I hadn’t actually.
Old engines are made of cast iron. Cast iron welding is something of an art form requiring more specialised equipment & skill. However, for a non-structural object I’ve had success (such as fixing an exhaust manifold on a tractor) so it could be done.
I’ll give that some thought & see if I have any greeblies that I could ‘stick’ on to spice it up a bit & maybe make it the basis of something more interesting.
Worth a shot.
2 Likes
4 Likes
How lovely! Go Banksy!
That was very moving. Thank you! 
1 Like
3 Likes
I have to post this because watching it…well, I can’t stop watching it. 
3 Likes
Wear it to a convention of Virii? o.O
Quite innovative. It might be fun to smear it with paint and use it as a whole body brush on a giant substrate. 
2 Likes
Hmmm, … Cleveland Balloonfest?
2 Likes
Yeah! Brueghel, one of the world’s earliest cartoonists! ;`)
But that is pretty cool that those people people realised the treasure they’d had all this time.
2 Likes
2 Likes
I just inherited this wonderful table. It was made by the late husband of a now late woman I had done a lot of work for. She lived in CA for many years and he made the table there and the 2 bookends sitting on top.
6 Likes
Oh! How beautiful! I am envious (but in a good way).
I can’t see well enough to be able to tell if the table is made from a single tree trunk, or if it is from planks. It has the beautiful feel of a single slice of tree trunk.
1 Like
I am currently working on two more abstracts for the Dystrophics series, both on stretched canvas. One is 16 x 20", the other is 12 x 16".
The 12 x 16" piece was a failed experiment from about eight years ago. Colourful and very symmetrical and detailed. It gave me a headache every time I looked at it which was infrequently. I needed something non-eye-straining to work on while I also try to figure out what to do next on the Garden Monument piece.
So I scumbled a thin layer of warm white over the whole surface of it that ghosted the image, then began painting thicker paint where it needed to have the symmetry broken.
The 16 x 20" piece is one I began over two decades ago (maybe even three) using some very old gesso that had thickened quite a bit (and I now realise was a precursor to the modelling paste I now purchase at art supply stores).
I had laid down a heavy symmetrical 3D pattern and a few days later, used my leather-working tools to stamp textures into the dried gesso. I then had to move to a new house and never quite got to finish my experiment. Until now.
The funny thing is that I had not remembered stamping those textures, until I was well on my way starting to paint it a few days ago. I took a process photo and when I zoomed in very closely I could see the stamped textures. And that is the only way I can see that detail. So talk about working blind! 
I have a few layers of colour on it now and yesterday I realised I could still see the 3D symmetric pattern. I got out my jar of heavy modelling paste and thickly scraped some on the piece to break the symmetry. And that feels much better. I think I have a thing about symmetry.
My work has slowed quite a bit in the last month because I am also getting my music ready for recording. That was something Mal started, talking to a musician he knows about my music who then suggested they back me up if I wanted to record. But I haven’t played my guitar in about ten years, wanting to focus on the painting practise. And I never did write down the music so that other musicians could work with me, The lyrics are written down, but often just a few chord charts here and there.
I am having to recover the music in my fingers, and am now creating chord charts for the sequences, some of which are pretty complex. I have so far only one piece marked down with a completed chord chart. That took over a week to do. I’ve started another, this one even more complex, a trilogy.
So with now trying to find the stamina to work in two art forms as well as documenting and writing blog posts, things have slowed quite a bit. I will keep slogging along though. I can’t not paint. I can put aside the music for a while, but not the painting. And now I want to put aside neither.
We are on a two week trial with Squarespace for my website while my web developer puts it all together. So, some more baby-step-crawling forward on that as well.
Are you interested in some process photos as I slowly complete these paintings? Or would you just prefer to see them once they are proclaimed done and possibly framed? Let me know.
I hope you are all well and happy. <3
4 Likes
I am so excited! I can’t wait to hear this ear art you are working on! Nimble up fingers. 
Can’t wait to see the art work and the website! Go! Go! Go!
Unfortunately, I am still stuck with home repairs at the moment but, I have found myself drawn to some ideas for miniatures. I have always wanted to do a series of room boxes that would be easy to display. I am thinking of using shadow boxes that can hang on the wall. The ideas are brewing…my tiny paintings are still looking at me every time I walk by. 
So glad you are keeping busy. Eagerly anticipating a sample. 
I like seeing work in progress. It is interesting the way things come together for others.
Something for fun
2 Likes
LOL! You are so sweet!
Mal has uploaded one of the two “ear art” pieces I recorded in my thirties in a professional recording studio as a demo (long story) to the internet a number of years ago. I searched for it online today and it doesn’t show up. So I will have to ask him if he can find it.
Oh, I meant to ask you how is that going…?
That sounds like a lovely idea!
That is one reason I tend to turn things to the wall. So they can’t stare at me with puppy dog eyes! But it is lovely that things are fermenting!
We can’t have pets due to allergies, but that looks like a fun roundup!
Process photos to come soon™.
Thanks again for your supportive encouragement. Hope you can get back to your creative stuff soon, too.
2 Likes
Home repair finally has a date…getting a contractor these days is not so easy. Shortages and who knows what…anyway April 5 is the day. Will be so glad to be done.
In the meantime, things are starting to bloom and I have been under bushes raking out leaves and sticking plants into nooks and planters.
A very fascinating thing has happened. They clear cut the area next to my house. As I was walking my yard I spotted a long line of jillions of white flowers. I put on mud boots, grabbed a shovel and trudged over to see them up close. Old fashioned Bridal’s Veil. I was so excited! I dug several up and planted them in a corner just in front of my Dogwood tree. It will take a year for them to begin to fill out but I am looking forward to it. But, that is not the fascinating part. As I was trudging the mud from all the rain, I discovered an arrowhead. I went back. Discovered another and a spear tip…I also found an indented rock that seems quite likely to be a grinding stone. I do believe I have a Native American site right next to my home. There are several creeks very near my property. This could be Caddo since many lived in this area. I am currently looking into renewing my membership in the AR Archaeological Society. If this is an unclaimed site, it would be a real feather in my cap since finding one is necessary for gaining certification.
That top one could be a scraping tool.
It is hard to tell in this pic but this stone has a nice bowl shaped area on both sides. Likely from grinding. (Yes. I put it in my flowerbed)
And this which seems to be a pottery shard. Undecorated. Bummer. Unless that line across it is an etched in design…hard to tell.
This stuff is so close to my property line, it is quite possible there are artifacts in my yard…I really want to grab a shovel and open a pit.
5 Likes
This one?
Arrowhead. At first I thought you were referring to the Arrowhead plant, aka arrowroot, silly me.
After reading on, I got more and more excited for you. I have all my fingers and toes crossed for you now. So cool!! I wish you the very best of luck with this and with your house repairs on Apr. 5th!
2 Likes
So Bridal’s Wreath (my bad, I wrote veil) has a modern variety. The old fashioned cannot be bought. Spireae Prunifolia. The flower is open on the modern one and more compact on the old. The modern also loses its leaves in the fall but the old variety has leaves that turn reddish pinky purple.
It is an Asian bush and considered invasive. This was planted near an old, collapsed barn filled with old car parts. Lots of cool stuff out in the woods. You could say I have a double historical site next to me. Isn’t it cool how we just build on top of ourselves? At one point, there was a farm here. I know they harvested hay because I pulled the old hay baler from the trees and into my yard. They probably had cattle. Many here still do.
Here is the old barn and the bushes when I first spotted them
And the sample I brought home for identification.
Here are some in full bloom and properly filled out.
I assume the ones I have only just took off and bloomed because they suddenly had sunlight from the clear cutting. The more sun they get, the more they bloom.
Will pay my dues for AASociety Monday then start looking into seeing if there are any claims in the area. There is a small mound about 5 miles from my house. I know it has been claimed. This site by me may be related or could be from another time period.
The artifacts I have found so far are from the area just in front of the bushes. They drove a dozer around and around after cutting to keep a fire lane and stop new growth. Apparently, it turned the artifacts up out of the ground. I wonder how much they broke?
I face a bit of a dilemma since it is on privately owned property. No dig could be done without permission and since it is private, no law can force the dig. If it was owned by a logging company, the law mandates a full stop until a dig is done. Typically, you get just a few weeks to rush in and get as much done as possible to catalogue and mark the spot and at least gather a little history from it. Then normal business resumes.
It is a class A misdemeanor in AR to pilfer artifacts from a site not on private property. If it is on private property, anything can and does happen to it. This would most certainly be a disturbed site so I am not certain how much info could be gathered from it but, you never know and I kinda doubt the guy who owns it would allow a dig but, you never know. However, I would certainly allow a dig on my side of the line.
Here is a typical mound in AR. Nothing as grand as Central America but still cool.
There is one like this very near the old farm my dad was born on. The farm was owned by my dad’s maternal grandparents. He was a transplanted Englishman and she was Choctaw. I could not help but become interested in history and digging in the dirt.
5 Likes
Well that is pretty exciting for sure. Go you!
I hope it works out for you. At the very least, you got yourself some treasures.
2 Likes