I'm there...

End starts You’ve already started. That’s the first thing. The first thing is that you’ve already started, you’re already working, you’ve been working on this, working up to this, for some time. Now start again. Start with a passage from a book. An image or a description. Make the work, make a work, make it work. That’s a start. Now start again. Start with the ends, the bits and pieces, the scraps and remnants, now make them fit, make them work. That’s another start, a fresh start, now you can start up, once more, and. Let me explain. You are in your element. You have everything you need. You always have more or less everything you need, and if you don’t, if something’s missing, if something’s needed, then you can always make do, make ends meet, make the little ends meet to make the big end work. Let me explain myself more clearly. You seem to operate within a certain economy. Nothing, it seems, almost nothing goes to waste, with the exception of a certain dust, a certain expense or expanse of fine grit. There is no such thing as a scrap, everything is a piece, everything is more or less of a piece, somehow, somewhere, every scrap has its origin, just like every cut has its reason, and every endeavour its end, its destination. Let us say that you set out to build some thing, perhaps a machine or a contraption. Let us imagine that you succeed, then perhaps out of the scraps, perhaps or rather certainly out of these odds and ends you will want, you will set out, you will end up building something, something else. Something different, something without an end, something built out of odd ends, odds and ends, bits and pieces, flotsam and jetsam. Allow me to give you an example. A stage gives out onto a series of curtains (this is a work). These interlocking pieces of wood form a model of the human inner ear (this is another work, a model built from its scraps). Here is another example: it’s an archive, an archive of scraps. There’s a drawer full of odds and ends, except the drawer is full of glue or resin, and the resin or the glue has hardened, and the bits of the pieces are irrecuperable. Or this, this one last example and then we’ll call it a day. You’ve made this and that, you’ve stacked things here and there. You’ve made these things, but you’ve started on some new things, and the first, I mean, the older things, as far as you’re concerned, they’re done, finished, I mean, more or less or just about, they’re just about finished, because there’s always a remainder, and the remainder is a scrap, and scraps are the seed, and the scraps pile, and the works pile up, and if you have something over there, that’s right, under there, under that heap, under that pile, that pile of things that you neither need nor really care to move, then you may as well have lost or destroyed it, you may as well have gotten rid of it. But you haven’t and you won’t and so there will always be a remainder, and the remainder is a scrap, and the scrap, the scrap is the seed. And the seed is there at the start, for the start, the start of something else, something new.
-Julien Jonas Bismuth

New photos up later today.

read above statement.

Momentum

Photos of the current piece I am working on. 84"tall x 33"wide x 33"deep. Yes sir it is a full/life-size pay phone booth. Thanks to Steve and Shelly next door I was able to aquire some much needed lumber and sheet goods to get this project rollin'.

Much like the mailbox (updated photos coming sometime) this one will utilze a light as well as references to Medieval altarpieces. Doors still have to be constructed, along with the phone and top.

Color has not been decided upon, yet it will be monochromatic.

Today I shut down early, around 3pm since it was well into the upper 90's with a heat index of 110. And humid as all get out.

Why????

Why do we set limits upon ourselves? In some instances it is necessary, yet in the areas of creativity...well it boxes us in.

I'm tired of being boxed in. I think I will just get rid of the box all together. Be on the look out for updates about current work that can't be boxed, wrapped or packaged. This new body of work will still tell a story (which I believe is very important), yet it is what it is...and that is the why.

New work

Here are some process shots of a few new piece that I have been working on. Both pieces have a ways to go, yet the payphone piece is almost complete. I have started really moving away from flat surfaces and been working more three-dimensionally. If you have specific questions about size, purpose, meaning etc., feel free to shoot me an email or post a comment.

One Proud Papa

My oldest daughter's pastel drawing was selected as "Best of Show" in the elementary/middle school division at our annual district art show this past weekend. This annual show typically has anywhere from 700-750 pieces of art work from students in grades 1-8. Believe it or not, my daughter is in first grade!

And before you ask, I had no input on this drawing. She is an amazing little girl and is very imaginative and creative...all on her own. I am so happy for her.

Update 4.16.10

Still going at it. This piece is finally coming together. I still have some line work to do on the door tops and corners. The construction of the phone is moving forward as well. I have been carving the handset and will soon be starting on the remainder of the phone. I have not even addressed the exterior yet. The title is still in a state of flux as well. Several ideas have been discussed.

I am finding out that I must be patient and have realized that work of this style/medium does not happen quickly. This is a dramatic change from the fast paced style of my previous paintings. As always shoot me an email or leave me a comment.

Cheers.