Month: April 2020

Working with video for the first time

Completing my book “Path of the Cherimoya”

I have been using iMovie and Garage band on my Mac to compose short narratives for selected works. In the first YouTube video, “Path of the Cherimoya” I talk about my path to becoming a wood sculptor and introduce a pivotal piece that influenced my subsequent work in terms of integrating carving with turning and using transparent color. The second YouTube video, “Emptiness and Weightlessness” focuses again on a single piece of work. I talk about integrating a variety of turning strategies including inside/outside carving and thin-walled hollow turning, to visualize a story. The third video “Water Trilogy” showcases the techniques, challenges and motivation for creating three water themed sculptures.

My goal has been to keep these movies short. I have used my existing photo records for these retrospectives. I would be very interested in your comments and feedback. And if you are inclined, please don’t forget to “like” and subscribe.


links to sources referenced in this post

Playing with a palette knife and watercolor

I am so fortunate to live in a part of the world where the outside is pleasant and physical distancing doesn’t restrict painting, even with a friend 6 ft away.

On one of my early morning walks the rising sun (well risen to be honest) caused the prickly pear to glow against the dark background of vegetation

View looking east from Desert Bell Road, green a Valley, AZ

I love working with the palette knife but my early ventures have been less than satisfying. Today was the first time I felt as though I was working with the knife, paper and watercolor. It’s early days, but the glimmer of confidence has been nurtured. This was my second attempt at capturing the scene. I consciously tried to move away from literal realism.

Chedda, felt pretty comfortable with these prickles too😉

This was the first warm up effort
Reference photo
Second reference photo

Garden vignettes

Today was a glorious windy sunny day and not too hot. A perfect day to visit our local community garden, Desert Meadows. The garden is run entirely by volunteers and has walking paths weaving through spectacular displays of succulents. There’s also an area of raised beds for vegetables. The owners of those plots donate most of their surplus to the food bank. There are lots of gazebos, most closed now to discourage loitering 😉. While the wind was a bit too much to think about watercolor, I decided to try just plain pen. Lots of learning today. I applied watercolor after I returned home

Desert Meadows vignettes

What am I doing when my community woodshop is closed?

My community woodshop has been closed since March 14. Needless to say I have not done any turning since then. I’ve been busy with home organization and modest renovations. My friend, Mary Anne has helped me cut some thin cement board and I am now ready to return to my glass roots.
As many of you know I have been dabbling in water color and sketching. Working on those skills has helped me develop new techniques for conceptualizing my glass ideas. Soooooo here is a design concept for a 40” x 22” mosaic