The Journey Bowls
Large Open Bowl with Two Leather Handles
This bowl is getting where I want it to be. The colors are blending nicely and edges delicately accented with dark color, the leather handles will be attached when the paint is dry. The inside is ready for fruit, vegetables from the garden, or a stack of pretty linens. This piece came with a bad crack at one end which I cut out in a semi-oval shape, then mending the remaining crack. I cut the other end out to make matching handles. This is approximately 14" longest diameter.
The leather handles will be curled under and tacked over the already attached ends.
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Oil , A Diptych on Two 10" x 8" canvases.
BREAK
Oil on two canvases: a diptych called
BREAK
wait ...the yearly voting comes next... let's see if BREAK is in it!
Carved wood Shell with oil painted design, 7" diameter
Concurrent Journeys
Concurrent Journeys wait ...the yearly voting comes next.. let's see if I'm in it!
BREAK and Concurrent Journeys are both entered in the Daniel Smith Art Supplies competition for prizes and publication on the cover of their catalog.
Entries in the Daniel Smith Competition for great prizes and publication on their catalog! Please click on the links to vote for my work!
Oil on two canvases: a diptych called
BREAK
and a Shell called
Concurrent Journeys
Oil on two canvases: a diptych called
BREAK
and a Shell called
Concurrent Journeys
TODAY THE SWIRL TAKES A STEP FORWARD
SOLD
Deep carving in he spaces, with a lot of intersecting lines..
The music is happy and I enter while carving a place of finding... the wood is teaching me its story..I am closely tracing paths and all sorts of artifacts come to light: twig stems, tiny root eyes, sudden color, making me think of sun and ice and draught and rot and forest fires.
Getting intimate with a chunk of wood is like meeting a person you want to know more and more as you spend hours engaging.
SLIDE SHOW OF CSA SHELLS 1 - 20
SLIDE SHOW OF CSA SHELLS 21-40
SLIDE SHOW OF CSA SHELLS 41 - 50
..PLUS SPARES, NUMBERED 0
What are These Shells For?
So often, this is the question. It is often the very first question. A bowl seems to have to follow the rule about "form follows function", and the folksy look of these items suggest country kitchens.
Unless expressly designed to be otherwise (and you will be informed) my Shells are ornamental.
The pigments I use can be considered to be quite inedible, and the finish is usually put on right over the pigment without a sealing coat. Even so, scratching beneath the surface of the sealing coat would render them again, not-food-safe. You would NOT ever put something watery in a wood bowl and expect to get away with it, whether it's food safe or not. Salad bowls are supposed to be waxed/oiled regularly to maintain their sturdiness against dressings, vinegar, acid veggies, and water drops on lettuce. And my carved salad bowls will have coats of sealer on them and then coats of wax polish and beeswax. To maintain them, I highly recommend Clapham's beeswax that comes in a handy squeeze bottle. It goes a LONG way, does a stellar job, and also smells very yummy when you put it on.
So the above is what I would immediately say to answer their question. BUT, there is no reason why you should not display or serve bananas or tangerines or nuts in shells in a bowl like this...OR foil wrapped Easter Eggs! Avoid denting and chipping the wood...after all it's art!!
Put your unpeeled fruits on this, or line it with parchment paper and serve up a sandwich. But likely you will find it being used for keys, stamps, jewelry, teeth waiting for the tooth fairy... this sort of thing. Or, hang one or three or a dozen on the wall with a sticky hanger from the hardware store. They are quite light, and very pretty en masse.
Unless expressly designed to be otherwise (and you will be informed) my Shells are ornamental.
The pigments I use can be considered to be quite inedible, and the finish is usually put on right over the pigment without a sealing coat. Even so, scratching beneath the surface of the sealing coat would render them again, not-food-safe. You would NOT ever put something watery in a wood bowl and expect to get away with it, whether it's food safe or not. Salad bowls are supposed to be waxed/oiled regularly to maintain their sturdiness against dressings, vinegar, acid veggies, and water drops on lettuce. And my carved salad bowls will have coats of sealer on them and then coats of wax polish and beeswax. To maintain them, I highly recommend Clapham's beeswax that comes in a handy squeeze bottle. It goes a LONG way, does a stellar job, and also smells very yummy when you put it on.
So the above is what I would immediately say to answer their question. BUT, there is no reason why you should not display or serve bananas or tangerines or nuts in shells in a bowl like this...OR foil wrapped Easter Eggs! Avoid denting and chipping the wood...after all it's art!!
Put your unpeeled fruits on this, or line it with parchment paper and serve up a sandwich. But likely you will find it being used for keys, stamps, jewelry, teeth waiting for the tooth fairy... this sort of thing. Or, hang one or three or a dozen on the wall with a sticky hanger from the hardware store. They are quite light, and very pretty en masse.
SUSAN'S "WORLD"
The development of the Current Known World: One of the SHELLS for CSA
What a lofty subject! Not really!
For me, today, it means continuing to create a SHELL that began as a "dud"-- perfectly round rather clunky wood dish. I carved multiple shallow small bowls within the bowl, and found some grain lines to ream out. Then some color! What fun!
Below is the progression so far, with fine-tuning ahead. I'll leave a spot below for the final iteration of my World.
What a lofty subject! Not really!
For me, today, it means continuing to create a SHELL that began as a "dud"-- perfectly round rather clunky wood dish. I carved multiple shallow small bowls within the bowl, and found some grain lines to ream out. Then some color! What fun!
Below is the progression so far, with fine-tuning ahead. I'll leave a spot below for the final iteration of my World.
The forming of The World: a light scumbling of gesso to prep the stained wood.
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The World with specific areas of gesso applied where brighter colors are planned. Halos are left because the colors will sink slightly into that area, becoming darker.
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Color is re-emerging on the face of the earth!
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Industry is growing in The World, as colors are covering the surface. Now is the time to look at fine-tuning the painting.
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The World as it stands April 3 2013
A Matter of Urgency...or Not... How to Value Time Spent
An opportunity has popped up, and business as usual is the (usual) flurry of activity in the "shop" (aka the trailer I'm staying in right now.)
THE GOOD NEWS: I was awarded a stipend to give my shop a boost, and in return I must make fifty little works of art for the sponsors. This means either I make clones, or I make a lot of little originals. It's a big job! Worth it? Yes, I think so. I'm making "shells", but they are becoming so time-consuming I'm wondering if this is what I should be really making for this gig.
If they get into the hands of fifty people, and, say, twenty people come back for more, yes it's worth it. If they get into the hands of fifty people and their friends are curious enough to search out the provenance of these little pieces, it may lead to wonderful things. If they end up in a garage sale? Well... I am wondering whether I should spend less time on each, but this is not my way of doing art.
Fast may be good, or it may be hasty. Hasty is not good. Labored is sometimes rewarding, but not cost efficient. People in general have no idea the lack of correlation between man hours and finished art. There is no fair way to price things like this.
You know what the shells are: Carved small wood dishes reworked into unique designs by incising, carving, drilling, coloring, and variously finishing them. They are art pieces made from the discards of another wood business.
THE GOOD NEWS: I was awarded a stipend to give my shop a boost, and in return I must make fifty little works of art for the sponsors. This means either I make clones, or I make a lot of little originals. It's a big job! Worth it? Yes, I think so. I'm making "shells", but they are becoming so time-consuming I'm wondering if this is what I should be really making for this gig.
If they get into the hands of fifty people, and, say, twenty people come back for more, yes it's worth it. If they get into the hands of fifty people and their friends are curious enough to search out the provenance of these little pieces, it may lead to wonderful things. If they end up in a garage sale? Well... I am wondering whether I should spend less time on each, but this is not my way of doing art.
Fast may be good, or it may be hasty. Hasty is not good. Labored is sometimes rewarding, but not cost efficient. People in general have no idea the lack of correlation between man hours and finished art. There is no fair way to price things like this.
You know what the shells are: Carved small wood dishes reworked into unique designs by incising, carving, drilling, coloring, and variously finishing them. They are art pieces made from the discards of another wood business.
These asked for a scrafitti treatment reminding of tidelines and eddies.
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seaweed filigree
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A Verbal Outlet : Weightless in Water
I find it helpful to put some things in a blog of this sort.
Weightless in Water is part of the Old Swimmer blog series.
Here is todays (October 1, 2011) entry.
http://weightlessinwater.wordpress.com/2011/10/02/the-fingerprint/
Weightless in Water is part of the Old Swimmer blog series.
Here is todays (October 1, 2011) entry.
http://weightlessinwater.wordpress.com/2011/10/02/the-fingerprint/
A nice article about me from the Ancient Artist's Sunday Salon a few weeks ago: http://ancientartist.typepad.com/ancient_artist_developing/2011/07/sunday-salon-painter-sculptor-susan-g-holland-at-73.html
  Now I am designing a leather owl and a leather pussy cat to ride in this odd vessel. |
THE PEA GREEN BOATThe Story:
"The Owl and the Pussy Cat went to sea in a beautiful pea green boat..." Thus begins a wonderfully sillly poem by Edward Lear about an unlikely couple taking a fantastic voyage and getting married once they found a ring in a pig's nose! |
The "canoe" style piece shown in the photos above was at least three times rejected in its second state! The simple slices taken in its side were lackluster and the peculiarities of its contoured edge did not appeal. So I brought it home from its retail store location and gave it a second going over...this time letting my imagination go and giving myself permission to make very free use of parting tool, belt sander, and many kinds and colors of paint! The metamorphoses were amazing, and the multiple layers of transluscent colors yielded a really pea green toned boat with scrubbely rosy crosshatched rough spots hanging over its gunwales and a luscious irridescent sea green interior. Just right for the romantic journey of a favorite literary couple. To see Lear's poem and his own renditions of the beautiful Pussy Cat and ardently smitten Owl, click HERE.
Stay tuned to see when and whether the story gets a happy ending, and what it might cost to own such a rig.
Stay tuned to see when and whether the story gets a happy ending, and what it might cost to own such a rig.
