A New Drawer - a trade with artist Mike Davis

A while back, artist Mike Davis, a friend of my wife's, asked if I ever do trades. I rarely do, but my wife loves his work so much I thought it would be a good idea, and also an interesting exercise to interpret another artist style - and for them to interpret mine. By the way, I really like his work now too! I posted a link to his website at the bottom of this post.....

Mike was interested in a Drawer which I haven't made since 2003. I like making the drawers because they involve a lot of relief carving.

After checking out Mike's site, I began to get inspired. I loved this image of a sandhill crane and I decided to put it on top of the drawer.

Here is a closer screenshot of the crane, I love the colors.

I first began by laminating 4 layers of pine together. Since I wanted the head to come forward and not just be a flat 2 dimensional feature, I had to build the wood up.

After rough cutting it on the bandsaw, I was ready for carving.

 In the middle of carving - lots of wood has been removed.

The head after carving and sanding. The beak will open via a string run around the back.

I took many design cues from Mike's wonderful surreal imagery. All the elements on the drawer appear in Mike's work. Here I'm halfway through the bas-relief carving. I secured the drawer fronts together by adding a plate on the back, held in place with screws.

  

After many hours of carving, and some sanding, the drawer is ready for paint.

I'm in the middle of painting here. Never before had I made a drawer with so much detail, but I wanted to emulate the richness of Mike's paintings.

The hand carved from pine. I like bas-relief because you get to play with creating a 3D look using a 2D plane.

The hand, painted and aged - but before it's sanded and waxed.

The finished hand, (it looks different because of the lighting).

The drawer all finished and ready to be shipped. The piece is 16" x 27" x 5". I will post a movie of how it works soon.

A closer view of the front. I added small brass pulls to the front of each drawer.

You can see here how the painting wraps around the top and bottom of each drawer - I'm a detail person if you didn't know by now.

Detail of the snake, a poisonous one by the way.

A fiery zeppelin - a sometimes recurring theme in Mike's work.

A closer view of the sandhill crane's head. The beak opens when the bottom drawer is pulled open.

Since I had a set of glass eyes sitting around the studio and I decided to add them for a bit of realism.

The back of the head, showing how I ran the string - that operates the beak - up and around. The string runs through a series of very small screw eyes. Basically when the bottom drawer is pulled open, it releases the tension on the string and the beak drops down because of gravity.

Our wonderful Mike Davis painting! Oil on board, 27" x 33" including his custom made frame. We love it! I especially love the tornado in the background. Paula told Mike I have a fascination with tornados, which I do. (And no, the frame is not warped, it was the camera doing that.)

Detail of painting with a cryptic message - can you figure it out?

A closer  view, so much detail.

More detail - the actual painting looks 100 times better in person. Check out Mike's amazing work at http://mikedavisfineart.com/

More soon.................

A Short Interview with Maria and Michael Start

Maria and Michael are the go to people for automata restoration. They were also key consultants for the recent movie "Hugo".
This short video explains a lot about the history of automata and suggest the reason for the resurgence of modern automata. It also shows many great pieces.
 See it here.

"Staccato" the movie.........

Enjoy....

I made it small to fit on my blog. Click the "watch full screen" button.

(And sorry for the multiple posts.)

"Staccato" - My Drummer Piece

This piece was a commission from a collector who owns my piano piece, "Crescendo" and my cello piece, "Intermezzo". Last spring, after he purchased "Intermezzo", I jokingly said, "Now all you need is a drummer to complete your combo." He said he was thinking the same thing.
At the beginning of the year - when I usually do commissions - I contacted him to see if he was still interested in a drummer piece. This one has been bouncing around in my head for a while and it seemed the time was right to bring him to fruition.

I didn't take as many in-progress pictures as I usually do, but I think these tell the story of how the piece was made......

His body and long legs, carved from basswood, and his brushes.


The drums are made from found objects - many small tins and a drawer pull - all mounted on a wooden handle attached to a metal cutter that acts as the base.


The cymbals and the giant cowbell, more found bits and pieces. I made the cymbal able to move naturally when struck by the brush.


Here I'm working out the position of all the instruments, and where his body needs to be in able to hit them properly. (Q-tips are standing in for the brushes.)


The pine floor. I wanted to do a pattern that looked random. The pine will naturally age down to a rich amber color over the next few years. I prefer to let nature take it's course instead of trying to do some kind of stained finish. I did distress it a bit to give it a head start.


The final shot of Staccato. I made him slightly bent over so he looks like he is really into his drumming.


Here I shot up to get a good picture of his face.


A side view.


On the other side you can see the primitive drum kick I made out of an old piano key mechanism.


A overhead shot showing the placement of the brushes on the instruments. He plays one drum and one cymbal.


A close-up of his head - made from polymer clay.


The mechanism - I tipped the piece on it's back for this picture. The rods that go to his arms are seen at the bottom, and the weight of his arms keep the followers against the cams. It's powered by a 6 rpm gearmotor.


I will post a movie of Staccato soon, as soon as I edit it........

New Figure - "Paranoia" 2012

My latest figure is for a psychiatrist/collector of mine. He wanted a man running with a fearful look on his face. Having never made a running figure before, I think it turned out pretty well. The piece is 9" x 15" x 5".

Here is his body in progress.


His hands.


Ready for assembly.


His head. I tried to make his hair look like it was being blown back.


Final shot.




A close up of his head, he even has teeth.

"My Door" 2012 - New Piece up for Auction

This piece is in the show "The Art of Communication – 100 Artist Show" at the Mary Lou Zeek Gallery in Salem, OR. The auction starts February 2nd and ends March 2nd. Here is your chance to own a piece of my work at a very special price. 

***Note - This piece has since sold.***

Another artist and I exchanged quotations. My piece was based on the quote for Kahlil Gibran "When I wrote on my door: 'Leave your traditions outside, Before you come in,' Not a soul dared to visit me or open my door."

At first I wanted to do something other than the obvious - but after weeks of thinking about it, I thought it wouldn't make sense not to do a man that opens his door.

All the pieces in the show had to be less than 12" x12", so I started building the door and the window to fit into that space. I brushed the wood for the door with a wire brush to bring out the texture of the wood. I also designed everything to be a little wacky - slightly skewed, out of plumb. Only the top part of the door opens - I wanted to hide the mechanisms behind the bottom part.

The head, sculpted from polymer clay. I did look at a couple of pictures of Mr. Gibran, but I was not going for an exact likeness.

The wall and the window. I created a stucco texture using drywall mud mixed with paint. I love this look, I might have to do it again.

My paint finish - I love how this came out.

The finished piece - 12" x 12" x 4 1/2"

Detail of the door.

As the door opens, he leans over to check outside.

A closer shot.

The movie...

Behind the scenes......

This piece is a real step forward in my progression as an artist, and may be a sign of things to come......

Thanks for looking!

tom

"Bad Ideas" and "Claude" - 2011

Two new static figures, "Bad Ideas" and "Claude", are finished.

Bad Ideas started as a simple drawing in my sketchbook, but also came about from my continued fascination with collections. In my studio, I have many small collections of things - it's a way for me to keep all my found objects organized. But sometimes these collections become the springboard for an idea. In this case, a small jar of burned-out light bulbs becomes.......bad ideas.

I placed her on a small vintage tin.

I wanted to show the back of this one - something I've never done before with a static piece.

 Her lovely face, sculpted from polymer clay.

Her body, ready to be put together.

"Claude"- the title is sort of a play on words.

I decided to dress him as an innocent young man to contrast with the seemingly menacing steel "arm".

A detail shot of his claw, which has 2 moveable joints.

His head shot.

Pre-assembly.

 The apparatus on the bottom was his original arm until I realized it was WAY too big. This may show up on some future figure......

Until next time...................