Papa Gus, Etc.

And now I reveal unto you the long-awaited Restaurant Project images:

Ok so this is honestly my first real stab at this. The final image is the entire board, which I covered in aluminum foil for effect. There are two parts to the 'Papa Gus' booth at the City Market: Tommy's, which sells mostly baked potatoes, and Papa Gus, which is more of a burger/50's diner kind of space. I had to design a kind of cover for the work space, so that people won't keep adding random toppings as the cooks are making the sandwiches, and keep more of a green tone to the Tommy's side. I still have to make up some giant magnets that are going to go on the sides of the AC duct that runs above the booth space, magnets that say in stylized letters "Eat," "Drink," and other...suggestions.

I hope this plan gets implemented, I think it would be a pretty fun project. Costa, the owner, has to present it to the board of the City Market so that they can approve it all, and there we go!

I've been busy. Crazy busy. I've managed to create two new works:

The yellow one is called "0" (aka "zero") and the blue one is called "5." Why? Because that's what the hands are doing, making a zero and a five. Both are kind of modeled off my hands, and, well, I've been on a hand kick lately. I don't really know why. I'm glad I finally figured out hands; when I was a kid, I could not for anything draw hands properly. I just drew people with their hands in their pockets. Now I can paint them with relative ease.

Which leads me to ANOTHER project:

This one is called "Okay." It's acrylic on a wooden board like the other two, (and really very pink, although the color looks washed out in the photo) and is for a breast cancer awareness fundraiser. I was asked to donate a piece of art to the Head To Toe Expo's silent Auction at the Muncie Mall today. I just kind of came up with that one, the idea popped into my head, said, "I'm HERE! Paint me!" and that's what I did. I have another painting in the works that will be carted back to Illinois at the end of the month for another cancer fundraiser, this time for the leukemia-stricken child of a childhood friend of mine. The fundraiser is loosely Nickelodeon-themed, so I'll be referencing the 90's "Big Orange Couch" campaign in the painting. I'll post more info on that as I get it too. And a pic. Of course a pic.

I've also been painting the lids of the BF's comic book boxes, one Spider-Man themed and one for the Incredible Hulk. Spider-Man is done, Hulk's getting there. Pics will follow when they're done, I'm pretty proud of these two.

And, just for giggles, I made this:

This year is the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the Peanuts comic strip. Jeannie Schulz, the widow of creator Charles M. Schulz, and her family have put together a website, www.greatpumpkincountdown.com for basically the fun of it and in celebration. The site is actually a contest, where you participate in silly things, like clicking on a Snoopy pic and adding it to your Facebook page, and you get points. The points go toward a drawing on Halloween, the night when the Great Pumpkin arises in the most sincerest pumpkin patch, and brings presents to all the good children there. So says Linus. I'm having fun with it, spamming my profile page in a passive-aggressive revenge to all those friend I had to hide because they play Farmville too much. AND it's Snoopy! What could be wrong with that! Everyone needs a little Snoopy. I bet if we had more Snoopy in the world, there'd be less strife.

I made these two posters out of brown wrapping paper. I sketched out "The Great Pumpkin" (aka a mistaken Snoopy silhouette from the cartoon special) and Charlie Brown as a ghost onto the paper and just painted them using my acrylic paints. Each took me about an hour, minus drying time. The sign is a piece of foamcore board that I wrote the letters out in the same manner as Linus's sign in the cartoon. I stuck them up in my windows on the front of my house and Yay! Instant freebie Halloween decorations!

Next time: I went Museum Crazy yesterday, with the Andy Warhol exhibit at the IMA and the Charles Schulz exhibit at the Anderson Fine Arts Museum. Reviews to follow and updates on the latest work. Also: Clowes is down, a success, what's next? Earth House!

Masterpiece In A Day

It has been a crazy week, but really, just a continuation of non-stop crazy weeks. I'm tired.
Saturday was the Fountain Square Art Fair and the Masterpiece in a Day competition. I participated last year and had alot of fun; this year I was dead set on participation.
Except...

I fell backwards while shooting some video for my day job and wiped out. The camera weighs about 20 pounds and all 20 pounds of it was next to my head, on my shoulder, as I fell like a tree. I kept rolling! The video was actually quite funny. Part of the magic of falling with a camera on your shoulder is the wonderful twist technique you develop in mere seconds, not just to save the camera from getting broken, but to get the thing off of your shoulder and away from your head before impact. That's where the real pain can be. That and the pain of slamming your neck and shoulders against the ground with almost no way to brace your self. Ouch.
And, since I scraped my knee, the occupational doc decided I needed to update my tetanus shot. I'm right-handed, and, stupid me, I offered up my right bicep for the shot. OUCH. Over the next five days, I had just about every side effect possible of the stupid tetanus shot. My right arm was swollen, it hurt to move it, my whole upper body ached. I was dizzy if I moved to quickly. I was incredibly tired.

I was DETERMINED to participate in Masterpiece in a Day.

So, I loaded up a wonderful Radio Flyer wagon freecycled to me with a bucket, some water, my acrylics and brushes, a piece of foamcore board and my shower curtain drop cloth (better than regular drop cloths and excellent at stopping paint!). I tied Remy's leash around my waist, took up my canvas in my other arm and we walked to the commercial district of Fountain Square. We set up in front of Hero House, my local comic shop. They're dog-friendly (Remy is partial to the Pet Avengers comic and Dog Pool) and said they didn't mind. The contest got started around 10am, and I was done by 2pm! I was really proud of my speed, it wasn't that I was being speedy, I just knew what I wanted to do and executed it. And that was including the time it took for Remy to paint HER masterpiece. It wasn't too hot, but, if you're 50 pounds of fuzzy, it was a little to hot to want to hold a brush in your primary cooling unit: Your panting mouth. So, Remy went for a minimalist approach: We got a few turquoise and pink splatters out of her, on a mostly white piece of foamcore. Since she's a mostly white dog with black spots, we called it her self-portrait.



We turned in our work (Remy was allowed to participate, the only dog to do so, but was not allowed to win...I told them that was ok, since I didn't really want to loose to my dog). We found out that just a little while earlier, another artist that was working on a wonderful figure painting around the corner from us had a massive seizure and slammed his head against his painting, smearing the shoulder of the figure, before being taken to the hospital. An artist near him had ruined her painting leaping to his rescue. He had some friends come and put his painting into the frame he had built for it and formally enter it in the competition and was able to leave the hospital, with a clean bill of health, in time for the judging. I met him later, while we were all looking at his painting. I shook his hand and was glad he was okay. He looked completely fine and said that he just got so caught up in working on his piece, that the next thing he knew, he was seizing.

Since I had 2 more hours to kill, Remy and I went home and I sat on the couch, drank lemonade, and rested. Then...On to the Art Parade!



Clearly, it is not the average parade.

Afterward, I strolled the Art Fair booths nearby and waited out the fifteen minutes until the judging announcement. Honestly, I wanted to go back to my couch. In the end, neither Remy nor I were winners. The Best Of Show winner was a guy that made a neat video showcasing all the square shapes in the cityscape of Fountain Square. The other four winners were a large (wooden?) painted robot that hung from the edge of a 3 story building by painted (wooden?) balloons, like it was being carried away, a large portrait, a still life of some restaurant table settings and some decorative art magnets. All very cool work so I'm content. For me, I was just glad I pulled off my piece:



It's my hand. I took a reference picture of it the night before, for better lighting (I knew it'd be one directly sunny day that day) with all of my last names written on it. I actually wrote them on my hand with a Sharpie marker to just wear while I painted, but I sweated it off pretty quickly. My own last name is in the middle, wiht my dad's side of the family to the left and bottom, and my mom's side to the right. There's one from my dad's side on the right too, but it just fit better there. I'm happy with it. I'm going to fix the shadow side of the middle finger knuckle, its a little weird, but other than that, I'm pleased.

I had discussed the plan for that painting with my Gramma Weber a few days before she died. She thought it sounded like a good idea, and then she was gone, so I decided, come rain, hail or tetanus shots, that painting was going to come to fruition. It's not for sale. It obviously means more to me than anyone else, and to paint something so...keepable...is a departure from my normal work. I was speaking with the lady that runs the front desk at Clowes about attachment to my work. If I had a strong attachment to every piece, if they were all my babies, I'd have 100 babies! They don't do me any good, I painted them for SOMEONE ELSE to hang on their wall. After funds are exchanged, I care very little what happens to it. (I say that now, wait til I see one of my works for sale on craigslist or something...yeah). I can't care, because it isn't mine anymore, it's making someone else's house look good and they've attached their own meanings to it. But this one is MINE. It's called "For Gerva Dean Weber" and it will hang in my entry way, a sort of showcase spot in my house, for as long as I live here, and always in showcase spots in future homes. It's where I come from. It's her, it's my mom, it's my dad and his parents and my grampa and his parents and my gramma's parents and such, going back to completely other countries. My family is relatively young, American-wise, in some branches, and very old in others. I liked the contrast of all the different cultural names. There are some English ones in there, Spanish ones and some hardcore German ones. That is me.

So yeah, after the action-packed day, I wiped out on my couch. Completely drained of energy but satisfied with my work. Yay.

Next time: The first rendering of the diner project has been completed! Images! And my Event Photo Album has been updated! More images! And I just finished two more paintings! And I'm working on another for a breast cancer fundraiser auction!

Long time, no post. Sorry.

It's been a crazy, hectic last few weeks.

I got the diner project, I've got one drawing done, two more to go. I was hoping to have it done by now, but...

The weekend right after that, my grandma died. Her name was Gerva Dean Weber and she was 83. She had been fighting pneumonia off and on for most of her life and so now she doesn't have to fight anymore. She would watch my brother and me while our mom was at work. Most of the time, 'playing' at Gramma's consisted of goofy, creative activities. We would string rainbow varigated yarn around the living room to make a maze or to hang towels on for a fort, we would cut up and tape together Pepsi boxes to make little houses for McDonald's Happy Meal toys, or we would draw and color and play with a spirograph. She always had these retractible crayon things in her purse and would let us play with them during church. She was the preschool teacher's aide at my elementary school, so, basically, my first teacher. It was a blast. She taught me to sew and do latch hook stuff and stitch on plastic canvas. Alot of the crafty things I can do, I know how to do because she taught me. In fact, it was our crafty time together that got me my job at Hobby Lobby during college. The boss said one reason he hired me was because during the interview, I kept referencing "my gramma and I would..." and that would be most of our clientele: Someone's gramma. I'll miss her alot, but she taught me so much that it's like she'll always be around.

It did throw the week for a loop. I was supposed to go to Illinois on the Friday before Labor Day weekend. She died the Monday before. I rushed to Illinois, to help where I was needed. I stayed with my Grampa and hung out with him, kept him company and we talked alot. My throat hurt for days because he's nearly deaf and you have to yell. Loudly.

The BF joined me, on Friday, in Illinois, as we had planned and we had the funeral, my ten year high school reunion (that included a dancing pirate for no good reason other than there was one) and "Hog Days," the yearly celebration of the status of Hog Capital Of The World that Kewanee has enjoyed since the 1940's. It was a run'n'gun kind of weekend. I didn't really take many reference pics or get any really good ideas in the style of the windmills and such, but there wasn't really time for it and I wasn't really feeling it anyway. Some people paint when they're sad or angsty or whatever, and I'm not like that. I don't like doing that stuff when I'm stressed or sad, I paint when I'm happy, not to work out some profound emotion. So when there's crap going on, art gets put on hold so crap can be dealt with.

We got back last Monday, and Tuesday and Wednesday were like a recovery time. A MUCH NEEDED recovery time. No art, just lounging. Really, I was wiped. I did manage to get the one diner drawing done, I have to do the other side of the diner and a design spec-type drawing for this counter thing. And some hamburger-magnet designs, but that's kind of secondary. Maybe tonight, I'll take on another. After a while, especially after coloring in black and white checked tiles, my hand really really hurt!

Friday night I went to Greek Fest in Carmel. The Greek church there is AWESOME. It was a dark, clear night, and the church was lit up, very stunning. My friends, Kat and Bill, gave me the grand tour and I got to watch a guy (a priest?) painting Orthodox icons. Actually, one of the other priests said that icons are not painted, they are 'written.' So I got to watch him write an icon. It was really cool to watch (and he uses the same paint as me: If it's good for a church with a rich art history, its good for me!) He had been working on it all day and was about 75% done with it.

The Greek church has many domes in it, including a big dome right over head. The other domes were half-domes off of the main part of the roof. Kat said that, over the next few years, all of those domes will have icons written on the insides of them. I can't wait to see that. Whether you're religious or not, or Orthodox or not (I'm Lutheran), it'll be stunning to see. The care that's put into each painting and the fact that it's on a curved ceiling, pretty high up in the air. Awesome. I'm reasonably sure Indiana has NOTHING like that. The half dome behind the altar will have Mary, with her arms stretched out. It will be really really neat. Kat says that all Greek churches have some variation of icons on the inside of domes and that will be a really cool stylized Sistene chapel effect.

I don't know how often the church is open to just public viewing, and even if its only next Greek Fest, I encourage everyone to go check it out, if for its artistic and architectural aspects alone.

Sunday was the Gallery Tour at Clowes Hall. It went really great. I didn't really have any time to think about it too much, and that was ok. I wasn't really nervous, although sometimes I think I just jabbered. Like I said earlier, there isn't too much emotion put into my paintings, no angst, or that crap. I realized when I was jabbering, that there were more stories behind them. I'll tell my story and other people can make up their own. I like it better that way. I felt really confident about it all, and it was an overall confidence boost. I got to stand up there and pretty much say: Here's my art. Here's why I painted that. If you don't like it, ignore what I just said and make up your own. But I like it that way and I'm happy with it. I got a standing ovation...because everyone was standing and clapping. There weren't places to sit. I'm cool with that, I'll take a Standing O whereever I can get it!

I was glad so many of my friends came to see it. The artist that is the other 'book end' for the season, Freddie Kelvin, was there. His show is in the spring, he's a photographer, and I look forward to checking it out. This entire event has been a discovery session and I've shared my notes for what to do and what not to do.

I had some friends from as far as South Bend come to see, that was really great, and there were some random people there that I don't know. I think they were Butler supporters, and hey, that's cool too. I may be getting a chance, later this month, to do a similar session again, for a larger event, where I get to just come an hour early and hob knob prior to everyone taking their seats, pointing at the wall and saying "I did that." That would be great.

Satuday is the Fountain Square Art Fair. Masterpiece in a Day work starts at 10am and ends at 3pm. Judging is at 3:30pm and the Art Parade is at 4. I'll probably be set up near the Hero House comic book store. I'm planning on taking Remy with me; she went last year and did very well. If worst comes to worst, the BF can come and walk her home, it is our neighborhood. I got her to do some spatter-painting on foam board earlier this year, so I think I'll bring some extra board and some paints and brushes, so she can paint too! It'll give me something to do while waiting for my paint to dry. I think I'll even proactively register her when I sign up. "Rembrandt Hernandez." I was gonna get a little child's canvas apron for her to wear while sitting there (and in case she lays down on my paint!) and splatter some paint on it and call her my assistant. We have fun on these things.

After that, I still have a few paintings to finish for the next Muncie show, and am contemplating a booth at an Earth House event in November. The booth space is only $35. I sent an email to the people in charge, requesting the information and referring them to my website to see if I'd be a good fit. They loved the site and said I would. I had told the BF I'll wait on too many more of these events, since I've had so many this year, but a $35 booth fee is really a good price! And, each time I do one, it gets easier and easier as I work out my own infrastructure. AND, he likes the Earth House and has alot of buddies involved in stuff there... Hmmmmm.

Ok, this is a long enough post.
Next time: Hopefully some pics of the diner stuff- completed! Hopefully some pics of paintings done for Phoebe's and I'll also be updating the "Photos" section of the website with event pics as well! Really!

Break Time: OVER!

Yeah, THAT didn't last long!

I just gathered info today for a new project: I get to come up with a design proposal for a diner in the Indianapolis City Market. For those not really around here, the City Market is this old brick building that kind looks like a train station, across from the City County Building (aka city hall). It has a large open space in the middle and a terrace above with chairs. The open space is divided up among booths of just about everything you can imagine. Vendors come and go, but some are basically permanent. The City Market recently underwent a huge and costly renovation, but the disruption caused by it put a lot of vendors out. Now, they're trying to do ANOTHER redesign, but this one with an element they forgot: Style. I saw a proposal pic at the diner, and it shows booths with actual canopy roofs and no cookie-cutter grey counters, but bright colors and various styles all working with whatever each booth sells.

My booth proposal will be for Papa Gus's/Tommy's. On one side, Tommy's, it's all spuds, all ways (with weiners soon to be added). The other side, Papa Gus's, is cheeseburgers, hamburgers, tenderloins, seasoned fries: Hot food. Gus, the owner, wants a 50's style feel, the highway diner motif, with stainless steel, magnets to hide the steel air ducts, and that classic style. I happen to LOVE that style. He has the coolest black and steel toaster on the counter and some retro hamburger signs. I took some reference pics of the diner as it is now, and have already brought up some ideas for updating his counter stools. I'm excited.

What does this mean? It means I've been watching waaay too much HGTV. Am I branching out? Hey, I'll take an opportunity when it presents, I'm no fool. I have to come up with a presentation board, (like I've seen on HGTV!) and some perspective drawings. I definetly can do perspective drawings. I also get to play with a logo of a sort, and my friend, Kat, is doing the website for him, so we have to make them match. Kat works there too, she's the one that gave me the head's up. Thanks Kat!

I'm really excited for September 18th too. It's the Fountain Square Art Fair day and I got the whole day off! I had an extra vacation day, went for it, and so now this year, I can participate in all the events, rather than cutting it short at 2 for work. I'm really revved up about my painting idea, I'm really really revved up for that. I think I'm on a bit of a roll, so, maybe tonite, if I get my chores done, the brushes are coming back out of the bin. There's some paintin' to do!

All that AND a trip to the Motherland (Illinois)? Yay! I'm torn. On the one hand, I want those days to hurry up and get here, on the other, that marks the end of summer, and while it's been a stressful, action-packed summer, it was still pleasantly warm out to explore aerosol art. I've decorated the front porch to my liking and just have had alot of fun. Art in the winter is fun too, but paint doesn't dry well in the cold. Maybe by then I'll have settled down enough for the pen and ink drawings my mommy wants me to get back into.

And, now for some pics:

From left to right: "You Cannot Resist," "Carrot," "Strawberry," and "Indiana Working Press Association."

"You Cannot Resist" is aerosol on an acrylic background. It actually covers up the painting that is on the floor in the picture of me and my dogs. I got really really mad at that painting, and sometimes, you just need to paint over it and make it go away. The black texture on the yellow letters comes from a pizza box edge that I dropped on to the painting while I was spraying it. Happy accident. I could have spent an hour trying to re-do the un-re-do-able, but I decided I liked it and proceeded to drop the pizza box on the painting several times.

"Carrot" and "Strawberry" are both aerosol on wood, similar to "Radish." "Radish" is currently at Butterfly Consignment, in Castleton, so I needed something to fill a big gap at Clowes. Same technique, same swirly style, I'm happy with how they turned out.

"Indiana Working Press Association" is kind of an inside joke, stemming from a photograph taken while out with some friends. I really liked how the green wall played off the table, and the simplicity of just the glass and smokes and lighter, placed near the bottom of the shot. At the time, the quote was, "You know you're out with a bunch of photogs when someone thinks nothing of standing on a chair in a bar to take a picture of a table, just to get the angle right." Hey, when the image is there, its there. Regardless of 'who's watching.' My favorite part about this one, is that that glass is the first time that I think I've painted glass in still life since college. Glass is kind of a mind trick, because it doesn't really have any color, but reflects the colors around it. So you have to give the idea that glass is there, based on it's reflections. I'm pleased with the result.

You know what? I take part of that back. I didn't paint glass in college, the still life I was working on (in oils no less!) had a silver pot in the set up. THAT'S what was messing me up! I remember my teacher telling me that silver isn't really a color in the paint world, because that pot was so shiny, it's true color was the colors around it, the reflections. I never did finish that painting (I got sick), but I did get a good grade on it for all the other parts. And I learned a lesson in the process, that, years later, I was able to apply to glass. I earned that grade well, in the end!

Next time: What's up, the Motherland (more windmills?) Hog Days, and the diner!

Break Time! (Sorta)

Phew, that's over. FOR NOW (dramatic music).

I finally got everything up at Clowes. That includes the little signs that say "For prices and an artist statement, please see the information desk." Yup, all done. I'm so glad. I'm so tired.

It was a week of hard work and I think it paid off well. I've already gotten a ton of positive feedback and that always makes me smile. :D <- See? Big smile.

I delivered five works to Phoebe's this morning: "Pi," "Cone Zone," and three windmill photo prints. They're the pictures I actually took as reference pics for the windmill paintings. I thought they would look good printed out, and of course framed in brightly painted frames. I'm very happy with them. "Pi" has always been underappreciated, I feel, to the point that at one point it was stored backwards, because a friend was frightened of it. I like it and I'm glad it's going to hang at Phoebe's. Neither "Pi" nor "Cone Zone" fit at Clowes, but hey, that's not the only wall they can hang on! Sometimes, when hanging a show, I learned, there's always some editing going on. (I actually learned that on Work of Art on the Bravo channel: One of the artists had that as her criticism for her final show. By the way, I was right: Abdi won. I'm so happy for him, he seemed so much more real than the others). Anyway, there's no reason to force something in art that isn't already there.

I have an idea for what I'm going to paint for Masterpiece In A Day, and just found out that my vacation day cleared (I usually work Saturdays), so this year I'll be able to participate the whole day (last year I cut it short to go to work) AND attend the art parade! Yay! Last year, I did watercolors, and this year, I'm definetly doing acrylic. If my idea comes out remotely like its looking in my head, I'll be happy. I'm really happy right now with how it looks in my head.

Unfortunately, I'm spent. I have no idea what I'm going to do for October at Phoebe's and need to figure out what comes next. I'm on vacation for Labor Day, and will have the chance to go back home, see my family, and see the familiar sights. Hopefully, this will recharge my battery so that I can come back with some more art awesomes. We'll see.

Good news: My art was on tee vee! A photog friend had to shoot a story at Butler University, about their incoming freshman class size and the welcome back weekend. He had to interview a member of the university. He asked the photog where he would like to do the interview and the photog answers, "Well, how about Clowes Hall." He then puts the university official right in front of my work. Interestingly, the piece to the left of the shot, "Rocket Corn," is based off of a photo taken last harvest by this same photog friend. I had asked him for some corn reference photos and this was one of them. Yay for free, subtle publicity!

And now, a collection of my newest pieces:

We have, from left to right, "Prayer," "Vigil," and "Coronal Mass Ejection."

The first two are based off of shots I took while shooting a story of a National Night Out vigil. This year's vigil happened to be scheduled the night after 8 people were shot at a birthday party. Two people died, the other 6 are recovering. The police say they've arrested the shooters, so we'll see what comes of it. At the vigil, I noticed several people holding hands. In fact, when I was editing the story, I realized how many hand-holding shots I had, and made that the editing "theme." The man in the hat was a man that was praying and holding his hand into the air. I crouched on the ground and tilted the camera up to his face and thought it was a very cool shot.

The third painting is on plywood and is another take on the moon. Yes, that black circle in the middle is the moon. It doesn't have nearly as much texture to it as the previous moons, but I think it fits well enought. It's based off a simulation that was shown on the Science Channel, in a documentary about solar eclipses. That red stuff coming out from behind the moon is the coronal mass ejections, AKA the solar flare stuff, that is easily visible during a complete solar eclipse. It struck a cord in my head and I had to paint it. Once again, the background, including the CME, is painted in aerosol, and the moon is acrylic. It looks really more cool in person, I couldn't get it to photograph right.

Last thing: I'll be adding a new feature to the site, or, rather, my web guru friend, John will be: A page that contains event shots, publicity type shots and such. It's not the gallery section, but a place to put all the smiley, happy photos taken during events that my art has been featured at. A photo album of sorts. Yay.

Next time: Progress reports, the inner workings of the site, and more new art!

Busy Busy Busy Busy Busy Busy.....

Phew.
Ok.
Crazy Week.
And it's not done yet.

I have half the show up at Clowes. We ran out of time, both for me and the union stage hand, of our four hour allotment. I had to get to the regular job, he was only scheduled for four hours anyway. We're set to continue the work tomorrow and finish it then. I'm pushing for two hours and we're done. I think it can be done. Just take some quick work, that's all.

I've spent the last two weeks on a mega-push to make sure everything gets done. I finished the last of the paintings for a while (just a little tapped out), and I'm really happy with them. One only got half done, but I just kept looking at it and looking at it, and it just wasn't in me yet to finish it. I like where it's going, but sometimes you just have to walk away from a painting to save it. If I had kept trying to finish it, I probably would have messed up the parts I like, and that just won't do.

I got some framing equipment. I got a little device that looks like a stample gun, except it doesn't kick back, or threaten the glass, and shoots those little tabby things into the frame to hold the glass, work, and backing in. So yeah, I know offer framing services. Or at least, assembly services. I just get old frames and fix them up, so I don't have the abilities to order brand-new frames from anywhere. Reduce! Reuse! Recycle! I offer Green Framing!

I learned how to cut glass, from my awesome mosaic-artist friend Deborah Lewis. She has a studio, The Bunker Studio, in Muncie. She gives lessons on how to cut glass, design and make beautiful mosaic pieces, and how to adhere the glass on to surfaces, like gazing balls and window panes.

The lesson came along by accident: I kept cutting myself on the glass from the frames! And then I broke a large piece of glass! I was really disheartened and scared of cutting myself again. Deborah told me to bring the glass up to The Bunker, and she'd cut it down for me so that I could reuse it for smaller frames that didn't have any glass. While she was cutting that glass down, she taught me how to score and cut stained glass andplay around with a piece of light green. Then I got to glue it onto a mirror and take it home! AND, I didn't cut myself!

Ain't it perty?

So now I have a new skill. And I'm not afraid of glass. I have a large window in the front room of my house (my 'studio') that has a smaller window above it. The name starts with a "T" and many people have said it to me but I keep forgetting what it is. Anyway, my landlord said I can make a stained glass pane to put up there, and Deborah inspired me on the design: Circles. It'll be like bubbles are floating around the window and it will be awesome. Thanks Deborah!

The rest of the week was mad-assembly of the framed works, the boyfriend being very helpful in putting hangers on the backs, dotting "I's," crossing "T's," and making sure the name cards are just right. I'm going to be so happy when I get this all up and finished...Just in time for the Fountain Square Masterpiece in a Day! I actually have an idea for this year's painting, a better one than last year.

Also, I'm thinking photography for Phoebe's this month. The photos I took of the windmills, the ones that inspired the paintings, are excellent stand-alone photographs. I'm just trying to decide if I want them black & white, or in color...Either way, they're going up there on Monday!

So here's the rundown of activity:

From now until October 10th: Joy Hernandez Art at Clowes Hall on Butler University.
September: Windmill photos at Art & Soul by Phoebe Gallery in Muncie.
September 12th: Gallery Tour at Clowes Hall.
September 18th: Masterpiece in a Day in Fountain Square, Indianapolis.
Until October: Three pieces are at Butterfly Consignment in Castleton, Indianapolis.
Ongoing: A variety of pieces at Cortex Hair Salon in Muncie.

Busy busy busy.

I leave you with a sneak peak at Clowe's, with stage hand helper Joe, hanging the works:

Next time: My latest works, those that I finished just in time for Clowes!

Windmills, Broken Glass, and Boo-Boos.

I've been rolling right along with my preps for the Clowes Hall show.

I got my new camera, a Canon Powershot A495. It's 10 megapixels, but hey, I'm upgrading from a 3 megapixel camera, so the clarity is stunning as far as I'm concerned. I was worried about being able to afford a camera at, basically, the drop of a hat, but I kind of lucked out. My old camera, a college graduation giftie from my mom, happened to die just as Canon was rolling out their 14 megapixel cameras. This dropped the price in the formerly new 12 mpx cameras, and, of course, practically clearanced the 10 mpx. Yay for good timing!

And with that, I bring you these beauties:

These are four of my latest paintings, all to be shown at Clowes. I'm calling them all "Bouquet - ..." (Bouquet- Pink, Bouquet- Yellow, Bouquet- Rose, Bouquet- Green, to be exact). The Yellow one and the Rose one are flowers the BF has given me. I'm not sure what the yellow flower was called, he always finds such interesting flowers that I have no idea what they are. The Rose is the flower he gave me for our anniversary. (Awwww.) The Pink one is some little flowers that grow across the street from my house; I have no idea what they are either, but they are cute little round things with vibrant color. The Green is because, well, every Bouquet needs some greenery, right? They range in size, with the Rose being pretty big and the Green and Pink being very small.

And then there are these guys:

Together, I'm calling them "Power." (Power One, Power Two, Power Three). They are painted from photos I took last time I went home to Illinois. About 20 minutes from my grandma's house, there are a crop of these things. I can see them from my grandma's town, but they are itty bitty, only a half inch tall. Then you drive. And drive. And drive. And they get bigger. And bigger. And bigger. The photos I took, I think, are awesome. A storm had just passed, and these were to the east of me, so the storm was retreating to the horizon in the pictures, adding that dark sky look to the background to make the windmills pop out really well. I painted them with a nice, bright blue, because, well, I wanted to. There are two more that I have yet to take pictures of, the last one just finished today, so they'll be up shortly. These will all be at Clowes too.

The one in the middle is the one I started with, but, geez, that thing gave me so may problems. The windmills are a very geometric form. The blades, no matter what place they are spinning in, are each a certain degree seperated from the others. Get that angle wrong and the whole thing looks off. I painted the blades on that middle one at least twice (three times in some parts). I painted the background with such a nice, blended blue, that it was difficult to re-blend in areas where I needed to. Frustrating. But finished. And I'm happy with the results.

I just loved the grace and shape of these windmills. They're like the future, but then, there they are, in the middle of a corn field, next to some old barns that have been standing since Woodrow Wilson was president. It's like when I remember that my great-grandfather was born in the same year the Wright brothers first flew a plane, and lived to see all the leaps in technology before he died in 1994. That was alot of advancements. And here they are, spinning away, next to an old farm barn. Or, as a friend put it when he stumbled upon some windmills in a field, "If we had a case of beer, we'd STILL be up there, watching them spin."

***

I've been working on framing my paintings. I bought a nifty lil mat cutting kit at Hobby Lobby (40% off coupons rock!). I've pretty much got the mat cutting bit down. I've been hoarding frames from Salvation Army and Goodwill and such, so I only have two more frames to acquire. For reassembly, I was told a quick easy way to secure everything within the frame, but with the larger ones, it's just not going to work. So I think tomorrow (with another 40% coupon!) I'll be purchasing this device that shoots lil holders into the frames (or, as I've been calling them, tabby things). I figure, if anything, I'll be able to make some side money cutting mats and reassembling frames, to earn back its purchase. Anyone need some mats cut?

I don't work well with glass, though. I cut my leg, I cut my finger, and I cut my other finger! All on my left side, too! They're starting to heal up, but last weekend was a bit disheartening. Or it was all just the loss of blood. Hard to tell. I've started wearing my leather work gloves when messing with the framing glass, so that's worked out.

I did break the glass on a large frame though. Grrrr. And then I broke it again while trying to move a piece of plywood today! Just not cool. But, there's an upside! I have an art friend who works in stained glass, and she said she'd cut the glass down to smaller sizes for me, which works out, since I had some smaller frames that needed glass! Win!

I have an exstensive list of things that still need to be done, 10 days to do it all in, one painting half done, 4 that need to be photographed, 3 blank canvases that are calling to me, solid ideas for 2 of them and 1 canvas that has vexed me for the last time and will have something painted over it soon.

That's the rundown for now, I'll have another update soon, with all that stuff I promised in the previous post. For Reals.