Thanks for coming to ARTWORKSx6!

A big thank-you to everyone that came to yesterday's show, ARTWORKSx6. We had a constant flow of visitors from opening until closing, and we all enjoyed it greatly!

I'd particularly like to thank everyone purchasing art. I know all of us appreciate your support. You cannot imagine how good we feel knowing that you're willing to buy our work. The kind of validation we get from you is invaluable. Again, thank you!

For those who've never done a show, they can be both draining and invigorating at the same time. It's a lot of work to prepare for a show - more than most people imagine. Beyond that, the actual day or days of a show are long, even if we are spending them with people who appreciate us. The truth is that shows are physically a long, tiring events. To counter all of that, we get the boost of your attention and appreciation, and often come away with new creative ideas.

The balance of these things affects each artists differently, of course. For myself, I'll probably be using the next few weeks to catch up on things that I've put off to prepare for the show and finalize my the preparations for winter around the house. My work, though, is slow to produce, and I need time to plan it out. Trust me, the ideas are bubbling around.

Thanks again for coming, for buying, and for the chance to talk and hear your great ideas. I'm inspired, and I will get moving on some new work soon. Please check back here for information and details as they become available.

All the best!

Introducing Danno, the Artist

In addition to my own art, I am now the publicity vehicle for the art one of our dogs creates. I'm sure this will be a big thing in the future, and that Danno's work will long overshadow my own. Oh well. When the universe hands you an opportunity like this, you don't just pass it by.

Please review Danno's Art Page and tell me what you think.

Art Show Coming Up!

It's past time I announced this...

I'll be participating in an art show with five other artists on September 27th, 2008. It will be held a few miles from my home in the Santa Cruz Mountains for just one evening, so if you want to see my latest work along with works from some other great artists working in various media, you need to join us.

You can find all of the information you need to make that happen here.

I hope to see you at the show!

Art News - New Carving Toy

The other day one of my birthday presents arrived.

it's a powered air purifying respirator. In other words it's something I can wear while carving stone to keep the dust out of my lungs, the rock chips out of my eyes, and it won't fog up while this is going on.

For years I've worn a bug nose respirator and safety glasses, but it's a lousy combination. The respirator works fine, but it gets hot. Then it happens that rock chips and dust get around the safety glasses, particularly when I'm using a die grinder. To avoid that I could wear goggles, but those just fog up and become a hindrance almost immediately.

This new device runs on a battery for 8 hours at a stretch. It's got a fan that pumps a minimum of 4 CFM (cubic feet per minute) of filtered air into a full face mask. That means that as I sweat it evaporates and is exhausted out the vents, so I can continue to see.

Yesterday I used it for nearly three hours and it worked very well. Today I got stuck on a different task and didn't do any carving, but there's always tomorrow. (And there'd better be a tomorrow for this. I'm running out of time before the upcoming show.)

Anyway, I thought some of you might be interested in this development. If anyone wants to know more, email me and ask about it. I can send or post more details on what I got and why. I did a fair bit of research before making the purchase.

ARTWORKSx6 Encore!

We're doing ARTWORKSx6 again this year. The last time we did it was 2005, so it was time. This is an art show and reception by 6 Santa Cruz Mountain artists on September 27th, 2008. You can find more information here, and there will be updates in the near term. We all look forward to seeing you there.

Art News! Sculpture Repair

So I know I started this blog to cover the local fires, but it really only makes sense in the long term if I also cover art related items in here. To that end, here's the first brief post on a related topic.

Recently I finished up a sculpture repair for someone. It was a big enough job that I took some photos, wrote it up, and added it to my website. Take a look if you're curious.

More art related news should be coming to this blog one of these days.

And remember, I'm always interested in your feedback about these posts. You can leave responses to a blog post directly, or you can email me.

Thanks!