Sunday, August 30, 2009

2 of 52 'TEA HOUSE'


'TEA HOUSE' ( 14" L x 10 1/2" W x 4" D ) Week of August, 24th

I have a client who comes into my comes into the plant shop who is a complete bonsai fanatic. I totally admire this guy's commitment to his art, which is absolutely what it is. He'll talk for days about these exotic lamborghinis of trees. It is here, when I started to really understand how relaxing these trees can be. Correct me if I am wrong, but I feel as if bonsai have the ability to mentally place you within the landscape while calming the senses and allowing the mind to take a break from the grind; while thinking how nice it must be in that small landscape...with my cooler of ice beers.

The piece of juniper really sets the tone. It's character really takes over, leaving everything else to compliment. At first your eye may go to the red, then to the outer part of the piece but know you'll ultimately need to spend sometime reading the detailed wood element. I've got some trick angles going between the frame and the subject which doesn't translate well in the photo but that is the benefit of seeing this piece in person.

I found this frame at an estate sale in the Mt. Tabor area of Portland. The red background is laminate, the outer frame is teak plywood with bar steel.

Thank you for checking in!


Sunday, August 23, 2009

1 of 52 'SUMMER COOLER'


'SUMMER COOLER' (14Lx11Wx8"H) Week of August 17th

At around 4:30 the sun hits directly into my shop. In the summer I always have the garage door up when I am working so coincidently my shop feels like the surface of the sun by 4:45. I was working on this piece and really pushing to not take a break because I was getting excited to see my first piece finished. During my thoughtful pauses my attention kept going to this cooler I have in one of my racks and I kept thinking how great it would be to fill that stupid cooler with ice and cold beer. This got me thinking about summer and all the great things to do during summer. The silver lining here would probably be don't waste time thinking about the things you can be doing. Is this what this piece is about? It depends on if you have cold beer or not.

Summer Cooler is built into a frame I found at a church rummage sale. Mounted into the frame is a light green laminate background with a chunk of old growth juniper. The juniper is suspended above the laminate surface with three aluminum rods. Stay tuned for next weeks post!