do now
paws placed mostly done but it needs some thing
just needed some more texture and a bit more work on the brow
Now on to the Ram
working the same way front to back
got some horns now
I have the major points in just need to push back some more
You can see from the drawing and the cutting that I am going in the right direction
just need to push back a little bit
to be continued…
Oct 13, 2010 | Categories:Blog | Leave A Comment »
So I got Argon and continued. Did lots of fun stuff in between time but thats another story.
After bending all the feathers and welding them together I have a pretty decent idea of what the wings will look like.
I also did a bit of detail work on the small stainless feathers
Then I needed to do some work on the figure that will be attached to the wings. If you remember it was just tacked together to show some form. Now I weld it up a bit to get a better idea of how it will look in position.
Then I tack them both into place to check composition and to show it off at my Gallery!
Oh yah I forgot I cut her body back! Just used a 60 grit stainless flapper wheel on my angle grinder.
Sexy Sexy Sexy
so much better!!
At this point I had also cut her leg off to reposition it a bit and had only tacked it back into place.
So I got some great response at the gallery and sold at least one piece… I guess that makes it a pretty good weekend. now back to work.
These people need some heads man!
Here he is cut back and with a good head on his shoulders.
Now hands and feet for both. The process is the same so I will just show you parts. I start with stainless rod cut to length.
This is a foot 3/32 TIG rod for her.
The underside after welding.
The top side befor I have added any metal. This is all done with the TIG. It needs to be done with very precise timing and temp control or you just end up with a blob of stainless. I weld on top of a 1/4 inch copper bar so I dont weld it to my bench and it pulls away the heat.
This is a hand 1/8 inch for him. Done the same way. Dont need to be so careful with the 1/8 inch it will take more heat. still lots of quenching and on the copper.
His hand in the final position.
His feet.
The piece a man a woman and some big wings. At this point it needs some final touch ups clear coat (cause of all the carbon steel) and to be photographed by my brother to be put up on my web. This one will most likely be in the gallery by next week.
Sep 27, 2010 | Categories:Blog | Leave A Comment »
In my world there are many people who approach me and say “Will you make one of them for me?”
I always respond ” Yes I can make one of them for you!”
Most of the time nothing comes of these encounters. Some times they go farther than others… some times its just a great way to get me thinking!
The piece I am documenting is one of the times I got thinking. The idea was so good I decided to do it even tho the commission fell through. Now… I don’t want any one feeling sorry for me… or saying that sucks or any of that! I get to do this piece totally for my self now. That’s exciting!!! Also if being a sculptor was easy every one would be doing it.
I have thought about showing this in the order I have made it but its more fun to keep you guessing. What is it going to be? So the sketch and concept come last!
I will tell you that it involves 2 figures, one winged, one male, one female.
I start with stainless steel rod of various diameter. I cut it to the proportions I want for the body.
All of the extra parts will be welded in the proper place.
Red gloves...got to have them
Blocked out and tacked down
See just a few tacks and it looks like some thing already!
Then I get to work with the MIG. I add a bunch of wire and rod and push the metal around till its contoured to a body shape.
looks like something now for sure...
I guess by now you can tell which one is the female figure.
For now we will leave the bodies alone and do some work on the wings. I start with a drawing on the metal. This is a 4 x 8 of 1/8 inch mild plate steel.
almost 6 feet
Then I cut them out with my plasma cutter. One of my favorite tools!
oh wait this is two wings
That makes the wing span 11 feet. I did say that it was going to be a large sculpture!
I then repeat the last step making smaller sets of feathers. One set in rusted 14 ga. steel and one in 18 ga. stainless.
all three together
Now that I have them all layed out I can bend the first set up and start to tack them together.
nice coat rack !
is there beer in that fridge ?
This is where I ran out of gas. Quite literally not a lick of argon in the joint. 5 cylinders all empty! Who let that happen?
This is where I will leave you for now…..
Aug 31, 2010 | Categories:Blog | 4 Comments »
Hello. If you are here it means that you have some interest in seeing how its done. If not… well that’s what your going to get. I will be showing photos and some descriptions of what I did and what I was thinking while doing it.
I am going to start off with one of my recent and more interesting (for me) sculpture. I call it ”Minotaur”. I started this one in B.C. this spring. This happened mostly because of the huge amount of wood and stone that is available at “The Property”. I needed to let my self go, to just make a piece for me. Some times its good to stretch your legs and let the imagination go. I find that the easiest way to do this is to work big. That way your not worried about cutting too much off or bogged down with the little details (cause even the little things are big).
So I started out with a 5 foot length of red cedar that was about 20 inches in diameter. The first step was to make a flat face on the front and back so I could do a bit of drawing. I don’t always draw but since I had no idea where it was going I did this time.
Now that I have an idea I start to cut. With a McCullough 20 inch chain saw. After that I use a Stihl 14 inch for easier handling. It is lots of fun but hard work. This next pick is the area and some of the tools I used.
After a whole lot of cutting and sanding it comes back to my studio and I pin the horns on it. I will show the stone carving process in detail in another post. At this point it is definitely a minotaur to me.
You can see that I have a bit of a problem at this point. I have a very top heavy sculpture with a small foot print. This equals wobbly falling down mess. So I come up with the idea to make a giant hoof for the base.
Its still very unstable. So I decide to make the hoof more 3d but I don’t want to loose the taper that I have cut into the body so I find a way around that problem. Oh yeah some breasts and a goat face, pounded out of copper sheet, have landed on the piece as well. I will show the copper forming process in another post.
The base with open front. Made from 3/16 steel plate and 1/8 x 2 steel flat bar. I think it fits together pretty well.
Lots of fun and now that its done all that needs to happen is a party and to hold a pumpkin over my head…. but that’s another story altogether.
Aug 08, 2010 | Categories:Blog | Tags: chain saw carving, copper sculpture, granite sculpture, minotaur, mixed media sculpture, sculpture, steel sculpture, wood carving | 2 Comments »
