During these strange and terrible times, If there is one silver lining for me personally, it is increased art time. Thus, a rare 4 pack of new ones revealed on Instagram today. I’ve been using so many mustaches lately, I need to make more. Stay safe, friends!
Blue Plumbing Crab
A blue version of a 2x4 crab I did earlier that seems to be a hit. Physically, it is quite heavy. This is mostly because of the thickness of the wood and the eyes. The eyes are mostly made out of a metal plumbing part perched on top of metal rods which are sunk into deeply drilled holes in the wood. I put screws in the back to help secure them in place. Screws also secure the claws in place and form the other legs. As for the color, it's mainly different shades of blue which I faded into each other. I then put some drops of color on top, including some iridescent, pearly white. About 8” tall, 14” wide.
Tar gel scales
I had some fun making a fish scale pattern with tar gel. Here are 2 variations on that theme. I also used some artificial turf to make some fins. I hand painted the turf before attaching it.
Whale with braces.
A peak inside the freshly painted studio
Sumo Crab
Like many of my creations, this one started as a sketch and then I had to figure out how make it. Took a little trial and error but I figured it out. Last step was to figure out the sumo belt. I debated buying some fabrics but eventually opted for some gorilla tape I had in my studio. As a finishing touch I google translated “sumo crab” into Japanese and wrote those characters on the belt.
New crab!
Very heavy. Had some salvaged l-bend pipes. How to attach them? Threaded rod from the hardware store (also heavy.). Too heavy for my usual sawtooth hanger. Had to do d-ring hangers, one in each claw.
Freshened up my wall at Art Works
A mix of newish and older
Hypnotic Cactus
About 16” tall, 11” wide. Cutting it out and painting it was easy. Deciding what to do after that took a lot of time and thought. I opted for glass tiles of various colors. Some have a spiral design on the top of them, others I painted on the bottom side before gluing them down.
Desert Blooms III
Another 20”x16” depiction of cacti. Did something a little different with the sky on this one. Kept the flowers simple since there was some complexity elsewhere.
Recent Cactus
A departure for me. I don’t often include houses in my work. But I tried something different on this one.
Reptilian McGrillz
Sometimes, I just go completely overboard on a concept. I enjoyed using some rhinestone for a couple of other projects. On this one, I kicked that up as much as I could. The teeth were created using innards of an old wooden chest that my neighbor was throwing away. I scored some free wood that otherwise would have been landfill bound. On this one, I also overdid the concept of piercings, which I had done a couple times previously. This one was a lot of fun and I’m really proud of it.
Guitar Crab #3
This is #3 of the series. #1 was a stratocaster type design, #2 was an acoustic modeled after a Martin. This one is a flying V. Can you tell I’m a (bad) guitar player myself? Just to spice things up, I also gave him an eye piercing. I thought the eyes needed more black to sort of match the guitar, so I enclosed the eyes in black bottlecaps.
Part of the reason I like doing these is that each one is a mini engineering challenge. It takes a lot of time to make everything fit exactly right. It’s fun, but quite labor intensive. I also applied some molding paste which I used to make a “popcorn ceiling” type texture.
3 new ones. First use of sheetmetal!
Things I learned: sheetmetal is hard to cut straight. It’s harder than you would think to drive nails through it. It’s also sharp (though I filed down the final pieces so they wouldn’t be.) This fish sat on my workbench for a long time before I figured out what to do with it, but I like the finished product.
As for the whale, it’s similar to another design but I decided to switch things up and make it pink. It’s made from repurposed tinge and groove wood.
The last one is based on an actual fish, the mahi-mahi aka dolphin fish. My creations dont usually bear a strong resemblance to actual species, but this one does. I finished it off with some gel on the fins for texture.
10-22-18: I must be going through an orange phase
A variety of creatures. For some reason, I felt like using a lot of orange. Maybe it’s because of the changing seasons, even though the leaves have not even started to turn here in Richmond, VA. The seahorse was completely different like a month ago. I’d been staring at it for a while and couldn’t decide if I wanted to leave it or redo it. I opted to blow it up and start over and I’m glad I did. I like it much better than the original.
Muscle Shark Bro
I’ve done some muscle crabs, but this is my first muscle shark.
Labor Day Lobster
made of 2 different thicknesses of wood, copper wire, acrylic paint. Love how this one turned out.
Clawed Shot
Inspired by the (possibly apocryphal) story of Babe Ruth calling his shot. Commissioned.
