A Prayer For the Earth

I had a dream. Looking back from old age, I saw that Hurricane Katrina was not the storm of the century. She was not the worst we would face. She is not even as devastating as those of us who lived through her would see in future maelstroms. She was simply the first of the great storms that were to come and wreak havoc around the world. She was the earths way of saying "You didn't listen". 

Since her time, we've faced Sandy, Harvey, Maria and Florence and a whole host of others. There are worse to come. We sit idly by and watch it happen and shrug. We say "its nature". We say "Its god". We say "Its not my fault". 

As an artist, I try not to preach. I try to allow my art to speak for itself. But in this case I offer up a simple prayer of grief also. Because its going to get worse. Much worse. And we are too stupid to see it. 

Alas for these once dry lands

Tears for those who lived upon it

Curses upon those who did nothing

Hopes with those who might survive

Wishes for those them who come after

Salt for the broth that our oceans become

Peace for the ones who face the truth

Woe to the deniers who turn away from it

The Wall - An Exploration of Graffiti

"The Wall" is not one piece of art, but many. The intent is to create art that examine different themes and issues but ultimately form one solid graffiti wall. The pieces will be able to be displayed separately or as a whole. When a piece wears out it can be replaced with another. When a concept wears out, it can also be replaced. With that said, I won't be trying to explain each piece. I want the viewer to interpret them. These are complicated. Like any wall of graffiti there can often be art filled with contradicting messages. The only guide will be the name of the piece. So here are the photos for Piece #1.

American Hero

One of the biggest obstacles we face as creatives in this social media saturated environment is the almost overwhelming need to cater to the audience when we create something. I need more "likes". I need more "favorites". I need the instant gratification. We are suckers for an audience. Now we have one built into every studio that has access to the internet. 

Beware! Do not create for the audience. Create from within. This is the essence of great art.

End of Reel Sculpture - Follow Along

A "Follow Along" is not a tutorial. It is a sequential showing of Work in Progress photos of a specific piece of art. It allows other artists to view the process used to create a specific sculpture as the piece is developed. As each step is created, new WIP photos and explanations will be added to the page up to the completion of the piece of art. Questions are welcome for clarifications and interactions.


WIP #1

This sculpture uses a 1940's Vintage Kodak Kodakscope Sixteen-20 Film Projector as the centerpiece of the sculpture. I don't often name my work at the start, so the name "End of Reel" may change later, but its helpful to have a name to refer to the piece by. 

The first step in the process was to choose a base for the piece. I looked at a lot of different possibilities but in the end settled for a simple 15 1/2" x 7" x 3 1/2" concrete brick. Because of the weight of the projector, I need a stable, heavy base for the piece. 

The sculpture and the brick are cleaned completely to remove any dust and debris from the piece. 

Old Projectors, New Art & Space to Spread Out

One of the great things about being in the new studio is it gives me so much more room to work on things. In the old studio I was limited to a few projects at a time. In this new space I can have separate work stations for dozens of different projects. This old projector is about to become a work of art. It has its own work station now and allows me the leisure to consider the project before launching into it. I've always been a multi-tasker. But I find that art that sits a bit is better thought out. In the case of the projector, the original concept for turning it into a sculpture came to me a year ago, but I'd not acted on it knowing it would take up work space for awhile. Now I can put it out, observe it, look at it from every angle and in different light and begin to put the piece together. Surprisingly this old projector still works. Even though it was built in the 30's, the motor still runs, the light still goes on. Unfortunately the feed for the reels is shot. Its actually been used for art before. A few years back I did a fashion shoot where the model, dressed as a flapper, was photographed with the projection light on her. There was an authenticity to the shoot that would otherwise not have been there. Now its time to do something different with it. Here are a few of the photos from that shoot.

Burning Man 2018 - Low Res Art Project

The Low Res Art Project was created in order to develop techniques with low resolution video screen captures turning them into high quality art pieces.

This project began in 2016 with the Burning Man festival where we participated in doing screen captures of the festival from their remote cameras. This continued in 2017 and again continues in 2018. You can view the 2016/2017 album at:

Burning Man The Complete Album

New work will be posted here before being added to the Low Res main page. 

Watchers - Luminescent Painting Technique

"Watchers was created on an old window frame using a heavy vellum as the canvas. Vellum allows light shining through from behind to come through and change the painting. In the photo above, the image on the left was taken with front light only. The image on the right was taken with the light from behind. The faeries were created on the backside of the painting, while all other colors were on the front. The result is that the evil faerie faces only show up when there is light from behind. Luminescence is all about creating art which changes depending on which direction the light falls on it. 

This piece also contains an experiment on poetic verse which was placed directly on the art and tells the story of the painting. The lines of the poem read from top left to bottom right and read as follows:

They watched with avid eyes agleam

Mischief plans and evil schemes

Whispered threats to those within

Yet not a move they made to sin

Imps from hell with hearts of black

Sure to find that one small crack

Or slip between the weathered walls

To slash and rip and tear and maul

My blood runs cold beneath their stare

My lips they mouth a mortal prayer

But simple watch is all they do

Till dawns dear light should paint the hues

O morning come, the suns light burns

Watchers flee till night returns

If you would like to learn more about luminescent art, please feel free to contact me below.

Lost in the Space of my Mind - An Artists Brainstorming Exercise

THE CUBE

The Cube is a brainstorming mind game that I've used throughout my life. It was initially created as a problem solving method that I developed for myself, but over the years its become a primary source for brainstorming and creativity. Its assisted me in developing new and unusual ideas for my art.

I begin by imagining a simple three dimensional cube in my mind. On the surface of the cube I place information about the problem I am currently trying to solve. Each side is devoted to a different aspect of the problem. Once I've filled the cube with what I know, I set it to spinning slowly in my minds eye.

Conservation - The Tale of a Broken Sculpture (UPDATED)

Its inevitable that art will get damaged, especially when working in confined spaces. This piece was created a few years ago during my deadwood art phase. It was stored on a high shelf in the old studio and one day decided it was going to go for a walk, plummeting to the floor. Several pieces broke off and the 1 foot tile base snapped off on one end. There was little I could do for it at the time and I re-shelved it to decide later whether it was a total loss or salvageable. Now that we are in the new studio I can take some time to look over some of the damaged pieces. With this one, I examined the break points first. The breaks were clean, so I could put it back together again. But the base was a lost cause. 

The First not the Last

Our recent move to a new studio has unearthed some interesting things. The piece pictured above was the very first piece of art I created when I made the decision years ago to become an artist. My skills were all in photography. I had no formal training in art except for body painting. So it wasn't a far stretch of my imagination to take one of my abstract photos, print it and attempt to overpaint and enhance it (pictured). When I look at this piece I realize how far I've come in both my skill level and my mindset as an artist. Dedicating my life to the arts was the best decision I could ever make. This simple piece is a testament to that decision and a reminder of how all artists, whether taught in school or self taught, grow and evolve over time and what it was like to have that childlike wonder and more than a little fear in creating my first piece of art. 

Hurricane Katrina - One Artists Journey Towards Landfall

In 2015, I wrote the article below on the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina as an hourly journey of the night before landfall and remembrances of what many of us in New Orleans were going through.

Now that it is three years later (2018) I find that many have completely forgotten. To most its just history as Hurricane Camille which came through in 1969 is now just history to us. But there are people who alive who survived both storms and will most likely survive storms coming in our future. 

In 3 years a lot can change. Even though the threat of Climate Change has been upon us for many years, I think I can say that 2018 has been the first year that its really struck home to people. Its no longer just a talking point between the left and right. Its real. From the fires in California, to the heat in the Europe, to the melting ice in the Arctic, things are changing and will continue to do so. I cannot help but think that there may come a time when I update this article again but I am doing so from somewhere else because the city I call home is no longer above sea level. Where will you be? 

I am updating this about a week before the 2018 anniversary and may add notes to it on the actual anniversary. I plan on creating a small shrine in our new back yard for the night of the anniversary. I will add photos of it then.

~Grey~

Where the Artists Mind Takes Us

Our minds can take us to very strange places. This happens to us all. But artists have the ability to share what we see. 

When I let my mind truly wander, I am always amazed at where it takes me. Sometimes its so complex that I can become lost in the vision. What feels like only a few moments, ends up being hours. I am not really here at all, but very far away, where time flows differently.

Where is this place I see tonight? I wish I knew. But as I slip back to this mortal plain of existence once more, I can still hear the whispers of the sand in my ears and smell the electric charge of the dunes beneath my feet. 

I return regretfully, but before me is the vision brought to life in the art my hands created while my mind wandered on this desert night. 

There is one sure way to know that you are truly an artist, heart and soul, mind and body. Its when you see art in everything. No matter what it might be or how inconsequential it may seem, you can find a path to turn it into art

Getting From Here to There

Before

I thought all of you might like to see a before and after shot for one of the pieces being created in the new studio. The setup for this piece was pretty simple. There was more work put into the lighting for the final photo than the setup itself. There are lights within the chest as well. This is an experimental piece. The skeleton is actually standing in for a model who will be posed with the chest later in the month. The substitution allows me to consider the lighting and positioning carefully, long before the model is actually here. To come up with this one final image (below) I took about 30 different photos, choosing the best of the set. Over the coming week a number of different poses will be considered and noted. 

This is what I mean when I say that digital art is not always just done with a computer program. There are a lot of other aspects that the viewer never see's in the finished work, but which make the image come alive. 

After

A Need to Just Create

Some days are so hectic that if you don't take time to just stop and create you burn yourself out. 

During a recent move to a new studio and home, I was surprised to find that instead of resting when I could, I needed to find a safe space which I could create in, even though most of my supplies were still boxed up. 

Just the act of refocusing my mind and my body on my art instead of on the move was more revitalizing than any nap could give me.