6 OF 52 'ORANGE NUGGET'

'ORANGE NUGGET' (8" L x 6 1/2" W x 2" D) week of September 21

I was in LA this past week. Can’t say much else about this one.

Orange Nugget is slammed into a small frame with an orange powder coated sheet steel backing which rests 1/4" behind the 1/8" frosted acrylic top sheet. The old growth juniper section is sunken into the top sheet.

5 of 52 'GRAND TOURING'

'GRAND TOURING' (82 1/2L x 29 W x 3" D) September 14th,2009

I am on vacation currently and will return to fill this section with insight.

Grand Touring is composed from two hollow doors from an old art piece. Both panels are sanded down slightly for an antiqued look. The Racing stripes are painted with oil based enamel paint. All this rests underneath 1/4" of table top resin. I hand sanded the resin's high shine finish to defuse light hitting the surface. This makes it easier to read the depth of the surface without competing with glare. Basically this gives the stripes and the surface beneath the stripes tons of depth.

4 OF 52 'LAKEWOOD BALL'

'LAKEWOOD BALL' (14 3/4 L x 18 W x 4-7"D) week of September 7th

For as long as I can remember there used to be a Denny’s here in town. The building had this late 50’s look with an exaggerated, jettisoning roofline and walls of glass, which faced east so to capture all the morning sun. It was a classic, old school, space-age diner. In my opinion, this building was a historical jewel, a building that talked about the optimism of the time. I watched as Denny’s closed and the building sat vacant for about a year. I had so many great dreams about how that building could be turned into a killer diner by some design savvy, hip foodies. But as luck would have it, Denny’s gets leveled and a piece of shit fast food joint goes up. Now in it’s place stands a monstrosity of a stucco box with some weak architectural embellishments meant to give the impression of a stylish, HEALTHY, higher end dinning establishment. What a sham.

My Grandparents used to love telling the story of when they lived next door to “Denny.” They lived in a nice So-Cal neighborhood, nothing pretentious or over the top by any means. They where blue-collar folks who used their ingenuity and hard work to get their dream. Long story short, Harold (aka Denny) used to live it up. A nice fellow, who’s pool wound from the inside of his house to the outside. A fellow who worked hard and played hard till all hours of the night until my grandfather had to go next door and ask for them to tone it down. I always pushed for more descriptions of “Denny’s” house, the feel, the style, anything to help complete my picture of the space with that pool! I never came away with those details so I’ve latched onto the house in the Peter Sellers movie “The Party,” to complete my image of Denny’s house.

Today, there are loads of cars causing traffic problems because everyone wants to try this novelty of the newest fast food restaurant in town. I like to think they’re lining up to ask how they could have leveled such a great building.

Lakewood Ball is set into the same frame as Summer Cooler, a two for one bargain never to be had again. The body of the piece is MDF with two colors of laminate applied to it’s surfaces. The structure is poplar and teak ply held together with screws and brads. This piece has a different look from every angle.

3 of 52 'TASTY PLASTIC'

'TASTY PLASTIC' (8 5/8 L x 11 1/2 W x 2 3/4" D) week of August 31st

I was in the grocery store yesterday and noticed this kid all jacked up on sugar while running around pretty much unchecked. The only time he stood still was to squeeze green, translucent, liquid candy from a plastic dispenser onto a yellow, opaque sucker. Every time he stopped to reapplied the squeeze candy onto the sucker it reminded me of a biathlete; total focus and efficiency followed by extreme physical exertion. He stopped mid-sprint, administered the squeeze candy with shocking calm and attention, then completely switched into a demon bolting down the isle at full speed until the next high-fructose fix. I later noticed his younger sister who had already finished her chemical treat. She was vigorously trying to suck out the residual liquid candy from the plastic dispenser while on the verge of a melt down. Their mother was thrilled about the great price on cases of Mountain Dew. Whatever happened to just worrying about cavities?

Tasty Plastic’s inter frame is a painted piece of MDF. The top sheet layer is ¼” frosted acrylic which rests ¾” above the colored MDF. This arrangement produces a mild glow when light penetrates the acrylic surface. Above this background is a steel shelf which houses a rock I found at Indian beach and tumbled for four weeks. The rock is easily removable and gives a tangible reward for those who take the time to observe. Thank you for your interest, I am on to the next weeks piece.